WH SMITH

WH Smith

WH Smith

Introduction

WH Smith plc is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It is best known for its chain of high street, railway station, airport, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, and entertainment products. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. It has been an innovative company, being the first chain store company in the world and was responsible for the creation of the ISBN book catalogue system. (Archie 2009: 47)

WHSmith has 'Community Engagement Policy' which they maintain or increase this level of improvement they will continue to actively engage with their paper and timber product suppliers. WHSmith provide UK and Asian suppliers with guidance documents explaining the risks around forest sourcing and also the responsible sourcing policies, and will continue to review sourcing alternatives as needed. In addition, they offer regular training to their UK buyers so that they better understand the requirements of the forest sourcing policy and their role in the process. (Archie 2009: 87-95)

As a long-standing member of many local communities, WHSmith are committed to having a positive impact in the areas in which they operate. WHSmith value their community programme as an important tool through which they can support local communities. WHSmith encourage their employees to support good causes and give their time to participate in fundraising activities. As a leading bookseller and stationer, they focus the investment on education and life-long learning, notably through the partnership with the WHSmith Trust. (Fred 2009:17)

At WH Smith, upholding corporate responsibility (CR) is both an important contribution to business development and a commitment that WH Smith makes to their stakeholders. Their CR programme supports their business through greater risk management, identification of cost saving opportunities and positive brand association. Their commitment to stakeholders stems from their history of trading in the UK. For more than 200 years WHSmith has held a place in local communities, and today, more than ever, they are passionately committed to bringing their offer to those communities and meeting the public's expectations of their corporate responsibility.

Excessive packaging is an increasing concern of consumers and environmental stakeholders at large. WHSmith share this concern as unnecessary packaging represents a triple cost to their business: the cost of the packaging, paying for it to be transported to their distribution centres and stores and the waste disposal costs once the packaging is discarded.

Discussion

Each year, WHSmith are required to report the quantity of the packaging they handle to the Environment Agency and ensure that a set percentage of this material has been recycled, through payment of a packaging levy. This percentage is known as their 'packaging obligation'. (Archie 2009: 87)

In performing their work WHSmith adopted the following approach:

Desk-top evaluation and detailed analysis of the raw data used to construct the report, including comparisons with previous years.

Review of internal and external documents relating to CR management, including policies, procedures and stakeholder comments, particularly ensuring that evidence was made available to support substantive ...