Tesco Ireland: Putting corporate responsibility at the heart of our business
Company Description:
Tesco is Ireland’s leading food retailer serving over 1 million customers weekly from 107 stores throughout Ireland and employing over 13,000 people. We are committed to delivering low prices, value, choice, range and service. In addition, we are also proud supporters of the Irish food industry and last year alone Tesco bought €65 million worth of Irish food and drink exports, ranking Tesco ahead of France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and the USA.
Business Issue:
Our reputation is increasingly linked to the perceptions of our social, ethical and environmental performance. Businesses are now expected to behave responsibly and fairly. We needed to develop our Corporate Responsibility (CR) programme and its governance to ensure it became an integral part of our business.
Solution Applied:
- CR committee set up to manage short and long-term strategy, its performance, future risks and opportunities. The committee meets periodically and is responsible for reviewing social, ethical and environmental policies; agreeing, monitoring and reporting on our CR Key Performance Indicators (KPIs); increasing internal awareness of CR and approving our external stakeholder communication and engagement plan. Accountability for managing programme deliverables is assigned to line management.
- To strengthen our performance on corporate responsibility last year we also introduced our Community Plan, a programme that puts social and environmental issues at the heart of our business. The Community Plan ensures that we provide the right resources, energy and focus to deliver on community and corporate responsibility issues.
Company Benefits:
According to Tony Keohane, CEO Tesco Ireland, “The introduction of Community to our strategy has focused our efforts on tackling important social and environmental challenges, ensuring they are considered in our strategic decision-making”.
Stakeholder Benefits:
“The introduction of the Community Plan lets me know that this company is serious about managing its operations in a sustainable way, while also looking at different ways that we can help the communities we operate in”. Tesco Staff member.
Challenges:
To ensure buy-in and to engage our board of directors to understand why we needed to proactively manage social and environmental challenges and embed CR into the DNA of our organisation.
Tip:
Corporate Responsibility needs to be driven from the top down and to become a continuous process driving change across the business. Success in business and progress in the environment and in communities go hand in hand.
Departments Involved:
Corporate Affairs, Marketing, Commercial, Personnel, Retail Operations, Property and Distribution.
Solution Champion:
Patricia Harte, Corporate Responsibility Manager, patricia.harte@tesco.ie
Year
2008
Tesco Ireland: Putting corporate responsibility at the heart of our business
Company Description:
Tesco is Ireland’s leading food retailer serving over 1 million customers weekly from 107 stores throughout Ireland and employing over 13,000 people. We are committed to delivering low prices, value, choice, range and service. In addition, we are also proud supporters of the Irish food industry and last year alone Tesco bought €65 million worth of Irish food and drink exports, ranking Tesco ahead of France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and the USA.
Business Issue:
Our reputation is increasingly linked to the perceptions of our social, ethical and environmental performance. Businesses are now expected to behave responsibly and fairly. We needed to develop our Corporate Responsibility (CR) programme and its governance to ensure it became an integral part of our business.
Solution Applied:
- CR committee set up to manage short and long-term strategy, its performance, future risks and opportunities. The committee meets periodically and is responsible for reviewing social, ethical and environmental policies; agreeing, monitoring and reporting on our CR Key Performance Indicators (KPIs); increasing internal awareness of CR and approving our external stakeholder communication and engagement plan. Accountability for managing programme deliverables is assigned to line management.
- To strengthen our performance on corporate responsibility last year we also introduced our Community Plan, a programme that puts social and environmental issues at the heart of our business. The Community Plan ensures that we provide the right resources, energy and focus to deliver on community and corporate responsibility issues.
Company Benefits:
According to Tony Keohane, CEO Tesco Ireland, “The introduction of Community to our strategy has focused our efforts on tackling important social and environmental challenges, ensuring they are considered in our strategic decision-making”.
Stakeholder Benefits:
“The introduction of the Community Plan lets me know that this company is serious about managing its operations in a sustainable way, while also looking at different ways that we can help the communities we operate in”. Tesco Staff member.
Challenges:
To ensure buy-in and to engage our board of directors to understand why we needed to proactively manage social and environmental challenges and embed CR into the DNA of our organisation.
Tip:
Corporate Responsibility needs to be driven from the top down and to become a continuous process driving change across the business. Success in business and progress in the environment and in communities go hand in hand.
Departments Involved:
Corporate Affairs, Marketing, Commercial, Personnel, Retail Operations, Property and Distribution.
Solution Champion:
Patricia Harte, Corporate Responsibility Manager, patricia.harte@tesco.ie
Year
2008
