Is Sustainability A Path For Profitability And Competitive Advantage For Small Business?

Nowadays, many international companies take sustainable development seriously. They understand that sustainable development can enhance their quality of life and their reputation in public. Sustainable development is "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." (Brundtland, 1987) Sustainability requires monitoring and managing all the person to ensure that our economy and society can continue to exist without destroying the social and natural environment during development. The sustainability includes three pillars, which are economic, social and environment, forming a triple bottom line. The triple bottom line demands that a company 's responsibility lies

Stop pretending you are sustainable. In fact, stop pretending you even know what the word “sustainable” means. In a world where we are inundated with social media feeds, slogans, buzzwords, flashy ads, and media coverage, it can be difficult to weed out the truth from the fluff. When it comes to environmental issues, that’s where things start to get dangerous. If we allow fads, marketing, and social pressure to lead us around blindly, we will be forced to tout empty symbols and gestures of what mob rule considers sustainable. Even worse, we will be taking up mind share and resources that could be spent on something we are truly passionate about, where real meaningful change can begin. Elizabeth Scharpf argues that we need to bring clarity to the now ambiguous term “sustainability” in her article “Why sustainability should be more than a meaningless buzzword.” The problem is that the word sustainability is so overused and thus too far gone to have any hope of being revived or made into a cornerstone of an environmental movement. While I agree that “sustainability” should be more than a meaningless buzzword, it has been so saturated that it is now not only meaningless, it’s dangerous. When we are left to fend for ourselves regarding sustainability’s true meaning, we are in danger of allowing social pressure to blindly lead us down the path of what it deems “sustainable” at the moment.

Corporate Social Responsibility, a theory that has evolved since the 1990s, seeks to see businesses be responsible for their actions socially and environmentally. There is an increasing trend by businesses to adopt Corporate Social Responsibility Practices. This paper attempts to define the reasons why this is so, and what strategic issues are faced by companies who adopt these practices. The issue of Corporate Social Responsibility will then be highlighted in a case study of De Beers, the world's leading diamond producer.

There is currently a robust and ongoing debate about whether a companies, especially a publicly traded companies, only goal should be profit. Making money for the shareholders used to be what business was about. Now, more and more people are starting to believe that companies should pay more attention to social and environmental concerns that effect not just the shareholders, but the stakeholders and even society as a whole. The practice of Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR, believes that everything cannot be left up to the market. The market exists to make profits at all costs. So, there needs to be a mechanism in place where social causes and the environment are taken care

The purpose of this essay is to show that the link between Corporate Social Responsibility & the competitive advantage of a company is often viewed to be positive if environmental limits, social needs & corporate interests are all coordinated within the given framework (Porter & Kramer, 2011). Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be classified as the actions of firms that contribute to social welfare, beyond what is required for profit maximization (McWilliams, 2015). Economist Milton Friedman famously stated that, “a corporation’s responsibility is to make as much money for the stockholders as possible”. Despite the fact that the main objective of a business is to earn profit, corporations ought to look into the welfare of the society & should perform its activities within the framework of environmental standards (Mugurusi, 2008).

Corporate social responsibility brings a new perspective to the societal role of enterprise, while recognizing the relationship between profitability, ethical and environmental standards of the company. The position of companies in society is a subject of constant change. People today do not perceive the company only as producers or suppliers of the products that reach only for maximizing profits, but they assume that the company will meet the requirements of the other areas as well, such as the legal environment and that it will support development of other activities beneficial for the society.

Being sustainable can be financially beneficial to a firm in regards to their costs. Decreased energy consumption reduces a firms operating costs which increases the firm’s share prices (Peloza & Yachnin 2008). This shows that sustainable energy consumption can help firms to be more profitable as they can reduce their day to day running costs. An example of this would be Marks and Spencer. Marks and Spencer put into action a program called Plan A in order to improve their sustainability. This plan was focused on making the business become more energy efficient and reducing their carbon footprint through a variety of methods such as reducing Co2 emissions and reducing wastage in packaging. Marks and Spencer’s plan a report showed that their energy consumption for warehouses, stores and offices increased in efficiency by 34% since putting plan A into action. The innovation and new ways of doing things stimulated by Plan A was leading to savings of £50m p.a. (Grayson 2011).

Societal concern for sustainability has grown over the last few decades as leaders of major corporations have been tasked with meeting expectations of a broad range of shareholders while providing a return on profits (Eccles et al., 2012). Economic structures and policies of a business set the stage for operations (Santa-Barbara Family Foundation, 2003). Impacts from these operations can affect the environment, workers and economic well-being of the company and their future. Common sense tells us, to preserve our future we must invest in ways that protect, conserve, renew and regenerate our natural resources to allow our economy to be sustainable over time (Ikerd, 2006). Business acumen tells us this may not be economically feasible for a company to be ecologically and socially sustainable at the same time, citing the inability to compete on the world scale if they are forced to operate under rules that ensure ecological and social integrity (Ikerd, 2006). Creating a culture of sustainability

Sustainability is the key issue for Human Rights and business leaders worldwide. Sustainability can be defined as the ability to endure or the ability to sustain. Today, it is by no means certain our society has the capacity to endure. The planets ecosystems are deteriorating and the climate is changing. The public is consuming so much, and so quickly, that we are already living far beyond the earth’s capacity to support us, and yet nearly a sixth of our fellow humans go to bed hungry each day. Both an unnecessary tragedy and a source of social and political unrest. Meanwhile, our globalized world is more interconnected and volatile than ever, making us all more vulnerable. By sustainability I mean not just environmental, but also financial, people and societal contribution over time. The current climate has increased the need for organisations to focus on how they will ensure long-term prosperity. Delivering sustainable performance is important as the best of times, but, as the economy embarks on what looks set to be a long, slow climb out of recession, it is more important than ever.

Businesses have a responsibility to give back to the customers they serve and the communities they operate in. Today, many organizations have realized the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in response to consumers and stakeholders becoming more mindful of social issues. Corporate social responsibility has continued to change and grow. It can be difficult to define CSR because it takes on a variety of social, economic, political and environmental formats depending on the business. Corporate social responsibility in the broadest sense is viewed as for-profit organizations becoming ‘good corporate citizens’ (Salton & Jones, 2015).

Corporate social responsibility has been defined, according to the European Commission, as “the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society. They should have in place a process to integrate social, environmental, ethical human right and consumer concerns into their business operations and core strategy in close collaboration with their stakeholders”.

In our century, society and environment are very interrelated. Companies are playing an essential piece in the development of the society and the environment. On the other hand, companies have the responsibility to practice a correct CSR. As the

The primary source was an interview database on corporate social responsibility pertaining to the environment. 26 various companies from the automotive industry undertook a structured interview and individual responses were collated in the database from which relevant data was extracted for purpose of this report.

In recent times, the concept of corporate social responsibility has become a prominent business strategy, as countless firms have directed their attention towards leading public interests. It is no secret that businesses hold a tremendous deal of power within the economy. With an abundance of assets and disposable cash at hand, companies have the power to engage in socially conscious expenditures. In result, it has become increasingly popular for companies to devote their time and money to environmental sustainability programs as well as various social

During the 1970s, the Business world became aware of damages engendered by the human activity, in particular environmental damages. For this reason appeared the notion of « sustainable development » in the Brundland report (1987). This notion can be defined as the mean to assure the development of the current generation without compromising the development of future generations. The Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) are in a sense the contribution of companies to respect the stakes of the sustainable development. According to Carroll (1983), “corporate social responsibility involves the conduct of a business so that it is economically profitable, law abiding, ethical and socially supportive”. The Corporate Social Responsibilities of companies is a sort of self-regulation based on social, environmental and economic concerns. This match the “triple bottom line” theory: “People, Planet, Profit”. Over the years, Corporate Social Responsibility expanded and became very important in the Business organisation and a large number of companies take part in CSR initiatives. In 2004, approximately 90% of the 500 best performing companies according to Fortune magazine had invested in CSR efforts.