When Martin Luther King Jr addressed the crowds lining the Lincoln Memorial in August 1962, he started with a bang: “I am happy to join with you today in what will go down as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.”

Granted, John Lewis Partnership’s latest corporate responsibility report – A Natural Progression – does not have the claim to history that the civil rights activist’s speech does, but it could have made a better attempt at its opening.

This is a company whose breadth of issues is as diverse as they come, making choosing where to start their report difficult. Between John Lewis and Waitrose, the partnership sells 350,000 different product lines from around 250 stores – everything from gym equipment and jewellery to fresh fruit and footwear. Even its unique employee ownership structure threatens to inject some life into the usually mundane people pages. There’s plenty here with which to lead the performance detail of this 40 page report, but John Lewis chooses customer service as its lure.

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