ABSTRACT

The topic of the research is Corporate Social Responsibility in Nigeria’s Telecommunication Sector (A case study of Globacom Nigeria Limited, Enugu). The researcher used survey design in the study.

The population of the study was one hundred and twenty; comprising of both staff and customers of Globacom .The sample size was ninety two and it was determined using the yaro Yamane formula.

The research used both the primary and secondary sources of data in the course of study.

The primary data were collected through the instrument of questionnaire, interviews and observation.

The secondary data were collected from text books, journals, magazines, newspaper and libraries.

The research finding of the project work revealed that social responsibility programmes are necessary .the findings also unveiled that Globacom Nigeria, a telecommunication firm carries out its social responsibility programme in its host community. The researcher recommended that the company should increase and expand its social responsibility programmes. Corporate social responsibility is therefore something that a company should try and get right in implementing. It is something that business today should wholeheartedly be committed to. The danger of ignoring social responsibility is too dangerous.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION:

1.1    BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

          Corporate Social Responsibility an essentially American phenomenon has over the years become a major concern in Western Europe and in other countries of the world following the western model of development.

          According to Drucker, (1986:66).The genesis of the debate on the concept of corporate social responsibility has been traced to the wave of crisis in social values that engulfed America in the post World War II period and most especially in the sixties. The Chief Executive of General Motors who observed the changing trend could not help observing:

                   “I am concerned about a society that has demonstrably lost confidence in its institutions – in the government, in the press, in the church, in the military, as well as in business”.

Business to America has had a most unique history.  Its development growth and impact on social life in America since the civil war II is almost common knowledge.  What may not be common knowledge, however, is the fact that business which has hitherto shaped and controlled the lives of millions of Americans some two hundred years ago is today being threatened by a wave of protests from various publics it uses to serve.  The crisis of confidence in the social role of business as made explicit in debates on corporate social responsibility points to the fact that America sees big business as a big powerful machine gone out of control.  And efforts to control and at least re-orientate its directions form the core of the argument of all who urge business to change with the times.  In other words, to deemphasize its so much vaunted profit maximization dogma and pay attention to the human lives and environment which it is subtly, ruthlessly and almost surely grinding out of existence.  As one of the protagonists has viewed the concept of corporate social responsibility it is a crude blend of long-run profit-making and altruism, a doctrine which fuses social values with profit maximization goals.

          In the early years of the American Republic and especially in the post civil war reconstruction era, business in America played an almost indispensable role as a powerful social tool for harnessing resources and ensuring material progress. Ducker (1986:66). But as the years rolled on and business began to concentrate and centralize capital, its role in the economy became expansive and pervasive.  At the height of prosperity, the captains of industry were heralded as heroes of the society.

          The later years of the post World War II era harbored a different story.  The boom period following the end of World War II soon gave way to a periodic wave of depressions and crisis that was to rock every foundations of society on which business existed.  The  frustrating economic situation characterized by inflation, unemployment, failing profit, declining investment, pollution of the external environment etc., pushed Americans to re-examine almost every old values and the assumptions behind them.

          According to Drucker, (1986:96) the debate on corporate social responsibility did not only take place in the United State of America.  The noise of the debate filtered through to other countries that shares similar business cultures with America most especially the Western European countries.  While the western European nations have responded positively to the debate, accepted and even implemented some of its own far reaching conclusions it is pertinent to know if the discussions and conclusion so far reached have had an impact on the countries  periphery.

          One of the objectives of this study is to investigate to what extent the current debate on corporate social responsibility and its conclusion has trickled down to the periphery of Nigeria in particular and how it is applied here by firms who have embarked on such projects in Nigeria. 

          It is believed by the researcher that although the present level of industrialization does not entitled us to discuss the issue on the same platform with the industrialized western economies; the fact that they are imitating their path to industrialization should imply that we should study their experience closely to avoid mistakes.