Bangkok--30 Sep--SET
The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) supported 27 leading listed companies to establish a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Club. This club will support inter-firm CSR collaboration in line with each firm’s business practices and beliefs to solve social problems on a wide scale.
Today (September 29, 2009), SET President Patareeya Benchapolchai, SEC Senior Assistant Secretary-General Vasant Thienhom, Bangchak Petroleum PCL Senior Executive Vice President and CSR Club Chairman Wattana Opanon-amata, together with the CSR Club Vice Chairmen, celebrated the official opening of CSR Club.
“This club’s activities will mark the next step up in CSR among Thai listed companies,” said CSR Club Chairman Wattana. First, we had CSR as being philantrophy by individual firms. Then, in the second generation of CSR, the companies acted independent of each other, but included CSR as one of their business policies. Now, in the third generation, firms are collaborating and synergizing their efforts in order to tackle problems on a national scale.
“SET helped form the CSR Club so that it could use inter-firm and inter-industry networking to create synergy in disseminating and implementing CSR concepts. Since CSR will benefit the participating companies as well as society as a whole, the club’s activities will foster Thailand’s economic and social development,” said Ms. Patareeya.
“Today’s business competitiveness is intense, especially at the international level. Business cannot emphasize only on their financial performances, but must be good corporate citizens as well. The CSR Club will foster the exchanging of experience and collaboration to achieve goals beyond the reach of any individual firm or even industry,” said Mr. Vasant.
“For the past four or five years, listed firms’ CSR activities have gradually improved. The CSR Club survey of August 2009 shows that in general, listed firms’ CSR activity has developed to the second level, with 81% of listed companies having specific CSR policies. Meanwhile, 90% of listed firms placed importance on social problems, emphasizing three issues: education, community and environment,” continued Mr. Vasant.
The survey also showed that the CSR obstacles in most firms are: 1) Lack of budget, 2) Lack of experience, and 3) Not having a department directly responsible for CSR. The club will directly address these obstacles by enabling a large project to be split among several collaborating firms, by each learning from the experiences of others, and by being focused solely on CSR.
For more information
Please contact, Thai Listed Companies Association: Chanyanut Tantichanakul at 0 2229 2526
or the Corporate Communications Dept.: Ladawan Kantawong Tel: 0-2229-2036 / Kanokwan Khemmalai Tel: 0-2229-2048 / Panitee Chatpolarak Tel: 0-2229-2792