Coles Supermarket Australia Corporate Social Responsibility

Question: Discuss about theCorporate Social Responsibility for Coles Supermarket in Australia. Answer: Introduction Coles is one of the leading food retailers of Australia that aims to deliver great values to the customers. The company is operating in Australia for more than 100 years (www.coles.com.au, 2016). It continuous to deliver outstanding customer service and quality product that help the company to maintain good positioning in the Australian market. Currently, Coles has been focusing on sustainable future through corporate social responsibility (www.coles.com.au, 2016). The company has been developing relationship with the Aussie farmers and families by support local needs of the people. Coles have been working for the development of the food industry by implementing education programs for its customers and employees (www.coles.com.au, 2016). Along with that, the company has implemented several other corporate social responsibility policies to seek better reputation in the market. The paper has been developed to conduct an analysis on use of CSR in the Australian industries. Hence, the primary purpose of the paper is to present the use of CSR in an Australian organisation. The study presents a brief overview of CSR and explains how the CSR can be beneficial for the Coles Supermarket to seek growth in the current market scenario. Furthermore, the paper presents an argument for or against the companies practicing CSR in the Australian market. Finally, the paper evaluates the CSR strategies used by Coles to operate in the Australian market and draws a proper conclusion as per the findings of the analysis. CSR: A Brief Overview The Corporate Social Responsibility is a type of self regulation that is formulated in a business model to improve the operations of the organisation. It is a regulatory mechanism that monitors the operations of the firm and ensures that every activity is conducted according to the rules and regulations of the authorised bodies (Rigoberto Parada Daza, 2009). Furthermore, Corporate Social Responsibility presents the ethical standards that are followed by the company to develop good relation in the society (Zu, 2009). Hence, Corporate Social Responsibility is basically a mechanism that is implemented by the modern business organisations to seek sustainable growth of business. Corporate Social Responsibility helps to ensure a better relationship between the association and the society (Zu, 2009). It is the primary reason for the firms to undertake Corporate Social Responsibility as a business procedure to develop operations according to the needs of the society. Hence, it can be said th at Corporate Social Responsibility is an activity that leads to sustainable development of business through the delivery of social, environmental and economic benefits to the stakeholders. Corporate Social Responsibility is the key to economic development of business and welfare of the society. Currently, all organisations in the Australian market have implemented CSR policies to work for the welfare of the society and the environment (Tilt, 2016). It has become mandatory by law for any business organisation operating in Australia to implement CSR strategy to survive and seek growth in the market (Zu, 2009). The Australian government has introduced the Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (ACCSR) to monitor the operations of the companies in the market and rank them for their CSR policies according to their performance (Tilt, 2016). Business Case for CSR Looking at the current Corporate Social Responsibility policies of Coles Supermarket, it can be seen that the company has effective implemented CSR strategies in its operations. Coles Supermarket works for the communities such as their team members and customers to develop a good relationship in the society (www.coles.com.au, 2016). It provides trainings to the suppliers and customers to save the environment. Along with that, the company implements new technologies to conserve environmental pollutions. Coles have made necessary changes in its logistic systems to reduce air pollution. Along with that, the company has earned a good reputation in the market with its new supermarket that has been build using the latest technology (Gelter, 2015). It is estimated that the new eco-friendly supermarket of Coles will consumer around 30% less energy which has been recognised as an initiative of the company towards sustainable development of business (Trong Tuan, 2012). Coles have involved in social works such as funding child care institutions and hospitals. Along with that, it does not carry business with suppliers who use child labour. Hence, it can be seen that CSR initiatives taken by the company has been effective in building a good reputation in the market (Trong Tuan, 2012). The achievements of the company for using CSR can be seen in its financial statement. It can be seen that the company has been able to maintain a good amount of sales with rising competition in the market. Furthermore, it can be said that the CSR policy of Coles Supermarket has helped it to maintain the high amount of profitability (Heikkurinen and Forsman-Hugg, 2011). The summarised income statement of the company has been presented in Appendix A for further consideration. It can be seen from the income statement of Coles Supermarket that the profitability has decreased in the year 2015 as compared to 2014 because of the new investment of the company on CSR projects suc h as social work and technology development (Wesfarmers.com.au, 2016). Hence, it can be said that the company has effectively used the CSR strategies to survive and seek growth in the market. The ACCSR offers a good ranking to Coles because of its CSR initiatives and recent social programs (Jahdi, 2014). Therefore, it can be seen that Coles have implement CSR in its business model to gradually grow its business and work for the welfare of the society (Trong Tuan, 2012). It helps the company to maintain good relationship with the customers and develop its market positioning. Business Case Against CSR In the contemporary business management, Coles Supermarket Australia Pty Ltd has shared a massive section in retail, consumer services and supermarket in the Australian territory. Currently, the organisation operates more around 776 supermarkets throughout the entire Australian market including a number of rebranded supermarkets (www.coles.com.au, 2016). The supermarket chain of Coles Supermarkets owned by Wesfarmers has promoted significant policies and standards for its suppliers, distributors and marketers in order to enforce sustainability within the corporate business (Blowfield and Murray, 2008). Understandably, some of the corporate social responsibility policies directed towards suppliers, distributors and marketers have been strictly criticised as the policies are considerably hurting the poor vendors and market distributors. In a report published to show the adverse effect of the CSR policies of the consumer goods giant such as Coles Supermarkets, it can be seen that Coles Supermarkets are imposing inconsiderate and insensitive conditions on the retailers, suppliers and distributors. Thus, the harsh CSR policy measures of the supermarket chain have led to the dismal condition of the poor suppliers operating in the Australian market. In order to meet the standards of the services and quality of products, Coles has imposed unrealistic conditions on the fishing companies operate in the Pacific area (Welford, 2007). In addition to that, Coles has threatened the suppliers to be excluded from their supply chain if Coles Supermarkets sustainability criteria have not been met (Capaldi, 2016). In this way, Coles Supermarket has shown corporate social irresponsibility towards the stakeholders. In this very regard, a court case was filed against Coles in 2014. Based on the evidence and charges and allegations of th e plaintiff such as suppliers, Coles Supermarket Australia Pty Ltd has ordered to pay $10 million to the suppliers as a penalty (Worldgrowth.org, 2016). Invariably, Coles Supermarket has been reportedly alleged about non-cooperation with the small suppliers. The small suppliers and dairy product producers have been forced to maintain environmental standards at any cost. In case, the suppliers have failed to meet the sustainability standards, the products have been rejected by the biggest retailer in the Australian market creating massive losses for the small suppliers. Herein, the corporate social responsibility practices of Coles have turned into too much harsh to be controlled by the small vendors (Allen and Craig, 2016). In the current market scenario, such nasty practices towards the suppliers have shown corporate social irresponsibility to the stakeholders more than anything else. In addition to that, the standards and environmental sustainability measures delivered to the suppliers have caused more troubles to the vendors. Sometimes, as the consumers have denied buying low-cost products, Coles Supermarket has returned the products to the suppliers without any consideration. Such retailers policy in purchasing must not be supported at the corporate level. Meanwhile, Coles Supermarket has somewhat ignored the rights of the poor suppliers and rather focused on profitability (Ketola, 2013). As a result of the situation, some of the policies in CSR must have been condemned as the same are hurting the poor suppliers deficiently. Through the identification of the Coles Supermarkets adverse CSR policy and practices, it must be said that the companys image towards the suppliers has been continuously declined due to such unethical and irresponsible policy measures. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Coles In the current situation, Coles Supermarket Australia Pty Ltd has identified the market priorities and corporate social responsibility to corporate sustainability. In order to achieve the ecological sustainability in the target market, Coles Supermarket has prioritised environmental standards to control the climate change promoting green farming. Thus, the CSR policies directed towards the suppliers have produced adequate food products processed in a natural way. Also, the CSR policies and practices of Coles Supermarket have protected the rights of the labours and human resources attached to the corporate business (Jones, Bowd and Tench, 2009). By enforcing ethical supply chain within the business pattern, Coles Supermarket has taken the responsibility and accountability of the employees. However, CSR standards towards suppliers have been remained under scanner (Koo, 2015). Meanwhile, the CSR towards the human resources and society has generated increased employment opportunities and standards of living for the public of the country. In this way, CSR in Coles Supermarkets corporate culture has supported the business standards. Invariably, the corporate governance of Coles Supermarket has been impressive following the corporate social responsibility practices. Coles Supermarket has shown zero tolerance towards child labour within the corporate functionality. Therefore, the suppliers, distributors and marketers of Coles Supermarket must abide by the norms of the organisation to be included in the supply chain. At the same time, the strict corporate governance has contributed to eradicating the issues of corruption for the business system providing opportunities to every section of the society (Jenkins, Pearson and Seyfang, 2012). Hence, the more efficient business regime has been set up within the corporate business. Finally, Coles Supermarkets management has supported the economic standards by promoting reduced consumption of resources. For instance, in farming and dairy product manufacturing, solar energy has been utilised to save the other non-renewable energy resources. Also, the organisation has investe d time as well as capital to increase the growth of business. By providing jobs to the unemployed of the society, Coles Supermarket has aimed to eradicate poverty from the society (Zahid, 2015). Also, the organisation has donated fund to the health and educational development to improve the standards of living. Such social investment of Coles Supermarket has been identified as the stand out points in the CSR. Conclusion It can be seen from the above analysis that the ACCSR had effectively worked on behalf of the government to enforce different organisations for implementing CSR in their business model. In the same way, the Coles Supermarket has implemented CSR framework in its business plans to develop its market positioning. Though the CSR practices have increased the expenditure and work pressure of the company, it has worked on behalf of the company to improve its status in the market. Furthermore, the CSR approaches have helps Coles Supermarket to develop good connection with the customers and seek growth in the Australian market. 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