CSR becomes the Strategy for Co-operative

A fantastic interview with the CEO of the Co-operative Group here in the Independent which is packed full with useful business strategy nuggets (and perfect for AQA BUSS4 students)....

Here is a link to the interview with Peter Marks

We referred to the upgraded Co-op strategy (“Join the Revolution”) during our BUSS4 briefing days last week and it certainly proved a big hit with almost all the 250 teachers present. The Co-op Group has changed its main corporate aim which is now to become “the most sustainable business in the UK”. The strategy launch video (streamed below) is well worth watching.

The Co-op Group has been going through a significant period of corporate change. Indeed, Peter Marks suggests (we engaging honesty) that the pace and scale of change might have been a little too quick and dramatic! Nevertheless, it makes for a terrific case study for business teachers and students!

Some examples from just the last couple of years:

- Acquisition: Co-op buys fellow supermarket group Somerfield for £1.6bn in 2009

- Merger of Cooperative bank with Britannia Building Society in 2009

- Merger of Cooperative Travel with Thomas Cook in October 2010