Amber British Chamber of Commerce CSR Report

8/6/2019 Amber British Chamber of Commerce CSR Report

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The BritishChamber of CommerceShanhai

CORPORATESOCIAL

RESPONSIBIBEST PRACTICE FROM CHINASEPTEMBER 2008


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THE BRITISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SHANgHAI

The British Chamber o Commerce Shanghai supports members businesses by providingkey inormation on business best practice in China and creating vital connections. Over 9,000executives attend more than 150 events a year held in Shanghai and surrounding cities suchas Suzhou. The reerral service and the online directory enable senior managers to contactdirectly their counterparts in other member companies in China. The website and monthlymagazine the beat allows members to share useul inormation on developments in Chinasrapidly changing business environment. The Chamber liaises closely with the Consulateto help members understand and resolve regulatory diculties, provide access to visitinggovernment ministers and assist new companies in coming to China. The Chamber has growndramatically over the last 3 years rom 450-1200 members. For more inormation visit:www.sha.britcham.org, call +86 21 62185022 or email [email protected]

WITH THANkS

The British Chamber o Commerce Shanghai would like to thank the sponsors o this reportincluding, Amber or their expertise in collating and analysing the data o this report, themany hours spent conducting the 10 ace to ace interviews and o course the time spentwriting and editing text. We would also like to thank 8 Days Marketing Consulting or thecreation o the online survey and Promoest or their translation services.

RESEARCH PROvIdEd BY: AMBER

Amber assists multinationals in China through the provision o market and businessintelligence. Our work supports strategic planning, investment, customer acquisition andmarketing decisions. Amber works by engaging opinion leaders and decision makers to bringclients up to speed quickly with the state o play in their business eld. We use knowledgegained rom subject matter experts and senior business leaders to provide clients withrecommendations on opportunities or growth and risk management. Contact Amber at:http://www.amberinsights.com +86 21 6466 4229 [email protected]

ONLINE SuRvEY PROvIdEd BY: 8 dAYS MARkETINg CONSuLTINg

8 Days Marketing Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. is a member o the Asia City PublishingGroup, the regions leading liestyle publisher, with oces in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore,and Kuala Lumpur. We provide premier city living and liestyle inormation and marketingservices throughout Asia with publications such as SH magazine. For more inormationplease visit our website:www.shmag.cn Or send us an e-mail:[email protected]

dESIgN PROvIdEd BY: PAPER STONE SCISSORSAn ut am, quatet adip ea eu eu acidunt pratinit non etummy nos diam, volobor aut utat

ilit autpatetuer si tem do od duis nulla consequam qui blam, vel ipsuscil esendigna.

TRANSLATION PROvIdEd BY: PROMOEST

Since 2004, Promoest has supplied advanced communication solutions to oreign companiesand institutions in China. Our core areas are: events management, tailor-made marketing andcommunication tools,exhibition boothsdesign and construction,t ranslations and interpretation.Promoest has successully created a Quality Supply System (certied ISO 9001:2000 by RINA,amongst the most prestigious certication bodies in the world). The Shanghai Oce andGuangzhou Desk are made o multi-lingual proessionals who can service all institutionaland corporate marketing needs. Contact:[email protected] (Mr Daniele Solari)

Note about the Author: Laura Mitchelson is the Founder and Co-Owner o Amber, anindependent consultancy which was established in 2005 to provide strategic planningsupport to multinationals mainly in the manuacturing sector in China. Laura has livedin China since 1994 and since then, has worked in a number o roles, all the time assistingand advising oreign companies in this market on their China strategy. She has worked withhundreds o SMEs and multinational corporations in China helping them to improve theirunderstanding o their markets in C hina and continues to be ascinated by the developmentsthat take place here.

CONTENTS

/ PREFACE 5/ RESPONdENTS THANkS 6/ ExECuTIvE SuMMARY 8/ METHOdOLOgY 9/ BACkgROuNd 11/ FINdINgS 12

CSR IN THE ORgANISATION

IMPLEMENTINg CSR BEST PRACTICES IN CHINA

/ CONCLuSIONS 27/ APPENdIx

CSR RESOuRCES 28uN gLOBAL COMPACT TENPRINCIPLES 29

IN TERMS OF POWER ANdINFLuENCE YOu CAN FORgETABOuT THE CHuRCH, FORgETPOLITICS. THERE IS NO MOREPOWERFuL INSTITuTION INSOCIETY THAN BuSINESS.ANITA ROddICk, BuSINESS AS uSuAL


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/ Preace Respondents Thanks / 5

PREFACE RESPONdENTS THANkS

The British Chamber o Commerce Shanghai, in partnership with Amber, is pleasedto present its Corporate Social Responsibility:Best Practice rom China report.

We, at The British Chamber, are in the unique position o being able to act as a catalystor inormation sharing on business related topics. We identied CSR as a new andchallenging area to many o our member companies and decided to conduct a studyinto the practices and policies being used in China, the ndings o which we will shareacross the membership.

Corporate Social Responsibility:Best Practice rom China is a new research report romThe British Chamber o Commerce Shanghai and Amber. Ambers research team wrotethe report and The British Chamber o Commerce Shanghai acted as the editor.

This is the rst time The British Chambers o Commerce in Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou,Hong Kong and Shanghai have collected survey data across China. Never beore has thisquantity o inormation about the details o implementing CSR policies in China bee sharedbetween such a large number o companies. In the report, we take a close look at:

/ Policies and standards

/ Management involvement

/ Reporting structures

/ Ethics and values statements

/ Charity partners

/ Implementation

/ China challenges

/ Budgets

/ Priorities or the years ahead

Our study is not intended as a commentary on why companies should or should notbe implementing or changing CSR practices, nor is it designed to showcase any onecompany. On a general note, British Chamber member companies are making a signicantcontribution in the eld o CSR in China. Since, theres always room or improvement, ouraim is simply to report directly what some o the most experienced CSR managers in Chinabelieve to be best practices in this eld allowing our member companies to take rom thestudy what is truly helpul to their business.

The Chamber would like to thank members o The British Chamber o Commercesin Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shanghai and the interviewees inShanghai or their time and insights.

INTERvIEWEES (LISTEd ALPHABETICALLY):

AMEC, AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., B&Q China, BP (China) Holdings Limited,Capital Eight, Diageo (China) Ltd., GKN China Holding Company Limited, HSBC Bank(China) Company Limited, KPMG China, S2M Group

RESPONdENTS (LISTEd ALPHABETICALLY):

Associated British Foods plc, Accu Service Group Co., Ltd., Added Value, Air Sea Worldwide(China) Ltd, Airlangga University, Allen & Overy, AMEC, Anglo American plc, AstraZenecaPharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Astute Electronics Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Atlas WardStructures (Shanghai) Co Ltd, Atradius Credit Inormation Consulting (Shanghai) Co Ltd,Axiom Oval Partnership Ltd, Baker Tilly Hong Kong Corporate Finance Ltd, Barclays BankShanghai Branch, BHP Billiton China, BP (China) Holdings Limited, British Council (Culturaland Education Section o the British Consulate-General), The British International School,Puxi Campus, BT China, Caliper , Capital Eight, CB Richard Ellis Property ConsultantsLtd., China-Britain Business Council, Central China Goldelds PLC, China Select, ChindexInternational, Christina Noble Childrens Foundation, CITIC-Prudential Lie InsuranceCompany Ltd., CMP Asia Ltd, Coca-Cola Bottlers Manuacturing Co Ltd, Colin Buchananand Partners China Ltd, Cookson Alpha Metals (Shenzhen) Co, Ltd - Enthone, CRISPINSProperty Investment Management, Crown Worldwide(China) Co. Ltd, Crowne PlazaShenzhen, CZC Trading Co, Ltd, Deloitte Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Deloitte ToucheTohmatsu, DEPFA Bank Public Limited Company, Det Norske Veritas, DG3 Asia Limited,Diageo (China) Ltd., DLA Piper, DLA PiperUK LLP Shanghai Representative Oce, DLAPiper UK LLP Beijing Representative Oce, EASTWEST Public Relations, English SchoolsFoundation, Enhanced Datasystems Ltd, ESAB Welding & Cutting (Shanghai) Co Ltd,Essential Finance, Evolution Watterson Securities Ltd, Shanghai Representative Oce,Fun Industries Asia Ltd, Futurestep (a Korn/Ferry Company), Gammon ConstructionLimited, GELEC (HK) Limited, GKN China Holding Company Limited, Gleeds, Greens PowerLtd, GSI Group - Westwind Air Bearings Suzhou, Guangzhou Puratos Food Co Ltd, Hai WeiBusiness Consulting Co Ltd, Hay Group Co. Ltd , HSBC Bank (China) Company Limited,Huaxin Cement, InterContinental Hotels Group, InteraceFLOR Overseas Holdings Inc.,Interax Inormation Services Ltd, Javelin Investments, J.M. Gemini Personnel Ltd., JonesLang LaSalle Limited, Jones Lang LaSalle, JW Marriott Hotel Shanghai, Kingsher AsiaLimited, Knight Frank (Shanghai) Property Consultants Co. Ltd, KPMG China, Linklaters,Lucite International (China) Chemical Co., Ltd, LowendalMasai China, MAXUS China,

Maxxelli Real Estate, NarrowGate Services International Ltd, Otto Intl China, Ove Arup& Partners Ltd, Pacic Prime, Pacic Risk Advisors Ltd, PCH International Ltd, PinsentMasons, Primark Stores Ltd, Proton Products Chengdu Ltd, Qualspec Asia Ltd, RegalInternational East Asia Hotel, Regus Business Centre, Renaissance Harbour View Hotel,HK, Renishaw (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd, Ricardo Shanghai Company Limited, Ronacrete(Guangzhou) Construction Products Ltd, Rotork Actuation (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Royal & SunAlliance Insurance Plc Shanghai Branch, S2M Group, Scott Wilson Ltd, Sedex, SEIMC,Shanghai CompAir Compressor Co, Ltd, Shanghai Scoones Agriculture InormationConsulting Co. Ltd, Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical Co, Ltd, Shanghai Taprogge WatertechEngineering Co. Ltd., Advantage Williams, Shangri-La Hotel Chengdu, Source China Ltd,Sovereign Trust (Hong Kong) Limited, Standard Chartered Bank, Standard Chartered Bank(China) Ltd. Guangzhou Branch, Sunquest Marine (China) Ltd, Super Bridge InternationalLogistics (Shanghai) Co, Ltd, Suttons International Freight Forwarding (Shangha) Co Ltd,Talent Spheres Group, TBWA\Group\China, TEAMSWORK, Texon International Ltd, TheAmerican Chamber o Commerce in Shanghai, The Edrington Group Ltd., The ExecutiveCentre, TNT China Holdings Co., Ltd, Vermilion Partners Limited, Wang Jing & Co, ?What I!,Watermark Asia Ltd, Willis Insurance Brokers Co., Ltd China, YES Limited, YSC Ltd (YoungSamuel Chambers)


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/ Executive Summary Methodology / 7

ExECuTIvE SuMMARY METHOdOLOgY

OuR RESEARCH HAS LEd uS TO BETTER uNdERSTANd THE HugENuMBER OF PROjECTS ANd INITIATIvES WHICH ARE BEINg IMPLEMENTEddAILY BY MEMBER COMPANIES IN CHINA. WE ARE NOT ABLE TO gO INTOINdIvIduAL PROjECTS IN THIS REPORT BuT INSTEAd HAvE FOCuSEd ONTHE BEST PRACTICE THAT COMES FROM THIS IN THE HOPE THAT THISWILL ASSIST MEMBER COMPANIES ANd OTHERS IN RAISINg THEIRgAME FuRTHER IN THE CSR SPACE IN CHINA.

WE ExPLORE THE ORgANISATIONAL STRuCTuRE NECESSARY TOSuPPORT CSR ACTIvITIES. FOR COMPANIES WITH LARgE SuPPLY CHAINS,

MuCH OF THE FOCuS IS ON HEALTH ANd SAFETY IN THE WORkPLACE.FOR CONSuLTANCIES, THEY HAvE A uNIquE SkILL BASE, WHICHALLOWS THEM TO OFFER PRO BONO SERvICES. FOR THOSE COMPANIESPROduCINg CONSuMER gOOdS, THERE IS MuCH vALuE IN THEIRINvOLvEMENT IN PROMOTINg THE PROPER uSE ANd CONSuMPTIONOF THESE gOOdS. COMPANIES FEEL STRONgLY THAT CSR ACTIvITIESSHOuLd BE CLOSELY RELATEd TO THEIR CORE BuSINESS.

LOOkINg AT THE vALuE OF CSR, WE uNdERSTANd THAT ROI ON CSRCANNOT BE EFFECTIvELY ANALYSEd ON AN ANNuAL BASIS. ITSANINvESTMENT NOT A COST ANd IS SEEN BY SOME OF THE MOSTSuCCESSFuL COMPANIES AS AN INSuRANCE POLICY.

The inormation contained in this report is the result o personal interviews with selectedmember companies and 139 online surveys completed by the CS R managers o BritishChamber member companies, many o whom are leaders in the CSR eld.

Phase 1:Online survey completed by 160 member companies consisting o 36 questions.

Phase 2:In depth, ace to ace discussions with CSR Managers with 10 Chamber membercompanies in Shanghai.

With a view to making this a practical, useul document or British Chamber o Commercemembers, we have taken an analytical look at the various programmes and policies inplace at Chamber member companies and probed managers or their plans or the uture.

Since denitions o what CSR covers vary with company size, industry and culture, orthe purposes o this study, we took a broad denition and all o the ollowing parameterswere incorporated:

ENvIRONMENTAL

/ Climate change

/ Emissions/Discharges

/ Waste

/ Materials consumption

/ Water Use

/ Energy use

/ Soil Depletion/Ag practices

/ Land Use

/ Biodiversity

/ Mono-culture arming

/ GMO

/ Supply chain

/ Stakeholder engagement

SOCIAL

/ Human Health

/ Workplace Conditions

/ Human Rights/ Employee H&S

/ Access to Healthcare

/ Community Impact

/ Capacity Building

/ Diversity

/ Work/Lie Balance

/ Privacy

/ Business ethics

/ Education

/ Supply chain

/ Stakeholder engagement

ECONOMIC

/ Financial Perormance

/ Investments-capital/R&D

/ Executive/employee compensation

/ Taxes

/ Government subsidies

/ Bribery/corruption

/ Intellectual property

/ Product selection

/ Corporate governance

/ Business models

/ Investor relations


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SuRvEY TARgETS

The ollowing chart illustrates the size, in termso sta, o companies who participated in the study.

HOW MANY STAFF dOES YOuR COMPANY HAvE IN CHINA?

With some member companies employing over 20,000 sta in China and somewith teams o less than 10, the scope o experience is very broad.

Over 90% o respondents to the online survey are in senior management positionsand 65% are directly responsible or CSR decisions in China in their companies.

In terms o China experience, some companies are China grown, others aremultinationals with long experience in China and some have only established inChina in the past 1-2 years. There is strong correlation between time since rstinvestment in China and sophistication o CSR programs amongst both SMEs andlarge companies. 47% o organisations have been established in China or morethan 10 years.

25% o respondents have over 50 companies in their supply chains and a urther17% have between 1-50 suppliers.

/ Methodology Background / 9

BACkgROuNd

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) - (qi ye she hui ze ren) - is a muchtalked about, hot topic. Getting it right in your company can win you awards and gettingit wrong has placed some o the worlds highest prole companies at the mercy o critics,lobbyists and angry customers. Now, around 40 years on rom its birth as a concept,business knows it is here to stay.

WHAT IS CSR?

There is no particular denition o CSR. It has been dened by the World BusinessCouncil or Sustainable Development, a CEO led institution as ollows:

THE BRANdS THATWILL BE BIg IN THEFuTuRE WILL BETHOSE THAT TAP INTOTHE SOCIAL CHANgESTHAT ARE TAkINgPLACE.

SIR MICHAEL PERRYCHAIRMAN OF CENTRI CA PLC

THE CONTINuINgCOMMITMENTBY BuSINESS TOBEHAvE ETHICALLYANd CONTRIBuTETO ECONOMICdEvELOPMENTWHILE IMPROvINg

THE quALITY OF LIFEOF THE WORkFORCEANd THEIR FAMILIESAS WELL AS OF THELOCAL COMMuNITYANd SOCIETY ATLARgE.

Cynics o CSR abound. They say that corporate social responsibility is just the latestlobbying tool. In the UK, at least, political donations are a big no-no or corporations.CSR, then, is simply another way o winning avour with government.

Yet CSR makes sense. Its easy or us all to see how decreasing energy consumptioncan lower costs. You can save up to 30% in business energy costs, simply with goodhousekeeping measures such as turning o lights a nd computers. Environmentaland social concern oten gives an obvious return on investment. Less waste meansless cost. Better treatment o sta means more people stay longer and you spendless on recruitment and training. In act, whether under the CSR banner or not, theway companies can do most good is by making money. They create jobs, products

and innovation.

In terms o measurement o CSR, an industry has sprung up but is still in its inancy.The Global Reporting Initiative, based in Amsterdam, develops and disseminates a listo globally applicable Sustainability Reporting Guidelines and provides an internationalstandard. The UNs Global Compact is also used as a guide to what to consider whencreating a CSR policy. The 10 principles o the Global Compact can be ound in theAppendix section o this report. Britain, particularly London, has been at the center omany o the improvements in CSR policy making and measurement.

As an indication o the growing importance o the discipline, the UK has a Minister orCorporate Social Responsibility. He rmly believes that corporate responsibility is aboutcompetitiveness about recruiting and retaining the best people. He noted, in a speechin London earlier this year, that there has been urther mainstreaming o responsibleinvestment practices, with the City o London acting as a global leader in this eld.

CSR, as we discovered through this survey, includes communicating best practices thatrange rom companies who shout about their CSR eorts to those who simply go quietlyabout the business o minimizing negative impacts on society and the environment andmaximising their positive impact.

150 (34%)

50200 (20%)

200500 (11%)

500+ (35%)


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0 / Background Background / 11

CSR IN CHINA

Corporate social responsibility or CSR has been around since the Industrial Revolution.It is practiced in many ways, rom general stakeholder awareness to outward communityimprovement programs. It is, however, still relatively new to China.

With the globalization o the world marketplace, it is becoming increasingly important tomonitor the practices o companies in China, both oreign and local. The Chinese labourenvironment has had a bad reputation or many years in terms o treatment o workers,the environment and community.

Previous years have seen negative reports rom China on issues like worker exploitation,and a lack o saety standards. Some o this reporting has led to consumer boycotts

o companies in their home countries and in some cases there was even governmentpressure rom home to clean up their act.

Today, corporate social responsibility is a necessary part o doing business in China.Without it, companies dont succeed.

The history o CSR development in China is a ascinating one. Seemingly harsh workingconditions havent always been rowned upon in China. We all know how the Great Walland the Qin tombs were built. Fast orward to 1966 and the government ormed the rsttrade union. Shortly aterwards, during the cultural revolution, it was dissolved but wasthen re-established in 1976 and amended in 1982 to allow workers to strike i they eltthat their working conditions were dangerous. Striking or economic reasons, however,was strictly orbidden! Still, this provided little or no protection to the employees andworkers rarely spoke up or ear o the consequences as the union was managed atlocal level and not closely monitored.

Todays picture is a very dierent one. Now, companies use CSR as part o their standardarmoury when competing or customers, business and potential hires. Billions o rmb istied up in the industry here and consultants who specialise in CSR policies and practiceare in abundance. How does a CEO or Director get to know about the best policies andpractice?

At a recent British Chamber Government Relations Roundtable in Shanghai, the BritishAmbassador and senior executives rom top UK businesses, such as BP and Unilever, allagreed that raising the prole o the UKs business activities in this area would be positive.British companies contribute a signicant amount to the debate and are closely involvedacross all elds o CSR in China. Globally, Britain is acknowledged as a leader in the eld.

In Shanghai in October 2007, 13 oreign and domestic companies launched the ChineseFederation or Corporate Social Responsibility. Companies that have been recognisedrecently or their work in the CSR eld at the 2007 China Social Responsibility Awardsinclude China Construction Bank, CNPC, China Mengniu Group, China Mobile, Haier,Sony, Nokia, HP and Siemens.

Having said that, 72% o our survey respondents believes that Chinese consumersdo not spend more with companies that have strong CSR policies.

LEgAL dEvELOPMENTS

Are you expected under law in China to put certain policies in place at your company?Is this picture changing?

It wasnt until 1 January, 2006 that the government o the PRC demanded that companies,both Chinese and oreign, have a CSR program in place. The Company Law o the PeoplesRepublic o China was amended to include emphasis on the social impact to the publicinterest. It states that while pursuing the maximum economic benets o the company,the company and its shareholders, directors, supervisors must also bear certain socialresponsibilities. The general provisions o the amended law require that the companymust abide by the law and administrative regulations, comply with social ethics, businessethics, honesty and trustworthiness, accept the supervision o the government and thegeneral public and bear social responsibility. However, even now there are no specicguidelines on how this law should be interpreted.

In just 2 years, since the government decree, there have been many steps in theimprovement o standards in the Chinese workplace. The minimum wage across thecountry has increased (also due to the state o the economy), there are more restrictionsconcerning environmental protection and labour standards are improving (Chinas newlabour law went into eect on 1 January 2008).

On October 17, 2007, at the 17th National Congress o the Communist Party o China,President Hu Jin Tao announced Chinas new eort to strengthen resource and energysaving and protect the environment, as well as become an environmentally riendlysociety.

These are exciting times and there is proound change happening at many levelso society which means that sustainability and community issues are now top othe agenda or government and business.


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FINdINgS


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4 / Findings / CSR in the organisation Findings / CSR in the organisation / 15

The big message is that CSR or being sustainable as a business or having good businessethics or being a good corporate citizen is simply a part o lie in business now. Its as muchon the agenda and warrants as many emails and meetings and time commitment as HRor Marketing or Organisational Change or any o the other things that occupy time.

WHERE dO YOu CONSIdER YOuR COMPANY PLACES CSR ON ITS LISTOF PRIORITIES?

Some say that it should simply be a part o the way businesses operate and that evenlabelling it as anything that is separate rom daily business operations incurs a risk thatpeople see it as some kind o a ad. Returning again to the concept that investing in CSRis like an insurance policy, the risk o reputation damage i you had no sustainability orcommunity programs in place is greater than the US$ value per hour.

A large number o the companies we interviewed stated that they had seen directbusiness benets as a result o their CSR and some o those are proled later. In somecases, working visibly with a charity partner, leads immediately to higher sales oa certain product or service.

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

High (66%)

Average (20%)

Low (14%)

Yes None Shared

Shared

None

Yes

Yes (53%)

No (47%)

CSR IN THE ORgANISATION

We asked next about the existence o a ormal CSR policy and ound that just above halo companies do have a ormal policy. This seems in contrast to the gure above and pointsto what commentators oten say about CSR, which is that business sometimes doesntquite know how to handle it within the organisation. All o those companies without a CSRpolicy, would, Im sure, have an HR policy, and now that CSR is a high priority or business,its maybe time they had a CSR policy. It is important or communicating the importanceyou place on CSR to stakeholders that there is a document that records aims, objectivesand policies.

dOES YOuR COMPNAY HAvE SOMEONE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR CSR?

WHY SHOuLdCOMPANIES BECONCERNEd ABOuTCSR? THE RESPONSETHAT CAME BACkFROM MANY

COMPANIES ISWRAPPEd uP WELLBY THIS COMMENT:

ITS STRAIgHTFORWARd...WE TAkERESOuRCES FROMTHE COMMuNITY,THEREFORE WE AREALSO OBLIgATEdTO gIvE BACk TOTHE COMMuNITY.

dOES YOuR COMPNAY HAvE A FORMAL CSR POLICY?

Respondents told us that, at the moment, the best way o ensuring CSR is implementedbroadly across the organisation, is by making several people partially responsible orit. Only 39 out o 139 companies surveyed have someone solely responsible or CSR.Although, this move tends to come with size, some o the largest companies haveseveral people partially responsible.


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The next question, then, is where should the CSR person sit? Should CSR or the personresponsible or sustainability in the organisation be rom or in the Public Relationsdepartment? Some new thinking rom the US and Europe says no because this leadsto the wrong ocus or the work but in China, the majority o CSR Managers we spoke tosit within the Corporate Communications. Retailers tend to house CSR in the Marketingdivision, Banks in Public or Corporate Aairs or even in Government Relations andother companies with a ocus on sta welare, house CSR in the HR department. Formanuacturers, most o the work is oten around monitoring quality in the supply chainand thereore, the CSR person could sit in the Purchasing/Procurement department.The conclusion o this survey is that theres no right answer to this question it is simplya case o making sure its happening and that progress is being made. CSR is increasinglymulti-disciplinary and since businesses vary so much in their structures, the key is that

wherever the person or people responsible or delivering CSR in the company are, theyeel empowered to be eective.

The question o what type o people should be responsible or CSR in the organisationcomes ater this. It may be that some o you are considering hiring a CSR Manager. Somesay they preer communications background people because whats needed is people whocan execute and get things moving. In many cases, people with a government relationsbackground are less good at action but may be better at managing the relationships withstrategic local partners. There is a tendency to think that communications departmentsare about communicating what is done, not doing it and that CSR ought to be set apartand led by practitioners who understand the deliverable. In China, however, the majorityo companies who have moved to having specic CSR departments have opted to housethose within the corporate communications or PR departments. This may be somethingthat will change over time as the industry develops here.

There is currently no course on CSR available in China so hiring graduates o the disciplinein China or those with practical experience in NGOs, or example, is not possible. It alwaystakes energy to drive any new business unction o course. Combination o companiesled locally and those led by head oces or even parent company policies. No one sizets all model but our later section on best practice maps out some o the things membercompanies have tried and tested in terms o how to organise things. It is worth noting herethat Ningbo University is currently registering a course with the Ministry o Educationwhich could means that a CSR program is running by as early as 2009. CEIBS is alsoplanning to add CSR content into its MBA program.

PERCENTAgE OF gM/CEO INvOLvEMENT WITH CSR

Next, we wanted to understand how much time the senior management spends on CSRsince this is always a strong indicator o the value placed on a unction. The ollowingchart illustrates that China CEOs are a hard-working bunch with 57% o CEOs and GMsspending between 10-50% o their time on CSR.

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

% o time spent

0% 110% 1050% 50%+

Yes (44%)

No (56%)

dO YOu HAvE A CSR BudgET?

Following the understanding o senior management time commitment, how about theunding? How much and rom where?

It would be encouraging, we think, to repeat this survey in a years time when the answerswould be dierent more and more companies are realising that CSR is an investmentand that allocating a budget ormalises involvement and convinces everyone across theorganisation that this is something that is being taken seriously. It tends to be smallercompanies who do not have a specic budget or CSR.

IS THE CSR BudgET gLOBALLY OR LOCALLY FuNdEd?

0 10 20 30 40

Mostly local

Combination

Mostly global

How much time and money to spend on CSR is a constant challenge. Larger companiesare now looking at around 1% o operating prot being a sensible gure.


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HOW OFTEN dO YOu COMMuNICATE WITH gLOBALHEAdquARTERS ON CSR?

WE LAuNCHEd ANANTI-SMOkINg RuLEBuT IN CHONgqINg,IT WAS dIFFICuLTBECAuSE EvERYONESMOkEd. WE HAdTO FINd A WAY TO

BE uNdERSTANdINgOF THE LOCALCuLTuRE ANd NOTFIgHT AgAINST THATTOO MuCH ANdALIENATE PEOPLE.WE HAvE WAYS OFACCOMMOdATINgTHE STAFF NEEdSNOW A SEPARATESMOkINg AREA ALONg WAY FROMTHE SITE.BP

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Daily (2%)

Weekly (9%)

Monthly (23%)

Less than monthly (9%)

N/A (2%)

One o the most interesting ndings o the study is that China teams appear to have hugeautonomy when it comes to implementing CSR. Whilst there are some companies who aremostly driven by global headquarters (only around 12% o those surveyed), the majorityare deciding their CSR involvement independently and this o course leads to scope orinnovation in a market which certainly has some unique characteristics. We looked nextat communications with headquarters and asked respondents to tell us how regularlythey communicate on CSR. The results show, again, that there is a great deal o autonomypresent with only 11% o respondents communicating more than weekly. The majoritywould report monthly or less than monthly on CSR. I it wasnt or the high priority placedon CSR in our question above, it could be argued that this is because CSR is not on theagenda but we know it is now.

IS YOuR COMPANY APPLYINg gLOBAL CSR STANdARdS?

It is worth emphasising that, as with so many other business unctions, the progressin China is aster than in many other areas but we are starting rom a lower level. Withless consumer awareness, less shareholder pressure and ewer people who understandthe benets o CSR, many managers are under pressure to bring CSR practices up tointernational standards but are aware that this is a tougher challenge in China than itis in more developed markets. We asked about global standards and learned that thewill is certainly there.

Yes (33%)

Nearly (31%)

No (36%)

Yes (32%)

Does not share but would like to (26%)

No (42%)

There seems to be correlation between communicating regularly with colleagues overseasabout CSR and being able to assess whether or not global standards are attained. Someindustries have several dierent sets o global standards and others none. There is a wealtho generic, global standards our there or those companies that want to benchmark andit would seem rom our studies that it is perhaps more a lack o knowledge o what globalstandards are than not knowing i were hitting them in China operations so perhaps a quicklook at the UN Global Compact key principles (cited at the end o this report) might help.

HAvE YOu EvER CARRIEd OuT AN INTERNAL EMPLOYEES SuRvEY?

How do you know how well youre doing with your CSR? One method is to conduct aninternal employee survey. The number o companies that said they had not conductedinternal employee surveys is perhaps a bit surprising given this climate o communicationenhancement in many companies. However, our explanation or this is that companieshave, in the main, not conducted CSR ocused surveys but that general employeesatisaction surveys would be more used.

dO YOu CuRRENTLY SHARE BEST PRACTICE WITH OTHER COMPANIES?

Yes (29%)No (71%)


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0 / Findings / CSR in the organisation Findings / Implementing CSR best practice in China / 21

We asked about sharing best practice. Many companies coness to not having expertisein-house and many more welcomed the opportunity to discuss programs and policiesmore openly. So were pleased to be able to present these ndings and best practiceas part o the sharing o knowledge in this eld.

IMPLEMENTINg CSR BESTPRACTICES IN CHINA

NOW THEPROgRAMSARE MORESOPHISTICATEd,THERES EvENMORE NEEd FOR

PEOPLE TO SHAREAPPROACHES ANdOPPORTuNITIESFOR BEST MATCHESWITH PARTNERORgANISATIONS.MANAgER CSR, kPMg

A SPECIFICOBjECTIvE FORTHE FuTuRE IS TOSTudY HOW CSRMANAgEMENTS OPERATEdN dIFFERENT

COMPANIES.&q

Measuring results is always going to be a challenge with the intangibles. We do knowthough that CSR is denitely used as a competitive dierentiator in China. None o ourinterviewees had any doubt about that. Many local partner companies or local governmentsare looking or international rms that add value and CSR is one o the things that canoten be used to set companies apart rom local competition.

One common theme amongst all those companies with strongest CSR was that thecommunications channels in the company are strong. Positive climate indexes, staeedback, online satisaction surveys it doesnt matter what its called, these methodso assessing how good your team is eeling are oten directly aected by what CSR isbeing carried out.

So, now that we understood where to nd CSR in the organisation and who is delivering itand where the unding comes rom and what some o the progress is, we started to lookexternally.Theres a strong eeling that CSR is already being used regularly as a competitivedierentiator so the question is now how everyone leverages that. How and how much andwhere you talk about what you do in this eld is where we nd some bones o contention.Some members believe that moving towards making the business sustainable and ensuringthat sta are airly treated and supply chains are closely monitored to check that they arein line with international standards and giving something back to the community shouldbe all in a days work or all private companies and that this is nothing to shout about.Others say, in a competitive world, where dierentiation is key, why not shout about it.This will depend on many actors. A company who talks only about its communityprograms or talks too loudly, too oten, is likely to get a reputation or being all talk andno action. There has to be a balance and i youre talking about what youre doing, expectothers to take an interest and to want to know some o the measurable results o youreorts.

In any case, it is undeniable that having strong CSR is a great way to make your customers,(both in B2C or B2B businesses), eel good about themselves when choosing your productor service.

Finally, we looked at the options or delivering in-house programs or outsourcing to a CSR orPR consultancy. Most elt that keeping this unction in-house works best or the moment.

So what have we learnt? One o the best things about our interviewees is that tried andtested best practice and implementation suggestions fows rom all o them. We have puttogether easy-to-use checklists o the best ways to design and execute a project whichare located in the appendix or you to reer to as you strengthen your own CSR eorts. Thissection proles the unique characteristics o CSR implementation in China and is dividedinto the ollowing sections:

/ Market Opportunities

/ The Role o Government

/ Tax Environment

/ Health & Saety

/ Partners

/ Media

/ Community Programs

/ Employee Relations

/ Legal Compliance

/ Sta Involvement

/ Recruitment & Retention

MARkET OPPORTuNITIES

Most respondents eel that CSR has been on the agenda in China or a number o yearsnow and that at national and provincial level, government bodies are very aware o theissues involved.

Many Chinese companies would look to an international investor or potential partnercompany to introduce new ideas around CSR as part o what they bring to a local areaor a JV partnership. International companies have a antastic opportunity to infuencenew government policy in China.

THE ROLE OF gOvERNMENT

Government plays a bigger role in the development o society in general in China.I you dont have the right relationship with government, core areas o your businesscan be negatively aected. CSR can be a asttrack to improving that relationship.Since government relations orms a part o what every business has to manage inChina, whether large or small, interviewees shared examples o where CSR has helpedsmooth things in this area:

Our global chairman was in Shanghai last November and met with Ministers in Beijingand the vice mayor in Shanghai. In all the meetings, people said we were known becauseo our Water o Lie program and they know that we invented responsible drinking inChinese. CSR ast-tracks your company to strong government relations in a countrywhere without it, we couldnt do anything. Diageo.

One o the reasons that the local authorities in Danyang are so pleased to have us isthat they believe we will bring international and modern standards. Certain aspects othe labour law to do with minimum wage and so on are not respected by all companiesbut GKN sticks to the rulebook very closely. GKN

Last week, our President visited CBRC Head oce in Beijing and the meeting wascompletely side-tracked by talking about our brochure on nancial planning whenwe were supposed to be discussing core business issues. HSBC

TAx ENvIRONMENT

Tax benets are not available here to companies through CSR as they are in othermarkets and although we asked our interviewees about this, very ew seemed to beengaged in active lobbying or any change in this law. Only certain NGOs are able to oertax deductions on donations made. Unlike in the US and Europe where tax deductiblegiving is now the norm, in this respect, China has some catching up to do.


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2 / Findings / Implementing CSR best practice in China Findings / Implementing CSR best practice in China / 23

PARTNERS

Working with community partners and local charities also throws up some challenges.At the moment, there are no clear mechanisms in place or tracing money donated throughthe ocial government organisations so that i you are keen to donate to a particularcause, it can be dicult to ensure the money is directed there. Charity partners shouldnow be able to give you very clear breakdowns on project costs and unding streamsand should be happy to provide you with updates on the project at agreed intervals,particularly i you are a major donor. I they cant, perhaps its time to work with oneo the many that can.

top tip

High credibility with partners is important so bear in mind that only certain charities andNGOs are approved in China. I in doubt, contact the Shanghai Charity Foundation as a

reerence or ask to see the business license o any NGO that approaches you or support.

MEdIA

In China, we are lucky to have a press that is more willing than its counterparts in theWest to write good news stories. This is a big advantage or company communicationsdepartments operating in China. It is worth mentioning however, that Chinese media willnot accept press releases rom corporations in China on a purely CSR theme. This prolingin the media can lead very quickly to a great sense o sta pride in what the company canachieve and this can have a hugely positive knock on eect in other elds o the business.

top tip

Use the act that the cynicism that is so oten ound about business in the media in theWest, is less apparent in China or the most par t, local media will be supportive o eorts

by international companies to improve the communities they work in.

COMMuNITY PROgRAMS

For the most part, member companies in China are involved in community programsin China although some o the work that is being done by larger companies in China ishaving a regional and even international impact.

Since there are an overwhelming number o community projects now operating acrossChina and with improved availability o inormation access, it can be hard selecting theproject thats right or your company.

top tip

Dont let inertia set in is the advice rom our interviewees and those whove done it beore.I you are delaying more than 2-3 months because you havent ound the right project yet,get started on something small that doesnt require too much o a commitment rst justto set things in motion.

HEALTH & SAFETY

One key aspect o implementing in China is in the eld o health and saety. Manyinterviewees noted that they need to check more rigorously and tell employees morerequently about key issues than they would in more developed markets. As GKN point out,In terms o health and saety, we expect the same levels in China as we do internationally.We check more rigorously in China and we are more vigorous with telling people howto do it.

top tip

Make reporting o the CSR improvements go direct to the CEO. Accidents in theworkplace should be reported to the CEO. I people eel the top guys are going tohear about it, it increases motivation.

WE PREFERTO WORkWITH SMALLORgANISATIONSBECAuSE THEYTENd TO BE

MORE ABLE TOgIvE YOu THETRANSPARENTPICTuRE.

2M

THERE ARE AREASOF dOWNTOWNSHANgHAI WITHBIg NEEdS.CAPITAL EIgHT

EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

CSR is all new in China and most o the companies surveyed have seen the biggestincrease in health and saety measures, sustainability and community impactprogrammes only in the last 2 years. New sta, particularly those coming in newto multinational companies, may need the concept explaining to them at a morebasic level. Citing examples o other companies and clearly explaining the benetswill help.

Direct benets o CSR:

/ Increased moral

/ Dierentiates as an employer

/ The eel-good actor amongst employees

/ Pride in the company

/ Show long-term commitment to China

/ Improved relationships with local and national government

/ Positioning as a market leader

/ Access to opinion ormers in the industry

/ A reason to shout about what you do

/ A head start on your local competitors who are unlikely tohave developed such advanced policies and programs (yet!)

/ Growth

/ For companies who want to use best practice in everythingthey do, CSR should be no dierent

/ Reputation is golden

/ Innovation results rom working with community partners

WE dO A LOT OFMATCH FOR MATCHFuNdINg, SO IF ASTAFF MEMBERgOES ANd RuNSA MARATHON ANd

RAISES MONEY, WEWILL MATCH THAT.AMEC


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4 / Findings / Implementing CSR best practice in China

LEgAL COMPLIANCE

Legal compliance in China should probably be seen as a start point or internationalcompanies not the end goal because the regulations are not yet as crystallized here asthey are in other markets. There is a requirement by law that companies consider thesocial and environmental impact o their actions but as many international companiescan testiy, this requirement is not necessarily enorced as strictly with Chinesecompanies as it might be.

top tip

Use this as a competitive dierentiator. The areas where international companies havea clear edge over Chinese competitors are being rapidly reduced but in the eld o CSR,

it is likely that international companies reputation or minimising the negative impacton the community and the environment will be maintained or some time to come.

STAFF INvOLvEMENT

In China, some companies we talked to are aiming or 90% employee participationin volunteer schemes. I you are managing to engage a mixture o junior and seniormanagers and as a whole, the company is spending more resources on CSR thisyear than last year, thats a good measure o the success o the program. The otherimportant measure is employee eedback. Ask on a regular basis or your teams inputand suggestions and comments on the work you currently do in this space and orsuggestions o what should be done next. In a hierarchical society such as this, CSRcan provide a rereshing opportunity or junior sta to excel and work side by sidewith senior partners or managers.

top tip

Family is important in China. Use outdoor projects that can be a means to urthereducating your employees children. This means people are more likely to get involvedsince theres a benet or the whole amily. When we started to plan CSR events thatencourage amily participation, all o a sudden, these events become really popular.Planting tree days, outdooor projects that have some means to educate their kidsare popular. AstraZeneca

RECRuITMENT & RETENTION

The talent and title war in China is aecting many businesses. Being a good corporatecitizen adds to your armour in the rush to recruit good candidates or your top jobs.In China, amily plays a more signicant role in many young peoples lives than it does

in the West. Just working or an MNC is no longer enough but a large number o the20-something talented graduates that you may be recruiting will still live at home andi employees are able to eel proud o what their company is doing in China in ront otheir parents and close amily, this helps keep them with you.

SMES ANd CSR

quICk WAYS TO IMPLEMENT TOdAY

For SMEs, there are the usual resource issues but The British Chambers SMEmembers set themselves apart by proving that even the smaller companies canproduce hugely eective CSR initiatives. Some o their advice on how to do it ollows:

/ Dont be nervous about picking the cause sometimes a personal connectionhelps keep the project on track

/ Many companies have their CSR policies posted online or in company reports souse this publicly available inspiration and tailor it to t with your size/resourceswhen youre designing your approach

/ Make the most o community involvement it can really help to give a businessa character and is also a great help when building a new team

/ I nancial donations seem a way o with your current balance sheet, get involvedby using any down time to oer in kind support or local community partners

/ Reer to your CSR policy in your e-brochure or company presentation

/ Talk with riends in HR departments o larger companies to establish equalopportunity policies

/ Remember that any broadening o your community network has a business benet

/ Recycle all paper

/ Print on Quick Print

/ Purchase urniture rom companies with published environmental policies

/ Donate any unused oce urniture or equipment to charity

/ Set up a Best Employee Award with a small nancial bonus and a ocus onCSR involvement

/ Have a quick look through the media to see which writers and commentators writeregularly on sustainability and CSR and then beriend them!

/ Since you may not have the resources to implement thorough checks on yourcommunity or charity partners, use more gut instinct about the way they operateand how transparent they are and build relationships over time. Start slowly.

/ Put dont print this email messages on the bottom o your emails.

/ Swap the pile o new paper by the side o the printer or scrap paper.

/ Cancel orders o notebooks and use the scrap paper torn in hal and stapled instead.

/ Design a sta satisaction survey including questions about CSR and post it onyour website.

/ For manuacturers, start all management meetings with saety rst.

/ Put in place some yearly targets or gas, water and electricity consumption.

/ Ask sta what local community project theyd be most interested in.


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6 / Findings / Conclusions Findings / Conclusions / 27

At a broader level, it adds much perspective to the debate about CSR to consider thegrowth o this industry in the context o Chinas own development. Certainly, a protableor competitive business climate and wealth accumulation, are necessary preconditionsto initiate CSR. Naturally, the relationship between corporate social responsibility andeconomic growth is one that is much studied and in many ways, China is paying moreattention to CSR than might be expected rom a country at this level o GDP per capitaand disposable income but Chinas size, means it attracts and deserves special attentionrom the international community.

CSR has traditionally been seen as a luxury or successul companies in developingnations. It is only very recently that any o Chinas regions have been considered highincome on a global scale and thereore only recently that Chinas government has come

under pressure to deliver on the development o CSR. With the growth o the middle classand a more sophisticated consumer view o companies and their policies, successulbusinesses are watching careully to ensure their policies refect the desires o theirconsumers and markets. We believe that in China, businesses have a unique opportunityto impact consumers more than they might in other more sophisticated consumer markets.

In many other countries, companies work closely with the NGO community but thisis true to a lesser extent in China where particularly oreign NGOs have a hard timeregistering and operating. The continued opening up o this business sector in Chinawill give businesses great depth o understanding o the key social and environmentalchallenges aced here and where best business is able to assist. At some stage, theChinese government will ease restrictions on the civil society section o business andthis move will represent a signicant departure rom past history.

To date, the Chinese government has used a combination o sot touch incentives toencourage better reporting and heavy handed pressure such as the black list o enterpriseswhich, because o their poor polluting record, may not be granted commercial bank loans.We are all aware o the Chinese governments ability to quickly and eectively introducesweeping new policies in other areas o business (the labour law is a good example) sothe world is watching expectantly to see just what the most populous nation can achievein the CSR space.

We think the uture o CSR in China will involve consolidation o charitable and communitypartners, more specialisation rom companies in terms o the projects they are involvedin, a bigger base o specialised CSR practitioners with a better network or sharinginormation and more ocus on this issue or senior managers. We predict a move awayrom ad hoc donations to longer-term partnerships in the community building areaand expect Chinese competitors to increasingly use CSR practices as a competitivedierentiator. This will ensure international businesses here are kept on their toes.The Chamber will continue to closely monitor the situation and to update its members

on the key issues.

We learned a great deal rom this study and hope that you have ound it a useul read.We welcome comments and suggestions or uture CSR related publications and events.These should be communicated to The British Chamber o Commerce Shanghai.

CONCLuSIONS

THE NEEd TO ACkNOWLEdgE CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ANd TOHAvE A REAdY ANSWER PREPAREd FOR THOSE WHO ASk WHAT IS BEINgdONE BY YOuR COMPANY IS NOW ACuTE FOR ALL SENIOR MANAgERS,REgARdLESS OF THEIR dEPARTMENT OR RESPONSIBILITIES. THE TOPIC ISA TALkINg POINT FOR A WIdE RANgE OF AudIENCES ANd STAkEHOLdERSFROM SHAREHOLdERS TO vENTuRE CAPITALISTS ANd FROM CHINESEgOvERNMENT TO COMPETITORS.

91% o our respondents believe the importance o CSR will increase in uture and 68%have concrete plans in place to increase the amount o management time spent on CSRin the coming year. Only 1% o our respondents eel that management time will decrease.

Whilst this commitment is encouraging, policies and standards are constantly evolvingand there is certainly room or better understanding o the international policies andregulations on the part o some companies. Having a team that is aware o the key issuesis certainly helpul in communicating and executing your own companys programsand policies. In addition, global reporting encourages the development o standardizedpractices and is benecial in injecting a sense o the bigger picture to local operations.We sensed a eeling among companies that whilst we should be pleased to have CSRprograms and policies, everyone should persevere in ensuring the uture o these initiativesis put on the Board room agenda. Only in this way, will companies continue to grow.

CSR is set to remain o key importance in the business environment globally. Specicto China, given the competition or talent, employee satisaction is likely to be usedincreasingly as a measure o success o CSR as increasing resources are diverted tothe cause o maintaining top talent and as that top talent is more and more motivated bypride in their company and other intangibles as well as by nancial rewards. Employersneed to dierentiate themselves and retention brings signicant cost savings ater all.


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8 / Appendix Appendix / 29

/ Work hard to not let bureaucracy kill theenthusiasm on projects.

/ Lead by example i the CEO or GeneralManager is involved, others will want tobe too.

/ Sales people naturally enjoy interactingwith people so start your new program bygetting your sales team involved. They areused to being the ace o the company.

/ CSR newsletters give all sta opportunityto eel involved.

/ Partnership is key but these partners haveto be well researched and monitored.

/ Get an itemised billing o where anymonetary donation goes. Make everythingtransparent.

/ Measurement is dicult except withmonetary donations but a good aim is todo more this year than you did last year.

/ Set targets. This leaves a eel-good actoror employees.

/ Carry out an annual sta satisactionsurvey to make sure everyone is happywith the environment they are workingin and include a CSR a spect.

/ There is oten instant payback rombecoming a better corporate citizen sodont be surprised i you start to eel good

within 6-9 months o setting programs inplace and also dont be surprised i yourCSR meetings are some o the liveliestcompany meetings you attend.

THE ExECuTION

/ Get momentum stick to a policy orproject once youve decided on it.

/ Let your team get a real eel or the projector charity or initiative i you can touch it,its a lot more real.

/ Open discussions with Chinese partnerson the reasons or your sustainabilitygoals or health and saety in theworkplace regulations.

/ Match employee time or cash donationsto encourage participation. This meansthat the ideas or how to raise money andwhat projects to support are generated byindividuals at all levels o the company.

/ Identiy opportunities to allowimplementing sta to train with othersand to share best practice.

/ I your team is going to be out or the dayworking on a community project, undtheir lunch!

/ Practice implementing CSR and dontbe araid to learn rom trial and error abit. Its hard to learn by reading bookson the topic.

/ Details are important one intervieweesuggested starting with the hygienestandards in your own sta canteen.

/ I you nd yoursel fogging a dead horseater all o this, give up and re-design the

strategy because it may just be that thestrategy doesnt t what youre doing orwhos doing it or you in China and i thatsthe case, its better to quit early thanwaste time trying to convince people toget involved when theyre reluctant.

/ Reuse other projects that approach you ithey dont t your requirements. You cantdo everything and its better to ocus.

/ Projects can snowball so be aware o andclear with partners on where the end oyour unding stream or time commitmentcomes.

APPENdIx

One o the best things about our interviewees is that tried and tested best practice andimplementation suggestions fowed rom all o them. We have put together easy-to-usechecklists o the best ways to design and execute a project and hope you reer to theseas you strengthen your own CSR eorts.

THE dESIgN

/ Look or an issue where it has a role toplay better than other businesses could.Look or areas in the community whereyou have a unique ability to make adierence.

/ Make it close to your business.There is no one model that ts all.

/Consider your stakeholders and invest inCSR that will strengthen or consolidate ormove relations with these parties orward.

/ Once you have decided on what to putyour energy into, write it into your visionstatement so that it starts to dene thecompany.

/ Tie in local programmes as much aspossible to those happening elsewherein the world.

/ Check whats being done by companiesin your industry that have been in Chinalonger and emulate. These people havedone the trial by error part or you and CSRshould be considered a win-win game.

/ Try to cater to the natural personality othe people you have on your team whowill be involved in driving the initiative

/ Design with a real-world impact in mind.The benets should be clear or everyoneto see.

/ Take guidance rom company-wide

guidelines or policies but drive theimplementation locally. Start on a reallylocal level i you can since impacts arethen more quickly elt.

/ Consider building in an element o disasterrelie (maybe a und) into your program sothat i a disaster does hit in an area whereyou have operations or in China, you areimmediately able to act quickly to make

a donation to relie eorts.

/ In terms o straightorward charitydonations, work with a gure o around5-10% so that at least 90% o your CSRcontribution is made through targetedcommunity programs or time spentlooking at the sustainability o thecompany.

/ Dont play the hero! Once you get intotackling some o the greater challengesin community programs, design a projectwith 3 partners you, a local charitypartner and then a local media groupor even government department.This gives the project stability.

/ Understand that the majority o benetsrom CSR are intangible. Nobody canmeasure it eectively although cost savingsrom reduced energy consumption are clear.

/ Whilst you must have some orm oreporting built into the design, this mustbe tailored to dierent stakeholders.Think rst o what your stakeholders(customers, partners, suppliers, sta,shareholders) will want to see in termso results and then design a program

that can deliver.


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0 / SectionTitle

COPYRIgHT

While every eort has been taken to veriy the a ccuracy o this inormation, neitherthe British Chamber o C ommerce Shanghai nor Amber can accept any responsibilityor liability or reliance by any person on this report or any o the inormation, opinionsor conclusions set out in this report.

uNITEd NATIONS gLOBAL COMPACT

The Global Compacts ten principles in the areas o human rights, labour, theenvironment and anti-corruption enjoy universal consensus and are derived rom:

/ The Universal Declaration o Human Rights

/ The International Labour Organizations Declaration on Fundamental Principlesand Rights at Work

/ The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development

/ The United Nations Convention Against Corruption

The Global Compact a sks companies to embrace, support and enact, within their sphere

o infuence, a set o core values in the areas o human rights, labour standards, theenvironment, and anti-corruption:

HuMAN RIgHTS

/ Principle 1:Businesses should support and respect the protection o internationallyproclaimed human rights;and

/ Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.

LABOuR STANdARdS

/ Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the reedom o association and the eectiverecognition o the right to collective bargaining;

/ Principle 4: the elimination o all orms o orced and compulsory labour;

/ Principle 5:the eective abolition o child labour;and

/ Principle 6: the elimination o discrimination in respect o employment and occupation.

ENvIRONMENT

/ Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmentalchallenges;

/ Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility;and

/ Principle 9: encourage the development and diusion o environmentally riendlytechnologies.

ANTI-CORRuPTION

/ Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its orms, includingextortion and bribery.


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For more information visit www sha britcham org

The BritishChamber of CommerceShanhai

CORPORATESOCIAL

RESPONSIBIBEST PRACTICE FROM CHINASEPTEMBER 2008

Amber British Chamber of Commerce CSR Report

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Transcript of Amber British Chamber of Commerce CSR Report