For the second year running, CEIBS has spoonsored Asia's first and only CSR conference organized by MBA students. This year, the conference grew in participants, speakers, and media coverage, despite organizers needing to raise their own funding for the first time.
Should businesses be responsible for promoting social welfare or should this be left to government? Can "green" production and packaging practices really boost profitability or should companies take on environmental practices at a loss? How should companies determine which social responsibility causes to support: orphan relief or AIDS prevention; children's education or healthcare for the elderly?
Where better to debate the complex issues surrounding corporate social responsibility (CSR) than at business school? For students, considering the issues at play before re-entering the job market can be useful preparation for facing real-life boardroom decisions on CSR. And in China, the concept of corporate support for social welfare programs is still young and somewhat misunderstood, creating both challenges and opportunities.
These were the issues that lead a group of CEIBS MBA students to lauch the Being Globally Responsible Conference in 2006. Using funding from the Asia Link Foundation, a group of MBA05 students hosted Asia's first CSR conference organized by business school students. This year, CEIBS MBA06 students faced the challenge of keeping the fledgling conference going, and this time without guaranteed funding.
Being Globally Responsible, II
Being first to launch a great idea is often easier than keeping that great idea going year after year. Bucking this trend, from May 11 to 13, 2007, the CEIBS MBA class of 2006 (MBA06) hosted the school's second annual Being Globally Responsible Conference, and succeeded in building it into a larger and higher profile event than the debut conference.
In just one year, the letters B-G-R-C have become synonymous at CEIBS, and other Asian b-schools, with grassroots, student-run initiatives to support social improvement. The goal of the event is to raise awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Asia Pacific region, and to foster action toward CSR goals among MBA students and schools. Today, it has become a school tradition, a mainstay of CEIBS' social responsibility efforts, and a source of pride for students, alumni and faculty.
BGRC 2007 attracted top international speakers on CSR including environmental media specialist and former CNN Senior Journalist Gary Strieker, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Deputy Resident Representative Alessandra Tisot, and UN Global Compact Senior Advisor Fred Dubee. Focusing on the theme of "Responsible Leaders Building a Sustainable Future," a total of 16 conference speakers shared their personal experience and wisdom on topics from sustainable development and environmental protection in China to "Asian" business ethics and social entrepreneurship.
More than 120 participants descended upon CEIBS during the three-day conference, including MBA students from top business schools in mainland China plus Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Korea, Australia and Spain. The BGRC also attracted representatives from the Chinese government and from international NGOs plus executives from CSR-supporting multinational companies including Bayer, Degussa, B&Q, and Dow Corning.
China's Wealth and Welfare Gap
In her kickoff speech just after the opening ceremony, UNDP's Alessandra Tisot addressed "Poverty Eradication in China." She began by praising China's "vibrant" economic performance and its progress in poverty reduction during the past two decades, adding that the UN is "stealing lessons from China and disseminating the lessons learned to other countries, particularly other developing countries."
Today however, Tisot stressed that China now faces several obstacles to alleviating poverty. The key challenge is equity, she said, because the nation is witnessing growing gaps in wealth and welfare. China's rural population is now vulnerable to poverty due to the massive migration from the countryside to the cities. This shift is contributing to the fast development of the urban centers but is also resulting in the "leaving behind" of elderly, women and children. Thus a rural-urban rift is growing, straining social cohesion. For example, while 50 percent of China's urban residents lack medical coverage, 80 percent of rural residents are uninsured, she explained. That means nearly all (90 percent) of medication costs in rural areas are charged directly to patients. Not surprisingly, many rural patients go without medical treatment, mainly due to inability to pay. Another example: migrant workers entering the cities for work very often lack legal protection, access to medical care, and access to education for their children. China's aging population is also creating a serious need for pension coverage.
"There are signs that the poorest are no longer taking part in [China's] economic growth," Tisot said, citing World Bank data showing that the poorest segments of China's demographic have become poorer during the past five years. Other emerging domestic problems include the rise of HIV and the imbalance of boys to girls under the "one child" policy.
Tisot concluded that while many of China's current government policies reflect a move in the right direction, the challenge now is in implementation.
Speaking on "Business, Innovation and the Global Compact," UN Global Compact senior advisor Fred Dubee introduced his organization and its relevance in China. The UN Global Compact (GC) is an international initiative that "brings companies together with UN agencies, labor and civil society to support universal environmental and social principles," according to its website. Since the GC's launch in mid 2000, it has attracted thousands of companies worldwide to cooperate with international labor and civil society organizations to fight corruption and promote human rights, labor rights, and environmental protection.
The compact's current goals are to meet the challenges - and the opportunities - concerning "massive social inequities" and environmental degradation, said Dubee. He added that finding solutions will require companies to view business goals and social goals as interconnected, then alter their objectives to reflect CSR obligations. He acknowledged that the stock markets often reward companies that negatively impact the environment and social welfare, but he added that companies cannot truly succeed unless they address CSR: "Any business that pursues its success at the expense of society will find its success illusory." Instead, he urged socially-responsible enterprises to take advantage of "low hanging fruit" in the form of sustainability projects that offer rapid and significant returns. He added that companies will generally behave more responsibly if rewarded for undertaking CSR work rather than being punished for not doing so. With this in mind, he urged consumers and investors to "make their pocketbook count and voices heard" by supporting companies that are committed to social welfare.
Dangers of Deforestation
Twenty-year environmental reporter and former CNN Senior Journalist Gary Strieker discussed "Business Strategy and Social Development." In particular, he drew upon his experiences as a pioneering environmental journalist and investigative reporter at CNN to illustrate China's role in global deforestation.
Streiker explained that timber imports of to China have increased 400 percent in the past 10 years, making the nation appear to have a voracious appetite for wood products. Not so. Actually, most of the imported timber is processed in China for re-export as finished items for sale in the U.S. and EU, where exports from Chin have increased 10 times and 8 times respectively, during this period. "China has become the wood-shop of the world," said Streiker. The problem, he stressed, is that many Chinese companies - especially small private companies - use illegally harvested timber from rainforests. These companies typically lack CSR awareness and have little incentive to change their purchasing behavior. Streiker said ending use of illegal timber will require government support, enforcement, and consumer awareness. He urged consumers worldwide to practice responsible purchasing and to raise public awareness of the need to develop a sustainable timber industry and to protect forest habitats.
Speaking on "Sustainable Development Challenges for Asia," Global Institute for Tomorrow CEO Chandran Nair focused on the current and coming impact of China and India on the world environment. Nair highlighted the rapid urbanization of both countries, showing that the percentage of China's population living in cities is expected to increase from 40% to 60% by 2030, while India's urban population will increase from 28% to 40%. The speed and scale of urbanization will trigger serious environmental threats.
Nair painted a grim picture of environmental concerns in China, telling that more than 100 cities nationwide face water shortages, while 500 cities suffer from air quality that rates below standard. He also explained that China is the world's second-largest energy consuming nation, and second-largest carbon dioxide emitter.
Positive examples of environmental protection and development co-existing do exist in Asia, Nair said. He pointed to Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway Corp., Tokyo's advanced underground network, and Singapore's Electronic Road Pricing scheme - projects that have reduced traffic volume. In fact, Tokyo went from suffering serious pollution in the 1970s to offering some of the cleanest air in Asia today, partly due to public and government support for environmental protection. Such projects can serve as models for achieving sustainability in Asia.
Passing the Mantle
When BGRC 2007 concluded on May 13, participants had taken part in three days of intensive speeches, workshops, networking sessions and social interactions. Exhausted but proud, organizers knew that they had delivered high profile speakers and attracted solid media coverage from Chinese-language Workers Daily, sohu.com, MBAedu.com, ChinaCSR, as well as from English-language Shanghai Business Review and Interfax.
This summer, organizers will prepare to pass the mantle to the MBA 2007 class in order to organize BGRC 2008. One key lesson for newbies will concern seeking sponsorship. While the debut BGRC was launched using funding from the Asia Link Foundation, and was organized by students sponsored by Asia Link, BGRC 2007 was organized entirely by student volunteers who had to seek funding on their own.
Winning corporate sponsorship this year was not easy. In fact, funding came together only in the last two months. "At the end of January, we did not have any sponsors - no good news at all," remembers BGRC 2007 Co-President Richard Zhu. "It was scary." In addition to handling his MBA classload, he and other volunteers spent 10 to 15 hours a week seeking sponsors and doing other conference work. All told, the students contacted nearly 50 companies before finding a sponsor.
In mid March, Degussa signed on for sponsorship of RMB200,000. Soon after, Atlas Copco donated RMB80,000 and Gamesa promised RMB40,000. This gave the conference enough funding to cover speaker expenses and to subsidize travel costs for visiting students.
Increasing recognition for the conference among the business community was another focus. "This year, we promoted networking not only between business schools but also between students and business people," says conference volunteer Sarah Zheng. This effort has built a foundation for promoting future conferences. In fact, both Degussa and Atlas Copco already have agreed to sponsor BGRC 2008, and the outgoing organizers have amassed a list of likely corporate sponsors.
The most satisfying reward for the BGRC organizers was in watching the reaction of participants when the event finally took place. One highlight was the well-attended the CSR workshops at the end of Day Two, an event that ran well past the allotted 90 minutes. Conference volunteer Ian Bi says: "When people kept asking questions well past the finishing time, I knew we were really doing something meaningful." Adds Zhu: "The BGRC was very successful. It shows the ability of CEIBS MBA students to undertake a huge task and do it well."
