Impact of External Environment on Plastic Collective Operations

This report analyzes the impact of external environment on the operations of Plastic Collective, an organization that empowers people and communities to transform plastic waste. It discusses the importance of the company in the international business landscape and specific Australian context, sustainability-related strategy, and issues faced by the company. The report also identifies alternative strategies to address the issues and explains the implementation of the strategy.

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Author Note

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1. Background to the case (Plastic Collective)
1.1 Background of Plastic Collective (PC)
Plastic Collective is an organization that mainly operates in order to empower people
and communities for the purpose of transforming plastic waste. The main aim that had been
set by the founder was based on value that can be gained by the reuse of plastic in different
activities (Plasticcollective.co 2019). Hardman had started the remote communities and
islands with machines, like the Shruder machine, which are helpful for remolding plastics
into reusable and practical items, like the molded products, filament or the corded products,
that are able to provide income as well as provide a better introduction to the workshops that
tend to provide for the plastic neutrality. The Plastic Neutral workshops are mainly based on
the ways by which people can be provided with education based on the reduction of single
use plastics (Plasticcollective.co 2019). The report is based on the analysis of the impact that
the changes in external environment have on the operations of Plastic Collective.
1.2 Importance of the company in the broad (international business landscape and
specific (Australian) context
Plastic waste has started becoming an epidemic in the entire world with the support
that is provided by more 350 million people on 4000 different islands in Asia Pacific based
region. The regions that lack the development of safe waste management based program in
order to reduce the levels of pollution that are caused due to the high usage of plastic and
different plastic based materials as well (Cronin et al. 2011).
The solutions that are provided by the organization named
Plastic Collective are mainly based in the three fundamental pillars that include, empowering
people with high levels of knowledge, innovating the new designs and the materials and
creation of reliable and practical tools. The Shruder program is able to play a major role in

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the ways by which different communities are provided with plastic recycling based solutions
in order to produce valuable plastic output that are recyclable in nature. This in turn tends to
provide for the economic viability of the company in the fact that the recycled plastic
products can be resold and thus help in the increase of the income of the company. The major
levels of importance that are held by the organization are mainly based on the ways by which
the organization aims at reducing the levels of impact of the usage of plastic in different
organizational activities (Borrelle et al. 2017). The Plastic Neutral Certification of business
organizations and corporations had been launched by the company based on the offset that
was caused due to the over usage of plastic by the individuals who are a part of the
community (Kassinis & Vafeas 2006). The major goal that has been developed by the
organization is based on the proper delivery of the Shruder program based on 4000 isolated
and remote communities. The implementation of this program might help in the development
of the environmental factors within the given territorial boundaries. The communities in
which waste collection is considered to be non-existent have been taken into consideration
for the development of the program. The proper transformation of plastic waste-based
economy is considered to be an important factor that has an impact on the operations of the
organization in a huge manner (Boucher & Billard 2019).
2. Demonstration of the body of knowledge
2.1 Plastic Collective sustainability-related strategy
(a) Micro environment based factors related to sustainability in Plastic Collective –
The levels of usage of plastic have been able to play a major role in the increase in risks
based on life of sea creatures. This is considered to be a major factor that has an impact on
the ways which Plastic Collective is able to improve its operations. The headquarters for Top
10 producers of global plastic are mainly located in the US and EU (Kucukvar, Egilmez &

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Tatari 2014). The operations of Plastic Collective are mainly based on the levels of success
that are gained by the development of machines that can be used for the proper development
of products that are environment friendly in nature (Lamb et al. 2018).
(b) Macro environment based issues related to sustainability in Plastic Collective -
The sustainability strategy that has been implemented by Plastic Collective is termed as the
Plastic Neutral Programme that is developed for the corporates. The organizations can use
plastic in the different operations and can also fund the efforts of Plastic Collective in order to
operate as well as deliver the Shruder Machines. The companies can use plastic based
materials in order to develop products that are considered to be highly useful in nature
(Mostafa et al. 2018). The companies that are a part of the industry are provided with
different certificates that range between one star and five-star (Mwanza & Mbohwa 2017).
The Plastic Offset Program or POP is implemented by the organization in order to provide
major levels of opportunities to the major corporate so that they are able to maintain the
operations in a sustainable manner (Rigamonti et al. 2014).
(a) Sustainability strategy – The mission that gas been developed by Plastic
Collective is based on the ways by which the organization can provide high levels of
empowerment to people in order to transform the plastic into useful and effective products.
The founder of the organization mainly aimed at developing value from the usage of plastic
for proper development of different products (Sarigiannis et al. 2017). The major strategy that
the company follows refer to the comprehensive waste free strategies that are required for the
development of the organization in the international markets.
2.2 Identification of Sustainability-related issues faced by PC
Plastic Collective has developer its operations in order to address different issues that
are based on the lives of sea creatures due to the dumping of used plastic materials (Vazquez

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& Barbosa 2016). The three major sustainability based issues that have been faced by the
organization are as follows,
Safety issue and community health – The popular practice that has been
developed based on effective burning of plastics has affected health of
communities and people in different parts of the world. The lack of protein
had a major impact on the health of the marine creatures in the Asia Pacific
(Vegter et al. 2014).
Negative impact of the tourism based activities – The aesthetic and visual
effects of the high levels plastic pollution in the waterways and the beaches
has been a negative impact on tourism in the countries. Tourism is considered
to be an important factor that is an important component of the economy of
different countries that are a part of Asia Pacific region.
Habitat and wildlife impact – The destroying of marine life and fish
communities have been able to play a major role in the development of issues
in the organization (Vazquez & Barbosa 2016).
Financial factors – The implementation of the recycling the products would
help in the development of the economic conditions within the company. This
in turn would lead to the better performance of the company in the
international markets.
Management – The company follows the autocratic leadership style. The
company does not follow the cost-effective nature thereby leading to the
issues within the operations of the company as well.
3. Explanation of the case and synthesis with the theory
3.1 Identify and briefly explain three alternative strategies to address the issue
The issues that have been identified by the organization have been able to play a
major part in increasing the levels of impact on the environment due to over usage of plastic.
The solutions that can be provided to the organization based on the three different issues are
as follows,
The health issues that are faced by the communities in Asia Pacific region can
be mitigated with the help of the development of machines that are able to
develop products from the used plastic products. This might be achieved
through the development of the cost-effective strategies within the company.
The tourism related activities that are performed in the Asia Pacific region can
be controlled in order to reduce the levels of plastic dumping that are done in
the sea.

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The control that can be implemented by Plastic Collective will have an impact
on the ways by which plastic waste can be reduced (Mwanza & Mbohwa
2017).
4. Analysis of the situation
4.1. Strategy implementation
4.1.1 Planning
The major objectives that can be set by Plastic Collective in order to maintain its
operations in the industry are as follows,
The development of more number of machines in order to convert the used plastic
into innovative and practical products.
Development of partnerships with modern organizations in order to reduce the
levels of impact that their operations have on the environment.
Increasing the levels of awareness based on the negative impacts of plastic usage by
the corporate organizations (Kucukvar, Egilmez & Tatari 2014).
This would help in the mitigation of the issues that are related to the development of
the company in the international markets. The proper maintenance of the machinery and the
partnerships tend to help the company in the longer run thereby increasing the sustainability
within the company as well as the functional areas.
4.1.2 Organizing
The organization needs to be developing teams that are based on the effective
implementation of developed objectives. The different teams will be provided with tasks that
are based on various parts organizational operations. The first task is related to the
development of teams, second task is based on the development of partnerships with the
major organizations and the third task is based on increasing the number of machines that are
developed (Kassinis & Vafeas 2006).

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4.1.3 Leading
The teams will be developed by the human resource managers of Plastic Collective.
The partnerships will be formed by the marketing managers of the organization. The
machines will be developed under the supervision of the production managers.
4.1.4 Controlling
The control of the entire process will be based on the proper development of feedback
systems. The feedback will be provided by the management and the employees based on the
levels of progress that have been depicted by the provided task (Mwanza & Mbohwa 2017).
The proper control of different processes and activities will be helpful in the development of
the revenues of Plastic Collective in the industry. The organization will be successful in
implementing the plans based on proper improvement of the environment with the help of
support that is offered in different areas (Boucher & Billard 2019).

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