Introduction
The creation of the global market has contributed to the necessity for companies from different states and belonging to different cultures to develop a platform for successful communication. Delving into the subject matter, one must bring up the fact that the CSR principles, which are currently viewed as an essential component of the operations in any organization, are perceived differently in the U.S. legal system and the one of SA.
United States
When considering the specifics of the U.S. CSR legal framework, one must mention that a heavy emphasis is placed on the need to meet the needs of stakeholders (Walker, Kent, & Vincent 2010), the dividend payment being the primary aspect of their relationships. Furthermore, the necessity to eliminate the possibility of corporate fraud as part and parcel of the American interpretation of CSR needs to be brought up (Uddin, Hassan, & Tarique 2008). Research points to the fact that the global economy realm requires taking the needs of stakeholders into consideration: “To fully incorporate CSR into a business strategy, the individual business firm and its management must understand the firm’s relationship with the stakeholder” (Brown 2013, p. 6). The emphasis on the needs of all parties involved can be deemed as the primary advantage of the American approach toward CSR.
Saudi Arabia
The way in which the SA sees the CSR as a concept requires using the environmentalist perspective. Although it would be wrong to claim that the American CSR framework does not include environmentalism, the green philosophy is only mentioned as par for the course and is not singled out as an essential area for concern (Lambooy 2014). In other words, the SA approach requires carrying out detailed legal procedures that will allow the organizations meet the standards set by EAD, even though the U.S. companies also need to meet the EPA provisions.
Future Prospects
There is a possibility that the way in which the SA and the U.S. view the concept of CSR are likely to change in the nearest future. Having been underexplored so far, the environment of the global economy does not have a set of rigid legal provisions according to which different types of interactions, including the financial ones, must be carried out between organizations, especially the ones represented by different cultures (Scherer & Palazzo 2011). Therefore, there is a possibility for the global market to become the middle ground where a new and improved concept of CSR will be established, to which the U.S. and the UA can contribute. Furthermore, the SA interpretation of the CSR philosophy seems to revolve around the cooperation between an organization and the community (Macbool 2015) whereas the American one does not single out any particular stakeholder and implies that a company must cater to the needs of all parties involved. The connection to the community allows the SA companies to build a more efficient communication strategy than the American one (Ali & Al-Aali 2012). The tendency to promote improvements in the workplace environment, however, serves as the link between the SA and the American vision of the CSR (Khan, Al-Maimani & Al-Yafi 2013). Arguably, the community issue is supposed to be addressed with the principle of the corporate governance, which is currently supported extensively in the U.S. (Aras 2016).
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be assumed that the environment of the global economy will contribute to designing the ultimate CSR framework. The latter is bound to incorporate the elements that will help the representatives of any culture encourage the economic growth in their organization. Thus, both an increase in diversity and the economic growth can be expected.
References
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Aras, G 2016, Global perspectives on Corporate Governance and CSR, CRC Press, Chicago, IL.
Brown, D 2013, Corporate Social Responsibility. Web.
Khan, SA, Al-Maimani, KA & Al-Yafi, WA 2013, ‘Exploring Corporate Social Responsibility in Saudi Arabia: the challenges ahead’, Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 65-78.
Lambooy, T 2014, ‘Legal aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility’, Utrecht Journal of International Property and Law, vol. 30, no. 48, pp. 1-6.
Macbool, S 2015, ‘An overview of CSR programs in Saudi Arabia with reference to select organizations’, International Journal of Human Resource Studies, vol. 5, no. 2, 282-289.
Scherer, AG & Palazzo, G 2011, ‘The new political role of business in a globalized world – a review of a new perspective on CSR and its implications for the firm, governance, and democracy’, Journal of Management Studies, vol. 48, no. 4, pp. 899-931.
Uddin, MB, Hassan, R, & Tarique, K 2008, ’Three dimensional aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility’, Daffodil International University Journal of Business and Economics, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 199-212.
Walker, M, Kent, A, & Vincent, J 2010, ‘Communicating Socially Responsible initiatives: an analysis of U.S. professional teams’; Sport Marketing Quarterly, vol. 19, pp. 125-131.