“Amway was founded on the belief that, by helping people improve their lives, they could make the world a better place.”

So begins the message from our Chairman Steve Van Andel and our President Doug DeVos in the Amway 2012 Global Corporate Social Responsibility Report released today.

The annual report highlights the many ways our company, its more than 21,000 employees and more than 3 million distributors make a difference in the lives of others.

That includes building homes in Latin America, providing water filters in Haiti, building libraries in China and adopting schools right here in the hometown of our World Headquarters.

Corporate Social Responsibility is built into everything we do: our people, our products and our performance.

 Steve and Doug credit their fathers for recognizing the potential in this business for making a difference.

“They made it their mission to be more, do more, give more. And more than a half-century later, we’re still emulating their powerful example. … We’re awed by how far we’ve come and inspired to keep becoming more, together.”

Read the full report here.

Amway President Doug DeVos, in the April 2013 edition of  Harvard Business Review, shares the lessons Amway learned working through China’s direct selling ban in the 1990s.

“The idea that direct selling could be outlawed was incomprehensible to us. This method of marketing was the foundation of Amway’s business—it had been tested and proved over time and across borders. And now it appeared that we could be put out of business, despite our commitment to and investment in our China operation,” he writes in Harvard Business Review.

In “Amway’s President on Reinventing the Business to Succeed in China,” Doug describes how Amway worked with government officials to create strong direct selling legislation and made significant changes to the way it did business in China, such as opening stores.  Doug details four key lessons – understand the market, stay true to your mission, build strong, trusting relationships and take a long-term view – that helped Amway become the industry leader in China.

Doug’s column also appears in the China edition of Harvard Business Review in April, along with a story about Amway China’s innovation and growth strategies. 

Wikipedia defines a guide as one who leads others through unknown or unmapped territory. And as the direct selling industry looks toward 2013 and beyond, two prominent Direct Selling Associations (DSAs) have elected Amway executives as guides at the helm.

Amway Hong Kong General Manager Louisa (Liu) Chan will lead the Hong Kong DSA and Amway UK/Republic of Ireland General Manager and Director Andy Smith will do the same for the DSA of the United Kingdom.

From financial planning, strategic thinking and operations to managing information technology, membership and marketing, it’s no small task to lead these groups that provide consumer education and protection, proactive and reactive communications, and ethics training and guidance on a daily basis.

It’s a commitment – one that more than 50 Amway company executives, including Andy and Louisa, have made to the industry and the associations that represent it around the world.

In the last year, Amway China was recognized for its corporate citizenship efforts and earned honors as a finalist for the US Secretary of State’s prestigious 2011 Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE).

Now, Amway China has become the first direct seller to win the China Best Customer Service Award, widely recognized as the benchmark for corporate customer service.

Haier Group, 360 Buy, China Life Insurance and China Merchants Bank joined Amway China in this elite group of 2012 award winners.

‘Secret Customers’ evaluated the companies by testing more than 30 indicators of customer service through experiences in-store, online and telephone hotlines.

The awards are granted by the China Information Industry Association and China Association of Trade in Services.

To Vivian Yuan and Christy Xin, fireworks are flowers of flame floating in the night sky.

Vivian and Christy, who are on assignment from China at Amway World Headquarters, agreed to share that poetic perspective as a preview to the Amway-sponsored 4th of July Family Fireworks celebration Wednesday in Grand Rapids.

Their observations?

Meaning: In Chinese, “fireworks” translates to flowers of flame. In English, it is art works of fire.

History: Fireworks are a blend of ancient science, modern technology, infinite imagination and beautiful wishes. They originated in China over a thousand years ago, and were introduced to the Western world in the 19th century.

Moments: Fireworks are associated with breath-taking moments all over the world. Examples include the July 4th fireworks in the U.S., the fireworks of the walking gigantic footprints at the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony and fireworks over Sydney Harbour in Australia on New Year’s Eve.

Wherever these events take place, these “blooming flowers” in the sky create happiness reflected through the smiles on our faces, say Vivian and Christy.

We look forward to sharing that happiness with our friends and neighbors in West Michigan this week.

Finding a place to plant a garden can be tough in Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated places in the world. You could say it’s another example of having nowhere to go but up.

That’s why school children have been making their way to rooftops and getting their hands dirty planting lettuce, tomatoes and other vegetables as they learn how to care for them and about the benefits of organic and sustainable farming.

Aimed at promoting environmental protection in 18 school districts, the project is organized by Amway Hong Kong in partnership with the Hong Kong Organic Resource Centre of Hong Kong Baptist University.

Organic farming is relatively new in Hong Kong, where groups pushing for environmentally-friendly grown produce didn’t appear until the 1990s.

So far this year, children participating in the program have started organic farms at 10 primary schools in Kuiqing, Dapu, Beiqu, Kowloon and Huang Daxian, among others.

We’re extremely proud to know that our little farmers are spreading the seeds of organic farming among their peers! Check out this photo album on Nutrilite’s Facebook Page.

Every year, thousands of Amway distributors around the world are rewarded for their efforts with trips that combine exotic locations with learning opportunities and entertainment.

But these trips do so much more. They also benefit local economies and communities.

This week in Fiji, Achiever-level distributors from Amway Australia and New Zealand are repairing desks, painting new chalkboards and otherwise making a disaster-struck school an acceptable place for learning to take place again.

Said one distributor: “By the time we leave today, we’ll be friends with another group of people somewhere else in the world – which is absolutely wonderful.”

And earlier this spring, Amway China brought its top 15,000 distributors from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan to Laguna Phuket in Thailand. The visit was estimated to help the local economy by bringing an influx of $2.5 billion baht in cash; providing temporary jobs to 300 students; and hiring hundreds of local transport and catering employees.

When our distributors enjoy their well-deserved rewards, they aren’t the only ones positively affected.

YouTube Direkt

Did you know that Amway employees and distributors have volunteered more than 2.5 million hours to make the communities where they work and live a better place?

Read about our ongoing efforts around the world in the 2011 Amway Global Corporate Citizenship Report published today, or in the Amway One By One blog.  That blog, by the way, was recently honored as the “Best Corporate Social Responsibility” blog by PR News.

For the last 15 years, Amway Taiwan has sponsored the prestigious Amway eSpring Women’s World Ball Open.

Celebrated in Taipei, the event stars 48 of the world’s best female billiard players, who compete for the top spot of their sport.

This year, we also reached out to help younger players, whose quest to win the world’s major billiard competitions has just begun.

Shirley Chen, general manager for Amway Taiwan, recently awarded scholarships to 60 high school and college students to support their journey toward future success.

It’s a pleasure to keep our eye on the brightest talent of today. In them, we see the powerful potential for tomorrow.

Amway China has been recognized with the “most responsible enterprise” award for the fifth consecutive year.

The award recognized the company’s recently formed Amway Charity Foundation that plans to help as many as 1.5 million children during its first three years.

Frances Yu, vice president for Public Affairs, accepted the award during the 7^th Global Corporate Social Responsibility Forum and Award Ceremony organized by China News Service and China Newsweek.