Evolving Corporate Social Responsibility in China

Abstract

With a unique cultural background and fast economic development, China's adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become the center of discussion worldwide, and its successful implementation will have great significance for global sustainability. This paper aims to explore how CSR has given way to economic growth in China since the start of economic transition and its cultural, historical and political background, and how this has affected or been affected by the economic performance of firms. Thus, the recent calls for China to adopt CSR in its industries follow a period where the country arguably had one of the strongest implementations of CSR approaches in the world. This transition is considered in the context of a case study of a Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE) and a group of small private firms in the same industrial sector in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province over a time span of eight years. While the CSR of the SOE has been steadily decreasing along with the change of ownership structure, its economic performance did not improve as expected. On the other hand, with a steady improvement in economic performance, the small private firms are showing a great reluctance to engage in CSR. The results indicate that implementation of CSR in China OPEN ACCESS Sustainability 2014, 6 7647 needs both the manager's ethical awareness and the change of institutional framework. The results also raise the question as to whether CSR is a universal concept with a desired means of implementation across the developed and developing world.

Evolution of Government Policies on Guiding Corporate Social Responsibility in China

“…China is a typical emerging economy with CSR being shaped by corporate political dependence and government monitoring [21,52]; however, few insights on the factors which determine CSR level and its enhancement in China have been offered by the previous literature [11]. This paper may contribute to filling this gap, and provide evidential and empirical insights.…”

Development of social responsibility of business in China: experience for Ukraine

“…(2) The transitional period (after 1978) when China launched its transformation from a socialist planned economy to a socialist market economy-private sector received its development and new CSR initiatives become possible in accordance with business strategy of company [3]. Now we will turn to "Harmonious Society".…”

“…[8], Tang G., Zhang D., Kambhamptati U. [3]. Their work laid the foundation for this research and further developed in identifying areas for applying China's experience to the SERE of Ukraine.…”

Development and Challenges of Social Enterprises in Taiwan—From the Perspective of Community Development

“…According to the Taiwan Social Enterprise Innovation and Entrepreneurship Society, social enterprises (SEs) are organizations that are characterized by both a desire for profitability and to make a positive impact on society, which transforms or develops corporate social responsibility (CSR) into a sustainable business [8,9]. Chen (2014) stated that, in Taiwan, initiatives that are related to SE and social innovation are derived from two separate schools of thought, management, and sociology: one describes enterprises' emphasis on social responsibility and application of management rules to create SEs, whereas the other in the fields of sociology and social welfare hopes that businesses can find self-supporting revenue sources in addition to government subsidies and donations [10].…”