CSR: A Road to the Sustainable Enterprise? 23-24 November, CEIBS, Shanghai

The China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) hosted a two day conference with the rather challenging title: "Best Practice from Europe and China”. The conference was attended by 200 people representing business, government and NGOs in China and demonstrated the rapid and keen interest in this topic. This year has witnessed a plethora of CSR reports being issued by companies for the first time spurred on by demands by the Chinese government. Prof Henri-Claude de Bettignies, Distinguished Professor of Global Responsible Leadership for CEIBS, said that CSR in China is no longer a choice for companies in China, but is being demanded by the Chinese government, reported in the domestic media, and expected by local employees, NGOs and society at large. As examples in China, he pointed to the recent upgrading of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the development of a Carbon Disclosure Project, and newly developed systems of environmental assessment and ranking for companies. I gave a speech seeking to answer the question I had been given: "Is CSR the path to a sustainable enterprise?" which resulted in a keen Q&A session. For a full report of the conference, see: http://www.ceibs.edu/media/archive/47646.shtml