Search results

The purpose of this paper is to offer a preliminary case study exploration of the ways in which the UK's top ten food retailers are addressing healthy eating agendas as part of their CSR agendas and how these agendas are being promoted within their stores.

The paper begins with a short discussion of the healthy eating of CSR and a brief outline of food retailing within the UK. The paper draws its empirical material from the CSR reports and information posted on the world wide web by the UK's top ten food retailers and from a simple inspection and information collection survey conducted in the largest store in Cheltenham and Gloucester, UK operated by each of these ten retailers.

The findings reveal that there are considerable variations in the extent to which healthy eating is addressed in the CSR information posted on the world wide web by the top ten food retailers and how healthy eating is promoted within stores. The paper concludes that the leading food retailers could do more to address healthy eating agendas within stores.

The current case is a preliminary exploration of the ways in which the leading UK food retailers are addressing healthy eating issues as part of their CSR agendas and while it raises a number of interesting issues, more work will be needed before any definitive conclusions can be drawn.

The paper provides an accessible review of the ways the UK's leading food retailers are addressing healthy eating issues as part of their CSR agendas and as such it will interest academics and practitioners working in and on both this sector of the retail marketplace and health promotion.

The purpose of this paper is to offer a preliminary case study exploration of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues being addressed and reported by the UK's leading food retailers.

The paper begins with a short discussion of the characteristics and origins of CSR and this is followed by an outline of the structure of food retailing in the UK and of the ways in which the leading food retailers are driving innovation and development. The paper draws its empirical material from the CSR reports and information posted on the world wide web by the UK's ten leading food retailers.

The findings reveal that each of the leading food retailers has its own approach to CSR and that there are substantial variations in the nature and extent of the reporting process. That said, there is some common ground in reporting on a range of environmental issues, on sourcing, on employees, on customers and on the communities in which the retailers operate. The underlying message is that all food retailers believe that CSR is an integral element of their core business.

The paper provides an accessible review of CSR issues and agendas, as perceived by the UK's leading food retailers, and as such will interest academics and practitioners working in and on this sector of the retail marketplace.

The UK food retailing sector has undergone a radical transformation over the last 70 or so years. It has become a sector dominated by very large businesses with considerable power over both the upstream and downstream supply chain. The scale and power of those leading retailers has attracted considerable academic focus and political attention. In the first two decades of the twenty-first century, global concern has emerged via a number of grand challenges including sustainability. Retailers have increasingly sought to address issues of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability, both to stave off criticism and for reasons of operational efficiency. The scale of the UK’s leading food retailers thus becomes a two-edged sword; should these retailers be co-opted in the fight for global sustainability or radically challenged as the cause of many of the problems? This chapter reviews the changing roles of food retailers, their steps in CSR and then poses the question as the future role of retailers in this changing environmental landscape.

This research aims to explore retail managers' views on how food waste (FW) management activities contribute to sustainable value creation and how the customer value proposition (CVP) for a given food retailer interacts with their approaches to FW management.

A three-stage exploratory qualitative approach to data collection and analysis was adopted, involving in-depth interviews with retail managers, documentary analysis of multiple years of relevant corporate reports and email validation by seven major UK grocery retailers. Thematic content analysis supplemented by word similarity cluster analysis, two-step cluster analysis and crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis was undertaken.

FW management practices have been seen by retail managers to contribute to all forms of sustainable value creation, as waste reduction minimises environmental impact, saves costs and/or serves social needs, whilst economic value creation lies at the heart of retail FW management. However, retail operations are also framed by CVP and size of a retailer that enable or inhibit the adoption of certain FW management practices. Low-price retailers were more likely to adopt practices enabling them to save costs. Complicated cost-incurring solutions to FW were more likely to be adopted by retailers associated with larger size, high quality and a range of services.

This study is the first of its kind to empirically explore retail managers' perception of sustainable value creation through FW management activities and to provide empirical evidence of the linkages between retail CVP and sustainable value creation in the context of retail FW management.

The purpose of this paper is to offer an exploratory case study of how the UK's top ten food retailers are communicating sustainable consumption agendas to their customers within stores.

The paper begins with a discussion of the growing awareness of the role that retailers, and more particularly food retailers, can play in promoting sustainable consumption. This is followed by a short literature review of current thinking on sustainable consumption. Information obtained from two simple “walk through/visual observation and information collection” surveys conducted within the largest store operated by each of the top ten food retailers within the towns of Cheltenham and Gloucester, UK, provided the empirical material for the case study. The paper concludes with some reflections on how sustainable consumption fits into the large food retailers' business models.

The survey revealed that, while the UK's top ten food retailers were providing customers with some information on sustainable consumption, the dominant thrust of marketing communication within stores was designed to encourage consumption. More generally, the paper concludes that, at best, the UK's leading food retailers are pursuing a weak model of sustainable consumption and that their definitions of, and engagement with, sustainable consumption is driven as much by commercial imperatives as by commitments to sustainability.

This paper provides an accessible review of the extent to which the UK's leading food retailers are communicating sustainable consumption agendas to their customers within stores and as such it will be of value to academics, practitioners, consumer organisations and policy makers interested in the role retailers can play in promoting sustainable consumption.

Explores the future development of the “big five” UK grocery retailers and their response to the challenges of the next decade. Presents the results of a survey of manufacturers, analysts and retailers, in which saturation and internationalization are the key themes. Recounts how UK grocery retailers have not been in the forefront of international retail activity – both non‐food UK retailers, and continental European food retailers, have established stronger international profiles. Suggests that the prospect of a saturated UK grocery market faces the “big five”, and addresses the question: when will opportunities in the UK become marginal, and how will retailers react to that prospect?

Food technology and innovation have had a large impact on British food retailing affecting suppliers, retailers and their markets. Technology has invaded many areas of the British food industry providing efficient technical knowledge and new products. Innovative retailers have anticipated the food market metamorphosis and have repositioned their retail activities to take advantage of the changing market environment. The central objective of this study was to assess retailers′ technical innovations in food manufacturing, and to achieve this a research technique was adopted and conducted with leading UK food retailers. The results suggested that food retailers′ technological capabilityi affects the method of own‐label procurement and choice of suppliers. Those retailers who were able to influence food innovation all have large food technology departments, employing food technologists to meet consumer food requirements and legal obligations, and who collaborate with their suppliers to develop new products. Concludes that innovation is vital to the future of both food manufacturers and retailers, and novel and significantly different new products and/or services will ensure success either way.

Considers the direction of the international expansion of European food retailers, and suggests that international retail studies have been criticized for a lack of empirical research. Discusses the results of a survey which sought the views of the main board directors of all major food retail companies based in six European Union countries: France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and the UK. Observation of previous international activity reported in the literature suggests that the direction of international retail expansion is primarily determined by three factors of geography, culture and economic development. Considers the observable trends in the light of the empirical results presented. Presents these findings within a conceptual framework which suggests that, over time, retailers move from a reluctant, through cautious, to an ambitious stage in their international development. Analyses and discussess respondents’ propensity to internationalization and proposes a conceptual development.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how socio-economic and institutional factors impact UK food retailers’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies as revealed in corporate communications and product marketing. Building on institutional theory, the authors empirically examine whether discourse in CSR reports aligns with commercial strategies.

Employing a mixed method approach the authors quantify quotes related to key CSR themes in annual reports and claims on new private label products launched in nine key product categories using information from Mintel’s Global New Products Database. These measures are grouped into eight distinct CSR themes across seven retailers and seven years (2006-2012).

Health and safety and environment are the leading themes in both data sets. Animal welfare, community and biotechnology and novel foods take the middle ground with differing use across reports and products. Fair trade, labor and human resources and procurement and purchasing are the least commonly described themes in reports and on products. Retailers focus on different CSR themes in reports and new products, which may be evidence of competitive rather than pre-competitive strategies.

This research shows that UK food retailers CSR strategies between 2006 and 2012 were more competitive than pre-competitive, which is in line with theory that suggests economic pressures decrease incentives to cooperate. However, this research is limited to innovation data and analysis of CSR reports. A more complete analysis would need to consider sales or consumption data, wider sources of corporate communications and independent measures of social, environmental and economic impact. The authors’ findings caution policy makers to be wary of retailers commitments to voluntary agreement pledges, particularly when the competitive environment and economic conditions are more challenging.

Firms are increasingly pressured to contribute to social and environmental domestic and international commitments. Business should enhance coordination between CSR offices and commercial divisions to develop more consistent and effective social responsibility programs.

This is the first attempt to compare the evolution of CSR discourse and marketing strategy over time and across businesses in a key retail market.

The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a comparative study of order lead times for firms operating in the UK and Greek food retail markets with the UK one being regarded at the forefront in terms of logistics efficiency.

The main research instrument is a survey of managers employed by the major food multiple retailers operating in the UK and Greece. Statistical analysis is employed to illustrate the variances and differences between these retailers.

The study illustrates that total lead‐time is longer than the sum of the components. This implies that there are non‐value‐added time delays that are occurring between the components and there is still room for improvement. It is also shown that any differences in lead‐time between Greek and UK grocery retailers have been effectively eliminated as the entrance of retail multinationals in Greece has forced domestic retailers to improve their logistics systems.

There is a scarcity of papers in the logistics field that cross‐examines the logistics performance of national grocery supply chains. This is addressed via the current paper that reports the results of a comparative study of order lead times for firms operating in two European food retail markets, the UK and Greece. The paper will be beneficial to the strategic thinking of retail logistics managers and will support further empirical research work in that academic field of study.