Analysis of CSR policies in the agri-food: the case of Anecoop

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ANALYSIS OF CSR POLICIES IN THE AGRI- FOOD INDUSTRY: THE CASE OF ANECOOP

Author: Javier Nova Heredia ([email protected]) Tutor: Miguel Ángel López Navarro

DEGREE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION FC1049: DEGREE FINAL WORK

ACADEMIC YEAR: 2020/2021

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ÍNDICE

1. INTRODUCION ... 5

2.THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 6

2.1. Corporate Social Responsibility ... 6

2.2. Main factors that influence the company's CSR. ... 8

2.2.1. Economic / competitive factors. ... 9

2.2.2. Legal factors. ... 9

2.2.3. Ethical-moral factors. ... 10

2.2.4. Philanthropic factors. ... 10

2.3. Stakeholders theory as a key piece in CSR. ... 10

2.4. CSR in the agri-food sector. ... 15

3. METHODOLOGY ... 20

4. RESULTS ... 21

4.1. Features of Anecoop ... 21

4.2. Anecoop CSR actions ... 25

4.2.1. INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS ... 25

4.2.2. EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS ... 31

4.2.3. ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES ... 33

5. CONCLUSION ... 37

6. BIBLIOGRAFÍA ... 38

A. INDEX OF TABLES

Table 2. Billing (T/Kl). ... 28

Table 3. Annual wages ... 30

Table 4. Training ... 31

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Table 5. Paper consumption (Kg) ... 34

Table 6. Water consumption (m3) ... 35

Table 7. Energy Consumption (kw/h) ... 35

Table 8. Paper disposal (Kg) ... 36

Table 9. CO2 Air pollution (t) ... 37

B. INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS

5 1. INTRODUCION

Today we find ourselves in an environment where companies, instead of focusing mainly on the economic objective of generating profits, are increasingly committed to ethics and transparency in their management, having to take care of and pay more attention to the relationships they have with its surroundings. All this, in the most responsible and sustainable way possible. We are facing the strategy of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (Husted and Allen 2000 and 2001).

The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility began to become visible at the beginning of the 20th century with the central idea that businesses had an obligation to do good to society (Clark, 1926). However, it is not until 1950 when the first formal definition of this concept appears. From that moment to the present, there is no consensual definition of CSR, but the concept of it is in constant transformation, with a multidisciplinary basis for its analysis, which allows the use of different approaches for its application and implementation. (Lizcano-Prada and Lombana, 2018).

Despite the lack of a clear and defined concept on CSR, we can establish a main theory that has contributed to increasing its importance during the last decades. This theory is known as: stakeholder theory (Freeman, 1984). This new way of conceiving organizations is based on the idea that maximizing only the value for shareholders is not enough, there are other key actors in the organization (consumers, employees, suppliers, society, the environment, etc.), who affect and are affected by it, and that must be taken into account. Today we talk about CSR practices by companies aimed at all of their stakeholders. Thus, the redefinition of the company from the stakeholder theory, whose objectives must be defined directly in relation to the interests of its stakeholders, is presented as one of the main reasons for the current boom in CSR (Rodríguez, 2013).

Based on all this, the main objective of this dissertation is to assess the evolution of the Corporate Social Responsibility policy, focusing on the stakeholder theory discussed above, carried out by Anecoop S. Coop., an important second-tier cooperative domiciled in the Valencian Community, with great national and international projection. To do this, we will take as a basis the different explanatory reports that each Anecoop commercial campaign launches to inform its associated cooperatives and the rest of society about its economic, environmental and social performance. That is, we will use the case analysis method to achieve our goal. Thus, once the concepts of CSR have been known and its elements analyzed, we will try to focus on our entity Anecoop and explain how it has been improving and what has been changing in its CSR policy implemented since its inception in this area, back in 2009/2010 and up to the present, with the latest report

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published in 2020. After applying this analysis method, we will be in optimal conditions to evaluate the results obtained and draw our own conclusions.

This research work, therefore, will be structured as follows:

First, we will try to identify what CSR is in general and analyze its evolution throughout its history, as well as explain its main characteristics. A special mention will also be made of how CSR works in the agri-food sector, its impact in recent years and the advantages for this branch of economic activity. After that, we will go on to analyze our case under investigation: CSR at Anecoop S. Coop. and how its evolution has been in the last 5 years, making an impact on the most important points of this strategy contained in its explanatory reports. Finally, we complete the work with the presentation of the most relevant conclusions that we can draw after the study.

2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1. Corporate Social Responsibility

Today, there is still no agreed definition of the term Corporate Social Responsibility, but it is increasingly common to find the acronym "CSR" in many areas, mainly in texts related to the corporate sphere of the company.

This term of Corporate Social Responsibility that has become fashionable in recent decades dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, where we found the first idea related to this concept provided by the American economist John Maurice Clark, who stated that the world was beginning to live a business revolution, going from individualism to solidarity and social concern, to avoid the consequences of an irresponsible system, based on "laissez faire" and an economy based on "free contract" (Clark, 1926).

However, the main basis of the concept of CSR was not clearly defined until the 1950s, in the USA. It was provided by Howard R. Bowen, considered the father of CSR, after his work, Social Responsibilities of the Businessman, in 1953. In this work, Bowen raises what the responsibilities that entrepreneurs are and that they should or should not assume with the society. In addition, he points out that daily business activity has a strong impact on society, which makes it necessary to establish business policies in accordance with the values and objectives of society.

However, in the 60-70s, CSR remains in the background, since it begins to be considered by many authors that CSR and the financial results of entities are exclusive (Lee, 2008), which collides with the idea that Bowen had implanted years ago. Friedman, with his

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article in the New York Times, is considered the main leader of this thought. In this article, entitled "The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits", the economist defends that the only responsibility that companies have is to generate profits, since by doing this, they are indirectly contributing to creating benefits in society, through the payment of taxes, compliance with laws and the contribution to full employment. This causes that during the decade of the 70s is with the coexistence of two opposite positions.

Thus, on the other side, we find the interest in CSR at a moral level taking greater prominence, spreading thought throughout the world and taking on great importance in Europe, where authors such as Steiner (1971) and Carroll (1977) stand out. Steiner defines CSR as: ‘’Companies must continue to be fundamentally an economic institution, but they also have the responsibility to help society achieve its basic goals, and therefore have social responsibilities…”.

On the other hand, Carroll (1979) proposed a three-dimensional model of CSR that allowed us to analyze the approach of companies to the concept of CSR. This model focused on 3 fundamental elements:

1. A basic definition of CSR: "Corporate social responsibility encompasses the economic, legal, ethical or discretionary expectations of society about the organization at a given point in time."

2. An enumeration of the issues or reasons why social responsibility must exist.

3. A specification of the philosophy or type of responsibility to be assumed by the company for each situation.

In the 1980s, we are in a stage characterized by the creation of alternative theories, models and terms on CSR, such as: public responsibility, business ethics, etc. Carroll (1983) continues to be the author who stands out the most at this time, defining in more detail the concept of CSR that he proposed at the beginning: ''CSR implies conducting a business in a way that is economically profitable, respectful of the law, ethically and socially supportive. Therefore, being socially responsible means that profitability and obedience to the law are above all the conditions for discussing the ethics of the company and the degree to which society is supported, with the contributions of money, time and talent. ''It is the philosophy implanted by this author that has had the most impact to date, which is why many authors have taken his studies as the basis for their own theories.

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It is not until the 90s when Corporate Social Responsibility begins to take on relative importance. This is where the social and environmental responsibility of companies begins to be considered. It will be considered that companies can have better financial results for being and doing good (Lee 2008). Some of the authors that we will highlight at this time will be Quazi and O'Brien (2000), who propose a two-dimensional model to present CSR approaches from an organizational perspective. The two dimensions they propose are: area of social responsibility and perceptions of the consequences of the companies’ social action. Based on these dimensions, the model defines four approaches or perspectives to understand CSR: classical, socio-economic, philanthropic and modern.

Since the end of the 90s and until today, it is where we obtain the maximum development of CSR, integrating it into the mission, vision and organizational principles of the company. The society demands a more ethical and responsible management, and CSR configures this management, generating trust and improving the reputation of the company (De la Fuente and De Quevedo, 2003).

The main contributions to the term at this time come mainly from governmental and non- governmental organizations, such as the European Union, the UN, etc. The EU defines it as: “to fully assume their social responsibility, companies must apply, in close collaboration with environmental and ethical stakeholders, respect for human rights and consumer concerns in their business operations and strategy'' (European Union, 2011).

Also, we have another important definition of CSR from the EU "the voluntary integration, by companies, of social and environmental concerns in their commercial operations and their relations with their interlocutors" (Green Paper of the European Union , 2001, p.13) On the other hand, the UN defines it as: "shared values and principles that give a human face to the world market" (UN, 1999).

In the end, after examining the evolution of CSR during its history, we can determine that there is a wide variety of definitions and, to date, a generally accepted statement of the term has not been achieved yet.

2.2. Main factors that influence the company's CSR.

Beyond the theoretical reasoning seen above about accepting or not certain levels of social responsibility, it is a fact that companies adopt policies in this direction. Therefore, the question we must ask ourselves is whether it is good and why, in a market economy, that companies decide to assume a certain level of social responsibility in addition to complying with their legal obligations (Guerras and Lopez-Hermoso, 2002).

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In general areas, it can be considered that the factors that influence the decision of the company about adopting positions in the field of CSR are of four types: economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic (Carroll, 1991). We will base our study on Carroll's pyramid, which is the one that has had the most influence on CSR studies, and we will proceed to analyze each of its elements in the following points.

2.2.1. Economic / competitive factors.

Economic factors would be the base of the pyramid. It is understood that a company is created with the responsibility of being profitable and, in this way, obtaining resources to reward shareholders, pay workers, among others.

However, the social responsibility applied by the company can improve its competitive position and create value, contrary to a more traditional idea that only generates unnecessary costs. There are five elements that we consider necessary for the company to create value (Guerras, 2009: 574):

• Creating valuable tangibles such as legitimacy: The company conveys an image of seriousness, responsibility and commitment to community problems and generates credibility and trust.

• Differentiating products and processes: This makes companies incorporate attributes and characteristics that positively affect the eyes of customers, such as being an environmentally friendly company.

• Improving the competitive context in which the company operates, which ends up rewarding its own competitors (Porter and Kramer, 2002).

• Reducing risks in relationships with stakeholders and thus avoiding the costs of socially responsible behavior.

• Accessing valuable resources in better conditions than other companies such as qualified personnel or financial resources from socially responsible investment funds (SRI).

2.2.2. Legal factors.

This is the minimum threshold of liability that companies must respect. The influence of legal factors leads to compliance with all laws and regulations. Therefore, just as society allows companies to assume their productive role, regulations and laws have been created under which companies, as members of that society, are expected to carry out their activities correctly within the framework of the legal requirements that allow it.

An example of these laws and regulations that deal with CSR are:

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- In Spain, the recent Law 11/2018, which introduces changes in the non-financial reports prepared by companies with more than 250 employees, which must prepare a clearer and more detailed report of the company's commitments in relation to sustainable development and on its impact on employment and local development.

- On the other hand, in Europe, we can highlight Directive 2014/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, of October 22, which modifies Directive 2013/34/EU with regard to the disclosure of information non-financial and information on diversity by certain large companies and certain groups.

2.2.3. Ethical-moral factors.

“CSR is linked to the values and ethical behavior of the company and its owners and managers, as well as the values of the society in which it operates. In this way, the ethical criteria of society tend to be more easily assumed by the company and serve as pressure for socially responsible behavior”.

2.2.4. Philanthropic factors.

This group of factors corresponds to the top of the pyramid and is based on what we understand today as Corporate Social Responsibility itself. According to Carroll, the responsibility here is that the company contributes with the resources obtained to improve the community, that is, the responsibility of the company is not based only on maximizing the profitability of its shareholders, but it expands the search for value to all the groups that participate in it, that is, its interest groups or stakeholders.

2.3. Stakeholders theory as a key piece in CSR.

After the analysis in the previous point, we can observe how Carroll, in various studies carried out in 1978, understands the company as an economic entity that affects many people in terms of well-being and risks, defending that its management must be carried out as a "moral issue", compared to other types of management such as amoral or immoral that pursue profitability as an objective.

However, in the analysis of the interest groups of the company or stakeholders we must study other authors such as Freeman, who stands out as the most important author of this theory, although we also find other influential authors.

Stakeholder is a concept that appears for the first time in 1963, it is defined as “those groups without whose support the organization would cease to exist” and including, among them, shareholders, workers, clients, suppliers, lenders and society (Freeman, 1984).

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This theory supposes a new company scheme that takes into account all the individuals linked in one way or another with the organization. This leads to a new, more complex business model, defined by the balances and relationships between the company and its stakeholders. Thus, management is assigned with the obligation to manage according to the interests of all individuals affected by the business activity (Perdiguero, 2003). It could be said that companies are no longer considered solely as “an instrument destined to obtain economic benefit, but as a human group whose goal is to satisfy interests of a very different kind” (Cortina, 1999).

To satisfy this diversity of interests, it is necessary for companies to determine who their stakeholders are and what needs each of them has.

Therefore, we can understand that interest groups or stakeholders are those social groups and individuals to whom the actions of a company affect them in one way or another, with their own interest, direct or indirect, due to its progress, which in turn influence the achievement of the objectives set and their survival.

Within the interest groups we find two fundamental dimensions: an internal dimension and an external dimension. They include the main characteristics of CSR, which we will analyze individually in this section.

• Internal level:

These social groups are those that are within the structure of the company, they can already be employees and shareholders or owners.

Employees

People who carry out their work in the organization with an employment or a professional contract and a monetary remuneration and/or in kind. Depending on the type of work carried out, the sector of activity and the characteristics of the organization, various job categories can be distinguished. However, employees can be divided into two large groups: managers and non-managers.

Shareholders or owners

People and entities which hold shares in the property of a company. For capital companies, depending on the amount of the contribution, it is possible to distinguish between dominant shareholders and minority shareholders. Depending on their legal personality, a differentiation can be made between individual shareholders and

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institutional shareholders (investment and pension funds). However, employees, for their part, can also be shareholders. The shareholder with a vocation of permanence in the organization approaches the concept of ownership or entrepreneur, normally involved in the management and running of the business. On the contrary, the shareholder who exclusively seeks an economic return on his contribution is associated with the figure of the external investor, individual or institutional, considering him as an external interest group.

• External level:

These social groups do not belong to the internal structure of the organization, but are related to the organization.

Customers:

These are the consumers or users of the products and services produced by the company. It is one of the most important social groups, since it is towards which the exploitation of the business is oriented. The income obtained from the sales of these products and services must be adequate to cover the production costs and the expected margin. Customers are, therefore, essential members of the company, essential for its survival. The acquisition, knowledge, satisfaction and loyalty of customers are preferred aspects in business management.

Providers:

People and organizations that generate jobs, products and services for the company without belonging to it. This relationship may be duly included in a contract that establishes the obligations contracted by both the contracting company and the external provider. Some of the most common conditions of these types of contracts are: the price, the delivery time, the specifications of the product or service and its guarantees, and the payment method.

Competitors:

Companies in the same sector that offer products and services similar to those produced by other companies, to potential clients or consumers. Its purpose is only to attract new customers or to satisfy the new needs of those who already have, sometimes temporary alliances between competitors appear, which, on the other hand, facilitate the possibility of reaching quality standards, which are not always achievable individually.

Social agents:

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Public interest groups that with their action can have a decisive impact on the way companies are managed, even conditioning their future. The social agents can be of very different sign and purposes, sometimes grouping together a considerable number of individuals and organizations that affect the company, such as: workers' unions, consumer associations, chambers of commerce with the presence of competitors, supplier groups, standards bodies, and so on. Opinion groups, especially those represented in the news and the media, analysts and lobbies, together with non- governmental organizations for the defense of human rights and ecological values are other social agents whose action affects the company. Financial markets can also be considered as a social agent of a technical nature, whose opinion is decisive for the evolution of listed companies. The aforementioned media, due to their ability to reach and influence the opinion of practically all interest groups, can be decisive in more transparent company-society relations and in the degree of reputation of companies.

Public administrations:

Public authorities of the European Union, the State, the Autonomous Communities and local administrations with the power to configure the legal framework in which organizations must carry out their activities. This framework recognizes rights and imposes duties on organizations Laws and other official provisions establish tax obligations, general regimes of organization and corporate regulation

Local community:

Group of entities of public or private initiative in the local environment surrounding the activity carried out by the company, with which it interacts closely. We highlight among them: church, neighborhood and other associations, foundations, political parties, NGOs, etc.

However, there are other authors who suggest that the way of presenting the stakeholders can vary notably in terms of their number and levels of grouping, there is not only the theory that we have previously observed of the stakeholders raised by Freeman.

In the present work, the environment will be treated as a matter of interest, as Rodríguez and Ricart (1997) well state, this raises a theoretical model of the company-environment relationship where there is a relatively exhaustive list of environmental factors and they reflect on the weight or importance of each one. All these factors actually constitute an

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enumeration of the possible stakeholders that may affect the company's environmental management or be affected by it.

The environmental factors considered in this classification are the following:

a) The Administration at all levels, which exercise direct action on companies through their provisions and legal requirements.

b) Suppliers, in charge of continuously improving the environmental quality of their supplies in response to the growing demands of their customers.

c) The customers themselves, with increasing ecological awareness that is reflected in their demand and whose participation through the use of the product and its reuse or recycling will significantly affect the environmental impact of business activity.

d) Environmental groups, who tend to have an indirect influence through their pressure actions on public administrations and their possible impact on social opinion regarding the environmental quality of a company or industry.

e) Companies belonging to the same industry or different industries, with which joint actions may be carried out for common benefit.

f) Investors, who increasingly condition their investment decisions on the environmental performance of the organization (Rodríguez 1999), either for ethical reasons or risk assumption.

g) Banks and insurance companies, concerned about the possibility that negligent environmental management could jeopardize the success or profitability of the operations contracted.

h) Employees, whose awareness and participation will determine all policies adopted by the company.

i) Technology, since its advances may constitute important opportunities related to the environment.

j) Developing countries, given that their growth must be based on the use of less polluting technologies if the ecological balance of the entire planet is not endangered.

k) Universities, scientists and the media, who will exercise their influence basically through their research capacity, dissemination of knowledge and mobilization of opinion.

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l) Neighbours, people who share coexistence with companies in the same community and who, above all, will exert indirect pressure through the Administration to increase environmental requirements.

2.4. CSR in the agri-food sector.

In order to fully understand the objective of the case study, it is important to make a brief comment about how the agri-food sector is currently doing, since our entity under analysis falls within this sector.

When we talk about the agri-food sector, we refer both to companies in the primary sector dedicated to agriculture, livestock and fishing, as well as to companies that transform raw materials (secondary sector), which come from the primary sector, into processed and semi-finished products. We are talking about a sector that in Spain has a billing of more than 100 million euros per year, representing more than the 18% of the exports of the national economy and ranking in the top positions in the EU with respect to billing, according to the annual report of the food industry issued by the Government of Spain in 2020.

In recent decades, worldwide, the practice of traditional production patterns, both by these companies and those engaged in other sectors of activity, and consumption that is not environmentally friendly, along with various other factors, have led the planet towards the famous climate change that we are currently experiencing, which makes us contemplate and suffer extreme meteorological phenomena, as well as fluctuations in prices, economic losses, increase in social differences, among many other consequences. The results that today most significantly affect this sector are:

• Climate change

Global warming is an ongoing process caused mainly by human actions, one of the most significant is, any action which produces carbon dioxide emissions, and this carbon dioxide emission has the following causes, the atmosphere and the oceans are warming, the extent and volume of snow and ice are melting, sea levels are rising, and weather patterns are changing.

All these consequences caused by global warming directly affect agricultural production, these consequences affect especially the existence of optimal conditions for agricultural production. Gradually more uncertain and less predictable meteorological patterns, greater thermal fluctuations, extreme phenomena such as torrential rains, droughts and even anti-seasonal events are some of these consequences that affect agricultural production, making it more volatile and often generating pressures to emigrate,

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determine crops to other latitudes that due to climate change are more appropriate (Dueñas, 2015).

• Water, a finite resource of increasing cost

As we all know, water is a substantial and often undervalued resource. Although two thirds of the earth's surface is water, only 2.5% of the total volume is fresh water. Within this, only 1.2% of the resource is on the surface, the remaining 1.3% is mostly trapped in glaciers and polar caps or as groundwater. Most of the fresh surface water is found either in the form of permafrost or as surface ice. The rise in sea level and other meteorological factors linked to climate change reduce the availability of fresh water due to the salinization of groundwater and the decrease in rainfall in some regions. One of the main affected by this phenomenon is undoubtedly the agri-food industry. At present, only irrigated agriculture accounts for 70% of water consumption worldwide, which forces companies in the sector to adapt by establishing, among other methods, efficient water management measures (Dueñas, 2015).

• Population expansion and emerging convergence

The population on the planet is experiencing a gradual but continuous growth. It is estimated that in the next 100 years the world population will increase by more than 3,000 million people, reaching 10,100 million inhabitants. On the other hand, the economic convergence of the countries is estimated to be contributing to the generation of more than 1,000 million new members of the middle class between now and 2030.

This generates an increase in the demand for food, both from quantitative as well as qualitative point of view, more refined products will be needed and, on occasions, with greater environmental impact. FAO estimates that, based on current production and consumption trends, world food production should increase 60% by 2050 in order to meet the demands of the growing world population (Dueñas, 2015).

• Productivity and elasticity of supply

The key to solving the great environmental and social challenges of the agri-food sector is based on the productivity of natural resources. To prevent price hyperinflation and food shortages in the weakest places, growth in demand must be accompanied by an equivalent expansion in supply. All this requires a technological revolution with which world agricultural production is maximized from current levels, considering, in turn, that the extent of regeneration of natural resources is, in some cases, above the threshold of sustainability (Dueñas, 2015).

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• Diet, health and social costs

In recent years, the impact of diet on health is unavoidable, however, these risks associated with poor diet often take years to manifest. One of the causes is associated with new lifestyles, they are usually located in urban environments, where commuting and working hours reduce the time available to cook and take care of the diet. However, all this is causing an increasingly overweight population. Currently, the population with a lower educational level and a lower income level has a higher probability of being obese in developed countries, also in countries where the economic situation is most affected, a reduction in the food budget in the families, is provided by an increase in the average calories of the food purchased. In the United States, an inverse relationship is observed between vegetable consumption and the unemployment rate, and in Mediterranean Europe, fruit and vegetable consumption has been affected during the crisis. This budgetary retention, has as a consequence the substitution of healthier foods for other more caloric ones. Being overweight has as a consequence the propensity to develop coronary heart disease, blood pressure, diabetes and certain types of cancer among other diseases. All this indirectly increases the pressure on the agri-food sector that has to measure between consumer tastes and preferences, as well as the impact on health and the socioeconomic costs that it entails (Dueñas, 2015).

• The awakening of the conscious consumer

Currently, the internet age is the source from which more information can be obtained, consumers have an almost inexhaustible amount of information at their fingertips. The rise of social networks supports the transmission of images, news, testimonies where it is not always true instantly. This creates a new type of consumer, the conscious consumer. This consumer not only shows interest in the characteristics and qualities of the goods they consume, but also in how they are produced, what their geographical origins are and, often, by their social and environmental characteristics. According to a report by Forética 2015, one out of every two consumers in Spain declares to have made some type of negative or positive discrimination due to ethnic, social or environmental conditions to certain products, being those of the food and beverages group the most sensitive to both types of responsible consumption. Within the segmentation of said report, the group of assets has grown significantly in recent years. This represents a people market in which a profile of high-medium and high cultural and socioeconomic level predominates. This creates an influence and an incentive for companies to generate information and transparency about their supply chains. One manifestation of

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this phenomenon is the splendor of some fair trade, sustainable fishing or responsible forestry seals (Dueñas, 2015).

• Fight against food waste

The FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization) considers that a third of food production is lost or wasted worldwide. Within the European Union, it is estimated that more than 89 million tons of edible food are thrown away each year. Of these, approximately 42% comes from households, 39% from food manufacturing processes and 14% from restaurant and catering services. Finally, 5% comes from the distribution sector. In the case of our country, Spain is the sixth country that wastes the most food (7.7 million tons), after Germany (10.3 tons), the Netherlands (9.4 tons), France (9 tons), Poland (8.9 tons) and Italy (8.8 tons). By 2020, estimates suggest that this amount of 89 million will increase to 126 million tons taking into account the increase in population.

The phenomenon of food waste is a manifestation of inefficiencies in the food chain that has enormous social costs, with a waste of resources that could be used to feed the most disadvantaged; environmental, taking into account that food production is intensive in the consumption of natural resources such as soil, water or energy; and economic, due to the added value incorporated in waste (Dueñas, 2015).

Because of this, we could talk about the fact that there is currently a duty and a need for companies to change their production methods and make them increasingly sustainable and environmentally friendly, all of this to alleviate the previous consequences. These methods are based on the creation of a product production chain based on: a logical and sustainable use of resources, effectiveness and efficiency in management, quality and guarantee in the transformation of the basic elements into products and their subsequent distribution.

All these links that compose the production and distribution chain have a direct impact on the well-being of society. Therefore, a conscious diligence of the food industry must be carried out and thus obtain the proper functioning of the companies, both on their own initiative and by the imposition of regulations by the governments. In this way, in recent years, various international standards for the certification of systems or products have appeared, which aim is to achieve a safe and sustainable agricultural industry and, in this way, get the consumer to increase their confidence in the supply chain. (Dueñas, 2015).

Regarding the sustainable development of companies in the agri-food sector, as recognized by the United Nations, it is a universal objective, and many brands adopt a commitment to the environment in their action plan. To achieve this sustainable

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development, different measures can be adopted, such as, for example: intelligent water consumption or even reducing it; make use of reusable packaging in order to reduce the impact on the environment, as well as reduce the carbon footprint to combat climate change.

In relation to the social field, it is committed to improving it. Different companies have taken initiatives to try to provide a better future for farmers in different countries. Others collaborate on various social projects in order to highlight the integrity and ethics of their companies. As well as others participate in events to sponsor culture and education.

Once we have studied the various socially responsible measures that are carried out worldwide by the different entities of the agri-food sector, we will carry out a brief study of Corporate Social Responsibility applied in cooperatives, since in Spain they represent a great weight in the agri-food sector and also our entity object of study is one of them.

From the macro-magnitude report prepared in 2020 by the Confederation of Spanish Agricultural Cooperatives, we can draw that in 2019 there were almost 4,000 agri-food cooperatives, with a billing close to 30 million euros and that they provided more than 100,000 direct jobs. Furthermore, the main sector in which cooperatives operate is fruit and vegetables, which account for 29% of their total.

It is also important to highlight how in the last decade the number of ecological cooperatives has tripled and as the participation of women in cooperatives, although it has increased in recent years, is still very low, since women represent only the 26% of the social base, 7.4% of the composition of the governing councils and the percentage in the presidency of the cooperatives decreases even more, with 3.6% (OSCAE, 2019).

Cooperatives have always presented a business conduct where CSR is very present.

"Cooperatives and other mutual and associative type companies have a long tradition of combining economic viability and social responsibility thanks to dialogue between stakeholders and participatory management, and can serve as a reference for other organizations." With this statement, the Commission makes it clear that CSR is nothing new for cooperative societies, being entities that are exponents of social responsibility, as indicated by Castro (2006). Furthermore, it could be said that, as a social enterprise, its social responsibility would consist of investing its own resources and capacities to deploy its social strategy (Barrera, 2007).

In order to analyze in more detail the relationship that exists between CSR and cooperative societies, we must start from an analysis of the principles and characteristics of both. Unlike cooperative societies, where there are generally accepted principles and

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values that guide their operation and distinguish them, for CSR there are no formally established principles that characterize socially responsible organizations. The principles of CSR derive both from the definition of CSR itself and from the recommendations made in this regard by international organizations for companies to adopt responsible business conduct. Thus, after an analysis of the definitions presented in the previous section, and especially of the CSR pyramid proposed by Carroll (1991), we can cite the following as general CSR guidelines:

• Economic, social and environmental balance.

• Compliance with national and international legislation.

• Business ethics.

• Satisfaction of stakeholder needs in a balanced way.

• Information transparency.

We can see that in the field of cooperatives all these CSR guidelines are present, being the most significant principles and common to both: education, training and information of their workers; cooperation between cooperatives; interest in the community (Vargas and Vaca, 2005).

In conclusion, we can highlight that cooperatives have in their nature the development of their activity in a sustainable way since, without renouncing to obtain benefits, they also assume social and environmental implications, in an intrinsic way, since they assume a high commitment both with their associated cooperatives and with their environment in general (Castro, 2006).

3. METHODOLOGY

In this research work a case study has been carried out. Case study is a qualitative research method characterized by taking as a reference a relevant case for the study to be carried out, and after carrying out an exhaustive analysis of it, obtaining the relevant conclusions (Yin, 2009).

The main objective of our work is to analyze the evolution that CSR has had in the Anecoop company, through the study of the corporate social responsibility reports that it has been carrying out during the last 5 years. To carry out this analysis, we will take as a reference the theoretical models established by Carroll and Freeman, explained above, and we will focus the study on the evolution of the most important stakeholders in the Anecoop company, as well as the CSR policies carried out with each one of them.

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The reason why I have chosen this company is given that the great evolution that corporate social responsibility has had in Spain these years, forces all companies to evolve in social and environmental matters, to have to comply with new requirements, follow a series of recommendations and be able to obtain competitive advantages over other competitors.

At present I am working in a company dedicated to the agri-food sector, where I am seeing every day the new Corporate Social Responsibility measures that require, both from a social and environmental point of view, all these requirements in the vast majority of companies are not reflected, since they lack information on their web pages and some companies do not have any type of information on CSR. Anecoop is a company within the agri-food sector from which you can obtain a lot of information about Corporate Social Responsibility, either from its website, from the number of articles it has on CSR and especially from its annual reports from which with this year there are already 10 CSR reports published.

4. RESULTS

4.1. Features of Anecoop

Anecoop S. Coop. is a consolidated Valencian company with a long tradition in the agri- food sector for more than 40 years. This company that has grown over the years is characterized by being a second-degree cooperative, whose main function is the coordination of activities, mutual assistance, industrialization and service.

Anecoop differs from its competitors by being a company with international recognition, always covering whatever the expectations of its associated cooperatives and clients, this being possible thanks to an excellent strategic and operational management, always based on innovation, product quality, efficiency and growth.

At present, Anecoop is made up of a group of subsidiaries and invested companies whose headquarters are in Spain. The rest of its companies can be found in countries such as: France, Holland, the United Kingdom, China, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and the United States.

In Spain it has five offices located in the center of the most important Spanish production areas such as: Valencia, Murcia, Almería, Seville and the Ebro Valley. In social terms, Anecoop has 71 associated cooperatives in February 2020; the whole of the social mass,

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including both the cooperatives that compose it and the member companies, is made up of 71,525 people, of which 24,940 are agricultural members and 24,917 are employees.

Likewise, Anecoop markets its products in 83 different countries, with Europe being the main destination for all its sales.

It could be said that the main function of Anecoop is to work as an export distribution system for more than 112 cooperatives corresponding to 6 regions of Spain, thus becoming the largest Spanish fruit and vegetable cooperative. However, this has not always been the case.

If we go back to its origins, the reason for its creation is found in 1975, when the vast majority of cooperatives of the time began to emerge in the Valencian Community, which were founded in order to deliver the product (fruits and vegetables) from small farmers to wholesalers and distributors, since before implementing this new method, Spanish oranges were sold directly on the tree. Thus, seeing that with this new sales method a great strength was being established for the sector, its competitors began to increase, accessing thousands of small producers. However, at the end of the 90s, the sector began to show signs of weakness as demand began to stagnate, which was joined by the lack of concentration of supply in the Valencian Community. Along with this initial problem, the entity has been joined by other problems throughout its history.

In this way, another peculiarity that does not help Anecoop is that the structure of its numerous base cooperatives has a very small percentage of its production, which although it has been increasing over the years, is still low (from the initial commitment of 10% of the production of each member that composed it, in 2006 it increased to 35%).

Another problem that arose was that the cooperatives that are part of Anecoop became their own competition, since the higher quality products were kept by the cooperatives and they sent the lower quality products to Anecoop. The main consequence of this problem was that the company not only failed to achieve market power, but also pushed prices down in its sector.

Due to all the comments, Anecoop does not reach the expected size for an entity of such level. Thus, it could be said that it is small in size and not strong enough to be able to achieve the financial and productive objectives required by a second-tier structure.

Finally, one of the most important characteristics of Anecoop is that it is a socially responsible entity, focused not only on obtaining profitability for its associated cooperatives, but also on social, economic and environmental progress.

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Anecoop understands the importance of CSR in these times, which is why it aims to seek excellence in all areas of it, thus trying to pay special attention to people and their jobs, the quality of their products and facilities, etc. Anecoop focuses its CSR strategy on four fundamental pillars which are: promoting healthy eating, guaranteeing food safety, respecting the environment and, finally, generating social economy projects.

The organizational structure of Anecoop is characterized by being a pyramidal organizational structure, which is governed by Law 27/1999 of July of Cooperatives.

At the highest point we find its governing bodies, which are the General Assembly (GA), made up of its 72 members (one representative from each of the cooperatives that make them up) and takes place once a year.

On the other hand, we find the Governing Council (C.R.). It is elected by the General Assembly and his function is to manage and represent the cooperative and, it is in charge of electing the members that make up the lower levels, such as the technical commissions. These commissions are 4: Permanent Committee, Personal Administration and IT Committee, Commercialization and Production Committee and, finally, the Quality and Marketing Committee.

Illustration 1. Organizational structure

Source: self-made

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Anecoop has a single mission which is reflected both on its website and in its Corporate Social Responsibility report, which can be divided into four points:

• Achieve optimal profitability, social and sustainable development, and maximum synergy and integration of its farmers and associated cooperatives.

• Personally and professionally develop its employees.

• Establish mutually beneficial business relationships with its clients.

• Satisfy and provide healthy products to end-consumers.

Regarding the vision of Anecoop, the entity aspires to become a leader for its associated cooperatives, as well as to become an agri-food company with great international recognition. It wants to achieve this by meeting the expectations of its associated cooperatives and customers, thanks to an excellent strategic and operational management, based on innovation and permanent adaptation, product quality, efficiency and growth.

Finally, in terms of Anecoop's objectives, it has always been adapting to constant socioeconomic changes and the demand of changing markets, but its objectives have never lost their essence and have been faithful to the objectives that motivated the creation of this company. These objectives are 4:

• Progressively concentrate the offer of its associated cooperatives.

• Diversify said offer, both in varieties and in commercialization periods.

• As a consequence of the two previous objectives, to be able to be, in better negotiating conditions, valid interlocutors of the large distribution.

• Promote, business and economic, the performance of cooperatives through the adoption of complementary initiatives and the production and use of products.

Finally, with regard to strategic objectives, Anecoop is based on four axes that form the backbone of its roadmap since the implementation of the Action Plan that was formalized in 2010. These axes are as follows:

1. Integrate cooperative, associated cooperatives and third parties.

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2. Increase the effectiveness and efficiency of Anecoop.

3. Increase the value delivered to customers.

4. Consolidate and develop markets.

4.2. Anecoop CSR actions

Anecoop has reports that report on the economic, environmental and social performance of the company. The presentation cycle is annual, corresponding to the commercial campaign. Its first report was the one produced in the 2010/2011 campaign and, since then, it has been making reports every year, published on its website.

These reports, apart from reporting on the entity's annual economic performance, also focus a large part of their attention on the social and environmental responsibility policies that Anecoop has been developing over the years with its associated cooperatives, workers, clients and the community in general.

What we will do at this point, therefore, will be, based on the aforementioned reports, to analyze the evolution presented by the most important stakeholders of Anecoop in the last 5 years, as well as the various CSR policies that have been carried out with them.

Firstly, we will focus the analysis on the study of the main interest groups that Anecoop has. Thus, according to the various annual reports, we can find information on:

1. Internal stakeholders: within them, CSR policies are established with associated cooperatives and workers.

2. External stakeholders: focuses on policies with customers, society in general, the local community and the competition.

3. Environment: we can see how different problems that we find today related to water consumption, material management, energy saving, waste management and pollution are managed.

4.2.1. INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS

Associated cooperatives: The cooperative is a form of business organization based on a democratic structure and functioning. Cooperatives, as well as other legal entities, public or private, communities of goods and individual entrepreneurs who have needs or convergence of interests with the corporate purpose of Anecoop S. Coop can be members of Anecoop. The figure of the "cooperation partner" is foreseen for natural or legal persons who, without being able to develop or participate in the cooperative activity

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of the corporate purpose of this entity, are admitted by the Governing Council, in accordance with the criteria established by the General Assembly. However, in order to be a member of the cooperative, you must have economic conditions:

• Entry fee of 30.05 euros plus the one consisting of updating the Mandatory Contribution incorporated to Social Capital, of 1,803.04 euros, at a rate of 10%

per year of said amount depending on the years elapsed since 1 January 1982, when it was incorporated. (C. 2019-2020 - 180.30 euros x 38 years = 6,851.40 euros).

• Annual fee of 3,005.06 euros, upgradeable with CPI (4,483.05 euros in the 2019- 2020 financial year) and deductible from the contribution per activity.

• Withholding of 2.5% on business volume to attend to current expenses.

• Each partner must have at least one title, as established in article 39.1 of the Bylaws. The associated cooperatives must make the mandatory contribution to the capital stock established in the Bylaws, as well as those established by the General Assembly to acquire such a condition that may be different for the different classes of partner. The General Assembly may agree (art. 40 of the Bylaws) new mandatory contributions. The General Assembly and the Governing Council may, indistinctly, agree on the admission of voluntary contributions by the associated cooperatives. In the event of agreeing on new mandatory or voluntary contributions, it will be determined whether or not they accrue interest.

Today we do not know the exact number of associated cooperatives that Anecoop has, nor do we know their registrations or cancellations, since, in the last report, 2019/2020, no mention is made of these figures. Therefore, we have to go back to the report corresponding to the 2017/2018 campaign, where it is reflected that it began with 68 members but during the course a new first-degree cooperative and another second- degree cooperative were incorporated. On the other hand, no cooperative was discharged, so the year ended with 70 members, these being the last real figures that we have.

During the last 5 years, there has not been a great variation in the number of Anecoop associated cooperatives, keeping the figure stable, hovering between 68 and 72. This is because the company has reported a constant growth in the volume of operations, thus as well as the turnover volume, which has broken the record in the last year with an increase of 8% compared to the previous year, reaching a figure of 770.5 million euros, despite the situation experienced by Covid-19. It should be noted from the interval

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studied, as in the 2017 campaign, a negative growth in turnover is observed compared to the previous year, due to the decrease in the citrus harvest in said campaign caused by adverse weather conditions, affecting the availability of the most important products of the company. For this reason, it is observed that the number of associated cooperatives is a little lower than that of the previous campaign, but it is still insignificant (variation -1). With this, we can conclude that Anecoop's associated cooperatives are loyal to the company and, that despite the fact that it is not going through a good campaign, they continue to trust that its evolution will be positive, as it has shown throughout its history.

Regarding marketing, Anecoop at the beginning of each campaign carries out a rigorous analysis of the market and the competition to know the company's positioning in its main products. Currently, Anecoop groups around 8% of all national citrus exports, 1.5% more than in the 2015/2016 campaign. In addition to citrus fruits, watermelons and kaki constitute two of its reference products in the markets, of which the cooperative represents about 15 and 41% of national exports, respectively. For its commercialization, Anecoop has an extensive range of products that includes citrus, non-citrus fruits, exotic fruits and fresh vegetables, as well as IV and V Range and wines. In addition to being one of the main citrus fruit operators in the world, its offer also includes seedless watermelons and Persimon kaki, which it markets under its prestigious brand Bouquet and which constitute its “star products”. In recent years, the company is promoting the cultivation of other products such as the apirena grape, exotic products such as avocado or kiwi, through the creation of working groups or its participation in them.

Table 1. Billing (euros x thousand)

Source: self-made

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Table 2. Billing (T/Kl).

Source: self-made

In the following tables we can see both the volume of turnover by products and the quantity in tons made of these same products, Anecoop has gone from invoicing 638,019 million euros in the 2015-2016 campaign to 746,624 million euros in the last historical record campaign of the company. On the other hand, it has also grown considerably in volume, it has gone from making 774,968 tons in the 2015-2016 season to 809,351 tons in the 2019-2020 season.

It should be noted that these data obtained in the last year are the results obtained in an absolutely atypical campaign due to numerous factors, with the emergence of COVID- 19 at the fore. Undoubtedly, the pandemic, in addition to hindering our work, has accelerated some of the trends that we have been observing for some time, mainly related to the behavior of consumers and markets, which still represents a great unknown.

However, all this would not be possible without this interest group, a fundamental value of the company, that is why it is necessary to have a special treatment with them.

Anecoop tries to value this stakeholder by giving them special treatment and creating an interpersonal relationship favoring the exchange of information with them, from the different areas of the organization we coordinate actions of a strategic, technical or informative nature during the exercise, which complement the communication derived from the day by day of our activity. In recent years, technical group visits have been organized to the fields of experience in Valencia and Almería, in addition to the individual visits of some associated cooperatives. Strategic management and product sessions have also been held, adapting in all cases to the circumstances of each moment.

It also supports and takes part in all those corporate events of a significant nature organized by the associated cooperatives or in which they are protagonists: congresses,

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conferences, opening ceremonies, constitution anniversaries, award ceremonies, institutional visits, etc.

On a more informal level, the Christmas Postcard Contest is very popular, aimed at the sons and daughters of members and workers of cooperatives and associated companies, as well as commercial offices and subsidiaries of the Anecoop Group. This last campaign 2019/2020 Anecoop has celebrated the 19th edition, in which more than 1,500 boys and girls have participated.

On the other hand, within the internal stakeholders we find the workers: Anecoop defines the workers as, ''our human team'', for the company it is one of the main assets it has and, for this reason, they believe that the most important thing is to maintain good communication with them at all times. For this, they have 4 communication channels:

• General direct communication.

• Work council.

• Employee intranet.

• Web pages and social networks.

However, during this 5-year period we have been able to observe how Anecoop has been improving some of the most important aspects for them, such as: types of contracts, training, offering equal opportunities and offering socio-employment conditions

-Types of contracts: For Anecoop it is very important to favor a stable environment within the workers' area, for this reason, it has been proposing for many years to offer the vast majority of its workers a type of indefinite contract and to offer each worker a salary remuneration commensurate with their responsibility. In 2016, 96% of the workforce had a permanent contract, with only 4% of it being temporary contracts. We can see a small decrease in the 2018 campaign where workers with permanent contracts decreased to 94% and workers with temporary contract increases to 6%, however in this same year we have a general increase in wages for all workers, in the last report, corresponding to the 2020 campaign we see that workers with a contract are at the same percentage as the 2018 campaign and the total gross wage amount is above 10 million euros, 3.5 million more than in the 2016 campaign.

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Regarding wage, we do not have a written remuneration policy, although it is one of the projects that the Cultiva Project will work on. However, and as has been done to date, salaries are adjusted according to the responsibilities in each job.

Table 3. Annual wages

Source: self-made

In the following table we see how the gross total invested in salaries in 2019-2020 is above 10 million euros, 2 million euros more than in the 2015-2016 campaign.

-Equal opportunities: All Anecoop selection processes, whether they are internal or initial promotion, are governed by equal conditions. The selection criteria are governed solely by the training and skills of the worker, the experience in the position and adaptability to it, in none of the cases is important aspects related to race, nationality or religion or any other that cause inequality. In the 45 years that Anecoop has of history, it has not had any type of incident due to discrimination.

During the 2019/2020 campaign, the 1st Anecoop Equality Plan was drawn up and put into operation, which will be developed during the next campaigns.

-Socio-employment conditions: From the first moment an employee is hired, the HR unit provides the new employee with all the necessary documents, exposing a global vision of the company through the Welcome Manual, which helps them to position themselves in the organization and details its entire structure. From that moment on, employees are taken into account in all processes initiated in the company, especially those that involve change. Their point of view and contributions are valued and applied whenever necessary, making them participants in the growth of Anecoop. In addition, we have agreements with Universities and Training Centers for the admission of trainees.

-Training: The personal and professional development of employees is one of the strands of Anecoop's mission. The company's training plan allows structuring a program adapted to the needs of the company, aligning itself with the own needs of the workers who make it up. In this way, each year more capital is invested in senior management courses in which both the managerial and executive levels have participated. Specific courses have also been held for technicians and administrative assistants, however, as

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of the 2015 campaign, the highest investment has been directed to language courses.

In the 2015 campaign, the total number of training hours was 5,125 for a total of 115 workers, today in the 2019/2020 campaign the total number of training hours has been 7,370 hours for a total of 237 people, which means an average of 31.09 hours per person. This means that during the campaign 87% have received training of some type, in the following table we can see the number of workers who have obtained some type of training and the hours used in it, the progressive increase has been affected in this last year due to the COVID-19 crisis that we are currently going through, since not being able to attend in person they have had to be done online.

Table 4. Training

Source: self-made

4.2.2. EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS

Clients: First of all, we are going to carry out the study of the clients. As Anecoop explains well in all its reports, part of its mission determines the commitment to ''establish mutually beneficial commercial relationships with customers''. For this reason, they are in permanent communication with this interest group, offering all of them to have full disposal of all the information available to Anecoop, whether it be information from previous campaigns, regulations, certificates, food safety and, in general, on all those questions that each client has with the cooperative itself.

Apart from what was commented in the previous paragraph, another important point to comment on this interest group is that Anecoop calls it one of its fundamental pillars within social responsibility, it is for this reason that the cooperative aims to promote food healthy in society through the consumption of fruits and vegetables, especially in children. Our company carries out events related to sports and family leisure so that in this way it can attract the vast majority of people with the sole objective of promoting the benefits of consuming fruit and vegetables.

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These activities have been affected by the crisis that we are going through today, since due to the restrictions caused by COVID-19 many activities have had to be suspended, in this way the number of actions has been reduced considerably.

If we go back to the data of the last campaign in which we were able to carry out all the activities without any type of restrictions, we see how Anecoop has distributed more than 23,500 kilos of fruit in more than sixty tests and events held in different countries such as: Spain, France, Czech Republic or Poland, in which children and adults have participated.

Competitors: Regarding competitors, Anecoop defines itself from the beginning as a loyal company, being transparent in all its commercial practices and respecting competitors at all times. It also undertakes not to carry out monopolistic practices or against free competitors, all this effort has led to the fact that in all the years in which Anecoop has been a company, it has not received any complaint of unfair competition.

Local community: Annually and with the approval of the accounts for each fiscal year, Anecoop presents to the governing council the proposal for the approval of the solidarity fund, which is intended exclusively for different social entities and NGOs.

These funds have been increasing over the years. In 2016, Anecoop had a total of 25,800 euros, today being 52,943 euros, the amount allocated for this. The entities and NGOs that have the help of Anecoop are: Cáritas, Valencia activity house “365 solidarity companies project”, Spanish Association against Cancer, Help in Action, Novaterra Foundation and Asindown. The last projects in which it has been involved have been in 2017 and 2019. In 2017 it entered a new project promoted by the confederation of cooperatives of the Valencian Community and coordinated by the Vicente Ferrer foundation “a cooperative village in Anantapur” and in 2019 made a donation to the Xirivella occupational center to promote the inclusion of people with functional and intellectual disabilities through sports. It also contributed a small donation to the ANA PACE association and they signed a collaboration agreement with the Almería rugby union and its URA-CLAN foundation.

Society: Regarding society, Anecoop has a great impact on it, annually promoting projects that are in accordance with its values and principles, to contribute positively to the social environment.

One of its main goals is to promote healthy eating habits. To do this, it carries out promotions of its products at events of interest to local development and participates in conferences, seminars and discussion forums. In addition to the actions carried out to