International Corporate Responsibility Series

Volume 4, 2009

A Survey of International Corporate Responsibility

International Corporate Responsibility in the Context of Development
The Case of the Mining Sector in Zambia with Special Reference to Indian and Chinese Investments

Development is a process of achieving a right balance between economic growth and psychic income growth. A foreign investor’s manner of conducting business in a country could result in any of four scenarios in which economic/psychic income is low/inadequate, high/inadequate, low/adequate, or high/adequate. Foreign investment will contribute to development only if it reflects the fourth scenario. A responsible corporation can contribute to money income and more importantly to psychic income of a company’s workers. This paper examines the corporate responsibility performance of Indian and Chinese investments in Zambia’s mining sector. The paper finds that while Chinese companies seem to be operating close to the first scenario, Indian companies are operating between the first and fourth. Thus, neither of them is contributing to true development.