In recent years, there has been an undeniable shift in the expectations and actions of businesses. Whereas maximizing profits has and always will be a strong consideration in companies’ operations, leaders today are recognizing that good business is about more than pleasing shareholders and executives. A company is only as strong as its stakeholders – people, the planet, and society at large – and accompanying the power that comes with success is a responsibility to remain conscious of the impact of the choices it has made.
It cannot be denied that the bigger and more visible a company becomes, the higher the impact its corporate citizenship can have. Despite this, large organizations and their leaders often struggle to fully comprehend how corporate social responsibility can be a mutually beneficial business model.
One organization that is exemplifying the practice of corporate social responsibility is JD.com, the Chinese e-commerce giant. The company’s technology branch was named a “Champion Company for Smart Agriculture 2022” at the Jiangsu Digital Village Development Conference for its work within the province promoting rural revitalization.
Richard Liu, the founder of JD.com who led the organization as CEO for over two decades and remains its chairman today, was born and raised in a rural village in the Jiangsu province. Although today the company is the largest retailer in China by revenue and Liu himself has become a billionaire, he has long been a proponent of rural development and sought throughout the company’s history to support such initiatives.
As early as 2015, JD.com introduced the “3F” plan which aimed to create a closed loop that would boost the rural economy by providing farmers with financial and logistical support in selling produce, allowing them to purchase more industrial supplies that would then increase output and improve livelihood.
After years of investment in infrastructure in rural areas, in October of 2020 the program evolved with the announcement of the “March to Rich Plan” (MRP) which aims to go further than the 3F plan, establishing a modernized circulation system utilizing digitally intelligent supply chain capabilities to promote both high-quality agricultural products and better consumption practices in China. The plan projected it could drive RMB$1 trillion in output value for rural areas in just three years’ time span, and within less than two years had already achieved over half of its goal.
Suqian’s hairy crabs
One of the primary ways JD.com has helped to support the rural revitalization of the Jiangsu province has been through its promotion of the Suqian hairy crab. The city of Suqian in the northern Jiangsu province is home to variegated waters including the Luoma and Hongze lakes which serve as an ideal breeding ground to the hairy crab. Considered a delicacy in many parts of China, the marketability of the hairy crab from Suqian has been hampered by issues such as scattered raisers, varying quality resulting in the undercutting of purchasing prices, and weak branding.
Working in the hometown of Richard Liu, in 2021 JD.com collaborated with the agriculture and rural bureau of Suqian to support local farmers in building large-scale cooperative production, standardized breeding and quality control systems. These included measures such as near-shore warehouses and a source-tracing system along with product criteria. To build up the crabs’ image as a local specialty, the company provided farmers with over RMB$10 million worth of resources and omni-channel marketing capabilities. As a result, sales of Suqian hairy crabs in 2021 increased 173 times, and during large sales events such as JD’s annual 618 anniversary celebration and China’s Singles’ Day sales of the Suqian hairy crab grew 1150 percent and increased 600 times year over year respectively.
Other rural revitalization initiatives in Jiangsu
In addition to the Suqian hairy crab, JD.com has also assisted in other farm-produced products such as local specialty peaches. Utilizing its expertise in e-commerce and technology, the company has helped the region with developing programs for scientific farm management, standardized fruit sorting, delivery processes and marketing channels. These enhancements have been underscored by a digital upgrade in production and sales for the town of Yangshan. They also built a warehouse on site to improve quality and enhance delivery efficiency across the country, and according to the village’s sales data in 2021 65 percent of its local peach yield was sold through JD.com.
These initiatives have come in-tandem with the introduction of a new e-commerce produce brand on the JD.com website. “Jiu Si Xian”, which when pronounced in Chinese sounds similar to “fresh indeed”, utilizes the consumer trust Richard Liu has built for the company to create a new category that allows fresh local agricultural products to be delivered rapidly nationwide to customers via e-commerce. This is achieved in part thanks to an e-commerce public service center created by the company’s technology company in Siyang county in Jiangsu, another feature its name references. Additionally, JD.com’s extensive logistical network and last-mile delivery services have allowed it to improve delivery efficiencies and ensure produce is received fresh at the door.
In the Suyu district of Suqian, JD founded a demonstration park for agricultural technologies. Committed to the development and practical application of information technologies, JD has leveraged their innovations in rural development at the park. It houses three smart systems which include greenhouse environment monitoring, linkage control and a big data center, as well as containing six functional areas that include smart agricultural production, high-tech seedling breeding, processing logistics and delivery, IoT demonstration, science and innovation training center, and sightseeing and leisure fruit-picking. It is estimated that the park will support more than 30 cooperatives and family farms in the area and assist in increasing their production of vegetables and fruits while also growing household incomes.
Demonstration projects have also been co-created on a national level to promote e-commerce in villages in the Rudong and Siyang counties. Utilizing the cloud technology developed for JD.com, a network of e-commerce public service centers and stations have been built which offer a number of e-commerce services. These include skill training for individual farmers and companies, brand promotion support and produce tracing systems amongst other vital skills for operating a competitive business in the 21st century.
JD.com also offers e-commerce training courses through the Jiangsu College of Finance & Accounting. Utilizing JD.com’s training resources developed for the JD E-Commerce Industry College, the courses cover cross-border e-commerce, new media operation, livestreaming and big data marketing amongst others. This program is available to over 3,000 students annually, and will continue to expand its course offerings in the future to cultivate a new generation of farmers who have the ability to use modern e-commerce skills in agricultural development.
These initiatives are a small insight into the ways in which organizations can put their resources toward corporate citizenship. By promoting rural revitalization efforts in China, JD.com helps support and strengthen the country in which it operates. This will in turn create a more stable environment in which it can do business, ultimately leading to the company achieving higher profits while also enhancing society and the environment rather than contributing negatively to them.