Community

Making Corporate Responsibility integral to our business is essential in applying our values as a responsible business. We believe it is also an opportunity for growth.

Our core purpose is to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty. Our values, which underpin everything we do, are that no-one tries harder for customers and to treat people how we like to be treated.

Our Steering Wheel or balanced scorecard gives us the tools to deliver our strategy. As well as customers, we must also consider the impact of our decisions on the community, on our people, on finance and on operations. This therefore ensures that in all the decisions we make we take into account impacts on the community.

We have adopted this approach in each of the countries in which we operate. They all have different challenges and opportunities, but in each we believe in the power of the consumer to drive positive change. Business also has an enormous role to play, and we believe that it is by being successful that business can make the biggest contribution. It is efficient businesses that can invest in deprived areas from which other companies have retreated. It is successful businesses that understand the needs of their customers – including low income customers and those with specific needs. It is growing businesses that can bring new jobs and careers to those who do not have them. And it is strong businesses that will prove that the challenge of climate change will be met through innovation and growth.

The plans developed, in the UK and by each of our international businesses, to deliver our corporate responsibility objectives are called the Community Plan. The Community Plan in each country is based around our community promises - actively supporting local communities; buying and selling our products responsibly; caring for the environment; giving customers healthy choices and good jobs for local people - and reflects the needs of the local communities we serve.

More information

For more details on our work in the community and on climate change, click on the Corporate Responsibility Tab above, or have a look at our Corporate Responsibility Report 2010