Integration of CSR into the Marketing Mix for the Sustainable Development of Companies: A View from the Position of Financial Risk Management

Abstract

This paper is devoted to establishing the consequences of integrating CSR into the marketing mix for financial risks in modern companies. Based on the international statistics for 2023, we compiled a regression model of the dependence of financial risks on the integration of CSR into their marketing mix. Based on that, we developed a new system approach to managing companies’ sustainable development. Its features are marketing management of the sustainable development of companies, systemic management of social and financial risks to companies, and implementation of risk management through integrating CSR into the marketing mix. The main conclusion is that the sustainable development of companies in the Decade of Action requires a systemic integration of CSR into the marketing mix, for this will allow for the simultaneous reduction of social and financial risks. The theoretical significance of this conclusion consists in the disclosure of previously unknown cause-and-effect relationships between CSR and financial risks to companies, which are explained in this paper through the lens of the elements of the marketing mix in the 7P model. The originality of this research consists in developing novel marketing tools for the systemic management of social and financial risks for companies with the help of CSR. The practical significance relates to the fact that the offered recommendations on the more complete integration of CSR into their marketing mix will allow reducing financial risks and ensuring sustainable development of Russian companies in the Decade of Action (until 2030). The managerial significance is as follows: the developed system approach to managing companies’ sustainable development will improve the practice of risk management in companies due to previously unavailable joint management and the general reduction of social and financial risks.

1. Introduction

In the modern context of the Decade of Action, sustainability has become a new criterion for measuring the strategic market success of companies. The main threat to the sustainability of companies is risk. Sustainable development of companies—as a reflection of the level of their correspondence to the criterion of sustainability—is the efficiency of opposing risks. Growth of the level of risks to companies (increase in the level of threat of negative consequences of risks and growth of the probability of risk events) is a sign of instability for companies and slows down their development. Reduction of the level of companies’ risks means their sustainable development, and complete overcoming of risks means the absolute sustainability of companies.

The problem is that the sustainable development of companies requires the general reduction of their risk burden, i.e., the fight against risks of a different nature. Simultaneous management of risks of different natures is a complex task, the final solution to which has not yet been found by science. The essence of the problem posed is that in modern economic theory and practice, financial and social risks for companies are opposed to each other and are managed separately. This limits the capabilities and reduces the effectiveness of risk management for companies. The justification for this research is the need for a systemic view of financial and social risks for modern companies and the development of a unified set of tools for managing these risks.

In this paper, we analyzed variables that characterize financial risks for companies: investment risk (reduction of direct foreign investments), risk of market capitalization (reduction of the market capitalization of listed companies), and risk of the movement of shares (reduction of the movement of shares of listed companies in the stock market), as well as variables that characterize elements of the marketing mix in the 7P model: affordability of products for consumers (P1: Price), product quality (P2: Product), affordability of products for wide groups of consumers due to realization of products at online marketplaces (P3: Place), strength of global brands of companies (P4: Promotion), socially-oriented HRM from the positions of creation of knowledge-intensive jobs and corporate training (P5: People), automatization of business processes (P6: Process), and corporate environmental responsibility (P7: Physical evidence).

The challenges of risk management for modern companies are connected with the aggravation of financial risks against the background of the transformation of international economic relations and the global financial system, on the one hand, and an increase in the importance of social risk management for companies’ preserving market positions in a more progressive social environment with actively developing environmental communities, trade unions, and growing consumer awareness, on the other hand.

The key milestones of the central topic of this paper are as follows: the growth of the intensity and effectiveness of marketing contributes to the reduction of companies’ financial risks; marketing activities allow modern companies to better cope with financial risks; the effectiveness of marketing grows due to the integration of CSR elements into it; to determine the general risk burden on companies, it is important to take into account financial and social risks; comprehensive risk management is more effective than the management of each isolated risk or group of risks. Therefore, the central idea of this paper was to demonstrate the consequences of integrating CSR into each element of their marketing mix for modern companies’ financial risks.

The manifestation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is one of the main tools for managing risks for modern companies to ensure their sustainable development in theory and practice. This tool is applied for managing social risks, which are especially high in the conditions of technological progress.

Under the influence of digitalization, employers’ requirements for the level of qualification and specialized professional competencies of employees grow. Under the influence of automatization, more and more personnel are dismissed in all sectors of the economy. Due to this, social risks to the activities of modern companies are connected with the threat of the loss of jobs by employees, the emergence and increase in gaps in their competencies, and the necessity of adapting to the change in organization and functional responsibilities of labor activities.

A separate issue is financial risks, which grew against the background of an increased cyclicity of the market economy at the world and national levels. The change in the model of globalization in the world economic system led to the reorientation of international financial flows. This increased the risk component of companies’ financial activities, raising the investment risk, the risk of market capitalization, and the risk of the movement of shares in the stock market. Financial risk management is conducted separately from social risk management, which reduces the effectiveness of modern companies’ risk management due to high expenditures and contradictory results.

In practice, there are frequent situations, when the application of generally accepted tools for financial risk management leads to an increase in social risks and vice versa. For example, in the conditions of economic crises, companies face a choice: either reduce expenditures for human resources (from the reduction of wages or personnel cuts to the growth of requirements for labor efficiency and an increase in working hours), which reduces financial risks but increases social risks, or preserve the status quo in the sphere of HRM, reducing social risks but facing the growth of financial risks.

The issues of the application of CSR in the marketing activities of companies have not been sufficiently studied in the existing literature. Existing publications note only the important role of CSR in HRM, but this is only one of many elements of the marketing mix. Moreover, this role is disclosed primarily from the position of reducing social risks, with the ambiguity of how this influences financial risks. Uncertainty about the consequences of modern companies’ manifesting CSR in different elements of the marketing mix for financial risks to companies is a gap in the literature, which this paper strives to fill.

The search for a solution to the set research problem in this paper was performed using the authors’ vision of the specifics of CSR. This vision involves distinguishing between internal CSR-responsibility companies to business owners, shareholders, and investors, which allows for reducing financial risks, and external CSR-responsibility companies to other interested parties, which are not direct business owners: employees, consumers, etc.

This paper’s research question is as follows: “How does the integration of CSR into the marketing mix in the 7P model influence the financial risks for modern companies?». The basic precondition of this research is the assumption that systemic integration of CSR into the marketing mix allows for the simultaneous reduction of social and financial risks for modern companies, comprehensively supporting their sustainable development. The originality of this research consists in the development of novel marketing tools for the systemic management of social and financial risks for companies with the help of CSR.

The goal of this paper is to establish the consequences of the integration of CSR into the marketing mix for financial risks in modern companies. The order of the achievement of this goal predetermined the logical structure of this paper. In the main part of the paper (the research section), we perform the following: (1) modeling the dependence of financial risks on the integration of CSR into their marketing mix; (2) determining the perspective of the sustainable development of Russian companies through a more complete integration of CSR into their marketing mix to reduce financial risks; and (3) developing a system approach to the management of companies’ sustainable development.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Financial Risks and Their Management in Companies’ Activities

The central scientific category of this paper is financial risks, which are treated as threats to the financial stability and effectiveness of companies’ activities (Ma et al. 2024; Zarova and Tursunov 2022). As a result of the content analysis of the existing publications, we distinguish three main financial risks to modern companies:

• Investment risk: the threat of the reduction of the inflow or outflow of investments, including direct foreign investments (Karanina et al. 2023);
• Risk of market capitalization: threat of the reduction of market capitalization of listed companies (Khasanov et al. 2019);
• Risk of the movement of shares: threat of the reduction of the movement of listed companies’ shares in the stock market (Horvath and Yang 2024).

2.2. The Existing Approach to the Management of Companies’ Sustainable Development

The fundamental basis of this research is the concept of the sustainable development of companies (Saleem et al. 2024; Samieva et al. 2023). According to this concept, risk management plays a decisive role in the sustainable development of companies. The existing approach to the management of companies’ sustainable development involves general corporate management for the reduction of companies’ risks (Akomea-Frimpong et al. 2024).

According to the existing approach, the management of social and financial risks is conducted in isolation (Shevyakova and Petrenko 2018). The tool for managing social risks is CSR, which is integrated into HRM, i.e., into the only element of the marketing mix in the model 7P–P5 “People” (Abdurakhmanova et al. 2020). The target result of companies’ manifesting CSR is the reduction of the social risks to their activities, i.e., the neutralization of threats to employees and the labor market (Galoyan et al. 2023).

The tool for financial risk management, which does not have a clear negative effect on social risks, is the disclosure of credit information by companies (Al-Ghazali et al. 2024). Due to the more detailed disclosure of credit information, the investment attractiveness of companies is raised, their market capitalization is increased, and the movement of their shares is raised, which allows for reducing all three mentioned financial risks to modern companies at the same time (Karim et al. 2024; Musallam 2024). The target result is accordingly connected with the reduction of financial risks to companies (Kadesnikova et al. 2023).

However, the performed literature overview showed that existing publications do not explain the consequences of modern companies’ manifesting CSR for their financial risks. This is a literature gap. The necessity of filling this gap in the literature is explained by the fact that it leads to a gap in the scientific view of managing financial and social risks.

Filling the gap in the scientific vision of the management of financial and social risks is important for the formation of a comprehensive and unified view of the risk burden on modern companies. This gap leads to the fragmentation of the measures of risk management and reduces their effectiveness. Striving to fill the revealed gap in the literature, we set the following research question: RQ: How does the integration of CSR into the marketing mix influence the financial risks for modern companies?

2.3. The Concept of the Integration of CSR into the Marketing Mix of Companies

This paper uses the theory of the marketing mix in the 7P model. According to this theory, the integration of CSR into each element of a company’s marketing mix is performed in the following way:

• In P1: Price—through a reduction of prices to raise the affordability of products for consumers (Mkrtchyan et al. 2023);
• In P2: Product—through an increase in the quality of products, in particular, by bringing in correspondence with international quality standards, the main of which is ISO 9001 (ISO 2024; Tao and Ji 2024);
• In P3: Place—through an increase in products’ availability for wide groups of consumers by selling them at online marketplaces (Zhang et al. 2024);
• In P4: Promotion—through strengthening global brands of companies (Farmaki et al. 2023);
• In P5: People—through socially-oriented HRM, for example, creation of knowledge-intensive jobs and corporate training (Binh et al. 2023);
• In P6: Process—through automatization of business processes in companies’ activities (Petrenko et al. 2019);
• In P7: Physical evidence—through the manifestation of corporate environmental responsibility to improve the state of the environment as physical surroundings of the production and distribution and consumer processes in the green economy (Bogoviz et al. 2023; Ravichandran et al. 2023).

Integration of CSR into P1 will allow decreasing the risks of the reduction of affordability of products for consumers due to the manufacturing company’s accepting greater responsibility for the stability of prices for manufactured and sold products (Ziaei et al. 2024). Integration of CSR into P2 will allow reducing risks for product quality through expanded voluntary standardization of quality and increased quality control in companies’ activities (Chang et al. 2024).

Integration of CSR into P3 will allow reducing the risks of reducing the affordability of products for wide groups of consumers through the establishment of agreements between companies and online marketplaces regarding convenient and profitable conditions for consumers’ purchasing of their products (Kumar and Devi 2024). Integration of CSR into P4 will reduce the risks of weakening global brands of companies due to more sustainable demand for their products from progressive and environmentally responsible consumers (Spielmann et al. 2023).

Integration of CSR into P5 will reduce the risks of a reduction in knowledge-intensive employment due to the additional creation of knowledge-intensive jobs by responsible employers (Lin et al. 2020). Integration of CSR into the P6 Process will allow reducing the social risks of automatization of business processes in companies’ activities due to a higher level of employers’ responsibility to employees (which ensures the minimization of personnel dismissal) and due to higher loyalty of employees to companies, manifested in the maximum return from automatization in the form of labor efficiency (Cheng et al. 2024).

Integration of CSR into P7 will allow reducing environmental risks of companies’ activities through more active implementation of green innovations and voluntary refusal of economic practices with low eco-friendliness (Hanandeh et al. 2024).

Based on certain sources of scientific literature (Oduro and Haylemariam 2019; Przhedetsky et al. 2018; Yim et al. 2019), which note the advantages of the use of CSR in marketing for the financial sustainability of companies, we offer the following hypothesis: H: Integration of CSR into the marketing mix facilitates the reduction of financial risks for modern companies. The theoretical basis of the offered hypothesis is as follows: (1) the theory of financial risk management, in which these risks are reduced in the course of the growth of companies’ marketing activities (Panchenko et al. 2024); (2) the theory of social risk management, in which integration of CSR into certain elements of the marketing mix raises the effectiveness of the management of the corresponding social risks for companies (Rodríguez Ron 2024).

The empirical basis of the offered hypothesis is the accumulated experience of risk management of companies, which shows the following: (1) systemic management of companies’ risks generates a synergetic effect in the form of the growth of the effectiveness of risk management (Iandolo et al. 2024); (2) CSR improves the results of elements of the marketing mix during the implementation of which it is applied (Tao and Ji 2024); (3) marketing tools of risk management are effective in the case of social (Huynh et al. 2024) and financial (Civelek et al. 2024) risks and, thus, are flexible and universal. To check hypothesis H, we model the dependence of financial risks on the integration of CSR into each element of their marketing mix.

3. Materials and Methods

The methodology of this research is described in

Table 1. Research methodology.

Element of the Methodology		Application of the Methodology to This Paper	Tool for Collecting Data	Units of Measuring Variables	Scale for Measuring Variables
					Low Values (Less Than 75% of the Average Value)	At the Level of Average Values (between 75% and 125% of the Average Value)	High (above 125% of the Average and Maximum Values)
Type of research		Empirical research	-	-	-	-	-
Sample		69 countries	-	-	-	-	-
Variable	Resulting	Depth of credit information index	World Bank (2024a)	score 0 = low to 8 = high	less than 5.38	between 5.38 and 7.17 *	between 7.17 and 8.00
	Variables of financial risks	Foreign direct investment, net inflows	World Bank (2024b)	% of GDP	less than −2.33	between −2.33 and −0.78	between −0.78 and 26.64
		Market capitalization of listed domestic companies	World Bank (2024d)	% of GDP	less than 45.06	between 45.06 and 75.10	between 75.10 and 390.10
		Stocks traded, total value	World Bank (2024e)	% of GDP	less than 19.47	between 19.47 and 32.45	between 32.45 and 182.16
	Variables of social risks	Inflation, consumer prices (annual %)	World Bank (2024c)	annual %	less than 1.97	between 1.97 and 8.69	between 8.69 and 11.58
		ISO 9001 quality/bn PPP$ GDP	WIPO (2024)	score 0–100	less than 14.75	between 14.75 and 24.58	between 24.58 and 100.00
		E-participation	WIPO (2024)	score 0–100	less than 45.50	between 45.50 and 75.84	between 75.84 and 100.00
		Global brand value, top 5000, % of GDP	WIPO (2024)	score 0–100	less than 12.03	between 12.03 and 20.05	between 20.05 and 81.96
		Knowledge workers	WIPO (2024)	score 0–100	less than 27.22	between 27.22 and 45.36	between 45.36 and 76.76
		Frontier technologies readiness index	UNCTAD (2024)	score 0–1	less than 0.46	between 0.46 and 0.76	between 0.76 and 1.00
		Green growth index, score 0–100	Global Green Growth Institute (2024)	score 0–100	less than 42.20	between 42.20 and 70.34	between 70.34 and 77.53

* Average for the sample. Source: Authors.

.

For the measurement of variables in this paper, the following scale is used: low values (below 75% of the average value); at the level of average values (between 75% and 125% of the average value); high (more than 125% of the average and maximum values). The research has the following design. To achieve the set goal in this paper, we consistently solve the three following research tasks:

The first task is to compile a model of the dependence of financial risks on the integration of CSR into their marketing mix. This task is solved with the help of the regression analysis method. This method is utilized to find the regression dependence of the indicators of financial risks to companies on the indicators of the level of CSR’s integration into each element of their marketing mix. The indicators of companies’ financial risks are as follows (measured in % of GDP):

• “Foreign direct investment, net inflows” (FR1) as the indicator of investment risk (World Bank 2024b);
• “Market capitalization of listed domestic companies” (FR2) as an indicator of the risk of market capitalization (World Bank 2024d);
• “Stocks traded, total value” (FR3) as an indicator of the risk of movement of shares (World Bank 2024e).

The system of indicators for measuring the level of CSR’s integration into the marketing mix, which are factor variables, is given in

Table 2. The system of indicators to measure the level of integration of CSR into the marketing mix.

Element of 7P		The Logic of the Integration of CSR into Each Element of the Marketing mix	Indicator for Measuring the Integration of CSR into the Element of 7P	Source	The Symbol for the Indicators
P1	Price	Reduction of prices	Inflation, consumer prices (annual %)	World Bank (2024c)	P1
P2	Product	Increase in the quality of products	ISO 9001 quality/bn PPP$ GDP	WIPO (2024)	P2
P3	Place	Increase in affordability of products for purchasing	E-participation	WIPO (2024)	P3
P4	Promotion	Strengthening of global brands of companies	Global brand value, top 5000, % of GDP	WIPO (2024)	P4
P5	People	Socially-oriented HRM	Knowledge workers	WIPO (2024)	P5
P6	Process	Automatization of business processes	Frontier technologies readiness index	UNCTAD (2024)	P6
P7	Physical evidence	Manifestation of corporate environmental responsibility	Green growth index, score 0–100	Global Green Growth Institute (2024)	P7

Source: Authors.

.

Indicators for measuring the integration of CSR into the element of 7P (Table 2) are the correct indicators to present the “integration of CSR into each element of the marketing mix”, due to the following:

• Inflation and consumer prices demonstrate the integration of CSR into P1 because it reflects the manufacturing company’s adopting responsibility for the stability of prices for manufactured and sold products in the market, which allows for reducing the risks of the reduction of the affordability of products for consumers (Hemphill and Johnson 2020);
• ISO 9001 quality demonstrates the integration of CSR into P2 because it reflects voluntary standardization of quality and increased control over quality in companies’ activities, which allows reducing the risks to product quality (Koesworodjati et al. 2024);
• E-participation demonstrates the integration of CSR into P3 because it reflects the establishment of agreements between companies and online marketplaces regarding convenient and profitable conditions for consumers purchasing their products, which allows for reducing the risks of reducing the affordability of products for wide groups of consumers (Behera et al. 2024);
• Global brand value demonstrates the integration of CSR into P4 because it reflects the sustainability of demand for their products from progressive and environmentally responsible consumers, which allows for reducing the risks of weakening companies’ global brands (Enslin et al. 2023);
• Knowledge workers demonstrate the integration of CSR into P5 because it reflects the creation of knowledge-intensive jobs by responsible employers, which allows for reducing the risks of reduction of knowledge-intensive employment (Rubel et al. 2023);
• The Frontier Technologies Readiness index demonstrates the integration of CSR into P6 because it reflects employers’ responsibility to employees (which ensures minimization of personnel dismissal) and employees’ loyalty to companies, which is manifested in the maximum return from automatization in the form of growth of labor efficiency, which allows reducing social risks of automatization of business processes in companies’ activities (Biao et al. 2023);
• The Green Growth Index demonstrates the integration of CSR into P7 because it reflects the implementation of green innovations and voluntary refusal of economic practices with low eco-friendliness, which allows reducing the environmental risks of companies’ activities (Silva and Lopes 2015).

The control variable is the “Depth of credit information index (0 = low to 8 = high)” from the statistics by the World Bank (2024a) (F) as an indicator of the depth of credit information sharing by companies. For this research, we formed a sample of 69 countries, for which the full set of necessary statistical data is available. The research period is 2023 (data as of the beginning of the year as a result of 2022). The sample is presented in Appendix A and Appendix B. The research model has the following form:

FR = a + ∑_i=1…7(b_i × P_i) + bj × F

(1)

Hypothesis H is deemed proven if, in the model (1), most of the coefficients bi at factor variables P1, P5–P7 take positive values, and most of the coefficients bi at factor variables P2 take negative values. We select factor variables for which regression coefficients took target values at least for one resulting variable.

Second task: reveal the perspective of the sustainable development of Russian companies through a more complete integration of CSR into their marketing mix to reduce financial risks. For this, we insert into the model (1) the maximum values from the sample of the selected factor variables. The method of trend analysis is used to measure the change in the values of all indicators from the perspective of the Decade of Action (until 2030).

Third task: develop a system approach to managing companies’ sustainable development. The authors’ approach is compiled based on the results of regression modeling. To substantiate the advantages of the new approach, we perform its comparative analysis with the existing approach to managing companies’ sustainable development.

4. Results

4.1. The Model of the Dependence of Companies’ Financial Risks on the Integration of CSR into Their Marketing Mix

To solve the first task and compile a model of the dependence of financial risks to companies on the integration of CSR into their marketing mix, we use the data from Appendix A and Appendix B to find the regression dependence of the indicators of financial risks to companies on the indicators of the level of CSR’s integration into each element of their marketing mix. The results obtained are shown in

Table 3. Regression analysis of the dependence of investment risk on the application of risk management measures.

Regression Statistics
Multiple R	0.7524
R-square	0.5660
Adjusted R-square	0.5082
Standard error	33.6285
Observations	69
ANOVA
	df	SS	MS	F	Significance F
Regression	8	88,507.1170	11,063.3896	9.7830	1.42 × 10−8
Residual	60	67,852.6834	1130.8781
Total	68	156,359.8004
	Coefficients	Standard error	t-Stat	p-Value	Lower 95%	Upper 95%
Y-intercept	−190.3274	40.5222	−4.6969	0.0000	−271.3839	−109.2709
P1	−0.0229	0.3346	−0.0684	0.9457	−0.6921	0.6464
P2	0.7115	0.2389	2.9786	0.0042	0.2337	1.1894
P3	0.2503	0.2751	0.9098	0.3666	−0.3000	0.8005
P4	−0.2529	0.2901	−0.8718	0.3868	−0.8333	0.3274
P5	−0.6288	0.3855	−1.6310	0.1081	−1.3999	0.1423
P6	4.0558	6.7031	0.6051	0.5474	−9.3524	17.4641
P7	−0.1370	0.5905	−0.2320	0.8173	−1.3181	1.0441
F	26.5002	3.2957	8.0409	4.2 × 10−11	19.9078	33.0926

Source: Authors.

,

Table 4. Regression analysis of the dependence of market capitalization risk on the application of risk management measures.

Regression Statistics
Multiple R	0.6354
R-square	0.4037
Adjusted R-square	0.3242
Standard error	58.7010
Observations	69
ANOVA
	Df	SS	MS	F	Significance F
Regression	8	139,961.0304	17,495.1288	5.0772	7.63 × 10−5
Residual	60	206,748.2847	3445.8047
Total	68	346,709.3152
	Coefficients	Standard error	t-Stat	p-Value	Lower 95%	Upper 95%
Y-intercept	155.5101	70.7344	2.1985	0.0318	14.0203	296.9999
P1	0.5453	0.5840	0.9337	0.3542	−0.6229	1.7135
P2	0.3006	0.4170	0.7209	0.4738	−0.5335	1.1347
P3	−0.5849	0.4802	−1.2180	0.2280	−1.5454	0.3757
P4	2.8754	0.5065	5.6775	4.2 × 10−7	1.8624	3.8885
P5	−0.6146	0.6729	−0.9133	0.3647	−1.9606	0.7315
P6	7.0822	11.7008	0.6053	0.5473	−16.3229	30.4872
P7	−2.0689	1.0307	−2.0073	0.0492	−4.1306	−0.0072
F	2.1699	5.7529	0.3772	0.7074	−9.3376	13.6773

Source: Authors.

and

Table 5. Regression analysis of the dependence of the risk of movement of shares on the application of risk management measures.

Regression Statistics
Multiple R	0.7778
R-square	0.6050
Adjusted R-square	0.5523
Standard error	30.0971
Observations	69
ANOVA
	df	SS	MS	F	Significance F
Regression	8	83,229.4020	10,403.6752	11.4852	1.02 × 10−9
Residual	60	54,350.0583	905.8343
Total	68	137,579.4603
	Coefficients	Standard error	t-Stat	p-Value	Lower 95%	Upper 95%
Y-intercept	−16.4765	36.2668	−0.4543	0.6512	−89.0210	56.0679
P1	0.4262	0.2994	1.4234	0.1598	−0.1728	1.0252
P2	0.0806	0.2138	0.3768	0.7076	−0.3471	0.5082
P3	0.3265	0.2462	1.3260	0.1899	−0.1660	0.8190
P4	1.3904	0.2597	5.3543	1.4E−06	0.8709	1.9098
P5	0.5116	0.3450	1.4827	0.1434	−0.1786	1.2017
P6	−1.0685	5.9992	−0.1781	0.8592	−13.0687	10.9317
P7	−1.1549	0.5285	−2.1853	0.0328	−2.2119	−0.0978
F	5.7107	2.9496	1.9361	0.0576	−0.1894	11.6107

Source: Authors.

.

Results from Table 3 showed that in 2023, the companies’ investment risk was 75.24% determined by applying risk management measures. The correctness and reliability of the regression analysis results are confirmed by the F-test, which was successfully passed at the level of significance of 0.01: F-observed is 9.7830, and significance F is 1.42 × 10⁻⁸.

Results from Table 4 showed that in 2023, the risk of the market capitalization of companies was 63.54% determined by the application of risk management measures. The correctness and reliability of the results of regression analysis are confirmed by the F-test, which was successfully passed at the level of significance of 0.01: F observed is 5.0772, and significance F is 17.63 × 10⁻⁵.

Results from Table 5 showed that in 2023, the risk of movement of companies’ shares was 77.78% determined by the application of risk management measures. The correctness and reliability of the results of regression analysis are confirmed by the F-test, which was successfully passed at the level of significance of 0.01: F observed is 11.4852, and significance F is 1.02 × 10⁻⁹. As a result of the generalization of the results obtained in Table 2, Table 3 and Table 4, the following model of the dependence of financial risks on the integration of CSR into their marketing mix was compiled:

$$\left\{\begin{array}{l}\begin{array}{l}{\mathrm{FR}}_1=-190.33 - 0.02 \times { \mathrm{P}}_1+0.71 \times { \mathrm{P}}_2+0.25 \times { \mathrm{P}}_3- 0.25 \times { \mathrm{P}}_4- 0.63 \times { \mathrm{P}}_5+4.06 \times { \mathrm{P}}_6-0.14 \times { \mathrm{P}}_7+26.50 \times \mathrm{F},\hfill \\ {\mathrm{FR}}_2=155.51+0.55 \times { \mathrm{P}}_1+0.30 \times { \mathrm{P}}_2- 0.58 \times { \mathrm{P}}_3+2.88 \times { \mathrm{P}}_4- 0.61 \times { \mathrm{P}}_5+7.08 \times { \mathrm{P}}_6- 2.07 \times { \mathrm{P}}_7+2.17 \times \mathrm{F},\hfill \end{array}\\ {\mathrm{FR}}_3=-16.48+0.43 \times { \mathrm{P}}_1+0.08 \times { \mathrm{P}}_2+0.33 \times { \mathrm{P}}_3+1.39 \times { \mathrm{P}}_4+0.51 \times { \mathrm{P}}_5- 1.07 \times { \mathrm{P}}_6- 1.15 \times { \mathrm{P}}_7+5.71 \times \mathrm{F}.\end{array}\right.$$

(2)

According to model (2), the reduction of annual inflation by 1% leads to a decrease in investment risk of 0.02% of GDP, but an increase in the risk of market capitalization of 0.55% of GDP and the growth of the risk of movement of shares by 0.43% of GDP. An increase in the quality of products by 1 point leads to a reduction of investment risk by 0.71% of GDP, a reduction of the risk of market capitalization by 0.30% of GDP, and a reduction of the risk of the movement of shares by 0.08% of GDP.

Growth of the activity of sales at online marketplaces by 1 point leads to a reduction of investment risk by 0.25% of GDP and a reduction of the risk of movement of shares by 0.33% of GDP, but an increase in the risk of market capitalization of 0.58% of GDP. Strengthening global brands of companies by 1 point leads to a reduction of the risk of market capitalization by 2.88% of GDP and a reduction of the risk of movement of shares by 1.39% of GDP, but an increase in investment risk of 0.25% BBП.

Growth of the activity of implementing socially-oriented HRM by 1 point leads to a reduction of the risk of movement of shares by 0.51% of GDP, but an increase in investment risk of 0.63% of GDP and an increase in the risk of market capitalization of 0.61% of GDP. Growth of the activity of the use of leading technologies by 1 point leads to a reduction of investment risk by 4.06% of GDP and a reduction of the risk of market capitalization by 7.08% of GDP, but an increase in the risk of movement of shares by 1.07% of GDP.

Acceleration of the green growth of the economy by 1 point leads to an increase in investment risk of 0.14% of GDP, an increase in the risk of market capitalization of 2.07% of GDP, and a growth in the risk of movement of shares of 1.15% of GDP. An increase in the depth of credit information sharing of 1 leads to a reduction of investment risk by 26.50% of GDP, a reduction of the risk of market capitalization by 2.17% of GDP, and a reduction of the risk of the movement of shares by 5.71% of GDP.

Since in model (2), most of the coefficients b_i at factor variables P₁, P₅-, and P₇ took positive values and most of the coefficients bi at factor variables P2 took negative values, hypothesis H is deemed proven. The results of regression modeling, which were obtained in Table 2, Table 3 and Table 4, also allowed selecting factor variables for which regression coefficients took target values at least for one resulting variable: these are variables P₁-P₆, i.e., all factor variables, except for P₇.

4.2. The Perspective of Sustainable Development of Russian Companies through Fuller Integration of CSR into Their Marketing Mix to Reduce Financial Risks

To solve the second task and determine the perspective of the sustainable development of Russian companies through fuller integration of CSR into their marketing mix to reduce financial risks, we inserted into the model (2) the maximum values from the sample of the selected factor variables (from Appendix A and Appendix B). The method of trend analysis was used to find the change in the values of all indicators from the perspective of the Decade of Action (until 2030), as shown in Figure 1.

As shown in Figure 1, the perspective of the sustainable development of Russian companies through fuller integration of CSR into their marketing mix is connected with the following reduction of financial risks:

• Investment risk—by 17,455.41%;
• Risk of market capitalization—by 774.31%;
• Risk of movement of shares—by 850.06%.

To reach the revealed perspective in practice, the following recommendations from the authors are offered:

• Reduction of annual inflation by 70.55%;
• Increase in the quality of products of 4103.85%;
• Growth of the activity of sales at online marketplaces by 68.62%;
• Strengthening of global brands of companies by 584.02%;
• Growth of the activity of implementing socially-oriented HRM by 83.56%;
• Growth of the activity of the use of leading technologies by 31.56%.

4.3. System Approach to the Management of Companies’ Sustainable Development

To solve the third task and develop a system approach to the management of companies’ sustainable development, we used the results of regression modeling. The proposed approach involves systemic integration of CSR into the marketing mix in the following order: First, in such an element of the marketing mix as P2: Product—through an increase in the quality of products, in particular, by bringing it by international quality standards, the main of which is ISO 9001.

Second, into such elements of the marketing mix as P3: Place—through an increase in product accessibility for wide groups of consumers by selling it at online marketplaces, P4: Promotion—through the strengthening of global brands of companies, and P6: Process—through automatization of business processes in companies’ activities. Third, into such elements of the marketing mix as P1: Price—through reduction of prices to raise affordability of products for consumers, and P5: People—through socially-oriented HRM, e.g., creation of knowledge-intensive jobs and corporate training. To prove the advantages of the new approach, we performed a comparative analysis with the existing approach to managing companies’ sustainable development.

As shown in

Table 6. Comparative analysis of the existing and new approaches to managing companies’ sustainable development.

Criteria of Comparison	Existing Approach		New (System) Approach
Type of sustainable development management	Corporate management		Marketing management
Connection of social and financial risks management	Isolated, independent (separate) spheres of management		Implemented in a systemic manner
Essence of management	Integration of CSR into P5 “People”	Disclosure of credit information	Integration of CSR into the marketing mix (except for P7: Physical evidence)
Target result of management	Reduction of social risks	Reduction of financial risks	Reduction of social and financial risks

Source: Authors.

, unlike the existing approach, the new approach to the management of companies’ sustainable development suggests implementing not corporate but marketing management of this development. It is proposed to manage social and financial risks for companies not in isolation but jointly. The essence of risk management consists of integrating CSR into the marketing mix (except for P7: Physical Evidence). The target result of managing companies’ sustainable development in the new approach is the reduction of social and financial risks not separately but in a systemic manner.

5. Conclusions

This paper contributes to the concept of the sustainable development of companies (Saleem et al. 2024; Samieva et al. 2023) by clarifying the consequences of modern companies’ manifesting CSR for their financial risks. Due to this, the paper bridges the gap in the scientific view of managing financial and social risks. The results obtained are compared with the existing literature in

Table 7. Comparison of the results obtained and the existing literature.

Element of 7P		Consequences of the Integration of CSR into the Element of the Marketing Mix for Financial Risks to Companies
		Suggested in the Existing Literature	Factual, Established in This Paper (bi)
			For Investment Risk	For risk of Market Capitalization	For Risk of Movement of Shares
P1	Price	Mkrtchyan et al. (2023)	−0.02	0.55	0.43
P2	Product	Tao and Ji (2024)	0.71	0.30	0.08
P3	Place	Zhang et al. (2024)	0.25	−0.58	0.33
P4	Promotion	Farmaki et al. (2023)	−0.25	2.88	1.39
P5	People	Binh et al. (2023)	−0.63	−0.61	0.51
P6	Process	Petrenko et al. (2019)	4.06	7.08	−1.07
P7	Physical evidence	Bogoviz et al. (2023), Ravichandran et al. (2023)	−0.14	−2.07	−1.15

Source: Authors.

.

As shown in Table 7, unlike Bogoviz et al. (2023) and Ravichandran et al. (2023), the integration of CSR into P7: Physical evidence does not facilitate the reduction of financial risks to companies. Confirming Tao and Ji (2024), integrating CSR into P2: Product ensures a simultaneous reduction of all three considered financial risks to companies.

Unlike Mkrtchyan et al. (2023), integrating CSR into P1: Price facilitates the reduction of only investment risk but not the risk of market capitalization or the risk of the movement of companies’ shares. Unlike Zhang et al. (2024), the integration of CSR into P3: Place facilitates the reduction of only investment risk and the risk of movement of shares, but not the risk of market capitalization of companies.

Unlike Farmaki et al. (2023), the integration of CSR into P4: Promotion leads to the reduction of only the risk of market capitalization and the risk of movement of shares, but not the investment risk of companies. Unlike Binh et al. (2023), the integration of CSR into P5: People stimulates the reduction of only the risk of movement of shares, but not the investment risk or the risk of market capitalization of companies.

Unlike Petrenko et al. (2019), the integration of CSR into the P6: Process leads to a reduction of only the investment risk and the risk of market capitalization, but not the risk of the movement of companies’ shares. Continuing the scientific discussion and confirming the works by Oduro and Haylemariam (2019), Przhedetsky et al. (2018), and Yim et al. (2019), this paper proves the hypothesis that integration of CSR into the marketing mix contributes to the reduction of financial risks for modern companies.x

The goal posed was achieved, and we specified the consequences of the integration of CSR into the marketing mix for financial risks to modern companies. In particular, we received the following scientific results:

(1)

We compiled a model of the dependence of financial risks on the integration of CSR into their marketing mix. The model revealed that the complex reduction of all three considered financial risks is achieved in the case of CSR’s integration into P2: Product. Neither of the financial risks to companies decreased during CSR’s integration into P7: Physical Evidence. CSR’s integration into P1: Price, P3: Place, P4: Promotion, P5: People, and P6: Process ensures only a partial decrease in financial risks to companies;

(2)

We determined the perspective of sustainable development for Russian companies through fuller integration of CSR into their marketing mix to reduce financial risks. In Russia, this perspective is connected with a decrease in investment risk of 17,455.41%, the risk of market capitalization of 774.31%, and the risk of movement of shares of 850.06%;

(3)

We develop a new system approach to managing companies’ sustainable development. The features of the new approach are the transition from corporate to marketing management of companies’ sustainable development; the transition from isolated to systemic management of social and financial risks to companies; the implementation of risk management through the integration of CSR into the marketing mix (except for P7: Physical Evidence); establishing the target result of sustainable development management of companies as the reduction of social and financial risks not separately but systemically.

The main authors’ conclusion as a result of the conducted research is that sustainable development of companies in the Decade of Action (until 2030) requires the systemic integration of CSR into the marketing mix, for this will allow for a simultaneous decrease in social and financial risks. The theoretical importance of this conclusion consists in the disclosure of previously unknown cause-and-effect relationships between CSR and financial risks to companies, which are explained in the paper through the lens of the elements of the marketing mix in the 7P model.

The practical significance is because the proposed recommendations for fuller integration of CSR into their marketing mix will allow for reducing financial risks and ensuring the sustainable development of Russian companies in the Decade of Action (until 2030). The managerial significance is that the developed system approach to managing companies’ sustainable development will improve the practice of risk management in companies due to previously inaccessible joint management and a general reduction of social and financial risks.

The limitation of the results obtained is that they revealed a general necessity for the integration of CSR into the marketing mix of companies to reduce their financial risks, but the specific practice of this integration will be unique in each separate case. Each company requires its own applied solutions for systemic risk management based on marketing, given the specifics of its activities and the target market. That is why suggestions for future research are connected with case studies by the example of concrete companies and the development of highly detailed applied recommendations for the most optimal integration of CSR into the marketing mix of companies in the interests of the largest reduction of their financial risks.