Thursday, March 8th, 2007

The World Bank Group Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Seminar Series Begins

First Session: Business, Development and CSR

With developing countries gaining greater recognition as a potential market, companies are exploring new ways to contribute to poverty reduction through business development incorporating unconventional methods and technologies. To promote debate on these trends, a new seminar series under the World Bank Group Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Initiative was launched on March 8, 2007 at the TDLC. In attendance were over 150 participants from both the public and private sectors with relevant experience, underscoring the significance of CSR in today’s global business environment.

Conducted with the cooperation of the Caux Round Table Japan, the first session entitled “Business, Development and CSR” set the tone for the series with an introduction of the World Bank Group’s CSR activities followed by discussions on the role of companies in developing countries. With CSR now a well established concept among Japanese firms, many in the audience brought their own practical experience to the floor, contributing to a lively debate with presenters.

Opening the session, Mr.Djordjija Petkoski, head of the Business, Competitiveness and Development team at the World Bank Institute, gave a presentation by video identifying WBI’s multi-stakeholder partnerships as a new paradigm to meet development challenges, with examples of best practices.

In Tokyo, Mr.Shunichi Murata, Director, UNDP Tokyo Office, spoke about “Millenium Development Goals and CSR”, emphasizing the importance of the private sector. Mr. Toru Hashimoto, Chairman, Deutsche Securities Inc., and President of the Caux Round Table, Japan, provided his insight on “Business Leaders with Global Perspective”.

Mr. Soichiro Shiroki, former 21 Century Research Institute Research Fellow and Project Manager, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries introduced the “BOP (Bottom of the Pyramid) Business Concept”, which targets the poor in developing countries and aims to raise their standard of living while seeking corporate profit at the same time. Identifying local needs, establishing distribution routes, and differences in lifestyles and religion as well as licensing procedures for production and sales were some of the difficulties raised with new entry into BOP markets.

Ms. Motoko Aizawa, Head, Policy and Standards Unit at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) concluded the session with an overview of “The World Bank Group Activities on CSR and BOP business”.