Ivy Wigmore: What Does Sustainable Business Mean?

When talking about sustainability numerous people associate it with just protecting the environment. Sustainability is far more than going green, but it is a principle that many companies have adopted and have worked persistently to improve over the last several years. Sustainability is defined as the ability to continue a behavior indeterminately, but it also includes improving human life overall. Sustainable development is broken down into three pillars: economic, social, and environmental (Harich & Bangerter, 2014). Economics is the study of how people use resources, which correlates to the goal of sustainable development by using resources to their full potential (Laszlo, C., & Zhexembayeva, N., 2011, p. 60). Economic sustainable development allows companies to give their customers what they want without overusing mutual resources. Social development combines the social world with the physical realm to provide a good quality of life (Benoit, 2010, p. 7). Social sustainability focuses on the well-being of people and their communities. Environmental development, the most recognizable, includes protecting the environment by reducing pollution, recycling, switching of electronic devices when not in use, etc. All three of these pillars make up what is known as sustainable development. In this paper, I researched a company and their involvement in sustainability and how it applies to the

Although there is no formal definition for the term, individuals have tried to define sustainability according to their function or area of study. The term “sustainability,” once an obscure ecological concept, has now been adopted by many in the business world to connote the principles of social and environmental responsibility (Joseph Fiksel, Jonathan Low and Jim Thomas). Further, sustainability can be seen through the eyes of business as a way to create value. More likely than not, the term sustainability can be linked to the ability of decreasing costs, wastes and inefficiencies. According to the vice president of General Electric,

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

Business sustainability is achieved when the business successfully manages the triple bottom line. This is the process of managing the financial, social and environmental risk that a certain business will face. The consequences of business sustainability are not only the long-term success of the company but also that it becomes an appealing opportunity for potential investors as sustainability is rapidly becoming an increasingly vital component of any business.

Business sustainability, which originally was viewed as a question of corporate governance, has now emerged as a central, multifaceted theme of the twenty- first century. It is now the responsibility of corporate boards and managers to focus on business sustainability by creating enduring value for shareholders and managing the interests of other stakeholders, including creditors, employers, suppliers, government, and society at large.

One can think of a sustainable business as one that generates profits for its owners,

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.

Petsmart is a specialty retailer of pet products and services. They provide food and products, and offer services such as grooming, boarding, doggie day damp, day care, training and adoptions. The company employs about 53,000 associates and operates 1,477 stores in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. (Company Information, 2010). Petsmart also does their part in the area of sustainability. The following will discuss what the company is doing in the areas of social sustainability and environmental sustainability. Then will discuss how their mission statement and website tie into their sustainability efforts. And finally, the following will give suggestions on how to improvement their sustainability effort.

The events in Flint, Michigan are not extraordinary or surprising by any means. The occurrences, are not something that the world hasn’t seen, heard, read or experienced before. The water crisis in Flint has simply been displayed in another light. Flint has a history of economics success and failure. With time, the prosperity from dirty industrial innovation, fallen under the wrong administration and minds, has led to turmoil for those with silent voices in the political economy. As a highly impoverished town the citizens of flint have tried to scream against the industries and government who was meant to protect and lead flint out of turmoil, but these voices have only echoed into a hole of environmental injustice.

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

Sustainable development is defined as “Development that meets the needs of the present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (IISD, par. 1 ).

Moving ahead,in order to get the idea about company’s internal environment and its capacity to survive and prosper in the market(Strategic capability), I analysed the resources and competencies(Appendix 3) ,the value chain (Appendix 3),the Cultural Web(Appendix 5). To find out the influence of stakeholders on the company I applied Power/Interest to the company and finally analysis of strengths,weaknesses ,opportunities and threats to the company(SWOT Analysis-Appendix 7) provide with clear idea about the strategic position of M&S.

Sustainability implies that the organization is managing in economic, ecological and socially competent ways. All organizations range on a continuum of their sustainability level with some being more sustainable than others. Generally, as Dunphy, Griffiths and Benn (Module One, Topic 1.5) point out, the more sustainable an organization is, the more they help the surrounding environment, be this local (the particular country) or macro (the world itself). The environment also reflects the sustainability ethos and situation of the organization itself.

“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?

There are three pillars that make up overall sustainability: social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Social sustainability focuses on all human needs being met and a society functioning properly indefinitely. Economic sustainability is achieving a certain level of economic success indefinitely. It also involves having an extremely low percent of people living below the poverty line, which relates to social sustainability. Environmental sustainability is described as, “the rates of renewable resource harvest, pollution creation, and non-renewable resource depletion that can be continued indefinitely.” ("Finding and Resolving the Root Causes of the Sustainability Problem", 2014) Achieving environmental sustainability will positively affect the social and economic aspects. These three categories are directly related to each other, and to truly reach complete sustainability each of the group’s needs must be met. There are many ways for individuals, groups, companies, and societies to help make a difference in reaching this goal. Environmental issues are currently very prominent in the US and other countries. There are countless activists and researchers doing everything they can to make a difference. Most businesses, like