For Chinese companies, "corporate social responsibility" is obviously a very fresh term. With the enhancement of corporate social responsibility awareness and related practices in recent years, people are becoming more and more concerned about the actual status of Chinese enterprises' fulfillment of social responsibilities. Recently, the "2008·Fifteen-Year Survey Comprehensive Report on the Growth and Development of China's Entrepreneur Team" released by the China Entrepreneur Survey System disclosed entrepreneurs' evaluation of this issue.
Four outstanding manifestations of companies not fulfilling their social responsibilities -
Polluting the environment, not being honest, harming the rights and interests of stakeholders, and not participating in social welfare activities
This survey shows that most entrepreneurs believe that it is necessary for enterprises to fulfill the four major social responsibilities of economics, law, ethics and public welfare. Among them, the recognition of economic responsibility is the highest, followed by the recognition of ethical responsibility, the recognition of legal responsibility is the third, and the recognition of public welfare responsibility is relatively low. At the same time, from the perspective of entrepreneurs, the current four major manifestations of companies' failure to fulfill their social responsibilities are: first, pollution of the environment; second, lack of integrity, which mainly manifests itself in manufacturing and selling fake and shoddy products, tax evasion, and publishing false advertisements to deceive consumers. Defaulting on loans, etc.; third, harming the rights and interests of stakeholders, such as delaying or lowering employee wages, disregarding the safety and health of employees, unfair competition, harming the rights and interests of shareholders, etc.; fourth, not participating in social welfare activities.
The survey report also disclosed in detail the relevant industries in which entrepreneurs believe that failure to fulfill social responsibilities is more serious:
——The phenomenon of "arrears of payment, loans, and taxes" is relatively serious The first three industries are: transportation equipment manufacturing, communication equipment, computer and other electronic equipment manufacturing, and special equipment manufacturing;
——The first three industries where the "non-performance" phenomenon is relatively serious are : Construction industry, plastic products industry, electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing industry;
——The top three industries with relatively serious "environmental pollution" phenomena are: paper making and paper products industry, and non-metallic mineral products industry, chemical raw materials and chemical product manufacturing;
——The top three industries with relatively serious "trademark infringement, patent technology infringement" phenomena are: special equipment manufacturing, instrumentation and cultural office machinery Manufacturing, electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing;
——The top three industries where the phenomenon of "manufacturing and selling counterfeit and shoddy products" is relatively serious are: electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing, plastic products industry, and general equipment Manufacturing;
——The top three industries where the phenomenon of "arrears of wages to employees" is relatively serious are: construction industry, textile, clothing, shoe and hat manufacturing industry, communication equipment, computer and other electronic equipment manufacturing industry.
Enterprises must work hard to fulfill their social responsibilities in 16 words -
Integrity management, environmental protection, benefit sharing, and social welfare
Chinese enterprises This report from the National Survey System proposes that based on the current situation of enterprises, Chinese entrepreneurs currently need to work hard on the 16 words of "integrity management, environmental protection, benefit sharing, and social welfare" to fully fulfill their social responsibilities. Among them, operating with integrity and protecting the environment are the basic responsibility constraints for the company's various production and operation activities, and are the prerequisites for becoming a qualified enterprise; profit sharing is to ensure that the company handles the relationship with all stakeholders and achieves the sustainability of the company itself. The responsibility requirement for development is the prerequisite for becoming an outstanding enterprise; social welfare is the responsibility requirement for enterprises to repay society and promote the harmonious development of society, and is the prerequisite for becoming an outstanding enterprise.
Entrepreneurs also expressed their understanding of the connotation of these 16 words. To truly implement the principle of integrity in business operations, entrepreneurs are required to have a clear awareness of the rule of law and good moral cultivation. Most entrepreneurs believe that the most powerful external constraints on their behavior are laws and regulations, and the most powerful internal constraints are self-cultivation. At the same time, regarding the problems that are most likely to occur among entrepreneurs, 32.7% of business operators chose "economic problems", 21% chose "arbitrary actions", 11 chose "corruption in life", and 10.3% chose "fraud". These all reflect the importance of legal awareness and moral cultivation.
The survey also shows that business operators generally attach great importance to the rule of law and believe that they should strictly abide by laws and regulations under any circumstances.
As for environmental protection, the vast majority of business operators agree that "when there is a conflict between environmental protection and economic development, environmental protection should be given priority" and agree that "the pollution that may be caused by enterprises should be treated and compensated." However, there are still some companies that regard environmental protection investment as increasing corporate costs, focus on short-term interests, and adopt a passive attitude towards environmental protection issues.
As for the sharing of benefits, a 2006 survey showed that among entrepreneurs’ recognition of the need for enterprises to assume responsibilities for various stakeholders, consumer rights responsibilities were rated the highest, followed by others. Responsibilities for shareholders' rights and interests, employees' rights and interests, environmental responsibilities, customers (peers) rights and interests, national social responsibilities and community rights and interests responsibilities. It is worth noting that although the necessity of "profit sharing" is highly recognized, the actual behavior of enterprises is still far from this. Some companies still pursue maximizing their own interests, even at the expense of the interests of others. In the 2007 survey, 65.7% of business operators agreed that "there is a lot of vicious competition in this industry."
As for social welfare, in the 2006 survey, entrepreneurs had the highest recognition of "providing employment opportunities for society", followed by "rescuing vulnerable groups in society", "participating in social and community welfare activities" and "Donate to charity."
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