My professional life requires a constant updating
of the reality of various subjects, including CSR, and in that sense I came
across some information about this topic in the Arab world. The theme in
general is always very interesting and dynamic anywhere in the world, and this
area of the globe is no exception. In this theme the social aspect is central
and therefore the search for information on cultural research
becomes even more interesting. Another aspect, in my opinion, for this type of
theme in a society increasingly globalized, is the need to learn and understand
fairly different issues, cultural differences and factors that impact the
implementation and operation of the CSR.
So when searching for information, through some
contacts, I came across some issues I think are interesting to underline and
analyze, and in this case, CSR in the Arab world.
Starting with some statistic from Ambreen Waheed
and Faiz Shah article “Can Faith Build Competitiveness?”, included in
AccountAbility’s “The
State of Responsible Competitiveness 2007” report: «The fifty-seven member countries of the Organisation of Islamic
Conference (OIC) are home to 20% of the world’s population. Between them they
provide 70% of the earth’s energy resources, and 40% of the raw materials that
global industry relies on. Yet the collective Gross Domestic Product of all OIC
members put together accounts for less than 5% of the world’s GDP, and their
mutual trade is a mere 7% of the volume of international business. It is not surprising
then, that 31 out
of the 57 (54%) are classified as “least developed
low-income” countries.» This citation gives us some data about the reality in the Arab or
Islamic world. But some of you can start to question “can we even think in CSR
issues in these countries, with these numbers?”
To answer some of these
questions we can look at the Second Annual CSR Middle East Survey, conducted by
Sustainability Advisory Group (SAG) in 2010. One of the key conclusions from the
survey is that regional
businesses are increasingly recognizing that Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) is a business imperative rather than a philanthropic add-on. Maria
Sillanpaa, Founding Director of SAG, said the survey covered public and private
sector organizations in eight countries in the region. More than 60 percent of
the respondents are based in UAE and the rest are located in Saudi Arabia,
Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Yemen, Jordan and Egypt.
«We are clearly
witnessing a shift in attitudes towards CSR in the region – previously CSR was
perceived as a bit of a fringe issue, perhaps a ‘nice to do’ activity if time
and resources allowed. Now executives are increasingly agreeing that it should
be integral to their business strategies. We see this reassuring level of
sophistication in the regional understanding of CSR as a sign of maturity and a
wish to keep up with the powerful international trend.», said Sillanpaa.
However, beside these positive signs, there are some issues not so important
for businesses in the region, like environmental issues related to water, waste
management and climate changes. But in an overall point of view «People issues
such as employee well-being, health and safety, recruitment and retention,
ethical practices, governance and transparency continue to be rightly
recognized as the critical CSR issues businesses within the region must tackle.»
You might say: “OK, but where’s the different
aspects?”, “What’s the point?”. Jumping to Sillanpaa’s “My Middle Eastern
Sustainability Journey”, that highlights the religion aspects, with the
dominant Islamic tradition. Sillanpaa writes: «Although corporate responsibility defined in a Western ‘modern’ sense
is still in its infancy, some core ideas are not new to Arab cultures guided by
a strict allegiance to Islam as a deep rooted sense of personal duty towards
the community and wider society. Therefore the term ‘corporate responsibility’
is still often understood as synonymous with charity – an extension of
individual Zakat (One of the Five Pillars of Islam that wants Muslims to donate
part of his income to the poor and needy).» Some sources, like the 2007
background paper from “Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate
Citizenship in the Arab World” conference
in Cairo, Egypt, say that «CSR has typically been introduced by
multinationals, and passed on through subsidiaries in the region.» And if we think that Corporate
Responsibility and Responsible Competitiveness are based on values, the search
for values can lead us to culture and religious aspects. Going back to Waheed
and Shah’ essay «that looks at the way Islam has sought to enshrine societal good within the
paradigm of economic activity.» The authors add that «Islamic teachings seek to encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship, but
define clear moral and societal limits, to prevent exploitation. Social
responsibility is central to Islamic business principles, with well defined
responsibilities for entering into contracts, guaranteeing quality, ensuring
ethical dealings, and securing accountability.»
Recently,
ArabCSR.org (The Arab Encyclopedia of CSR) announced that is to
launch “The First Arab Social Responsibility Report” in 2011. ArabCSR.org
chairman, Buthaina
Hasan Al-Ansari,
highlights that the importance and benefit of Arab Social Responsibility «deprive from its ability to entrench the values of CSR in the
Arab region, which in its turn will support the national attitude of the
countries seeking to accomplish the millennium goals».
The report reveals the growth of SR initiatives in the Arab countries, and
demonstrates the increasing importance of SR to nation leaders. It underlines
some very good examples such as Saudi Arabia, with special attention to CSR
activities supported by kingdom rulers. Qatar, that attained most of the
Millennium Development Goals, and the launching of the first Arab network
dedicated to social responsibility. The UAE, where SR gained an increasing
importance over the last 5 years, adopting SR within the strategic view of the
federal government. Egypt, with SR enhancing, highlighting the launching of Egypt’s
CSR Index in 2010; and Syria, with an unprecedented attention of SR concept supported by launching CSR
Syria network. The report doesn’t cover 7 of the 22 Arab countries
due to lack of information.
Of
course some of this information can start discussions about various points of
view. But till now, in a general perspective, we can summarize most of the
information as follows:
- - The Arab world encompasses some regions and a number of countries with
huge potential for growth and wealth, as statistics show;
- - Religious and culture aspects can enhance CSR growth, making it more
natural to evolve;
- - CSR evolution started somehow with west influence, through west
companies, but rapidly Arab social responsibility took it own course.
But
one of the aspects that call out my attention was an article published in The National, a newspaper from the UAE, had
the following title: “Do your duty is the message to business in Emirates”. The
article written by Neil Parmar, covered the 8th CSR Summit in Dubai
last April, and had an highlight that says «Companies urged to overcome cost
fears and restore projects that help their employees». It called my attention
because it focused on employees, it focused on employee’s related projects, and
the need to concentrate efforts on that path. The author highlighted what
experts were saying: «Businesses can
start small socially responsible programmes by focusing on their own employees».
And in the Summit’ advertising there was a phrase that means a lot in this
theme, from Lebanese explorer Maxim Chaya: «there’s
no profit without people or planet».
Just
remember on so many CSR programmes, more focused on corporate priorities than
on real Social Responsibility issues, some of them forgetting that
organizations are about people and not profit, and if you still want to focus
on profit, just remember Chaya’s phrase. Remember also that CSR can and should
be based on values and culture values, and can even make some bridges with
religious values, because their ultimately culture values. We can learn some
much from others.
Bruno Slewinski
Orex SM | Sustainable Marketing
www.orexsm.yolasite.com
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