Abstract
Ocean Park Hong Kong was established in 1977 and is operating in a unique business model: incorporated as a nonprofit organization while adopting commercial principles. Since its inception, Ocean Park’s mission—to provide recreational and educational services for all guests—aligns the organization in a common direction and serves as a rubric for strategy and decision-making. Ocean Park strives to maintain its commercial viability with the strategy of embedding education within recreation. The seeds of CSR as an explicit strategy that includes a publicity and marketing focus are being sown since day 1, as Ocean Park argues that it would educate visitors in the value and diversity of nature. The gradual but consistent and rewarding success of this strategy provides for a positive feedback loop, in which CSR contributes to rising visitor numbers and customer satisfaction, which in turn makes the case for still more prominent CSR strategies and programs. In this case study, we discuss the driving forces of Ocean Park’s CSR initiatives and its operational approach to CSR based on primary data collected from site visit and interview with its Deputy Chief Executive and CFO. Ocean Park’s CSR initiatives in terms of social programs, edutainment, conservation, and corporate partnerships are examined in the context of ISO 26000 reporting framework. This showcases a successful operating model of putting rent-seeking after corporate mission, in which CSR principles are embedded.
Ocean Park Hong Kong is expanding and is growing more globally than ever; our operations may change over the years. Nevertheless, our commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) are championed at the board and management levels, and CSR programs are implemented with support of all personnel in the entire organization. Our CSR undertaking has evolved together with the organization; they are a part of the Park’s DNA.
—Mr. Matthias Li, Deputy CE and CFO of Ocean Park Hong Kong (Company interview with Mr. Matthias Li on 8 May 2015)
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Notes
- 1.
The Hong Kong Green Purchasing Charter and Hong Kong Green Council were founded by a group of 11 corporations in response to the 2006–2007 Policy Address delivered by HKSAR’s chief executive to appeal “to the trade and industry sectors to protect the environment in which green procurement methods in operations are highly recommended.” Founding members included Cathay Pacific Airway, CLP Power, Hong Kong Disneyland, Hong Kong Housing Authority, Airport Authority Hong Kong, Hospital Authority, MTR Corporation, NWS Holdings Limited, Shui On Land, and The Hong Kong and China Gas Company (Source: Green Council official website).
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Yip, A.C.Y., Yiu, E. (2019). Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Corporate DNA: A Case Study of Ocean Park Hong Kong. In: Schmidpeter, R., Capaldi, N., Idowu, S.O., Stürenberg Herrera, A. (eds) International Dimensions of Sustainable Management. CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04819-8_15
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