Business Sustainability Assignment: A Reflective Journal
Question
Task:
Students are required to consider the sustainability-related issues and themes explored in the course and REFLECT on how these issues intersect with the world of business. These reflections are to be presented in a reflective journal, NOT a research assignment or description or summary of these themes. These themes (including issues, challenges, concepts and approaches) MUST be discussed in terms of their relevance and/or implications for business. Suitable themes for reflection may include:
- Sustainability, the Triple Bottom Line & business;
- The Six Forms of Capital used by businesses;
- The six phases of business approaches to sustainability;
- Examples of businesses successfully engaging in sustainable business.
In this business sustainability assignment task, students are required to demonstrate not only their understandings of the themes but also their consideration of the implications for the business sector and/or the student’s current/future role in business. Students should provide their thoughts, feelings, responses, reactions, opinions and ideas on the material explored. Critical thinking should be demonstrated in these reflections.
Answer
It is stated herein business sustainability assignment that in the last few decades, the rapid development that has taken place in the area of industrialization as well as globalization, has led to shattering impacts on the planet. The major cause behind this has been the sudden outcome of global pandemic as well as fire in the forest that took place in 2020. The cumulative disaster of nature that has been reported by Living Planet Report 2020. Through this report I understood that the destruction has been mostly commenced by humans who have been affecting plants along with wildlife populations in a negative way. The total population of variety of living beings like mammals, birds, reptiles as well as amphibians have gone through an upsetting average drop that has almost been more or less 68 percent since 1970 (Living Planet, 2021). As a result, this has turned out to be imperative to comprehend the interrelationships between the business as well as the society and planet.
I have been able to explore multiple aspects related to sustainability as well as the environment through the course of business, planet and Society. I have also been able to learn about the importance of sustainability in helping a business to survive in today’s competitive world. I also became familiar with the concept of triple bottom line that directs action of a company in the industry. The existence of a company depends not only on the overall ability of acquiring revenues as well as profits but also the prospects of people, society and other stakeholders in the environment gets fulfilled. Sustainability has been defined by Alhaddi (2015), as the duty of administrations in upgrading their social and environment role for present generations without letting go possessions for future generations.From this article, I learnt about how the triple bottom line framework is consideredas the means to measure performance as well as success of a company. The three lines that are used to compute the performance includes environmental, social and economic lines. I feel that this article has defined the concepts of sustainability as well as TBL in a successful way. It has helped me to understand the concepts have been emphasized in a proper way. I could clear my confusion because several viewpoints of peers used to define the terms as well as related concepts in it. Thus,it helped me comprehend the article in an effective manner. However, I could not gain any business perspective from these concepts or definitions provided.
The six types of capital that includes core economic capital, human capital, constructed capital, external economic capital, natural capital, social and relationship capital has also been well described that in turn helped me to understand the concepts. The multi-capitalist approach by the sustainability consultant Mark McElroy, has reflected on the management of company development through production, maintenance as well as preservation of vital capitals (Kline, 2015).This article has enabled me to understand the importance of capital for business development. However, I could not find any relevance of these capital types with corporate sustainability from the article. Thus, while it has been beneficial in teaching me the concept of capitalism in business, it has not helped me to gain perspective on sustainability.
I have been little confused about sustainability achievement by businesses today even after learning about competitive advantage’s triple bottom line and significance of corporate responsibility. From the article by Benn, Dunphy & Griffiths (2006) I have gained a deeper insight about the strategies followed by companies for achieving sustainability. The article further highlights the integrated approach through which change can be implemented in organisations. The corporate sustainability can be developed through six sequential stages, which have been illustrated in the article, making it a significant source of research. The six stages include refusal, non-responsiveness, obedience, efficiency, strategic pro-activity and sustaining establishment. The article has enabled me to develop an insight about the transformational and incremental changes towards sustainability. However, I could not understand about ecological and human aspects of the companies from this article. On the contrary, I was also able tounderstand the importance ofsustainable corporation including ecological as well as human sustainability. In my career, I will benefit from the knowledge that I have developed from this article based on two different aspects of sustainability.When I join some organisation in future, the idea of the sequential phases of corporate sustainability will help me in my job. I could be an effective leader, motivating my team members to work towards development of an integrated perspective for sustainability. The theoretical knowledge that I have gained will be beneficial when I apply them to real-life settings.
During this course, I have come across another concept which is sustainable development (SDGs). This concept is of great significance in the current scenario. The SDGs were developed for addressing the environmental, economic and social challenges. The SDG Compass published a report in 2015 which has been useful for me in understanding the significance of SDG in the field of business. There are a set of goals and targets in SDG. These goals encourage the civil society, government and business organisations around the globe to reduce the environmental and social issues. These goals shape the company’s goals which I came to know during this course. It helped me to understand how the companies try to communicate, steer and report their organisational goals to their stakeholders. I earlier thought that it was only the responsibility of the organisations to attain environmental and social sustainability. However, this report made me realise that the organisations benefit immensely from the SDGs. I also learnt about various benefits like he business opportunities for the organisation in future within the industry, the improvement of stakeholder relations and enhancement of corporate sustainability value. The organisation can stabilise the market and society, keep up with the pace of development of policies and use a shared objective across the organisation (SDG Compass, 2015). I can use these concepts of SDGs in future for my professional as well as organisational growth in future. These will help me to set my goals, define my priorities, integrate, communicate and report to the organisation.
This course has benefitted me by providing me deep insight into various aspects of society, business and the plane. The concepts that I have learnt include sustainability, SDGs, triple bottom line, six forms of capital business, phases of approach to sustainability, etc. I was intrigued to find out about companies that are in real practising sustainability. PepsiCo is a company practising sustainability for addressing changes in climate, public health hazards and water scarcity. Alcoa is trying to ensure environmental stewardship, safety and diversity. General Electric is utilising its human resource to incorporate sustainability in its corporate culture (Confino, 2014). Coca Cola has improved its efficiency of water use by 20 per cent. Nike is innovating to introduce designs for its products that are sustainable. Ford is implementing integrated sustainability in its supply chain, trying to reduce emission of greenhouse gasses, which is enhancing its supplier relationships. These examples of big organisations which I came across through thorough research made me realise that sustainability can be practised in real. These practical applications will make me accustomed to the practice of sustainability, which I can then apply in my future organisation, contributing to its betterment.
References
Alhaddi, H. (2015). Triple bottom line and sustainability: A literature review. Business and Management Studies, 1(2), 6-10.
Benn, S., Dunphy, D., & Griffiths, A. (2006). Enabling change for corporate sustainability: An integrated perspective. Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, 13(3), 156-165.
Confino, J. (2014). Best practices in sustainability: Ford, Starbucks and more. Business sustainability assignment Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/blog/best-practices-sustainability-us-corporations-ceres
Kline, M. (2015). The 6 Kinds of Capital Your Business Can't Survive Without. Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/maureen-kline/the-6-kinds-of-capital-your-business-can-t-survive-without.html
Living Planet. (2021). Living Planet Report 2020. Retrieved from https://livingplanet.panda.org/en-gb/
SDG Compass. (2015). The guide for business action on the SDGs. Retrieved from https://sdgcompass.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/SDG_Compass_Guide_Executive_Summary.pdf
