While Australian companies are focusing on making profits from the burgeoning Chinese market, they are now being asked to consider how they might help alleviate poverty and enhance human rights when they do business there.
A report released in Australia this week by a group called the Business for Poverty Relief Alliance says, that while corporate Australia is supportive of and active in social investment, most companies have been 'less than active in ensuring that poverty is addressed in their closest export markets', which include China.
The alliance, formed last year to work with poverty relief agency World Vision Australia, includes among its members, leaders from companies that are key players in the Chinese market, including insurance giant IAG and investment bank, Macquarie Bank.
Not surprisingly, the alliance's report argues that it makes good business sense for companies to help alleviate poverty and operate sustainably in developing-world markets like China.
Many of the alliance report's recommendations are sensible and uncontroversial. But there are some ideas which, if taken up, might give business a broader role in developing-world markets, like China.
For example, the report notes that Australian companies 'should commit to contributing an appropriate proportion of their social investment to poverty relief initiatives, commensurate with the exposure of their operations to developing countries and indigenous communities'.