HONG KONG - Media OutReach - 25 July 2018 - The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School's Centre for Business Sustainability (CBS) announced today results of the 3rd Hong Kong Business Sustainability Index (HKBSI), where leading companies in Hong Kong have shown increasing concerns for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business sustainability.
Established in March this year, CBS is a joint effort of Department of Government and Public Administration and Department of Management at CUHK. The Centre will continue the sustainability index projects initiated by Prof. Carlos Lo, when he set up the Sustainability Management Research Centre (SMRC) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in May 2013, with the support of The Hong Kong Council of Social Service and the Hong Kong Productivity Council as strategic partners. As one of the major initiatives, HKBSI aspires to inspire companies in Hong Kong to adopt CSR as a progressive business model for them to achieve business sustainability.
Compared to the results of the 2nd HKBSI released in 2016, the overall average score of the 50 constituent companies of the Hang Seng Index (HSI) as on 6 June 2017 in the 3rd HKBSI was 50.82 (out of 100 points), an increase of 11.13 per cent, whereas the average score of the top 20 Index companies has recorded 72.46 (out of 100 points), up by 5.29 per cent.
Both the overall average score and that of the top 20 Index companies have registered an increase for two consecutive rounds of HKBSI. In comparison with that of the 1st HKBSI, which was launched in December 2015, the overall average score of the 3rd HKBSI registered an increase of 21.72 per cent (from 41.75 points in the 1st HKBSI). For the top 20 HKBSI Index companies, the mean score of this round has recorded a significant improvement of 26.57 per cent (from 57.25 points in the 1st HKBSI).
Prof. Carlos Lo, Director of CBS, explained that the assessment of HKBSI is based on the unique "Values -- Process -- Impact" (VPI) model, which was developed by SMRC and launched in 2015. He highlighted the progressive advancement in the performance of business sustainability over the past three rounds of HKBSI.
However, he pointed out that in this latest round, despite an increase in the overall average score, the standard deviation was also visibly large (21.5 points), reflecting a huge performance gap between the top and bottom companies. For the top companies with over 80 points, their overall performance in sustainability attained the level of "pace-setter" and was comparable to international standard. But for those companies scored below the overall average score, they were still in the stage of "explorer" and have yet to set a clear CSR orientation and a proper management framework.
-rmc//