CSR of the Belt & Road Initiative

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a means by which businesses can attempt to improve their relationship with the public. In the case of the Belt and Road Initiative, CSR can be used by Chinese firms to mitigate risks associated with their involvement, says Zhimin Tang, Dean of the International College and Director of China ASEAN Studies at Panyapiwat Institute of Management in Thailand.

Using the case study of Thailand, Tang developed the 4I model of intention, involvement, intervention and impacts to describe the CSR of Chinese firms there. The author then advised these firms "to move from a 'philanthropy' level to the 'compliance' and 'strategy' levels of CSR."

The full chapter, "CSR as a Tool to Mitigate Risk for the B&R Initiative: The Case of Thailand", was published by Palgrave, Singapore in February 2018 in the book Securing the Belt and Road Initiative. It is available here.