CSR Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: Highlights from the 9th CUHK MBA CSR Conference 2015

To provide a unique platform for business leaders, Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) practitioners and corporations in Asia to share new insights on the trends and best practices that will shape the future development of CSR in Asia, the 9th CUHK MBA CSR Conference, organised by MBA students at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School, was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center on 28 May 2015. With the theme “CSR Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” the conference – one of the largest events of its kind in Asia, attracted more than 300 CSR professionals, SME owners, members of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), business students and professors.

Job Watcharaumnuay, current MBA student and President of the CUHK MBA CSR Committee 2015, believes the 9th Annual CUHK MBA CSR Conference has given the conference attendees, particularly the MBA students, a wide range of important perspectives in dealing with CSR issues.

The introductory keynote speech was given by Patrick Riley, Senior Vice-President of Interface Asia-Pacific, a global market leader in modular floor coverings and the application of sustainable business and manufacturing processes. With a rich experience in driving the sustainable growth of the company in the corporate office and commercial markets, Riley talked about how CSR strategies actually work in his organisation. He points out that the secrets of successful CSR strategies lie in people, passion, commitment and managers’ leadership. “It is people being fully engaged in what they are doing that drives sustainability and CSR objectives,” he remarked.

Following Riley’s speech was the main panel discussion, with the theme of “Corporate Social Responsibility across the Value Chain as a New Form of Risk Management.” The panelists explored how CSR programs are a necessary element of risk management for global companies because they provide the framework and principles for stakeholder engagement and support the corporate risk agenda.

The one-day conference then featured four breakout sessions, with two concurrent ones taking place in the morning and another two in the afternoon. The themes for these sessions were: “Building Brands through Doing Good: Taking CSR to the Front Line of Brand Communications,” which discussed the growing popularity of social enterprise-inspired startups and explored how established brands can put “doing good” at the heart of their business; “Social Investment – What It Is, Why It Matters and What Should We Do About It,” which focused on venture philanthropic investments and the importance of best practices to ensure the welfare of society; “From CSR to Creating Shared Value – The role of CSR in Compliance, Risk Management and Information Disclosure,” which explored how important it is for CSR policies to have a common framework across the company to identify, quantify, manage and monitor business risks; and “Business Innovation-Why Should Entrepreneurs Create Social Value,” which focused on how entrepreneurs should seek to solve real problems and create social value.

The endnote of the afternoon session was a CSR case competition and two final keynote speeches.

Following the huge success of the first CSR Case Competition in 2014, this year’s case competition, sponsored by Swire Pacific, has set the bar even higher. It challenged each team to develop an innovative and sustainable CSR solution for Swire’s “Green roof sustainability challenge.” Swire’s new office in Beijing has a phenomenal rooftop measuring nearly 1,600 square meters in size but is presently not utilised. The group is looking for potential solutions to develop this area into an exceptional community, event or urban farm space that demonstrates Swire’s vision and innovation in sustainability to all its stakeholders.

The three finalist teams – one from CUHK and two from China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) – presented their solutions in front of a panel of judges consisting of personnel from the Swire Group, CUHK Business School academic staff and business professionals. Finally, one team from CEIBS won the championship with their pioneering ideas supported by practical solutions.

Following the case competition was a keynote speech by Seema Aziz, Founder and Chairperson of CARE Foundation, the largest NGO in Pakistan, which has educated more than 180,000 students in 352 schools. She shared her experience of how an NGO implements its CSR initiatives and encourages people to be actively involved in expanding the education opportunities for children in Pakistan.

Philippe Lacamp, Swire Group’s global head of Sustainable Development, gave the concluding keynote speech. He highlighted several CSR initiatives of the Swire Group, including how to reduce the group’s overall environmental impact, improve energy efficiency and identify investment opportunities within the sustainability scope. He also offered practical examples of how the group’s CSR objective has been achieved.

Prof. Michael J. Ferguson, Associate Dean (Graduate Studies) and Director of MBA Programmes at CUHK Business School (Middle) and the student organising committee members of the 9th CUHK MBA CSR Conference posed for a group photo.

Following the huge success of the first CSR Case Competition in 2014, this year’s case competition, sponsored by Swire Pacific, has set the bar even higher. It challenged each team to develop an innovative and sustainable CSR solution for Swire’s “Green roof sustainability challenge.” Swire’s new office in Beijing has a phenomenal rooftop measuring nearly 1,600 square meters in size but is presently not utilised. The group is looking for potential solutions to develop this area into an exceptional community, event or urban farm space that demonstrates Swire’s vision and innovation in sustainability to all its stakeholders.

Since 2007, CUHK Business School has hosted this non-profit CSR conference in Hong Kong annually. Recognised by Financial Times in 2012 as Asia’s finest non-profit CSR conference, the conference has proved to be a great success over the years, encouraging MBA students to think globally and to foster coordinated efforts to build a more sustainable world.

By Fang Ying