Over seventy CEOs and senior executives from some of the world's largest and best-known consumer brands attended the 25 th China Daily CEO Roundtable and marketing summit yesterday themed “The 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games, Shanghai – A Global Corporate Social Opportunity – Realizing China's National Vision Towards Developing a Harmonious Society”. Initiated by China Daily, the said high-profile roundtable was co-chaired by Zhou Tai Tong, Vice Mayor of Shanghai, Shi Derong, CEO of the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games Shanghai and Timothy Shriver, Chairman of the board of Special Olympics International.

The First SO Games in China

“The 12th World Summer Games in 2007 is first time that the SO Games has come to a developing country and to Asia - to China, in particular,” says vice mayor Zhou. “When President Hu Jintao met the SO delegation in Beijing in March 2004, he asked our commitment to make the first ever SO games in China, the first of the three Olympics events in China between 2007 and 2008, a great success.”

The Special Olympics Movement is an international program of year-round sports training and athletic competition for persons with intellectual disabilities. Founded in 1968 by Mrs. Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the movement has become increasingly prominent in China, with 25% of the world's 2 million SO athletes now in China and Shanghai hosting the 2007 Special Olympic World Summer Games.

Zhou adds, “By including this program in the 11th Five-Year Plan of social economic development, the Shanghai Municipal Government will make the Games a top priority in Shanghai's social development and a major event in people's lives. We aim to further promote the SO Games in China to promote the well-being of people with disabilities and continued social harmony and progress.”

Roundtable Co-Chairman and CEO of the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games Executive Committee (GEC) Dr. Shi Derong reports the remarkable progress Shanghai has made in preparing for the world-class sports competition. “The opening and closing ceremonies of the 2007 SO Games in Shanghai will be held in a 80,000-seat stadium. Like the Olympics, SO will have a torch run starting in Athens, Greece, and the torch will be passed in 5 continents before arriving in China with an ignition ceremony in each province and major municipality in China. We are confident our SO Games will be a most spectacular and inspiring sports event.”

Working with the SO Committee, Shi does not hesitate to share his own experience, “When you are actually involved, you will be touched and feel what true happiness is and where value lies.” This is where the new term “Corporate Social Opportunity” comes in.

Corporate Social Opportunity

“Based on my experience, there is a misunderstanding of the model we need. Instead of businesses doing something good, we have to think of engagement of entities like SO and businesses as ‘good business' – which means businesses will see partnership with the government and NGOs not as responsibility, but as opportunities. Our hope with these games is to begin to shift that model in favor of the partnership model - not what you ought to do, but what you want to do,” says Timothy Shriver, roundtable co-chairman and Chairman of the board of Special Olympics International.

“Twenty some years ago when I first came to China to talk about the SO movement, there were not too many audience. Today here in Shanghai, after twenty years, I am so delighted to see the largest SO world summer games will be staged here in 2007 by your people. You own the movement!" Shriver says.

This is echoed by Steen Kroyer, Chairman of AstraZenica Pharmaceutical Co. “We see it more in terms of long-term investment and a sustainable continued collaboration with a movement. We are trying to find ways to develop a relationship.”

To convince delegates that corporate social opportunity should be a more sustainable and hence, a more predominant model, Shriver outlined three constituencies that provoked thought-stimulating discussion at the roundtable.

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement can bring many benefits to the company. “SO provides valuable opportunities for employee engagement: we've seen surveys of volunteerism, team-building, brand-building across countries show increases in morale, retention rates and productivity,”Shriver explains.

Zhang Wei, COO of STAR (China) Ltd., a subsidiary of the news corporation in China, exalts how participation in the movement is “a tremendous spirit lifter.” Their employees climbed the Great Wall with Arnold Schwartzenegger in a sponsorship program for the SO cause – and ended up enjoying the company of the SO children and athletes.

“It's a great opportunity for any company to be part of this movement and getting your employees involved,” says Zhang. “It's the best way to build family feeling among your employees.”

As Deputy CEO of HSBC China, Bryan Stiles faces the same problem of how to convey corporate values to a growing number of staff and customers in a growing company. Stiles believes that the movement can help bring corporate values home to employees – seeing it now as an opportunity rather than a responsibility.

In a time of globalized competition, globalized markets, and globalized politics, competition has become more and more intense. Business leaders everywhere must push themselves and their colleagues to work relentlessly to find competitive advantages. More and more, to miss a trend or an opportunity is to miss out on survival.

But just as bottom lines are being squeezed, businesses are increasingly being asked to assume a greater role in the enormous social and political challenges of our time—fighting poverty, protecting the environment, reducing ignorance, treating disease. The tension created by these new demands is enormous. Many are trapped believing that they cannot serve both the intense demands of profit and the complex demands of social betterment.

The problem, however, is not in the work that needs doing, but is instead in the model that is frequently offered for how to get it done. In most cases, corporate social responsibility is viewed as peripheral to the business itself, leading top business strategists and managers to view it as a distraction—a necessary one perhaps—but a distraction nonetheless. Too frequently, business leaders are called to accept the duty of corporate social responsibility and they do so with the best of intentions but without enthusiasm. Too frequently, the business model has no relationship to the social change work that the business supports.

In these cases, investment in some form of social “cause” becomes nice to do, but not important to the business. And in these days, anything that isn't important is susceptible to being seen as wasteful, unnecessary, and vulnerable to elimination.

Resolving this dilemma comes when both business and civil society leaders develop relationships that don't separate business aims from social ones but which rather build value in both areas simultaneously. The best businesses are already learning that they can build business success while at the same time building social value—that they need not see building social equity as a burden but rather as an opportunity.

That's the meaning of corporate social opportunity: business and social sector organizations working together at the most intimate level to create mutual value. Corporate social opportunity means that business leaders work with social change leaders not out of duty, but out of hope for creating lasting value. Instead of being focused on appeasing a constituency, CSO leaders focus on deepening their relationships with key constituencies like customers, employees, and communities. Instead of writing a check to satisfy a watchdog or a critic, CSO leaders think in terms of engaging stakeholders at every level in win-win propositions.

As good as it is to promote corporate social responsibility, most relationships conceived on this model are driven by guilt, do not last, and do not create satisfying results for either partner. It's time to replace CSR with CSO.

For us at Special Olympics, developing relationships around corporate social opportunity means working with potential corporate partners in wholly - new ways. It means focusing on those partnerships where we bring not only an appealing giving opportunity but also brand alignment, employee engagement value, cause marketing value, and relationship value. We're not looking primarily for the deepest pocket but for the deepest relationship where each partner can both give and receive value. Just as we expect our corporate partners to contribute significantly to our bottom line, we expect to be held accountable for contributing significantly to theirs.

Does Corporate Social Opportunity work?

According to the World Economic Forum survey of CEOs and leaders (Voice of the Leaders Survey), corporate brand reputation outranks financial performance as most important measure of success. Companies with a public commitment to ethics perform better on 3 out 4 financial measures. On average, CSR-oriented companies also have 18% higher profits (Institute of Business Ethics, 2003). A Global Investors Opinion Survey 2002 by McKinsey & Company, focusing mostly on developed countries, confirms that institutional investors are prepared to pay a premium of more than 20% for shares of companies that demonstrate good corporate governance.

Other indicators also suggest positive outcomes. In the U.S., Special Olympics and Procter & Gamble have partnered for over 25 years in cause related marketing. The Special Olympics brand when associated with P& G brands has consistently driven increases in to each other's mutual benefit. Special Olympics has consistently driven sales, market share and retail activation. Clearly P&G customers believe that a relationship with Special Olympics is good for them.

The benefits of effective CSO ha ve also been documented focusing on relationships in employee engagement. In the evaluation of a 5 year relationship where Otis Elevator over 5,000 employees were trained and deployed as volunteers in for Special Olympics in over 40 countries. As a result of this relationship, there was a marked increase in employee morale, pride and labor relations. They also reported this relationship having a direct impact on external business, in sales, recruiting, purchasing and advertising.

An evaluation showed striking benefits. Employees consistently reported increase in morale – corporate pride and Labor relations. They also reported value form the Special Olympics relation in business relationships, sales , recruiting , purchasing , and advertising.

To some, a cozy relationship between business and social goals may seem problematic or even an invitation to selling out the high minded aims of a not for profit movement. But in truth, there need be no conflict between profit and social advancement, because in real life, there is no separating the aims of doing well and doing good.

We all want both whether we are Special Olympics athletes running races, customers cho o sing products, employees choosing where to work, or investors choosing where to risk capital. All the bottom lines in life come together when we make decisions that define who we are and what we hope for out of life. In these days of economic uncertainty and global tension, we want our choices—all our choices--to reflect our deepest aspirations for a more just and peaceful world.

At Special Olympics, that's the business we're in. We don't want pity or sympathy for our athletes; we want pride and social recognition and value. Our athletes, family members and volunteers are role models of perseverance, trust, courage, and vision. They cannot only score goals in football (soccer), but they can also score goals in building brand loyalty, employee morale, and relationships that last. We don't want help driven by responsibility; we want partnerships driven by opportunity for all.

And woe to the business leader who misses that type of opportunity. In times of intense competition, the punishment won't just come from a guilty conscience. It will come more swiftly from a slipping bottom line.