Reuter reports that Ayman al-Zawahiri (‘Number Two’) of Al-Qaeda has called on Muslims to donate to the Pakistani earthquake disaster. One has to wonder if Al-Qaeda itself is making any donations. Otherwise it’s another Enron: it makes noises about social responsibility, but it doesn’t do any in its own operations.
   As an organization, Al-Qaeda’s vision is terrorism, and they will have to do a branding exercise to see whether calling for humanitarian aid is part of the scope of services that it wishes to offer. Or whether its individual satellite companies and contractors—cells—see things the same way.
   Sure, I am being a little facetious, especially after a speech I made last year about the terrorists’ virtual organizational structure, but my point (and that of the authors of this book) is that saying you give a darn about social responsibility is insufficient. Is your organization a lip-service one, like Al-Qaeda, or one where CSR is practised in a deep sense, part of the way you live the brand? posted by Jack Yan, 3:28 PM  permalink