Chinese corporations' conception of sustainable development: an innovative view of corpus analysis

摘要

Purpose - After over 30 years of reform and opening-up, China, as the second largest economy, is now facing the most essential transformation of management philosophy and the most challenging issue of sustainable business development, in view of people's increasing worry about environmental pollution, food security and deteriorating human health. It can be said that what China needs urgently today are business ethical values and a long-term sustainable development concept, rather than a rapidly growing GDP. The purpose of this paper is to assess how the term "sustainable development" is constructed and valued in the sustainability reports or corporate social responsibility reports of Chinese corporations, so as to interpret these Chinese firms' conception of sustainable development as they apply it in their real business practices.