Acknowledgement

The accomplishment of this thesis benefits of the help and direction from my dear
supervisorProf. Mammo Muchie. Prof. Muchie is always happy and willing to help
me solve the confusions and direct me approach to the final result of the thesis. On
top of that, Prof. Muchie is an easy-going and open-minded person, whom is also a
good friend to me. Without his encouragement, I would not finish this final work in
my master study. Thank you very much, Mammo!

Furthermore, I would like to show my grateful feeling to Prof. Li Xing, who once
taught me and was my project supervisor in the 8th semester. Prof. Li is a warmhearted and discipline-keeping person, with whose supervision I accomplish my
master study in time. He is always patient to help me out with questions in terms of
administration and rules. Thank you very much, Li!

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as an American academic concept has already

been discussed for more than four decades in the academic field and adopted by the
corporations in the developed countries for more than 20 years. Now it is blossoming
in China, which has become an important part of the supply chains for the capitalist
world system. Under the international context and the domestic context, the four
major players in CSR implementationthe Chinese government, the subsidiaries of
TNCs in China, the SOEs and the NPOEshave different understandings and
performances in reality.

In this thesis, I am going to explore how do the four players understand CSR by
asking two questions: 1. How does the Chinese Government understand CSR and
what policies does it issue? 2. How do the Corporations in China (SOEs, NPOEs and
subsidiaries of TNCs in China) react and perform in CSR implementation?

Abbreviation
CSR

Corporate Social Responsibility

UN

United Nations

ILO

International Labour Organization

WTO

World Trade Union

TNCs

Transnational Corporations

SOEs

State-Owned Enterprises

NGOs

Non-Governmental Organizations

SAI
SA 8000

Social Accountability International

Social Accountability 8000
ii

ISO
NPOEs

International Organization for Standardization

Non-Public Owned Enterprises

FDI

Foreign Direct Investment

PRC

Peoples Republic of China

GDP

General Domestic Product

AA 1000
SR
OECD
CPC

Account Ability standards 1000 series

Social Responsibility
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
Communist Party of China

CSPGP

China Society for Promotion of Guangcai Program

SMEs

Small-Medium Sized Enterprises

RMB

Renminbi

SGCC/ SG
ACFTU
CNCP

State Grid Corporation of China

All China Federation of Trade Unions
China National Petroleum Corporation

Content
Acknowledgementi
Abstractii
Abbreviations..iii
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Background
1.1.1 Background of CSR Under the International Background.1
1.1.2 Background of CSR in China.4
1.2 Problem Formulation...7
1.3 Methodology8
1.3.1 Information and Data Collection9
1.3.2 Theory Study.11
1.4 Chapter Introduction..14

Chapter 2 Theory Reviews

iii

2.1 Overview of CSR..15

2.2 Milton Friedmans View on CSR..16
2.3 R. Edward Freemans Stakeholder Theory19
2.3.1 The Notion and History of Stakeholder Approach19
2.3.2 Process of Stakeholder Management21
Stakeholder Analysis for Enterprise Strategy..22
Values Analysis for Enterprise Strategy..22
Social Issues Analysis for Enterprise Strategy.23

Chapter 3 Empirical Part

3.1 The principles from the International Organizations.25
3.2 The Policies or Reports from Chinese Central and Local Governments..27
3.2.1 Policies and Guidelines from CPC and the Central Government.28
Policies towards FDI.28
The 11th Five-Year Plan and Harmonious Society.28
Amendment of the Law on Employment Contract29
Amendment of Company Law of PRC..30
Guangcai Program..31
3.2.2 Report from Jiaxing City Government, Zhejiang Province31
Self-Awareness of CSR..33
Public Perception of the CSR Implementation in NPOEs..33
Factors that Affect CSR Implementation by NPOEs...35
3.3 CSR Implementation in Both Local Corporations and TNCs in China.36
3.3.1 TNCs Case StudyWal-Mart..38
3.3.2 CSR Understanding by Chinese Corporations.40
SOEs Understanding and Performance..40
NPOEs Understanding41

Chapter 4 Analysis
4.1 The Governments and the CPCs Understanding of CSR.42
4.1.1 The External and Internal Factors That Affect the Governments Attitude of CSR.42
4.1.2 The Measures Adopted by the Government on CSR Implementation..44

4.2 The Subsidiaries of TNCs Understanding of CSR45

Wal-Mart Case Study.46
4.3 The SOEs Understanding of CSR.47
4.4 The NPOEs Understanding of CSR..49
Chapter 5 Conclusion50
Reference54

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