Impact of CSR on Buying Decisions: A Tesco Case Study Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Tesco's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. It begins with a brief overview of Tesco, followed by an in-depth examination of its CSR practices, including community involvement, environmental considerations, and labor relations. The report evaluates various corporate actions that have influenced Tesco's rankings in CSR indices and explores how Tesco's approach to CSR affects consumer buying decisions. It also delves into the relationship between CSR and the current business environment, highlighting key aspects such as energy use, water management, recycling, and emissions. The study concludes by summarizing the impact of CSR on sustainable growth and profitability, emphasizing its influence on consumer behavior and the importance of ethical practices. The report references various sources to support its findings and provides a well-rounded perspective on Tesco's CSR performance.

Individual Assessment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................... 1
Brief summary of Tesco...................................................................................................... 1
Corporate social responsibility of Tesco.............................................................................2
Evaluating different examples of corporate actions that results in company's ranking.........2
Company's approach to CRS which influence buying decisions..........................................3
Relation of CSR with the current business environment......................................................5
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................ 5
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................ 7

INTRODUCTION
Corporate social responsibility of the organization can be defined as a business approach
that contributes to sustainable development in order to deliver economic social and
environmental benefits to stakeholders. It can be commonly considered as a broad term which is
used to describe companies’ efforts for doing improvement in society. The study will be based
on the CSR of Tesco company which is a British retailer company and deals with large variety
of products. The report will help in providing a complete information about this British Retailing
company that is Tesco. In addition, this document will also investigate about overall rank
occupied by the company in terms of corporate social responsibility. Also, it will provide
various evidences which assists that purchasing decision of the buyer may be influenced by the
company's approach to CSR. Meanwhile, it will help in providing the importance of CSR in
current business environment.
Brief summary of Tesco
Tesco is a British Multinational and general merchandised retailer and its headquarters
are situated in Welwyn Garden city, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. This organization was
founded by Jack Cohen in 1919. The name of this enterprise was first appeared in 1924, after
Cohen purchased a shipment of Tea from T.E. Stock-well and combined those initials with the
first two letters of his surname. Tesco is by far one of the largest ever grocery in the commercial
chains in the world in terms of number of stores as well as yearly income. This company is one
of the international leading company which is based on UK but its stores are mainly situated in
dozens of countries including Asia and Europe (Bingham and Druker, 2016). The first store of
Tesco was not more than the couple of market stalls. This enterprise has expanded the business
globally since the early 1990 along with the operations in 11 other countries of the world. This
company produces diversified range of products and services which includes books, furniture,
clothing, electronics, petrol, software, financial services, telecoms and internet service.
Although, most of the online providers such as Amazon, eBay, Alibaba and others have
not fully entered into the grocery market. These companies build on the advanced technological
basis and their significantly developed logistics and distribution network in order to minimize
the cost and offers easy purchasing opportunities to consumers. So, in order to strengthen the
logistics and distribution services, Bookers group is appointed which enable the company to
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manage the cost better. Therefore, the Tesco's overall strategy is mainly aimed at penetrating the
price sensitive market.
Corporate social responsibility of Tesco
Corporate social Responsibility (CSR) is a business approach and it is a self-regulating
business model enables the company to be socially accountable (Jones and Comfort, 2018). This
can be commonly called as a business strategy which is raised in public response, thus led to
heightened the actions of corporation within Tesco. The community category covers the
company's commitment and effectiveness within the local, national and global economy.
Tesco's community contribution towards the CSR is almost 51 out of 100. Disclosure of
policies, programs and performance in the diversity were ranked at 51 out of total 100. Labor
relations, rights, compensation, benefits also contributes towards the maximization of the CSR
efforts. The environment data mainly covers the interaction of the company with the
environment at a large scale. Such as use of natural resources and impact of the company on
earth's ecosystem. Rankings of this category is almost 63 out of 100. The rationale of choosing
Corporate social responsibility within Tesco is aimed at regenerating the environmental
awareness of the company with respect to the ethical and environmental aspects. The main
significance of choosing this topic is helps in identifying the corporate actions and contributions
of the Tesco in CSR of the firm.
Evaluating different examples of corporate actions that results in company's ranking
Earlier in 2004, Tesco was ranked 26th in the annual business in the community corporate
responsibility index. Tesco company was ranked 1st in the category of Food and Drug and then
the organization was placed as one of the most socially responsible companies in UK. As per the
outstanding performance of the company which contributes towards the effective corporate
strategy. In January 2005, UK based retailer Tesco Plc made it into the list of FTSE4 Good
index which indicates the adherence of the company as a globally excepted corporate
responsibility standard (Jones and Comfort, 2018). This company also credited for integration,
community management, market place management and environmental impact.
However, this company was also awarded for excellence cause related marketing. This
enterprise considered CSR as an integral part of its corporate framework. Corporate social
responsibility of Tesco was also spread across several internal and external activities such as
Local regeneration projects, being environmentally conscious, and community issues. Although,
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Tesco mainly focuses on recycling of the products and also this company uses organic resources
for the production of goods. Company's community initiatives such as charity, effective use of
energy and water etc. all these things reflect CSR efforts from the side of Tesco. CSR strategy of
the Tesco mainly aimed at earning the trust of the customers in the form of responsible actions
with respect to the community that enables the company in minimizing any negative impacts on
society. Also, Tesco published the Corporate social responsibility reviews every year along with
the detail of the company regarding CSR approach, implementation and policies.
Transparent ratings and rankings of almost 17,972 companies from 140 countries driven
by 613 industry-leading Corporate social responsibility data sources includes ESG analyst,
crowd, government, publication and not for profit data. Various highlights to determine the
corporate social responsibility in year 2003 to 2004 are as follows:
 Tesco provides the job opportunities for 30000 job seekers.
 This organization distributes £57 million free shares to staff in order to introduce new
shares in success schemes.
 Tesco also concentrates over the ethical trading initiatives in terms of providing training
for buyers as well as suppliers in order to develop knowledge regarding labor standards
(Karim and et.al., 2015). Such training is provided to them via successful campaigns
such as “Buying with your eyes open” and “supplying with your eyes Open”.
 Conducting the proper audit of corporate social responsibility.
 Giving £7 million of computer equipment to schools and bringing £84 million since
1992.
 This company has also established the degradable carrier bags.
 Tesco has also focused towards the recycling of 80% of cardboard and 85% of the plastic
which is commonly used in operations.
Company's approach to CRS which influence buying decisions
The evaluation of CSR initiatives in an intricate, logical and structured process where
consumers considers factors that are valued by them. CSR is one of the highly emerging topics
around the world. However, it contributes towards the motivation of many companies around the
world in order to implement CSR strategies. Almost every big company has its CSR strategies in
order to meet the requirement of customer and society as a whole.
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Consumers are the key to successful development of the business so they are willing to
pay a premium for products that are made in socially and environmentally responsible ways
(Keane and Morschett, 2017). Also, consumers claim that they are ready to pay a higher price
for the products of socially responsible firms. Although, people are not willing to spend time in
figuring out the social responsibilities of the firm. Meanwhile, large number of consumers
continue to buy the products from the firm who conducts non-ethical actions at production and
manufacturing activities. On the other hand, there are a smaller number of people who are
concentrates towards the awareness of ethical conducts within the society. So, they largely relay
on the producers in consuming the goods and services with respect to CSR. Tesco is perceived as
a socially responsible firm so it shows the higher level of brand loyalty. Therefore, actions and
practices regarding the customers has the biggest effect on the levels of brand loyalty in the
market. Also, Tesco has created a great reputation in the minds of the consumers. As Tesco is
largely involved in Corporate social responsibility which allows the firm in performing ethical
practices in production of goods and services. So, this ultimately effects the purchasing decision
of consumers which enables them to take huge interest in purchasing Tesco products over other
goods.
However, consumer advocate groups are highlighting irresponsible corporate behavior
and also proving the customers to boycott such enterprises (Manning, 2018). Furthermore, the
increased attention placed on the CSR has been shown to impact on purchasing intention of the
customers. Purchasing decisions in respect to the ethical awareness of the society may impact the
world but public's perception of brands is generally determined largely by their commitment to
various social causes in which they believe in. Also, a company's reputation for the social
responsibility has a strong impact on the decisions regarding the purchasing of the goods and
services. At the same time, most of the people say that CSR affects their decision once in a
while. It means, CRS reputation has minimum effects on the buying decisions of the customer.
Furthermore, the impact of a company's CSR on purchase decisions doesn't appear to
vary much by generation, with a low of 15% of 35 to 44 years old reporting. Various different
types of factors are suggested below that help in identifying the purchasing decision of consumer
with respect to the CSR in Tesco.
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Most of the people say that their buying decision is being influenced according to the ethical
practices within the society but the fact is very a smaller number of people are generally aware
about the CSR within organizations.
On the other hand, despite of the several interest in CSR and its proposed ideas on purchasing
intentions of the people may vary according to the desired needs and requirements of the
customers.
Relation of CSR with the current business environment
CSR may be termed as a wide range of actions that businesses may make which includes
various different types of aspects such as charity and ethical trading etc. This may help in r
reducing the business risk and also improves the reputation of the firm along with certain cost
saving opportunities. Even, the simplest energy efficient measures can generate savings and
make a difference to Tesco business (Pulker and et.al., 2018). Also, most of the customers
generally prefer to buy from reputable companies. In current business environment, this aimed at
reduction of damage within environment. So, these kinds of CSR based corporations are
generally focused on four more important actions which can be described below:
 Energy use: this can be one of the major environmental issue that is related to corporate
social responsibilities of Tesco. Use of the solar plant may help in producing the
effective energy for the production of goods.
 Water use: use of the required amount of water may reflects the efforts of Tesco
company towards environmental consciousness of the suppliers.
 Recycling: Reusing the harmful components again for the pro duction of goods may
protects the environment from such harms.
 Emissions: Prevention of harmful gases is one of the important CSR which does not
allow the harmful effects of the emitted gases within current business environment (CSR
In Tesco, 2017).
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it can be concluded that Corporate social responsibility is one of
the main approaches that help the business in sustainable growth and maximized profitability.
This study has identified the impact of CSR over the purchasing decision of the buyer. This
report has also investigated various activities related to Corporate social responsibilities of
Tesco. This document has also described the impacts of CSR on current business environment
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which includes energy use, recycling of plastic and various harmful elements, efficient use of
water etc.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bingham, C. and Druker, J., 2016. Human resources, ethics and corporate social responsibility:
what makes ‘people’count within the organisation’s corporate social responsibility
platform?. In CIPD Applied Research Conference 2016: The shifting landscape of work
and working lives. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Jones, P. and Comfort, D., 2018. Storytelling and corporate social responsibility reporting: A
case study commentary on UK. food retailers. Journal of Public Affairs, p.e1834.
Jones, P. and Comfort, D., 2018. Storytelling and Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting: A
Case Study of Leading UK Retailers. European Journal of Sustainable Development
Research. 2(4). pp.1-11.
Karim, K. and et.al., 2015. Corporate social responsibility: Evidence from the United
Kingdom. Journal of International Business Research. 14(1).
Keane, M. and Morschett, D., 2017. The Influence of Localised Corporate Social Responsibility
and Perceived Brand Localness on Willingness to Buy at a Foreign Grocery
Retailer. Marketing ZFP. 39(1). pp.27-43.
Manning, L., 2018. Corporate Social Responsibility. In Food Ethics Education (pp. 121-146).
Springer, Cham.
Pulker, C.E. And et.al., 2018. Global supermarkets’ corporate social responsibility
commitments to public health: a content analysis. Globalization and health. 14(1).
p.121.
Online
CSR In Tesco. 2017. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/corporate-social-responsibility-
environmental-impact>
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