Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become of great interest to both researchers and practitioners alike with much discussion on whether the costs outweigh the performance implications. CSR has become a firm strategic tool (not only an ethical concept) as firms recognize that the customer value proposition and CSR is integrated with the focus on how to differentiate the firm from the view of the customer. We utilized market orientation (MO) theory as our foundation for our research as it explains how organizations adapt to their customer environment to develop competitive advantages. With the current customer focus on CSR, MO assists the field in identifying a possible firm differentiation. Our research found that firms that ranked high on CSR correlated positively to performance. We also found our theoretically developed constructs of firm customer orientation (CO) and firm market orientation correlated with the firm adopting CSR. The results also indicated that CSR positively mediates CO and MO to firm performance. As past research had mixed results over the direct relation of MO to performance, our research suggests that CSR may be the missing variable to explain the MO/Performance relationship.

The surface composition and free energy properties of two grades of amphiphilic and semicrystalline triblock copolymers consisting of a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) midblock (Mw ∼ 2300) coupled to poly-(-caprolactone) (PCL) end blocks having differing molecular weights (Mw ∼ 2000, sample P3, and Mw ∼ 3000, sample P2) and homopolymer PCL (Mw ∼ 40 000) were investigated by Fourier transform infrared, spectroscopy, electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA), and contact angle measurements using critical surface tension, one-liquid and two-liquid methods. ESCA showed that the molar concentration of PDMS increased from 36.5% in the bulk up to 70.2% in the surface for sample P2 and from 46.3% in the bulk up to 79.2% in the surface for sample P3 in high vacuum. This indicates that the lower surface energy PDMS microdomains were segregated in the surface region to minimize the surface energy of the copolymer. The longer the PCL block, the higher the phase separation. One-liquid contact angle results were evaluated by using van Oss, Good, and Chaudhury's Lifshitz-van der Waals and Lewis acid-base (AB) methodology, and it was determined that the basicity surface tension coefficients (γ s-) of the copolymers decreased with the increase of the PDMS content at the surface, a result in agreement with the ESCA results but not proportional to them, indicating that the surfaces of the copolymers are highly mobile and molecular rearrangement takes place upon contacting with a polar testing liquid drop. The strong AB interaction between the basic carboxyl groups of PCL segments with the Lewis acidic groups of the polar liquids restructured the surface molecular composition at the contact area by increasing PCL and decreasing PDMS concentration in polar environments. The two-liquid contact angle method was also applied, and it was determined that γ s-decreased inverse proportionally with the increase of PDMS segments. Also, it was realized that the molecular restructuring did not take place in the two-liquid method.

Purpose This study aims to support and extend signalling theory because of information asymmetry. This study also aims to answer the call to further negative signalling and explore immediate reactions to signals, thus alleviating a gap with regard to temporality of signalling. Design/methodology/approach The study used two separate data sources, the S&P 500 and 51,500 pages of the public papers between 1981 and 1999, nearly 20 years of data. Inter-rater reliability, controlled for all macroeconomic announcements identified in the literature, is used, and the data are empirically tested using generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GJR-GARCH) modelling. Findings In accordance with signalling theory and the efficient market hypothesis, the study found that receivers do react to positive signals from a credible insider signaller to obviate information asymmetry. In line with previous research, the study also finds that receivers react much stronger to negative signals. Practical implications Investors, financial managers and top executives responsible for their stock price need to focus on presidential signalling as these directly affect market volatility. In particular, investors and financial managers can predict stock price volatility based upon signals from the president. Originality/value This is the first research study that explores the correlation between presidential signalling and market volatility. This study is important for investors and financial managers.