Corporate Social Responsibility: Capitalizing on Socio-Economic Instability in Pakistan

With the right amount of persistence, dedication and effort, you can always depend on your biggest weakness to bring you glory. We as individuals, living in a society, allow the corporate bodies to implement successful policies and practices of corporate social responsibility (CSR) so that they aid and support the society in the matters such as, education, health, environment, raising living standards, etc. Pakistan is on the course of growth and development. There have been uncertain socio-economic events both in the past and present bearing on people’s psyche. Even then, the country is preserving its independence, sovereignty and integrity. The study analyses the question that how the companies are capitalizing their CSR on the socio-economic instability which is making them affluent and better off and leading them to attain potential gains in the current scenario of a developing country. As the problems such as, nepotism, corruption, inflation, increasing oil prices, energy crises, devaluation of local currency, decreasing purchasing power and standard of living, etc are creating frustration amongst the general public; CSR is being utilized as a mean to capitalize from such problems by various companies. Though, this sort of utilization of CSR is leading corporations to achieve good local and international reputation, however; this also raises concerns regarding exploitation. Therefore, the research also investigates the nature of exploitation, from the companies, under the umbrella of CSR. Any society in the time of injustice and lawlessness either goes down or rises from the ashes. Companies which are compromising or manipulating their CSR in the current socio-economic situation of Pakistan are actually moving towards exploitation which will not work for them in the long term if the socio-economic situation improved. On the other hand, companies by not compromising or manipulating their CSR will win the trust of people for long term and will be looked upon as dependable and trustworthy. It is postulated that it is the duty and responsibility of corporations to promote the ethical values and their responsibilities without exploiting the opportunities and weaknesses within a country. In addition, the companies must deeply root themselves in the society by gaining customer loyalty. Hence the Paper concludes that the significance of CSR is to help companies get rid of temptations arising from unreliable monitory mechanisms, thus making them conscious of their responsibilities. As a result this will not only benefit in building a stable economy in the long run but it will also benefit the companies themselves. The data for the research is mainly collected through in depth interviews from the private companies and foreign investors. The structure of the paper is as follows. Firstly, this research paper critically discusses the literature regarding CSR in Pakistan, particularly within the socio-economic scenario of Pakistan. It is followed by the need of organizations in Pakistan to pay serious attention on their CSR to bring about the positive change into the society. Then the question regarding how CSR is being utilized to capitalize from the weaknesses of the socio-economic situation of Pakistan will be analysed. Subsequently, the nature of exploitation from the companies under the umbrella of CSR is investigated. Finally, the paper ends with conclusion with future implications and discussion.