Approaches To Sustainable Development For Managing Clean Growth In Businesses Essay.

The objective of the UK government to foster ‘clean growth’ implies that businesses will have to deliver value to their customers and other stakeholders while reducing their impacts on the environment, such as CO2 emissions and waste. Some sectors will be more affected than others, but managers within each sector will use techniques derived from approaches such as those listed below to help them manage the transition. 

1. Making use of academic literature, briefly summarise each of the approaches to sustainable development below, explaining how suitable (or not) each might for the analysis of business performance in the context of clean growth.

· The Triple Bottom Line

· The Five Capitals

· Natural Capitalism

· Cradle to Cradle

· The Circular Economy

· The Balanced Scorecard

2. Choose a type of business (such as a breakfast cereal manufacturer) from either the automotive, construction, energy or food sectors; then choose two approaches from the list above and briefly describe how each can be used to evaluate the chosen business in terms of its environmental impact, its purpose, responsibilities and risks.

3. Compare the two approaches you have chosen in terms of how well they help to manage the clean growth of your chosen business. 

This assignment will require careful reading of the lessons used in this module as well as library research. You will find it helpful to begin your reading using articles and case studies available on this module’s Blackboard shell.

Approaches to sustainable development

According to , clean growth is a way of achieving economic growth with good resources, technology and allowing sustainable development. The aim of this model is to ensure efficient production with reduced impacts on the environment. For businesses to ensure sustainable development with clean growth, there are some of the techniques which should be put in place to help them achieve this objective. One of these approaches is the triple bottom line. This is an accounting framework used to measure a company’s economic, social and environmental impacts . To achieve clean growth, triple bottom line ensures that the company contributes to the local health development and educating services. This also ensures that the natural resources used in the company, waste management does not have negative impacts on the environment. This is achieved by monitoring these elements well.

The five capitals is an approach which provides a basis for understanding sustainability developments in terms of wealth creation or capital. This approach is composed of five assets. These assets include economic, built, social, natural and human capitals. The importance of this model is that each form of capital is able to generate benefits in economic growth while still sustaining clean growth. For example, a natural form of capital ensures that the company has access to clean water, fresh air, and other key natural resources which have no negative impacts on the environment. Also, human asset ensures that people are in good health which enables them to work well hence increasing productivity.

Natural capitalism is an approach that aims at favoring both human and nature while still able to make profits, improving on the workforce and also gaining competitive advantage. This model encourages increased resource production, zero- waste and nontoxic production. The model argues that people and nature are today valued at zero so protecting them and restoring nature would be more profitable . On the other hand, cradle to cradle manufacturing is a process of acquiring certification for products which ensures more sustainable nature. This model ensures that the company protects and enrich the ecosystem while maintaining safe and productive technical metabolism. With this, the company would be ensuring clean growth.

The circular economy is whereby resource input waste and, energy are minimized by recycling. This model is based on three principles which are, designing out waste and pollution, keeping products/materials in use and regenerating natural system . With this recycling and remanufacturing of waste resources, this model ensures that there are no toxic gases and waste which is released to the environment hence ensuring clean growth. The balanced scorecard is a strategic planning and management system which is used by managers to explain the goals and objectives of the organization to the employees. This model also aligns day to day activities which employees should undertake and helps in prioritizing projects. This is important because it ensures that all employees have participated in the success of the business. Since it helps in prioritizing products, it would help managers in choosing resources which has no negative impacts on the environment.

Managing clean growth in businesses

In this case, the two approaches to be used in evaluating the company are five capital and triple bottom line. The company chosen in this case deals with the manufacture of exhaust pipes. For five capital, which focuses on the understanding of sustainable development in terms of wealth creation, would enable the owners to understand the environmental impacts of this business. Since this model consists of five assets, each plays an important role in ensuring the clean growth of the company. For natural capital, this asset would help in evaluating whether the business has positive or negative impacts on the environment. This is because this asset shows the company’s access to key resources such as water, forest, land, and others. For example, if the company is using resources which can bring about negative impacts on the environment like toxic products, this would necessarily affect the clean growth of the business and vice versa.

On the other hand, the economic capital would help in evaluating and understanding the purpose of this business. This is because this model shows the income and financial resources of the company. If the main purpose of the company is to make profits, this would be clearly shown in the income statement report. Also, the way in which this company is treating its employees can be used to determine the purpose of the business. If the company is not aimed at making a profit, it would not put into consideration things like wages and health of the employees. Moreover, the working environment would not be conducive for human health. If the company has not changed on its means of operations and remains to do same things this means that the purpose of this company is not to make a profit. Also, the working environment would also assist in determining the purpose of this company. Even if the organization is not aimed at making profits, it should consider the health safety of its workers. According to, there are non-profit making organizations which consider the health of the employees even though their main aim is not to make profits.

Human capital would enable in evaluating the responsibilities of the company. Responsibilities of a company are the things which top managers or owners should do to ensure that there is quality production as well as improved health safety for the employees.  To know the responsibility of the company in terms of ensuring quality work, this would include looking at the tasks assigned to each employee if they really match with their skills and knowledge. Also, if the employees are paid their wages and there is a conducive work environment this would mean that the company is taking up its responsibilities well. The five capital would also help to know the responsibilities of the managers in terms of productivity and work efficiency. This is because it’s the responsibility of top managers to ensure that employees apply the necessary skills and knowledge in order to give efficient work. This can be achieved if the managers give clear guidelines to the employees on how to perform their tasks. Also, listening to their problems and giving possible solutions would assist them in delivering efficient work.

The Triple Bottom Line

To evaluate the company’s risks using the five capital, this would include looking at the buildings, transport, and communication. For example, if the company is situated in risky places like near rivers, this would mean that the chances of this building collapsing are high especially during rainy seasons. Also, if the location of the business has poor infrastructures like faulty roads, this would mean that many customers would find it hard to go such places hence losing its market share. Poor communication skills can make employees lose job morale hence poor performance. It can also make a company lose its customers because they like going to places where they handle in a good way. According to, poor communication can lead to a collapse of a business.

The second approach to be used to evaluate this organization is the triple bottom line.  According to [10], this model focuses on measuring a company’s economic, social and environmental impacts.  Since this model focuses on environmental impacts, including determining the kind of resources used, waste management and the land use, it would, therefore, help in evaluating the effects of this company on the environment. For example, if the company is using resources which are not harmful to the human health this would contribute zero negative effects to the environment. Also, if the company has introduced proper ways of managing its waste products, this again would have no negative effect on the environment. These ways of managing waste products would include recycling.

The purpose of the business is determined by both environmental and social factors. The triple bottom line would assist in evaluating the purpose of the company in terms of environmental conservation and also ensuring work safety for their employees. If the company has not put on correct measures of managing their waste, this would mean that its purpose is not only to make profits but also pollute the environment. Also, the kind of resources used would help in evaluating the purpose of the business in terms of air conservation. The responsibilities of this company can be evaluated by looking at the employees who are working there in terms of their health and the time they spend at work. This is because it’s the responsibility of the company to ensure that all the workers work under safe conditions.

Just as the five capital, the triple bottom line gives the same ideas in evaluating the risks of the company. Since this model focuses on measuring social, economic and environmental impacts it would be easier to evaluate the risks of the company based on these factors. Social factors include how the company is treating its workers. If the company pays its workers their wages on time this would mean that there are minimal chances of losing their employees. Also if there is an improved working condition, this would increase the morale of the workers hence improving their performance. This minimizes the risks of losing employees through deaths or long-term illnesses associated with poor working conditions. Also, the way the managers communicate to their employees can affect their performance. Unclear definition of duties can lead to a bad relationship between employees due to blame games at work. This bad work relationship can put the company at a risk of low profits due to poor performance.

The Five Capitals

For environmental factors, these include things like the natural resources used by the company in its manufacturing process. These would either have negative or positive impacts on the environment depending on the type of resources used. For a company to avoid the risks of polluting environment, it should avoid using toxic products which leads to air pollution. Also, coming up with ways of managing waste products would help in avoiding some of these risks. This includes remanufacturing of the waste products. This triple bottom line would, therefore, assist in evaluating the kind of effects this company has on the environment by focusing on the resources used during manufacturing.

3. Comparing the two approaches on how they help in managing clean growth, the five capitals seems to assist best in this process. For the triple bottom line, it ensures that the natural resource used, ways of managing waste does not have negative impacts on the environment. It also ensures that the company participates in local health development and education services. This approach also ensures that there is healthy safety for the employees and good wages to assist them in living. On the other hand, the five capital has five assets in which each form has a way of ensuring clean growth. These include human, social, built, economic and natural capitals. For a human asset, the approach ensures that the workers work in a conducive environment which is not harmful to their health. Also, this form of capital ensures that the workers are paid their wages. Social provides a basis for workers to work together. It is known that two or more heads than one. This asset provides a basis for communication and a good relationship between workers which ensures efficient work. Efficient work in most cases has positive impacts on the environment because the workers are using the necessary resources to achieve goals. Moreover, the built form of capital ensures that the company’s infrastructures such as roads, buildings, and communications are implemented well. With these infrastructures put in place, this would mean there is an efficient work hence clean growth. Natural capital ensures that the resources used, ways of managing waste and land used to have no negative impacts on the environment. Although these approaches seem to be sharing the same ideas, the five capital is the one which could help well in managing clean growth. This is because the model covers well on the measures that should be put in place to ensure clean growth while still giving room for a company to increase its profits and attaining competitive advantage.

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