Analysing a Sustainable Business

Running Head: ANALYSING A SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS 0
ANALYSING A SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS

ANALYSING A SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS 1
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................1
Summaries of the approaches.....................................................................................................1
The Circular Economy and Balance Scorecard approach to Car and rental business provided
by Hertz......................................................................................................................................3
Circular economy...................................................................................................................3
Balance scorecard...................................................................................................................5
Comparison of both the circular economy and balance scorecard approach.............................7
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
In recent years, most of the organizations have been focusing on the sustainability in align
with the experience of high-profit margin. In this report, the discussion is focused on several
approaches to the sustainable development that helps the managers in analyzing the business
growth and performance in light with clean growth agenda (Carroll, 2015). For gaining
explicit insights, the major six approaches has been discussed below which are – The triple
bottom line, the five capitals, natural capitalism, cradle to cradle, the circular economy and
the balanced scorecard (Young, and Makhija, 2014). These all approaches can help the
manager in assessing the business performance with the objective of achieving clean growth.
Summaries of the approaches
The above approaches are summarised in the context of sustainable development by
reviewing various academic works of literature and journals.
 The Triple Bottom Line – This approach is based on an accounting framework
which includes three dimensions of performance i.e. social, environmental and
financial. These dimensions are also commonly known as three Ps: people, planet,
and profits. This approach can be difficult to measure because while the issue of
profitability is black and white, what constitutes social and environmental
responsibility is somewhat subjective. However, various local and federal
governments adopt this approach as it creates a sustainable local economy in relation
to environmental quality, economic prosperity and social equity (Sarkis, and Dhavale,
2015).
 The five capitals – This approach can be used in an organization with an integrated
management system i.e. mostly in practical ways. It is also a very useful tool in the
evaluation of development projects. The framework of this approach includes –

ANALYSING A SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS 3
Economic capital, Built capital, Human Capital, Social Capital, and Natural capital.
The significance of this model can be defined in its capability as each of these forms
of capital delivers certain benefits or ‘flow’ in economic terms. It also leads to a
hypothetical model of sustainable capitalism (Lobato, et al., 2015).
 Natural Capitalism – Natural capitalism is a much required holistic approach during
the course of framing various policies. Radically increased resource efficiency is the
first principle of Natural Capitalism. This approach not only provides increased in the
profits but also delivers the necessary solutions to most of the environmental
dilemmas in the context of sustainability. According to this approach, the structure of
the economy can be changed if one can eliminate the concept of waste through the
help of redesigning of the economy. This approach also focuses on raising resource
productivity (Bocken, et al., 2014).
 Cradle to Cradle – Many companies are moving to a new agenda of environmental
sustainability so that to behave effectively in the environment of advances in
technology and the rising consumption during the course of resource depletion and
climate change. Cradle to Cradle is a sustainable business strategy that mimics the
regenerative cycle of nature in which waste is reused. The main objective of this
sustainable strategy is to reduce waste and thus increase the performance of the
organization (Tagliaferri, et al., 2016).
 Circular Economy – The main features in the circular economy is proposed with a
focus on industrial economics. This approach is also called as a regenerative system
which is made with a long-lasting design. The paradigm in this approach is based on
reduce, reuse, and recycle. Unlike the other business model, this approach is a
substantial improvement common to both organization and consumer. In addition,
many organizations believe that implementing this system help them in reusing the