Sustainable Business Strategies

This assignment requires students to critically analyze a sustainable business policy encompassing key areas such as waste, energy, water, and purchase management. The analysis should delve into the policy's objectives, implementation strategies, and potential impact on the firm's operations. Furthermore, students are tasked with proposing recommendations for reviewing and monitoring the policy's effectiveness, ensuring its continuous improvement and alignment with evolving sustainability goals.

Sustainability Policy

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1. Policy scope.................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Key stakeholders..............................................................................................................1
1.2 Important issues and challenges.......................................................................................1
1.3 Responsibility or duty to act.............................................................................................2
1.4 Legislation mandating compliance...................................................................................2
1.5 Vision...............................................................................................................................2
1.6 Values...............................................................................................................................3
2. Overview of current situation......................................................................................................3
3. Goals and target for improvement...............................................................................................4
4. Actions.........................................................................................................................................4
4.1 Waste management...........................................................................................................4
4.2 Energy management.........................................................................................................5
4.3 Water management...........................................................................................................5
4.4 Purchasing........................................................................................................................6
4.5 Action plan.......................................................................................................................6
5. Communication and review.........................................................................................................7
5.1 Roles and responsibilities.................................................................................................7
5.2 Competence training and awareness................................................................................8
5.3 Communication with stakeholders...................................................................................9
6. Monitoring and compliance.........................................................................................................9
6.1 Compliance.......................................................................................................................9
6.2 Monitoring......................................................................................................................10
7. Review and evaluation...............................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Sustainability policy basically outlines the commitments to practice and some standard
designed that helps to promote the environment which is responsible for the operations. The
entire report is based upon the sustainability policy and its main aim is to understand the policy
for business context. The chosen company for this report is Kingfisher garden centre that is one
of the nursery who sells the plants and related products for the domestic garden. The firm has its
brand image in market which provide clothes, grocery and may items both online and offline.
The report describe the policy scope by using their key stakeholder in the quoted firm. Further it
also describes the issues and challenges which are face by the business regarding the
sustainability policy. Beside this, the report also describe the overview of the current situation of
waste management and the goals and target which needs to be improved and then describe the
action which can be take to improve the system. Then report describe how to communicate this
action with the stakeholder and describe the monitoring ways and evaluate the improve results as
well.
1. Policy scope
Sustainable is to reduce the carbon emission, protecting the environment and the way of
keeping the ecosystem of the planet in balance condition. The main purpose of this policy is to
has a minimal negative impact on the global and local environment such that the business that
strives to meet the triple bottom line (Zegras, 2016).
1.1 Key stakeholders
The sustainability policy affect the stakeholder of the company and the importance of the
stakeholder management in the company is quite essential because it reduce and uncover the risk
and also increase the perception of the success. Apart from this, in Kingfisher, the stakeholder
management is quite necessary because they can easily analyses the project benefits.
List of key stakeholder in Kingfisher:
 Director of corporate responsibility
 Customers
 employees
1.2 Important issues and challenges
There are many issues which are faced by the company and some of them are as follows:
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Climate change: Due to high quality of carbon emission and the population of the world
is also increasing, the company also faces some problem regarding the climate change and it
affect the business in negative way as well.
Conservation: the company also faces another issue regarding the conservation and for
this reason, the company has to take action as well (Istudor and PETRESCU, 2016).
Financial condition: Sometime the company also faces some issues regarding the
financial performance such that due to economic fluctuation in the business, the company's sales
also affect and it creates direct negative impact upon the financial performance as well.
1.3 Responsibility or duty to act
The sustainability is quite important for the business because of the following reasons:
 Sustainable business is good for the environment because they are strictly for some
ethical reasons.
 A sustainable business also cut down on energy and waste cost that will turn to creates
the positive impact upon the bottom line.
 If the business follow the sustainability policy then it will good for the reputation and
also for the stakeholder as well.
 The firm also makes better environmental sustainability in order to promote the business
towards protecting the environment as well.
1.4 Legislation mandating compliance
Kingfisher has to comply with the environment protection and Heritage licensing in
which it has to work according to prevent the environment of the country from many harmful
causes. Apart from this, it also has to follow the Plant Patent Act 1930 that grants patents to new
varieties if plants.
The legal requirements should also be taken into account in order to establishing,
implementing and maintaining the environmental management system and for this reason, it also
follow the environmental protection act that states that the business has to work in order to
protect the environment from other harmful cause (Porter, 2019).
1.5 Vision
The company's main vision is to make sure that the long term development of the
business should be sustainable and it directly reflect the values and expectation of the
communities as well.
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Moreover, the business also wants to protect or enhance the reputation with stakeholder
in order to contribute towards a community and on the other side, minimising the environmental
footprints.
1.6 Values
With regard to sustainability, the quoted firm have the value of protect the environment
from many harmful cause and the firm also makes its extra efforts in order to minimise the
environmental footprints by minimising the low carbon emissions.
Kingfisher garden centre wants to make a commitment to protect the environment and
enhance the reputation of the firm, even to contribute positively towards their community as
well.
The firm also wants to convey their values with stakeholder through meeting so that a
clear discussion has been taken place in order to convey the exact messages.
2. Overview of current situation
From the above information, it has been analysed that currently the quoted firm did not
have proper management system but it keeps compliance with all the laws and necessities in
order to provide sustainability. For this reason, Kingfisher has developed an environmental and
social management system as well in order to make sure the implementation of CR policy.
Apart from this, for broader sustainability issues such as financial sustainability, it is
quite necessary for the firm to develop some steps such that it should use LED bulbs in order to
save the energy which further manage the energy (Voß, Tru er and Konrad, 2016ff ).
There are some areas which needs to be improve such as waste management, water
management, energy management so that it helps to improve the business sales and profitability
by balancing the financial performance of the business.
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3. Goals and target for improvement
As per the above current situation, it has been analysed that there is a need to develop a
smart objective which needs to be review and minimise the environmental impact in the areas of
waste, water and energy. These goals are as follows:
 The firm should use kWH energy because it helps to reduce the expenses related to
electricity and for a particular year the target of the firm is to reduce it up to 21000 kWH.
 The firm should also reduce the waste by 10% in each and every store.
 In 2020, the fir should also achieve the neutrality of carbon
 Beside this, in order to improve the local community around each store, the firm should
also work with the local primary school in order to creates a viable food garden in next
two years (Voß, Truffer and Konrad, 2015).
 In order to improve the WHS by the quoted firm, provide training session ot their
employees regarding proper health and safety working condition.
4. Actions
4.1 Waste management
In order to improve the waste management system in the quoted firm, the company has to
develop the strategies because for a healthy environment and future growth, it is quite necessary
to opt better waste management system and it also increases in greener foot print and reduction
in the waste that will normally be filled. Apart from this, the better waste management service
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Illustration 1: Energy efficiency

will also help to provide best eco- friendly methods so that it will not cause harm to workers as
well as environment. For the Kingfisher, the waste management system is as follows and also
attached in Appandix A:
 It should limiting the quantity of waste which being imported into a business in a form of
packaging and unnecessary item.
 Next, the firm should also purchase in bulk and assess the packaging so that it can be
easily reused so that it will help to reduce the purchase cost of the product (Waste
management system, 2018).
 Then the company should separate and divert the material from the general waste to
recycle, in this the products should be bifurcated into two such that which has to be
recycle and disposed.
4.2 Energy management
In order to improve the energy management system in Kingfisher garden center, the
quoted firm should introduce to promote the renewable micro generation because it will helps to
reduce the carbon emission by 44 millions tonnes in next two years. Apart from this the firm
should also start using the solar panels which is a safe technology in which the sun energy can be
converted into generation of the electricity. The policy which needs to be consider is attached in
appendix B. Further, to reduce the cost of the energy, the firm should also replace the old
incandescent light bulbs into saving light bulb or LED bulbs. This is proved that LED bulbs save
the light and electricity up to 20% so that this strategy also helps to save the light and manages
the energy as well (Kar, Pal and Ghosh, 2019). Even, there are many strategies which should be
adopted by the firm and some of them are as follows:
 Install and renew the cavity and roof installation
 take control of the heating
 Can also use wind turbines.
4.3 Water management
Water management is the basic necessity for the Kingfisher and it is also necessary for
the system to keep compliance with the water management system and for this reason, the
nursery should use capillary matting which are the most suited to display stands and indoor
watering. The system also helps to used in combination with an overhead sprinkle system for
vulnerable crops. Apart from this, the system has to use automatic sprinkle system for the
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primary watering system and it is one of the most suitable designed irrigation system which can
provide water to all plants. This method is also helps to save time by maximizing the number of
plants watered. The policy which needs to be consider is attached in appendix C But before
installing the system, it is quite necessary to install the rain sensor and possibly a wind sensor in
order to run it in proper way. Apart from this, the company should also use proper strategies
which are as mentioned below:
 Irrigation management tools should make sure that they are more productive and have
efficient use of water.
 Efficient water use to minimize the demand on water resources.
 To produce the best quality of products, the system should use better crops and irrigation
facilities.
4.4 Purchasing
In order to improve the need of a purchase, the quoted firm should first recognize the
need of purchasing and then search for the better option among many so that it will help to take a
better decisions. Beside this, they should also evaluate the choices which are available then this
will helps to decide whether it should be purchase or not. The policy which needs to be consider
is attached in appendix D. Beside this, the firm should also be make sure that whatever they are
purchase should have proper intellectual property such that trademark and ISO mark so that it
helps to choose best among many (Clarke and Lee, 2018).
In order to calculate the ROI, for purchase, the calculation is as mentioned below:
ROI = Gain from investment – cost of investment / Cost of investment
For example, Kingfisher wants to calculate the ROI for their garden and for this reason, they
purchase $40000 and they invested $50000 into their project and their total profit is $70000 then
ROI is 40%.
4.5 Action plan
Management system Action to be taken
Waste management system The staff of the company should limiting the quantity of
waste which being imported into a business in a form of
packaging and unnecessary item. Further, they should
separate the recycle item and non- recycle items. And for
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recycle item, they should take further actions.
Energy Management system For reduce the cost of the energy, the firm should also
replace the old incandescent light bulbs into saving light
bulb or LED bulbs.
Water Management system Use wind turbine in order to save the water and made proper
water management system in order to controlling in
irrigation facilities (Waste, 2018).
Purchase management system After determining the best product for purchase, the firm
should see the ISO mark in order to confirm that the product
is of good quality.
5. Communication and review
5.1 Roles and responsibilities
There are different roles and responsibilities which is assign to different person and they
have their own roles some of them are as mention below:
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Roles
Tasks
Productio
n planner
Manager Risk manager Field manager Sales manager
Planning/
scheduling
R C A I
Risk
management
A R I C
Quality
management
A R C I
Site
requirement
A C R I
Contract
Negotiation
C A I R
R = Responsible A = Accountable C = Consulted I = Informed
From the above, there are some roles and responsibilities such as:
 Production planner are responsible for making planning and scheduling the overall plan.
 Manager are basically consult from other regarding their activities which have been take
place.
 Risk manager are responsible for any risk which has been face by the company during
implementation of policy.
 Field manager, are responsible for analyzing the needs.
 Sales Manager are responsible for making contract with other for the successful of the
project.
5.2 Competence training and awareness
Roles Training and awareness
Production planner They are responsible for planning and for this, the skills required is
to have effective decision making skills.
Manager They are responsible for overall function and that is why they must
posses IT skills, knowledge related to risk and purchasing etc.
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Risk manager Risk manager should be aware of all kinds of risk and they should
also provide training sessions to their employees as well.
Field manager They are also responsible for analyzing the needs of the customers
and should be concern for all the activities outside the business.
Sales manager They informed the pros and cons of the system to managers.
5.3 Communication with stakeholders
In order to communicate the policy to stakeholder, there should be proper communication
because lack of single message will not able to attain the goals of the project. Therefore, proper
planning should be done and communication with the stakeholder should be as follows:
External stakeholder: To communicate the system or policy with external stakeholder,
the firm should set up sustainability action through employees groups. They can also provide
Annual sustainability report to their external stakeholder so that the report will provide clear cut
information regarding sustainability policy for the listed firm. In this way, the system will easily
communicate with others.
Internally stakeholder:The internal stakeholder are the employees and the quoted firm
will communicate the policy through monthly staff meeting, providing information through
proper noticeboard, company's website. Apart from this, the quoted firm can also provide
training sessions to their employees for improving the skills and can communicate the policy into
the working area as well.
Potential barriers:
 Miscommunication can also lead to create negative impact upon conveying the message.
 Lack of knowledge also creates obstacles and in order to improve this, the firm should
also provide proper training sessions to their employees (Kibler and et.al., 2018). Further
proper workshop and training courses should also run and they should also provide
guidance related to producing on energy and waste management.
6. Monitoring and compliance
6.1 Compliance
In order to monitoring the sustainability progress, the managers of the company have to
be reluctant to use the management system which is rely on the plan do check act methods. Aparr
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from this, it is the duty of the authority to keep work with the internal business unit in order to
make sure that the understanding of objectives of the policy and monitor the progress targets as
well. Apart from this, the manager of the firm will also report the progress through the annual
report, report of Boards and even through monthly business review
Importance of continuous improvement: It is the plan that is used to analyse whether
the quoted firm is compliance with the model and bring the improvement to any process. This is
further included the four basic step such as:
 Plan: In this step, Kingfisher has to first plan for the improvement methods
 Do: This step is used to execute the plan and even they can record the steps in order to
taken onto the progress and can collect feedback also.
 Check: In this stage, the firm also check that the planning is successful.
 Act: If there is no progress, the authority should have to take action against it.
6.2 Monitoring
In order to monitoring the policy, the manager of the company should use screening
evaluation technique that focus on major rules, complex and emerging issues and helps to take
better decision for the sustainability policy (Brunner and Rechberger, 2015). Moreover, the
screening technique also help the manager in order to determine the full sustainability
assessment. Even, this tool also helps to keep monitoring the progress of the system in fair and
unique way.
7. Review and evaluation
Energy usage
1. Did you meet the targets you set?
Yes
2. How have you improved against the baseline data?
Yes
3. Have you met benchmarks? Why/why not?
Yes, benchmarks are met because the baseline are met and it helps to determine the healthy
financial performance of the company.
4. What recommendations would you make to improve results?
To improve it, it is recommended to provide training sessions and develop best waste
management system in order to control the waste.
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Water usage
1. Did you meet the targets you set?
Yes
2.How have you improved against the baseline data?
Yes
3.Have you met benchmarks? Why/why not?
No, benchmark are not met, because there regarding the water usage, the company financial
performance is not improved.
4. What recommendations would you make to improve results?
To improve this, proper water management system should be implemented and it will help to
reduce the water waste.
CONCLUSION
By summing up above report it has been concluded that sustainability policy plays an
effective role in Kingfisher. Through this policy the company will easily helps to prevent the
environment from some harmful cause. The report concluded different methods of waste, water
and energy management system and that is why through this report, the quoted firm will develop
a variety of methods of communication through which the policy can be communicated with
others. Apart from, the report further concluded that reviewing and monitoring progress of the
policy which can be adopted by the firm to make successful strategies for the future.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Brunner, P. H. and Rechberger, H., 2015. Waste to energy–key element for sustainable waste
management. Waste Managemen. 37. pp.3-12.
Clarke, T. and Lee, K., 2018. Introduction: Fast Cycle Innovation in the Asia Pacific.
In Innovation in the Asia Pacific(pp. 1-42). Springer, Singapore.
Istudor, N. and PETRESCU, I. E., 2016. SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES IN
RURAL AREAS. Quality-Access to Success, 17.
Kar, T. K., Pal, D. and Ghosh, B., 2019. Managing yield and resilience in a harvested tritrophic
food chain model. Journal of Theoretical Biology.
Kibler, K.M. and et.al., 2018. Food waste and the food-energy-water nexus: A review of food
waste management alternatives. Waste management. 74. pp.52-62.
Porter, C., 2019. Sustainability and climate change: water sector response [Australian Water
Association survey.]. Water: Journal of the Australian Water Association.36(1). p.52.
Voß, J. P., Truffer, B. and Konrad, K., 2015. Sustainability Foresight as a method to shape
socio-technical transformation in utility systems. Technische Universität Berlin.
Voß, J. P., Tru er, B. and Konrad, K., 2016. 7. Sustainability foresight: reflexive governance inff
the transformation of utility systems. Reflexive governance for sustainable development,
p.162.
Waste, F. H., 2018. Hazardous waste management.
Zegras, C., 2016, July. Sustainable transport indicators and assessment methodologies.
In Biannual Conference and Exhibit of the Clean Air Initiative for Latin American
Cities (pp. 25-27).
Online
Waste management system. 2018. [Online]. Available
through:<http://www.kiatlee2.com.sg/services/green-waste-disposal-and-recycling>.
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APPENDIX
APPENDIX A
For waste management system, the firm should comply with National Waste Policy.
APPENDIX B
For energy management system, the firm should comply with Energy Efficiency Improvement
Scheme.
APPENDIX C
For water management system, the firm should comply with National water Initiatives, water
account, Australia 2004-05
APPENDIX D
For purchase management system, the firm should comply with intellectual properties.
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Illustration 2: Waste management system