Sustainability Report 2009 - The Co-operative

Focus on
delivering value
Contents
88 Membership and co-operation
95 Economic impact
99 Employees
108 Customers
112 Public policy
Delivering value Membership and co-operation Economic impact Employees Customers Public policy
Strategy
In its pursuit of sustainable development, The Co-operative
seeks to deliver value to its stakeholders in an ecologically
sustainable and socially responsible manner. Its core objective
is to optimise profits from its businesses, where co-operative
values provide a positive marketing advantage. This allows the
business to serve its members and to deliver its social goals as
a successful co-operative, whilst making a reasonable financial
return to its member-owners, both corporate and individual.
Key developments: 2009
• A new democratic structure was introduced. Changes include
a revised Board composition and a reduction in the number of
Membership regions from nine to seven (page 89).
• Significant organisational change has resulted from the
mergers and acquisition that took place during 2009
(pages 101–102).
• The Co-operative Enterprise Hub was launched,
re-energising support for the co-operative sector (page 92).
The Co-operative Group Sustainability Report 2009 87