Event Programme - Ethical Corporation Asia 2006 Conference, Hong Kong, 22-23 February 2006

Day 1

8:45 Chairman's Address

Chandran Nair, CEO and Founder, Global Institute for Tomorrow (GIFT)

9:00 Keynote Address

Robert M. Bestani, Director General, Private Sector Operations Department, Asian Development Bank

9.30 Accountability and transparency: Is Asian corporate governance improving?

With recent scandals in Korea, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Japan, to name a few, corporate financial transparency is a hot topic.

This session will discuss if shareholder rights are becoming more important and whether corporate governance systems are converging on the Anglo American shareholder system, and what this means for the future. You'll also hear about:

Access to capital - does poor corporate governance mean international cash is not available for Asian business?
How are Asia's stock exchanges improving corporate governance requirements - and have recent scandals changed attitudes?
Will growing desires for stakeholder accountability extend to non-financial issues, and what role will SRI play in Asia in the coming years?

Chandran Nair, CEO and Founder, Global Institute for Tomorrow (GIFT)

Jamie Allen, Secretary General, Asian Corporate Governance Association

Dr MD Ishak Ismail, CEO, Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance

Moderator: Paul French, Founder, Access Asia

10:45 - 11:15 Coffee Break and Networking

11.15 Public / Private Partnerships and Asian CSR

This session will discuss business-NGO-Government partnerships on social and environmental issues. You'll hear about the best partnerships to date, how they have worked and why. The session will also cover how coalitions can function in China and other nations, and what's been learned so far.

China, Cambodia, Bangladesh, India, which partnerships are working and why
Can partnerships alleviate systemic problems, such as investments in water and infrastructure - critics say they can do more harm than good - what's the right role for the private sector in delivering human essentials?
State owned enterprise and CSR - is there a role for the private sector in operating SOEs, and what is their impact on how other companies may operate?

Stephen Frost, Executive Director, CSR Asia

Rudi Fajar, Director for Community Development, RGM International

Oscar Ortega, Inditex

Felicia Pullam, Associate Director, Corporate Responsibility, APCO Asia

Moderator: Richard Welford, Professor, University of Hong Kong

12:30 - 13:45 Lunch and Networking

Breakout Sessions - Off the record discussion groups

13.45 - 15.00 Partnerships: Government outreach in China

How do brands connect effectively and efficiently with the Chinese government on issues of concern?

Moderator: Richard Welford, Professor, University of Hong Kong

Kate Larsen, Senior Consultant, Social Consulting Practice, Environmental Resources Management in China (ERM)

Stephen Frost, Executive Director, CSR Asia

13.45 - 15.00 The environmental landscape: Factory and site impacts

From the ground up: first hand experiences of building eco-friendly factories and buildings in China and India
Where are the most efficient practices being put in place across Asia?
How does the responsible company incorporate environmental practices and policies in the supply chain?

Moderator: Eric Bohm, CEO, WWF

Dr Andrew Thomson, CEO, Business Environment Council

Janne Liu, Associate Professor of Sociology, Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences and Executive Director, LSEA (Labor and Social Environment Assessment Network)

13.45 - 15.00 Business Management: Stakeholder engagement processes and management

This session will cover:

Defining stakeholder groups, the engagement process: best practices, and informal discussion between delegates and speakers about their experiences.

Moderator: Alex Kaufman, Director of Operations, Global Standards

Laurel Grossman, CEO, Reputex Global Pty Ltd

Alan Vandermolen, President, Asia Pacific, Edelman

15:00 - 15:30 Coffee Break and Networking

Breakout Sessions - Off the record discussion groups

15.30 - 16.45 Engagement: Capacity building with NGO and civil society partners

Industrial, local condition and supplier monitoring is always best done with local partners
How do you choose these - and what kind of training and capacity building should large companies offer to smaller organisations?
Find out real life examples of how the messy business of partnerships work - and the results - both ethical and financial - they can have

Eric Bohm, CEO, WWF

Jerry Ngo, Programme Director, Seeing is Believing project, Standard Chartered

Duncan Power, CAF Australia

Katharine de Vaal, Development Manager, Community Business

15.30 - 16.45 Cutting graft: Anti-bribery in the workplace

Coalitions against corruption - how they can be formed, what they can achieve, and who's doing the most interesting work?
What models exist that you can implement in your offices to eliminate bribes and potential corruption
Hear about first hand experiences from those at the front lines on this issue - managers just like you

Dr MD Ishak Ismail, CEO, Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance

Rekha Seal, Ethics Counseller, Tata Steel

Moderator: Paul French, Founder, Access Asia

15.30 - 16.45 Business Management: Measuring progress

How to measure applied resources on CSR
What measures of ROI are emerging across Asian companies and MNCs?
PLUS! Speakers will discuss data collection and sorting on stakeholder engagement and across the company for reporting purposes

Moderator: Alex Kaufman, Director of Operations, Global Standards

Melissa Brown, Executive Director, ASrIA

Oliver Roll, General Manager, Customer Relations and Marketing, Microsoft Asia Pacific

Day 2

9:00 Chairman's Address

9:10 Case-Study - Microsoft and corporate citizenship in Asia

Oliver Roll, General Manager, Customer Relations and Marketing, Microsoft Asia Pacific

9.35 Asian brands, reputation and CSR: Lagging behind or getting on board?

Just how far have Asia's giant companies come with regard to their reputations for CSR? Hear about:

CSR and competitive advantage: how Asia's leading firms view CSR in financial terms
How the work of the trail-blazers impacted on their perception across the region and globally
How effective is CSR in attracting international partners, and winning business?
What kind of entrepreneurial leadership do we need if "markets have to really work for all?"

Moderator: Shalini Mahtani, Founder and CEO, Community Business

Shernavaz Colah, Corporate Communicator & Corporate Head - Social Responsibility, Tata International Limited

Steven Schwankert, Editor, ChinaCSR.com

Alan Vandermolen, President, Asia Pacific, Edelman

10:30-11:00 Coffee Break and Networking

11.00 Organisational change and CSR

It's well known that if it's not understood at the top CSR is not going anywhere. CSR is no different.

How have leading CSR managers in the region persuaded CEOs that it's important? In this session, hear about:

The techniques used by leading CSR managers and advocates to demonstrate the importance of CSR to senior management
What it takes for them to buy in - the business case or principles?
What to do when they want in - how to leverage CEO and senior management goodwill into bigger budgets and meaningful actions that make a difference on the ground

Jason Yat-sen Li , General Manager, Marketing and Product (China), Insurance Australia Group (IAG)

Linda Funnell-Milner, Director, GRI Stakeholder Council and formerly Group Manager Corporate Social Responsibility, National Bank

Benjamin Hung, C.O.O., Standard Chartered Hong Kong

12:00-13:15 Lunch and Networking

Breakout Sessions - Off the record discussion groups

13.15 - 14.30 Partnerships:

Sharing of CR information. Are there effective and appropriate means of sharing audit information?
Remediation information - Is there a way to establish a common information platform? Which organizations are doing this now - what are the impacts and well is it working?
In-factory expertise - How should you take part in capacity building so that factories in the China-based supply chain can build the ability to self-manage CR, especially in the technical zones like occupational health, but also in human resource management?

Moderator: Laurel Grossman, CEO, Reputex Global

Oscar Ortega, Inditex

13.15 - 14.30 Engaging government

How to work with local officials in an effective way
Working with government agencies to improve legal compliance: what is the right role for the responsible company in encouraging effective legal compliance?
Practical tips and solutions for working ethically to avoid potential corruption in the supply chain
Find out how far your rights can be enforced and what can be achieved with some lateral thinking

Moderator: Jason Yat-sen Li, General Manager, Marketing and Product (China), Insurance Australia Group

Dr MD Ishak Ismail, CEO, Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance

13.15 - 14.30 Business Management: Reporting processes AND how do we measure the business impacts of CR?

Has GRI made an impact in Asia?
Measuring quantifiable change: How far have we come to date, and what are the likely results on productivity and costs associated with better CSR management?
What hope for ISO 26000? Are ISO standards taken seriously in the region and will their work make a big impact on the CSR landscape?

Moderator: Linda Funnell-Milner, Director, GRI Stakeholder Council and formerly Group Manager Corporate Social Responsibility, National Bank

Shernavaz Colah, Corporate Communicator & Corporate Head - Social Responsibility, Tata International

Gail Kendall, CLP

14:30 - 15:00 Coffee Break and Networking

Breakout Sessions - Off the record discussion groups

15:00 - 16.15 Supply Chain: Productivity and working hours

Hear about the best known methods of raising productivity in factories to help reduce work hours and increase pay and compliance

Moderator: Kate Larsen, Senior Consultant, Social Consulting Practice, Environmental Resources Management in China (ERM)

Alex Kaufman, Director of Operations, Global Standards

Lin Wang, Social Manager, IKEA Asia

15:00 - 16.15 Tackling Discrimination: How to get it done internally

Hear how leading companies are tackling discrimination in the workplace.
What role do explicit corporate values and training/codes play here, and how do the best companies tackle this issue?

Moderator: China: Jason Yat-sen Li , General Manager, Marketing and Product (China), Insurance Australia Group

Anant Nadkarni, Vice-President - Group CSR, Tata Council for Community Initiatives, Tata Group

Shalini Mahtani, Founder and CEO, Community Business

15:00 - 16.15 Business Management Reporting and communications:

Public sustainability/CSR reporting: it has value as a tool to improving a company's relationship with its stakeholders
But what is its role in improving how companies measure themselves against stakeholder expectations?
How can it be used to measure and analyse the impact of their CSR efforts towards solutions and change?

Albert Wong, Head of Policy and External Relations, Shell International Limited

William Anderson, Head of Social & Environmental Affairs, Asia Pacific, Adidas Solomon AG

Day 1 | Day 2