CSR Analysis: Scotbar Mining's Approach to Sustainable Practices

This case study examines Scotbar Mining's approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) within the mining industry. The analysis delves into Scotbar's sustainable mining practices, highlighting their focus on resource utilization and environmental responsibility, including the decision not to patent their sand production process. The case study explores the application of the Triple Bottom Line (Profit, People, Planet) to evaluate Scotbar's performance and examines the VBA model of CSR, assessing how Scotbar's actions align with creating value for society and stakeholders. Despite challenges related to deforestation and resource utilization, the study emphasizes Scotbar's commitment to sustainable development and its efforts to balance profitability with social and environmental considerations. The conclusion underscores the importance of CSR for long-term industry sustainability and the need for organizations to prioritize the developmental needs of society and environmental protection.

2020
CSR
Case Study of Scotbar Mining
Student details

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Scotbar Sustainable Mining practices........................................................................................2
Triple Bottom Line.....................................................................................................................3
VBA model of Corporate Social Responsibility........................................................................4
Scotbar’s decision not to patent its sand production process.....................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Corporate Social Responsibility is an important aspect which is required to be focused
upon so that the organisation can ensure its long-term growth within the industry. The
organisations undertake various practices through which they can identify the challenges and
issues within the issues and can effectively strategies to eliminate such issues and challenges
so that the strategic goal can be achieved along with ensuring the achievement of the social
goals within the industry. The customers within the industry prefer the organisation that is
focused on the development of the society along with the organisation profitability and
results in the increased market share for the organisation (Wang, Tong, Takeuchi, & George,
2016).
The analysis is focused on analysing the impact of the Scotbar’s practices over the
social responsibility in the mining industry. The organisation was established with a focus of
creating value for the society along with ensuring the growth of the organisation in the long
run. The analysis effectively focuses on the practices and measures adopted by the
organisation to ensure sustainable development and its impact within the industry.
Scotbar Sustainable Mining practices
The mining industry is focused on the profitability and the extraction of resources
without focusing on the future availability or the result of the mining practices conducted by
them. They were focused on utilising only 10-20% of the extracted material and leaving the
rest as a scrap material from the production. The sustainable practices within the organisation
require that the management focus on the efficient utilisation of the resources and achieve
profitability along with focusing on environmental development as the responsibility of the
organisation. As the industry is dependent on the availability of the raw materials from the
environment, therefore it is required that they focus on such practices to protect the
environment (Carvalho, 2017)
Scotbar CEO Allan Payne effective focused on recognising the sustainability issues
within the industry and focused on setting up of sustainable goal for the organisation that was
focused on the 100% utilisation of the resources available. The goal achievement was a time
consuming as well as the costly process but the organisation was more focused on being
environmentally responsible rather than being profitable within the industry. The organisation
focused on producing construction sands from the scar which was traditionally not preferred

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in construction because of the non-availability of the technology to convert the sandstones as
per the requirements that would meet the construction requirements (NU: SOB, 2018).
The practice of the Scotbar was to generate an alternate resource as the existing
source of producing construction sands were limited and finite. Therefore, with the increase
in the price of the existing sand that was produced from the traditional sources i.e. dredging
river beds. Scotbar represented its product as an effective substitute, which not only can be
used as a construction material but also results in decreased maintenance cost due to cracked,
chipped or aged construction. The organisation was focused on the goal of the 100% resource
utilisation so that the traditional limited sources can be replaced as well as the large amount
of scrap that is being generated can be effectively utilised.
The practices of the Scotbar to mitigate the environmental damage was limited, as
being a part of mining industry, it was engaged in deforestation for land acquisition, utilising
the vast amount of water and fuels in the production or mining process. But the practices of
utilising resources were sustainable to some extent. The organisation states that being
effectively sustainable will require time as well as the production of less profitable products,
therefore the organisation is effectively focused on the developing such strategies and ensure
that the development of society is preferred over the profitability (NU: SOB, 2018).
Triple Bottom Line
The organisation operating within the industry is judged based on the profitability of
the firm and accordingly is defined as successful or not. On the other hand, the organisation is
also required to focus on corporate social responsibility and act accordingly. The triple
bottom line concept defines that the organisation success within the industry is required to be
dependent on the three key areas including Profit, People and Planet. Organisation’s focus on
these areas results in effectively deciding upon the organisations focus towards being socially
responsible along with being profitable within the industry (Księżaka & Fischbach, 2017).
The organisation’s profit can be calculated based on the organisation’s financial status
and the books of accounts, however, the organisation’s focus towards the social responsibility
can be identified through the activities conducted by the organisation to ensure the
development of the society and the protection of the environment from the climate change
effects. The effective analysis of the organisation based on the triple bottom line concept
results in identifying the effectiveness of sustainability practices of the organisation (Hussain,

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Rigoni, & Orij , 2016). Scotbar mission is to become a socially responsible organisation
within the industry.
The strategies developed at Scotbar were focused on the profitability but was also
dependent on the fact that being socially responsible the organisation will be required to
focus on less profitable sources. As per the goals the management focused on the effective
resource utilisation which incurred 50% more costly as compared to the traditional practices,
but still, the management focused on the goals and developed technology to achieve
profitability within the industry through the resource utilisation. On the other hand, the
organisation was also focused on providing the people within the society with the quality
products and resources which would lead towards the mitigating the cost incurred in the
maintenance of the projects in long run (NU: SOB, 2018).
The effort of the Scotbar to utilise the resources fulfils its focus on preserving the
limited source of sand generation, and to provide the people with an alternative source,
however, the practice resulted in the protection of certain sources, but being a mining
organisation, it was involved in the deforestation and land utilisation, therefore, the practice
of the organisation towards the environment safety was limited, but the organisation focuses
to achieve its goal to be corporate socially responsible within the industry.
VBA model of Corporate Social Responsibility
The organisation within the industry is required to focus on the certain core principles
so that they can effectively operate within the industry. The organisation is required to create
value for the society which means that the management should be focused on the profitability
along with ensuring the development of the people or focused on the general welfare of the
society (Sexty, 2017). Another component as per the model is that the activities within the
organisation are required to be balanced in terms of the ethical and moral values,
organisation’s interest and the industry standards, and the last element is being accountable
towards the people or the stakeholders in response to the actions conducted by the
organisation (Lyra, De Souza, & Verdinell, 2017).
The organisation is required to focus on all three aspects while operating within the
industry, ignoring or eliminating any single component will impact the organisation’s
performance in the long-run. The VBA model also results in linking the strategic
management with corporate governance and to achieve sustainable goals within the industry.
As per the VBA model Scotbar effectively fits in creating value for the society as the

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organisation is focused on providing the society with an alternative source through which the
limited sources within the environment can be saved (Gallardo-Vázquez & Sánchez-Hernánd,
2014).
On the other hand, the sand produced from the sandstones would also result in the
generating benefits to the people in long-term usage, as it is durable as compared to the
traditional resources used within the process. The organisation is also required to focus on
establishing a balance between the profitability as well as the environmental protection,
which is limited in the current period, also it is required that it accepts its accountability in the
protection of the environment from the changes and the damage which is being caused due to
the utilisation of the natural resources within the industry (NU: SOB, 2018).
As the Scotbar long-term focus is to perform in a manner so that it can effectively
contribute towards the society and the people, without focusing on the profitability as a core
factor. Therefore, it is required that the organisation effectively focuses on the three aspects
of the model so that it can lead to success within the industry.
Scotbar’s decision not to patent its sand production process
Scotbar effectively focused on the need of the patenting the production process, but
the result indicated that it would be able to get major benefit out of the process, and would
not be even able to get the benefit of the cost incurred within the process. The decision of the
Scotbar can be supported as the product within the mining industry does not involve complex
procedures that are required to be kept hidden to achieve competitive factor. The researchers,
as well as engineers, can effectively identify the way the process has been done and will be
able to easily copy or imitate the product by changing any of the minor element, or even
through changing the shape or the size.
Therefore, spending efforts and cost on patenting the process is not of much use
within the industry. The organisation can rather focus on improving the efficiency of the
process or the quality of the product that is being provided to the customers to maintain a
competitive edge. The competitors within the industry will always find a way to develop a
product similar to that of Scotbar even after the patenting of the process. Also, the production
process of the sand from the sandstones was a costly process as compared to that of the
traditional methods, therefore incurring such additional cost would make the process even
costlier.

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Another aspect to support that patenting is not required, that the large mining
companies effectively focus on the research and development activities and spend around 5%
of their revenue to identify new and viable production techniques within the industry;
therefore, there is not much benefit, as the competitor may find an alternative to the
sandstone which may be less expensive and more efficient, and will result in the downsizing
of the market for the sandstone. So, the approach of the Scotbar to avoid the patenting is
effective and can be supported (NU: SOB, 2018).
Conclusion
The organisation’s practice towards social responsibility ensures its long-term
profitability and existence within the industry. Therefore, it is required that the organisations
effectively focus on meeting the developmental needs of the society along with ensuring the
environment protection, so that the non-renewable sources can be preserved. the mining
industry is an industry that involves the degradation of the land and the utilisation of the
natural resources. Scotbar effectively identified that there is a need to focus towards the
sustainable practices, and to develop a production process that effectively utilises the
resources within the industry.
Scotbar practices resulted in providing the industry with an alternative product that
can be used within the construction process and is efficient as compared to the traditionally
used resources. The organisation was established with a vision to act for the development of
the society, and the people, towards mitigating the damage that is being caused to the
environment. But being a part of the mining industry, Scotbar was not able to effectively
contribute towards the established goals. Therefore, it is required that the management
develops policies that ensure the achievement of the organisation's goals along with
promoting the organisation’s profitability within the industry.

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References
Carvalho, F. P. (2017). Mining industry and sustainable development: time for change. Food
and Energy Security, 61-77.
Gallardo-Vázquez, D., & Sánchez-Hernánd, M. (2014). Theoretical and methodological
framework for the qualitative validation of an explanatory model of social
responsibility in cooperatives societies. Management Research: Journal of the
Iberoamerican Academy of Management, 259-287.
Hussain, N., Rigoni, U., & Orij , R. P. (2016). Corporate Governance and Sustainability
Performance: Analysis of Triple Bottom Line Performance. Journal of Business
Ethics , 411-432.
Księżaka, P., & Fischbach, B. (2017). Triple Bottom Line: The Pillars of CSR. Journal of
Corporate Responsibility and Leadership, 95-110.
Lyra, F. R., De Souza, M. J., & Verdinell, M. A. (2017). Corporate social responsibility:
comparing different models. Social Responsibility Journal, 728-742.
NU: SOB. (2018). Mining and Corporate Social Responsibility: Scotbar Proprietary
Limited. Northeastern University, D'Amore-McKim School of Business.
Sexty, R. W. (2017). Canadian Business & Society: Ethics, Responsibilities, and
Sustainability. McGraw-Hill Education.
Wang, H., Tong, L., Takeuchi, R., & George, G. (2016). Corporate Social Responsibility: An
Overview and New Research Directions. Academy of Management Journal, 534-544.