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Study Scope
• A focus on the Saudi Top 100 Companies
• Comprehensive review of published literature and online sources in both Arabic and
English covering:
a) The representation of Saudi CSR locally and internationally
b) Saudi companies activities with crossover environmental and/or social
responsibility
• Complemented by in-depth interviews with business leaders from 32 companies in
8 sectors.
Lack of reporting has underrepresented
Saudi CSR locally
and internationally
Saudi business leaders are
motivated more by the
development needs and own
values than by the business
drivers for CSR
Lack of serious analysis and
foresight studies limits a
strategic approach to CSR
The important message, however, is that there is a positive stance
among business leaders on the importance of CSR to the health of
both society and business. Still the predominant rationale for their CSR
activities is normative. Consequently, hardly any company discusses
CSR from a business perspective such as minimising the negative
impacts of operations on the community or environment. This should
not necessarily be seen as a critique, rather, a point to illustrate that the
emphasis on the business case for CSR and the dynamics driving it,
which is taking central stage in developed economies, may not
necessarily be the starting point for advancing CSR in the Saudi
context.
Certainly many issues that fall within the CSR agenda are of great
relevance from a business case perspective including the
competitiveness of Saudi firms. Many executives see the linkages;
however, they do not find the incentives in the current market
conditions. Others point to the lack of serious analysis on the part of
business with regard to the social and environmental context and how it
will drive/impact competitiveness. Therefore in the absence of serious
assessments and foresight studies, the scope of integrating social
responsibility into strategy formulation is limiting.
On the whole, the business community is very much tuned to the
development challenges facing the kingdom; chief among them are job
creation, skill gaps, women’s employment, uneven development, and
poverty. On the other hand the variety of corporate social activities
nearly correlates with the variety of social concerns. However, most
activities are still in the form of uncoordinated charity and donations
which in our assessment limit the social effects. There is a group of
leading Saudi companies that have started to put organised systems
around CSR activities but the majority of companies exhibit fragmented
approaches and mostly disconnected from business.
4 Tamkeen 2007