Thursday, 05 January 2006Can Corporations Care? Here’s what people thinkThe forum, chaired by GIFT founder and chief executive Chandran Nair, was part of the Voice of the Voiceless Film Festival organised by the Shambhala Foundation and held at the Fringe Club on 14 December to examine in depth the most important issues of the WTO talks.
Mr Nair was joined by panellist Professor Wang Guiguo, who holds the Chinese and Comparative Law chair at the City University of Hong Kong and is chairman of the Hong Kong WTO Research Institute.
The discussion centred on the question, “Can corporations care?” which was posed to a packed auditorium of the club’s theatre.
The ensuing exchanges underlined the breadth and depth of influences and consequences of corporate behaviour. It brought to light what steps people can take to make corporations care.
The discussion came to the following conclusions:
• Since society’s rules are set by people, they can with the help of civil society shape the boundaries beyond which it is unacceptable for businesses to step.
• Asians can shape how Asian companies can and will behave.
• Developing countries may find stronger voices at the WTO if they were to approach negotiations better prepared by building competences.
• Extreme approaches are of little help in resolving stand-offs.
• Engagement and the middle ground are important tools in influencing corporations and governments in matters of business and trade.
• Perverse incentives are at the heart of unethical corporate behaviour.During the discussion, one member of the audience commented: “Of course corporations care, but maybe the question ought to be what do they care about?”
Among points raised, comments made, and questions asked in the course of the discussion were:
On corporate behaviour and community action:
What does society demand in how companies provide their goods and services?
Since society’s rules are set by people, they can with the help of civil society shape the boundaries beyond which it is unacceptable for businesses to step.“One thing we ought to be aware of is that corporations are not only ‘ugly American’ entities – they can also be Asian,” Mr Nair said. “That being said, Asians can shape how Asian companies can and will behave.”
Protest action is prompted by a sense that corporate values are not just and protesters are targeting both their own governments, and foreign ones to try to make their grievances known.
The panel was asked how “the small people” might influence corporations to behave more responsibly, and – more directly at Prof. Wang – how corporate behaviour was being approached in university business courses.
Prof. Wang’s response perhaps revealed an opportunity: “In business schools, it is left to the discretion of individual professors as to how they approach the question of corporate behaviour.”
Nevertheless, people, consumers, can lobby both corporations and governments and through civil action work to inculcate a sense of caring.
Mr Nair said: “A group of consumers can be a force, but there is a need to find the middle ground, somewhere away from extreme language, which I believe is laziness and doesn’t get us very far.”
On the relationship between corporations and governments:
Some people argued that corporations are powerful and influential enough to shape government.Prof. Wang pointed out that corporate contributions to the drafting of trade rules under the WTO vary. Delegations such as those from the US, the EU, Japan, Canada and Australia all have representatives from the private sector, lobbyists and lawyers that make their views known and influence their government’s position.
However, delegations from Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland and most developing member countries are purely from the government. Companies have no voice in these delegations, yet companies, not governments, are responsible for most business, he said.
And while most WTO rules don’t directly govern corporations, because most of the trade body’s members are sovereign states, it is corporations that are subject to penalties, restrictions, licensing rules, he said.
Mr Nair said that while developing nations were not in the habit of including the private-sector in trade talks, they might see an opportunity to build competence in this area.
The Shambhala Foundation promotes and supports action for ethnic diversity and culturally sustainable development.
The Hong Kong WTO Research Institute’s mission is to study the WTO and the changes caused by China’s accession to the world trade body, to enhance public awareness of the WTO and to promote cross-border academic and professional exchanges.
GIFT is an independent social venture think tank dedicated to advancing understanding of the impacts of globalisation.
Chandran Nair appeared at the Voice for the Voiceless Film Festival, 14 December, Hong Kong
Shambhala Foundation
HK WTO Research Institute
World Trade Organisation
HK Fringe Club
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