Mark Case Studies



business-working-responsibly

CSR is embedded in Transdev Ireland

 You’d expect a tram company to have statistics in relation to passenger journeys and reliability. At Transdev Ireland, which runs Dublin’s LUAS tram service, these metrics are only the departure point. Thanks to its work with Business in the Community, it now measures everything from the engagement of its staff and its customers, to the impact it has on the local community and the wider environment. The aim of all this measurement is simple – to ensure it stays on the right track for sustainability. Transdev Ireland is part of Europe’s largest private passenger transport company. Its 289 employees are responsible for more than 30 million passenger journeys a year, delivering 99% reliability on a daily basis and achieving independently audited customer satisfaction ratings of 87%. In recent years it has concentrated on developing and formalising its CSR policies and procedures, to ensure its civic credentials match its business performance....

CSR in Ricoh’s DNA

 Document management and print solutions provider Ricoh has been practicing good corporate citizenship since before the term was coined. Its founding principles are threefold: love your neighbour, love your country and love your work. It’s CSR in a nutshell and it has helped the Japanese multinational win a slew of awards globally, including being named one of the 100 most sustainable corporations in the world. “CSR is a core part of what we do, it’s in our DNA and has been since inception,” said Ricoh Ireland general manager Gary Hopwood, who has worked for the company for 33 years. “We have always been one of the most ethical companies around. For example, our mission statement talks of the need to pursue ‘excellence to improve the quality of living’, not about sales.” It is 15 years since Ricoh Ireland was accredited to ISO 14000, the environmental standard. In Japan, Ricoh Company...

Musgrave plans for the long term

 Musgrave Group’s corporate values are so simple a child can understand them. It’s why they are so effective. One of Ireland’s largest and most successful companies, the family owned business was founded in 1876, has a turnover of Euro 4.5 billion, supports more than 3,600 stores and operates nine brands – including SuperValu, Centra and Daybreak – across three countries. This entire operation is built on a platform of five simple values clearly stated; the development of long term, stable relationships; honesty; hard work; achievement and ‘not being greedy’. Far from being lip service, they are put into practice daily. For example, in 2008, at the start of the recession, management took the decision to reduce profits by Euro 20m in order to support its independent store owners. The vast majority of these are, like Musgraves, family owned. “It’s the difference between having to make short term decisions with a...

M&S blaze a trail in CSR

 If sustainability were an ingredient, you’d find it in Marks & Spencer’s meals. If it were a thread, it would be woven into its garments. In fact, it’s the building block on which the business is built. At Marks & Spencer Ireland, it isn’t enough to be profitable. It has to be sustainable. It achieves this through CSR – corporate social responsibility. “M&S has been in Ireland for a long time, since November 1979,” said Kenneth Daly, its Head of Marketing and Selling. “That in itself is a testament to the way we run our business. We consider ourselves a significant part of the Irish retail landscape.” Success here matters. Ireland is M&S’s biggest operation worldwide, outside of the UK. Wherever it operates, M&S has long been a trailblazer in ethical trading. The launch in 2007 of its fabled Plan A document, a 100 point, five year plan, saw it...

CSR is just the way Intel do business

 Don’t go to Intel looking for someone to talk you through its corporate and social responsibility practice. You won’t find it. “We don’t do CSR. It’s just the way we do business,” explained Brendan Cannon, director of corporate affairs at the technology giant’s Leixlip campus. “There was a time when it was called CSR,” he admitted. “But over the last five years, things like volunteerism, ethical supply chain, diversity in the workforce are just what we do. We have integrated CSR into the work of our company and its employees. It’s called out at top level. Caring for our people, for the planet, for the next generation, is one of our four strategic objectives as a company.” It’s for this reason that CSR isn’t separated out and handed over to a particular division. “At Intel this agenda is driven not so much by peer pressure, but through peer support. There’s...

A commitment to continuous improvement at Eirgrid

 Pylons are only a part of what EirGrid does. But, at the moment in any case, it’s the most visible part. The energy business, a commercial semi-state, is dedicated to the provision of transmission and market services for the benefit of electricity consumers. It’s an enormous remit, given the sheer scale of the projects involved, currently including the Grid Link project, the Grid West Project, the North South Interconnector and the Grid25 strategy. To do it, the company employs 400 staff, a quarter of them in Northern Ireland. In recent years it has hit headlines in relation to public protests about the proposed positioning of pylons. Having a strong commitment to good corporate citizenship ensures the company is always oriented to consider the matter from its stakeholders’ perspective, according to EirGrid Director Michael Walsh. “Our business is about delivering secure electricity and pylons are just one route by which we...

CSR is a fundamental issue at Deloitte

 For Brendan Jennings, Managing Partner of professional services firm Deloitte, corporate and social responsibility is not just a big deal, it’s an all-pervasive one. “I see CSR as a fundamental issue for us and I see it in broader terms than perhaps people have traditionally viewed it,” said Jennings. “Our role in society is very different from that of other corporate or manufacturing entities. A huge amount of our work is in relation to audit opinions and other reports providing assurance. When something comes into the market that has ‘Deloitte’ on it, it means a huge amount, particularly in capital markets. Our corporate responsibility therefore relates to not just our stakeholders but to all those who rely on and trust us. As such, it runs to the core of the firm.” Deloitte has 1350 employees in Republic of Ireland and 55 partners. The significant amount of work it does in...