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Governance, Ethics and
Sustainability

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INTRODUCTION
In today’s ever-changing business world, the importance of business
sustainability has grown as the impact the operations of companies on a
diverse range of stakeholders’ increases (Svensson and Wagner, 2015).
Business sustainability assists companies in focusing on three key areas,
which include “social, financial and environmental” to make sure that
they create an overall positive impact on society while also sustaining
their growth (Ooba et al., 2015). However, this goal cannot be achieved
until adequate policies are implemented by organisations for effective
reporting of their actions to their stakeholders which allow them to
maintain transparency in their operations and also increase
accountability of their management (Cho et al., 2015). Organisations can
comply with “GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) Reporting Standards”
which are referred to global principles regarding reporting requirements
which can be followed by companies to make sure that they cover a large
number of factors through their reporting practices (Boiral and Henri,
2017). The “GRI Reporting Standards” will be used in this report to
provide a “sustainability assessment report” of “Timberwell
Constructions”.

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A. ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY
Organisations can implement economic sustainability framework in their
business model which allow them to focus on long term economic growth
by avoiding wastage of resources and ensuring optimum utilise of
resources (Mota et al., 2015). Through this approach, companies can
reduce their negative impact by ensuring that scarce resources are used
accordingly to avoid their exploitation and the use of renewable sources
increases to make sure that they did not go extinct that make it difficult
for future generations to fulfil their needs (Amini et al., 2015). This goal
cannot be achieved unless economic sustainability policies are
implemented by organisations which allow them to make sure that they
focus on bigger issues such as climate change and address them by
investing in renewable energy sources. Moreover, this approach also
allows organisations in avoiding challenges such as bribery and
corruption, which could lead to negatively affecting the interest of the
public (Campisi, Morea and Farinelli, 2015). These practices are also
crucial to avoid the threat of anti-competitive behaviour by organisations
since it allows them to create a monopoly in the market and take unfair
advantage of resources which hinders their ability to achieve sustainable
growth (Ooba et al., 2015).
There are various changes which are implemented by Stanwell Council to
address the threat of climate change. A good example is the introduction
of “LEP or Local Environmental Plan” in which the areas which face the
threat of bushfire are highlighted. As per these principles which will be
implemented in the next six weeks, new standards are introduced for
increasing the use of “fire retardant building materials”, and it is also
important that the distance between building and land boundaries can be
increased for avoiding this threat. One of the development sites of

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Timberwell is situated in this area based on which these policies will
implement on the organisation. It is estimated that it will cost around “$4
million” to the company for meeting these requirements. The
management has also hired an “external town planning firm” for this job
which will help in reducing many expenses, and it will also increase the
efficiency of the process that will also impose extra “$50,000” on the
company.
As per a complaint made against the company, it has found by the “State
Corruption Commission” that “five employees and two business partners”
gave bribery in order to receive approval from council project officers.
Since they are found guilty, they are charged with corruption charges.
The management has also taken actions against this issue by suspending
all the employees that were involved in this process, and they will not be
entitled to any salary during this period as well. The management has
also made a commitment to ensure that it will no longer engage in any
business-related matters with those partners that were charged in this
case.
One of a complaint made against the company in the “Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission or ACCC” alleged that some of
the executives of the company engaged in “anti-competitive behaviour”.
It was alleged that some of the executives of the company found that
some local builders are deciding to start their own business, which will
likely to compete with Timberwell. These executives threatened these
builders by claiming that their business with the company will be
substantially reduced or removed completely if they continue with this
plan. The objective of the executives is to maintain the monopoly of the
company in the industry by removing the threat of competition, which is