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| Tuesday, 18 May 2004 |
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Corporate Social Responsibility It is heartening to learn that the country's national carrier, SriLankan Airlines has taken the lead in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) task by embarking on a Rs.4.7 million project to re-build Meepagama Jayanthi Maha Vidyalaya in Kalawana in the Ratnapura district, which was washed away during the devastating flood last year. Business could neither thrive and be sustained nor could businessmen earn profits without caring for the stakeholders including its customers, employees, shareholders, and the communities they serve and many businessmen in Sri Lanka are yet to realise this truth when they perform their social responsibilities. Taking a lead role in fulfilling such a noble task, the national carrier has been an eye-opener to its fellow corporate bodies. The nation will no doubt applaud SriLankan Airlines and its CEO Peter Hill who gave leadership to this project which will be opened by Mr. Hill next Wednesday. We read and watched heart rending stories of victims especially children in these areas where the majority of the people are from ordinary families who did not have substantial savings or sufficient income even to make ends meet. Under such circumstances, a better education is a distant dream and the SriLankan Airlines' school to be equipped with modern facilities including IT education is a boon for these poor children. The public and many business institutions and their employees showed unity and solidarity during the period of calamity and came forward to lend a helping hand by providing dry rations and clothing to the needy in these two provinces. The initiative however by the national carrier is exceptional as it is an investment on sustenance of the society At a time, the social responsibility issue is gaining ground the Meepagama project is a stimulus for corporate heads who take business seriously and to allocate a share in their corporate budget on CSR. It is also an example for others who circumvent the revenue code to evade tax and change their attitudes to become dutiful citizens. Meanwhile the Daily News learnt during a recent visit to the HSBC' Asia Headquarters in Hong Kong that the bank rated as the best in the Asia region with 9,500 offices in 79 countries has implemented 20,000 major projects and another 20,000 small projects costing over HK$47,374 on education, environmental protection and community development, according to its annual report 2003. HSBC took greater responsibility in serving the society to prevent disaster and rise from the ashes especially in and after the Hong Kong city was down with the SARS epidemic last year. The other priority is to form one strong body with complete transparency to handle this yeoman service as such a big body can do more than doing it individually. A better monitoring system to stop errant operators and racketeers who try to abuse funds should also be implemented by its managements. Then only the masses could feel for the corporate sector and come forward to protect them as customers, employees or any other contributors when the need arises. This is well proved by the message in the HSBC's annual report 2003 on sharing their success, "As one of the largest banking organisations in the world, we have the opportunity to touch many people's lives". This starter of the SriLankan Airlines and taking the HSBC as a role model, are food for thought to the local business community to embark on some serious CSR. |
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