UNIVERSITY OF GHANA BUSINESS SCHOOL

PROJECT WORK

PROPOSAL

TOPIC: IMPLENTING PROFITABLE CSR:

A STUDY OF GHANA NATIONAL GAS

NAME VALERIE YEBUAH

INDEX NUMBER 10363299

EMAIL vinsylaw@gmail.com

TELEPHONE: 0260776801

CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction
1.2 Problem Statement and research question
1.3 Research objectives
1.4 Research question/proposition
1.5 Scope and limitations
1.6 Proposed Methodology
1.7 Organization of Study
1.1 INTRODUCTION

Since the discovery of commercial quantities of oil in Ghana around 2007, it has been widely

considered a national issue as it was expected that the corresponding new wealth would

significantly strengthen Ghana’s economic engine for growth. According to the index mundi

Ghana’s natural gas reserves stands at 22.65 billion cu m (1 January 2011 est.). The oil and Gas

industry is currently one of the economic sectors creating wealth for the nation.

One result of the emergence of the oil and gas sector is the increasing potential for dramatic

cultural, social, environmental, and economic upheaval, but also the potential for economic

growth and prosperity with great potential to boost the economy through the creation of jobs,

infrastructures, impulses to local suppliers and the consequent income generated in the area,

among many other benefit. But as the oil and gas companies expand their operations especially

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in the western Region of Ghana, they will be confronted with a series of unique challenges, and

their activities will pose certain risks for new host communities; ranging from overdevelopment,

overexploitation of resources, environmental damage etc.

The oil and gas companies have an obligation for the places where they operate and for the local

communities; a responsibility that extends beyond the economic and legal obligations and that is

based on creating benefits for the local communities and the organization. This responsibility of

the organization with all the stakeholders can be summarized in the concept of Corporate Social

Responsibility (CSR). CSR implementation becomes increasingly important in the oil and gas

industry, as it helps to stem the negative effects that the industry can have on the areas where it

operate and in its local communities while helping in the development. In an era of globalization,

multinational corporations and local businesses are no longer able to conduct destructive and

unethical practices, such as polluting the environment, without attracting negative feedback from

the general public. CSR has achieved business prominence due to the activities of pressure

groups and also the emergence of the “market for virtues” such as Socially Responsible

Investment (Brammer & Millington, 2003; Vogel, 1978) that create further pressures to adopt

CSR initiatives (The Economist, 2005; Vogel, 2005). Organizations today are forced to show

that their business stands for something more than just profits, and that their activities add some

value or at least does not negatively impact the communities around them (Ledwidge, 2007).

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has defined CSR as ―the

commitment of business to contribute to sustainable economic development, working with

employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve their quality of

life.

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But while corporations must implement CSR activities in order to maintain a good reputation,

they are also expected to maximize profits for stakeholders such as shareholders, employees, and

customers.

Ghana Gas is the leading actor in the gas industry in terms of size, revenue and market share

since it is the only company set up mainly to oversee the marketing and distribution of Ghana’s

gas; a role that comes with responsibilities. The company is expected to be committed to acting

as a best example in terms of their interaction with the communities they operate in and their

stakeholders. This research may serve as a guide for Ghana Gas or any company for that matter

in the profitable implementation of their CSR initiatives; in other words a new way to implement

their CSR in a way that will be profitable and communicate a better image of itself to the

communities and to all stakeholder.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT AND RESEARCH GAP

CSR in businesses in Ghana today is gaining a lot of publicity. Many more companies everyday

are beginning to implement CSR or are being forced to implement CSR. Even though many

companies today are managing impressive CSR-engagements, corporate responsibility remains

isolated from core business and disconnected from the value statement. In most cases, there is a

lack of appropriate management of CSR leading to companies spending time and resources on

irrelevant CSR that does not generate value to either the society or the company.

Ghana Gas as a company set up for the overseeing of Ghana’s gas will need good strategies in

place in order to leverage on the potential benefits that CSR can give to the company and thereby

taking full advantage of opportunities that such an engagement can create.

TABLE 1
Exiting frameworks for CSR implementation

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 CSR conception CSR integration process
Khoo & Tan Business commitment to CSR should Based on the Australian
(2002) “envelop all employees (i.e. their health Business Excellence
and well-being), the quality of products, Framework, the authors
the continuous improvement of consider 4 cyclic stages
processes, and the company’s facilities involved in transforming the
and profit-making opportunities”(p. 196). company from its initial state
Sustainable manufacturing and to a socially responsible and
development is further defined as “the sustainable organization in a
integration of processes, decision making continuous perspective:
and the environmental concerns of an 1. Preparation (involving
active industrial system that seeks to leadership and strategy
achieve economic growth, without planning)
destroying precious resources or the
environment” (p. 197) 2.22. Transformation (involving
people and information
management
3. Implementation (involving
the embedment of
sustainability in the company
processes)
4. Sustainable business results
(involving the review of the
system’s performance)

Werre Corporate (social) responsibility is used in 4 main phases in a Corporate

(2003) a general sense, referring to “the strategic Responsibility (CR)
choice to take responsibility for the impact implementation model:
of business with respect to economic, 1. Raising top-management
environmental and social dimensions” (p. awareness
260). 2. Formulating a CR vision and
core corporate values
3. Changing organizational
behaviour
4. Anchoring the change

Panapanaan CSR “encompasses three dimensions – 2 preliminary steps conditioning

et al. (2003) economic, environmental and social”
(Panapaanan et al., 2003: 134). CSR is
about “doing business sustainably and
ethically as well as treating or addressing
stakeholders’ concerns responsibly” (p.
135).
the commitment to CSR
management precede 5 essential
activities for CSR management:
a. Assessment of CSR
(identification of the main CSR
areas and identifications of the
relevant CSR parameters)
b. Decision whether to proceed
in managing CSR
1. Organization and structure

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 2. Planning
3. Implementation
4. Monitoring and evaluation
5. Communication and reporting

Maignan, et Businesses commitment to CSR is viewed 8 steps to be adopted to properly

al. (2005) as, “at a minimum, adopt values and norms implement CSR from a
along with organizational processes to marketing perspective:
minimize their negative impacts and 1. Discovering organizational
maximize their positive impacts on values and norms.
important stakeholder issues” (p. 958) 2. Identifying stakeholders and
- CSR of an organization is issue-specific. their respective salience.
- Commitment to CSR is best evaluated at 3. Identifying the main issues of
the level of an individual business unit. concern to the identified key
stakeholders.
4. Assessing a meaning of CSR
that fits the organization of
interest.
5. Auditing current practices.
6. Prioritizing and Implementing
CSR changes and initiatives.
7. Promoting CSR by creating
awareness and getting
stakeholders involved.
8.Gainingstakeholders feedback.

Cramer Cramer uses the WBCSD definition of 6 main non-sequential activities

(2005) CSR. CSR is then viewed as “the
commitment of business to contribute to
sustainable economic development,
working with employees, their families, the
local community and society at large to
improve their quality of life” (p. 583)
for CSR implementation:
1. Listing the expectations and
demands of the stakeholders
2. Formulating a vision and a
mission with regard to corporate
social responsibility and, if
desired, a code of conduct
3. Developing short- and longer-
term strategies with regard to
corporate social responsibility
and, using these, to draft a plan
of action
4. Setting up a monitoring and
reporting system

5. Embedding the process by rooting

it in quality and management
systems
6. Communicating internally
and externally about the

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 approach and the results
obtained.

Studies carried out has shown the implementation of CSR from different perspective (refer to

table 1) but no comprehensive guidelines as to how to implement CSR using the CSR 2.0

compass has been put forth. Hence, a gap in research of how to implement profitable CSR using

the CSR 2.0 business compass as a guidance tool in Ghana was identified. And even though

there are case studies of companies which have used this tool successfully it is yet to be used in a

Ghanaian context. Tolhurst and Pohl in their book Responsible business; how to manage a CSR

strategy successfully proposed an advanced management tool where they looked at the

relationship between CSR and management, and its potential role in successful business.

The researchers examine why businesses very often do not have a clear definition of what they

are searching for when trying to implement CSR.

With Ghana Gas in the process of implementing major CSR projects this research may serve as a

guideline to Ghana Gas in doing so profitably

1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The above research question proposes a number of objectives that will be addressed to

systematically move closer to a conclusion.

• According to Tolhurst and Pohl, to what degree is Ghana Gas involved in CSR 1.0

• Ascertaining the external perspective of CSR 2.0 business compass; location and

interaction, stakeholder relationship, and causes covered with regards to Ghana Gas’s

readiness of implementing profitable CSR.

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 • Ascertaining the internal perspective of CSR 2.0 business compass; business effect,

mindset and drivers, internal implementation with regards to Ghana Gas’s readiness of

implementing profitable CSR.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION/ PROPOSITION

Consequently, the following research question was formulated:

How ready is Ghana Gas to implement CSR profitably?

This long essay aims to address the above problem of how Ghana Gas can prepare itself and

implement CSR profitably in Ghana and probably look at the challenges that will come with this

implementation. ‘Profitable CSR’ meaning carrying out CSR initiatives while creating value for

the company.

There are a number of existing frameworks which seek to guide management in the

implementation of CSR and their contributions undoubtedly valuable but they have had their

limitations.

From the existing pool of literature on CSR, Tolhurst and Pohl’s management tool the CSR 2.0

business compass deemed appropriate to assist in ascertaining the readiness of Ghana Gas to

implement profitable CSR.

With the usual implementation, corporations look at disciplines such as business sustainability,

environmental management, business philanthropy, corporate citizenship, business ethics and

many others. Which in their right capacity will form a basis for CSR implementation in a

corporation but the argument in this long essay is that these are not enough to steer a company

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into the profitable implementation of CSR.CSR 2.0 business compass looks at the conduction all

forms of CSR with value creation at its heart.

1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

In order to make a more in-depth and accurate investigation in this long essay, the limitations

have been included.

Firstly, this long essay aims to investigate the readiness of implementing a profitable of CSR in

the case of Ghana Gas, hence, the empirical facts and data analyzed stem from one single case.

This implies some limitations in terms of contextual varieties such as industry conditions,

company resources, customers, culture and relevant aspects of CSR. Furthermore, the aim of this

long essay is not to review and evaluate how Ghana Gas presently implements and communicate

their CSR activities.

The tool to be used in ascertaining the readiness of Ghana Gas implementation of CSR will be

the CSR 2.0 business compass; based on the sole discretion of the researcher as an appropriate

tool. This tool might have its limitations in comparison to other tools that can also be used for

this purpose.

Ghana Gas has been in operation for only a few months and is still in the process of

implementing their full CSR operations hence there will be little secondary data to draw from.

The researcher will only examine this corporation from a management business perspective and

not a customer perspective since they do not have the knowledge about the implementation and

monitoring process that the persons within the company might have.

1.6 PROPOSED METHODOLOGY

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The study intends to investigate the implementation of profitable CSR in Ghana. Thus, this study

will determine the readiness of Ghana Gas to implement profitable CSR. For collecting primary

data, interviews will be conducted with the person in charge of handling CSR issues in Ghana

Gas. Interviews are often used when looking for deeper and more detailed information. The

advantage of doing an interview is that it provides information that is deep as well as it brings a

high answer frequency and flexibility in question priorities (Denscombe, 2000). The interview

questions will first be sent to the person in charge of CSR issues in Ghana Gas to ensure that

valuable information is given. A CSR 2.0 questionnaire will also be administered to the relevant

individuals to aid in the collection of primary data. At the same time, books and articles will be

used in collecting secondary date. The purpose of the literature studies is to gather information

regarding our stated problem area.

Various search tools will be used to find relevant literature related to our subject. The researcher

intends to use databases such emerald insights to search to search for specific journals and books

There are two scientific approaches that can be employed in a research work. With the goal of

this research being to explain and understand a phenomenon, the qualitative research with a

descriptive approach will be employed. “Qualitative research involves an interpretative,

naturalistic approach to the world. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their

natural settings, attempting to make sense of or to interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings

people bring to them” (Denzin & Lincoln, 2003 cited in Flick, 2006). This descriptive type of

research utilizes observations in the study. To illustrate the descriptive type of research,

Creswell (1994) guided the researcher when he stated: Descriptive method of research is to

gather information about the present existing condition. Deductive methods involve therefore the

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principle that from existing theories one can draw general conclusions about defined phenomena

(Patel & Davidsson, 1994). In this long, the theories will be chosen in advance which will be

applied on one company under study. Therefore a deductive method has will be used.

1.7 ORGANISATION OF STUDY

Chapter 1: Introduction

The first chapter describes CSR as the subject under investigation, setting the background of the

concept. Once the approach taken in the research is identified, the overall aim and objectives are

outlined, proposing the research question, research objectives, and the research methodology.

Chapter 2: Literature review on CSR

This chapter is intended to build a theoretical framework of the concept of CSR from a critical

point of view. Therefore, the most relevant theories and authors regarding CSR are presented,

together with a discussion on the difference between CSR and related terms and an analysis of

the current situation of CSR.

Chapter 3: Literature review on CSR in the Oil and Gas Industry

After the literature review on CSR, the focus will be on the state of CSR in the oil and Gas

industry, paying particular attention to Ghana Gas and relating the existing work in the field of

CSR in the Oil and Gas Industry to Ghana Gas.

Chapter 4: Research Methodology

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In this chapter, the chosen methodology to achieve the aim of the research is justified, explaining

how the primary and secondary information will be gathered and from whom the sample is

composed. The difficulties encountered during the collection of information and possible

alternative research methods will be discussed, showing the strengths and limitations of the

methodology.

Chapter 5: Results of the research

This chapter will present the main findings relevant to the study, with the aim of providing clear

answers to the research question and objectives. The relation between the literature and the

findings of the research will be evaluated through a critical approach, discussing whether the

results are along the same lines as the theory or if they contradict some statements.

Chapter 6: Conclusion and recommendations

In this section, the main findings of the research and the concluding remarks will be drawn

together. Recommendations and further research in CSR will also be discussed.

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• http://www.wbcsd.org (assessed 16th October 2012)

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