Community champions or window displays?

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ABUSHADY: More than regulatory compulsions, firms have taken it upon themselves to give back.

Everyone is jumping on the corporate citizenship bandwagon, but how can we be sure that what they promise is what they deliver? Retail News investigates the trailbrazers’ efforts in the region.

Critics of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are inclined to blast the concept as merely window dressing; a dangerous approach involving a conflict between public promises and activities behind closed doors.

Considered as an organisation's continuing commitment to the interests of society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, employees, shareholders, communities and the environment in all aspects of their operations, CSR campaigns have garnered widespread attention in the Middle East.

Evidence of increased commitment to operating in more socially sustainable ways has become increasingly apparent among industry players in recent months, as brands and retail bosses rally together and sharpen their knowledge of the business cases for CSR, such as attracting and holding consumers and the best employees, and as a significant part of their risk management and reputation strategies.

In this competitive region, where brand value and reputation are increasingly seen as a company's most valuable assets, the integration of CSR in business operations can build loyalty and trust, in addition to improving its financial performance by attracting more investment.

Healthy agendas on rise

Tetra Pak Arabia has kick-started a series of health and nutrition seminars and workshops for its customers in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dubai.

Geared around topics shaping the global and local industries, the seminars addressed factors including health issues, changes in eating habits, lifestyle diseases and how they play an active role in driving companies' production patterns and consumers' consumption habits.

"In addition to providing packaging and processing solutions to our customers, we also want to drive the change towards a healthier society in the region. We are committed to running a sound business in cooperation with our customers and want to work with them to incorporate healthy and nutritious product innovations targeting our end consumers," said Martin Fejk, marketing and product management director, Tetra Pak Arabia.

Discussions and workshops evaluated how Tetra Pak Arabia's customers could use technological innovations to design and develop FMCG products to tackle lifestyle diseases such as obesity and diabetes.

Pushing healthy eating among shoppers is central to Halal food firm Al Islami Foods' latest communication strategy and it recently established The Obesity Forum, a groundbreaking ‘first,' at its Dubai headquarters.

"Today's sedentary lifestyle is adding to the problem of obesity and the industry needs responsible support from FMCG companies to support international health initiatives and provide the consumers with food that suits their modern dietary requirements. We are working day and night on developing low fat, high protein yet healthier and tastier products," comments CEO Saleh Lootah.

"With the establishment of Al Islami as the trusted real halal producer among the Muslim consumers across the Middle East, the time has come to develop the same trust among non-Muslims from the other continents."

The forum will serve as the location for workshops with local and international food technologists and the company plans future collaboration with international obesity organisations for its projects.

Fred Lehmann, manager, Research & Development Department, Al Islami Foods reveals it is developing a new product range containing more protein and less fat content.

According to a statement from the company's marketing department, "we believe that safeguarding the health and welfare of our consumers is not only critical to our operational philosophy, but also to our success. Which is why, in all our products we take special care to use only natural ingredients and we do not use any non-permissible ingredients in the production."

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