Sustainable Business Management: Addressing Climate Change Challenges at Cranwell University

In this report we will discuss about sustainable business management and below are the summaries point:- Cranwell University faces challenges due to climate change, including extreme weather conditions and health risks. The university employs strategic approaches to engage leadership and staff in sustainable practices. Strategies are implemented to reduce threats and utilize opportunities arising from climate change, while business managing sustainability.

Running head: SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Sustainable Business Management
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Impact of climate change on Cranwell University and its sustainability...................................3
Ways and approaches followed by The University to engage through its leadership and staff
more strategically.......................................................................................................................4
Emergence of threats and opportunities due to climate change.................................................5
Strategies followed by the University to reduce the threats caused due to climate change.......6
Strategies implemented to utilise the opportunities caused by climate change.........................7
University opportunities related to the management of business sustainability........................8
Challenges faced by the University related to the business sustainability management...........8
Most effective methods for sustainability management.............................................................9
Resource and capabilities constraints that can affect the sustainability management.............10
Recommendations....................................................................................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
The report is prepared to discuss about the management of business in a sustainable
manner considering the business organisation named Cranwell University. Cranwell
University is situated in the eastern part of England and it is one of the major dry regions that
has been subjected to risks associated with the climatic conditions. Due to this, the region has
been prone to extreme climatic conditions and temperature along with emergence of floods
(Young and Dhanda 2013). The topic will demonstrate the leadership impact on the
development of operational and strategic opportunities for managing sustainability.
The University is known for its ability to bring out the best potential of employees
and the organisation itself through providing research, graduate and post graduate educational
courses to ensure personal and professional development at present and in the future as well
(Cranfield.ac.uk 2019).
Impact of climate change on Cranwell University and its sustainability
The climatic change and weather conditions can affect the health and wellbeing of
human beings as well as result in various diseases that can make the students at the
University suffer. The climatic change conditions have been the major causes of deteriorating
the quality of air, nutrition and furthermore led to the production of higher amount of
greenhouse gases that created negative effects on the health of students at the University
along with other people associated with Cranwell University in United Kingdom (Seuring
2013). There has also been increased risks of increased global temperature along with higher
rate of pollution that can further cause respiratory problems and other health diseases. This
could further result in creating an imbalance in nature and harm the ecological balance too. It
has been found that the use of air conditioners by students due to the dry location of the
University has resulted in carbon and greenhouse gases emissions. The students and

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University authorities were found to cut trees for own benefits and to use the area for
entertainment purposes like sports activities held within the premises for which the trees are
cut. The transportation activities managed by the University have also been one of the major
causes of pollution, which has affected the dry region as well as resulted in climatic changes.
Cranwell University is located an extremely dry region, which is prone extremely
high temperature and droughts, where there are problems of water scarcity, both physical and
economic water scarcity. Not only does the climate change conditions affect the sustainability
management for the business, but also enhances the risks of droughts in the area and its
adjoining areas (Jeston 2014). Due to the extremely temperature, both heat and cold, there
has been consumption of beef and dairy products related to the wealth in the developing
areas. The increased rate of population also has resulted in cutting down trees, which can be
considered as a major factor that contributes to the pressure on land. The air conditioners are
kept on for most of the times because of the extreme heat in the day while the scarcity of
water in the region has also polluted the environment by producing more dust and particles
along with metal emissions to air, which can result in acid rain, eutrophication and smog
(Boons and Lüdeke-Freund 2013).
Ways and approaches followed by The University to engage through its leadership and
staff more strategically
The University aims to manage sustainable measures for reducing the harmful effects
on the environment and it will be possible with the engagement of staffs and maintaining a
proper leadership. There is excessive need for involving both the leadership aspects and staffs
to deal with the long term issues and challenges, furthermore allow the environmental
managers to undertake sustainable approaches to mitigate the negative effects on the
environment caused by high temperature and floods (Ahi and Searcy 2013). For the

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environmental managers, there has been a major challenge associated with the engagement of
leaders and staffs during the sustainable business management at Cranwell University. The
environmental managers were found to lead the staffs from the middle, rather leading from
top is required. Proper allocation of budget and strategic support are needed for managing
better communication along with encouragement, motivation and negotiations of employees
to save operational costs along with meeting the requirements of clients to ensure high level
of customer satisfaction (Boons et al. 2013).
The leaders of the University hold the most important roles and responsibilities to
keep the staffs motivated and encouraged by managing the values and beliefs properly,
furthermore ensure that they are informed about the vision and mission statement to deal with
the ethical issues and dilemmas. With the management of values and beliefs regarding the
sustainable measures to be implemented within the University, the other organisational
members will be motivated at work, which should contribute to the efficiency of strategic
alignment (Welford 2016). The setting of ambiguous targets could address the sustainability
issues that have affected the supply chains could facilitate designing sustainability
approaches for achievement of sustainability goals in the future. The vision of becoming a
sustainable University must be informed to the students and organisational members. The
business organisation must also go much beyond the corporate social responsibilities for
managing transformation of change program, furthermore integrate the sustainability plan
into the training sessions, performance management, and accomplish the SMART goals and
objectives related to sustainability. The development of partnership with NGOs, Government
and regulatory bodies could facilitate investments for the management of floods and manage
operations to deal with the extreme weather conditions. This is how the sustainability methods
can be implemented into University business strategy.

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Emergence of threats and opportunities due to climate change
There are major threats caused due to climate changes to Cranwell University, which
has hindered the successful implementation of sustainable approaches. The climatic change
conditions have resulted in airborne and vector borne diseases, which has further increased
the potential impacts on the extreme conditions related to the weather and climate in the area
where the University is located. The floods and droughts are the main effects of climatic
change conditions on water resources and it can also affect the quality of water by creating
major effects of concentration of substances that can be diluted (Pagell and Shevchenko
2014). Due to the extreme heat and drought, the air conditions are kept on at the University,
which produced a good amount of greenhouse gases and even increased the costs of
operations furthermore to a large extent. There could also be risks associated with the damage
to buildings and infrastructures, which could prevent successful business operations and
create difficult to manage production process. The University while sticking with just the
processes considered as environmentally unsafe could prevent opportunities for growth. Due
to environmental crisis situations, the clients or students might not avail the services
anymore. Disruption of food and water supply is another major risk too.
With the higher operational costs and increased emissions of greenhouses gases and
other harmful gases, there has been scopes and opportunities to improve the business
efficiency by embracing environment friendly technologies and approaches to cut down the
costs associated with the expensive fuel oil consumption. The climatic changes have made
Cranwell University feel interested to innovate and at the same time, influence the
shareholders or investors to make higher amounts of investments by the year 2020 (Bulkeley
2013). Another opportunity created is the growth of renewable energy sources, which could
facilitate the University’s approach towards sustainability management by harnessing power

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or energy from solar panels, wind turbines and by using hydro power equipment too. The
University could even develop campaigns to influence the students and other organisational
members to become a part of the team that can mitigate risks associated with the environment
by planting more trees and reduce the emissions of harmful gases furthermore (Williams and
Schaefer 2013). There are greater opportunities in climate smart financial solutions too,
which can allow the Government of United Kingdom to issue bonds and implement
environmental policies to facilitate investments annually. This would further improve the
organisational infrastructure, manage clean energy obtained by harnessing energy from solar
and wind power, furthermore maintain energy efficient procedures along with management of
green construction from present and until the year 2030 (Werners et al. 2013). The University
should involve in clean farming and manage water purification systems to prevent water
scarcity while the investments should be made for the production of goods that could benefit
the environment and even cerate positive brand image.
Strategies followed by the University to reduce the threats caused due to climate change
There are various strategies such as the Government should first implement
environmental policies, laws, rules and regulations for managing investments in renewable
energy, furthermore conduct climate friendly projects to ensure that the prices of fossil fuels
are kept lowered along with use of renewable and clean energy usage to create lesser harmful
impact on the environment, The University must also grab this opportunity by involving the
various stakeholders of the organisation and then make decisions regarding the execution of
strategies that should be fit for the future without harmful carbon emissions at Cranwell
University (Owusu and Asumadu-Sarkodie 2016). The energy strategy could set a proper
strategic vision and mission statement to demonstrate the benefits that could be achieved by
undertaking new approaches to manage supply and use of energy effectively. With the

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implementation of the strategy, it would be beneficial for committing to the national targets
as well as move towards a decarbonised economy with much ease and efficiency.
The University strategies also involve focus on the designing of environment friendly
buildings and minimise the consumption of energy. This would create better scopes and
opportunities for the University to function within the environmental limits, furthermore
protect the natural resources and improve environment health. Proper leadership strategies are
needed to be implemented at Cranwell University with the involvement of an effective leader
who should hold the leadership traits to deal with the sustainability issues with much ease and
efficiency. The leadership strategy must be implement in such a manner that it could enable
the leaders to possess systematic, interdisciplinary skills, emotional intelligence, caring
attitude and behaviour, manage proper values that could shape the corporate culture,
understand the vision and mission statement, manage innovation consistently and focus on
long term growth prospects to reduce the harmful climatic changing effects (Doppelt 2017).
The Energy strategy must be linked with the corporate goals and objectives, furthermore
ensure monitor the progress and value the strategy to gain long term success in the future.
Strategies implemented to utilise the opportunities caused by climate change
The sustainable strategies must be integrated into the corporate strategies to respond
to an external environment and ensure that the needs and preferences are addressed properly,
furthermore determine the social, economic and environmental issues that are needed to be
dealt with such as the climatic change conditions (While and Whitehead 2013).
The revised ISO14001: (2015) and the EMS conceptual framework could further
assist the University to consider the challenges and opportunities properly too. The
Environmental Management System or EMS consists of various processes and practices that
are needed to be managed for reducing the environmental impact and enhance the operational

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effectiveness of Cranwell University to deal with the sustainability issues, The framework
could facilitate providing proper amount of information that is appropriate and at the same
time, manage the resources required to be allocated and utilised properly by the University
for reducing the environmental impact (Jones 2014). The EMS strategy should also assist the
University to review the environmental goals. Analyse the legal requirements, set
environmental goals, develop programs for meeting the objectives, monitor the progress, and
create environmental awareness among the employees and review progress at regular
intervals for making any necessary changes and improvements furthermore. Few if the major
benefits that could be obtained included reduced costs of operations, conservation of
resources, prevention of pollution, improved environmental performance, making employees
and students aware of the environmental issues and how those could be mitigated through
sustainable measures (Resick et al. 2013).
The concrete of buildings should be replaced with solid gravels, water fountains and
blinds to preserve water and ensure tackling the climatic change conditions with ease. The
University could also push for reduced methane and carbon emissions to control climate
changes while using green approaches could reply on renewable energy sources along with
management of transportation of students from the University via public transit and electric
vehicles to prevent harmful gases emissions.
University opportunities related to the management of business sustainability
There are various issues associated with the sustainability and thus the region is prone
to droughts and floods due to the climatic changes. The University could develop a
sustainable urban drainage system for implementing a sustainable approach to manage water
and ensure that the water can move in a natural way. The sustainable drainage systems
include various procedures such as using rainwater harvesting tools, green roofs, permeable

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paving and digging soil to make ponds and wetlands for the conservation of water. It could be
understood that the sustainable issues have created opportunities for the organisation to use
the SuDS for reducing the flood risks and improved the water quality too by managing
permeable paving filter and clean rainwater on site (Winter and Knemeyer 2013). This has
further enhanced the opportunities to recycle the rainwater, furthermore manage water
resources properly to support the betterment of wildlife and save the costs incurred too. To
respond to the action plans, the energy strategy should also be supported with aiming to
continue with the energy efficiency and use the energy performance contracting as a major
investment model too (Schaltegger and Burritt 2014).
Challenges faced by the University related to the business sustainability management
There are many challenges that may be faced by the Cranwell University such as the extreme
weather and climatic conditions, high risks of wind waves caused due to the location of the
University in extremely dry regions. This would result in increased severity of storms and
even floods and droughts. The right amount of resources and supplies might not get
transferred and with the floods, there would be disruption of water supply along with
problems related to climate changes. This could also lead to water scarcity and ineffective
transportation services too (Baumgartner 2014).
Most effective methods for sustainability management
The value system proposed by Schwartz must be used for determining the need for
protection of environment at first, understand the social status and control of leaders over the
employees, make independent decisions though with the consideration of opinions and
responses provided by the organisational members. Based on the value, it could also promote
better security, harmony and at the same time, facilitate the improvement of relationships
between people (Cranfield.ac.uk 2019). Few of the challenges faced by the University and the

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adjoining areas include increased demands for water resources during the summer,
deteriorating the production efficiency and even vulnerabilities related to the delivery
systems for transportation services.
The Findmore Fencing systems or FFS could be beneficial for mitigating the climatic
changes while the use of solar panels could facilitate generation of clean energy and ensure
that the energy is used for electricity purposes. The wind turbines usage could also facilitate
generating wind energy that could be used for generating electricity, furthermore ensure
tackling climatic changes with ease. The use of energy efficient lights and using energy
efficient appliances within the University could also be beneficial for preserving natural
resources, reduce carbon emissions and contribute to a healthy environment.
The maintenance of sustainable water drainage system and transportation of foods and
services through creation of awareness among people and developing strategic planning
could be effective techniques. There must be secured systems to store sufficient amount of
water, furthermore generate more energy and power through solar and wind power, which are
considered as sustainable sources of clean energy (Young and Dhanda 2013). Mapping the
climate change related risks can also be effective for monitoring the occurrence of changes in
climatic condition, which should allow for mitigating the risks of floods and drought
conditions too.
Resource and capabilities constraints that can affect the sustainability management
The resources and capabilities constraints that might affect the sustainability
management for Cranwell University include ability to generate power and energy, which can
also affect the generation of income and deteriorate the financial resources efficiency. Lack
of proper corporate governance could also create negative impacts on the ability to achieve
sustainability in terms of dealing with climatic changes. Often, it has been found that the

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environmental impacts associated with the management of value chains within the University
can be negative. This should result in lacking coherency and ineffectiveness of Government
laws and policies follow the corporate approaches to internalise externalities, furthermore
putting more pressure (Seuring 2013). Poor management and quantifying the emissions and
use of resources along with lack of estimation of changes to the environment could also
deteriorate the value impacts on individuals and affect the management of sustainability
negatively too. In case the ecosystem services are not being integrated into the policies and
principles to value the services supporting ecosystem development, there would be improper
land usage and increased generation of wastes contributing to the negative effects on the
environment too (Jeston 2014).
Recommendations
 It is recommended that the students of the University arrange volunteering campaigns
for spreading environmental awareness and influence people to manage sustainable
practices
 It is recommended to plant more trees and maintain a proper sustainable drainage
system for storing water and ensure that the people within the University as well as in
the adjoining areas do not suffer from scarcity of water
 Dams should be built to prevent the flood and make sure to manage proper security
and improve health and wellbeing of people
 It is also recommended to create environmental awareness among the students and
members of the organization by arranging campaigns and address sustainability issues
that might result from climatic changes

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 The implementation of approach to sustainability strategy within the ISO14001:2015
standard is recommended as well for managing environmental policies and achieve
long term vision in spite of climatic changes in the region
 It is also recommended to use the social cost of carbon in the analysis of policies to
facilitate better decision making about the sustainability management while it is also
necessary for recycling wastes and ensure that the environment is kept clean and safe
for people to live in.
Conclusion
From the report, it could be understood that the sustainability management had been
focused on with the assessment of climatic changes and how the Cranwell University
managed to deal with the issues emerged due to the University’s location in drought and
flood prone area. Proper leadership should be required along with the involvement of
environmental managers to facilitate group thinking and manage investments to reduce the
operational costs furthermore. The energy strategy must be inclined with the corporate goals
while EMS conceptual framework should assist in mitigating the issues resulting from
climatic change conditions. It should also be important to facilitate use of clean energy and
use energy efficient instruments within the University for reducing carbon emissions and
keep the environment healthy and safe too.

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