The Third Qatar International Businesswomen Forum

Under the patronage of H.E. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr
AlAl-Thani
Thani,, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in
Qatar.

Businesswomen and
Corporate Social
Responsibility

info@royalclassacd.com
http://www.royalclassacd.com

AGENDA

Meaning and growing importance of

corporate social responsibility.
Practice and limitations of corporate social
responsibility in the Arab world.
Can businesswomen making a difference?

MEANING OF CORPORATE SOCIAL

RESPONSIBILITY

There is no common definition. Each company responds in its

own unique way, depending upon its core competencies and
stakeholders interests. Country and cultural traditions also
influence how companies respond.
Corporate social responsibility is the commitment of business
to contribute to sustainable economic development, working
with employees, their families, the local community and
society at large to improve their quality of life (Williams,
2010).
Social responsibility is fundamentally a philosophy or a vision
about the relationship of business and society, one requiring
leadership to implement and sustain it over time. It is most
effectively treated as an investment, not a cost, much like
quality management.

TYPICAL DIAGRAM OF CORPORATE

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY -

IMPORTANCE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL

RESPONSIBILITY (con.) -

Globalization of markets, consumer preferences, supply

chains and financial flows. Some business leaders consider
globalization to be a revolution, not simply a trend, since it is
having momentous effects on the economies of all countries
and on corporations in most sectors.

Increasing intensity of competition. Peter Veill used the

expression managing in white water to express the challenge
of meeting the turbulence and instability which global
competition has created. It is unlikely we will ever return to
the comfortable 1989s.

IMPORTANCE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL

RESPONSIBILITY (con.) -

Rapid technological changes are transforming markets,

alleviating burdensome tasks, enabling greater customization
of production, and contributing to high labor displacement.
Modern information technology makes it possible to
decentralize decision-making without losing control and to
introduce more flexible and less hierarchical structures.

Demographic changes not only threaten the sustainability of

our planet but create a mismatch between jobs and suitably
trained workers, and between present educational systems and
the needs of a knowledge and information-based economy.

PRACTICES OF CORPORATE SOCIAL

RESPONSIBILITY IN THE ARAB WORLD
-

CSR presents significant risks and opportunities for

many organizations in the Arab world.
Stakeholders expect boards and management to accept
responsibility and implement strategies and controls to
manage their impact on society and the environment,
to engage stakeholders in their endeavors, and to
inform the public about their results.
The proliferation of regulation and voluntary
standards has made CSR management a complex
endeavor.

PRACTICES OF CORPORATE SOCIAL

RESPONSIBILITY IN THE ARAB WORLD (con.)
-

The approaches to evaluating CSR activities,

including auditing, facilitating, and consulting.
Audit considerations such as use of the audit opinion,
independence and objectivity, and types of resources.
Considerations in developing the internal audit
program, including whether CSR information is
consistent with standards and how management
communicates and sets priorities for CSR strategies.

LIMITATIONS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL

RESPONSIBILITY IN THE ARAB WORLD
-

Some companies may take CSR as a merely a

corporate jargon for their good image and not showing
some concrete commitment towards the society. Some
companies do charities only for the sake of making
profits and saving taxes not with the intention of
responsibilities towards the society.
The risks (operational, reputational, etc.) associated
with CSR activities and how to use such knowledge in
audit planning.

LIMITATIONS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL

RESPONSIBILITY IN THE ARAB WORLD (con.)
-

The emerging markets of the Arab world offer

markedly different contexts, constraints and
possibilities for CSR activity and research, and many
Arab companies stand out in their creative efforts to
do good for the communities in which they operate.
Yet the operation of managing a fair CSR needs to be
more organized and audited in a proper method so that
to achieve its real goals, and that is due to the similar
conception between CSR and Zakat, which is
considered of Islam religion ritualism.
More effort should be made for accomplish a good
categorizing for CSR in the firms of the Arab world.

CAN BUSINESSWOMEN MAKING A

DIFFERENCE?

CSR towards women empowerment can become ray

of hope in many ways right from changing attitude
towards women in the society to making women
independent financially, physically and socially and
enabling them to stand on their feet.
Business women in the Arab world can definitely able
to achieve more sensible and organized CSR
operations, as their feminine nature, they can feel with
other women needs in society, and of course most of
those business women are social activists in the first
place.

REFERENCES
-

Williams, Geoffrey and John Zinkin (2010), Islam and CSR:

a study of the compatibility between the tenets of Islam and
the UN Global Compact, Journal of Business Ethics, 91,
51933.
Corporate social responsibility picks up in Kuwait. (n.d.)
retrieved
on
January
23,
2010
from
http://www.ameinfo.com/145699.html
CSR-Weltweit official website. (n.d.)retrieved on January 23,
2010
from
http://www.csrweltweit.de/uploads/tx_jpdownloads/FinalBac
kgroundPaper_CSRConference_Cairo.pdf
Stakeholder Analysis. (n.d.). retrieved on January 23, 2010
from
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_07.htm

THANK YOU