Introduction
Agility Logsitcs is a global logistics company. Its headquarter is situated in Kuwait. It was founded in 1979. The current Chairman and Managing Director is Tarek Abdulaziz and the president of the company is Essa Al-Saleh. The logistics company is one of the leading companies of the world. It started off its operations from Kuwait but now it has spread its wings, encompassing the entire globe. The company has a frieght forwarding business, transportation, warehouse, and supply chain management business. The main revenue gaining aspect of this business venture is the frieght forwarding. The company has more than 22,000 employees, 500 offices in more than 100 countries. It has increased in volume over the years and is continuing to do so. Over the years, the company has acquired a number of awards. They were named as the Best Logistics Strategy, Subsistence Prime Vendor Program Award in the year 2007 by the Worldwide Business Research. Its basic line of business is the logistics and frieght forwarding but it also takes pride in its real estate venture, aviation services, metal recycling company, defense, and governmental services.
Discussion
The vision of the company is to provide the world with a new type of logistics principal which can challenge and resolve the issues of the global trade. In the present day the company is trying to overcome problems of its own (Windsor, 2001). The world has become a global village, and trading company like Agility Logistics has shortened the world even to a smaller area. Agility takes on every quest by keeping their mission in mind, that is to assist trade by improvising and inventing new ways to provide solution in supply chain management. The company pays high regard to its values, integrity personal ownership, teamwork and providing continuous excellence. The core strengths of the company are a worldwide network, personal services, realistic solutions, warehousing, hunger for solving complex situations and providing the world with better logistics solutions. The most important strength is that the company feels a great commitmet to the community and thinks that the whole industry has to give the world back, by providing a sustainable environment (Christopher et al, 2011). Agility has won the Best Logistics Strategy at the Defense Logistics Award ceremony in 2007. The company keeps on working on itself, giving new benchmarks, and achieving them before the specified time. The whole team works together for achieving the newly set goals and succeeds in doing so, every time.
According to Tarek Sultan (Chairman and Managing Director), the company doesn’t only talk about going above and beyond - they do it. The chairman has made the point that the company is all about fulfilling its visions. Agility Logistics has been supporting many agencies for giving back the world, and their best achievement is supporting the Lothan Youth Achievment Center (LOYAC). The aim of this organization is the training and education provided to the youth, which will help the youngsters in obtaining job opportunities. Agility employees also mentor and train hunders of students with hands-on business strategies and skills.
It is not must for Agility to take responsibility of the society, but the company has chosen it. The organization keeps working on the environment along with their jobs, according to Mariam Al-Foudery (VP of CSR Agility). Agility uses fuels and other earthy resources and feels that it has an obligation with the Earth and the society to help it grow better and greener. According to the official Agility website, the company thinks that they travel around the world and they have to give back to the environment. The employees work on providing philanthropic and social help to the ones in need.
The statement, Corporate Social Responsibility is a waste of money for any company, is not correct. Every company, whether small or big, has to work on the environment and society for making it better. Each human being has to work for their society. The world is moving at a very fast pace, and if everyone (not only individuals but organizations also) want the future to be a better place, they need to contribute in making the society and the atmosphere a better place to live for everyone. Human being is a social animal, it cannot work alone. Humans need to provide the present and the future generations with breathable air and livable land. The company which thinks that CSR is a waste of money, is not justified to think so.
The Arab companies are promoting the CSR at a fast pace. An agency has been setup for promoting CSR in the Arab world. Alroha CSR Company was established, in order to maintain and enhance the social responsibilty among the companies of the Arab world and the international alike. The chairperson of Alroha, Kabbani, chaired the first Social Responsibility Council of Saudia Arabia and emphasized that the Arab conutries have to start working on improving their area of corporate responsibility. Kabbani discussed a wide range of mechanisms and standards to be implemented by the new company to evaluate the commitment of any business to social responsibility programs consistent with the standards set by the ISO (Arab news, 2011). The big names of the Middle East world like Abu Dhabi Aviation anf Emaar Properties (and many others) are workignt their way towards a socially responsible environment. The Arab world also has a well-established way of contrubuting to the society, through their religion. Islam teaches the Muslims to give back to the ones in need, in order to improve the situation of the entire society (Selvik, 2013).
Conclusion
After looking at the services of the company, I would like to work for them. The company not only offers quality work, but also has tremendous amount of progress among the ranks. Agility recognizes the community to be an integral part of the organization, it completes the works and handling of the company. Any corporation that induces the community and society with in itself, is a business worth working for. Agility Logistics has won 16 CSR and sustainability awards since 2008. The main attraction for an employee at Agility is the prioritization of investing in community, humanitarian logistics and green steps. The company is trying to turn the society around.
References
Agility. Company information. Etrieved from http://www.agilitylogistics.com
Arab News. (November 17, 2011) Deal to promote corporate social responsibility inked. Arab News Website. < http://www.arabnews.com/node/398296>
Christopher, Martin and Tathem Peter. (2011). Humanitarian Logistics: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing for and. New York: Kogan Page Publishers.
Ciliberti, F., Pontrandolfo, P., & Scozzi, B. (2008). Investigating corporate social responsibility in supply chains: a SME perspective. Journal of cleaner production, 16(15), 1579-1588.
Holme, R., & Watts, P. (1999). Corporate social responsibility. Geneva: World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Jamali, D. (2007). The case for strategic corporate social responsibility in developing countries. Business and Society Review, 112(1), 1-27.
Kjetil Selvik (February 25, 2013 ). CSR in the Arab World: A mission impossible? Chr. Michelsen Institute Website. < http://www.cmi.no/news/?1142=csr-in-the-arab-world-a-mission-impossible>
Windsor, D. (2001). The future of corporate social responsibility. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 9(3), 225-256.
