Business Society Planet Answers | Assessment Answer

By accessing different articles discussing the concept named “The Triple Bottom Line”, I have developed the fundamental knowledge associated with one of the vital factors of sustainability and its impact on the global business. In the process of investigation, I have gained the significant understanding by reviewing the work developed by Timothy F. Slapher, who is a Ph.D. from Indiana University. Thanks to the particular work, I achieved the suitable perception regarding the meaning and concepts of the triple bottom line (TBL) and its applicability to the business (Bocken, et al., 2014). Over the past decade, maintaining or achieving sustainability is one of the key goals of the companies, whether it is a profit making, non-profit, or government enterprise.  From the different research works conducted by the previous scholars and academics, I have observed that the businesses from multiple genres find it challenging to measure the required degree of sustainability regarding the operations and activities. Therefore, measuring the required level of sustainability is an unavoidable approach for the modern day businesses to ensure the achievement of sustainable growth (Boons & Lüdeke-Freund, 2013). Different researchers like John Elkington strove to measure the sustainability during the mid-1990s by encompassing a unique framework gauging the performance of the corporate businesses of America. From the overall analysis of the theoretical works developed related to TBL, I have obtained the understanding that the particular factor reflects a useful accounting framework incorporating three magnitudes of performance: social, financial, and environmental (Bocken, et al., 2013). All of these perspectives apply to the operations of the business organizations to ensure the induction of ecological and social measures, which creates some significant challenges in different sectors.

By the application of different studies, I have gained the knowledge that there are “five types of sustainable capital available for the business”. These capitals are responsible for shaping up the goods and services produced by the firm with the inclusion of quality. The identified process subsequently helps to promote the enhancement of healthy lives within the respective society. The five forms of capitals are known as manufacturing capital, financial capital, social capital, human capital, and natural capital (Seuring, 2013). I identify the suitable differentiation regarding these five individual types through analysing a project developed to provide appropriate explanation. In case of the natural capital, it refers to the available stock or energy of the business responsible for producing the goods or services for the community. The stock may include the renewable or non-renewable resources or the major processes like the climate regulations. On the other hand, human capital in the form of knowledge, skills, and motivation of the individuals are also liable to produce the product by the business. Social capital deals with the institutions helping to develop the human capital by the productive collaborations from others like the businesses, communities, or trade unions (Welford, 2013). Manufacturing capital suggests the fixed assets or materials supporting the production process. Lastly, financial capital plays the most important role to the overall economy while providing understanding to the business regarding the types of capital to be owned or traded. Combining all of these capitals in the right place to produce the goods or services is a highly challenging task for the global businesses, as the process requires the suitable availability of needful sources. 

Dunphy et al. (2003) have identified “The Six Phases of Business Approaches to Sustainability” stating six framing principles for the designing the economic models of the organizations in a non-linear world. Based on the analysis of the particular work, I understand that these policies should need to be treated as the philosophy for the organizations and the business practices must need to be developed accordingly. The concepts of these principles are based on managing uncertainty, ability to adopt, maintaining openness, developing the participatory cultures and tools, shaping up a value-based approach, and establishing the system of change (Kolk & Buuse, 2013). All of these concepts are needed to be maintained by the business for promoting the development of a sustainable presence in the modern day environment. In the process of managing uncertainty, organizations face challenges diagnostically regarding the detection of underlying patterns and hidden relationships driving the particular type of chaos. On the other hand, the modern day business environment is highly competitive and dynamically changing (Seuring, 2013). Therefore, the global companies are facing a considerable amount of difficulty regarding the ability to adapt and response accordingly while continuously learning to become agile.

Lastly, I have come to know about some important examples where businesses successfully able to adopt the sustainable requirements to become a sustainable organization in the global context. The leading names like Starbucks and Ford have adopted the best practices required to develop sustainable business operations through changing and modifying their policies (Bocken, et al., 2014). Specifically, I have observed that the activities of these companies are altered dramatically by considering the critical climate change policies identified by their respective country government. 

References

Bocken, N. M. P., Short, S. W., Rana, P., & Evans, S. (2014). A literature and practice review to develop sustainable business model archetypes.Journal of cleaner production, 65, 42-56.

Bocken, N., Short, S., Rana, P., & Evans, S. (2013). A value mapping tool for sustainable business modelling. Corporate Governance, 13(5), 482-497.

Boons, F., & Lüdeke-Freund, F. (2013). Business models for sustainable innovation: state-of-the-art and steps towards a research agenda. Journal of Cleaner Production, 45, 9-19.

Kolk, A., & Buuse, D. (2013). Business models for sustainable energy development. The European Financial Review, 2013(April-May), 64-69.

Seuring, S. (2013). A review of modeling approaches for sustainable supply chain management. Decision support systems, 54(4), 1513-1520.

Welford, R. (2013). Hijacking environmentalism: Corporate responses to sustainable development. Routledge.