Kroger's Csr : The Evolving Practices Around Corporate Social Responsibility

Kroger Supermarkets were started in 1883 by Barney Kroger in downtown Cincinnati. Mr. Kroger started his business with the motto: “Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself.” Through the years Kroger has strived to uphold this motto to its customers and to provide great service, the freshest products and expansion to meet the needs of their customer base making it one of the world’s largest retailers. Kroger now has over 2,600 stores in 34 states with $108.5 billion in annual sales. Kroger operates 37 food processing facilities and Kroger was the first grocery retailer to use the electronic scanner.

For the rest of the meal I’ll still need tomato sauce, I need spinach leaves, onions, garlic cloves, pecans, and basil leaves. Fortunately the basil and pecan nuts are easier to acquire because I happen to have garden at my house which does produce both of these ingredients. As for the other ingredients, the rest is purchased at the store, the only distinction is a great deal of this is not packaged previously, instead it’s fresh produce so the manufacturing process is not the same. For several years, Kroger has operated with agriculturalists and contractors to transport locally produced merchandises to grocery stores. There are two main farms specifically in Arizona where Kroger does obtain some of their fresh vegetables. These include Rousseau

Just in this year alone Kroger has made a substantial impact in society. When it comes to the social aspect the company went above and beyond the norm. Since 2010, Kroger has been contributing $1.2 billion each year to its Making a Difference program which helps children prepare for school by providing them school supplies and materials. Kroger fights hunger around the nation by donating 54 million pounds of food to non-profit organizations each year. It also has put emphasis on health awareness since it has taken 13.9 billion steps to raise health consciousness.

By the end of 2013, Dillon had announced his resignation. This was an unforeseen circumstance that came out of nowhere. The company was not expecting this to transpire. Experts stated that the Kroger Company had one of the best transitions of executive succession. Rodney McMullen, who had started with the company in 1978, was announced the CEO in 2015. McMullen stated with the company as a part-time stocker. Over the years McMullen has held positions such as Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President of Strategy, Planning and Finance, the company's President and COO, and a chairman of the Kroger Board of Directors. McMullen was well groomed before assuming the position as the CEO. Coolidge (2014) had explained that McMullen had been intimately involved in the strategy that has grown Kroger's sales every quarter for 10 ½ years – transforming shopping for American consumers who want a viable alternative to

With its first location opening in 1888 and its incorporation as The Kroger Grocery and Baking Company, today, The Kroger Company is one of the world’s largest grocery retailers, with 2014 fiscal sales totaling $108.5 billion. The company operates 2,620 stores under nearly two dozen banners in 34 states across the country and employs nearly 400,000 associates. The company has various store varieties like supermarkets, price-impact warehouse stores, and multi-department stores, with 94 percent of total company sales derived from food stores. Kroger operates three-tier distribution system, the only major supermarket company in the United States to do so. The company also operates 37 food processing and manufacturing facilities where they produce private-label products. The Kroger Company also operates drugstore, convenient stores, fuel stations and fine jewelry stores (“Operations”). To fulfill their commitment as a company, they live by six core values: honesty, integrity, respect, diversity, safety, and inclusion (“The Kroger Co.”).

At one time, Sears prided itself as “Where America Shops” by staying in touch with consumers and upholding high product, employer, and customer standards. Today, Sears is struggling to remain a prominent American retailer. The company’s present business model reflects a poor grasp of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Riddled with lawsuits, workplace issues, and a poor reputation with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Sears consumers know today is undesirable.

Back in 1883 an individual named Barney Kroger opened his first grocery store in downtown Cincinnati with his life savings of $372 (Kroger, 2015). Barney Kroger just like many other business owners was passionate about his business and had his own motto “Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself” (Kroger, 2015). Fast forward to present day and the Kroger Company has grown into one of the world’s largest retailers. One would be hard pressed to find someone living in the United States who has not heard of a Kroger Supermarket chain since Kroger has stores spread all across the country from coast to coast. The Kroger Company has grown to include more than 2600 stores and operates in almost

Kroger’s CSR efforts regarding environmental efforts are more robust than employee stakeholder support. Even with this, Kroger is considered a laggard with environmental CSR standards when compared to Walmart and Target (van der Ven, 2014). A main reason for this could be due to Kroger’s relatively light involvement with CSR focused organizations. Their leadership may simply not be exposed to CSR ideas as much as their peers (van der Ven, 2014). Expanding CSR knowledge, and leadership widening their network on CSR possibilities will give Kroger’s leaders access to industry leaders best practice knowledge.

The long-held belief that a business exists for the only purpose of generating profits for shareholders is quickly going by the wayside, as it becomes increasingly evident how much of an impact organizations have on communities and society. The ability of any enterprise to balance the ethical and economic factors and their respective agendas to joint fulfillment is the foundation of highly profitable and sustainable business for the long-term (Robert, Kodua, 2012). Staples, Inc., has one of the most advanced Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs in the retailing industry today. The Soul Program at Staples is based on a foundation of four pillars which include Community, Diversity, Ethics and Environment. Staples has taken these four foundational elements and successfully integrated them into the culture of their corporation, transforming them into a long-term competitive advantage (Field, 2009). The idealized state of CSR Programs is to provide an agile, intelligent framework for integrating economic- and ethically driven programs effective (Robert, Kodua, 2012). Staples has done this by creating a culture of accountability, one that is defined by scorecards that measure highly specific objectives in each of these four pillar areas, in addition to benchmarking the company's own performance at diversity program attainment, training, and a continual focus on attaining higher levels of delivered value

The Kroger Company grew in 128 years from one store to over 3,500 stores of various banners and products. The Kroger Company is the largest food and drug retailer in the United States and is growing constantly with diversity in the retail market, dealing in food, pharmacies, apparel, jewelry and fuel. Kroger is governed by a 14 member Board of Directors including a Chief Executive Officer. Kroger is a leader in Corporate Social responsibility by maintaining environmental consciousness, social awareness and energy conservation awareness. Kroger is committed to customers, builds diversity and focuses on growth. The company operates a large part of it’s own manufacturing and distribution to increase profit

Kroger, a grocery store that is slowing evolving into a Walmart or Target was started up by Barney Kroger. Barney used his life savings that consisted of $372 to open the very first Kroger store in downtown Cincinnati. Barney lived by his motto “Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself “. Kroger has an established business ethics and they also have core values set in place. To help support their employees they also have an established labor union along with other strongly supported policies. Kroger was able to achieve its growth by merging with other successful companies.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is something that affects all companies and should be an active factor in the company’s decision making. It is something all corporations need to care about. CSR is when business’ or corporations take part in an initiative or campaign for a cause that will benefit society and/or in some way make the world a better place (Taylor, 2015). Initially, Corporate Social Responsibility started to take shape around the 1950’s, but some say that it dates all the way back to the 1800s, the idea of CSR was seen (Carroll, 2007). One may think that because it is dated so long ago, it doesn’t have an important impact today nevertheless, it is proven that Corporate Social Responsibility is a pathway for entities to self benefit as they are in the process of benefitting society.

Corporate social responsibility has been one the key business buzz words of the 21st century. Consumers' discontent with the corporation has forced it to try and rectify its negative image by associating its name with good deeds. Social responsibility has become one of the corporation's most pressing issues, each company striving to outdo the next with its philanthropic image. People feel that the corporation has done great harm to both the environment and to society and that with all of its wealth and power, it should be leading the fight to save the Earth, to combat poverty and illness and etc. "Corporations are now expected to deliver the good, not just the goods; to pursue

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the intention of the companies to do the right things and act in certain ways that are good for the company, society and environment. CSR was accelerated in 1970 (Archie B, 2006) and took into account since there was a concern between the increased population and scarce resources. It was established in order to ensure that the global development is sustainable. There are three fundamental aspects of sustainability, economic progress, communities’ relationships and environmental protection. This essay will report the managerial skills, leadership style and management practises in leading and managing an organisation to promote better and greener environment. Considerable research has been undertaken on Toyota Motors Corporation.

Starbucks is an American multinational corporation that is arguably considered as the best coffee house in the globe in terms of global performance. The company has for a long time considered CSR as an important part of its operations and currently, it adopts an Anglo-American model of corporate social responsibility. This is an approach to CSR that maintains close links between shareholder interests with the operations of the organization. The company ensures that its CSR initiatives are appropriately audited so that it is able to learn of its CSR performance and not as an effort of complying with legal regulations and this is what makes the strategies adopted by the company very relevant. The corporate social responsibility codes that are derived from Starbucks’ Anglo American model have contributed to great product development by the company, efficient production and quality customer service. All these have been made possible through the company’s Corporate Governance Codes . At starbucks, the codes have provisions for the code of conduct which acts as guidelines as to how the employees at the organization behave. The code of conduct guides the entire organization including the board of