I found a great article this evening on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in China that does a great job of making the case that CSR isn’t just good for society, but also good for business. Check out Charity CASE from China Daily. Following are a few interesting points from the article:

“Many multinationals and leading domestic companies are taking part in various social causes; most say that they are just being responsible corporate citizens and do not expect any returns from charity.”

I wonder how many, “Many multinationals” actually is…

“‘The first thing people need to understand around corporate social responsibility is that the business case is very strong. If you look at any survey, all other things being equal (such as price and quality), the consumer will buy from the company that has a responsible attitude towards its community.

“‘In recruitment, people want to work for a company with a responsible social attitude.

“‘Business needs the community in which it operates and a company can play major role in that community. There is a clear moral case in corporate social responsibility and the business case is very strong. What is important now, given recent corporate scandals, is that companies must be seen to be doing it and not just talking about it. There is a danger that corporate social responsibility is seen a [sic] smokescreen for greed and profit.’

Those are great statements. The business case actually is very strong and it is interesting how few companies actually understand that dynamic. However, I wonder how many individuals truly care whether or not a potential employer has a “responsible social attitude”. I also really like the acknowledgement that there could be a connection, or perception of a connection, between CSR and simply creating a smokescreen to make more money.

“According to Wu Changqi, vice-dean of Guanghua School of Management which is affiliated with Beijing University, responsible corporate citizens, in addition to paying taxes and making donations, should protect and conserve the environment, provide job opportunities in the local economy, guarantee employees’ safety and welfare, as well as contribute to the local social network….

“But Chinese corporate giants do not have high-profile missions, or communication strategies.

“CCF statistics shows that there are over 13 million registered companies in China, fewer than 100,000 make donations.

“As Edward Tse, managing director of Booz Allen Hamilton for China, said at a recent China Daily CEO Roundtable on CSR, Chinese companies have always been socially responsible, but “for different reasons” and usually in a narrow sense.

“They tend to focus on employees rather than the bigger community. As Chinese companies expand overseas, they’ll have to realize that there is a set of universal values that corporations should observe.”

Cultural differences? Perhaps. It will be interesting to see what happens as Western businesses and Chinese businesses continue to intermingle and work together. Will one contingency outweigh the other, or will we see a co-mingling of ethical principles and practices?

TAGS: China | CSR | Charity | Ethics | Social Responsibility

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 1st, 2005 at 12:52 am and is filed under Business Ethics, CalPoly MBA, China, Social Enterprise. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.