foreword - Tamkeen Consult homepage

‘We do all kind of foresight
studies to make sense of
consumer sentiments and
public interest and anticipation
of environmental issues in the
European and US operations.
But not here.’
because they do not believe the Government will tighten the demands.
Only one company touches upon the possibility that with increased
understanding, today’s accepted products can turn into tomorrow's
liabilities - but does not think that it would happen to their company.
Some see the opportunity, but this is not in the form of improving the
environmental profile of their products and services, but rather selling
products and services to companies that can help them to meet
regulatory demands.
Our observation on this is that companies appear not to engage in a
serious analysis of the social context and how it will drive/impact
competitiveness. They may be aware of these issues but as long as
there are no serious efforts to systematically engage in assessment
with the internal context this will not result in strategy formulation.
Because of that, many of the issues that are seen by global companies
are not even considered here. This, we think, will put Saudi companies
in a reactive position.
Organising For CSR
Companies’ efforts to institutionalise CSR are often assessed in terms
of polices, responsibilities, communication and internal adjustments in
the organisation. We explored some of these issues with executives.
Our questions generated some quantitative indicators but they do not
offer a qualitative assessment of capabilities within Saudi companies to
take on a leadership role in CSR. The internal processes are often not
disclosed or discussed.
On the presence of policies, company responses to these questions
revealed that 69% of the companies among the study sample did not
have any form of environmental, CSR or ethical policies. Only three of
the companies interviewed, or 10% of the sample, have formal versions
of environmental, CSR and ethical policies which are communicated
both internally and externally. While two companies (6%) have both
environmental and ethical policies, one company (3%) has reported to
have both a CSR and ethical policy (Distribution in side figure).
However, it
should be noted
that, although
their numbers
are highly
limited, some
companies
have
programmes,
procedures,
Policies Guiding CSR Engagement
None
Ethical Policy
Policy under Development
CSR & Ethical Policy
Environment & Ethical Policy
Environment Policy
All Policies
33 Tamkeen 2007