Marian Siminica

Corporate Social Responsibility as a Voluntary Initiative But a Mandatory Non-financial Reporting Link Between the Social and Financial Performance of Romanian Companies

This chapter covers the issue of social responsibility in a double sense: a pragmatic research on how Romanian companies publish information on social responsibility and an empiric research on the connection between the social (CSR) and financial performance of companies (CFP). The conclusion drawn from the study of the official websites of 665 companies shows quite a low interest in CSR reporting. The link between CSR and CFP was only analysed for companies identified as publishing non-financial information. A linear regression model with a numeric endogenous variable (the turnover index, IT) and a dummy exogenous variable (CSR, with value 1 - for involvement in CSR projects; 0 - for non-involvement in CSR projects). The results of tests show a very weak connection between IT and CSR, with a slight trend to disfavour companies showing CSR-related concerns, compared to those who do not have such a focus.

A Study Regarding the Risk of the Micro-Enterprises in the Dolj District

The study of the risk has become very important in the last years, due to the increase of the competition on the Romanian market and also due to the consolidation of the market economy mechanisms that have determined the augmentation of the number of bankruptcies in Romania. The micro-enterprises are, obviously, the most exposed at the risk of bankruptcy, fact that justifies a study of the risk that these enterprises face. In this paper, we have analyzed the risk of the micro-enterprises during the period 2004-2005, on a database that included 1401 companies. For this aim, we have used two specific instruments: a score function, for the estimation of the bankruptcy risk, and the degrees of leverage, for the assessment of the operating and financial risk. After making this study, we noticed that the micro-enterprises from the Dolj District have dealt with a risk augmentation in 2005, fact emphasized both by the decrease of the average score and by the augmentation of the weight of the bankrupt companies in the total number of analyzed enterprises. Also, the other drawn conclusion was linked with the lack of correlation between the Z score and the degrees of operating and financial leverage, due to the different foundations of these instruments in appreciating the risk dimension.