Cheung Kong: an MBA look at charity

Editor's note: Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business Dean Xiang Bing has been thinking long and hard about the feasibility of setting up a philanthropic foundation. He is also planning to introduce modern management philosophies to the philanthropic system to improve operation of charity projects.

Xiang told China Business Weekly reporter Liu Jie that while preparing for the establishment of its charitable foundation, the school is also looking at the possibility of a research center to find more effective ways for enterprises and individuals to donate.

Q: What is the philanthropic foundation that Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business will establish?

A: It has been my dream to get involved in philanthropic undertakings, and I hope to improve their operations with modern management philosophies.

To respond to global challenges with global insights, we will promote integration of global resources instead of eyeing those available in China alone.

We envision end-to-end integration in which we will design a package of solutions. For instance, the Hope Primary School which we are planning to build will be a showcase of not only facilities such as classroom buildings, but also in faculty competence.

We should provide a boarding school rather than requiring children to walk three or five km every day to class. We value the quality of computer hardware and software in each of these schools much more than the total number of them.

I hope to attract good people to work in our philanthropic organization rather than those who rely on their salaries to support their family needs or to settle their installment plans. Of course, we must maintain a high level of transparency and professionalism to become the most efficient charity organization.

I attach much importance to philanthropy for two reasons. First, I believe there is still great room for improvement and innovation in current operational modes of charities. Second, I see that most foreign business schools only look at how enterprises can make more money, with few paying attention to better ways to donate. Donations, however, will become a very important subject not only to entrepreneurs in China, but also to their counterparts across the world in the future.

Q: What is the supplementary project for the charity foundation you mentioned?

A: Making money is a business, but donations are also a business. How can you make the most of your donation in your intended direction? This deserves serious research. So we plan to launch a research center on how to donate, which is possibly the first of its kind and a part of our commitment to our social responsibility.

We are also going to create a foundation of our own to test our findings in theoretical research. Practice and theory always enhance one another.

We may also work closely with organizations like the Red Cross. We are offering our donations along with a whole set of innovative or even revolutionary solutions to be implemented over at least a decade instead of two or three years.

Q: Can you give some specific examples on how to integrate global resources?

A: The most important thing for us is to have broad vision and mind, and attract those from all corners of the world who have the time, money, resources or ideas for China to address philanthropic issues.

Through truly effective project management, people from all over the world who care for others may be mobilized - even if each of them can only afford to do voluntary work for maybe three months. All of them will be assigned to appropriate roles - singers, dancers, caretakers or just plain donors.

Voluntary service is gaining popularity across the globe. Twelve months of voluntary service may be highly constructive to one's career development in that it enriches experience and enhances resumes.

For instance, our EMBA students have very rich management experience, but cannot take leaves of absence for two or three years from their companies. It is still possible for them to organize project teams, each with four or five members, where they take turns in six-month intervals at the helm. They will be able to bring their rich experience in corporate governance to project management.

I also hope to see the model of end-to-end integration that I have been preaching adopted in our charity foundation. Jet Li took my advice when his One Foundation was involved in earthquake relief. Relief supplies were delivered from Beijing and Shanghai to Chengdu via transportation under his management and distributed directly to the target beneficiaries.

The establishment of a philanthropic foundation will provide a platform for our students to do something really helpful for others. Many of our students have built quite a fortune for themselves. It could be one of the most valuable memories in their lives if they could help build 10 Hope Schools in Tibet and Qinghai and each devote six-months of voluntary service there.

Q: How can you evaluate the implementation of your projects?

A: A fixed system should be developed for such evaluation. Our projects are not for immediate results, so long-term solutions should also be integrated. Such assessment should continue for at least 10 years.

But we would not take care of such projects for too long, hoping that a benign operational mechanism is developed within 10 years. We are not after statistical achievements but sustainable outcomes in each project.

I hope to integrate global resources to deliver solid philanthropic results through an operational mode that will involve my mindset of innovations in the field of corporate management.

Q: How would you realize high efficiency in fund use?

A: We would promote enhanced effectiveness in project management and utilize relatively rich individuals.

Innovation in business is surely a challenge, but matching global resources and project demands is a great challenge.

We have full confidence in our advantages in that quite a few of our EMBA students are willing to become volunteers while having experience in both corporate governance and project management.

(China Daily 07/06/2009 page8)