Green Business : Sustainable Business

Businesses who participate in environmentally friendly practices will become more profitable. There are difficulties and costs that a business will face and profit takes time but is proven to positively impact a business. “The reluctance to address the forces that are polluting the planet always comes down to money (Smith, “6 Reasons Nations Don't Go Green.”). Implementing environmentally friendly practices within a company “will win them customers, and increase profits” (McDonald, “Why Do (or Don’t) Companies Go Green?”). Many global companies today carry out environmental management tools to adapt to environmentally friendly practices, which helps gain customers, and in turn becomes more profitable. In this paper, I will go into further detail explaining why businesses should be more environmentally friendly, the benefits to be gained, costs that come with being environmentally friendly, and management ways that help a company become environmentally friendly.

What does sustainable business mean? According to the author Ivy Wigmore, “Sustainable business is the management and coordination of environmental, social and financial demands and concerns to ensure responsible, ethical and ongoing success”(Wigmore, 2013). Sustainable business means to me that building a sustainable business takes hard work and creativity to ensure that the practices one institutes also makes good business and financial sense as well. The qualities that best reflect this model are having a solid plan of action, good leadership, and one’s business should supply eco-friendly products or services that replace wasteful products and services. A substantial business plan can sometimes be overlooked when a new start-up is looking for funding into their venture. Although many businesses that start with a business plan, but not all business plans

The competitive environment in today’s business world poses many dangers to the sustainability of the biosphere, which is so vital to life. Business organizations have a responsibility to help sustain and preserve the environment for future generations. Corporations must take initiative in developing business plans that incorporate sustainable business practices into the strategic direction of the organization. Successful achievement of a sustainable business plan also requires identification of barriers to implementation and development of strategies to overcome such barriers. In addition, to

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 a world surrounded by a growing population, an increased awareness of ecological issues, and push for sustainable development, businesses are being pressured to create plans for sustainability. Sustainability offers businesses, and society as a whole, the opportunity to create a more stable and economically friendly environment. Not only is sustainability involved within the environment, but it is also used in economic and social settings. Economic sustainability involves the use of taking a company’s assets and allocating them in an efficient way such that it allows the company to reach profitability. Moreover, social sustainability of a business environment involves using a business and their process to support and maintain current and future societies. The business world has invested heavily in sustainability in order to maintain a healthy ecosystem and social setting, but it has offered many difficulties. Sustainability is the future of our planet, and it needs to be taken seriously in order to benefit societies for years and years to come.

Any business must ensure that abides to the laws set up. Then they can tackle the sustainability challenges and try to satisfy all its relevant stakeholders, which is good for the environment and the business including profits.

Sustainability is defined as the ability to endure.(1) Though the idea of sustainability can be applied to most anything from a sustainable ecosystem that has survived thousands of years to a sustainable workplace that uses green technologies. Paul Hawken captured today’s connotation of sustainability in saying “Sustainability is about stabilizing the currently disruptive relationship between earth’s two most complex systems—human culture and the living world.” (2) There are countless ways to live, work, and produce sustainably. Sustainability not only needs to be practiced by citizens, but businesses need to join the green movement as well. Without creating, following, and enforcing green policies, negative effects will be evident and innumerable

The following report attempts to illustrate the differences between going green and greenwashing and how that affects corporate social responsibility within the City of Vancouver as an organization. Fifteen scholarly journal articles have been used to further support this discussion and provide insight into the world of greenwashing and it’s linkages to corporate social responsibility. This paper will attempt to confirm that the City of Vancouver’s efforts of going green feed into their corporate social responsibility and in fact prove that this municipal organization is working towards its green goals and not greenwashing.

The idea of sustainability has become an increasingly common term in the rhetoric surrounding business ethics, as corporates are gaining broader acknowledgement of this pro-active method which guarantees business long-term viability and integrity by focusing on the triple bottom line. In business, the three aspects of sustainability include social, economic and environment.

Greening is the act of saving energy and creating products that is eco-friendlier. Businesses that owns air dryers in their public restrooms, using reusable bags when shopping, buying cars and trucks that are fuel efficient or hybrids, and having solar panels built on the roof of a house to use energy given directly from the sun are just four examples of greening. Three businesses that are going green are: Wal-Mart, Starbucks, and Bank of America. Wal-Mart is putting its plan to power each and every one its stores using 100% renewable energy sources in the works; one of the many examples of Starbucks going green is now they sell customers a semi-permanent cup which only costs $1 and it lasts for about a month, instead of them giving away

“Green management” requires corporations to “use resources wisely and responsibly, protect the environment, minimize the amounts of air, water, energy, minerals, and other materials used in the final goods people consume, recycle and reuse, respect nature’s calm, eliminate toxins that harm people in the workplace and communities, [and] reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avoid activities that do irrevocable damage to the climate.” The underlying concern any corporation should have is not necessary to increase profits but to “meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” Corporations can be “green” by balancing social, environmental, and economic needs. Corporations can find this balance in many ways. For example, research into substance replacement of toxic chemicals can lead to less negative societal impact. Also, committing to reducing emissions will increase an organization’s positive environmental impact. Experts not only agree that green management can be profitable, but that now it is a “driving force for corporate entrepreneurship and

To a regular person, the global concern about ‘going green’ might appear as a result of speculation from nervous politicians and alarmed citizens. But the reality is totally different. In recent years, businesses have gained much knowledge about the impact of their activities on environment and in turns their customers. Businesses are successively venturing to earn greater revenues. In this process, they are trying out every best possibility to entice their contributors- from customers to investors. Regardless to say, stakeholders these days are more socially responsible than ever. So to keep up to their expectations, businesses are also trying to expand or limit their activities to save the environment- from doing relentless research on lowering waste to lean management and even trying out various eco-friendly activities. Despite of all these, the ultimate question remains unanswered if it is financially beneficial to adapt those initiatives that is going to serve the

Make the company “go green” by encouraging a greener environment inside the company as well as making any future banks sustainable

In order to save the environment from pollution, businesses should consider having an environmentally-friendly operation. Protecting the environment is a key factor in going green that is beneficial to businesses and the environment. This topic is discussed in Ava Mohsenin’s article, “Can Businesses Be Environmentally Sustainable And Still Make Money?” Businesses stepping forward to lead a change in sustainability signifies there is profit and other benefits to being environmentally friendly. Additionally, Dupont is committed to “65% reduction and was saving $2.2B a year” through energy efficiency (Mohsenin). Kate L. Harrison, a communications marketing expert, explains in the article “10 Ways to Green Your Business and Save Money” that although some methods will not show profit immediately, business owners that use public transportation or have a fleet of hybrid vehicles can see an increase in profits over time. Furthermore, Mohsenin suggests that companies give their employees Prius’ in order to save money on gas and not pollute the air as much, similar to a brewing company that follows these

Sustainability has achieved a more ecological tone in the past few decades in terms of a business model, but it originally derives from the concept that a business is successful due to the interconnected areas of economics, culture and ecology. Sustainability is now becoming a somewhat fad and thus it is understandable that it could be misconstrued by some as a form of “greenwashing”. Greenwashing is the idea that a company markets their “green” or environmentally friendly changes in policy and values, despite no actual concrete changes in these areas, for example some argue that Fiji Water greenwasher in terms of their marketing as an environmentally friendly water company despite their little effort to actually go carbon-neutral. Many companies are seeing the