| It has been argued that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes can augment a business’s marketing, improve staff recruitment and retention, promote positive brand differentiation and build customer loyalty.
So have Asian companies embraced CSR?
Blessed to give?
Looking at the latest 2007 results of Operation Santa Claus, a fundraising event organized annually by the South China Morning Post and RTHK in Hong Kong, we couldn’t help but notice that the majority of the top corporate donors were multinational companies. Kudos to local companies such as Cathay Pacific, Jardine Matheson, Swire and Pacific Coffee but where are the other home-grown bigwigs?
Big and bountiful
We decided to look at the websites of the 10 largest listed Asian companies in China, Hong Kong and Singapore and examine the depth and breadth of their contributions to their communities at large. The results provided an interesting cursory snapshot.
A few companies such as China Netcom, UOB and ICBC do not even mention their CSR activities on their websites. Those that do almost always contribute financially to humanitarian causes or natural disasters.
A few companies such as CapitaLand, Jardine Matheson and Sun Hung Kai Properties, have even set up foundations dedicated to looking at funding various causes.
Environmental causes are more popular in Hong Kong and with companies that rely directly on natural resources. Sports development programmes fare relatively poorly, compared with the causes we examined.
MIA – Talent on the ground
Unfortunately, we did not see too many cases of CSR programs involving employees directly. This, we feel, is a missed opportunity for getting more talented people involved in social programmes on a grassroots level.
Underdeveloped
On a country level, the 10 largest companies listed in Hong Kong and Singapore seem to be more active in CSR.
While the coffers of mainland listed Chinese companies outstretch those in the other two cities, few make much of their CSR activities on their websites.
Other than technology transfer from Direct Foreign Investments, perhaps Chinese companies can also take a leaf from the CSR best practices of multinational companies. With fast growing inequality within the world’s second largest economy, companies in China can also help address social, environmental and development issues within the communities that they operate.
If you have come across any outstanding CSR programs in Asia and would like to share them with us, please contact Manifesto directly.
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