Abstract
Retailers serve as the main interface between business and society. This study explores the Corporate Social Responsibility priorities and performance of the largest 23 global retailers. This set of global retailers, who have a major impact on society, were studied in terms of social, environmental and sustainability practices and strategy, and there performance was analysed and evaluated. The study uses a four-dimensional Social, Economic, Environmental, Supply Chain model for sustainability performance evaluation. We rely on data collected from annual reports, and find that global retailers have addressed the business-society interface in relatively balanced ways for the different dimensions of CSR. Further, our findings indicate that global retailers in different regions have different CSR priorities. In particular, the data indicates that the US retailers place a lower priority on supply chain sustainability performance, followed by the Australians, while European retailers place a higher priority. The study concludes that while global retailers all pay attention to the same dimensions of CSR and do so differently in the different regions, the variation and lack of significant progress indicates that there is a role for stronger government regulation. This study contributes to the literature by shifting the analysis from country to a global level, is more objective in relying on reported data rather than interviews or surveys and provides a new analytical tool.
Highlights
The retail industry provides the interface for business with society broadly and stands at the apex of the supply chain
The results discussed are based on disclosures from sustainability reports of the retailers which demonstrate the level of adoption of sustainability practices
This study examined and explored the corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategic priorities and practices of leading global retailers with particular attention to their supply chains
Summary
The retail industry provides the interface for business with society broadly and stands at the apex of the supply chain. In this position it is simultaneously the driver of manufacturing and the face of production to billions of consumers around the globe. In this critical position, its role in driving the global sustainability agenda is critical. The industry employs 15.9 million people in the U.S alone and form about 10% of the total employments (U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018). Two-thirds of the U.S gross domestic product comes from retail industry and it is approximately the same for most countries
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