The Kenan Institute Working Group on CSR and China

(CSRwire) Washington, D.C. - If US policymakers and citizens want China's social and environmental progress to match its economic achievements, they must develop and implement innovative ideas that encourage positive change. The Kenan Institute Working Group on CSR and China will release a Statement of Findings today at a Capitol Hill briefing hosted by Congressman Jim Leach and Congressman David Price. The briefing will be held in Room 2255 Rayburn House Office Building at 10 AM. The Findings are designed to:

Improve the rule of law in China and develop capacity to improve social and environmental conditions in Chinese factories; suggest ways that US policymakers might encourage worker rights, including freedom of association, wages, and workplace health and safety issues in China; and Expand the number of companies and their suppliers applying CSR strategies in their operations in China.

Working Group participants believe that CSR initiatives by corporations are not sufficient to create a culture of compliance in China. But CSR pressures may gradually inspire firms operating in China to demand better governance. When socially responsible multinational companies require and assist their suppliers in implementing better business practices, these suppliers learn how to operate efficiently in a more sustainable and humane manner. These China-based suppliers will also want the Chinese government to do a better job of enforcing social and environmental standards, which they are voluntarily meeting. Thus, they will pressure policymakers to put in place a culture of compliance and, in short, demand better governance. By focusing on CSR, policymakers can unleash the power of business to encourage new opportunities.

The Kenan Institute Working Group on CSR and China is comprised of prominent leaders from business, civil society, and government and is co-chaired by John Foarde, the Staff Director of the Congressional Executive Commission on China and Ken Larson, Director of CSR at Hewlett Packard. The Global CSR project aims to stimulate a broad public debate about how public policies can promote global corporate social responsibility. Directed by Dr. Susan Aaronson and Jamie Zimmerman, the project is funded by grants from the Ford, UN, Levi Strauss Foundations and several major corporations. For more information, contact Jamie Zimmerman, Associate Project Director at 202-408-8105. The Statement of Findings is available on the web at www.csrpolicies.org.

About The Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise
The Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise is a unit of the Kenan-Flagler Business School of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Kenan Institute Washington Center works at the intersection of international business and international development, partnering with corporations to build the development rationale for trade, improve community involvement programming, and promote market-led growth in developing countries. For more information, visit www.kenan.org.

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