Amazon's Sustainable Business Management: Strategies and Challenges

This report provides an overview of Amazon's sustainable business management strategies, focusing on environmental, social, and economic sustainability. It explores the challenges Amazon faces in achieving net-zero carbon emissions, ensuring social well-being, and maintaining profitability. The report discusses the application of theories like the Cradle to Cradle and Circular Economy to mitigate these challenges and identifies potential risks and opportunities for Amazon. It concludes that by implementing these strategies, Amazon can enhance its brand image, improve resource management, and achieve sustainable growth while contributing positively to the global economy.

SUSTAINABILE BUSINESS
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Sustainable strategies developed by Amazon in order to mitigate the sustainable challenges
faced by the company..................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Sustainable business management refers to the process of operating business effectively
in order to examine valuable and limited resources of a company. The resources are managed in
a manner that builds and sustains value for the key stakeholders in an organization. The current
report will be based on Amazon, a multinational technology company which specializes in cloud
computing, artificial intelligence, e-commerce and digital streaming. The report will explain
effective strategies on the basis of identified challenges for the company to develop social,
economical and environmental stability based on the relevant theories, present and potential
future opportunities and risks for the business.
MAIN BODY
Sustainable strategies developed by Amazon in order to mitigate the sustainable challenges faced
by the company
Amazon may face a lot of challenges which may have a negative impact on the
organization and also affect its sustainability. The organization may adopt effective strategies in
order to reduce impact of these challenges and improve sustainable growth of the company.
These strategies may be environmental, social and economical which may have a significant
influence on decision making of the company (Barbieri and Santos, 2020). These strategies are
follows:
Environmental sustainability-
This strategy referred as responsibility of a company that it may fulfil in term of
protecting natural resources and conserve global ecosystems in order to support well-being and
health of everyone in the world. It is an effective way to ensure stability for the future
generations and provide them with availability of the crucial natural resources equally in
comparison to the current generation. The major challenge for Amazon in current scenario may
be achievement of the net-zero carbon emission which may be faced by the organization by
adopting effective framework in order to find stability in the current scenario. It may help the
organization to reduce the ill-effects of the operations of organizations in the environment and
develop a sustainable image of the brand in the market. It may help the management of the
company to take better decisions in forming new policies and procedures for development of the
company.

An increase in the efficiency of the organization means less wastage which leads to less
pollution in the environment which may be beneficial for a sustainable growth for the company.
Amazon may encourage this process in order to increase the awareness among people about the
good practices that the organization may be adopting in its framework in order to reduce the
environmental impact of various bio degradable resources. With help of the Cradle to cradle
theory, which can be effective in preparing a suitable strategy for the company in order to stay
sustainable in the market by the organization. It is a sustainable business theory which is
developed in order to mimic the regeneration cycle of nature where waste materials are reused
and formed into effective goods or products (Buffa, Franch and Rizio, 2018). The main objective
of this approach is to create a cyclical process with an objective to decrease the waste in the
environment. The process may include two cycles which as technological and biological cycle
which are as follows:
Biological cycle:
There are many materials which are naturally biodegradable and can be reused after
transformation. Amazon may look upon preparing a proper plan to manage these resources such
as bio plastics and natural fibres which can be useful for the organization to decrease its wastage.
It may help in sustaining the important resources of the organization and saving the overall
environment from their harmful effects. An effective strategy for environmental sustainability
may be helpful for Amazon to improve its image among the customers as an environmental
friendly organization and also may help is saving valuable capital of the company (Cosenz,
Rodrigues and Rosati, 2020). This can be beneficial for the company to become sustainable by
focussing on the major goods than be converted into usable products by recycling.
Technological cycle:
Materials like metals, chemicals and oil based plastics are some examples in this cycle
which may be recycled or reused by Amazon in order to reduce their wastage in the
environment. It may help the company to increase its profitability and sustainability in order to
stay ahead of its competitors. It may be useful in saving the critical resources of the environment
and develop the organization sustainably. The organization may get benefited by recycling these
resources as they may be useful in developing a positive effect of the company on the people (Di
Vaio and et.al., 2020). It may be successful in reducing the harmful effects of these resources on

the environment as these chemicals might lead to diseases in the living beings which can be
difficult to cure.
Social sustainability-
This term is defined as managing and specifying the negative and positive impacts of
systems, organizations, process on the social lives of people. The effect of these aspects on key
stakeholders of the business, who are an integral part of the organization. It may be a major part
in the success of various organizations as the people who contribute towards business needs of
stakeholders in order to maintain their satisfaction levels. The major issue among the
organization is loss of jobs for many employees due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon may
develop an appropriate strategy in order to ensure social sustainability (Jeswani, Chilvers and
Azapagic, 2020). This may help the company to solve particular issues that may arise in the
organization and have a negative effect on sustainability of the company.
In order to mitigate social challenges, the company may adopt these strategies to get the
best output from its operations. It may help in gaining the trust of employees and other key
stakeholders of the organization to improve the sustainability of the organization in the current
scenario. With the help of the social value theory, which is effective in improving personal
values popularly held in a community. It may help the organization to inculcate better values in
its organization by putting relevant efforts in the development of the employees and
understanding behaviour of customers (Maynard and et.al., 2020). It might help in finding
solution for the problems such as flexible timings, non target work, paid leaves for improving the
mental state of the employees and increasing their interest towards the organizational decision
making. It can help the organization to retain their best personnel and improve the quality of
their work and the organizational decisions. It may also help in improving the risk management
of the employees as it might give them freedom to take initiatives and get responsibility ion the
operations.
By considering major aspects the social behaviour and needs of human beings the
organization might be able to posses better leadership ability to guide people associated with the
company towards social sustainability. It may be suitable for the organization to understand how
to conceptualize social values in order to improve sustainability with help of an effective

framework. The way to integrate the shared social values may be recognized in order to manage
feelings and behaviours of individuals towards the organizational efforts in the environment.
The particular processes for learning about changing of social values may be analysed by
the organization to understand special features related with social change and that might occur
for the organization and the associations between the behaviour and social values which might
affect behaviour of stakeholders towards the organization. Amazon may focus on all these
factors in order to develop an effective strategy to improve the social sustainability of the
company (Nosratabadi and et.al., 2019). It may be beneficial in managing employees and other
individuals who are concerned by the actions of the company. It may lead the organization
towards sustainable growth and gain competitive advantage among major rivals in the industry.
Economic Sustainability-
This term is defined as the practices that may support long term economic growth for the
company without have a negative impact on the other aspects of the business. It is an integral
part of sustainability which an organization may require in order to safeguard and organize the
resources to create long term values by optimal use. Amazon may face challenges in achieving
profitability which has a major impact on its growth and sustainability (van Niekerk, 2020). The
organization may face challenges in managing this issue which may require proper consideration
from the management in order to improve the stability of the organization. The other major issue
may be the contribution of the organization towards the GDP growth of the country. It is an
important factor for the organization to address and improve in order to gain competitive
advantage in the industry.
These issues may be resolved by preparing effective strategy for economic sustainability
by the company which may be beneficial in improving the productivity of the organization. This
may be due the COVID-19 pandemic where the organization took initiatives to help the general
people with their contribution which may have resulted in reduction of its profits. These
strategies may help the organization to get to improve the capital structure of the organization
and manage the resources effectively to give better returns to the organization in difficult times
(Reyes-Menendez and et.al., 2020). It may be possible for the management to develop these
strategies by allocating the crucial information to trained professionals to evaluate the best
possible ways to improve the organizational success.

With the help of circular economy theory the organization may be able to solve this
problem. It is systematic approach to the economic development designed in order to benefit the
business environment. It is regenerative theory which states that it may be beneficial to manage
the resources efficiently in order to increase sustainable economic growth of the organization. It
may be helpful for the organization to improve its profitability in the market as it maybe highly
affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and will require lot of time and consideration to get an
effective output. The organization may be able to contribute towards a sustainable economy of
the country in a better way by adopting effective practices. The organization will be able to
provide jobs to more people in the country and all over the world due to increase in efficiency of
the organization (Schönborn and et.al., 2019). It may help the country to grow and prosper and
experience a positive shift in its GDP which may be able to provide more opportunities for the
business to expand in various other countries as well. A sustainable economy may also have a
positive effect on income of people which may be beneficial for the organization to increase its
sales and get competitive advantage in the industry.
Risk and opportunities
The organization may have a major risk due to the environmental footprint that may
have been left by the organization in the world. Governments in various countries may have
strict laws against these practices which may have a negative impact on the sustainability of the
organization in those areas. The company may find difficulties in expanding to various places
due to this problem and it should be addressed carefully in order to stay sustainable in the
market. Pollutants and harmful gases released by organization in the environment may become
a matter of concern on its sustainability which maybe considered in order to stay successful
(Tost, M. and et.al., 2018). The company may have an opportunity to improve its organizational
structure with help of appropriate strategies in order to gain competitive advantage in the
current scenario. Amazon may also focus upon developing an effective team of individuals to
focus on these impacts and prepare an action plan in order to improve the image of the brand in
the market and enhance its sustainability.

CONCLUSION
On the basis of the above report it has been concluded that the company have been
benefited by using effective strategies in order to increase its sustainability. These strategies in
the environmental, social and economical department may be helpful for the organization in
increasing its productivity and profitability. They have been the major reason for its success and
a better brand image among various competitors in the industry. By getting solutions from
various theories the organization has been able to manage its operations sustainably and resolve
the issues that have been highlighted against the company. This has been the reason for success
of the organization in the world among its top competitors.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
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Exploring a system dynamics perspective to develop sustainable business models.
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sustainable business models in the COVID-19 scenario. Sustainability. 12(12). p.4851.
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Tost, M. and et.al., 2018. The state of environmental sustainability considerations in mining.
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van Niekerk, A.J., 2020. Inclusive economic sustainability: SDGs and global inequality.
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