Beyond Business, Not Beyond Government: How Corporate Social Responsibility Leaders in China and Russia Do Philanthropy

This study is based on a detailed content analysis of CSR reports of an emerging group of top multinational corporations (MNCs) who are domiciled in China and Russia and are domestically recognized as CSR leaders. It finds that Chinese and Russian MNC CSR leaders manipulate the scope and form of philanthropy in response to the chance of mobilizing government support or avoiding political risks according to established government-led arrangements on CSR.

This work provides new insights to: 1. Readers who want to have an updated picture of the CSR leaders’ philanthropy activities in China and Russia. 2. Readers who are interested in how CSR in emerging markets is taking shape under the government influence. 3. Readers who are interested in the variation of CSR development modes in China and Russia.

The key results from the report include:

• Most Chinese MNC CSR leaders, as large state-owned enterprises, organize philanthropy through bureaucratic connections, under a pro-government rhetoric and following government’s administrative requests.
• Chinese MNC CSR leaders target on poverty reduction and disaster relief. They primarily do this by fulfilling duties in the aid program requested by the government and making donation through government-organized charities.
• Russian MNC CSR leaders to a large extent conduct philanthropy as part of the public-private partnership projects or social-economic agreements with regional governments.
• Russian MNC CSR leaders focus on conventional domains of social infrastructure such as sport, culture/art, healthcare and education where local governments introduce the business resource by forging a formal partnership arrangement.
• Popular philanthropy areas for Chinese and Russian MNC CSR leaders are those where government-led frameworks are established or the government support is available.