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亚洲商业与可持续发展 最近，我有幸主持了一个关于亚洲商业与可持续发展的高层分组讨论会。 会议的地点是在亚洲协会（the Asia Society）位于香港的新址，靠近太古广场，由历史古建改造而成。那里原是英军的火药库，经过重新设计和改建以后，十分壮观。 当天活动的主题是“聚焦商业及环境”，由美银美林（Bank of America Merrill Lynch）与大自然保护协会（The Nature Conservancy）及亚洲协会共同举办。 在分组讨论开始之前，美银美林亚太区总裁布莱恩•布里尔（Brian Brille） 、恒隆地产主席（兼亚洲协会联合主席）陈启宗作了介绍发言。 参与讨论的嘉宾包括沃尔玛（Walmart）亚洲总裁兼CEO贝思哲、通用电气（GE）全球增长及运营副董事长庄睿思、来宝集团（Noble Group）创始人兼董事长来礼文、中国三峡总公司副总经理林初学、大自然保护协会亚太区执行董事Charles Bedford。 他们当中既有今年《财富》世界500强排名第1、16、139位的跨国企业亚洲负责人，也有来自世界最大的能源公司之一，还有美国最大的非盈利环保组织——都是精挑细选出的意见领袖。 150多位来自香港商界、非盈利机构和政府部门的领导应邀出席并聆听了讨论——足见这一活动在异常忙碌、利润至上的香港具有一定的可持续性。 请各位谅解，由于此次活动规定“不得发表”会谈内容，恕我无法详尽描述各位嘉宾发言的具体细节。 但让我印象颇深的是各位嘉宾对亚洲可持续发展表现出的紧迫感和责任感。很多人都对大型企业的动机和策略提出了质疑。在会议结束时，我想与会者都相信一些大企业都在积极努力改变这一进程。 名列《财富》世界500强的大型企业参与可持续发展对话有一个明显的优势，就是可以将他们的战略目标和完善的管理体制规律、丰沛的资源以及充足的财力整合在一起。 虽然投资者、企业家、中小企业主和消费者也能在可持续发展中发挥重要作用，但大型企业充当的角色更为关键。这些企业就像领头羊，可以制定步调，树立榜样。假如没有他们“上船”，那发展速度会放慢很多。 参与讨论的嘉宾似乎都同意，就目前而言，可持续发展的战略和实施都不是短期内最能盈利的方案，但却是最佳方案，不久必将成为政府监管机构、投资者和消费者眼中的不二之选，相关需求正水涨船高。 有趣的是，相当数量的嘉宾在发言中都表示——或许是因为亚洲很多地区都面临着严峻而紧迫的环境问题——当地一些政府、企业领袖和消费者对可持续发展的需求比西方国家更为紧迫。 我以《财富》（中文版）发表的与2012年《世界大型企业研究会首席执行官挑战调查》相关的报道为例。该调查显示亚洲首席执行官将可持续发展列为应优先解决的五个问题之一，而美国和欧洲的首席执行官只将这个问题排在第九位。 同一调查还表明，中国的首席执行官们把“将社会和可持续性目标纳入策略表现目标”和“改善可持续性的衡量和报告机制”列入前五大关键策略。 嘉宾们都清楚地意识到，中国十二五计划所明确的环境目标是以从北京到地方各级政府的坚定决心为依托的。 会议还用较长时间讨论了投资者参与以及投资者预期管理的问题。有证据表明，越来越多的机构投资者都更青睐在可持续发展战略及实施上拥有完善制度和报告体系的公司，其中也包括中国企业。 虽然大家都认为一般来说企业应该在可持续发展上多作些宣传，但媒体也被批评未对相关报道给予足够重视，而是过度关注负面新闻。 这种情况明显呈增加之势。解决办法除制定策略之外，一半在于投资者的多元合作，正如大自然保护协会开创的这种与企业及政府机构合作的模式；另一半则在于对既追求收入和利润表现，又追求可持续发展的管理者给予奖励，事实上某些大企业已经采取了后者的做法。 香港来宝集团主营各种商品的采购、加工及分销。成立25年来，集团的收入已发展到390亿美元，位列《财富》世界500强第139位。从公司的战略宣言可以看出，公司业务的迅猛发展是与其对可持续发展的承诺相伴相生的。宣言的卷首语这样写道： “我们致力于打造可持续发展的以大宗商品重要及相关贸易为核心的企业，力争实现年回报率20%以上。” 这一宣言及来宝公司的卓越成长传递出一个强有力的讯息。 我们需要更多类似的高层对话，为此我要向这次会议的组织者致意。 |
Business and Sustainability in Asia Recently I had the opportunity to moderate a high-level panel discussion about business and sustainability in Asia. The venue was the Asia Society's spectacular new Hong Kong facility, located near Pacific Place, in a beautifully redesigned and renovated historic building which was once a British military storage facility for explosives. The event, billed "Spotlight on Business and the Environment" was sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy and The Asia Society. Our panel discussion followed introductory comments by Brian Brille, Chairman, Asia-Pacific Region, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Ronnie Chan, Chairman of Hang Lung Properties (concurrently co-chair of The Asia Society). Panelists were Scott Price, President and CEO of Walmart Asia; John Rice, Vice Chairman of Global Growth and Operations of GE International; Richard Elman, Chairman and Founder of Noble Group; Lin Chuxue, Vice President of China Three Gorges Corporation; and Charles Bedford, Managing Director, Asia-Pacific Region, The Nature Conservancy. This panel comprised the senior Asia-based leaders of global giants ranking #1, #16, and #139 on the current FORTUNE Global 500 list, plus one of the largest energy companies in the world, and the largest non-profit environmental organization in the U.S. -- a very select group of opinion leaders. The audience was composed of roughly 150 invited business, non-profit and government leaders from Hong Kong -- a very solid showing for a sustainability event in ultra-busy, profit-oriented Hong Kong. I hope readers will forgive me for not reporting in detail any of the specific comments which panelists made, because the ground rules for the event were "off the record". One clear impression which struck me was the panelists' sense of urgency and commitment to sustainability in Asia. Many people are skeptical about the motives and tactics of big business. I think participants in this event came away convinced that some leading companies are making serious efforts to change the agenda in a positive way. One of the powerful advantages which larger organizations like FORTUNE Global 500 companies bring to a dialogue on sustainability is their ability to align strategic goals with well-developed management systems and metrics, with sufficient resources and financial strength to stay the course. Investors, entrepreneurs, SMEs and consumers also have very important roles to play in making sustainability work, but larger companies play an even more critical role. These companies are like bell cows: they set the pace and provide the leadership example for many others. If they are not "on board", progress will come at a much slower pace. Among our panelists, there seemed to be a consensus that for the time being, sustainable strategies and practices are generally not the most profitable approach in the short run. Yet they are the best approach, and before long may well become the only approach in the eyes of government regulators, stakeholders and consumers, all of whom are demanding more. Interestingly, a number of panelists' comments suggested that -- perhaps because of the severity and urgency of the environmental challenges faced in many parts of Asia -- governments, business leaders, and consumers in some parts of Asia are more demanding on sustainable business practices than some of their Western counterparts. One example I cited was the report we published in FORTUNE China based on The Conference Board's 2012 CEO Challenge survey, which showed that Asian CEOs ranked sustainability as one of their top 5 priorities, versus only a 9th-place ranking among US and European CEOs. The same survey showed that Chinese CEOs cited, as 2 of their top 5 critical strategies, the need to incorporate sustainability goals into strategic performance objectives as well as to improve sustainability measurement and reporting. There was a clear sense among panelists that the ambitious environmental goals embodied in China's 12th 5 Year Plan are backed by serious resolve among government agencies, from Beijing to the provinces. One topic discussed at some length was stakeholder engagement, and managing the expectations of investors. Evidence is clear that more and more institutional investors are looking to invest in companies with well-documented and reported sustainability strategies and practices. This includes Chinese companies. While the view was that businesses generally need to do a better job of telling their story on sustainability, the media came in for criticism for not paying enough attention to reporting it, and for focusing too much on the bad news aspects. The momentum is clearly growing. Part of the solution, above and beyond strategic commitment, clearly lies in multi-stakeholder partnerships, of the kind The Nature Conservancy forges with businesses and government agencies. Another part, which some leading companies have already embraced, is incentivizing managers and executives not only for revenue and profit-related performance, but sustainability metrics as well. Hong Kong-based Noble Group, which sources, processes and distributes a diverse range of commodities, has grown to US$39 billion in revenues and #139 on the Fortune Global 500 ranking, since its founding only 25 years ago. A look at the company's strategy statement suggests that rapid growth and commitment to sustainability can go hand in hand. The first sentence of that statement reads: "We endeavor to generate yearly returns on equity in excess of 20%, by building a sustainable business focusing on significant and relevant trade flows in bulk commodities." That statement of strategy, and Noble's extraordinary growth, send a strong message. We need more high-level conversations of this sort. Hats off to the organizers for putting this one together. |
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