Study On The Influence Of Cause-marketing Strategies Of Chinese Listed Companies On Financial Performance Based On Public Welfare Donation Behaviors

In recent years, along with the growing corporate social responsibility consciousness, more and more consumers begin to pay close attention to and participate in all kinds of public welfare programs. As a major way of undertaking social responsibilities and as a new marketing mode, corporate donation combines the development of enterprises and the progress of the society, which not only can help enterprises to obtain higher visibility and credibility, but also can give back to the society and help social vulnerable groups.On the basis of literature review, this paper systematically elaborates the theory and framework about cause-related marketing, mainly studies the relationship between corporate donation strategies of the enterprise and its own value. This paper provides different corporate donation strategies according to different social environments in order to maximize the financial performance of the enterprise. The specific studies mainly include the following three aspects:First of all, this paper takes 237 listed companies in stock markets of Shanghai and Shenzhen in 2013 as samples to study whether cause-related marketing can create financial benefits for the enterprise. The empirical result shows that the capital market reacts positively to cause-related marketing. Enterprises in our country can significantly improve the equity value and the financial performance by cause-related marketing in general.Secondly, on the basis of the above research, this paper continues studying impacts of the donation type and the donation event on corporate financial performance. Results indicate that enterprises obtain higher financial performance in the way of charitable donation; relative to the persistent donation, enterprises obtain higher financial performance in the way of catastrophic events; when enterprises make donations to catastrophic events and persistent events, no matter adopting unconditional donations or charitable donations, there is no significant difference in the financial performance of the enterprise.Thirdly, this paper mainly discusses the influence of the donation amount, product types and their interaction on corporate financial performance. When enterprises conduct charitable activities, this paper finds that there is a significant positive correlation between the financial performance and the donation amount; relative to pleasure-seeking type products, practical products create the higher financial performance, and the higher the donation amount is, the higher financial performance it creates.Through there search of this paper, enterprises execute Cause-related Marketing can significantly improve the financial performance. So enterprises might donate for a larger amount within itself can bear. And in the face of different events, the enterprise should adopt different cause-related marketing strategies. For example, when facing the different type of donations, enterprises should adopt the way of charitable donation relative to the unconditional donation. In addition, enterprises which produce practical products get more consumers’ positive responses and the financial performance by participating in charitable activities.