Sustainable Business
QUESTION #1 Define green business management in relation to sustainability.
In addition, explain the effect of sustainability on product development in business today. Please use examples where applicable. Sustainable business, or in other words green business, refers to an enterprise with minimal negative effects on the local environment, global, community, economy or society, an enterprise that endeavors to attain the threefold bottom line. Frequently, sustainable businesses usually have advanced ecology and human rights strategies (Wilson & Sasseville, 1999). In general, enterprise is discussed as green if it equals the following four standards: It associates the sustainability principles into all of its business choices It delivers environmentally friendly services and products that substitutes demand non-green services and/or products It is quite greener as compared to the traditional competition. It has created an enduring pledge to principles of environmental in its enterprise operations.
A sustainable enterprise is any association that participates in ecologically friendly or green functions to make sure that all products, manufacturing activities and processes adequately tackle current environmental issues while maintaining a benefit. In other phrasing, it is an enterprise that encounters the necessities of the present universe without compromising the capability of the forthcoming generations to encounter their requirements. It is the procedure of analyzing how to design merchandise that will take gain of the contemporary environmental condition and how perfect a company product execute with renewable properties (DesJardins, 2007). The Report and Brundtl highlighted that, sustainability is a triple-legged couch of people, profit and planet. Sustainable enterprises with the source chain stab to stable all three throughout the three-bottom-line issue using sustainable distribution and sustainable development to impact the environment, growth, society and the business (Christopher, 2007). Everyone impacts the sustainability of the souk and the universe in some manner.
Sustainable development inside an enterprise can make value for investors, environment and the customers. A sustainable business should meet customer requirements whilst at a similar time, treating the ecology well (Savitz & Weber, 2006). A major ingenuity of sustainable enterprise is to decrease or eliminate the environmental injury caused by the consumption and production of their goods and services. The impacts of such human functions in terms of the quantity of greenhouse gases generated can be unrushed in units of carbon dioxide and is known as the carbon footprints. The carbon footprints concept is consequential from environment footprint analysis that examines the environment capacity needed to provide the consumption of services and products. Business takes wide ranges of green initiative.
One of the greatest common instances is the action of sending electronic communication in lieu of paper or going paperless when possible. On a higher degree, for instance of sustainable enterprise practices that include refurbishing utilized products for instances tuning up flippantly used profitable fitness apparatus for resale; revising manufacturing process in order to eradicate waste like using a quite precise template to censor out designs, and selecting nontoxic processes and raw materials. For instance, Canadian farmers found out that hemp is a bearable substitute to rapeseed in the outdated crop gyration; hemp developed for seed or fiber needs no herbicides and pesticides. Sustainable business frontrunner also takes into interpretation of the life cycle cost for the item produced. Input costs should be considered in respect to rules, storage, disposal and energy use.
Scheming for the Ecology (DFE) is also a component of sustainable enterprise. These procedures enable users to reflect the potential environmental effects of products and the processes used to produce that product (Christopher, 2007). QUESTION #2 Explain the relationship between sustainable business management and customer satisfaction. Please comment on how a firm can manage its business image from a sustainable perspective in the marketplace. Please use examples where applicable.
Sustainable business management impacts customer satisfaction and sustainability of the planet and market place in some way. In fact, sustainable business management creates value for investors, customers and the environment. Therefore, a sustainable business meets customer needs as they treat the environment well. Customers are driven by the sense of purpose in sustainable business. Customers feel encouraged as the sustainable business does not only sustain the future of the business but also the customers’ future (DesJardins, 2007).
Sustainable business management allows management to understand customers. This is the first step in achieving sustainable growth. Understanding customers help the business to increase profit as a result of application of customer management value. The business discovers customer values, expectations and needs. Additionally, the business discovers existing customer value segment based on their choices, expectations, needs and values (Savitz & Weber, 2006).
Creating customer value is another factor that strengthens the relationship between sustainable business and customer satisfaction and market place. Sustainable businesses succeed because they bring services or products to the market where several people are willing to purchase. This is achieved either by chance or deliberate planning. However, sometimes a combination of the two increases chances of customer relation (Savitz & Weber, 2006). After the introduction of the product or service, differentiating the product with the product follows. Sustainable businesses promote their product giving genuine reasons regarding their product.
The business offers products which value customers more than those of competitors. The businesses continuously improve and deliver the value they promise the customers. This is based on sustainable profit and growth which is referred to as customer value management (Wilson & Sasseville, 1999). Obtaining customer feedback through assessment improves customer satisfaction in sustainable business. Sustainable business management understands that the cost of winning new customers is higher than that of retaining existing customers. However, the cost depends on the nature of the business.
There are many businesses that do not understand the reason why their business failed or succeeded. Nevertheless, sustainable business management is keen of customer feedback. They keep conducting interviews and surveys to determine the level of satisfaction. This helps them to adjust the products and services to meet the needs of customers. This makes the customers feel being part and parcel of the business and ultimately helps in retaining customers and attracting new ones (Wilson & Sasseville, 1999).
In sustainable business management, customer value management is continuous and dynamic. It is driven by customer value and needs. Therefore, the expectations are not static; instead, they are flexible and dynamic. The value ratios change with time as the Desired Benefits and Relative Costs are contented, new value prospects appear. Every year, customer requires improved products.
Therefore, sustainable business management has to assess the market, improve the products and remember competitors are on the race to win customers. Additionally, customer value management requires a mind-set directed towards comprehending customers and creating applications to develop differentiated customers value pledges to generate value for selected customers (Christopher, 2007). QUESTION #3 Explain the major elements of environmental management systems and the effect they can have on an organization. In addition, describe the impact an environmental management system can have on the firm’s culture and its employees. Please use examples where applicable. Since the early 1980s, civil hypermedia acquiescence investigations carried out by EPA have increasingly included identifying root causes of noted noncompliance.
In an important number of circumstances, the causes ascend from insufficient environmental management schemes. In reply, EPA has established key aspects for a compliance concentrated EMS model that have been utilized as the foundation for EMS necessities in several settlement engagements. The Main Elements of a System of Focused Environmental Management Compliance are described below: Environmental policy: This policy, upon that, the EMS is focused should clearly Converse management commitment to attaining compliance with appropriate federal, local environmental statutes, state, regulations, permits and enforceable agreements; environmental requirements and continuous establishment in ecological performance. The policy must also affirm management’s determined to provide passable personnel as well as other properties for EMS (Wilson & Sasseville, 1999). Personnel, Oversight of EMS and Organization: this organizationally describes how EMS is maintained and implemented.
It includes organization charts which identify line management, units and other individuals with environmental regulatory and performance compliance roles. Responsibility and Accountability: Specifies responsibilities and accountability of on-site service providers, contractors for ecological protection practices, organization’s management, assuring compliance, needed reporting to governing agencies, and remedial actions applied in their responsibility areas. Environmental Requirements: It describes the process for interpreting, effectively communicating ecological requirements to impacted organization personnel, identifying, contractors, ensuring that, the facility activities imitate to those necessities and on-site service suppliers. It specifies the process for prospectively obtaining and identifying information concerning proposed changes and changes in environmental necessities, and associating those alterations into EMS (Christopher, 2007). Prevention, Control and Assessment: This identifies the proceeding process for evaluating operations for the drives of controlling and preventing releases.
It ensures environmental maintenance and protection compliance with regulatory and statutory requirements. This section describes measurements and monitoring as appropriate to ensuring continued compliance. It must also include waste streams and identifying operations where equipment deterioration, and malfunctions operator errors, emissions and discharges might be causing and might lead to: Discharge of hazardous wastes and other contaminants to the environment, a risk to the environment, or human health or defilements of environmental necessities. Non-compliance and Environmental Incident Investigations: It describes standard requirements and procedures for external and internal reporting of probable release and violations incidents.Environmental Awareness, Training and Competence: It identifies certain education and training necessary for organization personnel and procedure for recording training provided.
Environmental Organizational and Planning Decision Making: It describes how ecological planning will be combined into organizational resolution making, including decisions and plans on capital product, process design, improvements, maintenance activities and training programs (Savitz & Weber, 2006). Maintenance of Documentation and Records: this identifies the kinds of records established in the provision of the EMS that includes reviews and audits, who upholds them and protocols for replying to requests and inquiries for the announcement of information (DesJardins, 2007). Program s of Pollution Prevention: This element describe internal programs for preventing, recycling, reducing, minimizing waste, emissions and reusing including processes to encourage material replacements. Also includes apparatus for recognizing candidate resources to be tackled by tracking and program progress. Continuing Program Improvement and Evaluation: This describe programs for periodic; at least yearly examination of EMS, including associating the results of the valuation into program amendments to the manual, improvements and conversing action plans and findings to impacted employees, contractors and onsite service providers (Savitz & Weber, 2006).
Community Outreach and Public Involvement: It describes programs for ongoing society involvement and education in the environmental concepts of the organization’s general environmental and operations awareness.
