Finding Balance: Emerging Business and Social Responsibility Trends in China

Overview: Growth and Change

The turn of the 21^st century has brought a significant shift in the balance of world markets. China, for years stymied by the economic isolation of the Maoist era (1949-76), launched economic reforms in 1978, and since then has emerged as a powerhouse. For the country, the 1980s were fueled by the opening of commerce to Western business, which set off an evolution from a “planned” to “market” economy. The 1990s were set apart by the redevelopment of Shanghai as a modern, global business epicenter and new benchmark by which other Chinese cities would work to achieve what Vice Minister Fu of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce called “5,000 years of history living with modern technology.” The 2000s built on this and have ushered China into joining the World Trade Organization, the United Nation’s Global Compact and host of the 2008 Olympic Games. This has been accompanied by an incredible transformation of the country and its people. Major contributing factors include:

• An economic boom driven by an effective government that has made constitutional amendments to ensure the adoption of a market economy and provided essential stimulus for growth;
• A new reflection on determining China’s ultimate purpose, with a renewed commitment to creating a “harmonious society” through the adoption of corporate responsibility standards, new forms of cross-sector collaboration and reprioritization of efforts to close the gap between the country’s haves and have-nots;
• An unprecedented “opening” of the government, allowing increased communications and a relative free-flow of information, fueled by the rampant rise of Internet use among the Chinese.

As a result, transformation is being driven by the adoption of “new concepts for China”:

• People First: Putting people before development
• Balance: Achieving harmony between human-beings and nature
• Success: Fostering a circular economy
• Tradition: Preserving Chinese culture and society