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Good Business Journey: WOOLWORTHS’ long journey towards more CSR in South Africa

1. Organizational Governance

Strategy and organization

Context

Woolworths Holdings Limited was founded in 1931 and is based in Cape Town, South Africa. It is one of the top 100 companies listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange. Its core business focus is the provision of retail (clothing, food, home ware and beauty) and financial services to upper and middle income groups mainly in South Africa but also in Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Today the group has more than 450 stores and since April 2014 it is one of the10  biggest retail stores in the world.

In 2007, as part of their corporal social investment (CSI) strategy, Woolworths launched a long term programme towards sustainability: the Good Business Journey.

Objectives

  • To have at least one sustainable aspect on every product on Woolworths’ shelves by 2020
  • To make a difference in four key areas of CSR
  • To create shared value for Woolworths and their Stakeholders
  • To seize the opportunity for new products, services and markets

APPROACH

In April 2007, to formalise and consolidate some of their previous sustainability commitments and targets, Woolworths’ launched the Good Business journey (GBJ) – A comprehensive plan to make a difference in four key areas: transformation, social development, environment and climate change. 

The programme is strongly influenced by the sustainability agenda of international retailers, as well as by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines, JSE Socially responsible investment index criteria and other legislative requirements, but within the context of the changing social and environmental needs of South Africa.

Using the Woolworths Sustainability Index as the strategic framework, over 200 different targets for the business were set up with a five-year plan the first one from 2007-2012)  outlining the targets and commitments of the business specifically related to sustainable growth.

With a number of tools to accomplish their goal, Woolworths invited their suppliers, business partners, NGO’s and customers to join them on this journey.

- Employees are directly concerned since the progress is included in their scorecards and the way they are remunerated. 

- Suppliers are audited regularly and have to adapt to the new targets.

- Woolworths encourages customers to use their purchasing power where it can make a difference.

- Stockholders and investors benefit from this transparent communication.

Through these partnerships with NGOs and different stakeholders Woolworths supports the good work being done by these partner organisations, but also gains the benefit of their experience and input into their strategy.

Thanks to all these sustainability initiatives and via their membership of business and retail-specific organisations such as Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), the Retail Association and the National Business Initiative, Woolworths is able to provide input to new policy and legislation thus participating in changing the South African retail market.

Woolworths has also received a number of local and international awards for the programme including twice being named International Responsible Retailer of the Year, the Mail & Guardian Greening the future award, an energy efficiency award...

CONTRIBUTION TO COMPANY PERFORMANCE

  • Saving costs through energy saving and packaging reductions: 600 000 liters of diesel saved  (Euro  technology) and  Less than 0.1%of the products are air freighted
  • Identifying opportunities for operational efficiencies
  • Positioning the company as a responsible corporate citizen to stakeholders 
  • Local and international rewards

Benefits

  • Increase awareness around sustainability issues amongst employees
  • 700 tons of plastic recycled each year
  • 30% reduction of energy and carbon footprint
  • The coffee is 100% organic and the coffee beans Fair-trade certified
  • Influencing change in the retail sector and its value chain
Workforce
26 908 salariés (2013)
Turnover
2463 millions deuros (2013)
Country
South Africa

Mise à jour le 24/05/2016

Creative Commons Attribution This work by Réseau Alliances – World Forum Lille is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.