Sichuan lesson

Perhaps the biggest transition for Chinese companies, going from being viewed as having very little CSR to eclipsing the long-standing programs of the multinational companies operating within the nation, came after the magnitude-7.9 quake that struck Sichuan province in 2008.

Mourning the loss of more than 70,000 lives and hundreds of thousands left without homes, the earthquake awakened the giving spirit of the Chinese, and donations by the millions began pouring in.

Wanting to offer their own contribution, several multinational companies gave donations following global CSR guidelines listed by their corporate headquarters.

While the average amount donated by large companies initially hovered around 5 million yuan ($796,000, 618,000 euros), Chinese consumers felt as though the largest multinationals had not given enough.

It sparked an online campaign tracking the amounts foreign companies donated. Those who did not give enough were dubbed "iron roosters" after a famous Chinese idiom meaning cheap, referring to the difficulty of getting a single feather out of an iron rooster.

It resulted in boycotts of products from foreign companies listed as iron roosters, including Nokia, Samsung, KFC and McDonald's.

Flexible approach

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Companies quickly learned that in China, and other markets where cultures may differ, stepping away from a global standard and adopting local techniques is often crucial to success.

"The way we manage business processes is in a market-by-market approach," Evan Lewis, vice-president of communications for Accor Asia Pacific, a hotel operator, said during a recent panel discussion.

"We have to appreciate that competitive advantage exists in the countries we operate. There is no universal business strategy across Asia. When you've got emerged economies, newly industrialized countries and emerging markets, the approach to each of those businesses is a different level of organizational development."

Since the sharp increase in philanthropic activities by Chinese businesses after the 2008 earthquake, the playing field has also seen a shift in charitable contributions.

In the Fortune China CSR Ranking 2012 report, the top 10 most philanthropic multinational companies donated an average of 0.34 percent of their yearly revenues, compared with an average of 0.17 percent of revenues among the highest donating Chinese companies.

Still, with more than 200 international non-governmental organizations operating in China, there is no shortage of causes for donations.

For companies wanting to build a good reputation, which is at the bottom line of all CSR activities, charitable giving is the most quantifiable and visible to consumers, governments and shareholders.

But in the areas where a company's contributions are not so easily traced, organizations must resort to other means to put onto paper their efforts to stakeholders.

In reporting CSR efforts, China has excelled compared with the rest of the world.

Facing outside scrutiny from government and investors, more companies are adopting the International Standardization Organization (ISO) and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) - the two largest third-party reporting institutions.