Research on the Social Responsibility of Chinese Enterprises along the “Belt and Road” ^*

Abstract

In recent years, especially after the 2008 global financial crisis, the global economic recovery has been struggling. The trend of anti-globalization with populism and protectionism around the world is on the rise. As the largest developing country, China will engage in promoting global economic integration for common development of the world to promote the sustainable development and globalization. This paper will focus on the global operations of Chinese MNCs and explore their social responsibility to go global under the B&R Initiative, study their performance of social responsibility, analyze the potential risks and put forward countermeasures. Based on the report of the Top 100 Chinese MNCs released by China Entrepreneurs Association in 2016, we select 35 corporations related to the B&R, use their comparatively complete data and conduct a statistical analysis of their CSR data. To study the economic, social and environmental performance of CSR and sustainable development, we focus on three major indicators, including employee, environment and the public. Data from 2012 to 2016 are considered, for a total of five years. Through the analysis of CSR data, this paper points the social responsibility development status of major Chinese MNCs under the B&R Initiative and reveals some problems and risks that still exist in the fulfillment of social responsibility. In response to these issues, we make analysis from the perspective of stakeholders, so as to provide ideas for the development of social responsibility of the related corporations. At the initial stage of China's initiative of the Belt and Road, it is a new attempt to launch a research on the social responsibility of Chinese MNCs. Traditionally, research on CSR tends to make horizontal comparison of corporations in different countries and focuses on a certain year. Based on the traditional research and differ from them, we extend the time interval of research beyond a certain year and adopt the trend analysis to CSR data. In addition, case introduction is also used. According to the stakeholder theory and the comprehensiveness of the data, the research is focused on three main aspects, namely, employee, environment and the public. And, we have made a relative conversion of these indicators. These thoughts can examine the social responsibility development of related corporations in a given period and help promote the B&R Initiative.

Citation

Hong, W. and Shuai, D. (2020), "Research on the Social Responsibility of Chinese Enterprises along the “Belt and Road” ^* ", Crowther, D. and Quoquab, F. (Ed.) CSR in an age of Isolationism (Developments in Corporate Governance and Responsibility, Vol. 16), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 181-203. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2043-052320200000016010