Sustainability in Business

Sustainability in Business
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Running head: SUSTAINABILITY IN BUSINESS

SUSTAINABILITY IN BUSINESS
Discussion
1. As stated by Agarchand & Laishram (2017) the natural step framework of TNS is based
on scientific principles of sustainability as it is focuses on inception of cause-effect
relationship and also integrates wider environment and socio-economic system in its
thinking. TNS framework is designed accordingly to direct activities and conduct and it
works towards attaining sustainability. TNS framework consists of following elements:
Four System Conditions- four system conditions also termed as principles of sustainability were
proposed by scientists worldwide and specify fundamental conditions which need to be fulfilled
if sustainability is to be attained and maintained. The four conditions are:
“In sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing ...
 ... concentrations of substances extracted from earth crust.
 ... concentrations of substances produced by society.
 ... degradation by physical means.
 ... human needs worldwide.”
The first three conditions link to how human beings correspond with planet and last condition is
about attaining worldwide sustainable community.
Backcasting- The process of backcasting is used for various purposes which include planning,
decision making, scenarios, innovation. The process of backcasting
 Helps in identifying needs of product, service or organization.
 Helps in identifying stakeholders
 Helps in analysing current situations and conditions
 Helps in developing future scenarios
 Helps in identifying and implementing strategies
The ideological TNS funnel- As stated by Fomina & Apenko (2019) TNS funnel is conceptual
illustration of availability and usage of resources. TNS funnel helps to illustrate that as
population and demand of resources rises or population and resource use enhances, resources

SUSTAINABILITY IN BUSINESS
which are available will decrease and freedom will be confined. This is because individuals and
business organizations will have less scope to move, nonetheless there is a point when an extent
of sustainable demand and supply is attained.
The part of TNS which is being chosen in current report is A-B-C-D process. The A-B-C-D
process of TNS which helps in implementing sustainability in an effective manner is as follows:
Awareness building and understanding- The business organizations are aligned with common
understanding regarding sustainability.
Baseline Mapping- Business organizations assess their materials and energy flow and impact
society by using four step condition.
Creating and vision and strategic plan- A long term vision is developed in organization to attain
sustainable society. A strategy is facilitated from perspective to have attained sustainability and
looking backwards. This step of A-B-C-D process utilises backcasting and recognises step by
step solution to bring an organization from existing situation to sustainable situation.
Down to action- In last step of this process, organizations implement actions. The process of
backcasting is utilised to continuously assess decisions to encourage that organizations achieve
vision which was developed by them during first stage of process.
The similarities between natural system and business system are:
 The natural system is composed of various sub-systems such as land, water, living
things and air while business system is composed of various subsystems such as
marketing, production, human-resource sub-system etc.
 The effective functioning of natural system is based on relation and co-ordination of
various sub-systems of natural system. While effective functioning of business
system is dependent on co-ordination and relation between various sub-systems of
business system.
The main point of difference between natural system and business system is that natural system
is not man-made whereas business system is man-made so as to meet objectives of business
organization.