Sustainable Approach to Business Strategy and Management

This report discusses the sustainable approach to business strategy and management, focusing on the case of Marks and Spencer. It explores the different approaches to corporate social responsibility (CSR) for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and corporate businesses. The report highlights the importance of sustainability in business operations and the impact of CSR on the micro, SME, and corporate sectors.

INDIVIDUAL REPORT
AND REFLECTION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
Sustainable approach to business strategy and management.......................................................3
Different approaches to CSR of Micro, SME and Corporate Business.......................................6
PART 2............................................................................................................................................8
Reflection report..........................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Business communication is an essential measure must be taken into consideration which
is going to make the performance and direction in the organization be higher. Sustainability and
ethical operations in an organization is essential so that there is going to be higher competitive
advantage. M&S belongs to the retailing industry which is operating in the market since 1884
and was founded by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. The company is having its
headquarters in London, United Kingdom and there are more than 1463 stores worldwide. M&S
is having more than 80,000 employees in the organization and that is going to impact the
working of the organization. The report would consist of sustainable working and ethical
considerations which the organization has been following so that there is going to be higher
operations. CSR strategies are many which are present in the market which is going to make the
performance of the organization get impacted and the working of the company is also going to
make the operations be higher. CSR is going to impact the micro, SME and corporate business
which needs to be measured so that there is going to be higher productivity and functioning
which would take place.
PART 1
Sustainable approach to business strategy and management
Sustainability is basically a business approach which creates long-term value along with
analysing the ways in which companies operate in the social, ecological and economic
environment. The main aim of using the sustainability approaches is that the strategies of
sustainability foster the longevity of the company. The companies like Marks and Spencer also
act on sustainability by realizing that professional communications and good intentions only are
not enough for company to become successful.
If a company is considered to be sustainable like Marks and Spencer is, it determines its
behaviour, activities, products and services after understanding the social and environmental
context in which the country operates (Evans and et.al., 2017). M&S also ensures its impact on
the society as well as the society is negative, positive or neutral. The business strategies are
responsible for supporting the transformation which helps in making the company from
unsustainable to sustainable.
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In order to plan and develop the strategies for sustainability, there are many factors which
must be considered such as strategic context must be recognised, clear vision of sustainability,
plans for action, timescales, communication and reporting. When the companies mainly
acknowledge the significance of sustainability, the companies also have to strive hard for
weighing the social and environmental issues against the economic ones. For the companies to
be developed, the things which must run in parallel are environmental management,
sustainability and established programmes of CSR (Sullivan, Thomas and Rosano, 2018). But,
this is not always compulsory that it affects the decision making and direction.
The major prospective for the practitioners of sustainable business must be between the
systems approach and the balanced values approach. The company M&S can also use the system
approach which mainly lays emphasis on the inside system from the perspective of business and
must also focus on the way in which business interact with the external environment. The
companies also follow the approach given by Porter which suggests that first the environmental
impact of the company is analysed for example the contribution of the company to the carbon
emissions. Then, after this the impacts which benefit the most will be impacted (Baumgartner
and Rauter, 2017). And finally the most effective ways to do the thing which have positive
impact will be highlighted and analysed.
The companies can do the social progress by paying attention to the concept of
sustainability. The businesses strive hard by focusing on applying the considerable attention and
the sufficient resources for reducing the environmental footprint. This does not only benefits the
bottom line but also provides benefits to the society and the environment. If a company wishes to
enhance its sustainable business practices, then this must be rooted in the strategies and the
activities of business as well in the interrelations of the organisation and the society.
Marks and Spencer being a very well known company with a great reputation of its brand
also develops many strategies and policies to make it a sustainable one. The company strives
hard to save the forests of the world by finding the alternatives to get the soy, meat, palm oil and
wood instead of getting these products by cutting trees and promoting deforestation (Inigo,
Albareda and Ritala, 2017). The company is finding that the products such as wood pulp, wood
and paper products etc. that were obtained from trees can be found from other sources. If the
company comes together with the government, then this challenge can be taken and achieved.
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Furthermore, the company is also planning to find innovative and new ways for reducing
the use of plastic and also the company is helping the customers for recycling and reusing too. In
the retail industry, most of the companies use the plastic packaging for packing the products
which also helps in keeping the food fresh and also prevents most of the varieties of clothes from
getting damaged. Plastic has some benefits from the perspective of the environment. For
example, the plastic packaging is lighter than the packaging of glass as it helps in reducing the
emissions of CO2 at the time of transportation. But as the company is realizing the challenges
with plastic nowadays and also the environment is getting harmed by the use of plastic, so M&S
strives hard to minimize the use of plastic and whatever they use, can be reused or recycled. The
company also has done partnership with many NGOs, partners of industry and the government
which helps in supporting the improvements to the waste collection of UK. They also encourage
the customers to provide their support for finding new solutions to make the 3 Rs more effective.
The company M&S also set the highest standards for animal welfare (Our approach to
sustainable fashion, 2020). They go and check the farms from where they get the raw materials.
The company also ensure that the proper care is given to the animals and are not harmed in any
way. The standards set and followed by the company were known as M&S select farms and are
improving continuously. This helps in creating trust in the customers as the company does not do
any kind of compromise regarding the quality of the products as well as the welfare of animals
and farmers. This can be evaluated by the achievements of the company such as its 100% free
range eggs, RSPCA assured fresh milk, British beef etc. (Silvius, 2017).
Along with providing the clothes of the best quality, the company also ensures that its
clothes are especially made by keeping in mind the respect for communities, people and planet.
This helps the company in becoming the part of sustainable fashion industry and the largest
clothing retailer of UK. The company also gives opportunities to the customers to recycle their
clothes through shopping. M&S also gives various chances to the customers through which they
can donate the clothes of any brand at the shopping bins in the stores of M&S.
Furthermore, the company also climate as its target as the electricity used by the
company comes from the renewable resources. The emissions from the company have also
reduced by 75% (Sivarajah and et.al., 2020). For this, the company also ensures that food waste
is prevented which helps to reduce the emissions. This is how, the businesses use these type of
approaches towards the strategy and management for operating in an ethical and sustainable way.
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Different approaches to CSR of Micro, SME and Corporate Business
Corporate Social Responsibility is considered as a competitive tool majorly in the
developing economies which sometimes face criticism from the micro, SMEs and the corporate
businesses. The way in which these different types of organisations make use of CSR is
different. All these are considered as enterprises but the number of employees and the investment
differs. The micro enterprise is basically an organisation where overall investments including the
equipment do not exceed Rs 10 lakh. On the other hand, the SME is an enterprise where the
overall expenses is more than 10 lakh but cannot be more than 2 crore. The corporate businesses
are considered as separate legal entity which is generally created by shareholders. A corporation
is more complicated to be created as compared to the three types of businesses. In the
corporations, there are different types such as C, S and Non-Profit corporations. All these
enterprises follow different approaches to CSR.
The micro businesses are mostly managed and supported by individuals or the family members.
These mostly operate in clusters. There are almost 0-9 employees in such enterprises and in UK
there are 5.6 million micro-businesses in UK which constitute almost 96% of all businesses (Best
micro businesses in UK, 2018). Though, these enterprises flourish in unique business
environment but the parameters to adopt the CSR remains similar. This is because the micro
businesses are also required to compete with the small and corporate businesses, there is not
choice that the micro business can or cannot adapt the policies of CSR. They need to do this in
order to remain in the competitive industry and to emerge as a market leader in their respective
industries (Sendlhofer, 2020).
‘Making moves’ is a micro enterprise in UK which strives hard for cultivating an approachable
and friendly start-up atmospheres which also helps in filtering through in the way the company
communicates and interacts with the clients. The services provided by the company are beyond
the expectations and demands of customers. This provides the service known as double dip
which means charging the tenant and the landlord for the same service. This concept is
completely new which says that the company is working on the behalf of their clients in
sourcing, negotiating and managing the move of entire office (Making moves, 2020). The
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businesses in the micro sector like ‘Making moves’ are considered as the dominant form of the
business organisations and plays a major role for maintaining a sustainable and stable global
environment. These businesses owners have formal education regarding their business for
engaging with the external support agencies as they need the support from the society and the
networks based on the community. These networks also help the companies to solve the
encountered problems and also it provides many opportunities for sharing the experiences
(Girschik, Svystunova and Lysova, 2020). These businesses take the sustainability and the social
responsibility as a unit. This also helps in fulfilling the needs of the stakeholders such as the
community, environment, workers and the customers. These companies sometimes use the
Carroll’s 4 stages of the CSR pyramid which considers the CSR to be framed socio-culturally.
Making moves take various initiatives such as using LED lights instead of light bulbs which
facilitates the environment and also are 100% more recyclable as compared to the other bulbs
and also does not much affect the environment negatively (5 Ways you can save energy at work,
2021). The company also uses thermostat to monitor the temperature of the office and thus
prevents the energy to be wasted. The company also follows the cycle to work theme in which all
the employees of the company and all the people of the same need to come to the office by
cycles which is given by the office itself and the employees do not have to pay for it. This helps
in saving energy and also keeps the people active. This is how, the micro businesses can make
their own policies of sustainability but can take the support of others for implementing them.
The Small and medium sized enterprises are considered as non-subsidiary and are the
independent firms employing maximum of 250 employees. The SMEs are also responsible for
adapting policies of Corporate Social Responsibility. There are almost 5.9 million SMEs in UK
which is approx. 99% of all the businesses (Socoliuc and et.al., 2020). Verdant Leisure is
basically a holiday park company in north of England. Verdant leisure is focussed on the
sustainable tourism and also protects and enhances the natural environment. It strives hard for
reducing the affect it has on surroundings. All the parks of the company are the members of the
scheme of Green tourism. The company is also famous for promoting the reuse and reduction of
materials and encouraging the visitors and the owners for recycling (Verdant Leisure, 2020).
They strive hard to make the parks environmentally conscious. This states that the small and
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medium sized enterprises also focus on their policies and strategies for affecting the environment
positively.
The Corporate business also follows the policy of Corporate Social Responsibility by making
their operations and products sustainable. The best example can be of Marks and Spencer which
is the leading retailer in clothing sector of UK. The company implements various strategies as
Corporate Social Responsibility. The company has taken responsibilities regarding the
employees, customers, partners, suppliers and the communities (Forcadell, Úbeda and Aracil,
2021). The company is also involved in doing charity by giving donations to various charitable
organisations. The company also develops a 5 year plan which focuses on improving trade and
improves the lives of thousands of people in the supply chains.
The ways in which the success of CSR can be measured are benchmarking the business against
others. This can be done by monitoring the set targets and performance. The companies can also
seek recognition for the best practice of CSR by taking the parts in the responsible awards of
business. Various different KPIs can be used for measuring the environmental performance
along with following the Community Mark Standard for measuring the community involvement.
This will help in improving the reputation of the companies.
PART 2
Reflection report
VARK is a model which is used to be able to make sure that there is good interaction and
learning which is present in the listener. VARK stands for visual, auditory, reading and
kinesthetic approaches which are going to be used so that there is effective learning which would
be present. All the individuals have their own individual way of learning which is going to make
the performance and knowledge of the individuals be increased and that is going to be a great
factor. Students can learn from visual learning a lot quicker by showing them graph, diagrams,
charts, and other visual pictures of the information which needs to be passed on. Outcomes are
going to be higher from visual learning (Sparr, Knipfer and Willems, 2017). Auditory learners
are going to hear the information and quickly register the information in their minds which is
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going to make the engagement be higher. Distractions are going to be present but taking down
notes is going to make the learning more effective and key points to recall is also going to be
there. Reading is another way of learning which would be present and that is going to make the
educational outcomes be higher. Referring to the information on time is going to make the
presence of the engagement be higher and more information on the topic can be read online as
well which is going to make the basic information be higher (Kraus and et.al., 2018).
Kinaesthetic learning is going to take place when the information is being shared while the
experience of the topic which is present and that is going to help in making the satisfaction level
be higher. Skills and bases of the information is going to be higher and subject is going to be
understood well when the information is going to be shared effectively. I learn more from the
visual method and kinesthetic approach which I learn from. I learn from physical activities and
visual so that I can recall them and be able to gain the knowledge. Lectures and other methods
are not applicable for me because they seem to not get to me and for being able to recall there
has to be good understanding and working which needs to be present (Veine and et.al., 2020).
There are a lot of skills and topics which I have understood and developed over time, and they
are going to be a lot helpful for a long run which would make me grow.
There are a lot of skills which I have developed over time which include communication,
numeracy, ICT, problem solving and team working which are few of the basic knowledge
gaining skills which I must have so that there can be higher performance. From kinesthetic
learning I have been able to develop communication because when the informer was putting out
the details and knowledge out I practically show the importance of this topic which is going to
make the working and understanding higher (Kumar and Swaminathan, 2018). I was able to find
out the oral communication be higher and for written I took help of visual learning which was
provided to me online and assignments by teacher so that the communication factor would
increase. During presentations there have to be high communication skills which has to be there
which would help in performance management. Satisfaction level has to be present in me when I
present my point of view or knowledge with others so that they can learn and have better
understanding. Numeracy is another very important factor which has to be present in me so that I
would be able to make sure that there is effective career goals which I can achieve easily. Right
skills have to be developed in me so that there is going to be higher satisfaction which would be
present. Timeline or any basic numeracy which is present was not done well by me which is why
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improving these skills is also very important (De Villiers and Sharma, 2017). Having the right
visual learning present in classes helped me a lot to be able to develop this skill. Team working
is also going to help in making sure that there are higher achievement of presentation which
would be present. I have the basic knowledge of ICT but knowing more is going to be good for
me itself because that is going to help me for the future development which is coming.
Technology is changing very quickly therefore using the right software and programs is
important so that there is going to be higher satisfaction level which is going to be present (Falter
and Barnes, 2020). I loss interest in numeracy skills and learning which is present and this needs
to be gained so that there is effective understanding but with the use of right skills and learning
methods there can be higher understanding. Knowledge needs to be gained and improved so that
there is going to be better operations for the future as well (Matsuo, 2020).
Problem solving skills are another skill which has to be present in me so that there is
going to be higher outcomes which are going to be present. I have to make sure that there has to
be better collection of working and those issues have to be solved. This skill is not that effective
in me which is going to make the problems be bigger in the future and that is going to make the
performance level of myself be increased (Rosenhan and Galloway, 2019). Good gathering of
problem solving needs to be present which is going to make the operations be even higher.
Submissions have to be done on the deadline which is going to make the functioning and
operations be even higher and that would be good for the overall functioning and development of
myself. Analysing the information is important which would make the outcomes for the working
even higher. Team working needs to be present in me so that there is going to be higher
performance in me which is going to be a great factor for me. I have to make sure that there is
effective team work which is going to be there so that there would be better options and this can
be improved with experience. I have to gain the understanding of others and make sure that there
is good working and team work is going to increase which is going to be there. Challenges are
going to rise when there is going to be team work which has to be there and that is going to make
sure that there is good reflection (Loomis and Felt, 2020). Development has to be there which is
going to make me be able to develop so that there would be higher skills and make sure that
there is effective working in the future. Working with others is going to help me be able to make
sure the assignment in hand is going to make sure that there is effective working and
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performance which would be present and that is going to make the performance and standards
for myself be improved.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above report that there has to be effective working and
performance which must be present. Activities must be participated into so that there can be
higher sustainability which is going to be present. Skills must be present as well to make sure
that there is good working and operations which is going to be there so that there is right working
and efficiency which is going to be there. Ethical working is going to make the working and
standards of the company be higher which would be a great factor for the overall development
which is going to be present. Approaches have to be measured and discussed which is going to
make the success be present of the organization making the reputation and maintenance of the
organization be there which is good for the development. Topics for better strategies have to be
decided so that there would be higher operations and functioning which is going to be present.
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REFERENCES
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