“Sustainable” business practices are being touted, or even required, more and more by western society. What is ANZ’s sustainability policy and how is this congruent (or not) with cutting edge sustainability thinking and theory. Does this thinking and practice change across borders? And if so, how does the ANZ’s Australian head office engage with it? Does what they espouse align with the reality of their practice?
Over the past few decades, sustainable business practices have become more prevalent and required in corporations. Australian organisations are required to be responsible for being sustainable socially, economically and environmentally, here we focus on the environmental factors. Australia’s government is constantly coming up
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The Australian government is active in its move to promote and push for sustainable business practices, one of their more recent resolutions is the Clean Energy Legislation, which is made of individual bills covering levys on green house gases and fuel tax, this enforces corporations to oblige and making a move towards being green (Griffiths, 2012). However this means that certain organisations will do the bare minimum of what is required of them by law and nothing more. There are other initiatives in place to encourage sustainable business practices which are not legally binding, such as Sustainable Business Australia, who provide policy recommendations and resources for sustainability challenges (SBA, n.d). Companies who become members with SBA are held in high regards by their stakeholders as they abide by the recommendations regarding carbon action and resource solutions. There is also an emphasis on the people, and their crucial role in creating business value. Previously people were satisfied with just their basic needs being fulfilled, but no longer, we now see Maslow’s hierarchy of needs triangle unravelling as people require more to feel satisfied with themselves and what they do in their work space (Kiel, 1999). With encouragement from government and local communities, Australia is making an effort with great determination towards having the best sustainable business
Bertrand Piccard quotes, “In the 21st century, the heroes will be the people who will improve the quality of life, fight poverty and introduce more sustainability. This is a powerful message, it sums up the concepts discussed throughout the course. Additionally, the case studies such as the New Belgium Brewery, SC Johnson and The Kimberly Clarke organization have been proven to practice this philosophy. As society progresses in its efforts to provide a more sustainable future, there is a fundamental foundation of principles that must be followed to ensure success. Sustainable business development takes into account the application of business operations as it relates to the three pillars of sustainability, which is a dynamic yet integrative place to begin this journey. DesJardins, (2006) calls for a re-imagination of the future to create a vibrant sustainable model; which forms similar beliefs to Piccard. In addition, organizations are more inclined to create sustainable practices based on consumer demand and the willingness of leadership to participate in sustainability programs.
Assessing the second objective, permits the first policy for Community Relations in BHP Billiton’s Sustainability Framework to come to light. The first policy statement is that the company “engages regularly, openly and honestly with our host governments and people affected by our operations, and take their views and concerns into account in our decision making”. This policy
Nowadays, Westpac has been known as the world’s most sustainable company when ranking their positions to other Australian banks (George L., 2014). In order to acquire a deeper understanding of a term ’the most sustainable company in the world’, this below contents will provide the brief of a comparative analysis about Westpac’s achievements with other banks in Australia such as CBA and NAB, which including profitability, solvency and sustainability with the aim of coming up with the reasons why Westpac become on top of the sustainable companies all over the world. Moreover, with respect to the successful performance, Westpac admitted that they not only find the best solution for minimizing costs to maximize profits but also approach to customer
The majority of people in today’s global society have a false sense of security in believing that the effects of climate change will not take place until the very distant future, and are to dire to bear engaging. Environmental protection is currently one of the largest social issues facing different groups within society including; governments, special interest groups, everyday citizens and global organisations. The actions of organisations with regards to environmental sustainability are becoming a larger factor in business operations. Today’s more informed society expects businesses to perform out of the traditional economic measure of profit motive and adjust to society’s efforts to achieve modern sustainability goals. BHP Billiton (BHP) is the largest and leading global resources company, being the world’s largest producers of major commodities including; coal, copper, iron ore, nickel and uranium. BHP’s annual revenue for 2014 can be rounded off to $607,206million US Dollars and currently hires 128,800 employees and contractors over 141 locations. These figures not only represent how large BHP is, but they highlight the importance of BHP’s contribution to help achieve
Since the early nineties Australia’s approach to acknowledge sustainability has equipped people with the information, skills and understanding to reach conclusions around their environmental social implications. Australia has seen many changes since the first Environment Conference in 1970 where the emphasis was on natural ecosystem and how to provide the community with understanding to make necessary decisions on the environment and economic implications. As the years progressed so did the Education for Sustainability which facilitates the changes by creating critical and innovative approaches, fostering new knowledge, building capacity in individuals for transformational change and overseeing social and economic implications. In residential
Our company analysis focuses on the Kohl’s corporation, which tailors to customers needs in apparel, shoes and home décor. Kohl’s entertain the idea of their slogan by saying “expect great things”, they set high standards in the business world from an economical stand point as the maintain almost 20 billion dollars in revenue and from a sustainability stand point as they have achieved numerous goals since the 2000’s. Kohl’s is a great company with many department stores located throughout the United States and in Massachusetts. There is one less than a mile away from Merrimack College that has a huge collection of apparel, shoes and home décor.
In today’s business world, sustainability can make all the difference in the world. According to Tomson (2015), “sustainability has become an economic and strategic imperative with the potential to create opportunities and risks for businesses by creating new customer relationships, and inspiring new products and business models that drive growth. Consequently, companies that are, or aspire to be, leaders in sustainability are often challenged by rising public expectations, increasing technological innovation, continuous quality improvement, effective governance measures, high standards of ethics and integrity, and heightened social and environmental challenges” (p.1).
Sustainable business philosophies are a system of fundamental or motivating principles that a business handles in different areas of operation based on the actions or beliefs of that business. “For businesses to have a sound business philosophy is the cornerstone of a successful business” (Burney, n.d). The businesses philosophy is usually the company’s mission and vision statement, which explains the company’s overall goals and their purpose of being in business (Burney, n.d.). Mission statements are a guide for a company to develop and implement a corporate sustainability strategy and are usually incorporated in a company’s sustainability report (Epstein & Buhovac, 2014). Sustainable business practices are when a business initiates environmentally-friendly operations internally and externally to become a sustainable organization and to reduce their environmental footprint by cutting down on waste (Belcher, n.d.).
Sustainability from a strategic business perspective is the potential for the long-term well-being of the natural environment, including all biological entities, as mutually beneficial interactions among nature and individuals, organizations, and business strategies. (O.C Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell, 2015). Business sustainably is often defined as managing the triple bottom line – a process by which companies manage their financial, social and environmental risks, obligations and opportunities. These three impacts are sometimes referred to as profits, people and planet. (Business sustainability definition from financial times lexicon, no date). This essay will discuss the idea of sustainability being an important element within a businesses and its core strategies and the importance of it within different businesses. Secondly, this study will look at how different stakeholders are affected and influenced by sustainability as this could be seen as a catalyst to improving the environment as a whole and. Then this study will look at how businesses not focusing
In 2006 New Zealand prime minister Helen Clarke declared that New Zealand should aim to be the first country which is truly sustainable (Clarke, 2006). New Zealand has long promoted itself as being a ‘clean and green’
This chapter seeks to assess the AU projects and policies for sustainability in light of the achievements and challenges each of the projects and policies have encountered and suggest what could bring about lasting economic growth which the Union seeking.
In today’s business matter, numerous perspectives emphasize sustainability. Several environmental, social, and governance issues, including health and safety among other factors, have contributed to the diverse aspects of sustainability. The complex business reforms brought by the Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS), including social and governance (ES&G) issues remain indistinctive in several disciplines. Some widespread proposals exist over the application of, ES&G and EHS management practices and methods. To understand sustainability, it is essential to discover how it has emerged and maintained a business focus.
In the recent decades, changing in technology, environment and social has affected everyone including families, communities and governments (RMIT University (ed.), 2014). There are many evidences that the earth has had negative affect by economic activities. Today, many people and corporations have more concerned about sustainability development. United Nation (UN) defines sustainability development as “the development that meet the need of present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own need”. The three pillars of sustainability are environmental sustainability, social sustainability and economic sustainability that outlined by the United Nation can be translated into corporate responsibility approach that
The Sustainable Business Network (SBN) is a Not For Profit organization set in Auckland, New Zealand, with the aim to accommodate a forum for those businesses interested in sustainable development practice (Roper, 2004). SBN defines sustainable business as the “integration of economic growth, social equity and environmental management” (Fosters, 2010). Members of this social enterprise are offered support and resources to help minimize their environmental impact, as well as networking opportunities, training and sustainability assessments.
Sustainability is part of corporate social responsibility that is becoming a significant integral part of company’s identification nowadays. It shows how a company achieves ethical standards and how a company applies the values of sustainability in