Etisalat Group is a telecoms corporation from the United Arab Emirates, headquartered in Abu Dhabi.
With revenues amounting to AED 51.7 billion (US$14 billion), it operates in seventeen countries across the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
As part of its sustainability and social responsibility strategy, Etisalat has developed a company policy of developing relationships with multiple local stakeholders in the various countries where it operates,
referred to as ‘stakeholder engagement’. As part of its engagement, the group considers itself to be the ‘national champion for the UAE and … a quasi-government’. As such, it pursues a series of philanthropic activities worldwide, in conjunction with the UAE’s Ministry of International Co-operation.
It intervenes in the domain of education, health,
charities and civic infrastructure works. The table gives a sample of these activities, performed directly or in partnership with Dubai Cares, a philanthropic organization created by the Emirati government to improve children’s access to quality primary education in developing countries.

Questions:
1 What benefits does a global corporation such as Etisalat draw from its philanthropic activities?
2 In financing these philanthropic activities, and in choosing which ones to support, does a global corporation run the risk of being seen as a substitute for the local government? If so, what are potential drawbacks to this?

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EDUCATION Sri Lanka Nigeria Ivory Coast Afghanistan Niger Donation of laptop computers to schools Financing of fully equipped libraries Financing of schools infrastructure Financing of teacher training programme (in association with the British Council) Scholarships School renovation Financing of computer labs in schools Educational assistance for adults School improvement programmes