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Published on March 6, 2008

Many companies admit that they simply brush up their existing social programmes and give them a new name under the new umbrella of CSR.

Well, what's wrong with that? Some sections of society still benefit from the programmes.

Peerapong Klinlaor, head of the newly established CSR department at Total Access Communication, or DTAC, said the department is a response to the popularity of the concept of organisations that take responsibility for the impact of their activities.

"In the past we called them social contribution or environmental projects, now they are called CSR," he said.

DTAC's CSR programmes include its decade-long project to sponsor youth through the Sam Nuek Rak Ban Kerd Foundation established by DTAC. The project is considered the most sustainable and practical social programme that the company supports. Before the arrival of the CSR concept, the project was under DTAC's Corporate Communication Department, Peerapong said.

A collaboration with Ruam Duay Chuay Kan, one of the country's leading privately owned radio stations, has also become a CSR project. DTAC and the station share common goals of creating a caring society through Hotline 1677, a communication centre to help ease people's problems. 

"Let's be Good" is a new CSR campaign in which the company tries to encourage people to do good deeds every day in three ways: through technology, through knowledge and through caring and sharing from the heart. Called "doing a good deed through technology", DTAC encourages its customers to call and share the good deeds they have done.

"This is clearly not for a profit as the call is free of charge," Peerapong said.

Besides projects that show the company's responsibility to society, DTAC also has projects benefiting its employees. The company has recently launched a project to train employees to drive with respect for traffic rules and care for those who share the roads. The project is in collaboration with Toyota.

Though his department is set up to respond to the popularity of CSR, a new fashion for businesses, Peerapong believes it will last.

"At least the activities and the concept would last," he said.

Peerapong said CSR has a wide definition that covers all social contributions from a company to the society. In the future, if a new concept with broader vision comes up, the company might rename its social contribution activities, he said.

Pennapa Hongthong

The Nation