Navigating Sustainable Practices in Contemporary Management

Section 1: Introduction

Sustainable practices have been identified as the integral part of contemporary management practices with the purpose of ensuring the fulfillment of the long and short term goals. According to Ghisetti (2017), sustainable practices in an organization supports the continuous growth and development of an organization while addressing the shifting needs of the communities, the governments and the different users. In this connection, the values of sustainable consumption among the users and community based needs of safeguarding the interests of the environment are some of the major aspects that are considered by the businesses with the purpose of retaining their brand image and sustainable growth over the years. Also, businesses often seek ways in place to integrate all these sustainable practices into their operations, which can be explored further with the help of avenues like business dissertation help.

However, Morioka et al. (2017) contradicted that most businesses fail to address the shifting sustainability based needs of the societies and the governments due to the increasing costs of operations. The lower capability of the businesses in inducing sustainable practices has significantly limited the growth prospects while dominating over the brand image and reputation in the international and the local markets. In this connection, the sustainability based practices in most businesses are specifically guided by the interests of the community based stakeholders, the users and the governments. The identification of the interests of the stakeholders and strategizing the different operations are some common steps that might be considered by the businesses in order to retain the organizational position in the intensely competitive market situations.

The following discussion would focus towards identifying the major aspects of sustainability in the businesses and the manner in which the same are introduced into practice by the organizational leaders in order to address the interests and priorities of the society and their government structure. The discussion would identify critical literatures that would identify the manner in which the government and societal demands has forced companies to adopt practices and create products that strive towards protecting the natural environment while discussing the case of Tesla’s sustainable practices.

Section 2: The Literature Review

Businesses develop products and services with the purpose of addressing the specific needs and priorities of the customers. According to Bibri (2018), increased adherence to the needs and priorities of the users is an important aspect that is considered by organizations with the purpose of improving their sales and market position. Most users and societies are moving towards promoting practices that would prevent environmental degradation through sustainable consumption. The increased awareness among the users and the societies or communities on the needs for sustainable consumption or the environmental concerns that are caused through the operations of an organization creates a negative impact on the organizational reputation.

Businesses operate through the active participation of the different stakeholders, specifically the community stakeholders. However, in many cases it has been observed that the essence of sustainable consumption and the common ethical norms and values within communities towards protecting the interests of the environment, restricts their active participation in the environmental abusive activities of an organization. Tronchin, Manfren and Nastasi (2018) stated that businesses prioritizing their economic sustenance over the environmental or social sustenance creates a negative impact on the minds of the people living in the communities, while limiting their engagement in the organizational operations.

The negative image of an organization in the minds of the people living in the communities degrades the image of a brand. For an instance, an organization operating in a local environment, utilizing larger part of the energy sources, creates a pressure on the sustenance and interests of the community stakeholders. In such a situation, the community stakeholders might fail to collaborate with the organization as their interests conflicts with that of the profitable interests of the business. Intensification of pressure on the energy resources in a community might affect the sustenance of the society and their future generations. On the other hand, the insufficiency of waste management strategies in an organization might significantly affect the health and wellbeing of the people in the local communities, while limiting their participation in the different organizational operations.

Lokuwaduge and Heenetigala (2017) stated that community stakeholders and the sustainable consumers or end users of a society expects an organization to operate while prioritizing the environmental needs and requirements. In this connection, businesses are required to take extra care of their operations while planning on the processes in order to address the environmental protection related interests of the community stakeholders and common society members, for empowering their engagement in the operations and influencing a positive brand image.

However, Zarsky and Tay (2017) contradicted with the thought of environmentally sustainable practices of businesses as a eyewash and identified that the agenda of environmental protection followed by the organizations might be considered as an increase in their cost of operations. Therefore, businesses take the initiative of efficiently planning their resource use and operations with the purpose of addressing the interests of the community stakeholders without increasing the costs of their operations. The use of sustainable measures towards ensuring environmental protection is been thereby conceived as a best practice that is being conducted by businesses while empowering the active participation of the community stakeholders in the different organizational operations.

The increase in the carbon emissions and wastes from different manufacturing units of the businesses has been observed to create a negative impact on the environmental protection and sustenance in different economies. In this connection, the governments in every economy took the initiative of developing different environmental protection legislations and regulations that must be followed by businesses. Howes et al. (2017) opined that the environmental protection legislations and regulations that are framed by the governments act as guides towards ensuring the safety operations and continuity of businesses while contributing towards the agenda of protecting the natural environment in the different regions.

The businesses tend to abide by the legislative requirements and regulations in order to maintain the continuity of their business operations while ensuring the continuous growth and development. In several cases, it has been observed that the insufficiency of compliance with the requirements towards environmental protection legislations and regulations resulted to heavy penalizations which affected the profitability and the brand image in the markets. Sachs et al. (2019) stated that penalizations from the government on account of the lack of compliance with the environmental protection legislations and regulations significantly incapacitates an organization in maintaining a stable earnings ratio against its costs. Dig deeper into Unilever’s Global Success Strategy with our selection of articles.

Moreover, Mi and Coffman (2019) opined that the insufficiency of compliance with the environmental protection legislations and regulations affects the brand image of an organization while creating a negative image of the organization in the minds of its target users of communities. The negative brand image in the minds of the target audience affects the capability of an organization in sustaining the heavy competition that the same might face while operating in the economies. Therefore, businesses take the initiative of developing products and processes that complies with the environmental protection related interests or demands of the community stakeholders, the societies and the government with the purpose of ensuring their own sustenance. The development of different strategic interventions towards safeguarding or protecting the environment are made by the businesses with for ensuring the increased engagement of the community stakeholders and adhering to the legislative requirements that are imposed by the governments. The increased engagement of community stakeholders and steps towards addressing the legislative requirements supports a business in empowering their brand image while ensuring the growth and sustenance of the same.

Section 3: The Question

The continuous change in the expectations of the communities and the societies has forced businesses to conduct changes and modifications in the organizational operations for compliance. The subtle change in the behavior of the users and the communities towards sustainable consumption has created a need for businesses to encourage sustenance based processes in order to ensure their growth while engaging the active participation of the community stakeholders and the end users in the different operations. As per a research report, more than 49% of the global communities and end users are aware of the current environmental degradation related concerns and has shifted their buying behavior towards sustainable consumption (Nassar and Elsayed 2018). The change in the buying behavior of the customers and the priorities of the community members forced businesses to develop sustainable products and processes.

On the other hand, it has been witnessed that most of the governments are more focused towards identifying and implementing legislative requirements that would reduce and regulate the impact of operations of the organizations and manufacturing units on the environment. Walsh and Dodds (2017) stated that the identification of the different areas of environmental concerns enabled governments and environmental protection boards in developing legislations and regulations that would control the impact of organizational operations and its products. The businesses are required to comply with the regulatory and legislative requirements that are imposed by the governments in order to ensure the continuity of their operations, retain their brand image and maintain a standard earnings ratio. Therefore, the current section would identify the major concerns that are faced by the businesses with reference to Tesla, the EV manufacturer, and the manner in which the environmental sustenance related aspects are covered.

Evaluation of the issue

The imposition of different legislative requirements related to energy use has forced businesses to develop alternative sources of energy in order to power up their manufacturing units. On the other hand, the change in the preferences and priorities of the community stakeholders has been limiting the scope of businesses in empowering their operations without complying with the environmental protection based needs. Saunila, M., Ukko, J. and Rantala (2018) stated that governments in different economies mandated the consideration for environmental protection among the businesses with the purpose of reducing the threats. Moreover, the shifts in the buying preferences of the community stakeholders and users were specifically based on their awareness on the environmental concerns and the urgency towards ensuring the sustainable consumption related practices for sustaining resources for their future generations.

However, it has been observed that the environmental protection activity largely requires the organizations to implement technologies which increased their operational expenses. More than 32% businesses reported that the implementation of sustainable technologies in order to ensure the environmental sustenance restricted their economic sustenance through increase in expenses over earnings (Li, Liao and Albitar 2010). The development of sustainable products and propositions requires effective use of alternative energy sources and efficient waste management systems which are incurred by businesses with the purpose of addressing the sustenance based priorities of governments and community stakeholders. However, while addressing the requirements of installing new alternative energy sources and efficient waste management systems, the businesses incurred extensive costs which gradually lowered their income levels and affected their earnings. Therefore, from the evaluation it might be stated that the major concern or challenge that is being encountered by businesses while implementing sustainable technologies are specifically reliant on the increasing costs over their earnings.

The case of Tesla

The chosen case organization, Tesla, is an American EV manufacturing business which is based in California. The organization is focused towards developing EVs along with solar panels and solar roof tiles with the purpose of reducing the use of non renewable sources of energy and providing the world with an opportunity of reducing the carbon levels. Brehmer, Podoynitsyna and Langerak (2018) stated that the introduction of new generation EVs has enabled the consumers in making sustainable consumption while contributing towards the protection agenda of the environment. The EVs emit no carbon components in the atmosphere and the organization has thereby focused towards improving their chances of proposing to the customers with sustainable propositions in order to address the environmental concerns of global warming and increased rate of pollutants in the air. Moreover, the organization also devised different solar panels and chargeable batteries with the purpose of ensuring the reduction of consumption of the non renewable energy resources. The introduction of energy efficient vehicle models and technologies has enable the business in addressing the shifting needs and priorities of the customers towards making purchase of sustainable products.

However, the organization faced significant challenges during its initiation as most of its manufacturing units were powered through the non- renewable sources. The organization faced significant challenges due to the government impositions and penalizations. Moreover, the insufficiency of waste management tactics at the initiation stage of the organization created a massive challenge towards its sustenance and growth. The business’ CEO realized that the implementation of the sustainable technologies would be costing the organization on their earnings but took a decision based on the long term objectives of sustaining the organization’s brand image. According to a report, the organization started developing technological resources that would power the operations of the manufacturing units through the utilization of renewable sources of energy (Aybaly et al. 2017). On the other hand, the organization also devised effective waste management capabilities through the utilization of lean management principles.

Pow (2019) stated that the utilization of lean management principles support an organization in reducing the wastes generated through the manufacturing units by reusing the same. The organizational CEO developed the lean manufacturing process through which the wastes can be reduced and controlled through different reusable technologies. The aspects supported the business in gaining a competitive edge over the existing market players while retaining their brand image and identity in the international markets. In the recent days, the organization has positioned itself as the sustainable proposition offering business which is focused towards reducing the negative impact on the environment through eradication of carbon emissions and waste control techniques.

Sustainability theory: Three legged stool model or the triple bottom line

Sustenance of an organization is specifically reliant on the economic, social and environmental stability. According to the 3-legged stool model or the triple bottom line, businesses consider the identification of economic, social and environmental sustenance as their prospect of growth (Wali et al. 2017). Heikkurinen, Young and Morgan (2019) stated that the identification of the different strategic interventions that allows an organization to resolve the economic, social and environmental supports in achieving long term sustenance and growth in the global markets.

However, Aarseth et al. (2017) contradicted by stating that economic sustenance is the only goal that organizations must consider as social and environmental sustenance doesn’t focus towards providing a business with profitable earning sources. Although, Nosratabadi et al. (2019) opined that any business focusing towards the economic gains actually prioritizes the short term goals of profitability over sustenance. Therefore, it might be stated that the identification of the sustenance is a combination of an organization’s long and short term goals while identifying the manner in which the decisions of a business leader balances the aspects effectively.

The chosen organization, Tesla, took the initiative of considering the triple bottom line approach with the purpose of addressing their needs for sustenance in the intensely competitive global marketplaces. The introduction of EVs and the alternative energy sources allowed the organization to address the environmental concerns related to higher rates of carbon emissions and the excessive use of non renewable sources of energy. The adherence to the environmental concerns enabled the business in developing offerings that are mostly demanded by the governments and the users aware of the need for sustainable consumption. Wali et al. (2017) stated that an organization which focuses towards exterminating any environmental concern achieves a better market position. In this connection, the efforts of the organization are supported by the governments as well as the final users which has improved the sales volume and assisted in promoting their cause and brand image in the international markets.

On the other hand, the organization’s extensive waste management activities focused towards addressing the concerns that are faced by the community stakeholders at large in the different regions where the business operated. Zarsky and Tay (2017) stated that addressing the needs of the community stakeholders and providing better opportunities to the people in the society supports a business in empowering their active engagement towards the sustenance. Therefore, the organization won over the active participation of the community stakeholders through their focused practice of waste management and employing talents from the societies.

Lastly, the active participation of the community stakeholders and adherence to the shifting priorities and requirements of the end users allowed the business in expanding their sales volume in the global markets. Sachs et al. (2019) observed that the increased sales of an organization contributes towards the economic sustenance and growth of a business for a long term perspective. Therefore, it might be stated that the organization successfully devised their economic sustenance needs through addressing the concerns that are related to environmental and social aspects. The planning and implementation of different strategic interventions while addressing the needs of the stakeholders has largely contributed towards its extensive growth in the international markets over the years.

Section 4:The Conclusion

Therefore, from the above assessment it might be stated that adherence to the demand of community stakeholders, societies and the government while developing a product or process is integral towards the sustenance and growth of a business in the global markets. The customers and the communities are well aware of the environmental degradation and have thereby chosen to shift their purchase behavior towards sustainable consumption. Businesses must take the initiative of addressing the shifting needs and requirements of the communities and the customers in order to retain their brand image and empower long term sustenance and growth in the intensely competitive global markets.

On the other hand, the governments have identified the need for sustenance based operations of the manufacturing units while devising different legislative and regulatory requirements. Businesses must develop resources and capabilities to comply with the in order to avoid instances of penalizations or discontinuity of operations. In this connection, the discussion identified the case of the EV manufacturing organization Tesla, while evaluating the challenges that were faced by the business in the initial years of their operations. The discussion also identified the strategic interventions that were undertaken by the organization through the use of supportive sustainable framework, triple bottom line approach, while evaluating the implications of the same towards the organization’s growth over the years.

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