On 27th March, the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2019 was held in Boao, Hainan. Xue Lan, Co-Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development Goals, Tsinghua University (TUSDG), attended the forum and moderated the sub-forum: Social Value and the Role of Business Community.

Hans-Paul Bockner, Chairman of Boston Consulting Group (BCG); Chey Tae-Won, Chairman of SK Holdings; Chey Taewon, Senior Vice President of SK Group; Lin Yifu, Director of Institute of New Structural Economics, Peking University; Andrew Williamson, Vice President within the Public Affairs and Communications domain Huawei Technologies; Yu Honghui, President, China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group Co., Ltd., Zhang Xianming, CEO & Group VP of Broad Group Broad Core Building, and Zou Ling, Chairman of Tianjin TEDA Energy Group Co. spoke at the sub-forum.

Xue Lan hosted the sub-Forum

This sub-forum focuses on the following topics:

* Is the ultimate purpose of enterprises the pursuit of social value?

* The business purpose of enterprises is to maximize economic value, and the new era has put forward higher requirements for enterprises to more actively perform their social roles and responsibilities. It is no longer a choice of business operations, but a requirement of the times for enterprises to take the lead in solving a large number of social problems on their own initiative by creating social value in multiple areas such as the environment, society, and management.

* The environmental and social problems brought about by economic development consume huge amounts of social resources, and at the same time impede economic growth and the development of corporate potential. Therefore, we recognise that a healthy ecosystem is required to build a harmonious and happy social environment, and we are making efforts to achieve this in a variety of ways, for the sake of the sustainable development of both society and business.

* What should companies do to solve social problems?

* What are the evolutionary options for creating social value beyond the inherent passive social responsibility?

The Scene of the sub-Forum