Corporate social responsibility (CSR) should be taken into
consideration when appointing and appraising the heads of
State-owned-enterprises (SOEs), a business leader said
yesterday.
"The ability to perform CSR should be one of the major factors
in the selection and appraisal of leaders of SOEs," Wang Jiming,
executive vice-president of the China Enterprise Confederation,
said.
"A business leader who only cares about profit margins and
neglects social responsibility will drive high consumption of
energy and heavy pollution.
"Such behavior is a crime against society and its people," Wang
told China Daily.
Wang also called for promoting the awareness of CSR on a larger
scale, particularly among small-and-medium sized enterprises.
Khalid Malik, UN Resident Coordinator and Resident
Representative in China, said challenges soon become very visible
in the business community, as the recent food security incidents
showed.
CSR has become important for everyone in China where companies
grow rapidly and some move overseas, Malik said.
"So it is a question of transparency and branding for Chinese
firms. Business will benefit if the consumers benefit."
Getting more business chiefs to adopt the idea of global
leadership and corporate citizenship is one of the goals for some
80 Chinese businesspeople who will take part in a global summit
which starts on Thursday in Geneva.
The United Nations Global Compact world leaders' summit, will be
chaired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and include about 1,000
participants from business, the government and civil society.
It is the largest group of Chinese business leaders ever to take
part in such a global level CSR event.
The three-day summit will cover topics including human rights,
labor, environment and anti-corruption issues, with a special
section on Chinese companies.
The summit will unveil a global CEO survey on the topic of
business and society, presenting findings on the key socioeconomic
and political trends that are shaping the leadership agenda.
The Global Compact - an international initiative to bring
companies together with UN agencies, labor and civil society to
support universal environmental and social principles - includes
more than 4,000 companies from about 120 countries, including 116
from China.
(China Daily July 3, 2007)