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Sustainability In Business

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For 20 years or more the world has recognised that the way we do business has a serious impact on the world around us. Now it is increasingly clear that the state of the world around us affects the way we do business’ (KPMG, 2012). The continual call for businesses to be socially and environmentally responsible is due to sustained pressure exerted by a range of stakeholders, including customers, communities, employees, governments and shareholders (Eweje & Perry, 2011). Sustainability is a strategic imperative of the new millennium (Galpin & Whittington, 2012). It is a disruptive trend affecting industries requiring a strategic response (Lacy, Haines & Hayward, 2012) as companies are facing a new world of resource constraints (BCG, 2012). This …show more content…

Murthy (2013) argues that it is critical for competitive advantage to develop and hone sustainability-related resources capability. Businesses gain competitive advantage by building capabilities towards sustainability. These capabilities must be acquired from the top by executive leadership down to frontline supervisors, and most importantly, these capabilities have to be aligned to the strategic agenda so that they can positively contribute to business performance. Murthy (2013) identifies three capabilities drawing from the work of Hart’s theory of the natural resource view as pollution prevention, product stewardship and sustainable development. The focus with pollution prevention is to prevent pollution and emissions; product stewardship involves the entire value chain and the life cycle of products produced by the business; and sustainable development reduces the environmental burden and accrues the economic benefits for …show more content…

It is argued that ‘the goals of the sustainability team and financial team are not well aligned’ (WRI, 2013:3), and as a result they make decisions and evaluate success in different ways. This paper explores the link between resource commitment, the capability building processes and legitimacy enhancement. The enhancement of legitimacy allows increasing levels of resource commitment and consequently of capability building (Arevalo, Castello, De Colle, Lenssen, Neumann & Zollo, 2011). This dissertation argues for two types of legitimacy measures. Firstly, the adoption of corporate codes of conduct, to indicate organisational congruence with societal expectations. Secondly, the use of firm linkages to field-level regulatory bodies, such as accreditation bodies, to indicate social fitness between business and environment (Vergne, 2011). As businesses, comply with regulations, preventing environmental degradations and serving society with needed products and services and at the same time benefitting economically from the activities. Businesses will gain legitimacy ‘as their actions will be perceived to be consistent with stakeholder’s expectations’ (Colleoni,

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Modern day businesses have to be socially responsible; actions are taken to satisfy customers who might have a cause that they care deeply. Social responsibility occurs when a person or a company acts in an ethical and sensitive way towards important social issues of the day such as economic, environmental, and cultural concerns. Many businesses have a section of their website or business literature dedicated to social responsibility. Companies proudly detail the steps they are taking to address concerns that people have with the environment and economic issues. Having companies act in a socially responsible way is necessary because their actions have a tremendous positive impact on society.

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Question 1: To be strategic is to be unique. What products and services are firms delivering today that are different, unique, and managerially viable? This especially becomes useful when a firm wants to differentiate itself from its competitors. Rather than traditional factors like cost, strategy relies on activities that allow the firm to stand out amongst an over-saturated industry (Michael E. Porter). With that, it is inevitable to divest certain activities that are not specialized, and thus dilute the firm’s overall strategy.

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I have always been fascinated with how Strategy and Operations play a role in process improvements in organizations. I participated in various events and initiatives, including case competitions, plant tours, and roundtable discussions. In one case competition, my team and I developed a market entry strategy for a leading tech firm, which allowed me to apply my knowledge of operations, strategy, and marketing. I gained valuable insights into the industry and developed a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by businesses in these

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Each person has the power to influence the world. David Brodwin (2015) in the article “Unsustainable America” describes the situation of American consumers toward sustainability compared with other consumers from other countries that are interested about this issue. Thus, Brodwin explains the reactions of the people in some countries about the sustainably produced. In fact the article has interesting points with cataleptic and objective tones, but the author has biased through the benefit for America.

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In an industry, like aerospace and defense systems, that missed opportunities can result in billions lost in profit, organizations must be sure the correct strategy is chosen to prevent future financial trouble. Applying the Grand Strategy Matrix to LM reveals an organization firmly in quadrant one. Quadrant one organizations are those that combine a strong competitive position with a high growth market. Organizations in quadrant one are in outstanding strategic position and need to simple concentrate on the current products and market (Kasi, 2010).

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Introduction A for-profit organisation, the Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) needs to build, maintain and protect its reputation at all costs. To achieve this goal, it needs to identify its key internal and external megatrends and use them to determine and influence its reputation. SSE can improve its reputation by exploiting the opportunities and surmounting the constraints to reputation-building and value-sharing, thus its strategic success (Harvard Business Review, 2011). The external megatrends useful in building, maintaining and protecting reputation are economic, social and political factors and events, all of which impact on a company’s strategic success. The social megatrends of SSE include stakeholder wants and needs, new and emerging

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Legitimacy theory is a “positive theory” that asserts that businesses are bound by the implicit “social contract” that the corporation agrees to perform that are specifically relating to social and environmental issues (Rankin, et al. 2012, 142). To remain congruent with societal values in which it operates, a corporation can address attributes that relate to this theory through voluntary social and environmental disclosures made on platforms like its annual report (Coebergh 2011, 65). Virgin Australia has various groups of important stakeholders who can affect or is affected by both the actions and activities of the corporation (Laasch and Conaway 2014, 97). They are namely, guests, employees, investor groups and shareholders, unions, non-government

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Recognizing Societal Issues: Modelling Ethics of Care Introduction Media plays an important role in bringing to light societal issues that are caused by companies to the public. In order to model the ethics of care, individuals and businesses have to put into consideration not just the financial aspect of their business but act socially responsible and prevent harm to the public. My paper will examine the effect media attention has on a firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) be it positive or negative. Also we will address the role media attention plays in institutional pressure and the strategic response organization give.

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Businesses have been playing a crucial role in people’s lives. No matter what they go or what the occupations they are; people are drawn to get involved in businesses. However, behind the scenes of the business thriving, the environment is deteriorated each day. Many development schemes are come up with the plan related with the depletion of the environment (Shah, 2002). Because of people and environmental damages, attentions were drawn to corporations for ensuring their sustainabilities.

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Firms which are managing environmental affairs their relations with consumers, vendors, regulators, and other industries are increasing and improving their sustainability to the success. The environmental strategies include developing green business, divesting environmental-damaging business, Struggle to become low cost producer, through energy conservation and waste minimization, and implementing different strategy through green product features. The firms can include environmental representative in their board of directors, announce bonus for the favorable environmental results, establish environmental oriented objectives, include environmental values in mission statements, and provide environmental training program for firm managers and employees. WHY FIRMS SHOULD “BE GREEN”

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The framework is designed to identify the opportunities and threats within an industry. The five forces are mainly the threat of new entry, supplier power, buyer power, threat of substitution and lastly, competitive rivalry. Apple portrays a significant role in four major businesses, more specifically, the “communication equipment industry, the music and video industry, the mobile phones industry and the personal computer industry” (UKEssays). In terms of

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3.2 Industry conditions (Porter 's Five Forces Analysis) Five forces which would impact an organization 's behavior in the market. Understanding the nature of these forces provides organizations the required insights to enable them to formulate the appropriate strategies to be successful in their market (Thurlby, 1998). 3.2.1 Threat of new entrants (high entry barriers) High capital investment for competitor entry into telecommunication industry. Companies in this industry maintain development, spend fairly large amount of capital on network equipment and incurred high fixed costs. Besides, technologies are also considered as barriers for new companies to enter the market.

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The primary benefit of technology is efficiency. Businesses--from small businesses to large conglomerates--are capable of providing products and services at a faster, more efficient rate which can result in higher profits. In an effort to free resources and become more responsive, business leaders across the industry spectrum are reshaping their business priorities, stretching budgets and applying greater scrutiny to capital expenditures. Some have found that when a precarious economic climate requires quick action, a company can open new avenues for growth by strengthening and redefi ning what is truly core to its business.

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Their writings explain that in order to sustain the competitive advantage, it is crucial to develop resources that will strengthen the firm's ability to continue the superior performance. Any industry or market reflects high uncertainty and, in order to survive and stay ahead of competition, new resources become highly necessary. agrees, stating that the need to update resources is a major management task since all business environments reflect highly unpredictable market and environmental conditions. The existing winning edge needed to be developed since various market dynamics may make existing value-creating resources obsolete. The working capital target is an important part of an acquisition where millions of dollars are at stake, is poorly understand by many, and is typically left until later stages of the deal.

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Mahatma Gandhi once wrote “be the change you want to see in the world.” To better the world, we could get rid of pollution by creating laws against pollution production, have recycling required, and have weekly cleanings. The first way to get rid of pollution is by having laws against the production of pollution, which will help in getting rid of pollution. The laws would limit the amount of pollution every person can produce. For example, factories create tons of air pollution every day and it has become a great problem in countries such as China.

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