Alliance Boots

Case study: Russia

Our Russian pharmaceutical wholesale business provides a good example of the progress we have made with introducing a unified approach across our international network. Just over a year ago we were recording some initial successes in Russia but had no formal corporate social responsibility structure in place. We are pleased to report that all the key elements have been implemented including a corporate social responsibility action group, a statement of accountabilities, a gap analysis, targets, actions, milestones and documented future aspirations. In such a short time this represents a significant achievement.

The team identified 15 issues in the four key corporate social responsibility performance scorecard areas and have worked to develop appropriate criteria and targets for each of these. Set out below are examples of the many positive achievements during the year.

Community

Alliance Healthcare Russia has a history of charitable giving and we are working to strengthen further partnerships with healthcare-related charities. For example, we have recently signed an agreement to provide “Shelter for Childhood” with approximately £32,000 to fund a rehabilitation centre for vulnerable women, children and teenagers.

Environment

We have taken steps to reduce energy consumption across our warehouses and offices in Russia with more initiatives planned for 2008/09 including improved monitoring of energy consumption and the installation of energy efficient lighting at more sites.

For transport we are seeking to optimise fuel consumption and to reduce carbon emissions through route optimisation and driver training.

Marketplace

We are constantly working to improve the service we provide to pharmacies in Russia, building partnerships in the interests of providing better service to our customers. An important way in which we do this is through the provision of professional training programmes which we are extending and improving.

Workplace

With a well-resourced training centre in Moscow, we have a good track record in providing our people with career and personal development opportunities. We have plans for further improvement in this area where we are developing a new best practice benchmark training system.