Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting: An Essay

This essay provides a critical discussion of the drivers and motivations behind corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting, evaluating its usefulness. It examines the regulations surrounding CSR, and analyzes factors like policy and market pressures, and technological advancements that drive sustainable practices. The essay also delves into the motivations behind CSR initiatives, including value-driven, performance-driven, and stakeholder-driven approaches. The CSR practices of Sainsbury PLC and Tesco are compared, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses in sustainability reporting. The analysis includes a critique of the reports, considering the fulfillment of stakeholder needs and the impact on financial sustainability, ultimately concluding on the importance of CSR in business operations.

RUNNING HEAD: CSR REPORTING 0
2019
Corporate Social Responsibility
sTUDENT’S dETAILS-

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Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Reporting: Drivers and
Motivators
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the duty and the obligations of the organization
towards the society along with the maintenance of financial performance (Crane, et al.,
2019). The companies around the world make the reporting of CSR in order to get indulged
into the sustainable practices and make the substantial CSR reporting. The essay will discuss
the regulation of CSR reporting and the drivers and motivators of CSR reporting through the
thorough analysis of reporting that can make the interactions with the wider society. The
essay has compared CSR practices of Sainsbury PLC with Tesco which are the leading
supermarkets of United Kingdom.
Regulation of CSR initiative is crucial for the company in order to make the sustainable
business practices that can also uplift the profits of the company (Opoku‐Dakwa, et al.,
2018). Sainsbury Plc ensure the CSR reporting is being regulated and effectively managed in
order to make the contribution to United Nations Sustainability goals that make their business
efficient and reliable. The company has followed the sustainability practices that are
complementary with the expectations of environment and satisfies the needs of communities.
On the contrary, Tesco has been committed to the corporate responsibility and regulates the
CSR initiatives in such a way that business satisfies the needs of the stakeholders. For
example, the company has undertaken initiatives which has included the reporting of
protection of interest of employees in which the company has made the awareness programs
labour standards and human rights and has made efforts for promoting health of customers.
This can be seen from their reporting on the National Charity partnerships of the company
with Diabetes UK and British Heart Foundation on which the company has invested 10
million pounds (Radojev, 2016).
Drivers CSR reporting are the factors that lead to the sustainable practices of the companies
which include the policy pressure, market pressure and the technological development and
can ultimately improve the performance of the company (Zhang, et al., 2019). In case of
Sainsbury Plc, drivers of CSR reporting are their valuable customers who have trustworthy
relationships with the company and affect the CSR reporting of the company. Apart from
this, the company has elaborated that the company wants to be most inclusive retailer and
because of which the company makes CSR reporting through providing employment and

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empowering women which is considered to be the sustainable goal of the company
(Sainsbury, 2018). Besides, drivers of the sustainable practices of Tesco is the financial
performance and the pressure that the company receives from the competitors to indulge in
the sustainable practices. As a result, the company has made investments in environment
sustainability in order to reduce the negative impact of the environmental factors on the
company. Further, drivers of CSR reporting of the company are the trusted relationships with
the suppliers which can bring productivity to the company and as a result, the company has
made Tesco Supplier Network and Supplier Engagement team (Tesco, 2016).
Further, motivations of CSR are the factors that led to the CSR initiatives that give rise to the
increasing financial and non-financial objectives (Mantovani, et al., 2017). Also, it can be
observed that the companies’ value driven CSR, performance driven CSR and stakeholders-
driven CSR lead to the financial performance of the companies. Sainsbury has motivations
for CSR practices in which the company is compelled to make sustainable reporting due to
the values of the company. Also, the company has values which strives to improve the health
of the customers and ensured their sustainable practices in terms of producing the quality
products that can uplift the profits of the company. The company has been motivated to
undertake CSR reporting for the purpose of achieving the high level of performance.
Sainsbury has made the productive work culture that uplifts the performance of the
employees. Moreover, Tesco has been motivated to pursue the CSR reporting due to CSR
driven approach for the sustainability. The company has initiated various CSR driven
approaches for the fulfilling the needs of the various stakeholders. As a result, the company
has focused on the adoption of anti-bribery policies, maintained supplier relationships,
increased customer and employee safety through various standards.
Analysis of CSR reporting includes the strengths and critiques of the reports as every
company has different pattern and the philosophies that are pertaining to the CSR initiatives
(Michelon, et al., 2015). As per the sustainability reporting of both of the companies
Sainsbury and Tesco, it can be determined that the CSR reports had certain strengths which
include that the reports of the companies were value driven and it conceptualized the main
purpose of the companies in such a way that it fulfilled the environmental standards and also
maintained the standards of performance for the employees (Tesco Plc, 2019). Additionally,
the companies had been meeting the needs of the stakeholders such as the employees,
suppliers, communities and the environment. In both the CSR reports of Sainsbury and
Tesco, it is being recognized that reports do not consider the goal of financial sustainability

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which can be the criticism for the company. Apart from this, the companies do not have
included the impact of the society and system on the business practices of the companies.
Thus, the reports did not consider the needs of the society wherein the companies do not have
knowledge of the needs of the society.
In the end, it can be concluded that it is important that the company must fulfil their social
responsibility towards the different stakeholders and also maintain the sustainability into the
business operations. Also, the companies mention their CSR initiatives into the annual and
sustainability reports in order to make the operations stably. Here, the essay has determined
the CSR initiatives of Sainsbury and Tesco into CSR reporting and also various kinds of
drivers and motivations that compels the company to indulge in the sustainable practices and
also make efforts for the uphold the interest of the stakeholders. The essay has also discussed
the critical analysis of the CSR reports of the companies.

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References
Crane, A., Matten, D. & Spence, L., 2019. Corporate social responsibility: Readings and
cases in a global context. s.l.:Routledge.
Mantovani, D., de Andrade, L. & Negrão, A., 2017. How motivations for CSR and
consumer-brand social distance influence consumers to adopt pro-social behavior. Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services, Volume 36, pp. 156-163.
Michelon, G., Pilonato, S. & Ricceri, F., 2015. CSR reporting practices and the quality of
disclosure: An empirical analysis. Critical perspectives on accounting, Volume 33, pp. 59-78.
Opoku‐Dakwa, A., Chen, C. & Rupp, D., 2018. CSR initiative characteristics and employee
engagement: An impact‐based perspective. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 39(5), pp.
580-593.
Radojev, H., 2016. National Charity Partnership between BHF, Diabetes UK and Tesco
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Available at: https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/national-charity-partnership-between-bhf--
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making-a-difference/Sustainability_Update_2018.pdf
[Accessed 23 December 2019].
Tesco Plc, 2019. Annual Report and Financial Statements 2019. [Online]
Available at: https://www.tescoplc.com/media/476423/tesco_ar_2019.pdf
[Accessed 23 December 2019].
Tesco, 2016. An update on our Corporate Responsibility commitment. [Online]
Available at: https://www.tescoplc.com/media/475739/corporate-responsibility-update_nov-
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[Accessed 23 December 2019].
Zhang, Q., Lan Oo, B. & Heng Lim, B. T., 2019. Drivers, motivations, and barriers to the
implementation of corporate social responsibility practices by construction enterprises: A

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