The Ethics Awareness Inventory

Business sustainability has been concerned with the ensuring that organizations can implement various strategies that would contribute to the long term success of the business. Organizations that could act in a sustainable manner do not only create businesses that will live and survive for a long period of time, it will also maintain the well-being of the people and the planet as well. Leading companies are pretty much aware that their successful performance regarding sustainability is one of the key factors in their success. Investors are also interested to companies that promote sustainability with a focus on long term profitability as well as competitive advantage.

Sustainability to me is a systems ability to continue to operate using its own resources. Most often this word seems to be used when discussing the environment. For example, soil sustainability. Modern farming techniques are literally sucking the nutrients out of our soil. The second law of thermodynamic states energy is neither created or destroyed in a system. Specifically, an isolated system such as our planet. There is and was a certain amount of energy in every field. When that energy is gone its gone until replenished. This can happen by organic matter decomposing on it, rain can bring nutrients, etc. The point I’m getting at is or planet cannot be abused. The things we have are limited. (I just wanted to add nothing in this paragraph was taken from any citable sources. This information has been learned during my time in science courses. I only added this so there was no confusion about plagiarism).

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.

Business sustainability has been concerned with the ensuring that organizations can implement various strategies that would contribute to the long term success of the business. Organizations that could act in a sustainable manner do not only create businesses that will live and survive for a long period of time, it will also maintain the well-being of the people and the planet as well. Leading companies are pretty much aware that their successful performance regarding sustainability is one of the key factors in their success. Investors are also interested to companies that promote sustainability with a focus on long term profitability as well as competitive advantage.

Sustainability is the main start of the environmental protection; it is about maintaining health and efficiency of the natural environment as well as the social environment as nature and society are critically interconnected. Sustainability is about families, communities and society as well as air, water and the earth. Everything that

Sustainability and business are not always looked as a good functioning pair. Businesses often struggle to implement sustainability measures, as they think that it is costing money to shareholders/investors. However, due to increasing pressure from the public, businesses are being forced to reconsidering at adopting sustainability and good business practice. In today's interconnected global economy, the long-term goals and success of business are inevitably connected by embedding the environmental, social and governance issues into corporate management, operations and supply chain. While corporate sustainability recognizes that, though the corporate growth and profitability are vital, it also requires the corporation to pursue societal goals, particularly those relating to sustainable development like; safeguarding environmental, social equality and economic development.

Sustainability is more than corporate social responsibility. It is a challenge to companies, how they grow and make more profit without harming the environment, society and efficiencies of the employees.

The first thing in relation to this topic is to ask what sustainability is. Well according to the oxford English dictionary Sustainability Is ‘the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.’ But how is this relatable to a business context? According to Business world Inc. they define sustainability as ‘Business sustainability 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.’ (Gatley, 2010)

* Businesses, corporations, stakeholders around the world have become aware of the needs and benefits of social responsibilities in order to contribute to a green and sustainable environment. Sustainable business is not only providing products and services that the customer wants but by not harming the environment at the same time.

By the definition of sustainability, it is the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level. When talking about sustainability through the environment, sustainability has another meaning. It’s the avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain and ecological balance. Anything with the word green is often associated with the label environmental friendly. Did you ever wonder if green buildings are worth the cause or even worth the amount of money it takes to fund? There are many benefits and negatives for green buildings.

Sustainability is based around on simple yet effective principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends directly or indirectly on our natural environment. Sustainability helps create the conditions under which humans and nature can co-exist in productive harmony. It permits the fulfilling of social, economic and other needs of not only the present generation but also the needs of future generations to come. Sustainability makes sure that we have and will continue to have resources to protect the human race and the environment, simultaneously. (EPA.2014)

Environmental sustainability is about making responsible decisions that will reduce the negative impact on the environment caused by business activities, not simply about reducing the amount of waste you produce or using less energy, but is concerned with developing state that will make businesses more reliably sustainable in future operations.

Sustainability is a tool used to enable everyone throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life without compromising the quality of life of future generations” (Jones 2008)2

Sustainability is defined as maintaining the right balance between the economic growth, environment and social responsibility.

Sustainability involves three main factors, economic, environmental and social considerations. Sustainability is a form of process improvement that meets current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. It is a term used to describe process impacts on climate change, energy, water, waste and natural resources. It is a critical decision making process that will help your business in managing its costs and