Many traditional, family owned businesses in the Middle East are
taking on external investors and partners and many are experiencing tension and
conflict around Corporate Social Responsibility strategy and implementation.
External investors and partners are pushing for a more strategic,
mutually beneficial approach to corporate social responsibility, societal and
community engagement.
Islamic business has a long standing tradition of supporting people
and communities that has evolved from the Islamic principles of Zakat and
Sadaqah [while Zakat is obligatory, Sadaqah is voluntary].
CSR in the Middle East has traditionally taken more of a
philanthropic or charitable approach; a transfer of money and resources from
business to social needs and issues with limited attention to sustainable
impact or business value.
The philanthropic focus and recipients have generally been driven by
the charitable interests of the families that own the business, rather than the
strategic needs and opportunities of the business.
For the ownership families there is often a close personal and
family connection with the causes supported and the charities and organizations
that are involved. New partners and external
investors seldom have the same connections with the charities and causes and
look to see more strategic, mutually beneficial approaches to social
responsibility and community engagement.
This is leading to internal tensions and putting managers and
leaders in difficult positions.
While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to resolving these
issues a systematic value-focused analysis [basically a CSR SWOT (strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats)] can provide a solid platform for
developing effective go-forward strategies.
A CSR SWOT can help any company to be more effective at meeting
societal obligations and expectations and, importantly, at integrating them
with shareholder expectations and interests.
This applies to all businesses.
It isn’t just family owned Middle Eastern businesses that fall into a
pattern of blindly supporting societal causes and issues without periodic
review and assessment. This happens to
businesses of all sorts and from all over the world.
Executives and managers have elaborate systems in place to analyze
business priorities, budgets and activities.
But, seldom does corporate social responsibility and sustainability get
subjected to the same regular scrutiny and analysis.
A CSR SWOT can be a smart investment for most businesses, including
Middle Eastern businesses where there is tension between founding families and
external investors and partners over the focus and extent of CSR priorities,
activities and budgets.
For more on CSR SWOTS see an earlier post CSR SWOT –
discover risk, value and more or contact me directly (wayne at csrtraininginstitute dot com)