Business As Usual in the 21st Century
By Chen Ying, ChinaEnterprise Confederation
As a result of China's accession into the WTO, increased flows of foreign investment and dramatic increases in sourcing from Chinese enterprises, China will undoubtedly become a critical player in the CSR arena. As is obvious from the articles assembled here, CSR is already greatly impacting Chinese businesses and especially those that are exportfocused. In light of this, understanding CSR trends and thoroughly analyzing CSR issues has become an important topic facing Chinese enterprises.
The Basis of Chinese CSR
We have always believed that the reform, evolution and success of business practices all rely on strong employee support of the enterprise. Accordingly, all businesses and businesspeople should make raising the quality of employees and developing human resources a core strategy for growth. In promoting a management philosophy that puts people first, businesses can build a culture that allows employees and employers better collaboration and a system that encourages mutual accountability.
Regardless of whether a country is Eastern or Western, developed or developing, everyone expresses their understanding of CSR similarly – that is, in their pursuit of profit, enterprises must also take responsibility for the needs of the environment, society and stakeholders. In today’s environment business people must take on the newest business thinking.This means strengthening business performance and its obligation to economic, environmental and social development. As stated by CEC President Chen Jinghua, enterprises must improve their consciousness of CSR and recognize the importance of CSR work.
Undoubtedly, profit is still the main motivator for most business. But for modern enterprises, success is not just measured by economic returns, but also through how much of a contribution they make to society more broadly. Shouldering some responsibility for CSR is an important characteristic of enterprises operating in the 21st century.
Rising Expectations Must Cut Both Ways
The year 2004 seemed to be the watershed in China as several multinational enterprises approached their supply chain partners in China with various CSR standards and certification requirements. This had the effect of causing some confusion within these enterprises and impacting them greatly. The reality is that implementing CSR is a “double-edged sword” of sorts. If implemented poorly, its impacts are significant for all companies.If done well, but without a mind to the rigorous demands of the market, it can introduce some peril. At bottom, it raises a host of investment and management issues for the enterprises that undertake it.
Many developed countries have used CSR as a basic requirement for market entry, using it as a way to restrict the competitiveness of countries undergoing development and greatly impacting the export economies of these developing countries. In recognition of this, multinational enterprises need to work with their Chinese suppliers to jointly shoulder the burden of implementing CSR standards as opposed to simply requiring small Chinese enterprises improve labor conditions while simultaneously coming to them with a voracious appetite to continually drive down prices. The two demands are fundamentally at odds with one another.
The Way Forward: CSR with Chinese Characteristics
Since the CSR agenda has started to be pushed in China, multinationals and international organizations have already set out hundreds of CSR standards, criteria, guidelines and management systems that Chinese enterprises have found rather unwieldy and difficult to manage. As we know, there are duplicative certification schemes and substantial costs for certification and its demands, both of which have wasted the time and money of Chinese enterprises.
It is not that these standards or management systems are not well thought out, but most of them are designed based on standards and laws that apply in developed countries, and do not necessarily account for China’s current reality. Some of these standards also contain political ramifications. For example, on the topic of human rights, some international organizations promote standards or systems that run counter to existing Chinese law. China already has quite a comprehensive and developed legal system that guarantees its citizens rights. Among these are: Chinese labor law, Chinese union laws, women’s rights protection law and others. If one looks closely, all of these laws contain information that is quite relevant and central to CSR.
And there is no doubt that we must work to assure consistent implementation of these laws within Chinese enterprises and to press deliberate efforts to make it more systemic. At the same time, we must do our own work examining Chinese law to ensure it meets the local realities here on the ground.Doing so will help condition international expectations and make sure that CSR management systems in China are both relevant and prevent confusion when it comes to managing business practices here.
One final item of common ground to point out is that CSR today is very distinct from corporations taking full responsibility for an entire society’s well being (as was the case in China’s history when Chinese enterprises were expected to provide a society with all of its needs). In the West as in China, contemporary CSR is an expectation of operating in a market-based economy that recognizes enterprises need to have goals and strategies that account for their responsibilities to employees, consumers, shareholders and their communities. As such, as these enterprises create profits, they are also gaining a good brand reputation and recognition, creating a win-win situation for society and the enterprise.
Managing the social side of business well is critical to any notion of brand, and larger Chinese companies are now beginning to develop their brands in powerful ways. In recognition of this, a good number of these companies have already taken on CSR as a core management practice and are working hard to develop goals for what this means in practice.
What does this mean going forward?CSR is here to stay in China. It will continue to get the serious attention of more and more enterprise leaders as our businesses grow both here and abroad.
Madame Chen Ying is the Deputy General Secretary of the ChinaEnterprise Confederation. For more information, visit
21世纪公司运营的几个观点
陈英
中国企业联合会（CEC）副理事长
随着中国加入世贸组织，特别是跨国公司加大在中国的投资和采购力度，中国将成为全球社会责任运动（CSR）的重点地区。正如本文中将要述及的，CSR已经对于中国企业特别是出口型企业带来了巨大影响。了解社会责任运动的发展趋势并深刻理解社会责任问题，已成为中国企业面临的新课题。
一、中国社会责任运动的基础
我们始终认为，企业的改革和发展必须广大职工的努力才能够实现。所有企业和企业家要把提高职工队伍素质、开发人力资源作为一项核心发展战略，贯彻“以人为本”的经营理念，促进企业劳动关系协调机制和制约机制的建立和完善。企业经营者与职工的关系，是一种既相互依存又相互制约的关系，只有双方共同协作把企业发展壮大起来，才能达到企业与职工“双赢”的目的。
无论是西方还是东方，无论是发达国家还是发展中国家，大家基本上用相同的语言来描述对于企业社会责任的认识，即企业在赚取利润的同时，应主动承担对环境、社会和利益相关人的责任。这就要求企业家必须具有鲜明时代特征的经营理念和企业行为，强化企业对经济、环境和社会发展应当担负的责任。正如中国企联陈锦华会长指出的，企业必须加深对于企业社会责任的理解，并且认识到企业社会责任的重要性。
诚然，对于任何一家企业来说，利润都是最重要的。获取利润是企业最重要的目标。但是，对于一家现代企业来说，企业成功与否的评价标准不仅局限于经济效益，还包括企业对于社会的贡献程度及广度。承担社会责任是21世纪的企业和企业家必须具备的时代品格。
二、企业社会责任是一把“双刃剑”
对于中国企业来说，2004年是一个“分水岭”。一些跨国公司纷纷对供应链上的中国企业实施社会责任标准认证，这对于中国企业产生了很大影响，产生了一些积极影响。但在推动企业和社会发展的同时，企业社会责任也是一把“双刃剑”，如果实施的策略方式不当，同样会带来负面影响。企业承担社会责任将会增加企业经营成本和管理难度，一些发达国家已把企业社会责任作为市场准入条件，以此来制约发展中国家企业的竞争，对发展中国家产品出口带来严重影响。跨国公司应当考虑与中国供应商共同分担社会责任成本，而不能一方面要求中国小企业改善劳动条件，另一方面却在采购合同上一味压低价格。
三、具有中国特色的企业社会责任
自从企业社会责任在中国兴起，迄今已经有跨国公司、国际组织推出的数以百计的社会责任标准、规范、准则、管理体系，让中国企业无所适从，已经出现重复认证、认证费用高等问题，使企业浪费了不少人力物力。
这些标准或管理体系不能说不科学，但是大多是基于国外经济社会背景和法律体系的，不一定适合中国的实际情况，有的还带有一定的政治色彩，例如在人权方面，一些国际组织的标准或管理体系有悖于中国现行法律法规。中国有较成熟的、完整的法律体系来保障公民的合法权益，如《劳动法》、《工会法》、《妇女权益保障法》等，都有关于企业社会责任的内容。
我们要在企业里贯彻好这些法律法规，把它作为一项系统性的、经常性的工作自觉抓好。同时，我们要研究这些法律法规，确保它们与实际情况相符，以建立符合中国国情，与国际衔接的中国企业社会责任管理体系。
这里要说明的是，要求企业承担社会责任并不意味着要求企业对于社会的发展承担全部责任（在过去，中国企业曾被要求满足社会的所有需求）。当前，无论是在西方国家还是在中国，企业社会责任要求企业在市场经济的条件下，有目的、有计划地主动承担对员工、对消费者、对股东和对社区的社会责任，其结果是企业在创造利润的同时，获得了良好的品牌形象和社会赞誉，实现企业利益和社会发展的双赢。
实施企业社会责任有助于建立、维持企业良好的品牌形象。实际上，不少大型企业已把积极承担社会责任列入经营方针，认真拟订企业社会责任目标。
企业社会责任已经走进中国。随着企业社会责任在中国及海外的发展，越来越多的中国企业领导者将会重视企业社会责任，并且努力投入到这项运动中来。