Before Rich write a post on this (he was on the panel and is on the committee of Am Cham so his comments are sure to be biased!), I thought I would give a couple of thoughts. Most impressive was the turn-out of quality participants in the conference, from a wide variety of backgrounds. This makes the discussions and networking very interesting. Almost as impressive was the fantastic keynote speech (which we definitely need to try to get up on this site) which finally told people that CSR is not just about charity or compliance, but about strategy. In fact a very succinct way of looking at CSR is that corporations (and the individuals within them) have a moral responsibility to society, which most still do not recognise. Corporations also have a strategic opportunity they can grasp by developing profitable solutions to the World’s endless problems. This is being grasped by even fewer companies, and as Nancy Barry pointed out in her speech is likely to benefit smaller companies, or large domestic companies more than large multinational companies, as the key is a) about knowing your customer and b) being motivated to serve the poor customers (rather than just always tap the higher margin, rich). The presentation by Corning was also good, relating employee engagement to corporate culture and Corning were modest, relatively, about their achievements. The best speeches though must go to the 2 Chinese companies who won awards, both expressing their need to do better and continue to learn. Here, here; not something said too often by Corporate spokesmen (Disclaimer: I am an NGO representative) There was plenty of clapping at the awards and it was great to see some NGOs win some, including a partnership award. Although it was a shame that the 3 bullets each corporate winner/finalist had on their powerpoint slide were all about their charitable achievements. Bizarre, since the judging process was supposed to have included all aspects of CSR including governance etc. Never mind, always room for improvement. Unfortunately the panel could have been better and more insightful, but was still interesting. Overall, a wonderful event and one that I will look forward to next year. However, as with all the other CSR conference, Am Cham Shanghai needs to learn a few eco-lessons and stop arranging ridiculously expensive conferences in fancy hotels that use up endless resources. Our bottles of water were changed, before they were even finished; every attendee got a lengthy paper pack of bios of each speaker etc. I’d welcome other comments and posts about the event; even from Rich! (he is not actually that biased surprisingly, maybe Am Cham Shanghai need to start paying him)