Six companies were honored today during the 2006 American Chamber of Commerce Shanghai Corporate Social Responsibility Conference and Awards Ceremony.

Ford Motor (China) Ltd won the First Place for Overall CSR Award for 2006. The company has established an executive-level CSR committee to ensure all parts of their business integrate sound business practices. The company is also involved in road safety issues in China.

According to the Chamber, the awards honor and showcase organizations that have made notable contributions to further corporate citizenship in Shanghai and in China. Hopefully these awards will encourage and provide models for other organizations looking to enhance their own CSR activities.

Coca-Cola won the Overall CSR Award of Merit. Their CSR program encompasses different sectors and the beverage company has built 57 Project Hope primary schools in China and 55 multimedia classrooms helping about 60,000 rural students. As water is an important component of their business, they are also involved in water conservation efforts.

Amway China earned accolades and won the CSR Innovation Award. The company, in the past year, launched a volunteer project with over 100 volunteer teachers from their company and also reached as far as Mount Everest where they cleaned trash around the area.

PMI International, a trading company, earned the CSR Small and Medium Enterprise Award. The company only has 25 employees in China, but has been able to make a great impact with their manufacturing standards. They also created and implemented a sound employee workplace Code of Conduct and have sponsored students in places like Gansu. Employees also participated in the annual Terry Fox Run Charity.

Both Murray King, Chairperson for the CSR Committee at AmCham, and Richard Brubaker, Vice Chairperson for the Committee, moderated the awards. Amy Wong, Global Deputy Director of the Global Suppliers Institute Program, Kenan Institute, moderated the first part of the ceremony.

Shanghai Pudong Development Bank won First Place for Non Foreign Invested Enterprise CSR Award. King said the financial company was a strong supporter of environmental protection. SPDB are involved in over 15 eco-projects, including a water conservation project near Shanghai. They are also the first financial institution in China to print a corporate social responsibility report.

In addition, Shanghai Aerospace Equipment Manufacturing Company won the award for a Non Foreign Invested Enterprise Award of Merit for its variety of CSR activities and the establishment of a volunteer group from their own workforce. They have also helped raise funds for the Special Olympics.

"Social problems are economic problems," said Bill Valentino, General Manager Corporate Communications Greater China for Bayer, during a speech at the ceremony. "It is not just corporate social responsibility but corporate social innovation that drives systematic change. You need to ask how does my business agenda relate to a social need. When we talk about CSR, everybody looks at it as charity, but it's not just about charity. It's an opportunity for learning."

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