CSR - Cooperative Group invites you to join a revolution

A major news announcement from the Co-operative Group in the UK provides a wealth of research materials for students looking at the issues of corporate social responsibility. great for teaching CSR too!

This Guardian interview with the Group Chief Executive of the Co-operative outlines the firm’s decision to implement a comprehensive “ethical operating plan”.

The ambitious plan tasks the members of the Co-operative Group to take business “ethics to the next level” and includes a series of initiatives, aims and objectives

# The toughest operational carbon reduction targets of any major business, and the deployment of £1billion of green energy finance by 2013
# the most radical Fairtrade conversion programme ever undertaken
# the world’s first ethically screened general insurance products
# a three-fold increase in membership from 6 million to 20 million by 2020
# significantly enhanced funding for co-operative enterprises and schools

A nice quote from the CEO in the Guardian interview in which he suggests that there has been a sea-change in the way that society views its relationship with business. Milton Friedman would be turning in his grave (which may not be a bad thing!)...

“Trust in business has taken a real knock in recent years as the credit crunch has caused people to seriously question the capitalist model,” he told the Guardian in an interview. “The mutual is an alternative business model which chimes with the times. People want a business they can trust, with a strong sense of social responsibility. This is our DNA.”

Here is a Co-operative Group promotional video which explains the new ethical operating plan in a little more detail and you can also read about it on their website here