The Overall and Disaggregate China’s Bank Efficiency from Sustainable Business Perspectives

The goal of the basic business perspective has switched from previously maximizing profit to the current three fields of environment, society, and the economy, within the viewpoint of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This study, from the perspective of sustainability, discusses the current business model of the relationship between CSR and the performance of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), a state−owned bank, with SBM-DEA and Tobit regression methods, and it puts forward a direction for improvement for future business models. Through the analysis of the years from 2010 to 2018, it has been found that the years with the best performances are 2010, 2011, and 2018, and some empirical evidence from the ICBC is as follows. First, corporate financial leverage closely follows gross domestic product (GDP) growth in terms of utilizing total assets. The ICBC seems to place less attention on its sales and on the number of deposits because of its high ratio of government stock holdings. Second, the ICBC raises labor productivity through education and training of its employees as well as through the proper utilization of capital for input-side management. Lastly, performance has improved as the ICBC has focused more on long-term society contributions, which are directed toward charity donations, loans for poverty alleviation, and green economy development in terms of output-side management. Therefore, through the above three CSR strategies, the ICBC has positively contributed toward environmental innovation and the societal transition of China, and its practices can be used as a sustainable model for future development.