Tesco.com - Competition Commission

Retailing in the 21st century

Wind turbines at our store in Diss, Norfolk, produce enough energy to run all 15 tills.

From small beginnings, we have become Britain’s most popular retailer by recognising and responding to social change. This ability to understand change, and rise to its challenges, is more important for Tesco today than ever before. The battle to win customers in the 21st century will increasingly be fought not just on value, choice and convenience but on being good neighbours, being active in communities, seizing the environmental challenges, and behaving responsibly, fairly and honestly in all our actions. Customers may care about price, but when they shop with us they do not leave their social values at the door.

The Community Plan and our Steering Wheel

To meet this challenge, we have put community at the heart of how we run our business.

At Tesco we use a 'balanced scorecard'* approach that we call the Steering Wheel. This management tool focuses our business on the delivery of our core purpose. It is the framework for all activity linking top-line strategy to personal objectives and it ensures that we balance our priorities effectively.

Community has now been introduced into that framework, sitting alongside the four other segments of the Steering Wheel; Customer, People, Finance and Operations. That is a significant step in putting both responsibility to the communities in which we operate and a commitment to environmental sustainability at the centre of our business plan. It will guarantee that the consideration of our impact on communities and on the environment becomes an integral part of our decision-making process.

Our key objectives: to be a good neighbour and to look after the environment

The Community Plan is a continuous process that will drive change across the business in the years to come. Building upon our current corporate responsibility activities, it will provide a platform for constant innovation to deliver two broad objectives:

• Be a good neighbour

  Customers want us to respect the local communities in which we operate and make a positive contribution to them as a good corporate citizen and a friendly neighbour. We can do that by supporting local sports teams as well as by providing more jobs. Projects for 2006 include stocking more local produce and making sure that our busy local Tesco Express stores do not disturb their neighbours.

• Be environmentally responsible

  Each of us has a duty to take care of the environment and we understand that Tesco is well placed to make a significant difference. By examining our processes and reviewing our energy consumption, we hope to take a lead in promoting environmentally responsible practices. Projects for 2006 include reducing carrier bag usage, energy saving and improvements to recycling facilities for customers.

Our ten-step action plan

Everything we do at Tesco is judged as far as possible against measurable objectives. Our concern for the community is no different. When we launched the community plan we announced a ten-step action-plan to improve our impact on the environment and support the local communities that our stores serve. We are:

1. Cutting energy use in our buildings so that by 2010 we will be using half as much energy per square foot than we were in 2000.

2. Improving our recycling facilities to help customers double the amount of recycling brought to our stores.

3. Encouraging customers to re-use carrier bags by giving Clubcard Points to customers who bring their own.

4. Making healthy eating easier by putting nutritional labels on all our own-brand products by January 2007.

5. Working with the Pre-School Learning Alliance to help parents and children in some of the UK’s most deprived areas make healthier choices.

6. Getting two million people active in events we will organise or sponsor in the run up to the 2012 Olympics.

7. Ensuring our Express stores are a good neighbour by reviewing noise levels, delivery schedules and shop-front design.

8. Engaging with the community to better understand local issues and concerns.

9. Encouraging more small suppliers by developing our network of regional offices and making it easier for them to access our distribution network.

10. Celebrating regional food. For example, by working with British farmers to extend growing seasons so that we sell more British produce and import less.

To find out more about our approach to Corporate Responsibility, take a look at our Tesco Corporate responsibility review 2007.

*The balanced scorecard is a management tool that enables organisations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into measurable actions.