A Comparative Study Of Chairman Statements In Chinese And American Corporate Social Responsibility Reports Based On Genre And Thematic Structures

Corporate Social Responsibility Report(CSRR)is to summarize and sort out what concept,strategy,and method an enterprise has incorporated in fulfilling its social responsibility.It’s an important way to reveal related information to stakeholders.English discourse of CSRR for listed companies has been regarded as an effective channel to enhance a favorable corporate image and promote business in oversea markets.As the beginning part of CSRR,chairman statement is a brief overview of the main contents and plays a vital role in the whole report.The author collects 30 CSRR in English from the official websites of the Chinese and American listed corporations respectively.Guided by the theories of Bhatia’s move analysis,Hasan’s generic structure potential(GSP)and Huang Yan’s TP patterns,this thesis has conducted a comparative analysis on collected data.The purpose is to work out different TP patterns between Chinese and American chairman statements in CSRR so as to provide some suggestions for Chinese companies on generic structure and preferred TP patterns in each move.The major findings of this study are as follows:(1)In move structures,Chinese and American chairman statements share nine moves.(2)In GSP,there are similarities as well as differences between Chinese and American chairman statements.For example,"reviewing sustainability efforts","making commitments" and "establishing credentials" are all obligatory moves in Chinese and American chairman statements.However,"conveying corporate values" is obligatory move in American chairman statements while optional in Chinese chairman statements.(3)In terms of TP patterns,Chinese and American chairman statements tend to adopt parallel TP pattern in such moves as ‘‘establishing credentials" and "making commitments’ ’,but in the moves "reviewing sustainability efforts" and "describing external environment",the adoption of TP patterns in American chairman statements is more varied than that in Chinese chairman statements.The thesis has both theoretical and practical significance.Theoretically,this study will contribute to the study of chairman statements in CSRR from the perspectives of genre analysis and thematic progression.Practically,it is hoped that this thesis will provide some useful suggestions for chairman companies to write English versions of chairman statements so as to help them build a positive image in American market.