On May 2^nd, 15 MBA students from Tsinghua SEM, under the lead of Kris Qihong Xie, the assistant director of International MBA Program, attended the CUMBA (Chinese University MBA) CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Conference 2008 held in Hong Kong.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong MBA is the host of this conference, bringing CSR experts and future leaders together. Apart from the 15 Tsinghua SEM students, there are also some other students from Chinese business schools, such as CEIBS, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Nanyang Technological University participating in this conference, which was well organized by the CUMBA students. The panelists come not only from NPO but also from some famous firms which work on this issue, such as Cathay Pacific Airways, KPMG, and L’Oreal Hong Kong.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Preparing Future Leaders for Tomorrow”. In the spirit of the theme, this conference aimed at inspiring young business people about the value & benefits of CSR within corporations and communities, and encouraging such leaders and champion socially responsible business practices in their organizations.

This conference started from keynote panel, and the CSR Committee chose six different aspects of CSR that the attendees are requited to highlight within panel discussions at the conference. The following are the descriptions of each of the five different and interesting topics:  (1) CSR & Corporate Strategy: A Direction for the Future; (2) Sustainable Energy: Challenges & Opportunities; (3) Labor Rights: Human Capital Well-Being & Equality; (4) CSR Communication: The Need for Engagement; (5) CSR Workshop: Implementing a CSR Program in Your Organization; (6) Socially Responsible and Sustainable Investing: Putting our Money to Work.

The students had a fierce discussion about those topics mentioned above and put forward many questions as well. For instance, one of the questions is what CSR bases on: philanthropy or materialism. Discussing about this question, MBA students held that social responsibility can be divided into three perspectives: individual perspective, firm’s perspective with short-term or direct return, and firm’s perspective with long-term or indirect return. With those wonderful ideas and analyses, Tsinghua MBA students learned a lot from those discussions made by both other attendees and themselves.

After the conference, some of them said this conference was a great opportunity for them to comprehend more about the spirit of CSR and the necessity of the subtitle “Preparing Future Leaders for Tomorrow”. They admitted that this trip to Hong Kong’s conference inspired them a lot as well and pushed them to think more about the qualities required to be an excellent leader.