Sustainable Approach to Business Strategy and Management

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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