香港中文大學

Corporate Social Responsibility in HK: A Socio-Political Perspective

Prof. Kin-man CHAN Director, Centre for Civil Society Studies

Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific StudiesThe Chinese University of Hong Kong

Data on Corporate Social Responsibility in HK• CSR Survey of Hang Seng Index Constituent

Companies 2009 – Oxfam Hong Kong• Caring Company Scheme – Hong Kong

Council of Social Service

• Survey documents the CSR policies and initiatives of the 42 Hang Seng Index Constituent Companies in 2009

• Dimensions of CSR: CSR strategy and reporting, stakeholder engagement, workplace quality, environmental performance, supply chains, and community investment

• Strength:– High level of stakeholder engagement except trade union

• Weakness: – A significant gap in CSR performance between the best and worst

performing companies– Weak in environmental performance, e.g. no tangible reduction

targets– Very weak in supply chain management (ethical procurement)

• 2,217 companies and organizations are awarded. Among them, 986 are small and medium size enterprises (SME) in 2011

• For the Caring Company Award , corporate must at least fulfill two criteria in each of the three scopes (Caring for the Community, Caring for the Employee, Caring for the Environment)

• Strength:– Friendly way for SMEs to engage in CSR– Majority achieved Caring for the Employees

• Weakness: – Very low hurdle for joining – the case of LINK-REIT– Weak in Caring for the Community (47.3% achieved Mentoring Charity

Organizations and 36. 2% achieved Employing the Vulnerable in 2011)– Weak in Caring for the Environment (35.8% achieved Green

Partnership and 23% achieved Environmental Label or other recognition in 2011)

CSR as an indicator of state-market-society relations

• Laissez-faire economic system• Corporatism and state-business ruling nexus• SMEs and weak trade union

Political decay and the growth of anti-business sentiment after 1997

• Accusations of “land/property hegemony”• Anti-rich sentiments• Anti-business sentiments

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Failed attempts of the corporate sector to reach out?

• Caring Company Scheme• Community Care Fund• “Love Ideas, Love HK” of Li Ka Shing

Foundation

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Challenges from multiple fronts•LINK Watch•Oxfam research on listed companies•SACOM and its campaign on OEM factories (OEM stands for original equipment manufacturer) in China

Positive developments•Social enterprise and impact investment: Wofoo Social Enterprise•Investor activism: The promotion of socially responsible investing, like ASRiA•More local intermediaries working on CSR, like Community Business established by local founder Shalini Mahtani

Challenges from multiple fronts and some positive developments

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Restoring CSR and corporate citizenship to its rightful place

Conclusion: