When CSR is in your DNA

Since its foundation in 1844, The Co-operative has seen CSR as key to its operations and activities. This paper looks at the company's framework for prioritising CSR policies to ensure that they chime with consumers and, crucially, how its performance in this area impacts on the bottom line.

When CSR is in your DNA

Liz HarrisonThe Co-operative Group

WHAT IS CSR?

It does not matter what is considered to be Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). What matters is what CSR is not.

The world of business has embraced a whole new language – 'business ethics', 'sustainability', 'socially responsible investment', 'ethical trading', 'stakeholder dialogue'. At first sight this appears so very different from the 70's, 80's and 90's where the prevailing thinking was summed up by Margaret Thatcher's favourite economist, Milton Freidman, in the much-quoted phrase: “The business of business is business”.

There have been some high profile examples...

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands