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The Case Organisations Towards Sustainability

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Introduction
This case study critically examines Nike, the case organisations journey towards sustainability over a period of 15 years after facing intense criticism in 1998 for unsafe working conditions, excessive overtime, restrictions on organising and environmental impact. The meaning of sustainability, its motivation and application to the case organisation has been explored further. The authenticity of these initiatives has been assessed through the lenses of stakeholder theory. The implications of the initiatives undertaken by the case organisation on the three pillars of sustainability positive and negative have been discussed further to understand the level of balance and drift specially impacting the economic and societal cause. …show more content…

(Colbert and Kurucz 2007). As for the case organisation, the reason for the sustainability awakening was strong criticism from NGO’s for their business practises and media attention i.e. non-market factors. These non-market factors resulted in dropping sales and reputation for an organisation of their size. The case organisation undertook several approached and initiatives along the course of its sustainability journey, it is important to note that when formulating a “business case” for sustainability, it is more important on how the sustainability management is organised rather than focussing on the number of initiatives (Schalttegger 2010).

Initiatives taken:
• Initial focus was on engagement with the critics, formulating a body to help improve workers conditions and monitoring as a means of creating awareness.
• Publicising corporate responsibility reports added the dimension of transparency.
• Further steps included moving the corporate responsibility team in corporate decision making and formulating indexes to rate its sustainability practices.
• Focus on utilising environmental friendly raw materials and minimising waste.

ARGUMENTS
Authenticity of what drove the sustainability for the case organisation over the 15 years is arguable given that the drivers of success have changed from time to time.

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