"CSR IN ASIA"… CONFERENCE: HOST BCF AND OWSA NEW DELHI
DECEMBER 9-10 2005

The mind in its purest state focuses on universal welfare, and even if global corporate motives throb some distance from such selflessness, a globally increasing attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR) includes Asia in its interesting sweep.

So Mercedes-Benz partners with the Chinese government to reduce road-accident deaths, Credit Suisse helps South Asian children in Hong Kong and Metrobank wins the Asian CSR Awards in 2004 for its educational work in the Philippines. India's Gujarat Ambuja Cement won a CSR Award for rural poverty alleviation and retailing major Hindustan Petroleum won for "Best Workplace Practices". It's a fast-growing CSR list in Asia. Credibility-high Asian companies such as India's house of Tatas entered this CSR list quietly, decades ago, as reflected in a Tata Steel (US$381 million in profit last fiscal year) television commercial in the 1990s that said: "We make happy workers. We also make steel."

Take charity, work-life balance, public relations, human-resource development, advertising, community development, corporate governance, profitability, ethics, goodwill, street-smartness and club them. You get a single, expanding umbrella called CSR. The key shift in understanding is seeing CSR not as some high-flown ideology but as a practical strategy that does more good to the doer.

Corporate Social Responsibility is not something new or foreign for the Asian business culture. An appreciation of the importance of world class corporate responsibility is now spreading. Over 245 businesses across Asia have now signalled their support to the United Nations (UN) Global Compact. In addition, over 17% of certifications for the social accountability standard SA 8000 are in Asia and alongside, a new generation of dynamic companies are emerging as pioneers.

Although best-practice CSR in Asia may not be as well developed as it is in the western world, it is important to recognize that considerable differences exist between different countries and that stakeholder expectations and demands are culturally specific and require CSR solutions that reflect that difference and cultural specificity.

BCF is hosting the CSR Conference in to highlight innovative programs and best practices in CSR by corporations in Asia and to promote CSR as a key strategy in addressing public needs and problems, as well as showcase corporate innovation in CSR in Asia while promoting new thinking and standards on CSR as strategy.

This project envisages capturing on the CSR best practices in Asia, documenting and making them available for domestic and international audience. Also looking at what CSR means internally i.e. at the workplace. In addition, the conference would highlight on the roles that business in Asia can play towards fulfillment of wider initiatives like the MDG's (Millenium Development Goals) and Mission 2007 in partnership with One World South Asia.

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