Business | Economy
Companies embrace role of social responsibility
Dubai companies are increasingly using corporate social responsibility to enhance their performance and competitive advantage, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Centre for Responsible Business (CRB) said yesterday.
- By Natasha Marrian, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:15 November 19, 2008
Dubai: Dubai companies are increasingly using corporate social responsibility to enhance their performance and competitive advantage, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Centre for Responsible Business (CRB) said yesterday.
"Dubai wants to be at the forefront of business and corporate social responsibility as a business strategy, it makes sense that there will be a large take-up of the idea," said CRB manager Gillian Foster.
"At present, the key drivers of social responsibility are the consumers. But this market is emerging and growing and the drivers will mature with the market."
Foster was speaking at the CRB's launch of its strategic partnership programme, "Engage Dubai".
"Businesses in Dubai have a long legacy of working with community partners. This commitment has aided the fast-paced development of Dubai both economically and socially," she said. "In the past, while businesses may have provided charity, they have not always tied their corporate giving and partnership activities to their company's strategic goals ... many businesses have not identified non-financial contributions to further community development yet."
Engage is an employee volunteer programme developed by UK-based Business in the Community, an initiative headed by Prince Charles, designed to support businesses to understand and act on their role in community development by building strategic partnerships with community organisations.
Thus far only 4 per cent of Dubai companies engage in employee volunteering, said Foster.
"It's about businesses using their enlightened self-interest to benefit their companies and to understand the communities they live and work in using the intellectual capital of their employees to accomplish this," she said.
The Engage programme was established in 2002 and operates in Paris, Frankfurt, Istanbul, and Hong Kong and other major cities across the globe.
Representative of Business in the Community, UK, Maria-Jose Subiela, during her presentation at the launch of the programme said Dubai was the first in the region to join the programme and she hoped it would be an example to other cities in the Middle East.
"As the programme's ideology is to not leave everything to the government, I urge individuals and companies to step in and contribute through their CSR activities," she said.
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