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Business Sustainability

In: Business and Management

Submitted By reluctantchip10
Words 1080
Pages 5
Business sustainability is often defined as managing the triple bottom line - a process by which companies manage their financial, social and environmental risks, obligations and opportunities. These three impacts are sometimes referred to as profits, people and planet. There are a number of best practices that foster business sustainability, and help organizations move along the path from laggards to leaders. These practices include:• Stakeholder engagement: Organizations can learn from customers, employees and their surrounding community. Engagement is not only about pushing out messages, but understanding opposition, finding common ground and involving stakeholders in joint decision-making;
• Environmental management systems: These systems provide the structures and processes that help embed environmental efficiency into a firm’s culture and mitigate risks. The most widely recognized standard worldwide is ISO 14001, but numerous other industry-specific and country-specific standards exist;
• Reporting and disclosure: Measurement and control are at the heart of instituting sustainable practices. Not only can organizations collect and collate the information, they can also be entirely transparent with outsiders. The Global Reporting Initiative is one of many examples of well-recognized reporting standards;
• Life cycle analysis: Those organizations wanting to take a large leap forward should systematically analyze the environmental and social impact of the products they use and produce through life cycle analysis, which measure more accurately impacts.
Firms that are sustainable have been shown to attract and retain employees more easily and experience less financial and reputation risk. These firms are also more innovative and adaptive to their environments. (Lexicon. (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2015, from

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