ACCT20071 Assignment 2: CSR Analysis of Woolworths and Wesfarmers

This report analyzes the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities of Woolworths and Wesfarmers, two major Australian companies. It examines the companies' initiatives, including environmental sustainability, community engagement, and employee relations. The report compares their approaches, highlighting differences in areas such as gender equality, environmental impact, and community support. It evaluates the positive and negative impacts of these CSR activities on various stakeholders, including consumers, employees, and local communities. The analysis draws on the companies' annual reports, sustainability reports, and other publicly available information to provide a comprehensive overview of their CSR performance and its implications for stakeholders. The report concludes by comparing both the companies' CSR activities and their impact on different stakeholders, with a focus on which company performs better in terms of CSR activities.

Corporate Social Responsibility

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 1
Executive Summary
The main purpose of this paper is to learn the concept of Corporate Social Responsibilities.
Corporate Social Responsibilities states the values and duties of the company towards the society
and the others communities. According to analysis of sustainability report of Woolworths and
Wesfarmers, it has been seen that both the companies follow the principles and duties those are
necessary to do for the society and communities. By comparing both the companies, it has been
found that Wesfarmers is more appropriate in terms of implementing or providing the services to
society except Woolworths in gender equality. The policy of gender equality of Woolworths is
highly moderate which is different from the other companies and helps to attain the objective.
The CSR activities of the company have a negative and a positive impact on the stakeholders
such as consumers, employees and shareholders.

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Contents
1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................3
2. Definition of CSR.....................................................................................................................3
3. CSR activities of Woolworths..................................................................................................3
4. CSR activities of Wesfarmers..................................................................................................6
5. Positive and Negative Impact of CSR on communities...........................................................9
6. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................10
7. References..............................................................................................................................11

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1. Introduction
In this paper, the discussion is made on the topic of Corporate Social Responsibility
activities. Woolworths has been taken into consideration to examine the impact of CSR activities
on communities such as employees, consumers and the others. Woolworths is an Australian
supermarket and grocery stores which is owned by Woolworths Group. It was established in the
year 1924. It has 80% of market share in Australian market. It mainly operates the business in
groceries but now it also sells the magazines, DVDs, health and beauty products (Woolworths,
2019). Wesfarmers is the main competitors of Woolworths as these are operating in similar
industry. In this paper, the activities of both the companies have been evaluated to examine their
impact on the society.
2. Definition of CSR
Corporate Social Responsibility is a type of international private business which aims to
contribute in society for their benefits. It means it is a self-regulation business model that helps
the company to active socially attractiveness (Park, Chidlow, & Choi, 2014). The businesses use
the natural resources and also develop the product with the help of public due to which the
responsibility of the company to provide the services for the benefits of society. Corporate Social
Responsibility is the policy that helps the company to fulfill all the responsibility towards the
society and communities. These activities have a positive or negative impact on communities
such as consumers, employees, and the other near community’s vicinity (Deegan, 2016).

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3. CSR activities of Woolworths
 Corporate Social Responsibility activities of Woolworths directly impact the customers,
suppliers and operations. It is observed that the company takes initiative towards the
environment. As the climate has been changed due to pollution and the other natural
disasters due to which the society face the challenges. The company supports the force on
climate-related financial disclosures, in this it suggest stakeholders to manage the climate
risk. As per this group, the company mainly focuses on identifying the climate change
risk and the opportunities those includes the potential physical and transitional risk that
may arise while changing climate. By analyzing the risk of climate changing, the
company can reduce it by implementing the strategies (Woolworths, 2019a).
 The Company implements the distribution and storage strategy to reduce the
environmental risk. The company reduces the carbon emission, proactive management of
workplace safety, physical well-being, mental health and the others. These activities help
to keep the environment safe and secure (Shnayder, & Van Rijnsoever, 2018).
 Solar power generation used by the company with 10686 MWH and it reduces carbon
emission by 18%. The stores continuously reduce food waste to landfill by 8% year by
year for the past 4 years. In terms of packaging, the company ensures 100% of all own
brand packaging be reusable by 2025.

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(Source: Woolworths, 2019b)
 It is observed that Woolworths also appoint women with the high percentage in order to
state the equality among the gender. It can be said that the company promotes the gender
equality in the society and it also inspire the others as well for gender equality.
(Source: Woolworths, 2019b)
In Woolworths, 50% of directors are an employee which is highly appreciable for the
women employees (Woolworths, 2019c).

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 Woolworths also perform some activities to maintain sustainability in the environment.
Woolworth’s sustainability targets and commitments are included in the planet, people
and prosperity.
People: The Company implements the diverse nature in the society. Diverse environment of the
company has been designed in order to encourage the equality in religions. The company
appoints the team members and board of director from different backgrounds which depicts the
diverse environment.
Planet: The Company saves the food for meals for environment in order to reduce the wastage
of food. It has been seen that the company also stores the food with the upgraded hybrid or free
refrigeration system. Storing the food for future use helps to reduce the wastage of food which is
beneficial for planet.
Prosperity: The Company also manufactures the product with the nutritional renovation, and it
represents the health stars rating as per the healthy star. The company also gives the cash
donation on it goods to society in order to helps them (Woolworths, 2019b).
4. CSR activities of Wesfarmers
 It has been seen that Wesfarmers also perform its duties those are towards the society.
The company implements the managing strategy in order to reduce the waste which is an
essential for all business. It reduces the wastage and also save the environment from
throwing the wastage in the environment.
 The company always takes care of packaging to reduce the wasting material. The waste
material of the company decreased by 9% which is beneficial for the society as the save

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food can use in future. It also invests in Greenhouse gas emission for healthy
environment by 269.5 kt CO2e (Wesfarmers, 2018).
 Board of the company is highly committed by setting the high standard for culture. The
company maintains the cultural environment by maintaining the accountability, integrity,
transparency and respect for others. It supports the company to maintain the healthy
culture and also encourage the society to maintain peace. It also follows the diverse
culture as it appoint the people from different background such as it is number one
company in terms of Indigenous people in Australia.
 The company donates all funds those are raised by it to Rural Aid’s Buy a Bale
Campaign which supplies hay and the other essential items to farmers. The company
already donated more than $310,000 which was raised and contributed, and donated to
not-for-profit organization. The company contributes $1.2 million as donation and
corporate sponsorship. The company donates $620000 to the Fred Hollows Indigenous
Australia program from Blackwood’s (Wesfarmers, 2019).
 It hires the females to promote the equality in gender. The percentage of female
employees has been increases from the previous year such as 33.1 to 35.1 percent from
24.8 to 28.9 percent in leadership. It also provides the opportunity to indigenous people
by giving the job vacancy to them as it hires 1.8 percent of Australian workforce (Peloza,
& Shang, 2011).
Comparison of both the companies
CSR Activities Woolworths Wesfarmers
Consumers It provides the
health rating to
It also offers the healthy product but does not

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products to
provide the
healthy products
to consumers
provide any rating side.
Employees It appoints 50%
of employees in
board of director.
It appoints 33 to 35% of female employees.
Local
Community
It supports the
every community
across the group
It also hires the indigenous people and offers
them job vacancy.
It also donate the cash or funds amount to
farmers and the other people
Society It protects the
environment by
analyzing the
risk of climate
changing.
It reduces 18%
of carbon
emission.
It ensures 100%
of packaging are
recycle and
reuse.
It invest in green house emission to protect
the environment

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It is observed that Wesfarmers implements more Corporate Social Responsibilities as
compare to Woolworths. In terms of gender equality, Woolworths implements the policy more
appropriately and offers the equal services to female candidates. Apart from this, it has been seen
that Wesfarmers protect the environment by implementing or investing into the greenhouse gas
emission. These activities of both the companies have direct impact on stakeholders such as
customers, employees, local communities and the others.
5. Positive and Negative Impact of CSR on communities
The impact of CSR activities on communities and these are as below:
Customers:
According to the Woolworths annual report, it is observed that the company invests in
different activities to attract the consumers for their goods and services. It has been found that
customers want the quality and healthy product with the high availability. It is observed that the
company saves the food for future meals due to which the availability of supplying the food has
been increases. Saving the food helps the society to get the goods and services on time with the
high availability. This corporate social activity of the company has a positive impact on the
society.
This social activity of the company has a negative impact on the consumers as it uses the
chemicals or free refrigerator to store the products. These chemicals may affect the health of
consumers and the society. It is negatively affects the consumers as it is harmful for the
customers’ health and also for the society (Helmig, Spraul, & Ingenhoff, 2016).
Employees:

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It has been analyzed that Woolworths have large number of employees that helps to
operate the business effectively. It has been found that Woolworths encourage the gender
equality in the society. This activity is beneficial for all employees and the local communities as
they get the opportunity to earn the money by performing all duties. It also gives the 50% of jobs
to female employees so that the females also get the good opportunity and equal right for
survival. This social activity has positive impact on employees as they all get the equal rights and
opportunities in the organization. It helps to enhance the employment that improves the economy
of the nation as well (Deegan, 2016).
Local Communities
It is observed that Woolworths analyze the risk which is incurred due to changing the
climate. After analyzing the changes, the company implements the strategies to protect the
environment that is beneficial for local communities and the society. The company adopts the
distribution strategy to distribute the goods at the wide range without affecting the environment.
It uses the eco-friendly vehicle and also establishes the stores in different location to enhance the
availability to goods of the company or reduces the pollution to protect the environment. It has a
positive impact on local communities and society. It also supports all religions across the group
that is positivity for the company. It encourages the society to maintain the peace in the society.
These social activities of the company have a positive impact on local communities, society,
employees and the others. Consumers can face the challenges due to less availability of food in
the market (Dal Maso, Liberatore, & Mazzi, 2017).

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6. Conclusion
According to above discussion, it is concluded that Woolworths implement the CSR
activities to maintain the sustainability in the Australian market. The Corporate Social
Responsibility of the company has a positive or negative impact on the stakeholders of the
company such as consumers, employees, local communities and society. As comparing the
Woolworths with its competitor company i.e. Wesfarmers, it has been found that Wesfarmers
perform its duty towards the society more appropriately as compare to Woolworths except
female vacancy.

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7. References
Dal Maso, L., Liberatore, G., & Mazzi, F. (2017). Value relevance of stakeholder engagement:
The influence of national culture. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental
Management, 24(1), 44-56.
Deegan, C. (2016). Financial Accounting 8th. Australia : McGraw-Hill
Helmig, B., Spraul, K., & Ingenhoff, D. (2016). Under positive pressure: How stakeholder
pressure affects corporate social responsibility implementation. Business & Society,
55(2), 151-187.
Park, B. I., Chidlow, A., & Choi, J. (2014). Corporate social responsibility: Stakeholders
influence on MNEs’ activities. International Business Review, 23(5), 966-980.
Peloza, J., & Shang, J. (2011). How can corporate social responsibility activities create value for
stakeholders? A systematic review. Journal of the academy of Marketing Science, 39(1),
117-135.
Shnayder, L., & Van Rijnsoever, F. J. (2018). How expected outcomes, stakeholders, and
institutions influence corporate social responsibility at different levels of large basic
needs firms. Business Strategy and the Environment, 27(8), 1689-1707.
Wesfarmers. (2018). 2018 Wesfarmers Sustainability Report released. Retrieved From:
https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/util/news-media/article/2018/09/16/2018-wesfarmers-
sustainability-report-released

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Wesfarmers. (2019). 2019 Wesfarmers Annual Report. Retrieved From:
https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/docs/default-source/asx-announcements/2019-annual-
report.pdf?sfvrsn=0
Woolworths. (2019a). 2019 Annual Report. Retrieved From:
https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/icms_docs/195582_annual-report-2019.pdf
Woolworths. (2019b). 2019 Annual & Sustainability Report Highlights. Retrieved From:
https://wow2019.qreports.com.au/
Woolworths. (2019c). 2018 Sustainability Report. Retrieved From:
https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/icms_docs/195398_2018-sustainability-report.pdf