Tesco-Samsung JV sings praises of CSR
Retail businesses cannot compete on price strategy and service alone to draw customers, but corporate social responsibility (CSR) and human-resource development will also influence consumers' purchasing decisions and brand loyalty to ensure sustainable co
Seol Do-won, vice chairman of Homeplus Group, a joint venture of UK-based giant modern trader Tesco and South Korea’s Samsung, said people now were choosing to buy not only by considering prices, but also based on retail-brand awareness.
Although CSR does not immediately boost sales significantly, it will gradually increase good perceptions among consumers and raise brand awareness for years afterwards, he said.
Homeplus has spent quite a lot on CSR projects. Last year, it spent 7.5 billion won (Bt225 million) in four areas: environment, sharing, families, and neighbours.
“If we do that to increase sales, we can make a lot of profit. But we focus on CSR as foreseeing better benefit to communities, while it could increase admiration of the brand in the long run,” Seol said.
Homeplus has allocated land for building 116 schools in Korea during the past several years. The combined area of this contributed land could accommodate at least four hypermarkets, he said.
Under its CSR activities, the group is committed to halving its carbon-dioxide emissions by 2020. It has also built the zero-carbon Tesco Asia Academy for training its staff from all over the world in Incheon. It has a project to increase efficiency and create jobs for women. It also established eParan Youth Football Club as well as providing scholarships for local communities.
Paul Best, training manager at Tesco Asia Academy, said the institution was a first for Tesco and represented the first time a global FTSE 100 company has invested in a training facility in this part of Asia.
The academy was launched last year on a budget of more than
