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Sustainability in the globalshop window

Peter Jones and Daphne ComfortThe Business School, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK, and

David HillierThe Centre for Police Sciences, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, UK

Abstract

Purpose The aims of this paper are to provide an exploratory general review of both thesustainability agendas being publicly reported by the worlds leading retailers and the nature of thereporting process and to offer some wider reflections on the ways these retailers are currentlyaddressing and pursuing sustainability agendas.

Design/methodology/approach The paper begins with a short discussion of the characteristicsof sustainability. The paper draws its empirical material from the most recent sustainability reportsand information posted on the internet by eight of the worlds top ten retailers.

Findings The findings reveal that while there is considerable variation in the structure of theretailers sustainability reports, threebroad sets of themes can be identified. Namely, the environmental,social and economic issues the retailers report on, how these issues are reported, and the role andimportance of sustainability within companies andto their business. More critically, it is arguedthat theworlds leading retailers are, at best, adopting a weak model of sustainability and that in pursuingcontinuing growththey areignoringthe fact that the present patterns of consumption are unsustainablein the long term.

Originality/value The paper provides an accessible review of, and some reflections on, thesustainability agendas being pursued by some of the worlds leading retailers and as such it willinterest academics and those working in management positions within the retail industry.

Keywords Retailers, Sustainable development, ConsumptionPaper type Research paper

Consumers are increasingly concerned about their own environmental impacts, those of theproducts they buy and those of the companies at which they shop. These concerns focus onphysical impacts such as global warming and on broader social issues such as how theirpurchasing actions and choices affect the livelihoods of people in other countries. The GlobalCoca Cola Retailing Research Council Forum (2009).

IntroductionDuring the past decade the concept of sustainability has consistently moved higher uppolitical, media, investment and public agendas. While sustainability is increasingly seento be everyones concern, there has been growing awareness that large retailers have apivotal role to play in promoting sustainability in that they are the intermediaries betweenprimary producers and manufacturers on the one hand and customers on the other. Durieu(2003, p. 7) for example, argued that retailers can greatly influence changes in productionprocesses and consumption patterns and are positioned to exert pressure on producers infavour of more sustainable consumer choices. At the same time, many large retailers areincreasingly keen to publicly report on their sustainability agendas, commitments andachievements for a variety of reasons. Thus, many large retailers have been determined to

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Received November 2009Revised April 2010Accepted July 2010

International Journal of Retail &Distribution ManagementVol. 39 No. 4, 2011pp. 256-271q Emerald Group Publishing Limited0959-0552DOI 10.1108/09590551111117536


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demonstrate their interest in the wellbeing of the environment, their employees and thecommunities they serve, to promote the transparency of their operations, to better managerisk, to enhance brand value and to grow their market share. With this in mind the aims ofthis paper are twofold, namely to provide an exploratory general review of both the

sustainability agendas being publicly reported by the worlds leading retailers and thenature of the reporting process, and to offer some wider reflections on the ways theseretailers are addressing and pursuing sustainability agendas.

SustainabilityThe concept of sustainability can be traced back to the thirteenth century but in morerecent times it appeared in the environmental literature in the 1970s (Kamara et al., 2006)and since then it has attracted increasingly widespread attention. Jamieson (1998, p. 184)suggested that most peoples thoughts about the meaning of sustainability areprobably simple and grand: sustainability is about human survival and the avoidance ofecological disaster but he recognised that professional discourse, on the other hand, iscomplex and technical (p. 184). Defining this concept is not straightforward and anumber of diverse and contested meanings can be identified. Diesendorf (2000, p. 21)argued that sustainability can be seen as the goal or endpoint of a process calledsustainable development. The most widely used definition of sustainable developmentis development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability offuture generations to meet their own needs (World Commission on Environment andDevelopment, 1987, p. 43) which Diesendorf (2000, p. 21) suggested emphasises thelong-term aspect of the concept of sustainability and introduces the ethical principle ofachieving equity between present and future generations.

More specifically, there are sets of definitions that recognise that all human beings liveon one planet with finite quantities of natural resources and fragile ecosystems on whichall human life ultimately depends. There are also much more all-embracing definitions

that look to include ambitious social and economic goals and to meet human needs in anequitable manner. Typical of the first set is ecological sustainability defined by Callicottand Mumford (1997, p. 32) as meeting human needs without compromising the health ofecosystems and Suttons (2004, p. i) definition of environmental sustainability asthe ability to maintain things or qualities that are valued in the physical environment.The second set is perhaps most exuberantly captured in Daunceys (2009, p. 1) descriptionthat:

[. . .] sustainability is a condition of existence which enables generations of humans and otherspecies to enjoy social wellbeing, a vibrant economy and a healthy environment, and toexperience fulfillment, beauty, and joy without compromising the ability of future generationsof humans and other species to enjoy the same.

More fundamentally, a distinction is often made, for example, between weak andstrong sustainability ( Jamieson, 1998; Elkins et al., 2003). The former puts theemphasis on:

[. . .] developing the renewable resources, creating substitutes for non-renewable resources,making more effective use of existing resources, and/or by searching for technological solutionsto problems such as resource depletion and pollution (Williams and Millington, 2004, p. 100).

The latter is focused on the belief that the demands we make on the Earth need to berevised, so that for instance, we consume less (Williams and Millington, 2004, p. 100)

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and on fundamental changes in consumption patterns and reductions in consumptionlevels (Fuchs and Lorek, 2004, p. 4).

While sustainability has attracted widespread political support and has becomeapplied to many areas of human endeavour, the concept has also attracted criticism.

Robinson (2003) summarised three sets of criticisms. First, that the concept is vague inthat it means very different things to different people and organisations. Clark (2005), forexample, writing in The Times newspaper argued in the absence of any precisemeaning the concept of sustainability is pointless. It could mean virtually anything andtherefore means absolutely nothing. Second, that it attracts hypocrites who use thelanguage of sustainability to promote and defend unsustainable activities. Third, that itfostersdelusions in that it fails to acknowledge that the current rates of economic growthare simply unsustainable and that it draws attention away not only from the need todevelop new ways of organising how people can relate to the natural world but also fromthe need for fundamental social and political change.

As interest in sustainability has gathered momentum, a number of attempts have beenmade to develop theoretical frameworks connecting nature and society and to recognisethat social and economic development cannot be viewed in isolation from the naturalenvironment. Amsler (2009, p. 123), for example, argued that the contested politics andambiguities of sustainability discourses can be embraced to develop a critical theory ofsustainability. Shefurther arguedthat current debates shouldbe located withina broadertradition of social criticism (p. 125) and competing interpretations of sustainability(p. 124) and should be viewed as invitations to explore the complex processes throughwhich competing visions of just futures are produced, resisted and realized (p. 125). Castro(2004) sought to laythe foundations for a more radical sustainability theory by questioningthe very possibility of sustainable development under capitalism and arguing thateconomic growth relies upon the continuing exploitation of both natural and social capital.

More generally Todorov and Marinova (2009, p. 1217) reviewed the models being

developed to conceptualise what they described as an extremely complex concept andthey presented a five-fold classification namely: quantitative models, physical models,standardising models, conceptual models, and pictorial visualisation models. The firsttwo of these models tend to be restricted to specific disciplines, the third is concernedwith the development and application of sustainability indicators while the other twoseek to link the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability. Theauthors acknowledged that the conceptual category of models is very broad and theytraced its origins from the work of the Club of Rome formed in the late 1960s and itsreport on The Limits to Growth (Meadows et al., 1972) through to much more recent workon climate change (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007). The pictorialvisualisation models adopt a simple three dimensional representation of sustainabilitywith the three dimensions being most commonly represented as three overlapping

circles in a Venn diagram (Figure 1). Within the Venn diagram model the union createdby the overlap between the three components of economy, environment and society aredesigned to represent sustainability (Lozano, 2008, webpage). Todorov and Marinova(2009, p. 1218) commended this model as being powerful in reaching a broad audience.In a similar vein Lozano (2008) suggested that such representations provide basicsustainability understanding, especially of the interactions of the three aspects and thatthey are helpful in raising awareness for the general public (webpage). As such theVenn diagram model provides an appropriately robust general empirical frame of

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reference for this paper. At the same time, Lozano (2008) recognised that the model has

drawbacks in that it considers sustainability to be compartmentalized and disregardsthe inter-connectedness within and between aspects (webpage) and that it is a meresnapshot of a moment in time,which lacks the ability to represent the dynamic process ofchange over time (webpage).

Frame of reference and method of enquiryIn order to obtain a preliminary picture of the extent to which the worlds leadingretailers were reporting sustainability agendas and achievements within the publicrealm, the top ten global retailers (Table I), ranked by the value of sales, from the Deloittereport Global Powers of Retailing 2009 were selected for study. The majority ofthese retailers have a number of trading formats and have a broadly international, butnot a truly global, geographical presence in that between them they are representedin 71 individual countries. The retailers are widely recognised as industry leaders andas such they might be expected to reflect cutting edge thinking and practice withinthe retail sector of the economy. Wal-Mart, the worlds largest retailer, is listed astrading from discount department stores, cash and carry/warehouse clubs,

Figure 1.Venn diagram model

of sustainability

Society Economy

Environment

NameCountry oforigin

Number of countriesof operation

2007 retail sales(US$ million)

Wal-Mart USA 14 374,526Carrefour France 32 112,604Tesco UK 13 94,740Metro Germany 32 87,586

Home Depot USA 7 77,349Kroger USA 1 70,235Schwarz UnternehmensTreuhand

Germany 24 69,346

Target USA 1 63,367Costco USA 8 63,088Aldi GMBH & Co. oHG Germany 15 58,487

Source: Deloitte (2009)

Table I.The top ten global

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and hypermarket/supercentre/superstore and supermarket formats and as having retailoperations in 14 countries including the USA, the UK, China, Germany and Brazil.Carrefour, Metro and Tesco are listed as having retail outlets in 33, 32 and 13 countries,respectively, while two of the top ten retailers, namely Kroger and the Target

Corporation, only operate stores within the USA.During the past decade sustainability reporting has evolved from a marginal

practice to a mainstream management and communications tool (Global ReportingInitiative, 2007, p. 1) and Bowen (2003) suggested that the majority of large companieshave realised the potential of the world wide web as a mechanism for reportingsustainability agendas and achievements. He also argued that its interactivity,updatability and ability to handle complexity adds value to the reporting process. Withthis in mind the authors undertook an internet search for each of the top ten retailerscorporate web sites in October 2009 employing Google as the search engine.The navigation revealed considerable variation in the volume and the detail of theinformation on sustainability that the worlds top ten retailers had posted on theircorporate web sites. Seven of the top ten retailers, namely Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Tesco,Metro, Kroger, Target and Costco, produced dedicated sustainability reports running to109, 84, 54, 19, 33, 51 and 34 pages, respectively. One of the top ten retailers, Home Depot,provided some very limited sustainability information on their web site, while SchwartzUnternehemens Teuhand (who trade as Lidl) and Aldi Gmbh & Co. oHG, both of whichare private companies, carried no sustainability information on their company web sites.

These reports and information provided the empirical information for this paper andtwo simple approaches were used in analysing this information. First, the threedimensions within the Venn diagram model were used as a simple framework to captureand outline the sustainanabilty issues reported by the worlds leading retailers. Second, asimple grounded approach was employed to identify two other major issues emergingfrom the sustainability reports, namely the nature of the reporting process and the extent

to which the retailers are integrating and managingsustainability within their businesses.More generally, the specific examples and selected quotations from the retailerssustainability reports/information cited below are used for illustrative rather thancomparative purposes. The principal focus is an exploratory examination of the currentsustainability issues being addressed by the worlds leading retailers rather than asystematic and comparative evaluation of the sustainability policies and achievements ofthese retailers. In discussing the reliability and validity of information obtained from theinternet, Saunders et al. (2007) emphasised the importance of the authority and reputationof the source and the citation of a contact individual who can be approached for additionalinformation. In surveying the top ten global retailers as described above, the authors weresatisfied that these two conditions were met but noted that only two of the retailers,namely Carrefour and Tesco, had commissioned an independent external audit.

FindingsWhile there is considerable variation in the structure of the retailers sustainabilityreports, it is possible to identify three broad sets of themes. First, the environmental,social and economic issues the retailers report on (Table II), second the nature of thereporting process and third the status and management of sustainability within thecompanies and to their core business. First, in reporting on environmental, social andeconomic issues, the focus is generally on broad commitments and agendas, on specific

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Retaile

r

Issues

Walmart

Car

refour

Tesco

Metro

H

omeDepot

Kroger

Target

Costco

Environmental

Climatechangeandcarbonemissions

U

U

U

U

X

U

U

U

Energyconsumption

U

U

U

U

X

U

U

U

Watermanagement

U

U

U

X

X

X

U

U

Wastemanagement

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

X

Logistics

U

U

U

U

X

X

U

X

Conservingnaturalresou

rces

U

U

U

X

U

U

U

X

Environmentallyfriendly

products

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

Landandpropertyholdings

U

U

U

X

X

U

U

U

Social

Responsiblesourcing

U

U

U

X

X

U

U

X

Foodsafety

X

U

U

X

X

U

U

X

Workingconditionsatsu

ppliers

U

U

U

U

X

U

U

U

Diversityandequaloppo

rtunities

U

U

U

U

X

U

U

U

Traininganddevelopment

U

U

U

U

X

U

U

U

Healthandsafety

U

U

U

X

U

U

U

U

Localcommunitylinks

U

U

U

X

U

U

U

U

Charitablegiving

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

Economic

Employmentcreation

U

U

U

X

X

X

U

U

Valueforcustomers

U

U

U

X

X

X

U

X

Supplierrelationships

U

U

U

X

U

X

U

X

Buildingshareholdervalue

X

U

U

X

X

X

U

U

Corporategovernance

X

U

U

X

U

U

U

X

Table II.Sustainability issues

retailer summaries


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objectives and targets and on progress in moving towards these targets. A wide varietyof environmental issues are addressed throughout the supply chain, namely climatechange and carbon emissions, energy consumption, water management, wastemanagement, logistics, conserving natural resources, environmentally friendly

products, and land and property holdings. Reporting on renewable energy, Wal-Mart,for example, emphasises its overall commitment to be supplied 100 percent byrenewable energy, breaking this down into ten specific time-dated goals (e.g. reducegreenhouse gases at our existing stores, clubs and distribution centres based around theworld by 20 percent by 2012 to 2005 baseline). However, the company then reports thatthat in 2007 we measured our direct greenhouse gas footprint to be 20.2 million metrictons which was an increase from 19.2 million metric tons in 2006. This contradictionperhaps reflects the difficulties the worlds leading retailers face in effecting reductionsin carbon emissions across large and geographically dispersed trading operations.

In reporting on social issues, a number of common themes can be identified includingresponsible sourcing, food safety, working conditions at suppliers premises, diversityand equality of opportunity, training and development, health and safety within theworkplace, links with local communities, and charitable donations. Metro, for example,highlights its employee and social commitments covering employee retention, theproportion of women in management positions, retail education and vocationalprogrammes, food donations, nutritional labelling in Europe and healthy lifestylesand provides some limited information on progress in meeting five specific targets onsome of these commitments. Economic issues generally receive more limited coveragebut include employment creation, providing value for customers, supplier relationships,building shareholder value and corporate governance. Carrefours economicscorecard, for example, lists the companys 13 commitments to customers,franchisees, suppliers and shareholders, distils this down into 16 specific objectivesand then reports on achievements against these objectives since 2008. The retailers tend

to report separately on environmental, social and economic issues. As such the reportingprocess reflects one of the drawbacks of the Venn diagram model namely that it treatsthe environments, social and economic issues as independent but there are some limitedattempts to integrate two or more of theseissues as, for example, in reporting on the localsourcing of food supplies and on urban regeneration projects.

Some of the retailers which have retail outlets in a number of countries report on theirefforts to promote sustainability within a number of specific countries but others tend toconcentrate on providing a general picture of their agendas and achievements.Wal-Mart, for example, reports on the working of its open doors for our supplierspolicy in Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, onits programmes to reduce energy consumption within stores in China and Japan and onits support for a campaign to fight AIDS in Lesotho. Metro reports on its initiative to roll

out consumer friendly nutritional labelling on own label food products, firstintroduced in Germany, throughout all the European Union countries in which it trades.More systematically Carrefour provides a quantitative assessment of progress on 17 keyindicators, in some cases by geographic regions and in others by individual countries.At the same time, there is often a recognition that sustainability initiatives are moreadvanced in some markets than others. The Costco report, for example, focuses upon theUSA and Canada but included a pledge to pursue new policies and actions to help usbecome even more sustainable throughout the entire enterprise.

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Second, the nature of the reporting process merits attention. The majority of theselected retailers provide a simple narrative of their sustainability agendas andachievements, often illustrated with descriptive statistics. Kroger, for example,describes food safety as its top priority and outlines its bi-monthly food safety review

audit of each store and its customer education programme. Costco uses a bullet pointformat in describing its sustainably sourced product strategy. Cameo case studies aresometimes used to illustrate general themes within selected retailers sustainabilityreports. The Wal-Mart report, for example, includes a number of short case studiesincluding one concerning one of its employees establishing a recycling campaign inPineville, Missouri in the USA and a description of the companys approach toallegations of forced child labour in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan.

A number of the reports offer some sense of external approval via the use ofcomments typically entitled What Others Say. Sometimes such quotations carryattributed authority, as for example in the Wal-Mart report which includes the formerUS President Bill Clintons statement that Wal-Marts commitment gets to the larger

point I have been trying to hammer home like a broken record since weve started on thisclimate change thing and Walmart is having a positive impact on people around theworld, and we applaud their commitment to corporate social responsibility made byAmir Dossal, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Partnership.The Tesco report includes the following quotations: in terms of community investmentTesco seems very responsive and:

[. . .] so much comes down to the individual buyers as to whether the supplier has a goodexperience. Weve had a fantastic experience over the past two years better than with anyother retailer.

Which are attributed to an unnamed business organisation and an unnamedsupplier, respectively. While retailers are unlikely to publicly name suppliers and

business partners for reasons of commercial confidentiality, such unattributedquotation might be seen to lack some authority.Some of the retailers seek to use external guidelines and elements of benchmarking in

drawing up and in measuring achievements within their sustainability reports. Carrefour,for example, reports that its overall activities are guided by major international principlesincluding the United Nations Global Compact, the Universal Declaration of Human Rightsand the International Labour Organisations Declaration of Fundamental Principles. Thecompany also reports that its sustainability reporting is developed with reference to theGlobal Reporting Initiative Framework and the Organisation for Economic andCooperation and Developments principles. More specifically, Carrefours SustainabilityReport includes information on the scope of the reporting process, the methods of datacollection and the external auditing process which is seen to provide a moderate level of

assurance as to the social and environmental performance indicators selected by theCarrefour Group. In a similar but arguably less comprehensive and rigorous vein, Tescoreports on progress against 14 key performance indicators, including for example, carbondioxide emissions, the recycling of waste from stores, charitable donations and nutritionallabelling. Overall, the lack of common and agreed reporting frameworks and standardsand the use of individual case studies and selective external quotations make it difficultnot only to compare one retailer meaningfully with another, but also to assess thecontribution that the large retailers are making to global sustainability targets.


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Third, four of the selected retailers, namely Carrefour, Kroger, Tesco and Wal-Mart,explicitly claimed to have fully integrated sustainability into their businesses.At Carrefour, forexample, sustainability is described as being the core of the companysstrategy and an integral part of its management model. In a similar vein in his

introduction to the Wal-Mart report, Mike Duke the companys Chief Executive Officer,emphasised that:

[. . .] stainability at Walmart isnt a stand-alone issue thats separate from or unrelated to ourbusiness. Its not an abstract or philanthropic program. We dont even see it as corporatesocial responsibility. Sustainability is built into our business. Its completely aligned with ourmodel, our mission and our culture.

Two of the retailers, Carrefour and Tesco, also provide some information on how theymanage their approach to sustainability. Carrefour, for example, reports establishing aSustainable Development Department in 2001 and giving it responsibility for driving itssustainability programme forward. This Department now works with local sustainabledevelopment co-ordinators in all the countries in which the company has retail outlets.

As part of this management process, the company also reports on its ongoing dialoguewith our stakeholders, which is concerned with identifying and anticipating theexpectations of stakeholders and defusing conflicts. Tesco claims that sustainability isembedded in the companys governance framework and within the company across-functional teamof executives provides dedicated leadership on sustainabilityissues.

DiscussionThe majority of the worlds top ten retailers recognise and report on a wide range of theimpacts their businesses have on the environment, society and the economy. However, anumber of issues merit closer attention and reflection; namely reconciling competingsustainability agendas, the role of retailers in promoting sustainability within their stores

and supply chains vis-a-vis their role in encouraging customers to make sustainablechoices within stores, the way retailers construct sustainability agendas, the tensionsbetween commitments to sustainability and resource consumption and the ways theretailers commitments to sustainability are increasingly being publicly contested.

Given the wide range of the sustainability agendas and issues currently beingaddressed by the large retailers, it will not always be easy to align what may becompeting strategic goals and decisions. At the strategic level, for example, Wal-Martscommitments to offer savings to our customers and Costcos belief that their presencein a community makes pricing better throughout the area; because when we have a toughcompetitor in the market place,prices come down may well threaten other commitmentsto ensure that, in the words of the two companies mentioned above, workers are paidwell and treated well and that there is compliance with the Vendor Code of Conduct

which expects our vendors to comply, at a minimum, with the applicable labor andenvironmental regulations of the country where the merchandise is produced. Whenaddressing sourcing policies, retailers may have to assess whether the environmentalcosts of importing fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers from Africa, for example, areoutweighed by the social benefits of trading with less developed economies. Here,retailers may have to make difficult trade-offs between competing goals. At the storelevel, managers are working to meet what may be ever demanding operational andfinancial targets and/or to achieve performance related bonuses. They may, for example,

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when facing problems in staff scheduling, put employees under pressure to work outsidethe hours that suit their work/life balance or refuse to release employees from their storeduties for training and retail education programmes.

While the selected retailers stress their commitment to drive a sustainability agenda

throughout the supply chain, evidence from their sustainability reports suggested thatthey may be concentrating their efforts more on the physical operation of their storesand their sourcing and distribution activities, rather than on encouraging their customersto make more sustainable choices. Here, they have greater control and here too they canmore easily monitor sustainability and resource goals. Outlining its Matrix of ActionPoints as part of its contribution to the European Retail Forum, Wal-Marts UK company,ASDA, for example, provided a number of detailed and time constrained targets for thereduction of energy consumption within its stores and water usage within its distributiondepots, under the How we Sell (Eurocommerce, 2009, webpage) action point. At thesame time, the company simply cites the companys free magazine as the only method ofproviding information for customers under the How we Communicate (Eurocommerce,

2009, webpage) action point. If consumers are to be made more aware of sustainableconsumption choices, then as Doreen Fedrigo, European Union Policy Co-ordinator fortheEuropean EnvironmentBureau, argued visible changeis neededon supermarketandshop shelves and in advertising messages (European Environment Bureau, 2009, p. 1).

This, in turn, begs the question about the most effective way retailers can usemarketing communications within stores to encourage customers to make sustainablechoices. Reisch et al. (2008, p. 26), for example, warned sustainability communication is ahighly complex and even risky activity that needs careful strategic planning and genuinestakeholder input. Research undertaken amongst a number of major European retailersby Almaanietal. (2004,p. 30), suggested thatmessages designed to promote sustainabilityneed to take into consideration the average customer awareness on sustainability issuesand that the message will be more successful if it conveys clear feel of a direct usefulnessand advantage provided to the customer by the sustainable products compared tounsustainable ones(p. 30). More specifically, Almaani et al. (2004, p. 30) identified threekey elements as being essential for retailers marketing communications campaigns forsustainable consumption, namely segmentation and target information, visibility ofproducts and of communication, and the need to use changing routines to captureattention.

However, within a constantly changing and fiercely competitive businessenvironment, there must be limits to the information about sustainability that themajor retailers can provide on the vast range of products they offer for sale. There mustalso be doubts about the retailers ability to verify such information when they aresourcing products from a large number of suppliers and producers drawn from often

wide geographical areas. Furthermore, there are dangers that providing accurate andverifiable information for all products drowns out the ability of consumers to makelike-for-like comparisons and ceases to provide them with any useful means ofcomparison (Consumer Focus, 2009, p. 42). At the same time, it is important to recognisethat the act of consumption is often divorced from the product that is being consumed.Dolan (2002, p. 170), for example, argued that conventional approaches to sustainabilitycentre on the notion of the rational individual and his or her needs and wants, andneglect the significance of consumption practices as embodying the relations between


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individuals. He also warned that the development of sustainability as a widespreadpractice is more complex than change in individual values and practice (p. 170).

There arealsoissues about the wayin which retailers construct sustainability agendas.While all of the selected retailers explicitly stress their commitment to sustainability, they

can be seen to be collectively constructing their own definition of the concept. Such adefinition is built around business efficiency and the search for competitive advantageand is driven as much by business imperatives as by a concern for sustainability. Thus,while many of the environmental initiatives addressed in the sustainability reports aredesigned to reduce energy, water consumption and waste emissions, for example, theyalso reduceretailers costs. In a similar vein, the retailers commitments to their employeesfocusing for example, upon good working conditions, the work/life balance, health andsafety at work and training and retail education all help to promote stability, security,loyalty and efficiency within the workforce.

The worlds leading retailers might thus be seen to have constructed sustainabilityagendas, which are driven largely, though not necessarily exclusively, by their owncommercial interests with the focus being on efficiency gains across their business

operations, rather than on maintaining the viability of natural ecosystems and reducingdemands on finite natural resources. This suggests a privileging of the economicinterests and dimensions represented in the Venn diagram model at the expense ofenvironmental and social issues. This in turn might be seen to reflect the traditionallydominant business ideology that:

[. . .] The economy currently treats natural resources as largely inexhaustible and freelyavailable, and tends to mop up the costs of social and environmental impacts in a range ofdifferent budgets (such as health, regeneration andsocial security) rather than embody them inthe true cost (and therefore true value) of goods and services on sale (Parkin et al., 2003,webpage).

This approach echoes Hobsons (2006, p. 308) argument that rich and powerful groups

will construct sustainability agendas that do not threaten consumption,per se, but seekto link them to forms of knowledge science, technology and efficiency that embodythe locus of power held by the retailers. Here, Fernandos (2003, p. 1) assertion thatcapitalism has shown remarkable creativity and power to undermine the goals ofsustainable development by appropriating the language and practices of sustainabledevelopment resonates loudly. However, Parkin et al. (2003) stressed that shareholdervalue and profitability is influenced not only by product and service costs andtraditional productivity measures (webpage) but also by a wider range of factorsincluding reputation and risk management, employee satisfaction (webpage), thepursuit of sustainable opportunities and supplier and stakeholder relations(webpage) as broadly reflected in the Venn diagram model.

There are broader and more fundamental issues about the tensions betweencommitments to promoting sustainability and the continuing level ofresource consumption, which is seen by some commentators as being fundamental topursuing continuing growth. The large retailers position on growth and consumption isepitomised by Sir Terry Leahy, the Chief Executive Officer of Tesco, who argued that hiscompany is seeking to create a movement which shows that it is possible to consume,to be green and to grow (The Coca Cola Retail Research Council Forum, 2009, p. 16).This approach is certainly consistent with the argument by Reisch et al. (2008, p. 2), thatwhile moving towards sustainability is a major policy agenda, growth of income and

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material throughput by means of industrialisation and mass consumerism remains thebasic aim of western democracy. However, in an invited response, contained withinTescos Sustainability Report, Forum for the Future, a UK charity committed tosustainable development suggested that the next big challenge for Tesco is to address

how it can grow whilst respecting environmental limits. It also argued:

[. . .] that to do this it will have to ask some big questions about what a truly sustainablesupermarket looks like, develop some new business models and set and then achieve some ambitious global sustainability targets.

Partly, this reflects Jacksons (2006, p. 1) belief that the consumption patterns thatcharacterise modern Western Society are unsustainable. They rely too heavily on finiteresources and they generate unacceptable environmental benefits.

Perhaps, more challengingly Jackson (2009, p. 8) drew attention to what he describedas the deep seated dilemma, namely that growth may be unsustainable but de-growthmay be unstable (p. 8). He suggested that while the conventional response to thedilemma of growth is to call for decoupling (p. 8) he highlighted the importance ofdistinguishing between relative and absolute (p. 8) decoupling. The former referringto the decline of resource impacts relative to growth and the latter signifying an absolutedecline in such impacts. While the worlds leading retailers might claim to supportrelative decoupling through their commitments to efficiency, they currently show littleenthusiasm for absolute decoupling which Jackson (2009, p. 48) believed is essential ifeconomic activity is to remain within ecological limits. Reisch et al. (2008, p. 1) arguedthat rather than controlling consumption, recycling materials and increasingproduction efficiency have tended to be the dominant means supposed to decoupleenvironmental degradation from economic growthand they concluded that the policyagenda on sustainable consumption is in danger of becoming a merely rhetoricalreflection of concern (p. 1). More radically, Jackson (2009, p. 57) concluded a discussion

of what he described as the myth of decoupling by arguing that it is entirely fancifulto suppose that deep emission and resource cuts can be achieved withoutconfronting thestructure of market economies (p. 57). This, in turn, echoes Dolans (2002, p. 180) beliefthat the goal of sustainable consumption needs to be seen as a political project,recognising the power relations between social groupings and between cultural valuesystems andhis warning that this is the context within which the idea of sustainabilitywill stand or fall (p. 180).

Finally, retailers claimed commitments to sustainability have been contested withinthe public arena. A number of pressure groups have become increasingly critical ofthe large retailers, arguing that their activities are having damaging effects on theenvironment and its resources, on communities and on the economy. In 2007, forexample, 22 prominent organisations and pressure groups including Friends of the

Earth, Action Aid International, the Institute for Policy Studies and the InternationalLabor Rights Forum, collaborated to produce a robust critique of Wal-MartsSustainability Initiative, arguing that the companys business model makes itinherently unsustainable (Tocco and Anderson, 2007, p. 1). Responding to Wal-Marts2009 Sustainability Report, the Corporate Social Responsibility Wire (2009, webpage)argued The pairing of terms (Wal-Mart and Sustainability) elicits strong reactions,usually falling into three camps. The oxymoron camp, for example, believe thatWalmarts business model of overdriven underpaid factory workers pumping out


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cheap goods into thousand-mile supply chains that feed a consumption-based societyinherently and unavoidably conflicts with sustainability. In a similar vein theUK-based Tescopoly web site, launched in 2006, is an alliance of organisationsconcerned with the negative impacts of supermarket power. Its home page includes the

following message of welcome: growing evidence indicates that Tescos success ispartly based on trading practices that are having serious consequences for suppliers,farmers and workers worldwide, local shops and the environment (Tescopoly, 2009,webpage). The large retailers vigorously refute the vast majority of the accusationsmade against them and they consistently argue that their continuing success reflectstheir ability to respond effectively and efficiently to customer needs and aspirations.

ConclusionThe majority of the worlds top ten retailers publicly report on their commitment tosustainability and they argue that by strategically integrating sustainability into theirbusinesses, they are better placed to provide long-term growth and financial security for

all stakeholders and to enhance their market position and reputation. However, theauthors argue that the worlds leading retailers definitions of, and commitments to,sustainability can be interpreted as being driven as much by business imperatives as bycommitments to sustainability. Thus, the retailers focus is upon making efficiencygains across their business operations rather than on maintaining the viability andintegrity of natural ecosystems or on reducing demands on finite natural resources.More specifically the focus is generally on reporting separately on environmental, socialand economic issues rather than on the integrated approach which is a the heart of theVenn diagram model. As such the worlds leading retailers are, at best, pursuing aweak rather than a strong model of sustainability. That said, the worlds leadingretailers might be seen to be merely at the start of a potentially long and difficult journeytowards sustainability. Marks & Spencer, one of the UKs leading international retailers,

but not one included in this study, for example, has been reported as arguing thatcurrently no business in the world can claim to have come remotely close tosustainability (Barry and Calver, 2009, webpage). This in turn suggests the need todevelop a more dynamic Venn diagram model which incorporates greater coalescence(and possibly greater separation) of the environmental, social and economic componentsas well as the flexibility to accommodate change over time.

More critically, the authors suggest that the large retailers commitments tosustainabilityare couched within existing business models centred on continuinggrowthand that current policies are little more than genuflections to sustainability. The worldsleading retailers are thus effectively and conveniently ignoring the fact that the presentpatterns of consumption are simply unsustainable in the long term. As such, theseretailers seem likely to continue to attract potentially increasingly vocal and sustained

criticism from those who are concerned about what Jackson (2009, p. 6) described asan emerging ecological crisis that is likely to dwarf the existing economic crisis.

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About the authorsPeter Jones is a Professor in the Business School at the University of Gloucestershire and he hasserved as Head of the Department of Retailing and Marketing at the Manchester MetropolitanUniversity and as Dean of the Business School at the University of Plymouth. He has undertaken

educational and commercial consultancy work in Norway, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece,Spain, India, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. His current research interests are in corporatesocial responsibility and sustainability within the service sector of the economy and in the past hehas published on the introduction of information and communication technologies withinretailingand on urban fringe management projects. Peter Jones is the corresponding author and can becontacted at: [email protected]

Daphne Comfort is the Research Administrator in the Business School at the University ofGloucestershire. She is a geography graduate and her research interests are in new developments inretailing, sustainable development, corporate social responsibility and woodland management. Sheis currently working on a project which evaluates the nature and quality of the student experience.

David Hillier is Emeritus Professor within the Centre for Police Sciences at the University ofGlamorgan. From 1994-2006 he was Head of Geography at Glamorgan. His principal researchinterest is in crime and the design of the urban fabric and work he has undertaken with PaulCozens, now of Curtin University in Perth Western Australia, has been widely disseminated bythe UKs Home Office. He also has research interests in retail change, sustainability and urbanregeneration and his work has been extensively published in a range of marketing, business andmanagement, transport, planning and geography journals.

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