Evaluation Of Environmental Sustainability Practices Of Wrigley Company Limited

You are required to Evaluate their Environmental Sustainability practices against theory and best practice by:

Identifying at least 3 course concepts that can be used to evaluate the management of your company’s environmental sustainability practices. Illustrate these course concepts using contemporary examples (these examples can be linked to ANY company – i.e. not just your chosen company) and critically evaluate the chosen course concepts.

Evaluating the management of your company’s environmental sustainability practices using the course concepts that you have identified.

Sustainability and Competitive Advantage

The report is prepared to evaluate the sustainability management practices of chosen company that is Wrigley Company limited. Evaluation of the sustainability practices are done by identification of three course concepts that is sustainability and competitive advantage, sustainability and corporate social responsibility and sustainability as non market force. The evaluation of sustainability practices of company is done in relation to such identified course concepts. Wrigley Company limited is an American chewing company that was established in year 1891 and is based in goose Island. The success of company is dependant heavily of prosperity and sustainability of global market place. Sustainability at Wrigley is a continuous process that is driven by culture. Organization always intends to improve its environmental profile by placing its leading priorities on sustainability (Epstein and Buhovac 2014). In the later part of report, recommendations have been made for further improving sustainability practices of organization in relation to the course concepts.

Evaluating the sustainability management practices of by identification of course concepts:

Sustainability management and competitive advantage:

The term sustainability as mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, refer to the practices that are adopted by the corporate entities for ensuring that the operational activities of the firm are sustainable in nature and do not affect the surroundings or the environment in which it operates. It must be noted here that aspect of sustainability in the recent times is not treated as a green wash but as a serious feature that is adopted into the business strategies of the firm, further integration into the brand and core business. This is because the sustainability practices lead to the firms gaining a competitive advantage in regards to the other business entities that do not incorporate these business strategies (Schaltegger and Wagner 2017).

For instance, Starbucks is a well-known corporate entity that is also known for its sustainability ventures. The particular company has gained a competitive edge for the following reasons:

• The company employs the most talented individuals and ensures that the rights and interests of its employees are safeguarded. This leads to motivation of the work force which in turn  positively affects the turnover of the company
• The best sustainability practices also facilitates the access to the best financing procedures
• A regulated and strong sustainability framework also results in the obtaining of the quality supply chain partners.

Sustainability and corporate social responsibility:

 Corporate social responsibility and sustainability are often used interchangeably and many times, organization incorporates activities of social responsible into sustainability efforts.  Incorporation of such practices into socially responsible activities leads to creation of economic, social and environmental values to organization.  Sustainable development of company treats future generations who might be impacted by accounting for development of company concerning people who are accounted for. The aspect of sustainability is also carried out by the corporate entities in the form of corporate social responsibilities. For instance, the corporate giant Google has been executing it corporate social responsibilities and has been known for such practices since a long time. Google has long been an example for its fellow competitors. Google Green has been such an initiative in which the methods for the utilizing the resources efficiently have been explained along with the providence of complete support to renewable power (Eccles et al. 2014).

Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility

Sustainability as non market force:

Non market forces are the factors that are outside the market system of any organization. Fundamentally, non-market forces indicate towards the ones that act on various economic facets from outside the system of the market. Essentially, the non-market forces entail organizing, diverse correcting facets that deliver order to specific markets as well as different societal institutions and include economic,. social, cultural as well as political factors (Le Blanc 2015). However, in a global economy, various competitive advantage can be acquired by appropriate handling of social, political along with environmental issues. As per this concept, management of the firm also need to consider non-market force that recognizes business as social along with political units and not only economic agents (Laszlo and Zhexembayeva 2017). Thus, this can help in creating as well as distributing value of the firm. Management of the firm Wrigley therefore takes into consideration sustainable practices in terms of operations, innovative systems in sustainable packaging, innovative products as well as sources, supports communities by means of philanthropy and many others. For example, the company has International Youth Foundation that can support youth at risk and pledged around $2.5 million.

Evaluating the sustainability management practices of Wrigley Company limited:

Thorough evaluation of the sustainability report of the firm Wrigley reveals the fact that the persistent success of firm hugely relies on prosperity along with sustainability of the worldwide marketplace that the company serves (Holden et al. 2017). For the corporation Wrigley, sustainability refers to driving the performance of the business by particularly enhancing the overall well being of individuals along with that of the planet for now as well as for future generations.

In terms of operations, management of the firm is striving to conserve energy as well as resource and enhancing overall profile of environment of firm’s facilities. This is carried out by the management’s commitment towards reduction of energy, greenhouse gases, consumption of water and administration of waste. In addition to this, management also focuses towards different transportation options, formulation of various novel facilities, establishment of different sustainable exercises and many others (Sachs 2015). For example, the Australia Office of Wrigley now utilizes 100% green energy that has necessarily lessened annual footprint by roughly 111 tonnes of emissions of CO₂. Further, the reports pronounced by the corporation also reflects the fact Chicago based Global Innovation Centre  essentially earned a certification known as Gold LEED certification as water usage reduced by 40% at this centre (Klopp and Petretta 2017). Management of the company incorporated “Bin it” school programme that aids in enhancement of awareness regarding disposal of gum litter among people aged between 11 years to 13 years. In addition to this, the company also expanded the activities of wellness of portfolio with the institution of specifically the Orbit Balance in particularly Germany (Epstein and Buhovac 2014).

Sustainability as Non-Market Force

The company has incorporated sustainability practices as part of corporate social responsibility in terms of culture and communities for making differences. They intend to provide continue support to communities through sustainability initiatives and corporate social philanthropy (Bennett et al. 2017). In order to advance conservation and generate environmental responsibility, Wrigley also works with its environmental partners. Moreover, efforts are also taken by company for promoting responsible and disposable use of products.

Company has integrated sustainability practices as a part of their strategy for gaining competitive advantage. It has partnered with customers for measuring and creating environmental and consumer friendly sustainable packaging solutions and thereby improving the portfolio of current packaging.  Efforts are taken for reducing the impact of packaging materials by way of partnering with sustainable suppliers and using sustainable materials. When it comes to product, development of product is done based on expectations and evolving priorities of consumers that rest around the sustainability requirement. The sustainable ingredient of products is sourced from sustainable suppliers. Identification of sustainable logistic is done by the application of high efficiency designs of factories (Wrigley.com 2018). This contributes to environment by reducing the business footprint business. Furthermore, an approach is being developed by company that helps in elimination of green house gas emissions and usage of fossil fuel energy.

The report has been able to explain clearly the sustainability practices that have been undertaken by Wrigley Co Ltd. The assessment of the sustainability management has been able to suggest various recommendations with the help of which the sustainability program of the company can be enhanced. It is seen that in order to sustain the competitive edge of the organization, the management needs to assess the sustainability program of the rival companies and thereby change their plans accordingly in order to maintain competitive edge. The management of the organization even needs to assess their corporate social responsibility and can change their plans according to the transformations that have been taking place in the economy in general. It is the obligation of the management to change their plan according to the changes that have been taking place in the economy globally and thereby improve their sustainability program and accordingly their operational performance. Sustainability has a key role to play in the non-market as well as it is seen that the program that are constructed are in line with safeguarding the interests of the society and the other non-market performers and thereby operate their business in such a manner that the society as a whole is satisfied. The development of the sustainability plan after recommending with the society where the company operates would be helpful for an enhanced sustainability plan for Wrigley Co Ltd.

Conclusion:

The paper has therefore been able to explain that sustainability plan has a key role to play in the development of the operational activities of Wrigley Co Ltd. The paper has been able to address the various sustainability plan that is associated to competitive edge, corporate social responsibility and non-market performers. The paper has even provided relevant examples that is associated with environmental sustainability plan for Wrigley Co Ltd and therefore it can be said there are room for improvement with the help of which the company can improve their level of operations. Sustainability plan is one of the significant aspects and therefore Wrigley Co Ltd has been taking extensive steps and measures in order to improve it along with the changing needs in the market and within the organization as a whole.        

References list:

Bennett, M., James, P. and Klinkers, L. eds., 2017. Sustainable measures: evaluation and reporting of environmental and social performance. Routledge.

Eccles, R.G., Ioannou, I. and Serafeim, G., 2014. The impact of corporate sustainability on organizational processes and performance. Management Science, 60(11), pp.2835-2857.

Epstein, M.J. and Buhovac, A.R., 2014. Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing and measuring corporate social, environmental, and economic impacts. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Epstein, M.J. and Buhovac, A.R., 2014. Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing and measuring corporate social, environmental, and economic impacts. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Holden, E., Linnerud, K. and Banister, D., 2017. The imperatives of sustainable development. Sustainable Development, 25(3), pp.213-226.

Klopp, J.M. and Petretta, D.L., 2017. The urban sustainable development goal: Indicators, complexity and the politics of measuring cities. Cities, 63, pp.92-97.

Laszlo, C. and Zhexembayeva, N., 2017. Embedded sustainability: The next big competitive advantage. Routledge.

Le Blanc, D., 2015. Towards integration at last? The sustainable development goals as a network of targets. Sustainable Development, 23(3), pp.176-187.

Sachs, J.D., 2015. The age of sustainable development. Columbia University Press.

Schaltegger, S. and Wagner, M. eds., 2017. Managing the business case for sustainability: The integration of social, environmental and economic performance. Routledge.

West, D.C., Ford, J. and Ibrahim, E., 2015. Strategic marketing: creating competitive advantage. Oxford University Press, USA.

Wrigley.com. (2018). Wrigley.com.au : Operations, Manufacturing & Logistics. [online] Available at: https://www.wrigley.com/aunz/our-commitment/operations-facilities.aspx [Accessed 13 Mar. 2018].