philosophy he had cherished was ‘‘trying to be perfect and developing
high-quality products.’’ Under the guidance of this philosophy, his
company had always taken back its old products by offering new
products for clients.
Social responsibility (she hui ze ren)
The notion ofsocial responsibilitymeans that what a firm does should
be beneficial for both its stakeholders and the whole of society.
The interviewed executives interpreted this notion as follows: ‘‘not
considering a firm as a money-making machine but as a carrier which
can push the society forward’’; ‘‘to deem it one’s own responsibility
to develop one’s nation and to bring stability to the country’’;
‘‘attempting to build up a long-lived enterprise to strengthen the
nation’’; ‘‘enterprises need to reciprocate contributions by employees
and society’’; and ‘‘sharing can bring more happiness than keeping all
for oneself.’’ Sixteen business leaders (46 percent) said they had held
this philosophy in their managerial career.
While talking about the notion ofsocial responsibility, the inter-
viewed executives mentioned two aspects. First, a company should
reward its employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders for their
contributions. The company must take care of the employees’ well-
being and their development, and the company needs to share profits
honestly with the shareholders; moreover, the company must work to
ensure that customers or clients get the high-quality products or
services that fully satisfy their needs. Second, a company should create
value for society and behave as a good citizen of society.
The CEO from a garment factory in Shenzhen offered his practices
as an example. In the Pearl River delta region near Hong Kong, there
are thousands of clothing factories located in Guangzhou, Shenzhen,
Dongguan and other cities. The clothing manufacturing industry is
labor-intensive, and the majority of the employees in this industry are
from the poor, rural areas in central or western parts of China.
Employees are paid at piece rates and employers did not offer any
other benefits before 2005. Nevertheless, the CEO reported that his
company not only made payment to the local government authority to
get a provisional residential certificate for every employee but also
purchased safety insurance for each employee. To protect employees
better, the company bought an additional amount of accident insur-
ance for every employee. This is rarely seen in the industry because
246 Zhi-xue Zhanget al.