Asia lags the West in CSR

Hong Kong - PR group Hill & Knowlton has launched a corporate social responsibility offering across the region, with the aim of bringing best practice to Asia Pacific corporations, which the company said largely lags their Western counterparts in CSR policy.

The initiative will focus on helping companies respond more effectively to increasing activism from stakeholders.

Glenn Schloss, regional director corporate communications at Hill & Knowlton, said Asia Pacific corporations tend to lag behind their Western counterparts in adopting best practice toward CSR, which he said was increasingly becoming a big issue among the marketing industry.

But he said there were signs that some companies were making advances on CSR.

"There's still a long way to go before it meets Western best practice," he said.

"CSR needs to be at the top of the agenda for more companies in Asia - it should also be viewed a strategic competitive differentiator, hence our new offering, CSR 2.0."