Introduction to Sustainable Business
Completion requirements
This chapter will introduce you to how businesses are increasingly acting with concern for the environment and society. Read Chapter 1 to see how companies can play a positive role in sustainability, follow legal and regulatory concerns, lower costs and increase profits, and achieve competitive advantages in the marketplace.
How can businesses play a positive role in helping to solve environmental and social problems? What are some examples of sustainable business practices? What does the term "triple bottom line" mean?
1.6 A Strategic Approach to Sustainable Business Practice
Exercises
- Identify a company, other than Stonyfield, that takes a strategic approach to sustainable business practices. Describe the strategic approach by the company and its benefits for the company.
- Read a couple of articles that describe Six Sigma. Discuss the qualities of this management strategy that lead it to be considered sustainable. If Six Sigma is a successful sustainability strategy for business, what might be some barriers to wider adoption by companies?
- What are some of the pros of considering the stakeholder approach as a sustainability strategy? What are some of the drawbacks of considering the stakeholder approach as a sustainability strategy? Provide some examples of how a small business might integrate the stakeholder approach into its business practices to make it more sustainable.