Ocado Chief Executive Tim Steiner - Essay Example

Ocado’s Corporate Social Responsibility a) Corporate social responsibility, according to Sims (2003, p. 43), defines persistent commitment by a business organization to ensure morality in its actions and to improve welfare of its employees and the employees’ families, as well as welfare of its immediate community. One of the most important corporate social responsibility actions that Ocado takes is ensuring employee’s well being through providing a good work environment and a reasonable pay.

This action is likely because of the organization’s progress towards significance in the market that is only possible with a dedicated workforce, good work environment and wage rate - are some of the motivators to such a workforce. Ensuring utility in its services is another corporate social responsibility action that is taken by Ocado. This involves meeting consumers’ needs with respect to product description, quality, and delivery time. Significance of the action to market expansion and the company’s initiatives that include significant coverage of its physical market by van suggests this.

The delivery initiative indicates commitment to customers’ needs that include delivery of actual products and quality of products. I also believe that Ocado recruits employees from the community around it in in order to empower people economically. This further has the effect of integrating the community into a business entity and developing a loyalty towards market caption and retention, a phenomenon that has occurred for the company. Lastly, Ocado is ensuring environmental sustainability as a corporate social responsibility initiative because the society is environmentally conscious and a contrary action would discourage them from the organization, especially in the competitive environment that allows consumers options of suppliers.

     b)      The pyramid of corporate social responsibility starts with the economic responsibilities at the base, then legal, ethical and ends with philanthropic responsibilities at the top. In regards to Ocado’s economic responsibilities, it turns over nearly eight hundred million pounds every year. It has more than three hundred and sixty thousand customers and more than six thousand employees (Erickson 2009, 161).  In terms of its legal responsibilities, for the most part it complies with regulations in the food retail industry.

However, in 2012, it undercut Waitrose products unfairly in a manner deserving of legal action but it was not sued. In addition, the company makes it clear that it does not donate to political parties, organizations, or candidates. Ocado meets its ethical responsibilities through the initiatives it adopts to promote respect for the environment and for all stakeholders.  For example, it ensures that its fish is caught responsibly and its meat and poultry meet New Zealand, EU and British welfare standards (Erickson 2009, 161).

        Ocado’s philanthropic responsibilities manifest in its many donations to the deserving populations. Through Waitrose Foundation, Ocado gives to the less privileged farmers in South Africa, Ghana, and Kenya. It donates to Princes Charities Foundation through the sale of Duchy Originals products. Ocado collaborates with UNICEF in funding tetanus vaccines for children. It does this through the sale of Fairy and Pampers products. On the whole, Ocado rates highly on all the levels of the pyramid of corporate social responsibility (Erickson 2009, 162).

                                                                Reference ListErickson, M 2009, Business in society: people, work and organizations, Polity, Cambridge. Pp. 161, 162. Sims, R 2003, Ethics and corporate social responsibility: Why giants fall, Greenwood Publishing Group, West Port, pp. 34.