China CSR Watch

By China CSR Watch (www.csrcsr.com)

With the latest update of World of Warcraft, a popular online game published by Blizzard, Chinese gamers are astonished to find out that the game characters have been modified to avoid showing any bones, literally. Only the version sold in Chinese market has the “no skeletons” modification.

World of Warcraft is the most popular online game worldwide with more than 8 million global players, of which more than 3.5 million are in China.

“The modification of the game characters are due to the situation in China and the requirement of policy. It’s a minor modification to promote healthy and harmonious online gaming environment. It will not affect any gaming experience for players,” explained public relations department of the9.com, War of Warcraft’s Chinese operator.

The9.com wouldn’t comment on the government regulation issues.

The Content Examination Committee of Imported Games affiliated with Ministry of Culture is the regulatory authority to Internet games. All imported games must be examined before put into Chinese market.

Sources (in Chinese and English):
Nanfang City News: http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/southnews/pdf/ds/20070628/A32.pdf
Oriental Entrepreneur http://business.sohu.com/20060705/n244104437.shtml
Blizzard.com http://www.blizzard.com/press/070111.shtml
Newspaper Digest: http://www.gmw.cn/01wzb/2004-05/30/content_35928.htm

By China CSR Watch (www.csrcsr.com)

Shanghai General Motors, GM’s JV branch in China, has announced its plan to set up a paint-spray plant in Shenyang of northeast China, which will have the capacity to paint 150,000 Chevrolet-branded cars per year. The plant is located in highly populated areas and faces strong opposition from local residents for environmental concerns.

According to the public environmental impact announcement jointly issued on May 29th 2007 by Shanghai GM and Liaoning Environment Science Research Institute, the plant will generate pollutants such as P-Xylene.

“I chose to settle down in this area mostly because of the nice environment and the orchard that has decades of history. However, if now we have a pollutant-generating plant very close to my home, my life will surely be greatly effected,” said LI Nong, a local resident, a lawyer, and a representative elected by unhappy local residents.

On June 1st, more than 200 residents protested the potential pollution brought by this new plant in their community plaza and again on June 6th, more than 100 residents gathered in front of the Shenyang government to demonstrate their opposition. It is estimated that around 500,000 people reside within several kilometers of the plant, and the closest residential building is only 50 meters away.

Sources (in Chinese):
China Philanthropy Times: http://www.gongyishibao.com/jrxw.asp?newsid=53&act=jrxw
Soufan.com: http://bbs.sy.soufun.com/1617144623~-1~509/951937_951937.htm
Shenyang Department of Publicity: http://www.syxcb.gov.cn/index/gzdt-13.htm

By China CSR Watch (www.csrcsr.com)

Since early 2007, 11% of LG Electronics China employees were forced to leave the company after their employment contracts ended without renewal. This is the biggest work force reduction since LG Electronics entered China market 14 years ago. LG has more than 38,000 employees in China according to its official website.

“I don’t regard this as a lay-off. It’s an adjustment of human recourses due to the strategic change of the company,” explained HAN Xuefei, public relations manager of LG. No severance package was awarded due to the fact that the employees’ labor contracts have expired, according to the LG Electronics’ statement.

According to LG China’s HR practice, the labor contract is to be renewed on a yearly basis. However, according to the latest Chinese labor law expected to come out within the year, employees who work for a company for more than 10 years have the right to request a un-fixed term labor contract.

“After the introduction of the new labor law, the company can only lay off those un-fixed term employees with a hefty severance package,” according to an anonymous source who claimed to have worked in LG’s HR department.

Many forced-out employees are said to have worked for LG between 5 to 10 years.

Sources (in Chinese):
Guangzhou Daily: http://tech.qq.com/a/20070628/000117.htm
Yangcheng Evening News: http://news.sohu.com/20070626/n250780039.shtml
World Business Report: http://biz.icxo.com/htmlnews/2007/06/25/1148074.htm
LG Electronics: http://cn.lge.com/aboutus/china/management.jsp

By China CSR Watch (www.csrcsr.com)

25 international and Chinese domestic companies were awarded the Best Corporate Image 2006 titles by Development Research Center of the State Council P.R.China, China Credit Research Center under Peking University, Sohu.com, and Guang Hua Media on January 29th 2007 in Beijing. However, the annual Best Employer title was left vacant.

“Employee relations is one of our key focus areas in our research criteria on corporate social responsibility. However, 2006 was the year that many employee relations incidents surfaced. This is a clear indicator that the public has shifted its attention from speed of economic development to the welfare and respect of individuals,” explained SHI Qisheng, general manager of Guang Hua Media.

The MNCs received these titles are Pepsi, Ford, HP, Coca-Cola, Lenovo, McDonalds, Motorola, Nokia, Loreal, Microsoft, Siemens, and Volkswagen. Siemens was also awarded the Annual Best Corporate Responsibility Company and Lenovo was awarded the Annual Best Management Company.

The organizers also published what claimed to be the first corporate image report in China, which can be downloaded at 2006 China Corporate Public Image Report (Chinese Version).

Sources (in Chinese):
Sohu.com
http://business.sohu.com/s2007/5180/s247803298/
http://business.sohu.com/20070129/n247915659.shtml
http://business.sohu.com/20070131/n247952872.shtml
http://business.sohu.com/upload/2006qyxx.doc

China CSR Watch (www.csrcsr.com) is an independent observer on corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance of multinational companies (MNCs) in China.

Our mission is to track/summarize/translate/analyze CSR performance of MNCs in China for the global audience. By bridging through the language barrier, we hope to provide objective information on global giants’ local CSR performance.