GREEN BUSINESS PRACTICES: BALANCING ENVIRONMENT AND ECONOMIC DESIRES
MUKHTAR AHMAD1
Abstract
Individual organization government and even business enterprises are becoming more and more environmental conscious. This environmental consciousness has lead to the emergence of green business practices .Green business involves promotion and production of eco-freie3ndly products. This research paper presents the detailed study on the concept of green business practices which are essential for improving environmental condition in a profitable manner. This paper primarily focuses on fulfilling responsibilities towards environment through following green practices, and secondly, it explains the competitive advantages of green business. Green business
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Green Business: A Brief Overview
After the inception of the concept of green business or sustainable business practices, several researchers have conducted their studies on this topic.They have examined and explained this concept in different ways. World commission on environment and development (1981) have explained sustainable development practices as ,”development that meets the needs of the presents without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Smith(2013) define “green business” as business practices that are viewed as environmentally sound, including the use of organic and natural products to build factories provide protection against emissions and environmental friendly sourcing of materials. Similarly, Zsolani (2002) defines green business as “business that has adopted the concept of environmentalism across the various functions of the
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III. Challenges
Though green business practices are very beneficial for the environment as well as for the business organization .But it suffers from some short coming .These are some factors which acts as a barrier in smooth functioning of green business, some of these factors are as follows:-
1. Eco-friendly products promotion and production requires high initial investment.
2. Green products are made available to consumer at higher cost .These products are expensive in compare to ordinary products.
3. Lack of government support.
4. Adopting green business practices are often time consuming and involve lengthy process.
5. Green business certification and auditing can be costly and involves lengthy and complicated process.
6. Sometimes current environmentally responsible action adopted by business firm causes adverse future effects.
7. Customers are not fully aware about the availability, usage and benefit of green products.
IV.
For example as mentioned in the previous assignment Rose Gold became a popular colour among young people and so Apple decided to add a Rose Gold colour to their iPhone 6 collection. This affects Carphone Warehouse because on the release of the iPhone 6 with their new colour people, especially young people, would want to be the first to have the new trend before it gets sold out. Carphone Warehouse would have an increase in sales on the day of Apple releasing their product which would give them an increase in profit and enables them to buy more stock from their suppliers due to the popular demand of their product. Another thing that affects the business which is to do with the ageing population is older people also having phones however these phones need to be adjusted in order to suit the needs of older users. Carphone Warehouse need to make sure that they stock a range of products which includes phones suitable for older users.
Such as why does a company work with one supplier versus another or is it more beneficial to the company to use a higher price supplier to guarantee higher quality. Higher quality products and supplies can generally help reduce
This day and age, change has become the new norm that shapes and develops the business world and global economy. A rising topic that has shepherd the direction of innovation is climate change and environmental awareness. The sustainability of a company encompasses their ability to manage social and environmental risks, obligations and opportunities. This concept is important for managers and to understand and implement because of government regulations and potential cost efficiency. In Oregon, there are numerous companies that express the importance of being sustainable.
Shoppers might object, claiming they do not have the means to pay for organic, ecological or culturally available food. They might point out some organic food is more expensive like milk, a staple to our diet. If a shopper bought one gallon of organic milk for $5.99 at Trader Joe’s, a popular Whole Foods chain store, each week for a year instead of a gallon of regular milk for $1.98 at Kwik Trip, a local gas station, they would be spending $208.52 more a year on milk alone. Although I understand that it can be a little more expensive, I still maintain that there are ways to make shopping in a more healthy way, cheaper. To starting with, we could purchase in-season produce because out-of-season is more expensive, due to shipping and storage costs.
With sugar and fast fashion, the products are created from hundreds of exhausted workers working in revolting and hazardous work places. The workers are treated like slaves, or they are slaves, and they all live in poverty. The plantation owners or fast fashion producers don’t care for their workers health or financial issues. They just care that they don’t have to pay much and they get plenty of money. With consumers, we know of the environment and issues with the products we consume, sugar back then and fast fashion clothing today, but we chose to ignore it, as we want it so bad.
External environmental issues which impact the financial services organizations, strategic Planning have been vital to make any financial service organization survive for long term. External environment comprises of all the elements which are present outside the boundary of the organization and have the capacity to affect either part or the whole organization. IN order to understand any financial organization we need to analyse its domain which exists in the external sectors of the organization (RamaRao, 2010). The niche of the organization forms the organizational domain and also defines all the externals sectors which with the organization will interact in order to accomplish its goals.
Environmental analysis of Wal-Mart includes the external environment factors that may affect the performance of Wal-Mart. Typically external environment includes competitors of Wal-Mart, the advantages and disadvantages of these competitors, the way that Wal-Mart distinguishes itself from its competitors and macro-economic factors that affect the performance of Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is one of the largest retail companies in the world with more than $ 400 billion annual sales, 4,100 branches in the United States and 3,500 stores outside the U.S. (“External And Internal Environmental Analysis Of Wal-Mart”). In the year of 2009, Wal-Mart became the highest-volume grocery store in America, obtaining a 21 percent share of the grocery marke and almost
On the other hand, many brands which are really going green get accused of greenwashing by consumers. That discourages companies to publicly share their green initiatives (Hopkins, 2009). Many researchers (Shen et al, 2012) believe that sustainability serves as an efficient way to engage and captivate shoppers. However, in the UK for instance, while 30% of the consumers claim to be very implicated in ethical and sustainable issues, they still find difficulties buying sustainable products because they can not afford it for instance or because they are just not used to buy clothing from “green brands”. 1.1 Research questions and objectives Only few researches have been conducted regarding consumers’ perspectives on ethical and sustainability problems in the fashion industry and on the effect it has on their buying comportment.
Firms which are managing environmental affairs their relations with consumers, vendors, regulators, and other industries are increasing and improving their sustainability to the success. The environmental strategies include developing green business, divesting environmental-damaging business, Struggle to become low cost producer, through energy conservation and waste minimization, and implementing different strategy through green product features. The firms can include environmental representative in their board of directors, announce bonus for the favorable environmental results, establish environmental oriented objectives, include environmental values in mission statements, and provide environmental training program for firm managers and employees. WHY FIRMS SHOULD “BE GREEN”
I agree with the assertion that in the context of Sustainable Development ‘the reality of life today is that the economy dominates environment and society. The Concept of Sustainable Development Sustainable development refers to “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”, and was produced by the Brundtland report (WCED, 1987). The concept also takes into account the needs of the poor in developing countries by outlining achievable objectives of importance (WCED, 1987).
Describe three of the environmental influences an organization faces. Provide one example of each and describe how an organization is impacted, either positively or negatively, by each: There are five main external environment forces which can influence an organization (Ashim gupta, 2009). They are technology, competition, resources, consumers, and laws and regulations. I am going to discuss consumers, competition, and resources. The first environmental influence is customers.
When clients learn that they use environmentally friendly resources, this will show them that they not only care about the environment, but also that they are a responsible company. This improved brand image will lead to an increase in sales, furthering their company’s profits. Price Because they are introducing their product as a new market, they will use price skimming strategy.
Kahn’s (1995) approach to the sustainable development theory is consistent with the modern day development techniques of Europe 2020 priorities; smart growth, sustainable growth and inclusive growth. The adoption of some innovative strategies such as the utilisation of renewable energy as an integral part of the energy mix could result in growth of the economy, which will eventually trickle down to the poor or extend to the rural or disadvantaged areas of the country. The social sustainability generally explains the idea of equity among the people, empowerment, participation, accessibility and institutional stability. It seeks to ensure a good standard of living in the country by alleviating poverty. Environmental sustainability seeks to explain the ways in which exploitation and utilisation of the natural resources will not be made to negatively affect the environment or the health of human beings (Kahn 1995).
Green growth and green economy have been subject to various definitions but those currently being used by international organizations have a lot in common. Greening growth (GG) and moving towards a greener economy (GE) is complex and multidimensional. Green growth is a matter of both economic policy and sustainable development policy. It tackles two key imperatives together: the continued inclusive economic growth needed by developing countries to reduce poverty and improve wellbeing; and improved environmental management needed to tackle resource scarcities and climate change. The concept of green economy rests on the economy, the environment and the social pillars of sustainable development.
They may include statements about environmental sustainability, recycling, energy and water efficiency or impact on animals and the natural environment, for example 'green', 'environmentally safe' or 'fully recycled'. Businesses making these claims must be able to substantiate them.” 6. “High Pressure Sales Tactics- This strategy is used to motivate customers to purchase a good or service that he or she does not want or does not intend to