Case study: How Thai Union creates economic value for its stakeholders
Thai Union is the world’s seafood leader, bringing high quality, healthy, tasty and innovative seafood products to customers across the world for 45 years. Thai Union is committed to providing decent work and economic growth for communities and individuals throughout the world, generating sustainable economic value for all its stakeholders.
This case study is based on the 2021 Sustainability Report by Thai Union, prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards, that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Delivering long-term value to all its stakeholders, is a top priority for Thai Union. Tweet This! In order to create economic value for its stakeholders Thai Union took action to:
- create economic value for employees
- create economic value for creditors
- create economic value for shareholders
- create economic value for the state
- create economic value for communities
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Thai Union has identified;
- How Thai Union proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Thai Union to create economic value for its stakeholders
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2021 Sustainability Report Thai Union identified a range of material issues, such as human rights, responsible sourcing, environmental protection, health & safety in the workplace. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for Thai Union.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process s of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Thai Union engages with:
| Stakeholder Group |
| Investors |
| Suppliers |
| Customers |
| End-consumers |
| Employees |
| Migrant Workers |
| Communities |
| Government |
| NGOs |
| International organisations |
| Academia |
| Media |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics Thai Union engaged with its stakeholders through a survey.
What actions were taken by Thai Union to create economic value for its stakeholders?
In its 2021 Sustainability Report Thai Union reports that it took the following actions for creating economic value for its stakeholders:
- Creating economic value for employees
- In 2021, Thai Union paid 12,971.13 million THB in employee expenses.
- Creating economic value for creditors
- In 2021, Thai Union paid 1,921.61 million THB in interest expenses.
- Creating economic value for shareholders
- In 2021, Thai Union paid 3,946.89 million THB in dividends.
- Creating economic value for the state
- In 2021, Thai Union paid 883.44 million THB in corporate income tax.
- Creating economic value for communities
- In 2021, Thai Union spent 68.32 million THB in community investments.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed
Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.1, 8.2
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- Targets: 9.1, 9.4, 9.5
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References:
This case study is based on published information by Thai Union, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:
https://www.thaiunion.com/en/sustainability/report
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