Understanding social responsibility of Hong Kong’s time-honoured business through the lens of yi-li unity

Abstract

Abstract In recent years, anthropology of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been initiated to explore how some multinational corporations (MNCs) reconstruct their relationship with local communities where they operate. Meanwhile, a number of Chinese scholars have shown interest in investigating how the imported concept of CSR has been practiced by many time-honoured businesses ( laozihao , 老字号) in Chinese society. Rather than following the Western CSR discourse derived from the practice of MNCs, this study represents a new effort to examine how some time-honoured businesses have long taken on social responsibilities in an alternative way. Based on the ethnographic data and archival data collected among time-honoured businesses in Hong Kong, this paper argues that the Confucian-inspired principle of yi-li tongyi (unity of righteousness and profit, 义利统一) has been integrated into daily business operation and has played an important role in driving laozihao businesses to engage in social life and to carry out activities akin to CSR. As such, this paper contributes to anthropology of CSR by bringing to light an endogenous, long-standing Chinese way of practicing social responsibility among long-established businesses in Hong Kong society—one that is new to the CSR literature and rooted in the Confucian principle of yi-li tongyi (the Chinese business spirit). In addition, this study contributes to the study of corporate culture and business longevity by offering a non-Western, endogenous case in which an ethical culture, rather than imported managerialism, underpins long-term survival of these firms.