On July 13, 2012, CIBE’s founder and director, Professor Liu Baocheng, presented a report on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement in China to over fifty delegates from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), UNESCO, and the World Health Organization.  The lecture was sponsored by UNDP and hosted at the United Nations Embassy in Beijing.

Professor Liu began the lecture with an overview of the key concepts in CSR, emphasizing that socially responsible corporations distinguish themselves by taking a comprehensive view of all stakeholders that may be impacted by their actions.  The lecture then addressed the areas of Dr. Liu’s expertise, namely the background, obstacles, and drivers of CSR in China.  Dr. Liu highlighted milestone moments in the development of CSR in China, which has come a long way since CSR first became an issue for foreign firms operating in the Chinese textile industry.  Since then, the attitude of both foreign and domestic firms in China has evolved from risk-avoidance to the rapid acceleration of voluntary CSR initiatives. 

Despite this progress, Dr. Liu acknowledged and discussed the formidable obstacles that stand in the way of CSR’s development in China.  From a macroeconomic perspective, Dr. Liu called for the reform of China’s state-owned sector, which lags their international competitors in terms of  environmental and corporate performance.  The institutional environment was discussed extensively, namely the relative immaturity of China’s legal Implementation and the government’s vague attitude towards NGOs.  Finally, China’s Confucian value system was discussed as being both a strength and a weakness for the development of domestic CSR.

Although China’s institutional environment poses serious challenges, Dr. Liu concluded on an optimistic note by urging attendees to view these challenges as an opportunity.  By embracing a CSR outlook that includes awareness, attitude and action, firms can distinguish themselves from domestic competitors by becoming exemplars of CSR.  After concluding the lecture, Dr. Liu fielded questions the internationally diverse audience.