An Introduction to Corporate Social Responsibility in Shanghai Go back »

2006-08-28 | Shanghai

An Introduction to Corporate Social Responsibility in Shanghai

The European Chamber, together with AmCham Shanghai and BenCham Shanghai, in association with Vlerick Alumni Shanghai chapter, hosted a very successful introductory evening to CSR on 1st November. Over 120 guests attended the informative event which was moderated very well by Rich Brubaker, Vice Chair of AmCham Shanghai's CSR Committee.
 
Corporate Social Responsibility has been defined as a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis. Key areas of concern include but are not limited to employee relations, environmental stewardship, community outreach, and corporate governance. With this in mind, we heard presentations from four outstanding companies all in different industries, who are implementing CSR actions within their company in different ways.
 
Sabrina Gu, CSR Manager of B&Q described B&Q's Environmental Stewardship programs and measures to oversee the supply chain. Jean Lionel Gros, General Manager of Wacker Chemicals presented Wacker's health and safety initiatives and its innovative HR program aimed at increasing retention. Jan Roodenburg, Senior Vice President, Philips Supply Management described measures taken by Philips to ensure a clean supply chain and briefly touched upon the various other CSR initiatives at Philips. Finally Robin Li, Asia AQ and CSR Manager explained that, at PMI, community development projects were used to increase employees??sense of belonging and were seen as a integral part of the companies corporate value.
 
During the official programme our four key note speakers from Philips, Wacker Chemicals, B&Q and PMI shared a lot of insight on how they cope with CSR within their respective industries and organizations. The programme continued with a panel discussion, with relevant questions from the attendees. A lot of good advice and best practices were shared by the panel.

The high number of attendees showed that CSR initiatives are increasing in China and that our attendees would like to learn more on how to implement CSR programs and initiatives. The programme ended with the announcement that, fully in line with the CSR philosophy of our joint event, the profit made during the evening would be donated to the Shanghai Angel Charity Foundation in order to support their migrant children healthcare program.
  
The European Chamber is committed to increasing its CSR events and the success of this event is testament to the level of interest there is in Corporate Social Responsibility. For more information on CSR events in Shanghai, please contact Ms. Derval Usher at: dusher@euccc.com.cn