What were Delhaize Group’s biggest challenges in 2010?
In 2010, we faced a difficult business environment. Despite it being a tough year economically in all our markets, we can celebrate a number of achievements, starting with the execution of our New Game Plan, to which CR is an integral part. The New Game Plan was our number one priority, as it set the framework for all our operations. We started the year with a new common vision on the way we want to do business: working together to offer assortments, products and services that are nutritious, healthy and safe, every day, at prices all customers can afford. The bigger challenge was certainly to implement the transformational initiatives we had planned for Delhaize America. Delhaize America became indeed one integrated company for all our U.S. operations, improving efficiency, lowering costs, and enhancing support to retail operations. We focused on converging and standardizing what is not visible to the customer, while keeping the local go-to-market strategies of each of our banners. This large undertaking involved over 100 000 associates.
Why is CR important to Delhaize Group?
CR is largely the expression of who we are and how we want to do business, it is one of the three pillars of our New Game Plan, alongside Growth and Efficiency. It is core to our business. This integrated strategy supports the company’s economic performance while building a more sustainable business. There are three pillars to our CR strategy: Products, People, and Planet. Within this there are six focus areas: Healthy Eating, Food Safety, Responsible Sourcing, Associate Health and Wellbeing, Associate Development and Climate Change. The progress we are making in these six areas across the business makes us a stronger company, from sourcing more responsibly, to building a stronger associate base,reducing operational emissions, and anticipating customer needs.
What are you most proud of Delhaize Group achieving in 2010?
In our focus area of Healthy Eating, we made great progress on reformulating products, cutting 45 tonnes of salt and 30 tonnes of fat from our private brand products at Delhaize Belgium. We also set aggressive salt reduction targets for our private brand products in the U.S. when we joined the National Salt Reduction Initiative. In another area of product sourcing, we made great strides in 2010 toward sourcing sustainable seafood across the Group.
How do Delhaize Group’s values affect the way you do business?
Our Group Vision and Values are the glue that holds us together.
As a first comment, we want to say how happy we are to see that more and more in our conversations and meetings people naturally refer to our values. In terms of ‘Integrity’, we’re reformulating our products ahead of customer requests to make them healthier. With ‘Courage and Determination’, we’re making the first green store in Greece a key success in 2010, while setting an example for other retailers. Our ‘Humility’ made for frank stakeholder feedback on our strategy and performance, helping us to revamp our CR strategy in 2011. Embracing ‘Humor,’ we take pride in the light and positive tone created in our work environment, contributing to more satisfied associates.
As a global business, how is Delhaize Group balancing its regional and local priorities with Group level strategy?
Our Group-wide CR strategy is evolving to meet the expectations of our stakeholders. We believe in the strength of local go-to-market strategies, and our CR approach aims to set Group goals that drive us forward together.
In line with this approach, we allow for flexibility to meet local priorities, like selling products from suppliers in the communities we operate in. We have a devolved approach for community issues, for instance, while for carbon emissions we set Group level priorities and strategy.
Finding the right balance between local and Group is a challenge in itself. For example, we had planned for all private brand suppliers to sign up to our Vendor Code of Conduct by the end of 2010. In Romania and Indonesia though, we found more time was needed to ensure consistent implementation.
What’s in store for 2011?
By the end of 2011, we will launch a new, ambitious CR strategy and plan to support our 2020 vision. This comes in response to detailed stakeholder engagement and feedback. Our stakeholders highlighted the need for a broader approach to food security, resource scarcity, and sustainable demand. During 2011, our Leadership College (a selection of 12 senior leaders from across the Group) will prepare this strategy, setting out the route to deliver our long-term vision and push us to the next level.
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