Corporate Social Responsibility and UK Retailers

Abstract

This paper offers a preliminary examination of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitments and agendas being addressed and reported by the UK‟s leading retailers. The paper begins with a short discussion of the characteristics and origins of CSR and of the current structure of retailing in the UK. This is followed by an illustrative examination of the CSR issues publicly reported by the UK‟s top ten country of origin retailers and the paper draws its empirical material from the CSR reports posted on the World Wide Web by these retailers. The findings reveal that the UK‟s top ten retailers are addressing and reporting on four sets of CSR themes namely those relating to the environment; the marketplace; the workplace and the community. The paper concludes with a discussion of a number of general issues relating to these themes.