Seeking advice for bachelor thesis on Business in China (e.g. CSR)

[Diana I.]

Hey guys,

I'm going to write my bachelor thesis on business in China, more specifically I'm specializing in International Management and Corporate Social Responsibility.

However I'm having hard time picking the research question, so I'm wondering if anybody could give me a tip. Whereas I'm very interested in Chinese culture and am learning Mandarin, I've never been to China and never really studied anything about business in China, so any ideas are welcome!

The area of research could be really anything concerning Corporate Social Responsibility (business ethics, supply chain, environmental issues, labor rights, etc.). But it could also be something unrelated to CSR (for example cultural problems Western companies have when entering Chinese market and the difficulties it creates for successful business)

I will only have 8 weeks to write the thesis, and it should be max 30 pages long. So the research question should be very specific and compact (like a case study of a particular situation/enterprise or, say, an empirical study to investigate certain attitudes)

Maybe some of you have heard of some scandal I could make a case study of? Some topics that are especially prominent at the moment regarding CSR and business in general? Maybe you have experience doing business in China and encountered certain obstacles that are not very researched yet? Some recent changes in the Chinese economy and business attitudes that you know or subjectively perceive? Something that is not ethical but is not addressed openly (say, on the labor market) ? But really, any ideas and thoughts are welcome!

It would be really helpful to hear opinions, thanks in advance!

[jbradfor]

Came across this article about WalMart in China and their social responsibility. Could be something here.

From the CEO of WalMart to a meeting of its largest supplies in China:

I firmly believe that a company that cheats on overtime and on the age of its labor, that dumps its scraps and its chemicals in our rivers, that does not pay its taxes or honor its contracts, will ultimately cheat on the quality of its products.

[samitakamaki]

There's also Anita Chan, a researcher focusing on labor issues in China. She did a study* on two factories in which Reebok (a company that used to be quite vocal about CSR, until they were bought up by Adidas) demanded that the workers be allowed to hold democratic elections of trade union members (since ACFTU, the official trade union, is utterly useless).

In one of the factories, the workers had already been informed about labor laws for several years, and there was even a social worker from Hong Kong, going around in the dorms every night to talk to the workers about conditions at the factory. Then they sent the elected union committee to a 6 month training course in Hong Kong. Eventually though, Reebok got a fax, announcing that further interference in union election would be illegal, showing the how much China really cares about it's workers (or its laws). I find it very sad/interesting that even when a corporation actually tries to show responsibility, they still meet resistance.

I'm sure if you read up on some books/articles similar to this, plenty of questions will pop up

*in Labour Studies Journal, 2009, vol. 34.

[tim89]

If you are still researching content or need more data I would always recommend those statistics on china , you will find a lot of interesting stuff there and it might help you with your bachelor thesis since focuses on business!