Corporate Social Responsibility in Oman: Emerging Issues & Challenges

Corporate Social Responsibility in Oman

Dr. Sami A. Khan

We are living in a highly dynamic, complex, integrated and global world today.  Image of the company is becoming highly relevant, and firms are showing concern for the society and being socially responsible falls into their strategic intent. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a new business idea and firms are adopting strategic CSR to boost their image. Companies in Middle East and Oman are also adopting several CSR initiatives in recent time. The global corporate citizenship idea promoted by the United Nations has also broadened the canvass of CSR with an emphasis on transnational rights and duties. The UN’s global compact principles are now being endorsed by hundreds of multinational companies and they have an appeal to Omani companies as well.

Oman is one of the GCC countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman) with a population of 2.416 million and the third largest country in Arabia with a total land area of 309,500 sq. kilometers bordering Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates lying on the southeast corner of the Arabian Peninsula. The commercial export of oil began in 1967 in Oman. Since then, oil has been the major contributor to the GDP. In recent past, Oman has emphasized on the need to diversify its production base other than oil and it has integrated its economy with the global world. Oman has come a long way in amending its law after joining the WTO in November 2000 and signing Oman-US FTA in 2006.

Oman is a highly networked society and good numbers of companies based in Oman have been traditionally socially responsible and they draw strengths from their socio-cultural context and underlying business environment. Government also encourages companies to undertake CSR measures in serving the society at large. Companies like Bank Muscat, Petroleum Development Oman, Nawras, National Bank of Oman, Oman LNG among many others are torch bearers in this region. Nawras, a mobile telecommunication service provider company of Oman was honoured with Middle East Business Achievement Award for Corporate Social Responsibility in 2007 for having the best CSR programs and practices in the Middle East.

Despite all these successful CSR initiatives undertaken by few Omani companies as evident by the local media coverage, there is hardly any organized research available on the corporate social responsibility in Oman. I am making an attempt to explore and document the CSR initiatives and practices being undertaken by major companies here in Oman. Oman is an Islamic country and there is no denying to the fact that the socio-cultural factors play very important role in that regard. Islam recognizes responsible business and provides clear guidelines regarding fair and equitable business practices. Islamic values and practices are highly regarded in all spheres of life including work-life as well in Oman. All civic and criminal laws in Oman are based on Islamic principles. Islamic values are ingrained in Omani society and employees’ viewpoint play important role in shaping workplace and organization behavior.

In this regard, I am conducting a survey of employees across major companies based in Oman to reinforce the exploratory input of this research. Employees will be asked about their awareness of CSR being undertaken in their companies, their participation and involvement, employment condition, their perception about the fairness and equity in human resource practices, disciplinary procedure, their views about value addition of CSR initiatives, role of Islamic value and belief system in institutionalizing CSR and business ethics in Oman. As we know, employees are a key stake stakeholder of business who determine the quality of organization and whose perception of CSR plays an important role in shaping CSR development. Employees of Omani companies can also play important role in institutionalizing a vibrant CSR practice in their organizations and consequently it will add more value in creating a healthy work environment and making their firms more socially responsible.

The need for exploring and analyzing the present state of CSR in Oman is huge and I am sure this piece of research will provide a purposeful insight into that direction. In the absence of any research on this theme, it will surely help in contributing towards the existing CSR literature and in promoting the discussion of CSR in this part of world and especially in Oman. This can be seen as a first enquiry in this regard which can be expanded to the GCC countries in the next episode.

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Any comments and suggestions are welcome on khan.drsami@gmail.com