The majority of companies operating in China, including State-owned enterprises (SOE) and foreign-invested firms, have been found wanting in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR), a Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS) report said Tuesday.

The report divides companies into three categories, namely SOEs, private businesses and foreign companies. It sampled the top 100 firms in each category and measured their CSR commitment based on benchmarks such as bribery, quality control, environment protection and philanthropy.

According to the report, the average CSR score of the 300 companies is merely 19.7 on a 100-point scale, with 205 of those firms regarded as outsiders, meaning that they either make little effort on CSR or severely lack transparency in their CSR activities.

The report revealed that SOEs are the best CSR performers among the three groups, with an average score of 31.7, much higher than private businesses at 13.3 and foreign companies at 12.6.

China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company tops the overall list with 82 points and is the only company rated as "outstanding," while China Mobile and State Grid rank second and third.

A total of 26 companies scored zero, including foreign giants such as Daimler Chrysler and Coca-Cola. Adidas (China) brought up the rear of list with minus 4 points.

"We mainly collected CSR data from the companies' own coverage of their social activities, as well as their websites and annual reports," said Zhai, an employee of the CASS' CSR Research Center, told the Global Times.

"To balance their own CSR information, we also collect negative reports about their activities," Zhai said.

CASS experts told the Legal Mirror newspaper that the study based itself on government directives for CSR promotion, international CSR rating principles and CSR reports from Fortune 500 companies.

Liu Baocheng, director of the Center for International Business Ethics at the University of International Business and Economics, said that the CASS report was encouraging as it tried to promote CSR in China, but called its rating method questionable.

"Their research oversimplifies quantitative data analysis, is not very representative in its sample selections and its scientific approach to data is questionable. From an academic standpoint, they still need to improve their systematic analysis," Liu said.

Di Lifeng, one of the authors of the report, told the Global Times that some of the companies simply lack a commitment to CSR, but that certain firms do not realize the PR importance of CSR activities.

Regarding the slightly better rating for the SOEs, Liu noted since the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission unveiled the Directions on Social Responsibility Fulfillment of Central Enterprises in January 2008, major SOEs established their CSR management and PR system.

"Private companies are comparatively lack of experience and manpower in this regard. For some foreign companies, they would prefer to fulfill their responsibility in a relative low profile. Such factors may affect their ranks on the list," Liu told the Global Times.

Li Xiao, a vice president of the privately-owned Tico Digital Group specializing in digital video and audio, argued that SOEs and private companies should establish a partnership to promote CSR.

"The SOEs have the advantage in terms of enormous economic strength and executive power, while private companies are more flexible," Li told the Global Times.

Some analysts also pointed out that problems in China's business environment and loopholes in supervision lead to poor CSR performances of foreign companies.

Walmart, the largest global retailer, has faced escalating trouble for cheating Chinese consumers.

The retail giant closed its 13 Chongqing outlets earlier this year, while 37 employees have since been detained after being caught falsely labeling some six tons of pork as "organic." The stores were reopen last month after Walmart paid 2.69 million yuan in fine.

Yi Fuqiang, a lawyer with the Beijing Longan Lawfirm, told the Legal Mirror that current Chinese laws only impose weak controls on actions by companies.

"Making profit is the prime driver for companies, and the penalty for breaking the law is too low here. Take the ConocoPhillips China oil leak for example, the 200,000 yuan fine was trivial for the oil giant," Yi said.

Xu Wen and Luo Wei contributed to the story