Regional and global news shows us the increasing importance of better business planning for better tomorrow. Every sector makes researches for their future planning and tries to draw the most sustainable future through socially responsible business. Business community in the Middle East also shows their high interest on the CSR issues and we see increasing numbers of news and updates at csrmiddleeast.org every day.

Integrity management, green management, social contributions and partner collaborations are the main titles of corporate social responsibility initiatives in the region. Each stakeholder party expects to see a long term plan from companies.

As we plan our business for a long term purpose, social responsibility plans also require a long term perspective. Most of the regional companies announce their CSR strategy for the coming year only. This way of short term planning does not help reaching to the planned results and does not bring expected benefit to any of the stakeholders. Vision and mission of the regional companies should be aligned with the CSR strategy.

There are successful business samples from the region, announcing long term social responsibility plan and reporting results accordingly. Some of them are listed as follows; du and ADAC from UAE, Aramex from Jordan, Alfa from Lebanon, Vodafone from Qatar and Abdul Latif Jameel from KSA. Those companies make researches on the expectations of the stakeholders and create successful long term initiatives.

Long term social responsibility planning should be advised by the chambers and business committees. Companies will need to hear the directions from stakeholders and researches will be required to have the most sustainable planning. Until reaching to such planning assistance materials, companies can follow best samples and create their future CSR strategy.