(Beijing.)At the beginning of 2008, BMW released its inaugural "BMW Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Annual Report 2007". BMW is the first company in its industry to ever produce a CSR Annual Report, which summarizes its achievements in "Corporate Social Contribution Activities" revolving around 'five pillars' – Cultural Promotion, Education Support, Environmental Protection, Corporate Governance and Customer Integration. The report also highlights the significance of the activities in BMW's long-term corporate development, building a win-win situation within society.
Highlight 1: Cultural Promotion
BMW China and BMW Brilliance jointly launched 'BMW Corporate Social Contribution Activities' in the summer of 2007, dedicating a large budget to promote nearly 20 projects within 'five pillars'. Among them, "BMW China Culture Journey 2007" was the most attractive and impactful project. During the exciting, 11-day journey covering over 3,500 kilometers, a fleet of 15 BMW vehicles drove all the way from Beijing to Dunhuang and visited 11 "Material Cultural Heritage Projects" and 17 "Non-Material Cultural Heritage Projects". A total of 1 million RMB was donated to provincial cultural departments. The event called for the protection and restoration of state-level and provincial-level cultural heritage sites and cultural practices, and was warmly-received nationwide. The CSR Annual Report notes that as an important part of BMW's Corporate Social Contribution Activities, the culture journey will continue in years to come.
In addition, in promotion of cultural communication and the arts, BMW also sponsored several cultural promotion projects, including ‘BMW Culture Night and 'BMW Night', featuring performances by the Liaoning Ballet Tour Show and world renowned violinist Lv Siqing.
Highlight 2: Education Support
As the key project in education support, BMW launched a long-term "BMW Children's Traffic Safety Education" program. By providing transportation safety education through attractive and engaging methods to over 2000 kids aged four to six years over 15 key cities, the safety training camp generated a great amount of attention to children's traffic education and transportation safety. Through this project, BMW has proven to be an industry leader in children's traffic safety education.
Meanwhile, BMW is also actively promoting a five-year "BMW China Scholarship for Outstanding College Students" project in cooperation with the Song Qingling Fund by providing scholarships totaling 2.5 million RMB to 500 outstanding students from 10 universities. 2007 was the third year of this five-year project. Apart from funding 100 distinct college students per year, BMW also provided internship opportunities to 10 select students at its Shenyang Plant. So far the project has received wide support and appreciation from teachers and students.
BMW Corporate Social Contribution Activities also included experiencing the hydrogen-powered BMW 7 Series and "Sharing One Dream" education promotion activity in which students from the countryside were chauffeured by BMW owners to a visit at the Beijing Capital Museum.
For BMW, Corporate Social Contribution is not a simple matter of donating money, responsibility and charity. More importantly, it's the source of corporate development, innovation and a way to increase corporate competence. At the launching ceremony of BMW Corporate Social Contribution Activity, Dr. Stark, President and CEO of BMW Group Region China, told the audience, "As a global leader of the automotive industry BMW believes its strength is not only shown in its financial data, but also shown in its foresight of the future and willingness to being socially responsible. Sustainability is now the key for social development, economic prosperity and business growth, and sustainability has been a core strategy for BMW China and BMW Brilliance"
Looking into the year 2008, guided by the claim "行有道，爱无界" which in English can be interpreted as "Virtuous behavior and passion without limits", the CSR annual report states that BMW will continue to fulfill its commitment to the Chinese market and society by initiating more social contribution activities. Meanwhile, BMW will also aim to attract more participants at both the enterprise and personal levels to its activities, working together towards its goal of sustainable development in China.
To download E-version of the report, please visit: http://www.bmw.com.cn/csr
