Research

Research Findings:

Saudi Arabia is a highly networked society, and a good number of companies based in the Kingdom have been traditionally socially responsible. They draw their strengths from the socio-cultural context and Islamic values underlying their business ethics and practices.

Companies are proactive in designing their CSR agenda aligned with their strategic goals. Companies like Saudi Aramco, SABIC, Abdul Latif Jameel, and Almarai are some good examples who are pursuing their CSR goals strategically and are improving their CSR efforts continuously.

Islamic values are highly ingrained in Saudi business society and socially responsible business behavior is very much part of Islamic ethics and practices in Saudi Arabia. It can be concluded that CSR is in its infancy in Saudi Arabia and very few companies understand its true meaning and relevance. As shown by few researchers, CSR is still looked down upon as a cost rather than investment even though it has been making its presence felt as a concept in the last decade, approximately. Recently, some forums have been established in Saudi Arabia intended to raise awareness, but efforts need to be increased.¹

Facts and numbers about corporate social responsibility in Saudi Arabia²:

• 78% of the Saudi organizations are actively engaged in CSR corporate social responsibility.

• 66% of the Saudi organizations have already integrated the CSR corporate social responsibility strategies.

• About 75% of the CEO is Saudi Arabia have direct involvement in CSR corporate social responsibility.

• 74% of the organizations that attract their clients through CSR corporate social responsibility are successful in keeping them engaged.

Almarai:

Almarai CSR programs aim to serve four areas which are Science and Training, Charitable Support, Environment and Sports. In addition, Almarai acts as sponsor in many different events around Saudi Arabia. Almarai scopes its strategy for The Leadership Competency Framework fosters a performance culture by providing a consistent approach to attracting, developing, and retaining talent.³

It has also used different social media platforms to market their programs as well as placing banners in universities and educational institutions. Almarai cooperates with many institutions such as: Technical and Vocational Training Corporation, Human Resources Development Fund, KACST and Universities that provide them with financial and human resources.

STC:

STC seeks to be a leader in communications and IT in the Kingdom by developing their programs and initiatives in line with their CSR and Sustainability plan. STC achieved great accomplishments in terms of social liability, especially in 2014 where CSR became a separated department. As a result, STC won the "Leadership" award for Social Responsibility from the International institute for Social Responsibility in Dubai.

STC was able to successfully achieve many of its social responsibility initiatives through many areas: Technology, Youth empowerment, Women’s empowerment, Social investment.

• Misk agreement: STC and Misk foundation signed an agreement of understanding aims to empower youth in CIT to support the development of The Kingdom and achieve the objectives of 2030 vision.

• Huawei Academy: STC established the Huawei training academy at Prince Sultan University, within the training academies project of King Salman Education for Employment Program.

Misk:

Misk foundation is one of the leading foundations in Saudi Arabia for social responsibility. Misk updates its programs periodically, it offers many programs, opportunities and partnerships with many different companies to provide training for college students. Misk foundation has a subsidiary called “MISK academy” which provides programs like their “Misk Udacity Program” that helps with building skills⁴. Misk academy collaborated with the Ministry of Communications and IT. Misk General assembly program. These programs aim to give courses in areas like engineering, data, software engineering and business. Which can all help with accelerating in a career.

Conclusion:

The CSR market in Saudi Arabia is ready to adopt more social responsibility projects since these concepts and values are already ingrained in the Islamic religion. Moreover, these concepts have become a default for companies because it gives benefit to both the public interest and the company itself.