Economy Elizabeth, Lieberthal Kenneth
US Council on Foreign Relations, New York, NY, USA.
Harv Bus Rev. 2007 Jun;85(6):88-96, 141.
Of all the risks of doing business in China, the greatest is the threat posed by environmental degradation. And yet it's barely discussed in corporate boardrooms. This is a serious mistake. Multinationals may be more concerned with intellectual property rights violations, corruption, and potential political instability, but the Chinese government, NGOs, and the Chinese press have been focused squarely on the country's energy shortages, soil erosion, lack of water, and pollution problems, which are so severe they might constrain GDP growth. What's more, the Chinese expect the international community to take the lead in environmental protection. If that doesn't happen, multinationals face clear risks to their operations, their workers' health, and their reputations. In factoring environmental issues into their China strategies, foreign firms need to be both defensive, taking steps to reduce harm, and proactive, investing in environmental protection efforts. Coca-Cola, for example, installed state-of-the-art bottling plants in China that operate with no net loss of water resources. Mattel increased the safety of its Barbie-manufacturing process to protect workers' health. With its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, GE is shrinking its environmental footprint in China; more proactively, GE is working closely with the Chinese government and scientists to develop clean coal, water purification, and water reuse technologies. In considering the value of such efforts, companies can not only factor in reduced risk but also increased opportunity, as they use innovations designed for the Chinese market in the rest of the world. The bottom line: How well multinationals address environmental issues in China will affect their fortunes in one of the most important economies in the world.
在中国开展业务面临的所有风险中，最大的风险是环境恶化带来的威胁。然而，企业董事会对此却几乎没有讨论。这是一个严重的错误。跨国公司可能更关注知识产权侵权、腐败和潜在的政治不稳定问题，但中国政府、非政府组织和中国媒体一直将重点直接放在该国的能源短缺、水土流失、水资源匮乏和污染问题上，这些问题非常严重，可能会限制国内生产总值的增长。此外，中国期望国际社会在环境保护方面发挥带头作用。如果做不到这一点，跨国公司在运营、员工健康和声誉方面将面临明显风险。在将环境问题纳入其中国战略时，外国公司既要采取防御措施，减少危害，又要积极主动，投资于环境保护工作。例如，可口可乐在中国安装了最先进的瓶装厂，这些工厂在运营过程中水资源没有净损失。美泰公司提高了其芭比娃娃制造过程的安全性，以保护工人健康。通用电气通过努力减少温室气体排放，正在缩小其在中国的环境足迹；更积极的是，通用电气正在与中国政府和科学家密切合作，开发清洁煤、水净化和水回用技术。在考虑这些努力的价值时，公司不仅可以将降低风险因素考虑在内，还可以将增加的机会考虑在内，因为它们可以将为中国市场设计的创新应用于世界其他地区。底线是：跨国公司在中国应对环境问题的能力将影响它们在世界最重要经济体之一的命运。
