After successful organizations in Manila, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, and Singapore, the 2011 Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibilty (AFCSR) is returning to its roots in the Philippines to celebrate its 10th year of running the AFCSR with a new thrust for the next decade. It will be held on October 18 & 19, 2011 at the Edsa Shangril-La Hotel in Manila, Philippines.

Starting with the 2011 AFCSR, AIM through its faculty and through the RVR Center's academic-oriented executives and its proven research staff will exercise greater thought leadership in both the process and content of the two-day conference. RVR Center research will generate new and relevant practitioner-oriented monographs for the AFCR's plenary and group sessions.

The theme Strategic CSR: Creating Shared Value will be supported by an overriding framework and five core topics.

The new FRAMEWORK positions CSR within the companies' value chain in relation to the roles and responsibilities of both internal and external shareholders and stakeholders with regard to company CSR projects and programs. The framework is both an adaptation from existing 'Western' sources and from the RVR Center's research in the region.

The five core topics are:
1. ASSESSMENT and FORMULATION of the firm and its internal and external "environment" - culture, capabilities, industry structure, etc.
2. IMPLEMENTATION that focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of efforts to sustain company CSR projects.
3. MONITORING and EVALUATION
4. EMBEDDING and ENCOURAGING CSR
5. MOVING FORWARD

The process involves creating continuity through the plenary sessions to lay out the critical components of the four topics followed by smaller, intensive group workshops. No longer will these small group sessions exclusively consist of PowerPoint presentations. Instead, more variety of modes will be utilized including longer Q & A sessions, panel discussions, and mini-debates. A CSR simulation exercise is also being considered.