Eagle Valley Sustainability Report : Assessment Answer

Introduction

There is an increased need of sustainable development and it can happen through the use of renewable sources of energy. This report discusses the business sustainability for Eagle Valley Health Foods. The research suggests that the focus on sustainability helps organizations and management to establish a good rapport with end consumers (Markard & Raven, 2012). The management of Eagle Valley believes that the focus on sustainability and CSR activities would enable the firm to manage their long-term investment. The organization is a small-size firm and it cannot have a big-bang approach towards CSR and sustainability as its motive is profit making (Schaltegger, 2011). Therefore, the organization cannot compromise on the profit-making objective. However, there are various small steps that the organization can take to improve its sustainability score.

The organization is not a large organization and therefore it is important that the organization should join hands with other players in the industry. The different stakeholders of the company should have a deep understanding of internal and external factors of the organization (Gupta, 2012). The good thing for Eagle Valley is that the organization operates in the health-oriented industry. The organization manufactures the health snack bars and the company has established a niche in the market. The targeted audience or the customer base of the organization is the set of consumers that appreciates healthy leaving (Arrow & Dasgupta, 2012). It is expected that the customers of Eagle Valley would provide the required support to the organization to achieve the sustainability objectives.

Findings & Discussions

There are certain key areas that the management and stakeholder of Eagle Valley should focus on. As a part of the production process, the organization uses a large amount of water. It is important that the organization should have a systematic plan to reduce the use of water (Starmack, 2013). The office building was constructed in the year 1960 and since then it has never been renovated. There is a need for organization to make changes to the building structure. Eagle Valley can focus on true sustainable development only when the organization has the support of various internal and external stakeholders. In turn, it can happen only when the organization and the management realize the need of stakeholders, take efforts to bring the need and expectations towards a common goal and map this goal with the sustainability goal of the organization. According to Boutelle (2004) the best way to manage diverse stakeholder interests is to analyze their needs in order to understand them and to understand how these interests effect the organization. There are five key criteria or parameters of sustainability.  The performance of Eagle Valley against each of the parameter can be discussed as:

Sustainability criteria	Performance of Eagle Valley
Inclusiveness	Limited communication with different stakeholders in the organization
Connectivity	Sustainability is not practiced as the culture of the organization
Equity	The focus is on the current business value and not on the future business value
Prudence	Collaboration with other players in the industry is limited
Security	The organization get limited support from employees

Conclusion & Recommendations

The above paper discusses the sustainability for Eagle Valley. The above paper also discussed the key stakeholders of Eagle Valley that would have an impact on the path and approach of Eagle valley to achieve sustainability vision. Based on the above discussion, it is recommended that the organization should have a gradual path towards sustainability. It is recommended that the leaders of the organization should develop the specific sustainable goals (Betts, 2015). The organization should have the goal that it can achieve in short term and in ling term. Another recommendation for Eagle Valley is that it should focus on the inclusive growth and development. It can happen only when the organization take inputs from the various stakeholders (Garud & Gehman, 2012). The organization can also use benchmarking, as a tool, to establish the sustainability goals. The management of Eagle Valley should learn from the sustainability approaches of the large organizations in this sector.

Based on the above discussion it is recommended that the management of Eagle Valley should make immediate investment to renovate the building. The new infrastructure in the building should focus on renewable sources of energy. For example, the organization should establish solar panels at the top of the roof (Schaltegger, 2012). The company can also make investment on the wind energy and eco-friendly lights.  It is recommended that the organization should also invest to increase the awareness level of employees. There should be regular training and development programs with an objective to motivate employees towards sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility.

References

Arrow, K. J., Dasgupta, P., Goulder, L. H., Mumford, K. J., & Oleson, K. (2012). Sustainability and the measurement of wealth. Environment and development economics, 17(03), 317-353.

Boutelle, J. (2004). Understanding organizational stakeholders for design success.

https://boxesandarrows.com/understanding-organizational-stakeholders-for-design-success/

Garud, R., & Gehman, J. (2012). Metatheoretical perspectives on sustainability journeys: Evolutionary, relational and durational. Research Policy, 41(6), 980-995.
Hutter, C., & Starmack, T. (2013). Tesla Roadster: The New Standard of Electric Automobiles. Unpublished working paper at University of Pittsburgh.

Markard, J., Raven, R., & Truffer, B. (2012). Sustainability transitions: An emerging field of research and its prospects. Research Policy, 41(6), 955-967.

Singh, R. K., Murty, H. R., Gupta, S. K., & Dikshit, A. K. (2012). An overview of sustainability assessment methodologies. Ecological Indicators, 15(1), 281-299

Schaltegger, S. and Wagner, M., 2011. Sustainable entrepreneurship and sustainability innovation: categories and interactions. Business strategy and the environment, 20(4), pp.222-237.

Taran, Z., & Betts, S. (2015). Corporate Social Responsibility and Conflicting Stakeholders Interests: Using Matching and Advocacy Approcahes to Align Initiatives With Issues. Journal Of Legal, Ethical & Regulatory Issues, 18(2), 55-61.