Corporate social responsibility and the UK's top ten retailers

Purpose - This paper offers a preliminary exploration of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues being addressed by the UK's top ten retailers. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws its empirical information from the CSR reports and information posted on the world wide web by the UK's top ten UK country of origin retailers. Four principal headings: namely, Environment; Marketplace; Workplace; and Community, are used to capture, and provide some illustrative examples of, CSR agendas. Findings - The findings reveal that each of the top ten 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 commitment to customers, on employees and on the communities in which the top ten retailers operate. A number of the top ten retailers are employing key performance indicators in an attempt to measure and benchmark their CSR achievements. The underlying message is that the top ten retailers claim that CSR is an integral element of their core business. Originality/value - The paper provides an accessible review of CSR agendas being pursued by the UK's top ten retailers and as such will interest academics and students in higher education and practitioners and professionals working in the retail marketplace.