Sustainability is a critical scientific domain on the global agenda at present times. Scholarly discourse around the topic revolves around three basic dimensions: Social, economic, and environmental aspects. Within this framework, the notion of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has specifically achieved rapid popularity within private corporate organizations, NGOs and public institutions since corporates represent a powerful force in today’s global society. For most emerging economies in the Middle East and North Africa region, CSR is mostly referred to as philanthropic donations to charity organizations. Over the past 5 years, the understanding of the CSR concept and attention to its significance seriously evolved. CSR policies in structured institutions have extended their role to aim at positively impacting society by offering community-based services using a managerial approach, positively impacting both social and environmental performances and gains to society at large, as well as the different sectors’ growth. The creation of a total sustainable society, however, is based on a heavy extension of the notion of social responsibility equally to all stakeholders, including individuals themselves.
Out of a firm belief in the role of civil society and multi-stakeholder engagement in the creation of sustainable societies in the MENA region, the Business and Society Research Cluster (BSRC) at the German University in Cairo, Al-Khazindar Business Research and Case Center at the American University in Cairo, and Misr El-Kheir Foundation, Egypt (MEK) have hosted the region’s first case studies conference entitled Toward a Sustainable Society in the MENA Region: Roadmap and Priorities, which took place at the Dusit Thani hotel, New Cairo City, on March 1st and 2nd 2012. The conference sponsors included the Arab African International Bank (AAIB), Vodafone, Savola Group, the International Association for Business and Society (IABS), among others.
The event was very successful and the attendees included representatives of NGOs, academia, civil society organizations, private sector, public institutions such as the National Research Center, as well as other significant stakeholders. International keynote speakers were also invited to showcase potential knowledge transfers about the topic to the MENA region. These included Prof. John Mahon, the John M. Murphy Chair of International Business Policy and Strategy and Professor of Management at the Maine Business School, University of Maine, US, and co-founder of the International Association for Business and Society (IABS); Prof. Frank-Martin Belz, Vice Dean of the Technical University in Munich (TUM) and author of “Sustainability Marketing” book; Dr. Sevgi Kalkan, representative of the Partnership for Education and Research toward Responsible Living (PERL) International Network, among others.