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strategic partner. To avoid social responsibility risks in the global operation, business
partners may place pressure on corporations through supply- chain inspection to
make them undertake their social responsibilities. Since 2000, almost all the
European and American corporations have been carrying out social responsibility
assessment and inspection targeted at their global suppliers and contractors. Only
through assessment and inspection can a partnership be established. At present,
what has been most influential to CSR fulfillment of Chinese corporations is factory
inspection and industrial chain certification. By ―factory inspection‖, it means a
multinational corporation may carry out an annual inspection of employees'
qualification in their suppliers‘ factories, based on production rules formulated by the
corporation. It is estimated that since 1997 at least 30,000 corporations in China‘s
coastal areas have been subject to such inspections, with some receiving more
orders due to their sound performance, while some others disqualified as suppliers
for lack of improvement. Factory inspection by multinational corporations has
become an important source of pressure on for small and medium-sized exporting
enterprises in China.
Some of the Chinese enterprises are also implementing their own system of
responsible purchasing. For example, the Beijing Wu Mart Supermarket has carried
out a new mechanism of withdrawing unqualified goods from the counter within two
hours aiming at protecting customers‘ rights. The supermarket has also formulated
the Supplier Inspection and Access System and Managing Process, a promise even
beyond the standards prescribed by the government. It could be expected that with
the heightened CSR awareness among both consumers and corporations, Chinese
corporations are going to be the new executive agents of supply-chain inspection. By
that time, business partners will become the main source of pressure on Chinese
corporations.
In addition, ―Responsible Investment Movement‖ could also encourage corporations
to better undertake their CSR by making use of its unique conception of responsible
investment (i.e. by taking into comprehensive consideration factors such as
economy, society and environment, in foreign investment, using various strategies,
we invest in companies with good CSR performance, while leaving out those with
bad performance).
China Reading Weekly: What is the significance of CSR for the construction of a
harmonious society?
Liu Peng: Corporations are the mainstay of a national economy, the main force in
practicing a scientific concept of development and building a harmonious socialist
society, and the vital participant in developing advanced productive forces,
strengthening China‘s comprehensive national power and promoting a stable,
healthy and coordinated development of economy and society. Practicing the
scientific concept of development means that corporations must stick to the
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