WAITROSE

Conflict between Corporate Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibilities and Corporate Governance



Table of Contents

Introduction to the Problem3

Objectives of Study4

Limitations of Investigation5

Main body5

Literature Review9

Corporate Ethics9

Cooperate Social Responsibilities (CSR)11

Corporate Governance12

Conflict between Business Performance, Growth and Competitive Advantage in a Global Economy14

Discussion on Current and Potential Issues15

Summary Conclusion18

Recommendations20

References22

Bibliography24

Introduction to the Problem

The field of corporate public affairs, social responsibility and public affairs are multifaceted; involving complex interactions with multiple constituencies, various resources, differing interests, and serendipity. It remains as much an art as a science, even after four decades of empirical and theoretical studies from academics and professionals alike. A company maintains a social identity and repute for which profitability may not be the only criterion of success. A corporate entity has to be aware and cautious about the social changes occurring in its environment, while controlling its own actions and policies for positive, societal contributions. For this purpose, the corporation must be aware about its ethical foundations, social responsibilities towards the citizenship, and its won measures of corporate governance. This is a very complex task to achieve, and often leads to conflicts and rifts between different members of the company. This conflict affects the internal and external environments alike, leading the company to jeopardy. While anticipatory, risk-based analysis allows for reaction on some issues, holistic, strategic understanding remains undeveloped but in demand.

The business performance, growth and competitive advantage of the company also suffer as a result of this conflict. Future research into understanding the role of culture, ethical regulations, governance and accountability, and the changing societal pressures will likely broaden our collective understanding beyond the “Western” world of public affairs (Aguilera, Filatotchev, Gospel, Jackson, 2008, pp. 475-492). By combining insights from a variety of different literatures, corporate political strategy gains credence from corporate strategy, stakeholder literature, issues management, international strategy, and international business.

Waitrose supermarket chain is part of the John Lewis Partnership (JLP), principally targeting the UK middle-class market. JLP is held in trust for its approximately 69,000 employees, all of whom are partners. Thus, the 40,000 or so Waitrose employees have a voice in the business. Waitrose operates over 190 supermarkets, four distribution centers, and manages its own farm—the 4,000-acre Leckford Estate in Hampshire, England. It commands approximately 4 percent of the UK market (Laura, Bourlakis, 2009, pp. 291-302). This study will look into the core concepts of ethics, social responsibility, corporate governance, business performance, growth and competitive advantage in a broad and specific view, taking Waitrose as our main focus for the study.

Objectives of Study

This study is based on the following few objectives:

To create an understanding about corporate ethics, corporate social responsibility and corporate governance along with its obligations and implications

To see how a conflict between corporate ethics, corporate social responsibilities and corporate governance can lead to issues in companies, especially the agency problems.

To see how the business growth, performance and competitive advantage are affected by such consequences.

To identify and evaluate Waitrose as a subject, to see how well this company adopts various considerations for each of the mentioned concepts ...