Application Of Sustainability As A Key Competitive Strategy By Australia Post

Select any one the following topics, as relevant to the chosen case for your group report. Student may select any other case and relevant topic from the prescribed book in
consultation and approval from the lecturer.

• Business Strategy - Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Case 1)
• Competitive Dynamics - Mario Nintendo (Case 11)
• Corporate Strategy- The Movie Exhibition Industry (Case 8)
• Acquisitions and Structure - Australian Supermarkets (Case 3)
• International Strategy- Carlsberg (Case 9)
• Cooperative Strategy- IKEA India (Case 10)
• Sustainability- Australia Post (Case 2)

Your group report should discuss the application of chosen strategy by the organisation.
 

Sustainability Strategy

Sustainability is becoming more important for all companies around the world for creating long-term value for all the stakeholders. This is because the adoption of sustainability principles leads to development of a better corporate culture within organizations by placing emphasis on promoting the economic, social and environment development. Sustainable businesses have recognized the importance of carrying out their operational activities in a manner so that they do not have any negative impact on the society and environment. This in turn leads to promoting the long-term development of the organization by maximizing the opportunities and minimizing the negative impact of their core operations on the communities and economies in which they operate (Laufer, 2003). In this context, this report is being prepared for demonstrating the application of sustainability as a key competitive strategy by Australia post. Australia Post is a government-owned postal corporation that is involved in providing postal services within the country. It has been recognized as a national income for providing postal services within the country for about 200 years. This report has undertaken a discussion in relation to its sustainability approaches and their use by the company for promoting its long-term growth. 

The business managers around the world are placing importance on integration of sustainability within the organizational strategy for overcoming the future global challenges. The integration of sustainability approaches within the business strategy means developing holistic way of carrying out its operations to minimize the impact of risks related to environment and social aspects. As such, the sustainability strategy of a business can be defined as an approach that aims to create long-term stakeholder value through the adoption of a business strategy that emphasizes on promotion of its ethical, social, environment, cultural and economic dimensions. It can be mainly defined as managing the triple bottom line that is a process by which the business corporations tend to manage their social and environmental risks (Laufer, 2003).

The goal of business is to minimize the business risk and maximize its goodwill among its key stakeholders that lead to promotion of its long-term growth and development. The businesses are largely facing risks on account of the negative impact of their operations on society and environment. This is causing the need for implementation of strategies that drive the responsible environment and develop the goals and targets for enhancing the sustainable development. This will help in reducing the business risks and maximizing the business profitability through enhancing its long-term value in the eyes of its stakeholders. In this context, stakeholder theory has also stated that a business needs to carry out its different operational activities in a manner so that it leads to creation of long-term value for the stakeholders. As such, it is necessary for a business organization to adopt morals and values in managing its different operational activities for ensuring its success and growth (Perrini, Russo and Tencati, 2007). 

Sustainability as a Key Strategy of Australia Post

Australia Post has achieved a prominent position for integration of people and communities across the country through providing postal services. It has presently employed about 50,000 people to serve wider range of communities, citizens, business, large corporations and the government departments. The company operates in a highly competitive sector and therefore it is very essential for it to develop long-term relations within its customers (Labuschagne and Brent, 2006). As such, the adoption of a sustainability strategy can be regarded as a key competitive strategy for Australia Post to promote its long-term growth and development. The company is continually investing within technology, people and culture for having a positive impact on the customer experiences. The goal of the company is to achieve sustainable change through adoption of social and environmental aspects within all its entire operations (Australia Post, 2018).

It provides mails and other related services that help businesses and communities to interact in an effective manner. In this direction, it has adopted a product stewardship agenda by developing partnership with recycling service providers. This is mainly done for recycling and re-using the waste materials. It is actively collaborating with the various types of stakeholders for delivering value and adopting product stewardship. For example, it is has established close relations with RMIT University for developing innovative solutions to reduce the waste creation. It is also working actively with suppliers to improve the packaging of its products. It has developed a team to work in active co-operation with customers for increasing recycling by development of scalable industry approaches. It is also an active member of the Australian Battery Recycling Initiative (ABRI) for exploring innovative solutions for recycling and reusing of waste materials (Digital Post, 2015).

The development of its own products is also regarded as a key strategy of Australia Post. This mainly aims to recycle logos and create disposal instructions for packaging of envelopes so that they do not have a negative impact on the environment. It is also regarded to be a major supporter of Clean-Up Australia Day and has provided large number of waste collection bags to wide number of locations across Australia. It is also promoting clean-up Australia Day through the use of social media campaigns and posting advertisement across wide number of post office outlets. It is also promoting awareness among its staff members regarding the importance of managing waste and litter by providing them knowledge regarding the use of bins and minimizes the production of litter within workplace (Case Study, 2016).

It is continuously working towards strengthening its sustainability approaches as key tactic for developing its distinct competitive position within the Australian postal sector. The sustainability approach of the company is developed in accordance with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals for development of collective actions to promote sustainable development. As a part of its sustainability strategy, it has also developed Stakeholder Council for analysis of its approaches for delivering improved social and environmental outcomes for the Australian community. Its Green Team is working actively in adoption of green approaches in its various operations such as improving recycling and reducing the waste generation. The company is also working actively for carrying out its operations with integrity, honesty and fairness and is in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations. It has also implemented an adequate corporate governance system to ensure that all the operations are carried out in an ethical manner for promoting its long-term development.

The company is constantly working towards making important social and economic contributions and as such has established is role within promotion of development of local communities by facilitating the access to commercial and social services (Economic and social value of Australia Post, 2018). As such, it can be said that sustainability strategy of the company has helped it to attain competitive advantage within the Australian postal sector. In this context, the stewardship theory of corporate governance ahs stated that business managers need to act as responsible stewards for the assets they control.  Thus, the company executives possess the responsibility of protecting the interests of its owners through the adoption of sustainability approaches and practices. The use of responsible planning and adequate management of resources has enabled it to achieve trust and respect among the eyes of its stakeholders. The business managers of Australia Post are acting a responsible sternwards by adoption of sustainability approaches that results in maximization of the value created for its stakeholders (Zahra and Craig, 2008).

The sustainability strategy of Australia post has enabled it to outperform its competitors. As such, it can be said that this strategy is most apt for the company to survive in the long-term by creating maximum value for all its stakeholders. The company operates within the postal sector and therefore has huge social responsibility. It needs to implement sustainable approaches that lead in promoting the development of communities in which it conducts its operations. The company mainly provides social services and therefore the implementation of this strategy is necessary for maximizing its growth and development (Bronn and Brønn, 2007).   

It has been found that Australian Post is focusing highly on the sustainability and has already invested huge amount in creating the sustainable environment and to process the waste management. The business process in Australian Post starts with packaging the shipments, transport and delivering. So it is important to focus two main aspects of business and they are packaging and transport process. So the recommendations will be based on improving the packaging and delivery system so that it helps in delivering the best in class packaging and transport. The objective is to make use recycled products that can help in promoting the sustainable environment.

Following are some recommendations that will help Australian Post to improve their objective of sustainable business:

• Recycled Content: Australian Post make use millions of boxes to process the packaging and to deliver the goods. In today’s market there are a variety of certifications available that ensures that box used in packaging is environment friendly. It is quite essential to note that all the packaging starts with the box that is made from various types of paper that comes from trees. If materials used in the box are recycled than it will definitely help in lower the consumption of paper made from trees. In short it can be said that sustainable goods will help to save the forest. The triangular chasing arrow logo on the cardboards reflects that boxes can be recycled and used again for further use. The adhesives and inks used on cardboard for packaging must be environment friendly so that it cannot harm the environment (Pullen, 2012).
• Use of Eco-FriendlyMaterials and size of boxes: There is use of Styrofoam for packaging purpose in order to insulate products against bumps, heat, drops, cold etc. Styrofoam is very hazardous to the environment in many ways as it cannot be recycled, it is made from petroleum based materials and manufacturing process of this material generated a lot of waste. There are many alternate available to Styrofoam but they are bit costly. It is recommended to the Australian Post to make use of fibrous blocking products such as corrugated inserts etc as they are completely recyclable and also environment friendly. Another alternative to Styrofoam is eco-cradle mushroom packaging as it is bio-material and it works great in boxes (Chaston, 2012). Another major problem that arises is the size of box as it has been seen that bog boxes are used to pack the small product that increase the area in transport and lead to waste of space. So it is highly recommended that packaging of the product must be compact and there must be use of smaller boxes. It helps to make proper utilization of space in plane, truck and ships, so that it helps in improving the carbon footprints (Avlonas and Nassos, 2013).
• Transport System: Every shipment uses the transport to reach their respective destination. So it can be said that there is huge role transport in postal business. Australian Post makes use of their own transport to send the goods to the destination. It also depends on their courier partners to deliver the shipment. It is highly recommended that transport system must be well organized and environment friendly that is helps in promoting sustainability. There must be reduction in rounds of transport vehicles so that emission of gases gets reduced to the certain level and carbon production also gets reduced. Shipment must be arranged in such a way that helps in reducing the storage space and also saves transport space. Overall it will help in reducing the carbon footprints and also save the environment (Stringer, 2010). 

Conclusion

On the basis of overall analysis of sustainability strategy of Australian Post it has been found that company is highly concerned for the use of sustainable products that promote eco-friendly environment. The sustainable process such as recycling, re-use, waste reduction has already been used by the Australian Post in their business operation. They have adopted the UN certifications to make sure all the products used to packaging, transport, and storage is eco-friendly and save the environment. Some recommendations are also given to ensure that Australian Post can improve their sustainable strategy and can survive for longer period. 

References

Australia Post. 2018. Annual report. [Online]. Available at: https://auspost.com.au/content/dam/auspost_corp/media/documents/annual-report-2018.pdf [Accessed on: 1 February 2019].

Avlonas, N. and Nassos, G.P. 2013. Practical Sustainability Strategies: How to Gain a Competitive Advantage. John Wiley & Sons. New Jersey: USA.

Bronn, P. S. and Brønn, C. 2007. A reflective stakeholder approach: Coorientation as a basis for communication and learnin. Journal of Communication Management, 7 (4), pp. 291-303.

Case Study. 2016. Australia Post: Outstanding Achievement in Product Stewardship. [Online]. Available at: https://www.packagingcovenant.org.au/documents/item/1086 [Accessed on: 1 February 2019].

Chaston, I. 2012. Strategy for Sustainable Competitive Advantage: Surviving Declining Demand and China's Global Development. Routledge. NewYork: London.

Digital Post. 2015. Business transformation and the future sustainability of Australia Post. [Online]. Available at: https://mckellinstitute.org.au/app/uploads/The-McKell-Institute-Digital-Post-March-2015.pdf [Accessed on: 1 February 2019].

Economic and social value of Australia Post. 2018. [Online]. Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/au/Documents/Economics/deloitte-au-economics-value-australia-post-150818.pdf [Accessed on: 1 February 2019].

Labuschagne, C. and Brent A. C. 2006. Social indicators for sustainable project and technology life cycle management in the process industry. International Journal of Life-Cycle Assessment 11(1), pp.1-3.

Laufer, W. S. 2003. Social accountability and corporate greenwashing. Journal of Business Ethics 43(3): 253–261.

Perrini, F., Russo, A. and Tencati A. 2007. CSR strategies of SMEs and large ?rms. Evidence from Italy. Journal of Business Ethics 74(3), pp.285–300.

Pullen, J.P. 2012. 7 Ideas for 'Greening' Your Shipping Strategy. [Online]. Available at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/224626 [Accessed on: 1 February 2019].

Stringer, L. 2010. The Green Workplace: Sustainable Strategies that Benefit Employees, the Environment, and the Bottom Line. St. Martin's Press. Washington.

Zahra, S. A. and Craig, J. 2008. Culture of family commitment and strategic flexibility: The moderating effect of stewardship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 32(6), pp.1035-1054.