CSR in Pakistan

At present the general perception of a corporate organization in Pakistan especially of local organizations is that it is out just to make money, without giving due consideration to the consumers. Therefore this perception has to be changed and a relationship between corporate citizenship and the consumers has to be established.

Unfortunately in Pakistan, except for a few, there is a general lack of sincerity in the concept of Corporate Citizenship and CSR is used as a gimmick to enhance the image of the Corporation. Most corporations just believe in lip service and cosmetic contributions which project their organizations or their products.

CSR in Pakistan seems to focus on how much donations an organization contributes to health, environment and education programs, but overlooks its obligations and commitments to the consumers. If corporations do not serve society and their consumers in letter and in spirit, then there will be a gradual breakdown of trust and respect for corporations and we will witness an anti corporate movement.

To protect consumers from unscrupulous manufacturers, good manufacturing practice and corporate social responsibility must be encouraged. Such organizations must step forward and be the leaders and set an example and voluntarily observe the Principles of Business Ethics by providing quality products at a fair price to the consumers.

The state of CSR in Pakistan is still in its infancy. Only a few companies have an existing CSR strategy and mostly they are the multinationals who follow their own globally defined CSR policies and standards. Unfortunately, the local industry is either unaware of the benefits brought by CSR or they feel that even if they do not adopt such policies, they are not in any state of danger. The apathy of the local business sector was highlighted in the 1996 by the breakdown of the local carpet industry and the threat of damage to Sialkots sports industry. Labor exploitation, child labor, inadequate employee benefits and unsuitable working environment were few areas pinpointed by international HR watchdogs. Though taking the reactive measures, the joint effort of the industrialists saved the greater damage foreseen, but not much has been done to take more proactive measures. [1]

In 2003, a multi stakeholder forum Pakistan Compliance initiative was launched with support from international buyers, the textile sector, and the Ministry of Commerce. A draft national standard was developed for use as compliance standard approved by Government to replace many International social and environment compliance standards and buyers code of conduct. The result of this effort was inclusion of social compliance in the trade policy and initiation of a project proposal by Ministry of Science and Technology to European Union for encouraging SA800 implementation by subsidizing consulting and implementation cost. In Pakistan, CSR is frequently equated with

corporate philanthropy, the terms being often mistakenly used synonymously. Some consider CSR to be a simple compliance with law.

This creates a difficulty because top management is still uncertain about the true meanings of CSR. This indicates the need for a mass awareness campaign supported by the government, targeting businessmen, entrepreneurs and customers so that they are able to appreciate CSR and also the general perils of non-compliance in todays environment. Frequent and open discussion defining and understanding CSR, detailing its nature and promoting and developing methodologies on how local businesses adopt and manage their CSR obligations would be a useful first step to make companies more aware about the benefits of CSR.

In Pakistan, most multinational companies that engage in CSR activities do so through two channels.

Corporate CSR Brand CSR

Corporate CSR: The Company as a whole engages in CSR activities without specifying any of its particular products or services. The objective for the campaign is to promote the image of the company and improve their credibility.

Brand CSR: When the company engages in CSR activities to promote a particular brand. Here, the company tries to associate its brand with the positive image of their CSR efforts so that whenever the customers look at the particular brand they will remember the CSR project as well. This creates a certain level of differentiation for the brand in the minds of the customer.

Source : http://www.nyissues.com/csr-in-pakistan.html