ATW394/3 BUSINESS ETHICS

CSR in the Age of COVID-19: Opportunities and Challenges

Other Side of The Coin

Challenges
2.2.1 Poverty and inequality
Covid-19 pandemic has exposed and intensified ingrained social issues which are
poverty and inequality. The virus is ruthlessly exposing the gaps between the haves
and the have nots, both within and between countries. Based on the study, insufficient
savings and lack of social protection have exposed more Malaysians to poverty.
During Covid-19, many people faced income shock and sudden job loss because
many companies, especially small businesses were forced to lay off workers and cut
sallaries to survive in Covid-19. These issues may push those whose income have
been hovering around the poverty line pre-pandemic into extreme poverty because
they cannot afford healthcare. (Nur Hanani Azman and Razak Ghazali 2020)
2.2.2 Lack of Essential Medical Devices
As China slowly heals from the outbreak, the number of cases in other nations
continue to spike and some ASEAN countries including Malaysia are facing shortages
of medical supplies and even Covid-19 test kits. The difficulty in finding oxygenation
masks, sanitizing products, diagnostic tests, surgical masks and personal protective
equipment (PPE) led to the rapid rise of high infection rates in the world. According
to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) data, in less developed countries
there are only seven beds, 2.5 doctors and six nurses for every 10,000 people. In
Malaysia, at a press conference on April 13 2020, our ministry's director-general Noor
Hisham Abdullah urged those who have been donating PPE to continue doing so
because we faced a medical supplies shortage. (D Kanyakumari 2020).
2.2.3 Lack of Transparency
Based on the study, there is a continuing lack of transparency in CSR initiatives

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 because most of them largely depend on businesses self-reporting (Giannarakis
Grigoris 2016). Beside that, the assessment agencies do not publish details concerning
important aspects of their methodology and provide the criteria that they take into
consideration in order to calculate the CSR score. This may cause the audits are
specious and full of conflicts of interest.
In addition, the other problem that has been highlighted is lack of transparency when
it comes to releasing information about patients. This may cause the medical front
liners to be left in the dark about whether they are treating a COVID-19 positive
patient or not and potentially put their lives at risk.
2.2.4 Lack of internet access
Governments and companies around the world have banned all of the public events
including offices, schools and universities. To respond to these changes, education
institutions and companies have held their classes and businesses online to ensure that
students and employees will still be able to study and work at home. However, this
sudden change has raised concern among many people across the world because a
large segment of the population do not have access to the Internet and electronic
devices. Based on the The World Economic Forum Covid Action Platform (2020), the
data in sub-Saharan Africa is expensive because one gigabit (GB) of data costs nearly
40% of the average monthly wage and almost a third of less well-off homes have no
internet connection in Australia. In Malaysia, there are many areas that still lack
proper and reliable Internet access, particularly in the remote villages. Not only that,
some poor families have been forced to buy mobile phones for their child to ensure
that they are able to attend online classes.
2.2.5 Failure to Comply with SOP
During Covid-19, governments around the world have implemented Conditional
Movement Control Order (CMCO) and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to
prevent and stop the spread of Covid-19. Unfortunately, the public did not understand
the importance of complying with SOPs and they did not follow the procedures such
as wearing face masks and practicing social distancing at least 1 meter at public areas
when they go out for work and other activities. The failure to comply with SOP not

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 only caused the spread of the virus but also prolonged CMCO. These actions may also
cripple the economy in the countries, increase unemployment and decrease in
revenue. (Ainaa Aiman 2020)

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