Corporate Social Responsibility   and UK Retailers

Peter Jones, Martin Wynn,  Daphne Comfort, David Hillier

Abstract

This paper offers a preliminary examination of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) com
mitments and agendas being addressed and reported by the UK‟s leading retailers. The paper
begins with a short discussion of the characteristics and origins of CSR and of the current struc
ture of retailing in the UK. This is followed by an illustrative examination of the CSR issues
publicly reported by the UK‟s top ten country of origin retailers and the paper draws its empiri
cal material from the CSR reports posted on the World Wide Web by these retailers. The find
ings reveal that the UK‟s top ten retailers are addressing and reporting on four sets of CSR
themes namely those relating to the environment; the marketplace; the workplace and the com
munity. The paper concludes with a discussion of a number of general issues relating to these
themes.