Working with others

As a leading national supermarket with an international supply chain, we have significant scale and influence. This means we also have a role to play in tackling issues and finding solutions. We know we cannot always do this on our own. We therefore work in partnership with other interested parties such as Government, NGOs and academics, as well as our customers and colleagues.

We canvass the views of our shoppers daily, from customer service information and also from more formal customer surveys. We conducted two of these this year, focusing specifically on corporate responsibility. We talk with our colleagues as well, whether through daily meetings on the shop floor, or through Talkback, our annual survey. We also discuss a wide range of specific issues with NGOs and Government agencies.

We are members of a number of groups, including Business in the Community, the Ethical Trading Initiative, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and the World Wildlife Fund Forest and Trade Network. Membership of groups like these helps inform our thinking and allows us to exchange views on areas of common interest.

Justin King, our CEO, and Anna Ford, the chair of our Corporate Responsibility Committee and Non-Executive Director, conduct five formal meetings each year - one for each of our five values. We use these to check whether we are pursuing the right strategy on certain issues, and ask for advice if we are not.

Developing and maintaining relationships like this helps us to gain a deeper understanding of complex issues, to develop our business and to manage our risks better. There are times when our view differs from that of external groups, and we don't change our policies unless we believe it would help us serve our customers better. But we will always listen.