Shoe Enterprises: Export Threshold Should Become The "Ladder" Of Enterprise Upgrading.

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As the first social responsibility certification standard in the world, SA8000 certification has been regarded as a passport for many enterprises to enter the field of international trade.

However, as of now, there are a number of international corporate social responsibility standards, which are estimated to be over 400 (including enterprise code of conduct).

SA8000 is just one of them.

"From the present point of view, there is still a lack of a real international standard in corporate social responsibility. The existing standards actually have certain limitations."

It is understood that due to the disunity of the existing standards, many import and export enterprises in Quanzhou have encountered the "social responsibility threshold" set by the buyers.

In order to obtain orders from multinational buyers, most export enterprises should accept the social responsibility audit by the multinational buyers or their entrusted external organizations.

In order to reduce repeated various social responsibility audits, some domestic export processing enterprises even directly entrust some foreign organizations to implement the third party certification of social responsibility.

However, different countries, different institutions and different buyers have different standards, and some even contradict each other. As a result, different standards of social responsibility, repeated auditing and repeated certification have caused certain difficulties to export enterprises.

"The introduction of the international standard of social responsibility ISO26000" is expected to change this situation.

Compared with existing SA8000, ISO26000 has reduced the pertinence of industries and regions, and has more universal applicability.

Mr. Zhang said, "however, it will take some time for enterprises to truly accept ISO26000 certification.

Because the new standards of social responsibility put forward specific requirements from seven aspects: organizational governance, human rights, labor practices, environment, fair operation practices, consumer issues, social development and so on. For SMEs in Quanzhou, the pressure to achieve standards is enormous.

Some enterprises are short sighted.

In fact, for some time, small and medium-sized export enterprises have a certain degree of "short-sighted" behavior. They will pay more attention to the "existing trade competition". Most of the accreditation of social responsibility is due to the requirements of importers, and a short-term behavior to obtain orders.

"In addition to the high cost of certification, enterprises need to spend a large sum of money on improving employee benefits and combing the management process of enterprises, so as to cope with the" inspection factory "of international buyers.

High cost has become a major factor for SMEs to "shrink from social responsibility".

Mr Huang of Quanzhou Dingsheng enterprise management consulting company said.

If SMEs want to achieve long-term development, they should not just regard social responsibility as a certification, but rather a long-term strategy.

The introduction of ISO26000 standard has brought pressure to export enterprises, and it is also a driving force for enterprises.

Because within the limits that enterprises can afford, the introduction of this standard reminds enterprises to consider more about the benefits and benefits of employees, and pay more attention to social responsibility and humanistic care.

Hou Lidong, the brand director of an enterprise in Quanzhou, said.

"2001 - 2009 China corporate social responsibility report research" shows that the various social responsibility reports released by Chinese enterprises in 2009 were 3.44 times that of 2008, showing a blowout growth trend.

Some brand enterprises in Quanzhou also began to attach importance to social responsibility. Recently, Social Responsibility Report 2009, released by PEAK, introduced PEAK's social responsibility strategy, ideas, objectives and mechanisms in detail.

Hou Lidong said: "in the short term, the importance of social responsibility may increase the cost of enterprises, but in the long run, it can enhance the international competitiveness of enterprises, take the initiative in export, and turn the export threshold into a" ladder "of enterprise upgrading.