A Case Study of Asda
Business Ethic focuses on the decisions and actions of managers in an organization settings. It therefore concerns how managements apply ethics principles to matters encountered in the daily performance of their duties to the satisfaction of societal expectations.
Unacceptable corporate failures in recent past (such as Enron, World.com, etc) meant society demands greater transparency and accountability from companies which has led to pressure from certain groups of stakeholders for companies to be responsible to a wider constituency. Also, Governments and other policy makers are awakening to the need to tight up rules and regulations in making companies consider the consequence and impact of their operations on society and the environment as well. One of such regulations is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act[1] enacted by USA congress.
‘Nevertheless, concerns about the role of business in society persisted and lead to the emergence of ‘Corporate social responsibility’ in the early 1960s’ (Mullins, 1996, p316).
‘Corporate social responsibility (CSR) means that companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interactions with stakeholders’ (Weetman, 2006, p377). That is, CSR ensures that businesses are committed to behaving ethically and contributing to the economic development of society while improving the quality of life of the work force and their families, local community and society at large.
CSR, therefore, requires directors to address strategic issues about the aims, purpose and operational method of organization. The board should look at the broad social and environmental issues affecting the company and set policy and targets, monitoring performance and improvements.
It is critical that stakeholders feel that the company is being transparent in its dealings and full disclosures of certain additional information for them to buy into the company’s side of social responsibility. CSR report is the means by which most many companies communicate this relationship to third party. The reporting has gradually moved from simply showing the amount of charitable donations in the annual report to include additional activities of key importance to the company. Some information disclosed is voluntary, where firms choose what information to bring to the public domain. Where as some information is by the provision of the law mandatory.
Business Ethics
‘Business Ethics is the application of ethics principals to issues that arise in business’. (Baron, 2006, p.695). In other words, it involves how a business applies ethical values to its business behaviour as expected by the wider community. Business Ethics goes beyond legal requirements and is to some extent therefore discretionary. It encompasses many activities including how the board draws up its strategies, how negotiations with suppliers is carried out and improving employees’ relationship.
The rise of business ethics is due to the changing nature of employment, as a result of the rapid spread of new technology, and the impact of various socio-economic and political factors on the structure, function and size of private and public sector organization. (Mullins, 1996, p.320)
The need for ethical behaviour in businesses can not be over emphasized. Individuals in an organization are expected to exhibit a certain level of moral behaviour when confronted with ethical dilemmas in the performance of their day-to-day duties. The onus then lies with management to provide and implement codes of ethics that will give guidance and support for employees to make ethical decisions when they encounter such circumstances, thereby reassuring stakeholders of their business integrity.
Role of business in society
Businesses exist because society wants them and as such renders goods and services to individuals, as well as to businesses and the society at large. In so doing, businesses re-distributes wealth among stakeholders, particularly concentrating mainly on maximizing the wealth in shareholders interest. Primary, their focus is to making profits for the owners of the business (shareholders) while providing the general public with their financial report. However, now-a-days it does not suffice for companies to provide only their financial information (even though it remains very important) stakeholders and shareholders (particularly institutional investors) alike are increasingly interested in other aspects of a company’s performance such as the company’s policy on sustainability and on environment, how the entity is run and other non-financial information. Furthermore, businesses are now being assessed ‘on their level of socially responsible approach adopted in their operations in the marketplace, workplace, community and in the field of human right’ (Elliot, B. and Elliot, J., 2007, p.814). Businesses are ensuring that the needs of stakeholders are taken care of by undertaking various activities such as prompt payment of suppliers, environment al issues, health and safety issue, better working condition, give charitable donations, etc.
Defining CSR
CSR is a domain comprising of many activities, Carroll (1979) define it as ‘a concept that encompasses the economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibility placed on an organization by society’. In a nutshell, these four indicators summarize the numerous public expectations placed on companies. By these variables the cultural context of ethics and CSR can be ascertained as follows:
Economic
The main aim of most companies is to operate in the interest of its shareholders and to
maximize the wealth of its shareholders. However, CSR requires a redefinition of the traditional business model that assumes that profit motive and shareholder interest define the core purpose of an organisation. Arrangements should be put in place to ensure that the business is conducted in a responsible manner.
Legal
Compliance with the law is seen as a fundamental component of responsible management but in recent years the alarming rate of violations of the law and incidence of wrong doing by businesses have led to stakeholder pressure and Governments to issue more robust regulations for transparency and accountability and a better responds to a wider social obligations.
Ethical
This relates to responsibilities place on businesses and the expectation of society, which is beyond both economical and legal requirements. It relates to doing what is right, just and fair. For example, ASDA has decided to stop purchasing palm oil from Indonesia and Sumatra to protect endangered species like Orag-utan and Sumatran tiger.
Philanthropic
It relates to actions taken by businesses out of desire rather than a requirement placed on them. Companies demonstrate their community involvement in the form of donation to charity, volunteering and fund raising activity and community projects to mention a few.
Baker (2009) depicts the definition of CSR by the diagram below. It shows how the business activities and policies (together with managements decisions and actions) affects society and vice versa.
Critical Analysis of CSR
Among the critics of CSR, the most notable was the American economist late Milton Friedman. Friedman (1970, cited in Baron, 2006) believes in the traditional notion that the sole objective of an organization is to make profits and maximize the wealth in the interest of shareholders, with limited responsibilities. His proponents argue that social responsibility issues should be addressed by the government as well as the society.
Proponents of CSR also believe that the interdependence of organizations, society and the environment bring with it wider responsibilities to society requiring immediate attention of those organizations.
However, the subject is gaining attention has it is seen to offer immense business benefits such as improving profitability in the long run by reducing business risks and inefficiencies. ‘In practice, it is a matter of degree and balance, of combining sound economic management with an appropriate concern for broader responsibility to society’. (Mullin, 1996, p.311)
In short, many companies have come to the realization that CSR is the way forward and are now embracing CSR principles in their business approach.
Introduction
This report looks primarily at the ethical behaviour and CSR as practiced by ASDA and the consequences it has on its key stakeholders. ‘ASDA was bought in 1999 by US retail giant Wal-Mart, and it is now the second biggest supermarket chain in the UK. ASDA employs about 165,000 workers’ (Lynch, 2009), and source its products from over five hundred UK companies and a number of suppliers from abroad.
Primarily, through various business activities ASDA bridge the gap between producers and consumers. As a company, ASDA says the policies on how business is conducted are based on honesty and openness and these principles permeate throughout their business operations and impact on everything from health of customers and staff to the local communities. With the introduction of the ASDA smart price, ASDA takes pride in their pricing leadership by keeping price of commodities as low as possible.
ASDA’s CSR policies.
ASDA takes the issue of CSR very seriously as they believe in sustainability, making the world a safe place and producing affordable products for customers. So it has entitled its CSR policies as ‘Doing The Right Thing’ and is summarized in three word; People, Prices and Planet. These ASDA explained as follows:
People; ASDA’S operations seeks to address matters of concerns to its numerous consumers.
Prices; through lower prices ASDA aims at providing affordable healthier products to consumers.
Planet; Using various sustainable approaches ASDA is drastically reducing the impact of its activities on the environment.
ASDA’s business approach in achieving these and other important aims and objective includes the following.
>Ethical Trade: ASDA is a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and in support of the Fair trade Foundation. ASDA ensures better deal and acceptable working condition for farmers and workers (particularly those of the developing countries).
>Food Safety: ASDA ensures that more products are certified sustainable and all of the 1200 suppliers are thoroughly audited. Since 2007 ASDA has doubled its range of organic products and does not use any Genetically Modified (GM) ingredients or derivatives in its products.
>ASDA and Staff relationship: ASDA ensures good working relationship with workers. ASDA is very proud of its high staff retention record and each year ASDA hosts a special Big Anniversary event to celebrate long service.
>Recycling and Waste: In support of Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) ASDA aims at reducing waste to zero by the end of 2010. So far, 65% of its store waste has been diverted from landfill and the remaining 35% is being dealt with in various ways.
>Community Involvement: The ASDA Foundation is use to assist people in need, local charities and community projects, ASDA also supports Tickle Pink campaign, children in need and a host of others.
>Home shopping service: For the past ten years, ASDA has been undertaking home services to its numerous customers across UK.
>Best of British: ASDA currently transact business with over five hundred UK businesses and majority of their products are sourced in the UK and as such provide customers with the best British can offer.
>Health: ASDA is helping consumers gain a balanced and healthy lifestyle by ensuring high quality and standard of food products and clearly labeling all products for customers’ informed choice making.
With these and many more other activities ASDA believe it is meeting its social responsibilities to the numerous stakeholders the best possible way it could. However, it is paramount for ASDA seen as making conscientious effort in addressing the entire public expectations; not just embracing CSR as a smoke screen in enhancing its public image and/or avoiding the law.
Need for Accounting System:
The need for social accounting, auditing and reporting has led to formulation of a number of reporting standards, including the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability reporting; Green Globe Certification/Standard and ISO14000 Environmental Management Standard.
All of these guidelines available are voluntary; companies are able to choose which guidelines to follow and therefore streamline them to their need in portraying a good image of themselves. It is equally interesting to note that the CSR reporting itself is by and large a voluntary exercise hence businesses decide the form of reporting activities it should take.
Undoubtedly, this CSR reporting serves to show how ASDA employs its CSR polices in addressing issues of public concern and in a way a good opportunity to reach out to all stakeholders. By producing CSR reports ASDA interacts with its numerous stakeholders and at the same time enables the assessment of the company’s responds to social and environmental concerns. It also serves as a basis for measuring ASDA’s social performance and allows comparison with its competitors.
This project report adopts the Impact on Society Benchmarking Scheme to assess the level of ASDA’s social responsibility. The scheme allows for comparing ASDA’s CSR practices to a set of indicators such as ‘the environment, workplace, community, market place and human rights’ (Elliot, B. and Elliot, J., 2007, p. 816).
This report looks at assessing ASDA’s CSR policies mostly along the line of the Impact on Society Benchmarking Scheme. By gauging ASDA’s CSR practices with the set of indicators of the scheme it will allow a thorough analysis of ASDA’s CSR policies in achieving the objective of this project report. Effectively, this approach assesses the standard of ASDA’s CSR practices as has not been done before.
Description of method used to gather information.
The data collecting method adopted to analyze this report is largely secondary data, mainly using press release to evaluate ASDA’s CSR policies. Due to the limited time frame, it is not been possible to undertake a primary data collection for the project report.
Most of the information needed has been taken mainly from ASDA’s website (http://asda.jobs/whyjoin/corporate_social_responsibility.html) and the news and newspapers carrying relevant information on the company’s activities required for the analysis were partly downloaded from the BBC News website and partly from other relevant press coverage websites deemed to give objective and independent view of ASDA’s activities. In the process, a lot of materials on ASDA were encountered, sieved through and those information which is more relevant to the topic area was use and the ones deemed not to be relevant were discarded.
ASDA considers the issue of social responsibility more seriously as can be evidenced from the detailed report on the subject but as to the motive behind adopting CSR, as one of the core business strategic tools is rather unclear. The aim of this report is to examine critically ASDA’s CSR programme in action. Lately, the behaviour of supermarkets in the UK has been under the spot light for one reason or the other being it on price fixing, treatment of workers, health and safety issues, aggressive expansion, treatment of farmers and suppliers and so on and so forth. This not withstanding, ‘ASDA is one of the main players in the grocery industry of the economy and has been accepted by the shoppers in the UK’ (Lynch, 2009).
However, ASDA says its policies on business operations are based on honesty and openness and as such has influenced everything from health of customers and staff to the local communities. The discussion below seeks to explore how far the key operating factors, honesty and openness, are true in respect of the impact analysis of business ethics and CSR practices of ASDA.
Impact Analysis.
In this I will be analyzing ASDA’s business ethics and CSR policies on key stakeholders by focusing on the environment, the workplace, the community, the market place and human rights.
Environment
ASDA recognizes the impact of its activities on the environment so a number of sustainable measures are being employed to addressing the problem, some of which are discussed below.
>Recycling and Waste
ASDA pledges to recycle 65% of store waste and send no waste to landfill by 2010, the remaining 35% waste are being tackled as follows.
>Biodegradable materials:
ASDA plans using them to generate energy by means of a process called anaerobic digestion, or at combine heat and power plants.This is not good enough ASDA needs to act on this now, as one of ASDA’s main competitor; the Co-operative Group says it has improved the degradability and biodegradability of its waste ASDA is now planning to do so. (Greenlife, 2009, p.7)
>Food waste:
In support of the Government’s ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ campaign ASDA is helping reduce food waste and reducing packaging of products. Their clear on-pack labeling assist customers immensely in knowing what can be recycled.
Also, ASDA is calling for an end to the recycling government’s postcode lottery policy. Despite 92% of our packaging being recyclable, very few local authorities are able to collect it all, which means thousands of tonnes of packaging needlessly ends up in landfill, when it could’ve easily been recycled. Councillor Margaret Eaton, chairman of the Local Government Association (LGA) is suggesting that “if retailers create unnecessary rubbish, they should help taxpayers by paying for it to be recycled”. (BBC News, 2009)
I will recommend that ASDA creates collection points for recyclable waste materials at all stores for customers’ usage.
Re-usable carrier bags:
ASDA has stopped supplying customers with the single use carrier bags instead ASDA is encouraging the use of re-usable bags. Already ASDA has recycled 133 tonnes of plastic bags in meeting the Courtauld’s voluntary commitment to reduce the environmental impact of plastic bags by 25% by the end of 2008.
Greening the company:
To show its commitments to reducing it carbon footprint, ASDA ‘have reduced its carbon emission by 120,000 tonnes against a 2001baseline (40,000 more than what was agreed under the European Emission Trading Scheme)’. (ASDA, 2009)
The “Green Grocers?” report based on a survey carried out in April 2008, it is said that supermarkets have gone “greener”, but still need to help customers reduce their environmental impact. ASDA has been awarded a grade C for their effort, and their “smart Price” value fish fingers were named the consumer group green product of the year because they are made from sustainably-sourced Pollock. (BBC News, 2007)
What’s more, in as much as possible ASDA conveys its products by rail, drastically reducing its CO2 emission than would have if it uses delivery vehicles. In addition, ASDA has saved a further £2m by using the empty returning delivery trucks to convey wastes from its stores to ASDA Service Centres (ASCs).
In April 2008 ASDA rolled out its environmentally friendly transport for its home delivery services, a 100% emission free refrigerated electric van.
A zero operational waste store was opened by ASDA in October last year at Bootle, Liverpool. The store uses 40% less energy, releases 50% less carbon and produces totally zero waste.
On top of this, plan is under way to build a 125million wind turbine (a renewable energy) at ASDA distribution in Falkirk, Scotland. Members of the community are being invited to air out their views through direct questioning or filling of survey form.Last year ASDA made a savings of more than £600,000 due to huge energy savings through lighting and heat ventilation.
ASDA seems to have a step in the right direction, having said that much more needs to be done in the area of product packaging passed to consumers, food waste and recycling. And needs to take water efficiency just as seriously as recycling and waste as there is a lot of savings to make there.
ASDA highlights its commitment to creating conducive atmosphere for all by listening to customers and staff and responds to concerns of its suppliers.
Through the use of its ethical trading managers ASDA communicates and coordinates the ETI’s policy by mainly addressing the supply base in line with the code. This ensures better deal, fair pay and acceptable working condition for farmers and workers (both local and abroad).
Occasionally, however some of ASDA’s trading activities are questionable, such as the supermarkets price fixing allegation and the sweatshop scandal. For instance, ‘ASDA demanded overseas suppliers excluded from a new code of conduct which is designed to ensure they get fair trading terms’ (Finch, 2008). Even though ASDA has since back down, this shows that contrary to ASDA’s ethical trading claims it is not really doing enough to help such suppliers.
Also, Weever (2007) wrote in the guardian about ethical fear over ASDA’s 10 pounds school uniform, he said also "ethically sourced" cheap roses offered by Asda for Valentine's Day this year were found to have been picked and packed by Kenyan workers, including children, earning £30 a month.
Because health issue is important to ASDA, it is offering a whole range of health services from the pharmacies in 170 stores across the UK free of charge. Also, ASDA assists and gives feedback information on health issues to the local primary care trust.ASDA ensures that more of their stocks are certified sustainable and all of its 1200 are frequently audited to ensure high quality and safety of foods. ASDA have spent millions to remove artificial ingredients and tonnes of salts from food products. In addition, ASDA promotes sensible drinking and have invested £1 million in targeted youth projects to tackle alcohol-related problems amongst young people.However, there is a growing concern about the falling prices of alcoholic beverages which is fuelling its abuse, but opinion is divided on how to tackle the falling price of alcohol.
ASDA employs about 165,000 work forces whom they refer to as colleagues for their hard working and devotion to the job. More than 5,000 ASDA workers have been recognized for their ‘silver’ service - helping the company achieve the highest retention rate in the retail industry.
‘ASDA’s staff have already benefited after the supermarket said it plans to pay out 22million pounds in bonuses for those who have been with the firm longer than six months’ Lynch (2009).
According to Wachman (2006) ‘over the past few years a lot senior managers have left ASDA due to problems at the top, resulting in low morale and to an extent lowering performance’.
From time to time, ASDA staffs raise concerns over staff pay, pressure to work despite sickness, and worsening working terms and condition.
In February 2006, the employment tribunal in Newcastle penalized ASDA to a tune of 850,000 pounds for offering wage increases to workers if they give up collective bargaining rights’ (BBC News, 2006).
It is imperative to note, however, that
ASDA has been awarded the ‘Innovative Employer of the Year” award at this year’s Oracle Retail Week Award, beating the likes of Sainsbury’s, Gap, etc. As well as highlighting ASDA's low turnover and high retention rates, the award winning entry impressed judges with its “highly successful colleague based initiatives”, including its commitment to colleague health and its reward and recognition schemes – these include suggestion programmes and regular listening groups. (The Guardian, 2006)
Court cases
Over the years ASDA has had its fair share of court cases, from health and safety issue to breaches of regulation. For example,
The supermarket giant ASDA was fined 1000 pounds and a cost of 6000 pounds for breaching 13 counts of EU regulation on labeling of fruits and vegetables, by the court. The company was accused of failing to indicate the country of origin for oranges and lemon and failing to identify the variety of cooking apples. It had also been accused of selling damaged lettuces and unclean aubergines at its branch in Fareham, Hampshire. (BBC News, 2004).
ASDA’s Community
ASDA staffs have raised over 40 million pounds over the years through fundraising events and activities such as the Children in need; Tickled Pink campaign; Tommy – the charity for premature; etc.Local charities are allowed collection points in–store. In 2007 ASDA staffs volunteered 75,000 hours of their time to work with individuals and groups such as local schools, local hospitals and hospices, and so on. ASDA also sponsors the National Kwik Cricket Competition an event involving 130000 children aged between 5 and 11 years from 40 counties within the UK.As to whether ASDA is doing more to help the communities than its competitors is left to be seen.
Due to its lower price ASDA says it has “struck a chord” with shoppers and last year it gained an extra 800,000 customers on top of existing 17million.It is worth noting that this help ASDA gain a 7.2 percent growth in sales which is second to Morrison (Lynch, 2009) whereas it was expected that Tesco will report only2.5 percent rise in like-for-like sales. (Rooth, 2009)
By cutting out unnecessary waste and the ‘Every Day Low Cost’ approach to its business, ASDA is able to save millions of pounds which are put back into lowering prices to enable customers save money. ‘The supermarket that Watchdog voters say is best for value is ASDA; it got 8,806 out of 36,000 votes’ (Watchdog, 2009).
This policy of cutting down prices is not without its problems, as can be seen from below.
ASDA’s policy of lowering prices in order to maintain their competitive edge over its rivals only served to a pricing war among supermarket. ‘The full force of such price battle is borne by both customers and suppliers and their workers in UK and abroad’ (Watchdog, 2009).
Finch (2008) of the guardian, in her article stated ASDA plan to get tough with suppliers to ensure prices as low as possible, rather than passing the high cost of global food prices to customers. A point echoed by ASDA’s chief executive, Andy Bond. This goes to highlight some of the ruthlessness approach ASDA has been using in dealing with suppliers.
Expansion of store portfolio
In order to close the gap on its main rival Tesco, ASDA is embarking on opening new store across the length and breadth of UK. This aggressive expansion strategy adopted by ASDA, and for that matter the big supermarkets, is of immense worry to many as it is seen to be detrimental to local communities, damage the environment and stifle competition, among other problems.
Home shopping service:
ASDA has been providing home services to numerous customers across UK for the past ten years and has seen tremendous growth in the operation.
According to Lynch (2009) the supermarket’s on-line sales also grew by more than 40 per cent over the year as it extended its home shopping service to cover more than 90 per cent of the population.
Best of British
ASDA currently transact business with over five hundred UK businesses and majority of their products are sourced in the UK provided they are found locally and as such provide customers with the best British can offer. ‘ASDA sell more local products than any of their competitors, which is not only good for local communities, but also for the planet’. (ASDA, 2009)
Human rights
Usually, the issue of human right exposure pertains to companies operating and/or dealing with suppliers in developing countries due to the preponderance abuses of the system, poor treatment of suppliers, farmers and their workers and abysmal working condition.
For example, ‘the charity War on Want claims that sewing machine operators in textile factories in Bangladesh work more than 80 hours a week for five pence per hour, making clothes for ASDA/Wal-Mart, Tesco and Primark’ (Simms, 2007).A new ICM poll suggests ASDA’s own shoppers are increasingly unhappy with the low-price culture. By a margin of three to one the shoppers believe that the big supermarkets such as ASDA do not grant their staff a ‘decent pay’, while sixty one percent believe supermarkets damage local communities because of their market dominance. Three quarters of shoppers would back new rules to stop supermarkets exploiting suppliers in developing countries. (The Guardian, 2006)
Businesses exist because society wants them, CSR is in public interest and businesses are in operation in support of things they consider to be in the interest of public. The priorities and impacts of CSR differ for different groups of stakeholders. To be seen as championing the course of CSR companies are expected to tackle all the expectations of a society.
ASDA’s interest in CSR issues, for that matter supermarket in general, can not be over emphasized. In this current economic climate competition is growing in all lines of business and directors are adopting strategies, including the use of CSR polices in enhancing it reputation and attracting market. ‘Many people are of the opinion that companies are adopting CSR to help boost their reputation which may lead to increase market position and enhance long-term profitability and growth’ (Wikipedia, 2008).
In order to discuss the subject matter of this report objectively, information was mostly taken from ASDA’s website and also from relevant press releases to obtain an independent and objective view of the company’s activities. This procedure has enabled me to make an unbiased opinion regarding ASDA’s transparency in their CSR and Business Ethics disclosure.
Observation and Suggestions.
In my report I have looked at ASDA’s Business Ethics and CSR polices and the way it does affect the varying stakeholders. By using the Impact on Society Benchmark Scheme I have been able to critically analyze the impact of ASDA’s CSR against standard indicators in achieving the objectives of the report. The interesting findings brought to light includes the following:
ASDA generally seems to be addressing most if not all the expectations placed on them by stakeholders and society as a whole. This is evidenced by the increased and detailed content of their social and environmental disclosure in recent years.
In recognition of the impacts of its business operations on the environment ASDA has incorporated, as a matter of seriousness, sustainability issues as a goal of survival and a part of the objectives of the organisation.
ASDA’s aggressive growth policy adopted in cementing its position as one of UK’s leading retailer and to grab a bigger market share is of great worry to many. This kind of expansion is of grievous concern to many due to its negative effect on consumers and the environment, stifling convenience stores and other competitors within the localities, among other matters.
In my view, the general consensus is that CSR has come to stay and given the current cold economic condition businesses (ASDA inclusive) are looking at ways to cutting down waste while keeping close tab on key issues rather than do away with CSR.
Plausible answers to project questions:
1. What motivates ASDA’s CSR?
Many people are of the opinion that companies are adopting CSR to help boost their reputation which may lead to increase market position and enhance long-term profitability and growth, pre-empt regulations or avoid breaching law or genuinely believes in CSR.
All of these features could be seen in ASDA’s CSR approach, but the one motive that stand out among the lot behind ASDA’s CSR practices is to increase market share and enhance market position through the tack of ‘low prices’.
2. Is the CSR policy delivering as it is expected to do?
Certainly, ASDA is committed to sustainable development and seriously addressing issue of concern to its stakeholders as evidenced by the volume of initiatives and measures deployed by ASDA in tackling its social responsibilities. However, it is worth noting ASDA’s CSR approach and reporting is generally satisfactory, some of its business practices remain questionable. ASDA needs to do more in their ethical trading practices and recycling and waste management.
3. What impact does it have on stakeholders?
On workers; ASDA is striving hard to look after the general welfare and wellbeing of its staff. In respect of this ASDA has just been awarded the ‘Innovative Employer of the Year’ award at this year’s Oracle Retail Week Award.
On suppliers; Though ASDA is assisting its numerous suppliers in various ways in obtaining high quality and affordable products, concerns still remain over its bullish approach in dealing with suppliers (especially those from abroad).
On the environment; ASDA is generally reducing the impact of it activities on the environment through its sustainable development programme but much more needs to be done.
On the community; Generally ASDA is contributing it fair share to the developments of its communities be it charity donations, listening to concerns of the people, creating jobs, etc. However, ASDA’s association with Wal-Mart generates public scrutiny and there is lots of criticism over its aggressive expansion.
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6.3 Recommendations
Some interesting suggestions recommended include the following:
1. There is overwhelming need for ASDA to fully comply with the ETI Code and other such regulations seeking better treatments for suppliers and workers, not just paying lip service to them. Also, ASDA’s low price culture must be watched closely so as not no to get out of hand.
2. There need to take up more environmental responsibilities in reducing the impact of m water usage; increase recycling and waste managements, etc.
3. The need for better transparency and accountability to the masses, improve community involvement and increase effort in addressing staff concerns.
Irrespective of the reasons why a company embraces CSR, through CSR companies as well as society stand to gain a lot in the long run. I, therefore, recommend that for ASDA to achieve leadership with CSR, it has to address all public expectations placed on them.
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