Building a platform for industry-university-research cooperation

 

On December 6, the Second GoldenBee CSR Academic Seminar was held in Shanghai. Famous professors, scholars, students and enterprise representatives from well-known Chinese and international universities and research institutions gathered together to share business representatives from all walks of life to share their views on frontier academic topics and CSR practices, and explore new ideas, new perspectives as well as new paths on the CSR development.

The seminar was hosted by GoldenBee Think Tank, co-hosted by the Embassy of Sweden in Beijing and HUST-GoldenBee CSR Research Institute, and supported by Yakult (China) Corporation.

Giving full play to the power of academic promotion
 
In recent years, the academia has shed light on and established a solid foundation for CSR development. In 2018, "business ethics" (CSR) was officially incorporated into the core MBA curriculum by the China MBA Education Steering Committee. Up to now, more than 100 universities have set up courses related to business ethics and CSR, benefiting about 100,000 students.
Colleges and universities as well as research institutions are not only the production and communication bases of international cutting-edge CSR theory, but also the cradle of training CSR professionals. They exert an important social influence in popularizing CSR concept, deepening CSR management and disseminating CSR practices.
 

 

 
Mr. Anders Wollter, Minister Counsellor & Head of CSR Centre of the Embassy of Sweden in Beijing, introduced the social responsibility education and practices in Sweden, including research, education, business and social cooperation. He also pointed out that sustainability and CSR have become important issues in future business management.
 

 
Mr. Liu Chengbin, Executive Dean of HUST-GoldenBee CSR Research Institute of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), believed that CSR is an important part of the core competitiveness of enterprises and an important lever to promote the harmonious development of China in the new era. To promote the good social development, we need to bring about better CSR development in China.

Three professors and experts from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, East China Normal University and Training (Shanghai) Base of the Organization Department of CPC Central Committee interpreted the value of social responsibility from the perspectives of economy, human development and grass-roots governance, which is of guiding significance for enterprises to deepen social responsibility management.
 

 
Mr. Tan Mingfang, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor, Department of Sociology, School of Philosophy, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said that the economic responsibility of enterprises to society refers to the responsibility of "mutually beneficial" relationship between enterprises and economic stakeholders. A better understanding and definition of this view is conducive to the formation of a "coordinated and stable" relationship between enterprises and economic entities, and also can avoid falling into the conflict of interest caused by the demands of various stakeholders that is nothing to do with economic responsibility.

Dr. Liu Min, Lecturer, History Department of East China Normal University, based on the development background of modern industrial enterprises, discussed the three social responsibilities of entrepreneurs from the perspective of history, especially under the responsibility of "promoting the all-round development of humans". Entrepreneurs should pay more attention to how to provide workers with higher quality public services and family education.

Mr. Liu Zhongqi, Professor of Shanghai Administration Institute, Special Consultant of the National Cadre Education and Training (Shanghai) Base of the Organization Department of CPC Central Committee, shared the view on how to build a "collaborative governance" network through the cooperative platform, the government and the society to make enterprises participate in social governance, prevent social risks and fulfill CSR more effectively.
 
Exchanging international frontier theory and practices
 
As the first professional consulting institution engaged in social responsibility and sustainability in China, GoldenBee Think Tank is committed to playing the role of the academia in promoting the cause of CSR development in China. It has established cooperation with the School of Economics and Management, Lund University, Sweden, Waseda University, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Nanjing University, Zhongshan University, University of International Business and Economics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hainan University and other well-known universities at home and abroad in terms of curriculum introduction, case development, industry-university-research cooperation.

In this seminar, domestic and foreign well-known experts and scholars in the CSR field  were invited to share international cutting-edge CSR theories and practices.

Ms. Susanne Arvidsson, Associate Professor, School of Economics and Management, Lund University, Sweden, introduced the implementation of EU Directive as well as the Swedish corporate sustainability ranking 2019.

Prof. Kanji Tanimoto, School of Commerce, Waseda University, Emeritus Professor, Hitotsubashi University, shared the development process, challenges and experience of social responsibility in Japan as well as the latest progress of CSR research in Japanese academic circles.

Ms. Divya Kirti Gupta, Associate Professor, Ph.D. in CSR, GITAM Hyderabad Business School, GITAM University, Hyderabad, India, shared the theoretical results of CSR research in India and the specific path of social responsibility practice in Indian education sector.

Mr. Cao Jianwei, Associate professor of management at International Business School Suzhou (IBSS), Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), showed the progress of sociological research in China and the thinking that how social responsibility can better influence enterprises through detailed data and charts.

Five Chinese artists from Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and other cities, as well as Mr. Yu Zhihong, president and editor-in-chief of China sustainability tribune, had a dialogue on the sustainability of art, exchanging and displaying the theoretical achievements and works brought about by the sustainability in art. Mr. Zhuang Wei, Chief Creative Officer, GoldenBee Sustainable Brand Communication, moderated this dialogue.

Dialogue I: Art innovation and sustainability

During the discussion, the panelists pointed out that the art itself has the sustainable attribute in nature, and the development of sustainable art is just in time. With the development of human civilization and progress of the times, sustainable development has become the social responsibility of all people, including artists and entrepreneurs.

The core of artists' social responsibility is to find social problems with sensitive eyes, gather social forces through artistic creation, transmit sustainable ideas to the public, and awaken the public’s awareness and discussion, so as to promote the harmonious coexistence between people, people and nature, people and technology, and contribute to a better way of life.
 

 

Dialogue II: Art education and sustainable future

The panelists believed that art education is to cultivate students' ability to understand, love and create beauty. It is not only a simple learning of skills, but also to guide them to change their thinking, so that students can better understand and cope with the changing world and nature. It is the mission of education to further cultivate cross-disciplinary art talents, deliver the future mission of becoming a responsible artist, and contribute to and create an ideal, quality and sustainable future life with the power of art.

Building a platform for industry-university-research cooperation
 
The seminar provides a platform for young scholars and excellent enterprises to show themselves and have exchanges, and plays an incentive role in their continuous exploration and innovation of the theoretical research and CSR practices. It is hoped that better industry-university-research cooperation can help cultivate young scholars and business leaders with social responsibility awareness and disseminate advanced social responsibility concepts and management practices.

Three young scholars from Information Technology Security Evaluation Center (CNITSEC), East China Normal University and Shanghai Jiaotong University respectively introduced their research results. Their research perspectives are novel and practical, showing the outstanding research and innovation ability of young scholars in the field of social responsibility.
 

 
 

Dr. Gao Song, China Research Associate, CNITSEC, presented his latest research results, that is, using natural language processing technology to decompose text of CSR reports, identify semantics and conduct batch process of text information, in order to enhance the quality and credibility of information disclosure.
 
Dr. Yi Zhenzhen, Assistant Professor/Ph.D. in Sociology, Institute of Urban Development, East China Normal University, combining with the background of China's social transformation and reform of state-owned enterprises and the perspective of European CSR academic circle, took the labor disputes of two state-owned enterprises in Shanghai as an example to carry out labor relations research, and called on the social responsibility of state-owned enterprises to be "based on the local and have a global view".

Ms.Yuan Liping, Ph.D. candidate of KoGuan School of Law, Shanghai Jiaotong University, analyzed CSR governance from the perspective of law. By building a responsibility governance system that takes both "efficiency and order" into account, it can provide legal power for the promotion of social order and a brighter future of sustainable development.
 
Managers from Yakult (China) Corporation, China National Nuclear Power Company (CNNP), Sinopec Group and Tigermed introduced the social responsibility concepts and typical practices of their companies, demonstrating the innovation ability of excellent enterprises in social responsibility.
 

 

 
Mr. SASAOKA ISAMU, Executive Manager of Public Relations Department, Yakult (China) Corporation, introduced the CSR concept of Yakult, and shared the practices that Yakult pays attention to the stakeholder engagement and facilitates a better life with products, knowledge and skills in the field of life science and health.

Mr. Zuo Yue, Deputy Director of General Office, CNNP, proposed that CSR communication is an art, which needs the combination of rationality and sensibility to close the distance with the public and realize the maximum value transmission.

Ms. Wang Li Tianzi, CSR Director of Publicity Department, Sinopec Group, introduced Sinopec's practice of building a discourse system in the field of sustainable business with the "action" and "language" of CSR by telling the "aromatics story", so as to win social identity, social trust and social support.

Ms. Lannette Zhang, Vice President for CSR, Chief Officer of Tigermed CEO Office, shared Tigermed's action in social responsibility. By starting from CSR fulfillment, the company mobilizes multi-party cooperation to help China's innovative drug research and development supported by the industry-university-research cooperation.

Dr. Lu Jianzhong, Weir Group (China) China President, as the moderator of this session, emphasized in the summary that enterprises should promote social progress and environmental harmony while creating economic values. They should go beyond their boundaries and advance their communication strategies in a more open, integrated, and coordinated manner to deliver value and expand energy.
 
At this seminar, experts and scholars jointly discussed the forward-looking and innovative research results in CSR, contributing to the transformation of cutting-edge social responsibility theory into the basis of corporate management.
 
Up to now, Goldenbee Think Tank has successfully hosted two CSR academic seminars consecutively, and initially established an international exchange and cooperation platform between the academia and enterprises.