Woolworths Group Limited Operating in Australia †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Woolworths Group Limited Operating in Australia. Answer: Introduction The report is based on the company Woolworths Limited is a major Australian company that deals with supermarket or grocery store accounting for about 80 percent of the Australian market. The company particularly deals with fruit, vegetables, meat, magazines, DVD, beauty and health products, household products, stationery as well as baby and pet supplies. The corporate giant operates 1000 stores, 968 supermarkets and 19 additional convenience stores in Australia. The company aims at delivering best in value, convenience and quality for its customers. The company giant ensures that their sustainability approach has a significant impact on then community, environment and economy of the nation with a view to create a better future. Woolworths: Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to the persisting commitment of an organization to exhibit ethical behavior and make significant contribution to the economic development along with an improvement in the quality of the life of the employees and their families (King and Thobela 2014). The corporate social responsibility of an organization requires it to focus on not only the economic development and welfare of its workforce but also to ensure welfare and development of the society and local community significantly. Corporate social responsibility at the Woolworths Group has always been about doing what is right. The company believes that profits and growth are not the only means to measure the success of the company. It significantly depends on the ways in which the operations of the organizations can have a reduced impact on the environment. The corporate giant strives ensure that integration of the financial performance of the company with non-financial criteria enhances the value for all the stakeholders and the Members. The company asserts the following corporate social responsibilities that it strives to achieve: To create a safe and comprehensive working environment for the employees and creating opportunities for them to outshine; To recognize the environmental impact on the value chain of the company and ensure to work with the service providers, suppliers thus, making innovations to make a healthy planet; To shift to a globular economy and source environmentally sustainable commodities thus responding to climate change; The brand products of the company are free from genetically modified ingredients; Carrolls four-part definition of CSR defines CSR of an organization as a responsibility that encompasses the legal, economic, ethical and philanthropic expectations of the society from a business at any point of time (Comyns 2015). These four responsibilities laid down the foundation or an infrastructure that describes the nature of the responsibilities of any business towards the society of which such business is an essential part. In order to assess the Woolworths CSR based on the Carrolls four-part definition, the responsibilities carried out by the company are discussed below: Economic responsibilities According to the definition, it is essential for a company to have an economic responsibility towards the society that has enabled the company to sustain and develop. Although an economic expectation cannot be perceived as a social responsibility at the first place but a society requires a business organization to sustain themselves which is only possible by being profitable. Profits are essential for rewarding the owners or the investors and for business growth by reinvesting the profits back into the business (Comyns 2015). The strong financial indicators of Woolworths Limited signify that the company comprehends the importance of their economic obligations. According to the Woolworths Holding Limited (WHL) Integrated report of 2014, WHL posted a profit of Rs 3.86 billion before tax up 20.1% year on year for the financial year while its earnings per share (EPS) were as high as 356c/share. These numbers are not mere numbers on a report but are numbers that have been actually translated into return capital to the shareholders in the form of share value or dividends and to the employees in the form of salaries and stock options. The remaining profit was served to safeguard its stakeholders that were financially dependent. Legal responsibilities Legal responsibilities refer to the responsibilities of a business to fulfill its legal obligations and societys codification of wrong and right. Laws are rules that are implemented and created on a national, international or local level, which regulates the conduct of the company in relation to employment, corruption, environmental protection, product safety and human rights (Wu et al. 2015). It is the fundamental duty of an organization to comply with national, local international laws to avert legal consequences and safeguard the future business operations. Legal obligations of a company are implemented to safeguard stakeholder of businesses including the consumers, suppliers, shareholders, public, suppliers, and employees as well as safeguard the business from financial instability and unethical business practices. Woolworths Group being a public company aims at maintaining clean legal profile and carries out all its legal obligations. The WHL Integrated Report is evidence that establishes that the company fulfills its legal obligations and is consistent with the national, local and international laws applicable to the business operations. In the annual report of the company, WHL strongly supports its commitment to fulfill legal requirements and the legal framework that has been stipulated under the Integrated Reporting Council. Ethical Responsibilities Most of the societies expect that though fulfilling the legal requirements is essential but it is not sufficient. It is equally important for a company to conduct their business operations in an ethical manner. Part of the ethical expectation is that businesses will be receptive to the spirit of law instead of just the letter of law. Another significant aspect of ethical expectation from businesses is that the business operations are conducted in an objective and in a fairly manner even under circumstances when laws do not provide any course of action for the organization (Corkery, Mikalsen and Allan 2017). Woolworths Group maintains a value-based approach towards the company and its wide ethical behavior. The company is a global leader in retail brands that draws attraction of people who are concerned about the innovation, quality, sustainability and value. The company envisions that the understanding of the society is leading towards a rapid and constantly progressive future and in order to meet the desire of the people who are concerned about the ethical practice and sustainability, a company must be ethical in its operational conduct. The fact that the company is ethical in its practice is evident from the several International Awards that the company has received for its CSR initiatives. Philanthropic Responsibilities Corporate philanthropy includes the discretionary or voluntary activities where discretionary activities refer to the desirable yet voluntary acts of the company that significantly contributes to the welfare of the community (Wu et al. 2015). These activities take the form of charity and aim to provide resources associated with the business to the society for improving quality of life. These philanthropic contributions go beyond the legal or ethical requirement or something that is beyond the societal expectations. The contributions aim at giving back to stakeholders either in the form of money, time or other resources. These discretionary activities not only uplift the community but also compliment the brand from the perspective of the stakeholders and the customers thus fulfilling employee satisfaction. Woolworths has a significant impact on the societal wellbeing as the company considers trust and valuing customers as fundamental to customer satisfaction. The company strives to move towards a circular economy due to which the company aims at improving their recyclability of their brand packaging and contribute to circular economy. To play their part, the company has reduced use of plastic bags. The company is partner with the Redcycle where soft plastics are collected and recycled into furniture. Stakeholders The company includes Board of Directors and Leadership team as its internal stakeholders and the employees, suppliers, customers, logistic companies as its external stakeholders. The Australian government is the primary stakeholder of the company. In addition, the other stakeholders include media, franchisees, unions organized business, community interest groups and NGOs. Environment The core values of the Woolworths Limited are embedded within the culture of the organization. From its contribution in recycled plastic bags to its ethical sourcing initiatives, the company has been proved a company that not only permitted its progressive company values from different situations but also implements the core values to fortify the culture, business philanthropy and strategy of the organization (Corkery, Mikalsen and Allan 2017). The company is a proud member of the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) and is a signatory to the CGF Deforestation Resolution of 2010 to achieve net zero deforestation by 2020. Further, since the customers require more sustainable products and independently certified products, in FY17, the brand products of the company were sold containing 28,883 tons of coffee, sugar and chocolate that were certifiably sustainable. Furthermore, the company has produced almost 880 million paper catalogues that were made using sustainable resources. The health and beauty products under the companys own brand are produced significantly considering the welfare of the animals by not testing the products on animals. The company has been supporting Childrens Hospital Foundation to safeguard lives of children, especially, the sick children and has successfully raised $50million. Further, it has been associated with White Ribbons work through Dan Murphy and BWS in FY17 to prevent violence against women in New South Wales. The Chief Legal Officer and Company Secretary and the Audit, Risk management and Compliance Committee of Woolworths limited is accountable for monitoring and reporting the performance and effectiveness of the business operations. The Board of the company confers these responsibilities upon the Committee. In regards to the auditing of the company, the company has an independent internal audit function (Group Internal Audit) that is managed by the Risk and Assurance team. The external audit is conducted by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu which is subjected to review and monitoring thrice every year. Human Rights Woolworths Group has been in association of programs and foundations that aims at safeguarding human rights. The company raised around $25000 donation through Red Cross Kaikorua Earthquake immediately after the occurrence of the earthquake. The company strived to promote gender equity and it aims to fill the position of senior manager and executive with women by 2020 to achieve gender equity. The company employs almost 202,000 people from all communities and cultural diversities as a contribution to alleviate international poverty. The company is committed to enhance indigenous employment opportunities in the organizational business. The company is member of Pride in Diversity which is NGO supporting the LGBTI community. The company has committed to work in cooperation with the National Union of Workers (NUW) and other interested stakeholders for addressing and identifying human rights in fresh food supply chains in Australia. The corporate giant deals with interests groups and emphasizes on maintaining a healthy relationship with the stakeholders (Bolton 2015). Woolworths assure ethics and values its suppliers by making efforts to improve the social and environmental practices with them. The company has a good ethical record of providing safe workplace and ensures job security and a motivating environment. Governance The Board serves and represents the interests of the shareholders and the Board approved strategy is delegated to management through the CEO who implements such strategy. The Chairman is independent and non-executive who assesses the development plans of non-executive directors and monitors the contribution of individual directors, thus, providing feedback on the effectiveness and performance. The performance of the Chairman is subjected to review every year. The Board reviews the desired and current experience or skills of independent directors as well as that of the Board. Company Philanthropy The company aims at publishing report on social impact of the company on the community in which it operates to measure the positive changes that it is undertaking by emphasizing on the economic, health development and emergency belief. The company strives to fulfill the needs of the customers because of the policies adopted by the company and put in efforts to resolve the issues and complaints of the stakeholders regularly. The remaining profit of the company is served to safeguard the stakeholders that are financially dependent on the company. Conclusion The company has been carrying out its corporate social responsibility and it claims to make further significant contribution in achieving sustainable development and ensure conducting its business operations ethically. As per Carrolls definition of corporate social responsibility, the corporate giant seems to be fulfilling all the four essential elements of corporate social responsibility accordingly, ensuring its sustainability approach has significant impact on the community as well as the environment. Recommendations In the contemporary era, the corporate sector is more focused on maximizing profit and becoming the leading organization than they are concerned about the social welfare. Though the companies claim to carry out their corporate social responsibilities, the growing competiveness in this sector often cause the corporations go off their course to maximize their profit and retain the top positions in the global markets which results in environmental degradation, affecting the community altogether. Therefore, it is recommended, that corporate giants like Woolworths Limited must persist to carry out their corporate social responsibilities and set an example that it is possible to strike a balance between maximizing profits and ensuring social welfare for any organization, to create a better tomorrow. References Bolton, S., 2015. Woolworths workers back at work.Green Left Weekly, (1065), p.3. Comyns, B., 2015.Our spoons came from Woolworths. New York Review of Books. Corkery, J., Mikalsen, M. and Allan, K., 2017.Corporate social responsibility: The good corporation. Centre for Commercial Law. King, L. and Thobela, S., 2014. Woolworths farming for the future.International Food and Agribusiness Management Review,17(B). Woolworths.com.au (2018). Woolworths.com.au. Retrieved 05, 2018 from https:///www.woolworths.com.au. Wu, J.H., Neal, B., Trevena, H., Crino, M., Stuart-Smith, W., Faulkner-Hogg, K., Louie, J.C.Y. and Dunford, E., 2015. Are gluten-free foods healthier than non-gluten-free foods? An evaluation of supermarket products in Australia.British Journal of Nutrition,114(3), pp.448-454.