Research Paper on Business Governance and Sustainability

Introduction

Business sustainability is a pro-active approach to ensuring business long-term success and reliability by optimizing resource, decreasing ecological effects while not jeopardizing product quality, profitability, and competitiveness. The current developments in the business economy have raised environmental concerns and put businesses to task in ensuring sustainability. Increasingly, organizations are making strategic decisions around the nature and scope of their business sustainability policies. This comes as people, community institutions and governments have prioritized on sustainability as a fundamental aspect of any corporate or social policy (Teh & Corbitt 2015, p.40). Companies that have been hands-on are already achieving substantial benefits from their forward-oriented practices. However, there are still numerous businesses that have failed to ensure sustainability thus damaging the environment, its people and long-term profitability. The paper examines the importance of business sustainability, stakeholders and partnerships.

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Importance of Business Sustainability

Multinational businesses are expected to undertake their activities in a way that is economical, ecologically and socially sustainable. If they fail to do so, they risk putting their suppliers out of business, losing the support of the society where they operate from or be alienated from their clients. Therefore, business leaders are expected to make business sustainability a viable strategy; this also what entails corporate social responsibility (Nadim & Lussier 2010, p.81). The corporate social responsibility assigns the role of business in enhancing sustainability; it also positions some realistic concepts that permit businesses to continue taking part in things that businesses do like advancing their markets.

In terms of the environment, sustainability may denote ensuring that natural resources are conserved or replaced for the long-term and that ecosystems are not damaged. Integrating ecologically sustainable practices have numerous benefits. Sustainable businesses are usually the most inventive due to their continuous review of processes to discover new solutions. Contrary, enterprises are more likely to uphold their procedures that were viable in the past, without regarding better and greener options. Eco-conscious enterprises usually have workers who are more invested in corporate culture, which offer more fulfilling jobs (Garza 2013, p.23).

Corporate environmental policies occur from critical demand for ecological safety and advancement in social responsibility sense. Nowadays, most companies have realized the significance of ecological and ethical issues in sustainable development. A company like Nestle has for long stated its long-term commitment to ecological issues for sound business practices. In business operations, Nestle adheres to environmental business and regulations, engages in legislative and regulatory debates and strengthens logical environmental business (Bansal & Jardne 2014, p.70).

In regards to employment practices, sustainability may denote making sure that workers are paid enough and given adequate benefits to sustain families and contribute to the development of their society. Social sustainability entails identification and management of business effects. Business sustainability from a social perspective mitigates risk. Ignoring sustainability is a liability in a business' brand and product quality which is detrimental for a company. Companies ignoring the social aspect of sustainability risk making losses both in the short-run and long-run. When an organization provides safer working conditions, job security, and living wages, it creates a more reliable supply chain. Venturing in social sustainability permits firms to flip their liabilities into resources. When a company offers its employees a reason to care about product safety and contamination by granting them specialized training and higher pay, they go a long way in ensuring the integrity of the final product. Consumers prefer socially sustainable products (Dyllick & Muff 2016, p.156). Nowadays, consumers are conscious, more informed and engaged in the products they purchases.

In the setting of business practices, sustainability denotes that the general corporate policies are not self-damaging or detrimental to the organization's long-term wellbeing and status. Sustainability is a crucial issue for firms today because the climate is changing very fast. Therefore, in nearing business sustainability, it is important to put every perspective into consideration. Profit making firms are responsible for making climate issues to intensify. The world is using resources faster than the way they can be sustainably restored (Rhodes et al. 2014, p.92). Therefore, there is a need to act quickly to ensure that climate change does not reach a situation where it is irreversible.

Nowadays, businesses have established ruthlessly productive enterprises that undertake activities that they have been asked to do; they also apply the very old guidelines of economic rationalism to the activity of wealth creation with minimum consideration to the other things. Therefore, there is a need to establish regulatory guidelines to ensure that the business follows the established course of action while making a profit. The companies should understand the principle of complex frameworks known as panarchy principle. The principle advocates more objectives instead of just making a profit. For quite some time, the society has set up commerce and the multi-faceted economic frameworks to optimize the single variable of profit, pretending as though panarchy does not exist. Understanding the major changes is crucial to understanding why the issue of sustainability is important (Bergguist 2017, p.18).

Role of Stakeholders in Business Sustainability

Stakeholders are people and groups with an interest in how a corporation is operated and the outcomes it attains. Shareholders are the most influential group in any organization. Most organizations are convinced that the most appropriate way to establish shareholder value and to add value to being a shareholder is by facilitating stakeholder value, for instance, creating a good environment for their employees. Sustainability has become a pattern, and numerous international companies comprehend that stakeholders are concerned about ecology and wasteful business practices. Since consumers have become more aware of air quality, emissions, carbon footprint, and eco-friendly consumption, numerous companies have adopted marketing campaigns focused on assuring the consumers of the company's dedication to sustainable guidelines (Schaltegger, Horisch & Freeman 2017, p.10).

The modern business leaders are being tasked with developing a sustainability vision and then translate it across levels in an organization. The business leaders are expected to respond to risks and opportunities in international sustainability and re-innovate new ways of conducting business that will facilitate organizational effectiveness and create a more sustainable world. The issue of sustainability should be considered during the establishment of business strategies and manufacturing operations. It is the responsibility of the stakeholders involved to consider the impacts of their projects on the environment. Beyond the legal guidelines, the stakeholders should internalize the ecological costs of operations; like clean up the pollution their operations generate). The Brundtland Commission initiated the concept of sustainability in 1987 as a strategy which fulfills the needs of the existing generation without lessening the capacity of future generation to fulfill their requirements (Steurer et al. 2005, p.263).

Stakeholders have a duty to ensure that the local population lives in a sustainable environment. Climate change is a detrimental challenge for businesses across the world, especially in emerging nations where businesses are growing at a very fast rate. It impends to increase susceptibilities, hinder economic gains and delay social and economic advancement. Mostly, the poor in developing areas will face extreme impacts because they live and work in informal settlements that are more susceptible to risks. Creating resilience and adapting to climate change is progressively a high priority for stakeholders. Apart from mitigation, on which plans have hugely emphasized in the past, stakeholders ought to play a more significant role in adaptation. It is notable that the World Bank and other development agencies are collaborating with business stakeholders to reinforce their capacity to evaluate susceptibility to climate change effects and to recognize conforming plans and ventures to intensify their resilience (Ellis & Sheridan 2014, p.467).

Stakeholders have a role in ensuring a business withstands the current sustainability issues. Resilience is an essential aspect of ensuring that sustainable development is achieved. Currently, the energy demands are high because of increasing population and increasing incomes as well as living standards. The economic growth in developing nations requires improved ways to ensure energy efficiency. Stakeholders understand this and are establishing measures without waiting for guidance from the federal government. They have established plans to instill resilience in every approach to business sustainability. One way to manage climate change from a business viewpoint is managing the risk. There is a need to increase awareness concerning climate change and establish measures to deal with the change. In every business, success will require being accountable for the continuously changing environmental setting and adapting their operations (Schwarzmuller et al. 2017, p.79). Stakeholders have a duty of ensuring that the business is in line with the changing ecological settings.

In any way, to achieve sustainability in businesses, the stakeholders need to implement corporate social responsibility. Therefore, sustainable companies will begin with strategic planning, which is established to sustain a competitive advantage. This process will entail recognizing the businesses' objectives, evaluating their environment, reviewing their capacities and apportioning the resources essential to attain its sustainable goals (Shama & Starik 2004, p.212). Generally, planning for sustainable businesses will encompass both the short and long-term viewpoints that can have different interpretations.

Importance of Stakeholder-Partnerships in Business Sustainability

Taking into consideration the demands of critical stakeholders helps in the development of a sustainability strategy that delivers the maximum business benefits. For instance, individual consumers may resolve to buy 'green' products from 'green suppliers. Business clients may also resolve to source from more sustainable suppliers as a way of showing commitment to sustainability. Other significant stakeholders in business include employees, suppliers, and regulators (Bradford et al. 2016, p.83). A partnership between the stakeholders is crucial in creating a more effective business strategy.

Attaining sustainable business planning and development necessitates the support, dedication, and participation of a variety of public and private stakeholders. Stakeholder involvement provides businesses with many benefits. One benefit is that resolutions taken with stakeholders inputs are grounded in a broader insight base. Another thing is that stakeholder engagement from an initial stage can enhance the quality, approval, and efficiency of projects and proposals. Stakeholder discussions are likely to open up additional prospects for interaction and joint ventures. Additionally, stakeholder buy-i...