The changes of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Vietnam
In recent years, CSR has become integrated more deeply in companies' culture in Vietnam, with engaging and meaningful campaigns and programmes that are generating significant impacts on the environment and the lives of thousands of people in Vietnam .
What is CSR?
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a self-regulatory business model that assists a corporation in becoming socially accountable to itself, its stakeholders, and the general public. Companies that practise corporate social responsibility can be aware of the influence they have on all parts of society, including the economic, social, and environmental. CSR implies that a firm operates in ways that benefit society and the environment rather than harming them in the usual course of business.
CSR in Vietnam
Unlike in the past, more and more Vietnamese companies are joining the force to implement greater CSR activities and campaigns, ensuring a more sustainable growth in the future while strengthening the business scene in Vietnam with more positive impacts.
FPT Vietnam
Spending an average budget of 30 billion VND per year on CSR activities, in addition to disaster relief activities and helping disadvantaged people, FPT invests a large amount of financial resources on CSR activities in education, especially technology, among which are ViOlympic, an online math contest directed by the Ministry of Education and Training, and FPT Corporation and FPT University, which was organised in 2008. Up to now, ViOlympic has attracted nearly 21 million participants, spreading to more than 700 districts in 63 provinces and cities nationwide. From 2010 up to now, FPT has awarded 680 Nguyen Van Dao scholarships to candidates who participated in the FPT University entrance exam in order to find, attract and foster poor students and other young talents with scholarships of 50%, 70% to 100% of tuition fees (equivalent to 140 million VND - ~$5,900, 196 million VND - ~$8,300 and 280 million VND - ~$11,800 each).
Since 2010, FPT has chosen March 13 every year as FPT Day for the Community, in order to encourage each employee to participate in volunteering activities for the society.
FPT's sustainable development strategy is built on the harmony of three factors:
Economic development
Community Support
Environmental protection
Therefore, along with ensuring sustainable economic growth, FPT also always focuses on community support activities based on their own technological strengths, which enables them to serve the best for the stakeholders.
Vinamilk Vietnam
The largest dairy company in Vietnam said that over the years, it has been carrying out many large-scale CSR activities, including The "Rise Vietnam" Milk Fund established in 2008 has given nearly two million glasses of liquid milk to more than 21thousand disadvantaged children at 727 facilities nationwide, the program "One million trees" initiated by Vinamilk in 2012 has planted 1,121,000 trees in 56 locations in 20 provinces and cities across the country with the total value is up to 12.5 billion VND - ~$500k. In addition to the two big programs mentioned above, Vinamilk also participates in many other social and charity activities with a total budget of about 25 billion VND - ~$1.1m in 2015.
Photo: the Internet
In 2020, nearly 19,000 children in many provinces and cities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Thua Thien - Hue, even up to the highlands of Ha Giang and Yen Bai are welcomed with the joy of drinking milk.
Vinamilk is currently using raw materials from 110,000 dairy cows from nearly 8,000 households. In addition to maintaining free agricultural extension, consulting and technical services for dairy farmers to improve milk quality, in 2015 alone, 31 technical training courses were organized. In mid-2016, Vinamilk said that it was developing organic dairy products without using genetically modified foods and growth hormones.
In 2020, the company's employees also contributed 2 days of salary to work together in programs to support the community to overcome difficulties caused by Covid-19 and support the people in the Central region during natural disasters, storms and floods. After that, more than 50,000 trees were contributed by Vinamilk's employees through the campaign "Million trees grow tall for a green Vietnam" launched by the company.
Loc Troi Group
Working closely with farmers, An Giang Plant Protection Joint Stock Company (now Loc Troi Group) spends a part of its profits to redistribute it to farmers through social programs and transfers. technical and philanthropic. Among them is the Farmers' Health Care Fund, established in 2004. After 12 years of operation, the fund has provided medical examination and treatment to more than 500,000 poor farmers, and more than 7,000 eye surgeries to replace lenses. Since 2006, the company has implemented the program Together with farmers in the field. A team of nearly 1,300 people implemented a program of consulting and guiding farming techniques and using fertilizers safely and without harming the environment in 22 provinces and cities. The program Together with farmers to protect the environment implemented from 2012 up to now has organised 8,725 seminars with 367,642 attendees.
In 2021, Loc Troi Group organised many social activities, especially during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Group donated nearly 600 tons of Hac Ngoc Troi brand rice to field hospitals and blocked areas to prevent epidemics. In addition, the Group cooperated with the Fatherland Front Committees of provinces and cities, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of the Ministry of Health and many other units to transport rice to support the Central, Northern and Cambodian provinces. In addition, Loc Troi also donated tens of thousands of rapid test kits for SARS-CoV-2 antigens, Real-Time PCR LightCycler 480 II testing machine system, blood oxygen measurement equipment, and medical gloves, biological products, chemicals, etc. to local medical units. As of the third quarter of 2021, the Group had donated nearly 20 billion VND for Covid-19 prevention and control activities across the country.
Every year, Loc Troi also spends a lot of money on community activities such as giving gifts, helping policy families, poor households in many localities. Especially, over the years, Loc Troi has also organised many health check-ups and medicine distribution activities for farmers in remote and disadvantaged areas.
In the next five-year development strategy, the Group aims to reduce 1 million liters of waste chemicals in the fields each year, helping to accumulate enough carbon credits for Vietnam according to the Prime Minister's commitment "Zero CO2 by 2050" by the Government at the COP26 Conference on Climate Change in Edinburgh, UK in early November, to contribute to the protection of water resources for rural areas engaged in agricultural production through SRP production, to ensure a stable life for more than 1 million farmer households participating in association with Loc Troi through the form of profit-making association and to promote the application of research to sustainable agricultural production.
It is definitely a great trend in Vietnam where more and more businesses, not only foreign ones, are prioritising doing business with CSR, creating a strong foundation for a future of sustainable business growth along with meaningful positive impacts.
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Source: the Internet