Chinese Businesses in Africa: Corporate Social Responsibility

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) published in February 2016 a study titled "Chinese Businesses in Africa: Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Role of Chinese Government Policies" edited by Xiaoxue Weng and Lila Buckley. 

The paper presents the findings of fieldwork in Mozambique, Kenya, and Uganda in 2015, including a survey and interviews with 58 Chinese personnel working for Chinese companies.

The research found that Chinese policies and guidelines generally received a very low level of awareness among the Chinese company representatives.  Privately owned companies had significantly lower awareness of Chinese policies and guidelines than their SOE counterparts.

Host-country laws and regulations stood out as the most important factor guiding company operations in all three countries.

Although local laws received careful attention from the Chinese companies, their operations are also strongly shaped by local institutional practices and social norms beyond the written laws and policies.

Internal corporate policies seem to play an important role in governing a majority of the practices of the Chinese companies.

Conditions set by project proprietors and financiers have critical influence on the operations of Chinese companies undertaking large-scale construction projects.