Toward Green Economy in the United Arab Emirates: Responsible Business and Sustainable Consumption

In 2009, I studied new ‘green’ Business topics including green purchasing, sustainable consumption, corporate volunteering, donation, corporate community partnership, and cause-related marketing.

CSR is Dead? CSR is Alive ?:

The State of Corporate Social Responsibility 2009 in Dubai

I conducted the largest CSR survey (on-going) across companies operating in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and the other emirates to explore social and environmental practices as well as corporate governance.
The preliminary results of survey revealed most CSR programs have been affected, by the current economic crisis, 57% business leaders of companies operating in Dubai said. Also, the findings form the survey shows that there is increasing in businesses’ awareness of CSR (73%, an increase of 14 percentage point on 2008). However, as in 2008, CSR in 2009 continue to be less formally managed and less integrated into business strategy; 70% of business leaders said that CSR is important to their company, but not central to their business strategy; 10% dedicate budget for CSR activities; 6% dedicated department/officer to deal with CSR and 7% report on CSR achievements (stand alone, in annual report, online content). Most social and environmental initiatives are episodic and fragmented with more emphasis on quality and health and safety—environmental protection, corporate community contribution are still underdeveloped. Lack of financial resources is the main barrier to implement CSR, 33% of business leaders said.
Responsible Business = Purchasing Green
In attempt to promote green supply chain in Dubai—one of the central trends in today’s competitive economy—I conducted a first-ever survey to explore green purchasing initiatives and practices, pressures/drivers and performance in Dubai. The result indicates that green purchasing is still a lagging and some companies have recognized its importance and tried to put it into practice, but most of these companies lack awareness, knowledge as well as necessary tools and management skills. The adoption rates shown in our study are still low. The results show also that 40% of companies were willing to pay more for green products, while 67% had found it difficult to find green products and 75% mentioned lack of public database for green vendors. As a result, there is a substantial potential for the development of green purchasing in Dubai, and a comprehensive database of green products and vendors is crucial for practicing and promoting green purchasing. Also, we found that 31% of companies were willing to pay a premium for green products or services with co-benefits of certification or logo. A national eco-label or a green purchasing certification is also recommended.

Consuming Responsibly, Green Products in the UAE

Following my 2008 first-ever study on Consumer’ View of Corporate Social Responsibility in the UAE which identified consumers’ understanding and awareness of CSR issues and the influence of a company’s CSR activities on consumers’ purchase behaviour and overall opinion of a company’ CSR achievement and it provided an overview of consumers’ view about the credibility and use of various CSR information sources, including executives, annual reports, traditional news media, and more recent online efforts. I expanded the 2009 survey’ focus to cover best practices for sustainable consumption and responsible consumers’ buying as well as consumers’ willingness to pay for green products. The results revealed that the current crisis has expanded the “lens” by which the general public judge companies’ CSR achievements; Consumers in the UAE stated clearly that they would prefer to buy from companies who are socially and environmentally responsible. They expected high business’ involvement and contribution to the society; improving health and safety conditions, fair employee wages and benefits and environmental protection are main common consumers’ expectations, while community related issues are given lesser importance. Consumers are increasingly punishing irresponsible companies and rewarding responsible ones: were willing to pay a premium for green products; 43% would pay 5% more for products and service of a company that has the reputation of being socially responsible.
As regards the consumption habits having the greatest impact on solving environmental impacts in the UAE; Money-saving actions including minimising energy, water consumption and waste were most popular consumption habits for the society and the environment, while costly actions including buying green products were less likely to be considered as consumers’ actions to reduce environmental impacts. Traditional media sources including newspaper, TV or radio were the most preferred source of information about social and environmental activities,

Corporate Community Contributions: A Long Road Ahead
I conducted an original survey to explore corporate community contributions with a focus on corporate volunteering, donations, community partnership and cause-related marketing. The results revealed that there many form of support—although still underdeveloped— companies in Dubai provided to the community; 20 % donated in cash and 17% in-kind to the community; 17% sponsored non-marketing programs or events; 21% supported ( encouraged or accommodated) volunteering; 17% engaged in programs or activities in collaboration and partnerships with community organizations and 13% supported cause-related marketing programs. The findings indicated that companies operating in Dubai targeted specific type of organization or causes with their community programs; the organizations ort causes, most likely supported are those related to health care including nutrition (15%), sporting and recreation (15%), education (14%) and environmental protection (13%). However, overall community programs are still less formally managed.