Focus on corporate social responsibility

Dubai: In an attempt to raise awareness of the importance of corporate social responsibility and the growing need for the business community to play a more prominent part in promoting such practices, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry is encouraging the private sector to improve business practices and build corporate social responsibility (CSR).

It has organised the Dubai Dialogue, Responsibility Matter, the largest business-led conference on sustainability, for the fourth year, as part of a long-term initiative that will improve the level of CSR. CSR is an important and integral part of normal business operations and a proven management tool to achieve success in an organisation, government and private sector officials said at the the two-day event launched yesterday.

More ethical

In his opening address, Hamad Bu Amim, Director General of the Dubai Chamber, said that over the years, CSR has become increasingly important for companies as customers and stakeholders demand businesses be more ethical and less damaging to the environment.

"Implementing and integrating CSR and sustainability is still a huge challenge for businesses today, as shown by the 2012 annual survey conducted by the Centre for Responsible Business, which found that only 44 per cent of companies believe that CSR is important to the company and that only 8.5 per cent of companies have a CSR policy and strategy," he said in a keynote address. T^he Dubai Government launched the Dubai Quality Awards in the 1990s to improve the business environment as the emirate graduates from a trading centre to becoming a major econ-omic and financial centre. Yves Manghardt, chairman and CEO of Nestle Middle East, said: "Creating shared value is Nestlé's approach to sustainability, our way of doing business across the entire value chain. We believe that for our business to be successful in the long term, we must create value not only for our shareholders, but also for society at large."

Dr J.R. Gangaramani, president and executive chairman of the Al Fara'a Group, told Gulf News: "In the context of modern economics, good corporate citizenship is no longer a novelty ‘add-on' to standard core activities, but a tangible metric of effective management and business foresight."

The Dubai Chamber recently introduced CSR Label to encourage companies to vie for it by adopting CSR in their system.

Belaid Rettab, Senior Director of Economic Research and Sustainable Business Development, Dubai Chamber, said: "Organisations need to understand and prioritise both the strategic and reputation risks that arise as a consequence of their business practices and operations."