We all have a social responsibility to each other and to our environment. Everything we do has a domino effect on the environment around us. The same is true for businesses, whether large or small, public or private. The actions they take have a rippling effect on a large number of stakeholders.
Corporate Social Responsibility (may also be termed as corporate conscience, corporate citizenship, social performance, or sustainable responsible business) is no longer a choice for large or small businesses but has become a necessity. To give an example from the telecom industry; as a gesture of sharing the success that their customers have awarded them, a company such as Mobilink is constantly involved in CSR activities which have become a cornerstone of their corporate strategy for engaging and sharing with the society and environment they work in.
The aspiration of a company to constitute CSR activities into their business model signifies its desire to embrace responsibility for the company's actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere.
External CSR These are those CSR activities that fall outside the realm of a business's domain. A good example would be assistance in case of national emergencies (natural disasters or conflict) or initiatives that are taken to enhance the social wellbeing of under privileged social sectors.
National emergencies create a large number of internally displaced people (IDP). The recent displacement of over 4 million people in Swat in 2009 is one of the largest humanitarian plights in the country in recent years. In this situation Mobilink and Orascom together mobilised the largest private sector contribution for IDP relief efforts.
Similarly during a national campaign on hygiene and health for the eradication of Polio Mobilink collaborated with the Polio Eradication Fraternity along with UNICEF and Ministry of Health, to help create awareness of this disease. Also in an exemplary initiative launched by UNESCO to enhance education in the country Mobilink in conjunction with 'Bunyad' initiated an SMS based literacy programme to boost literacy.
Internal CSR Organisations in their effort to promote their goods or services create lots of promotional material that once used is either placed in storage or thrown away as garbage. With the global drive for conservation of limited resources companies have gone all out to reduce, re-use and recycle.
In this regard a company like Mobilink has found a creative use for their old advertising billboard skins and has had them manufactured into school bags for children in underprivileged areas. In a business entities effort to do business substantial amount of waste paper is created which may include scrap paper, boxes, wires and wooden boxes to name just a few sources.-PR