The qualitative and quantitative study, which surveyed a combination of mid- to high-level business professionals, Government officials and graduate students (representing future hires) in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, found that 77 per cent of respondents listed respect for employees as an important attribute for a company.
Other critical corporate qualities were deemed to be providing an enjoyable customer experience (75 per cent), providing high-quality products or services (74 per cent) and being accountable for actions (74 per cent).
Scott Kronick, president, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide China, said the findings were a reminder that brands could be wasting millions in marketing spend if they are not joining up their external image with their internal organisation.
The study also showed that stakeholders expect more from corporations than simply generating profit. Forty-nine per cent of future hires and 57 per cent of Government officials indicated that they wanted multinational companies to assume broad social responsibility; those figures rose to 54 per cent and 58 per cent, respectively, for national corporations.
However, both groups expressed more confidence in multinationals to ‘do the right thing’ in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR), including ethical treatment of employees, product safety and environmental protection. Sixty-four per cent of future hires and 87 per cent of Government officials said they expected responsible behaviour from global or multinational organisations; but the figures dropped to 29 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively, when discussing national companies.
Commenting on the findings, Robert Fronk, Harris’ senior vice-president of brand and strategy consulting, noted that CSR had risen in importance significantly in China in the wake of last year’s tainted milk scandal and the Sichuan earthquake.
“A handful of companies have stepped up to fill the void,” Fronk said, pointing to Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nestlé, Apple and Google as some of the multinationals demonstrating good CSR and consequently enjoying strong reputations in China. Chinese companies with similarly positive perceptions include Haier, Lenovo, Meng Feng, Bao Bao and the China Merchants Bank, he said.
However, Fronk noted that the Chinese CSR revolution was still in its early stages. He estimated that only a minority (15 to 20 per cent) of companies operating in China were “doing the right thing almost all the time”.
“Local companies used to be criticised for not thinking their policies through as well as international companies, but I think that is now a thing of the past,” added Kronick.
“There are good and bad companies, but I do not believe that bad companies can continue to be competitive.”
This article was originally published in 19 November 2009 issue of Media.
