Reflective Journal on Business, Society, & the Planet (BUGEN 5930)

This assignment is a reflective journal exploring the critical intersection of business, society, and the planet, focusing on sustainable business practices. It delves into the concept of sustainability, emphasizing its relevance beyond urban development and extending to business operations and societal trends. The journal discusses the challenges businesses face due to constant change, the importance of measuring and reporting sustainability through the triple bottom line (social, environmental, and financial), and the six forms of capital (financial, manufactured, natural, human, social and relationship, and intellectual). It also examines the six phases of corporate sustainability. The journal provides examples of companies implementing these concepts and highlights the crucial role organizations play in initiating sustainable growth practices for economic and societal well-being.

Running Head: BUSINESS PLANET AND SOCIETY
BUSINESS PLANET AND SOCIETY
Students ID:
Name of the University
Authors Note

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Introduction
Sustainability is not a new concept to me but it is associated to the urban establishment in
different countries. After studying this course, I realized that my horizon requires to be shifted to
international level. It is evident that sustainability can be associated to several things that are not
only development of urban areas but also the business and the changing life trends. The way we
live in can highly influence he planet as well as it can influence our successors. However, I am
learning from my studies and the existing scenario in the society that present world is highly
complicated in the sense that it is consistently in a position of change. Therefore, not only the
world is changing itself but the communities and the environment is growing and establishing
itself.
Discussion
Consistent fluctuation in between these two kinds is influencing all the types of
organization specifically business. I can say that in this context, that owing to the consistent
change in the existing world, shareholders, stakeholders are expecting information about the
financial, operational and investing activities of the business (Ozanne et al., 2016). In this aspect,
business are either flourishing or failing. Therefore, I can say that establishing sustainability
along with the measurement and reporting can be challenging. This is because, sustainability do
not deal with the past rather it emphasizes on the future. An organization that desires for proper
sustainability needs to take proper action and need to have effective understanding of that is
require (Kucukvar, Egilmez & Tatari, 2014). The major concept of evaluating and reporting the
factors of sustainability is called triple bottom line. In the mid period of 1900, John Ellington
enacted to measure the elements of sustainability with different structure for evaluating the

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performance of business in the United States that was known as Triple bottom line. I have
learned from various sources that I studies during my course that triple bottom line is an
accounting process that integrates three major dimensions of accounting structure, namely social,
environmental and financial (O’Neill, Sohal & Teng, 2016). This is different from the traditional
form of reporting framework as it is inclusive of the ecological and social measures.
Triple bottom over the past 30 years has been evaluated through several steps to
understand the concept and has been used to develop our sustainability in business. This concept
has also been used to understand the influence it has on us, the society we live in, economic and
well as future (Bruton et al., 2015). Therefore, as our understanding and knowledge about the
things consistently grows, we start seeing things in an important way and things in a way that is
closely related to our environment. This method has increasingly helped in accomplishment and
healthy environment of the company through its conventions form of bottom line. For example,
companies such as Better world books. Green energy corp. and Patagonia utilizes the triple
bottom line reporting for measuring sustainability of business performance for their organization.
However, in the recent 3-5 years, I have learnt that a business organization is required to
upgrade and increase its stock capital. Capital signifies machineries, factories, equipments and
factories that are usually utilized to manufacture other goods and facilities. There are various
types of capital that is used to measure the stocks of an economy, in this physical capital is of
two types such as, fixed capital and capital of circulation (Benn, Edwards & Williams, 2014).
There are six various types of capital that I have learned are extensively used in maintaining the
sustainability of business. The types of capitals are internal economic capital, including available
finds, debt and equity finance and the non-economical capital (Touboulic & Walker, 2015).
Second, one is the external financial capital that focuses on the influence of the organization on

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the economic and non-economic capital. For instance, they are new factory that could lower real
estate values. Third types of capital are the natural form of capital, which is inclusive of all the
natural resources we are dependent on like regulation of climate. Fourthly, it is the human capital
consisting of knowledge, expertise, experience, wellbeing, attitude, and motivation of individuals
(Klewitz & Hansen, 2015). Fifth type of capital is the social and relationship capital that is
inclusive of team members, networks, groups and employees working together along with
collective intellectual capital. The last one is the construct form of capital that contains
materialistic things, processes, methods and ecosystem that are cultivated by the humans.
This indicates that the developing field of sustainability that transforms in to the ideals of
sustainability for all the shareholders into various points of action that are searching for a way to
increase the different forms of capital (Higgins & Coffey, 2016). For examples, environmental
consultancy has developed methods for keeping their prices on the natural capital. This is
because, carbon pricing trading schemes have been growing over the time.
On the contrary, it has been found that there are six major phases while developing
towards the sustainability of organization. In this context, Dunphy, Griffiths & Benn (2003)
outlined six phases in the establishment of corporate sustainability such as rejection, non
response, capability, effectiveness, strategic proactively and the sustainable organization.
Conclusion
Therefore, I can say that it is evident for all the organization to play a crucial role in
initializing sustainable growth practices for the wellbeing of the economy and society. In this, I
realized that organization often take part in the dualistic role behaving as both users and in

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certain cases role of producers. The organization industry is a substantial consumer for materials
and user related facilities that move towards sustainability.

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Reference list
Benn, S., Edwards, M., & Williams, T. (2014). Organizational change for corporate
sustainability. Abingdon: Routledge.
Bruton, G., Khavul, S., Siegel, D., & Wright, M. (2015). New financial alternatives in
seeding entrepreneurship: Microfinance, crowdfunding, and peer‐to‐peer
innovations. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 39(1), 9-26.
Higgins, C., & Coffey, B. (2016). Improving how sustainability reports drive change: a
critical discourse analysis. Journal of cleaner production, 136, 18-29.
Klewitz, J., & Hansen, E. G. (2014). Sustainability-oriented innovation of SMEs: a
systematic review. Journal of cleaner production, 65, 57-75.
Kucukvar, M., Egilmez, G., & Tatari, O. (2014). Sustainability assessment of US final
consumption and investments: triple-bottom-line input–output analysis. Journal of cleaner
production, 81, 234-243.
O’Neill, P., Sohal, A., & Teng, C. W. (2016). Quality management approaches and their
impact on firms׳ financial performance–An Australian study. International Journal of
Production Economics, 171, 381-393.
Ozanne, L. K., Phipps, M., Weaver, T., Carrington, M., Luchs, M., Catlin, J., ... &
Williams, J. (2016). Managing the tensions at the intersection of the triple bottom line: a paradox
theory approach to sustainability management. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 35(2),
249-261.

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Touboulic, A., & Walker, H. (2015). Theories in sustainable supply chain management: a
structured literature review. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics
Management, 45(1/2), 16-42.