Business Sustainability and Ethical Sourcing in Premier Investments Ltd

The article discusses the business sustainability and ethical sourcing of Premier Investments Ltd, an Australian company listed on the ASX. The company has a strong background in retail with import and distribution businesses, and is committed to sustainable practices in its people, community, and environment segments. The article highlights three objectives for each of these segments, along with possible performance measures to assess success. Additionally, the company has transparent practices for ethical sourcing, including compliance with legislation, zero tolerance for animal cruelty, and empowerment of workers.

Management Accounting
1

Executive Summary
This article will highlight business sustainability and ethical sourcing from the view point of a
researcher with the example of a case study. This case study is to be based on Premier
Investments Ltd, an Australian company listed in the ASX. The company is engaged in retail
business and proves their worth with their performance. This article will highlight different
aspects of evaluation of the said company on the two domains with the set objectives and the
corporate measures adopted to evaluate possible enhanced performance in these segments. The
source of this article will be the latest annual report of the company where the board had
confirmed the same.
2

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Business Sustainability....................................................................................................................4
People...........................................................................................................................................4
Community...................................................................................................................................5
Environment.................................................................................................................................5
Ethical Sourcing...............................................................................................................................6
The Table.........................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References:......................................................................................................................................8
3

Introduction
Main emphasis of this article is on the performance of Premier Investments Ltd in the areas of
business sustainability and ethical sourcing. This company has a strong background of financial
strength. It was listed in the ASX since 15th December, 1987. The company was involved in the
business of retail market with import and distribution business with the objective of maximizing
growth in capital returns to the stakeholders. The company has the aspiration to take advantage
of its professional expertise with strong financial liquidity in the segment of retailing and
wholesale business. Presently the company has whole ownership of retail giant Just Group with
25.7% of share in electrical consumer manufacturer Breville Group. The company practices
strong corporate governance and the annual report of the company highlights this. Our subjects
of discussions are also covered in that annual report which will research with the aim to highlight
three objectives of each area with probable measures to accomplish those objectives
(Premierinvestments, 2016).
Business Sustainability
Regarding business sustainability of Premier Investments Ltd, the company had declared its
stand in the latest Annual Report of 2016. In the report, the main areas of emphasis are People,
Community and Environment. The company is committed to a projected objective of long term
tenure to deliver sustainable value by the efforts of the management by using the relationship and
the resources possessed by the company. In fact, this set objective can guide the company
regarding their future behavior towards their stakeholders with the impacts of their activities
(Premierinvestments, 2015).
4

People
People here depict the internal stakeholders of the organization in the form of employees. The
company ahs clear directive towards their human resource management with high level
efficiency and professional attitude. Main directives of this objective are attraction and retention
of right people, remunerate and award them for their accomplishment, develop them as per their
expertise and provide them with workplace safety. The company has huge human resource
strength of 7000+ and out of them 90% is female (Ibisworld, 2016).
Community
The company has long tradition of philanthropic support towards the environment with their
different brands. Out of them, Peter Alexander and SMIGGLE brands are famous for their value
added contribution to the environment. Peter Alexander is working with RSPCA and raised
funds over AUD 48,000 towards RSPCA shelters which use to take care of more than 140,000
animals per year on the ground of rescue operation, rehabilitation process and provision of home
to the injured, stray or unwanted animals. As a result, this brand is awarded with the
acknowledgment of RSPCA Ambassador of these efforts (CapitalCube, 2017).
SMIGGIE brand is also engaged in supporting good number of charities for children on the
ground of education. Additionally this brand is instrumental in fund raising process from local as
well as overseas sources for sporting events, schools and different events on education. The
company had donated for this purpose during the year for over $ 100,000 through own products.
Environment
5

As a sensible stakeholder for the maintenance of environment, the company is engaged in
different areas which can ensure environment will have no or less harm from the efforts of the
company. The company is engaged in packaging stewardship with the effort to optimize
packaging to mitigate environmental effects, to increase the recycling process of packaging
materials, commitment to ensure stewardship of product and implementation and following of
Sustainable Packaging Guideline as per the international standard. For waste and recycling, the
company has extensive program in their stores, Support and Distribution Centers. For effective
recycling process, the company has strategic alliance with Orora, who are reckoned as the
stalwart of Australian packaging to ensure effective recycling procedures. To ensure energy
efficiency, the company is engaged in converting their stores to efficient energy system by
installing LED lights (Premierinvestments, 2016).
Ethical Sourcing
To ensure ethical sourcing of raw materials and the workmanship of the products of the
company, the company has very transparent and prudent practice through which the external
stakeholders can be able to know the basic factors of the products sold from the stores of the
company. To ensure ethical sourcing, the company follows the sourcing models direct from
factories of the strategic alliance stakeholders and through LI and Fung, who are considered as
the biggest global souring company for major retail brands of the company globally acclaimed
(Premierinvestments, 2016). Additionally the company has the present practice of sourcing from
Asian Countries like India, China, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and many more.
To ensure ethical sourcing the company adheres to the following guidelines:
 Compliance of legislation of the respective countries
 Insistence on legal rights of the workers including empowerment of worker and free
association
 Zero tolerance policy for animal cruelty.
6

The Table
Dimension Objective Possible Performance Measures
Business
Sustainability
1. People 1. Attraction and Retention
2. Development and recognition
2. Community 1. Philanthropic Support to animal
2. social support to children
3. Environment 1.Packaging Stewardship
2. Energy efficiency
Ethical Sourcing 1.Sourcing Models, policies and
principles
1.Sourcing Principles
2. Compliance of legislation of the
sourcing countries
2.Ethical Procurement of Raw
Materials
1.No sourcing of raw materials
originated from animal like rabbit
angora
2. no use of raw materials which are
ethically not permitted
3. Development of economic
condition of the sourcing countries
1. workers’ safety
2. Ensuring minimum wages as per
prevailing standard of the country
Conclusion
Above discussion would highlight the performance of Premier Investments Ltd in regard to their
efforts towards ensuring business sustainability and ethical sourcing. With the transparent
practice, the company is governed with specific objective and possible performance measure to
assess their success in the said domains.
7

References:
CapitalCube. (2017, June 20). Premier Investments Ltd. – Value Analysis (ASX:PMV). Retrieved
September 13, 2017, from Capitalcube: http://www.capitalcube.com/index.php/premier-
investments-ltd-value-analysis-asxpmv-june-20-2017/
Ibisworld. (2016, July 30). Premier Investments Limited - Premium Company Report Australia.
Retrieved September 13, 2017, from Ibisworld: https://ibisworld.com.au/australian-company-
research-reports/retail-trade/premier-investments-limited-company.html
Premierinvestments. (2016, October). Annual Report 2016. Retrieved September 13, 2017, from
Premierinvestments: http://www.premierinvestments.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/PMV-
2016-Annual-Report.pdf
Premierinvestments. (2016, October). Commitment to Ethical Sourcing. Retrieved September 13,
2017, from Premierinvestments:
http://www.premierinvestments.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/PMV-Ethical-Sourcing-
Statement-Jul16.pdf
Premierinvestments. (2016). Company profile. Retrieved September 13, 2017, from
Premierinvestments: http://www.premierinvestments.com.au/about-us/
Premierinvestments. (2015, March 23). Premier Investments Ltd. Retrieved September 13, 2017,
from Premierinvestments:
http://www.premierinvestments.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/1H15-ASX-Investor-
Presentation.pdf
8

9