Responsibility of Woolworth and Wal Assignment help

Business Values Report On Corporate Responsibility of Woolworth and Wal-mart

Social

INTRODUCTION Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an

initiative

undertaken

by

the

organization in order to overcome their operational effects on environment and society. Under this report CSR of two companies Woolworth and Walmart has been

studied.

The

study

will

be

describing about both the organization social report that has been prepared by them

and

undergoing

the by

issues

they

formation

of

are such

policies. Even report will be assessing the apparent quality of social accounting approach and explore the extent to which a social report reflects the values of both organizations.

ABOUT ORGANIZATIONS In the year 1924 Woolworths was founded in Australia and business is seen to be headquartered in Sydney as a retail enterprise.

When company started their operation with their first store the CEO Percy Christmas stated that “Every man, woman and child needs a handy place where good things are cheap� to be

a

key

principle

for

Woolworths.

This

principle is still seen to be prevalent and company is still working hard for living up to their vision by offering their 28 million consumers with appropriate quality, range, value and convenience for the product. Woolworths has got around 3000 stores in different parts of Australia and New Zealand (About Us Woolworth, 2015). Business feels to be very proud being a home grown Australian company

providing employment to 198000 individuals and business partners that included farmers, producers and manufacturers.

Wal-Mart is one of the American Multinational Retail Corporation founded in the year 1962 by Sam Walton and is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. Business has got thousands of their stores in US and has been expanding their operation at international level.

Wal-mart has been innovative in their operation by enhancing

their

customers

experience

so

that

consumers are able to shop anytime and anywhere online with their mobile devices or in stores.

Company is seen to be laying down opportunities and value for their customers and communities around the globe (About us Wal-mart, 2015). Wal-mart has got around 11,500 retail units under 65 banners and their operations are around 28 countries and their e-commerce websites in 11 countries.

Business has been employing around 2.2 million individuals around the entire world and in US there are around 1.4 million alone.

Even it has been seen that Wal-mart has been challenged for their social reporting/performance issues by consumers and their employees. With respect to consumers it has been seen that business has been taking customers from small neighborhood stores and that has been hurting communities. Even it has been seen that company has been accused of predatory pricing, anti-union fervor and providing employees with lesser wage.

DIFFERENCE EVIDENT BETWEEN TWO COMPANY’S REPORTS The CSR report of Woolworths indicates that business has got a comprehensive plan for fulfilling their social responsibility. Business has got policies for ensuring save water for future generations.

Organization Cape Town office has been saving ground water supply by 27 million liters of water in a year. Even it has been seen that organization is able to recycle 10 million plastic bottles for packaging their products. Research even indicated that Woolworths has got around 98% of their produce suppliers

as

part

of

their

farming

for

future

functioning

(Woolworths

corporate

social

responsibility, 2015). Business is also laying down their concern towards ocean fish stock and Woolworth has been fulfilling their responsibility of selling source seafood and supply. For the Enterprise Development Company has donated around 10.7 millions of surplus clothing to clothing bank. Further, business has also laid down concern towards social development by contributing almost 250 million to more than 10000 environmental enterprises, schools and charities.

Figure

1:

Woolworth CSR policies (Source: Woo lworths corporate social responsibility, 2015) From the CSR report of Wal-Mart it can be said that Wal-mart foundation has laid down $1 billion worldwide. Even research indicated that business was committed in scaling the index for launching sustainability consortium in China. Wal-mart was also seen to be empowering women’s economic as business has been increasing their training and opportunities for around 1 million women’s around the globe. It could also be seen that business has built a largest on-site green power generator in U.S as per EPA green power partnership. Business CSR report also indicates that Wal-mart is planning to hire around

100000

veterans

over

the

next

five

years

(Walmart

Global

Responsibility

Report

Archive, 2014). It has been seen that business has been focusing upon women’s officials a lot as in their corporate officers they have around 28 percent of women compared with Fortune 500 average of 14.3 percent. Wal-mart has been supplying fresh healthier food and has saved customers more than $2.3 billion on fruits and vegetables since the period of 2011.

Figure

2:

Wal-mart CSR policies (Source: Wa lmart Global

Responsibility Report Archive, 2014) The major difference that could be seen in both the business social report is that Wal-mart has been laying great focus towards empowering the women officials around there complete enterprise.

However, such sort of polices have not be formed by Woolworth. Even it could be seen that Wal-mart has been investing in various renewable green power project. However, Woolworth has been laying down their focus on saving water and recycling waste into accessible accessories for their products.

DIFFERENCE BY THE COUNTRY OR INDUSTRY DIFFERENCES

The difference of women empowerment can be seen by the country as US has been laying down various

initiatives

for

empowering

women

officials within their industry (Garriga and Melé, 2013). This is evident in the Wal-mart enterprise that business has got around 28 percent of women in their corporate office when compared with Fortune 500 average of 14.3 percent. Even it could be seen that Australia has initiated program

such

as “Women

Australia”. However,

industry

and has

Leadership not

been

laying down their focus in initiating women’s to be leaders. Here, industry of Australia has to carry out initiatives for enhancing the knowledge of women’s by providing them with appropriate training.

Another major reason indicated by Woolworth is towards saving of water and recycling of waste and this difference could be seen of due to the country (Samuelson and Anderson, 2014). It is all because of government of Australia laying down strict policies and regulations against conservation of water and recycling allowing Woolworth to lay down their focus towards these aspects. This has allowed organization Cape Town office to save ground water supply by 27 million liters of water in a year. Even it has been seen that organization is able to recycle 10 million plastic bottles for packaging their products.

SOCIAL ACCOUNTING APPROACH In the year 1997 Zadek’s laid down certain key principles for fulfilling social reporting and it included inclusivity, comparability, completeness, evolution, management policies and systems, disclosure, external verification and continuous improvement (Gray.et.al., 1997).

Figure 3: Social Accounting approach (Source: Gray.et.al., 1997) With respect to Wal-mart business it could be seen that all the eight key principles has been followed by the organization in their social reporting. However, in case of Woolworth it could be seen that business need to lay down focus on continuous improvement in their social approach. Since, the beginning of their operation business has been valuing their consumers by offering them quality product. However, in the present 21 st century it has become important for the business to understand the needs and preferences of consumer and then provide them quality in supporting their products.

EXTENT OF VALUE REFLECTION IN SOCIAL REPORT The social report of Woolworth indicates that business value has always laid down focus towards delivering best in everything that they sell out in the market. Even it could be seen that organization has been offering simple and fair deal to the consumer concerning best quality for their products. It has been identified from the social report of Woolworth that company always think about their customer preference and put them first. Business has been laying down their focus towards innovation in an appropriate manner for enhancing lives of consumer (Schneider and Schmidpeter, 2012).

Woolworth has also got stringent value in the form of integrity, energy and sustainability in their functional activities.

Figure 4: Value reflection in social report of Woolworth and Wal-mart On the other hand, social report of Wal-mart indicates that basic beliefs and values to be laid down towards each individual who has approached to the organization (Ofodile,et.al., 2012). Even business has been focusing on delivering appropriate services to their customers. Further, Wal-mart has always strived to achieve excellence in the functioning.

GROUP PERSPECTIVE FOR COMPANY’S SOCIAL REPORT

The group members discussion with respect to social reporting for Woolworth and Wal-mart indicated that both the business have incorporated their CSR policies as per their regulations. Even it has been said within the group that organizations has fulfilled all their duties of social responsibility as per their approach. However, still there was little difference in the opinion some of the members in the team consider Wal-mart policies for CSR to be better when compared with Woolworth. They believe Walmart has laid down their focus on every area for fulfilling their responsibility towards society. Some of the appropriate policies considered important by the team were green power generator and women empowerment carried out by Wal-mart.

CONCLUSION The above report concludes that both Woolworth and Wal-mart has undergone appropriate CSR policies in their operations. It has been observed that both the business was undertaken their operations in different countries reflecting different types of CSR policies and regulations to focus upon. Research even found that both the companies have got different values as Woolworth considered putting quality within reach of their consumers and Wal-mart tried to achieve excellence their operations.

REFERENCES Books and Journals Garriga, E., & MelĂŠ, D. (2013). Corporate social responsibility theories: Mapping the territory.

In Citation Classics from the Journal of Business Ethics (pp. 69-96). Springer Netherlands.

Gray, R., Dey, C., Owen, D., Evans, R., & Zadek, S. (1997). Struggling with the praxis of social accounting: Stakeholders, accountability, audits and procedures. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 10(3), 325-364.

Ofodile, U. E., Altschuller, S., Dolize, A., & Fessler, M. (2012). Corporate Social Responsibility. The International Lawyer, 46(1), 181.

Samuelson, P. A., & Anderson, H. C. (2014). corporate social responsibility.Morality and the Market (Routledge Revivals): Consumer Pressure for Corporate Accountability, 43.

Schneider,

A.,

&

Schmidpeter,

R.

(2012).

Corporate

social

responsibility.Verantwortliche

UnternehmensfĂźhrung in der Praxis, Berlin ua.

Online About us Wal-mart. (2015). [Online]. Accessed from < http://www.walmart.com/> [Accessed on: 11th January 2016] About

Us

Woolworth.

(2015).

[Online].

Accessed

from

http://www.woolworths.co.za/store/fragments/corporate/corporate-index.jsp?content=corporatelanding&contentId=fol110065> [Accessed on: 11 th January 2016]

<

Walmart

Global

Responsibility

Report

Archive.

(2014).

[Online].

Accessed

from

<

http://cdn.corporate.walmart.com/db/e1/b551a9db42fd99ea24141f76065f/2014-global-responsibilityreport.pdf > [Accessed on: 11th January 2016] Woolworths

corporate

social

responsibility. (2015).

[Online].

Accessed

from

<

http://www.woolworths.co.za/store/fragments/corporate/corporate-index.jsp?content=../fiveways/fiveWays&contentId=cmp204377> [Accessed on: 11 th January 2016] Business Values Report on Corporate Social Responsibility of Woolworth and Wal-mart LIST OF FIGURES

INTRODUCTION Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an initiative undertaken by the organization in order to overcome their operational effects on environment and society. Under this report CSR of two companies Woolworth and Walmart has been studied. The study will be describing about both the organization social report that has been prepared by them and the issues they are undergoing by formation of such policies. Even report will be assessing the apparent quality of social accounting approach and explore the extent to which a social report reflects the values of both organizations.

ABOUT ORGANIZATIONS In the year 1924 Woolworths was founded in Australia and business is seen to be headquartered in Sydney as a retail enterprise.

When company started their operation with their first store the CEO Percy Christmas stated that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Every man, woman and child needs a handy place where good things are cheapâ&#x20AC;? to be a key principle for Woolworths. This principle is still seen to be prevalent and company is still working hard for living up to their vision by offering their 28 million consumers with appropriate quality, range, value and convenience for the product. Woolworths has got around 3000 stores in different parts of Australia and New Zealand (About Us Woolworth, 2015). Business feels to be very proud being a home grown Australian company providing employment to 198000 individuals and business partners that included farmers, producers and manufacturers.

Wal-Mart is one of the American Multinational Retail Corporation founded in the year 1962 by Sam Walton and is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. Business has got thousands of their stores in US and has been expanding their operation at international level.

Wal-mart has been innovative in their operation by enhancing their customers experience so that consumers are able to shop anytime and anywhere online with their mobile devices or in stores.

Company is seen to be laying down opportunities and value for their customers and communities around the globe (About us Wal-mart, 2015). Wal-mart has got around 11,500 retail units under 65

banners and their operations are around 28 countries and their e-commerce websites in 11 countries.

Business has been employing around 2.2 million individuals around the entire world and in US there are around 1.4 million alone.

Even it has been seen that Wal-mart has been challenged for their social reporting/performance issues by consumers and their employees. With respect to consumers it has been seen that business has been taking customers from small neighborhood stores and that has been hurting communities. Even it has been seen that company has been accused of predatory pricing, anti-union fervor and providing employees with lesser wage.

DIFFERENCE EVIDENT BETWEEN TWO COMPANYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S REPORTS The CSR report of Woolworths indicates that business has got a comprehensive plan for fulfilling their social responsibility. Business has got policies for ensuring save water for future generations.

Organization Cape Town office has been saving ground water supply by 27 million liters of water in a year. Even it has been seen that organization is able to recycle 10 million plastic bottles for packaging their products. Research even indicated that Woolworths has got around 98% of their produce suppliers

as

part

of

their

farming

for

future

functioning

(Woolworths

corporate

social

responsibility, 2015). Business is also laying down their concern towards ocean fish stock and Woolworth has been fulfilling their responsibility of selling source seafood and supply. For the Enterprise Development Company has donated around 10.7 millions of surplus clothing to clothing bank. Further, business has also laid down concern towards social development by contributing almost 250 million to more than 10000 environmental enterprises, schools and charities.

Figure 1: Woolworth CSR policies (Source: Woolworths

corporate

social

responsibility, 2015) From the CSR report of Wal-Mart it can be said that Wal-mart foundation has laid down $1 billion worldwide. Even research indicated that business was committed

in

scaling

the

index

for

launching sustainability consortium in China. Wal-mart was also seen to be empowering business

has

womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been

economic increasing

as their

training and opportunities for around 1 million womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s around the globe. It could also be seen that business has built a largest on-site green

power generator in U.S as per EPA green power partnership. Business CSR report also indicates that Wal-mart is planning to hire around 100000 veterans over the next five years (Walmart Global Responsibility Report Archive, 2014). It has been seen that business has been focusing upon women’s officials a lot as in their corporate officers they have around 28 percent of women compared with Fortune 500 average of 14.3 percent. Wal-mart has been supplying fresh healthier food and has saved customers more than $2.3 billion on fruits and vegetables since the period of 2011.

Figure 2: Wal-mart CSR policies (Source: Walmart Global Responsibility Report Archive, 2014) The major difference that could be seen in both the business social report is that Wal-mart has been laying great focus towards empowering the women officials around there complete enterprise.

However, such sort of polices have not be formed by Woolworth. Even it could be seen that Wal-mart has been investing in various renewable green power project. However, Woolworth has been laying down their focus on saving water and recycling waste into accessible accessories for their products.

DIFFERENCE BY THE COUNTRY OR INDUSTRY DIFFERENCES The difference of women empowerment can be seen by the country as US has been laying down various initiatives for empowering women officials within their industry (Garriga and Melé, 2013). This is evident in the Wal-mart enterprise that business has got around 28 percent of women in their corporate office when compared with Fortune 500 average of 14.3 percent. Even it could be seen that Australia has initiated program such as “Women and Leadership Australia”. However, industry has not been laying down their focus in initiating women’s to be leaders. Here, industry of Australia has to carry out initiatives for enhancing the knowledge of women’s by providing them with appropriate training. Another major reason indicated by Woolworth is towards saving of water and recycling of waste and this difference could be seen of due to the country (Samuelson and Anderson, 2014). It is all because of government of Australia laying down strict policies and regulations against conservation of water and recycling allowing Woolworth to lay down their focus towards these aspects. This has allowed organization Cape Town office to save ground water supply by 27 million liters of water in a year. Even it has been seen that organization is able to recycle 10 million plastic bottles for packaging their products.

SOCIAL ACCOUNTING APPROACH In the year 1997 Zadek’s laid down certain key principles for fulfilling social reporting and it included inclusivity, comparability, completeness, evolution, management policies and systems, disclosure, external verification and continuous improvement (Gray.et.al., 1997).

Figure 3: Social Accounting approach (Source: Gray.et.al., 1997) With respect to Wal-mart business it could be seen that all the eight key principles has been followed by the organization in their social reporting. However, in case of Woolworth it could be seen that business need to lay down focus on continuous improvement in their social approach. Since, the beginning of their operation business has been valuing their consumers by offering them quality product. However, in the present 21 st century it has become important for the business to understand the needs and preferences of consumer and then provide them quality in supporting their products.

EXTENT OF VALUE REFLECTION IN SOCIAL REPORT The social report of Woolworth indicates that business value has always laid down focus towards delivering best in everything that they sell out in the market. Even it could be seen that organization has been offering simple and fair deal to the consumer concerning best quality for their products. It has been identified from the social report of Woolworth that company always think about their customer preference and put them first. Business has been laying down their focus towards innovation in an appropriate manner for enhancing lives of consumer (Schneider and Schmidpeter, 2012).

Woolworth has also got stringent value in the form of integrity, energy and sustainability in their functional activities.

Figure 4: Value reflection in social report of Woolworth and Wal-mart On the other hand, social report of Wal-mart indicates that basic beliefs and values to be laid down towards each individual who has approached to the organization (Ofodile,et.al., 2012). Even business has been focusing on delivering appropriate services to their customers. Further, Wal-mart has always strived to achieve excellence in the functioning.

GROUP PERSPECTIVE FOR COMPANYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SOCIAL REPORT The group members discussion with respect to social reporting for Woolworth and Wal-mart indicated that both the business have incorporated their CSR policies as per their regulations. Even it has been said within the group that organizations has fulfilled all their duties of social responsibility as per their approach. However, still there was little difference in the opinion some of the members in the team consider Wal-mart policies for CSR to be better when compared with Woolworth. They believe Walmart has laid down their focus on every area for fulfilling their responsibility towards society. Some of

the appropriate policies considered important by the team were green power generator and women empowerment carried out by Wal-mart.

CONCLUSION The above report concludes that both Woolworth and Wal-mart has undergone appropriate CSR policies in their operations. It has been observed that both the business was undertaken their operations in different countries reflecting different types of CSR policies and regulations to focus upon. Research even found that both the companies have got different values as Woolworth considered putting quality within reach of their consumers and Wal-mart tried to achieve excellence their operations.

REFERENCES Books and Journals Garriga, E., & MelĂŠ, D. (2013). Corporate social responsibility theories: Mapping the territory.

In Citation Classics from the Journal of Business Ethics (pp. 69-96). Springer Netherlands.

Gray, R., Dey, C., Owen, D., Evans, R., & Zadek, S. (1997). Struggling with the praxis of social accounting: Stakeholders, accountability, audits and procedures. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 10(3), 325-364.

Ofodile, U. E., Altschuller, S., Dolize, A., & Fessler, M. (2012). Corporate Social Responsibility. The International Lawyer, 46(1), 181.

Samuelson, P. A., & Anderson, H. C. (2014). corporate social responsibility.Morality and the Market (Routledge Revivals): Consumer Pressure for Corporate Accountability, 43.

Schneider,

A.,

&

Schmidpeter,

R.

(2012).

Corporate

social

responsibility.Verantwortliche

UnternehmensfĂźhrung in der Praxis, Berlin ua.

Online About us Wal-mart. (2015). [Online]. Accessed from < http://www.walmart.com/> [Accessed on: 11th January 2016] About

Us

Woolworth.

(2015).

[Online].

Accessed

from

<

http://www.woolworths.co.za/store/fragments/corporate/corporate-index.jsp?content=corporatelanding&contentId=fol110065> [Accessed on: 11 th January 2016] Walmart

Global

Responsibility

Report

Archive.

(2014).

[Online].

Accessed

from

<

http://cdn.corporate.walmart.com/db/e1/b551a9db42fd99ea24141f76065f/2014-global-responsibilityreport.pdf > [Accessed on: 11th January 2016]

Woolworths

corporate

social

responsibility. (2015).

[Online].

Accessed

from

http://www.woolworths.co.za/store/fragments/corporate/corporate-index.jsp?content=../fiveways/fiveWays&contentId=cmp204377> [Accessed on: 11 th January 2016]

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