Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a Value Creation Tool: The Case Study of the Arab African International Bank (AAIB) in Egypt

Abstract

Criticizing the traditional notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as merely maximizing profits has become a dominant theme in the literature available on CSR especially over the last decade. This traditional concept was pioneered by Milton Friedman, the Nobel Prize Winner since the 1970s. More recently, in 2010 Carroll and Shabana wrote an article referring mainly to the business case for CSR which they defined as the bottom-line financial as well as other reasons for firms to engage in CSR strategies and policies. One business case of CSR is creating win-win outcomes to business and society via synergistic value creation. In this paper, the author answers the question: how does value creation enable businesses to mediate among its different stakeholders. This is achieved through studying the case study of the Arab African International Bank (AAIB) in Egypt which used a model of value creation to create win-win outcomes to its six different groups of stakeholders. Data is gathered from available secondary resources. The findings reveal that support from top management and streamlining CSR in the strategic management of the bank enabled the success of this model especially in the beginning. On the longer term, the CSR unit ought to possess an independent personality and open more two way communication with its customers.