Board Structure
Coles Supermarket was founded in 1914 by George Coles, on April 2014, Coles has been seen to celebrate its 100th Birthday and following the strategy of discount pricing. This has been often identified as supermarket chain owned by Wesfarmers. The Supermarket operator has been seen to be operating in 801 supermarkets throughout Australia. The total number of the employees has been further seen to be included 100000 employees. The main aspect of the report has aimed to state on the board structure and depict the changes associated to the same. Some of the other aspects of the company have been further able to discern about the known public scandals faced by the company. It has been further state about the rationale for these public scandals. The ethics theory has been seen to be necessary in considering the different types of the public scandals. This section of the study has been further seen to be taken into consideration the example of consequentialism. The third section of the study has been further able to state on the different type of the aspects of stakeholder and application of ASX guidelines. The final part of the study has been able, to discern the various type of the aspect which has been seen to be related to state the Carroll’s philanthropic model and inclusion of the same (Mawass and Kanjo 2013).
Coles is considered as the second largest retailer in Australia. The board structure is seen to be composed of various hierarchies of management operating at different levels. The managing director of Coles has been recognised with John Durkan, Rick Allert as a non-executive director and chairman along with John Fletcher as Chief Executive Officer and managing director. Based on interpretations of annual report Mr. William Gurry AO has been identified as a non-executive director of the company. Some of the other non-executive directors of Coles have been discerned with Dr. Keith Barton, Ms. Patricia Akopiantz, Mr.Anthony Hodgson, Ms. Sandra Mcphee, Mr.Michael Wemms and Ms. Belinda Hutchinson. The topmost position in the board structure has been identified with chairman.
Michael Chaney has been identified as the chairman of the company. The second important person of the member of the board has been further identified with the position of managing director which has been seen to be held by Richard Goyder. Some of the other most wanted board structure has been identified with finance director which has been headed by Terry Bowen and Paul Bassat. The other members of the board structure have been consisting of representatives of various positions including group General Counsel of the group. This particular position has been held by Maya vanden Driesen. Some of the other members of the board structure is seen to be consisting of it positions such as Chief Executive Officer, chief human resources officer, executive general manager for corporate affairs, company secretary and Chief Executive Ofc for Department stores (Knight 2017).
Public Scandals
It has been further identified that each of the division is seen to be headed by a steering committee which includes the managing director and finance director of the group. The board is further seen to approve various types of partnership focused on areas such as medical research, indigenous programs, health and education and in areas such as employment generation. The board of directors access the main body for having control over various types of other groups of Wesfarmers such as Coles Department of store (Bita 2014).
By analysing the annual report of the company published in 2016, it has been further discern that there have not been any major changes in the structure of the board.
On 10 April 2015, the Federal Court has been ordering Coles supermarket Australia Private Limited to pay $ 2.5 million as penalty for misleading representations and making false promises associated to promotion of its par baked products. The following issue had been brought forward by “Australian Competition and Consumer Commission”. The main issue has been seen in terms of the products which were promoted as “Baked Today, Sold Today” and “Freshly Baked In-Store” they are very often only partially baked and was seen to be frozen by the supplier and the same was transported as finished products within the stores of Coles supermarket. The contravening penalties have been seen to be substantial and serious in nature. You further seen to send a strong message to the company’s by stating they should not use broad phases for deliberately selling of products and misleading the consumers (Dubowitz et al. 2015).
On December 15, 2015 Coles has been seen to be embroiled in a child slavery scandal by selling seafood from its high company who has accused using child labour. An investigation carried out by Associated Press has been able to reveal the different types of evidences of forced labour in the factory outside the Bangkok which has been seen to be owned by seafood supplier and Thai union. As per the workers who have witnessed child labour have also said that the slave labour used by the company is under threat of violence. Children are seen to work alongside their parents in the factory which has been carried over even further by pervasive human trafficking. The problem has been further fuelled by complicity and corruption by various types of authorities and police force (Faccio, Gamberi and Persona 2013).
Ethics Theories
The main ethical theory associated to the aforementioned scandal has been identified with consequentialism theory which states about the simple ethical factors to be good or bad. Another theory as the identified with Utilitarianism theory which is associated to the fair choices by ensuring least harm to the individuals involved in the business. The various types of ethical theories rule have been seen with a motive to benefit the individuals through fairness and law. In addition to this, by acting ethically the consumer along with creating more value to the shareholder will be able to act in favour of the company. This will also promote health and safety among people and environment at large (Press 2016).
The various types of stakeholders of Coles Department has been categorised into six broad headings. These stakeholders has been classified as social groups, society, organisations, vendor and the consumers who are involved directly or indirectly with the business or they are seen to be having stake in the business. It is the duty of the company to recommend the appropriate products and services to their respective stakeholders. Vendors of the company should be able to bring the appropriate quality in the marketplace along with supporting the capital of the company. Some of the important financial perspective of the stakeholders has been identified with operational efficiency, profitability and revenue.
The various aspects of consumer perspective are seen in terms of attracting the consumers and retaining consumers. The various types of internal perspectives of the stakeholders have been further seen with asset management, administration system and employee management. Some of the most notable learning and growth aspect of the stakeholders has been identified with human resource input, relationship and technical aspects. Coles has further taken initiatives by engaging with stakeholder survey to improve communication on issues relating to sustainability. The various types of respondents identified for the shows based on the area of interest are addressed in terms of diversity, climate change resilience, and environmental impact in the business, supplier relationships, food safety, ethical sourcing and investment in various types of assets. Wesfarmers is seen to be committed with long-term outcome of the benefits for both suppliers and stakeholders thereby at the same time recognising the various types of robust negotiations for acceptable and normal business practices contributing to efficiency, long-term sustainability, innovation and competitiveness of all the parties (Volpe 2013).
The engagement with the various types of non-governmental organisations has been also a part of stakeholder engagement program of the company. Media is identified as the most important avenue for communicating with the stakeholders. Coles has been continuously identified to communicate internationally, nationally and locally alongside with various media organisations to contribute to the fair reporting of the activities to the various types of stakeholders. Coles has been further identified to the work with several local media organizations for contributing to the transparency of the operations and building the reputation of the organisation (Sustainability.wesfarmers.com.au. 2017).
Stakeholders
The Council for ASX Corporate Governance (CG) was seen to be established in 2003. It is aimed to bring together the insights about various business, industry group and shareholders to point out the governance issues with respect to particular stakeholder. The adherence to the main principles under the CG guidelines by ASX has been noted with satisfactory return to the shareholders, the determination of materiality associated to specific facts and use of materiality guideline with accordance with Australian Accounting Standards. The board of Wesfarmers limited has seen to be committed to provide satisfactory return to the shareholders in terms of fulfilling the various obligations related to corporate governance. The parent company has been further seen to comply with recommendation as per the third edition of CG principles and recommendations published on 27 March 2014 (Wesfarmers.com.au. 2017).
The key factors relating to the corporate governance has been identified with approving leadership appointment, overseeing an advanced performance associated to strategy implementation, overseeing of group’s managing director succession planning and monitoring of groups operating and cash flow performance. That adherence to the corporate governance has been further seen with monitoring financial position, credit ratings and key metrics. By leaving the business operations and developmental plans of the individual divisions the various efforts under the corporate governance has been able to create a long-term impact and value creation on the stakeholders of the company (Pechey and Monsivais 2015).
It has been further reviewed that the talent management team which has been developed in 2017 is compliant with ASX guidelines. The key focus of the corporate governance structure has been further seen in terms of reporting the processes, leaving policies and improving the group system of overall corporate governance reporting. Some of the main highlights of compliance of corporate governance with ASX have been identified with independence of the chairman and director independence. The independence of the chairman has the scene with the responsibilities set out in the boat charter. The director of the company is seen with the commitment properly exercise the powers along with other members of the board committee. The board has been further able to review the position and various types of relationships of the directors by considering the activities of non-executive independent directors (Briton 2014).
Carrol’s four-part model of corporate social responsibility consists of economic responsibilities, ethical responsibilities, legal responsibilities and philanthropic responsibilities. The various types of philanthropic responsibilities is associated to the concepts which shows contributing nature towards the community and adding to the overall quality of lifestyle. There are various types of ethical responsibilities which has been designed in terms of obligation to carry out what is right, fair and just thereby avoiding harm to other individuals. The legal responsibilities deals with the concept that individuals should play by the rules and law is society’s codification for deciding what is fair, what is wrong and what is right. The different type of economic responsibilities acts as a foundation on which others rely (Alias and Ismail 2015).
Carroll’s Philanthropic Model
The application of Carroll’s philanthropic model in Coles Department of store has been evident by holding for economic responsibility in generating profits. The different types of economic and legal elements have been seen to be vital for the business. The various types of economic responsibilities have been further seen to generate profits. Based on the application of this model Coles has been able to support the community thereby reducing overall carbon footprint and supporting to the local community along with the Australian farmers. The application of this philanthropic model is also evident with the minimisation of greenhouse emission gases and recycling of waste along with overall waste reduction (Baden 2016).
Conclusion
The board structure is designated with several hierarchies of management operating at different levels. The managing director of Coles has been recognised with John Durkan, Rick Allert as a non-executive director and chairman along with John Fletcher as Chief Executive Officer and managing director. It has been further identified that each of the division is seen to be headed by a steering committee which includes the managing director and finance director of the group. The main public scandal has been seen in terms of the products which were promoted as “Baked Today, Sold Today” and “Freshly Baked In-Store” they are very often only partially baked and was seen to be frozen by the supplier and the same was transported as finished products.
An investigation carried out by Associated Press has been able to reveal the different types of evidences of forced labour in the factory outside the Bangkok which has been seen to be owned by seafood supplier and Thai union. Social groups, organisations, vendor and the consumers who are involved directly or indirectly with the business or they are seen to be having stake in the business are considered as the main stakeholders of the company. The engagement with the various types of non-governmental organisations has been also a part of stakeholder engagement program of the company. The corporate governance practices have been recognised with high standard thereby nurturing the culture of compliance. The application of Carroll’s philanthropic model in Coles Department of store has been evident by holding for economic responsibility in generating profits.
Reference List
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