| Since the 1980s, the western developed countries started the company-social responsibility movement(CSR), initiated by the Western non-governmental organizations. This movement called for the factories to attend the needs and rights of the public and others, especially to raise the level of environmental protection and labour protection, when they were seeking for more profit. It has been accepted by the international community and spread over the whole word effectively. So the western community integrated CSR and the international trade objectively limited the export of products, especially the labor-intensive products. In 1997, Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000) was established at this time. But at the birth of the SA8000 standard, it has settled developing countries as the main goal, and is concentrated in the retail trade, transnational corporations and labor-intensive industrial sectors widely. This standard is testing our country gradually through the TNCs, because China is expected to overtake the United States as the second-largest export country in the word.After joined the WTO, the feature foreign trade export country in China is particularly prominent. We have exported 546.72 billion US dollars in the first six months, have a growth rate of 27.60%, and our export enterprises mainly concentrated in labor-intensive industries. We have exported apparel and textiles for about 458.50 billion and 510.36 billion, with the growth rate of 14.50% and 15.30%, in October and November 2007. In recent years, the SA8000 standard developed rapidly for the contribution of the domestic media EU and the United States. Meanwhile, as the CSR movement is carrying out in China, our export enterprises have truly suffered from the impact of SA8000.Some enterprises are in difficulties at the 2008 spring festival. This shows that on one hand, some of China's labor-intensive enterprises is through a severe challenge, on the other hand, it also shows that China's enterprises in the SA8000 standard involved erroneous perceptions.As China's international trade developed and economic integration into the globalization, our export enterprises in foreign trade are being tested more and more by the multinational companies'SA8000 standard, which really have a great influence on our labor-intensive enterprises. But in our country, the people, from the relevant government departments to the masses, from producers to consumers, do not support SA8000 standard as we expected before.So the author finally selected this topic, because the various views show that we still can not deal with SA8000 standard correctly in theoretical and empirical. In order to ensure the sustainable development of our country's international trade in the SA8000 standard, we must continue to put some necessary research on it. In this paper, in order to distinguish the impact that SA8000 standard brings on China's export enterprises, especially labor-intensive exports, we should clearly recognize respectively that there are both opportunities and challenges in long-term and short-term considerations.Finally, we come to the point that China's labor-intensive export enterprises should be positive towards the nature of the SA8000 standards.The first part, describe the formation and development of SA8000 standard. We express the definition implementation and the theoretical basis of the SA8000 standard firstly. At the historical background of SA8000 standard, we find out the fact that the SA8000 standard is one product of the social responsibility movement(CSR). SA8000 standard is a universal standard which can be applied not only in developed countries but also to developing countries. As the world's first third-party certification, the SA8000 standard can be used for protecting the rights of the workers worldwide, ensuring the products conforming to the requirements of the standard of social responsibility, and ultimately achieving a fair and decent working conditions. We can state from the recent figures: In recent years, the number of enterprises that accredited by the certification bodies maintains a comparatively high growth rate. Some large purchase-sale corporations and large multinational corporations have strongly contributed to the implementation of standards and set off an certification upsurge in the world, especially developing countries, have a significant impact on the country with a great export of labor-intensive products.The second part, analysis the development of the SA8000 standard in China's geographic and industrial aspects and the reasons for the inadequate development. The Specific reasons are: shortage of the external promotion for the implementation of SA8000 standard; the community do not have a strong sense of the implementation of SA8000 standards; inefficiently internal conditions of the implementation of SA8000 standard. the first two parts is part of the basis for the analysis that lay the foundation for the last two.The third part, analysis the impact of SA8000 standard on the international competitiveness of China's labor-intensive enterprises. Then expound on the impact of enterprises from the short-term and long-term. The SA8000 really has brought the challenge of rising costs to labor-intensive enterprises in short-term. But after detailed analysis found of the composition of the cost we can see that: SA8000 Certification rise to a reasonable cost. In a long-term perspective, the SA8000 certification presents a considerable return businesses. Through the establishment of a good social image of the intermediate variables, we present enterprises a competitive edge and sustainable development momentum. And to a certain extent, it change the price of the previous business strategy and promote the completion of upgrading of the products structure. The forth part, policy recommendations. As the active application and certification enterprises, the should recognize the impact on trade that comes with SA8000 standard and fundamentally improve the overall competitiveness and soft core competitiveness. What the government should do is: to actively promote certification process; to improve the implementation of SA8000 certification; to strengthen the enterprises in the corporate responsibility and the legal system; to promote all-round examination of certification; to establish the corporate responsibility reporting system; to create a good social foundation for the implementation of SA8000 standards. We explain this from the consumers, government agencies and non-governmental organizations have business partners introduced several aspects.The fifth part, come to the conclusions. The impact of SA8000 standard on China's labor-intensive exports is enormous, but we also should see that the general trend is an international certification. China's labor-intensive enterprises should be rational and seize the good opportunities that SA8000 brought to make sure the dominant position of China's labor-intensive enterprises in the international competitiveness. Then we can make sure the economic benefits and social benefits of China's labor-intensive enterprises. |
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