By Hong Soon-do, Beijing correspondent, AsiaToday - Samsung and Hyundai Motor made a good score on this year's corporate social responsibility (CSR) index compiled by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the top think tank and research institute in China. Samsung ranked No. 1 among foreign companies for corporate social responsibility initiatives in China, and ranked No. 5 among all the 300 companies under evaluation. Hyundai Motor ranked No. 1 among foreign car companies and No. 2 among all the car companies under evaluation.

Elementary school students participating in Samsung Dream Class, one of the most representative CSR activities conducted by Samsung in China./ Source from Samsung Electronics China

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The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences under the State Council held a forum under the title "2015 Corporate Social Responsibility White Paper and Corporate Social Responsibility Index of 300 Companies in China" in Beijing on November 1. According to the CSR ranking of 300 companies in China, Samsung earned more than 90 points for corporate responsibility and social responsibility, and achieved full 100 points for environmental stewardship. In total, the company scored 87.5 points, up 7.3 points compared with previous year and ranked fifth among all the 300 companies in China under evaluation. The 300 companies include those state-run and private domestic companies as well as foreign ones. Hyundai Motor ranked second following China's Dongfeng Motor Corporation and ranked No. 1 among foreign car makers beating Toyota on the fifth position and Nissan on the eighth.

The CSR index has been announced since 200 in terms of four categories, including corporate responsibility, market responsibility, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship. The average score of all the 300 companies was 34 points, and the average score of all the 100 foreign companies was 26.1 points. Korean companies achieved 68.1 points in average. The country's four major companies, such as Samsung, LG, Hyundai Motor, and Posco were among the top 10 foreign companies in China.

Zhong Hongwu, the associate fellow of Research Center of Corporate Social Responsibility China Academy of Social Sciences, said, "Samsung ranked in fifth place with such comparable score with state-owned companies such as China Mobile and China Huadian Group. It's the type of model that foreign companies as well as private domestic companies need to follow."