Business Society and Planet Sustainability

Question: Discuss about the Business Society and Planet for Sustainability. Answer: Introduction Sustainability helps in leading a healthy life and the business owners should adhere to the sustainable business to help the society as well as carry out the business (Matos Silvestre, 2013). The reflective journal will discuss about the Triple Bottom Line, Six Forms of Capital used by business and six phases of business approaches to sustainability. The organizations that have adhered to sustainable business will also be evaluated. Triple Bottom Line The triple bottom line helps in understanding the areas that the company need to keep in mind while operating in the market. The three main factors that are taken into consideration are- social, financial and environmental aspects (Govindan, Khodaverdi Jafarian, 2013). In other words, three Ps should be kept in mind by an organization while working in the market- People, profits and planet. According to me, the triple bottom line very well explains the factors that an organization should keep in mind while carrying out the business. However, I feel that the company on a long-term basis rather than just acting on a short-term basis should adopt the triple bottom line framework. An organization a keep a check on the people and the planet for one time or for one activity but adhering to it for a long time is the challenge (Boons et al., 2013). Hence, the times should be taken into consideration while thinking of implementing the framework in the organization. Six Forms of Capital used byBusinesses While we talk about the six forms of capital that can be used in the business, I remember the idea of McElroy, (2003) when he described the six types of capital required for proper functioning of the business. The capitals are: Internal economic capital External economic capital Natural capital Human capital Social and relationship capital Constructed capital I feel that even though there are three different capitals but the capitals are inter-dependent on each other. An organization needs to build a strong human capital so that they are able to keep a check on the social and relationship capital. The human capital should be clubbed with the internal economic capital (Bocken et al., 2014). They should keep a track of the natural capital and constructed capital so that do not overuse the resources. Six Phases of Business Approaches to Sustainability When I studied the business approaches by Dunphy, Griffiths and Benn in the phase model, I felt that the model is the best way to explain the six phases that a business will go through while adopting sustainability. The six phases that could be evaluated are- rejection, non-responsiveness, compliance, efficiency, strategic proactivity and sustaining corporation (Benn, Dunphy Griffiths, 2014). When they will talk first talk about sustainability they will face with certain challenges and hence, they can reject the idea. They will become non-responsiveness towards the requirement of sustainability in the business. If they feel something good will happen if will comply to the changes by thinking that they will get something different from the changes. Gradually, they will gain efficiency in the sustainable tasks for the enhancement of the business. They will proactively take part in the sustainable business by setting the proper strategy. Eventually, they will become a sustainable corporation by taking the help of the sustainable activities. Examples of Business using Sustainability PepsiCo believes in keeping its shareholders updated about their behavior and activities. They held an annual shareholder meeting and keeps them updated about climate changes and the action that they have taken into account combat water scarcity and issues with health. Soft drinks are said to be harmful to health but coca cola has taken all the measures so that they are able to give the best possible products to the customers. They have improved the quality of water by 20%. Starbucks keep a close contact with the farmers and local communities while carrying out their business. The CEO of the company Howard Schultz has taken the effort when they thought about carrying out the business ethically. They invest in sustainable business practices and aim at getting the coffee beans ethically. Conclusion After going through aspects of sustainability, I have concluded that the themes of sustainability explain the concept well. Triple bottom line framework reminds the business owners of people, profits and planet. Dunphy, Griffiths and Benn talk about the approaches to sustainability and that are rejection, non-responsiveness, compliance, efficiency, strategic proactivity and sustaining corporation. McElroy explains the capital that will help in sustainable development of the organization. References Benn, S., Dunphy, D., Griffiths, A. (2014).Organizational change for corporate sustainability. Routledge. 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. Boons, F., Montalvo, C., Quist, J., Wagner, M. (2013). Sustainable innovation, business models and economic performance: an overview.Journal of Cleaner Production,45, 1-8. Govindan, K., Khodaverdi, R., Jafarian, A. (2013). A fuzzy multi criteria approach for measuring sustainability performance of a supplier based on triple bottom line approach.Journal of Cleaner Production,47, 345-354. Matos, S., Silvestre, B. S. 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