KATHMANDU UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

MANAGERIAL ETHICS AND

CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP

Term Paper on
Mahila Samaj Sewa Savings and Co-operative Ltd

Submitted by:
Manish Sigdel (17131)
There were days when there was no proper banking and people had to reach to the district
headquarters which for them was far to get banking access and save their petty hard earned
cash. From the perspective of rural women, it was unimaginable to avail such services.
However, breaking the barriers, Mahila Samaj Sewa Saving and Co-operative Society Ltd.
was established in 2055 at Kohalpur, Banke under the Co-operative Act, 2048. The co-
operative was registered with only 45 shareholders as a women-only co-operative where only
women are shareholders, customers and are employed. The main aim of this co-operative is
to uplift the social and economic status of the poor, deprived and underprivileged sector of
the society.

In order to analyze the corporate citizenship of a firm, it is necessary to find out whether it
earns profit. Otherwise, it would not make any sense to examine the citizenship of the firm
that earns nothing. In the latest financial year 2074-75, the profit of the firm was about 20
lakhs with major source being interest accrued on the lending. Ergo, I will now evaluate the
position of the firm as a good corporate citizen using various five elements of responsible
CSR aspect in equivalent view of CC.

1. Sell the product as you claim

The company since its establishment is focused on providing best services to its
customers. The company is one of the pioneers in the field of co-operatives in that
locality thus the trust of the localities on the firm is very high. The company sells its
service under various schemes whose interest rates are at par, if not high, compared to the
competitors.

2. Transparency, Responsibility and Accountability (TRA)

The company is guided by the Co-operative Act under which it has to oblige all the
mandatory provisions. The company every year conducts an accounting audit by an
external auditor as well presents the annual report to the shareholders during the annual
general meeting.

3. Share material benefit to shareholders

Profit earned from the business are not only transferred to its reserve fund but are also
shared with its about 2400 shareholders. Such benefit though are not directly given to
shareholders in the form of cash or kind but are transferred to shareholder’s savings
account in the company.
4. Contribute to society

As the company’s motto is to upbring and uplift the life standard of the people in the
locality, it has been actively participating in all the possible opportunity where it can
make an impact on the life of the people. The company has made voluntary monetary
contributed towards road construction, temple construction, school construction and
furnishing. Apart from monetary contribution, the company is also involved in
conducting awareness campaign against women violence, women and child rights, blood
donation and free health checkup camps. In coordination with local municipality, the
company has also successfully campaigned plantation and cleanliness program around the
main market in the locality. They’ve recently conducted a month long skill development
training for women to make dolls like teddy bears for which raw material and marketing
is done by the company itself.

5. Set examples
With almost 20 years of experience in the field of saving and co-operative, the company
is undoubtedly a role model for other co-operatives not only within near vicinity but also
across the country. Many other co-operatives come to visit the company to learn about
the operating process from various places. In the last fiscal year, around 20 other firms
have visited the company. Due to its due diligence in following the Co-operative Act, it
has been awarded several times in its lifetime by Nepal Federation of Savings and Credit
Cooperative Unions Ltd. (NEFSCUN).

To sum up, the company with regards to the elements of responsible CSR seems to do
well. Being a local company, it takes pleasure in contributing to the society. However,
the company should not only engage in doing CSR but also should evaluate the results of
such efforts and find out whether such training and contribution made by the company
has actually made some impact on people’s life, which we call as Corporate Social
Performance (CSP).