Sustainable Enterprise: Westpac Banking Corporation

Sustainable Enterprise

Executive Summary
Sustainable enterprise can be defined as the business which creates minimal negative
impact on the local or global environment, society, community or economy. The focus of
this report is on Westpac Banking Corporation, a bank in Australia, along with the
sustainability dimensions that are applicable to this enterprise. Westpac is the first, oldest
and largest banking company of Australia which provides broad range of business,
consumer and institutional banking and wealth management services with the help of a
portfolio of financial services brands and businesses. The report focuses on the socio-
cultural dimension as the specific sustainability area and provides the list and assessment
of the indicators for this dimension. The indicators for monitoring identified in this report
are health and safety, education, human rights and employment.

Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
The Enterprise- Westpac Banking Corporation...............................................................................2
Dunphy Phase of the Enterprise...................................................................................................3
Sustainability Dimensions...............................................................................................................4
Triple Bottom Line.......................................................................................................................4
Sustainable Development Goals and Global Reporting Initiative...............................................7
Socio- Cultural Dimension as the Specific Sustainability Area......................................................8
List of Assessment of Indicators for Monitoring.............................................................................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13

Introduction
Sustainable enterprise can be defined as the business which creates minimal negative impact
on the local or global environment, society, community or economy. In other words, a
sustainable enterprise strives to meet the triple bottom line along with having progressive
human rights and environmental policies. Furthermore, a sustainable enterprise undertakes
the principles of sustainability while making the important decisions. Moreover, it aims at
enduring commitment to the environmental principles in its business operations (Waddock,
Sandra, & McIntosh, 2017)
The monitoring systems adopted by the enterprise perform the function of monitoring the
sustainability of the business. They are considered to be essential for the purpose of
measuring the sustainability from the perspective of people, planet and profit for ensuring the
effectiveness of the business operations. If appropriate monitoring systems are adopted by
the businesses, then the management is able to make right decisions at the right time and can
significantly avoid the risks associated with the business operations. Monitoring provides
effective guidance to an enterprise for getting towards the right direction in a way such that
its survival for a longer period of time is ensured.
A good monitoring system is necessary for reducing the risks associated with business and
for the purpose of fostering the growth of the business. The proper understanding of the
current path of the business along with the identification of its current position and the
difference between the current and target position is provided by the sustainability indicators.
The various dimensions of the organization which are represented by the monitoring systems
are socio- cultural, economic and environmental dimensions which can be effectively
measured with the help of indicators (Edgeman, Rick, Neely, & Eskildsen, (2016))
According to Pavlovskaia (2014), an indicator can be defined as something which performs
the function of pointing towards a condition or issue. The main purpose of indicators is to
show how well a system is working. In case if any kind of problem occurs, the indicators
assist in the determination of direction which can be utilized in order to address the issue.
Effective indicators are easy to understand and relevant which implies that they can be easily
understood by people who do not possess expertise in the field (Huang, Lu, Jianguo Wu, &

Lijiao Yan, 2015). Also, such indicators are reliable and the information provided by it can be
trusted.
The businesses are provided alerts in advance with the help of these indicators such that
worst circumstances do not occur as a result of any problem. These indicators are also
capable of offering measures which can be used for the purpose of fixing the problems. The
weak points of the society, economy and the environment can also be pointed out with the
help of sustainability indicators.
Modern indicators and traditional indicators are the two types of sustainability indicators.
Traditional indicators are based on the assumption that they are independent of other parts
and are utilized for the purpose of quantifying the variations in the different parts of the
community. On the other hand, modern indicators represent the interconnection between
social, economic and environmental segment. The following figure depicts the relationship
between social, economic and environmental sustainability.
Figure 1 Relationship between Social, Economic, Environmental Sustainability
(Howarth, 2019)
The focus of this report is on Westpac Banking Corporation, a bank in Australia, along with
the sustainability dimensions that are applicable to this enterprise. The report focuses on the
socio- cultural dimension as the specific sustainability area and provides the list and
assessment of the indicators for this dimension.

The Enterprise- Westpac Banking Corporation
Westpac is the first, oldest and largest banking company of Australia which provides broad
range of business, consumer and institutional banking and wealth management services with
the help of a portfolio of financial services brands and businesses. The vision of the enterprise
provides that it aims to be one of the greatest service companies of the world along with
providing the needed help to the people, customers and communities in order to facilitate
their prosperity and growth. The bank now works on the strategy of delivering on the vision
by way of building enduring and deep customer relationships along with being the leader in
the community. The enterprise delivers superior returns to the shareholders by appointing the
best people who have expertise in their fields (Westpac Banking Corporation, 2019).
The bank was established in the year 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales under the charter
of incorporation provided by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. The name of the bank was
changed from the Bank of New South Wales to Westpac Banking Corporation in October
1982 following the acquisition of the Commercial Bank of Australia.
The focus of the bank is on the core markets of New Zealand and Australia where it provides
comprehensive range of financial services and products which, in turn, helps them in meeting
the financial services needs of its customers. The enterprise serves more than 13 million
customers and has attained a strong position in the market by focusing on the organic growth.
Service leadership, digital transformation, performance discipline, growth highways and
workforce revolution are the strategic priorities of Westpac Banking Corporation. The values
of the company supports the customer focused strategy and is well embedded within its
culture.
Dunphy Phase of the Enterprise
Six Developmental phases have been provided by the sustainability phase model developed
by Dunphy. This model can be utilized in the form of a tool for the effective evaluation of the
current commitment of the organization and its conducts associated with human and
ecological sustainability. The phases of the model are rejection, non- responsiveness,
compliance, efficiency, strategic productivity and sustaining corporation (Doug, 2016)
Westpac Banking Corporation has successfully completed 200 years of providing assistance
to the Australians. It is further engaging itself in a number of ways which can be used for