Corporate Social responsibility Case Study

Tesco's Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives

OR

Abstract:
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), started initially as a voluntary initiative in some companies, later caught on with the corporate world over the last few decades. CSR became a standard best practice as per few countries’ corporate governance codes. Many other countries are contemplating inclusion of CSR initiatives as a standard corporate governance practice. It has become a competitive necessity rather than a nicety as once it used to be. The companies saw the benefit and the stakeholders appreciated the initiatives. The intriguing question here is, why a retailer should support CSR initiatives blowing up millions of pounds. Broadly though, companies have to work harder to maintain their reputation and the growth environment in which they do business. This case study broadly addresses this issue taking TESCO, UK's top retailer as an illustration.

Pedagogical Objectives:

This case study is used:
• To understand the relationship between CSR initiatives and Profitability / Bottom-line of the company
• To explore the possibility of CSR as a Competitive Advantage
• To understand and analyse whether CSR initiatives are guided by local (where the company is operating its stores) needs or should a company have umbrella CSR initiatives
• To analyse the CSR initiatives of Tesco over the years and study the patterns thereof

Keywords :  Case Studies, Tesco, Retailing, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Corporate Responsibility (CR), Competitive Advantage, Bottom-line, CSR Review Reports, Environmental Policy, Social Policy, Wal-Mart, ASDA, Target