Analysis of Sustainable Business Practices: Fortis Healthcare Report

This report provides an analysis of the sustainable business practices of Fortis Healthcare. It begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by an introduction highlighting the importance of sustainability in contemporary business, particularly within the healthcare sector. The report identifies Fortis's sustainability focus on external stakeholders and discusses the driving forces behind sustainable management, including legal, social, and economic factors. It then examines the relevance of sustainable development goals (SDGs) for Fortis, specifically focusing on gender equality, women empowerment, and the promotion of well-being. The report concludes with recommendations for Fortis to better align with SDGs and improve its sustainability efforts.

Running head: SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTICES
Sustainable business practices
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTICES
Executive summary
The aim of this report is to discuss about the sustainable business practices and development
process of Fortis healthcare of India. In addition, this report had also discussed about the current
sustainability focus of Fortis along with the approaches they are following. The major drivers for
initiating sustainable development for the business organizations are also being identified. It is
also identified that sustainable business practices of Fortis are not adhered to the sustainable
development goals. A few recommended are being identified that will help Fortis to effectively
adhere to these goals.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Identification of the sustainability focus of Fortis...........................................................................4
Identification of the driving forces in sustainable management......................................................4
Legal factors................................................................................................................................4
Social factors...............................................................................................................................5
Economical factors......................................................................................................................6
Importance of sustainable development goals for Fortis.................................................................6
Relevancy of the sustainable development goals for Fortis............................................................7
Gender equality and women empowerment................................................................................7
Promotion of well being..............................................................................................................8
Combating climate change..........................................................................................................9
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
Reference.......................................................................................................................................13
Appendix........................................................................................................................................15

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Introduction
Contemporary business organizations are having the importance to initiate sustainable
business practices in order to have long term effectiveness. This is due to the reason that the
current business scenario is much competitive than it was a few years ago. Moreover, at one
point of time, business sustainability was being considered as the incursion of added cost (Bansal
and DesJardine 2014). However, in the recent time, majority of the business organizations are
accepting the concept of sustainability in order to gain competitiveness. Thus, a number of
business areas are being included in the sustainability management process by the contemporary
business organizations. In this case, it should be noted that there are number of other external
factors also acting as driving forces for the emergence of sustainable practices. United Nations
has also stated a few sustainability goals for the organizations to be followed in the forms of
sustainable development goals (Griggs et al. 2013). These goals are acting as the guidance for
the business organizations to follow the different sustainable business practices.
Sustainability is having an added importance in the healthcare sector due to the reason
that this sector is directly involved providing health benefits to the patients and larger society.
Fortis is one of the leading healthcare service providers from India and having their branches
across the Indian subcontinent region. They are also being considered as one of the leading
brands in the healthcare sector in the global scenario also (fortishealthcare.com 2019). This is
due to the reason that Fortis is being ranked as second in terms of most technologically advanced
hospitals in the world. This denotes the operational capability of them. Moreover, with the large
scale operations they are maintaining, Fortis is also initiating extensive sustainability in their
business practices.

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This report will discuss about the current sustainability focus of Fortis being followed
along with identifying the major drivers of initiating sustainable development. The sustainable
development goals being followed and relevant in the business operation of Fortis will also be
discussed. In accordance to the gaps in the current sustainability being followed by Fortis, a few
innovative strategies will be discussed.
Identification of the sustainability focus of Fortis
According to the reports being identified, Fortis is focusing mainly on their external
stakeholders in their sustainability approach. This is due to the reason that external stakeholders
including the patients are the major source of revenue for Fortis along with the fact that offering
the healthcare services to the patients is the core objective of them (Nilsson, Griggs and Visbeck
2016). It is identified that some of the social activities of Fortis are SEWA, AANCHAL and
SAVERA, which are all oriented towards providing extensive and quality healthcare services to
the underprivileged population. However, on the other hand, it is also identified that Fortis is also
focused on energy consumption and waste management, which denotes that sustainability
practices of Fortis are holistic in nature and is considering different aspects.
Identification of the driving forces in sustainable management
There are number of drivers relevant in the current business scenario that are contributing
in increasing the popularity of sustainable development. These include legal, social and
economical factors. the following section will discuss about these drivers for sustainable
development.
Legal factors

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One of the major drivers in sustainable development is the legal factors such as rules and
regulations for the disclosure of the business activities along with their impacts. This is due to
the reason that in the current time, number of countries is coming up with stringent regulations
and legislations in terms of disclosure of the business activities. This is mainly being done to cub
the unethical business practices being followed by the business organizations (Le Blanc 2015).
On the other hand, this is also being done to reduce the adverse impact of the business
organizations on the environment by making the liable for their activities. For instance, United
States Securities and Exchange Commission issued guidance for the business organizations
about how to disclose their risks to the stakeholders. Thus, this is forcing the business
organizations in adhering to this guidance and publishes the report. However, it should be noted
that communicating only the risks of the business to the stakeholders will have negative impact
in the market and goodwill will get affected (Hak, Janouskova and Moldan 2016). Thus, in view
to this situation, companies are coming up with different sustainable activities to adjust with their
adverse impacts. Thus, with the risk disclosure report, companies are initiating sustainable
business practices to communicate to the stakeholders.
Social factors
Apart from the legal factors, there are certain social factors also being contributing in the
emergence of sustainable development. This includes the changes in the preferences and
expectation patterns of the customers. This is due to the fact that at one point of time, customers
were not aware about the importance of sustainability and they were only bothered with the
value proposition (Lu et al. 2015). However, in the current time, customers are more aware about
the importance of sustainability and they prefer green products over the conventional products.
In addition, customer’s impression towards a sustainable firm is more positive over others, which

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is being reflected in the sakes figure of that particular firm. Thus, this factor is also acting as the
driving forces for the business organizations in initiating the sustainable business practices and
communicating them to the external stakeholders. In this case, it also should be noted that the
business organizations are gaining competitiveness in initiating the sustainable development
process.
Economical factors
The current marketing state of affairs is much more competitive and thus it is important
for the business organizations to initiate differentiation strategy in staying distinctive compared
to the competitors. In this case, the business organizations are initiating different sustainable
activities to promote their social responsibility and creating positive impression in the market. As
discussed in the previous section about the preferences of the customers towards the sustainable
organizations, initiating sustainable development is helping the business organizations to gain
competitiveness in the market (Schmidt, Gostin and Emanuel 2015). Thus, it can be concluded
that the market forces is also acting as the driving factor for the contemporary business
organizations. The more will be the effectiveness of the sustainable development process of the
business organizations, the more will be their efficiency in attracting new customers and
increasing the business revenue.
Importance of sustainable development goals for Fortis
As discussed in the above sections that sustainable development goals can help the
business organizations in having the guidance and understanding, it is also useful to determine
the communication of these goals by Fortis in their sustainability report. In the first stage, it is
identified that unlike the majority of the leading brands in the world, Fortis is not maintaining the

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separate sustainability report rather they are having dedicated sections for sustainability in their
annual report (Griggs et al. 2014). Furthermore, it is also identified that sustainable development
goals are not having any mentions in their sustainability rather, they have just communicated the
activities they have initiated and how the activities are helping in promoting sustainability in the
organization. Thus, it can be concluded that sustainable development goals of the United Nations
are neither stated explicitly nor implicitly rather there are no mentions of sustainable
development goals in the sustainability report of Fortis (Burford et al. 2013).
Relevancy of the sustainable development goals for Fortis
Even though there are no references of the sustainable development goals in the current
sustainability development practices of Fortis, some of these goals are having relevance and
impact on their business operation. The following section will discuss about the sustainable
development goals, which will be the most relevant for Fortis.
Gender equality and women empowerment
According to the goal 5 of the sustainable development goals of the United Nations, it is
important to ensure the gender equality and employer the women and girls to gain social
sustainability. This goal is relevant in the business operation of Fortis due to the reason that
Fortis is having country wide operations in India and in some other Asian countries. Majority of
these countries are having lower rank in terms of women empowerment and gender equality
(Briskin 2014). Thus, following and promoting this goal will help Fortis to bring change in the
society of their operations. It should also be noted that healthcare sector is having immense
opportunities in terms of women empowerment and thus promoting gender quality in the
operation of Fortis will ensure that their human resource management will be more inclusive and

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this will also cost less for initiation. On the other hand, this goal is relevant for Fortis due to the
reason that it will have alternative advantages such as promoting social responsibilities and
having effective workforce in place. Thus, this goal will also be economically viable along with
initiating the sustainable development process. However, it is identified that some of the
elements of the sustainable development process of Fortis are adhering to this goal. For example,
protection of human rights is being given the maximum focus in managing the human resources
(Annesley and Gains 2013). In addition, it is also being identified that Fortis is maintaining
orientation program for all the newly appointed employees to aware them about the importance
of human rights. Thus, it will be easy for Fortis to implement ensure gender equality and women
empowerment.
Promotion of well being
According to the goal 3 of the sustainable development goals, ensuring healthy lives and
well being across all ages is a major sustainability goal for the business organizations. In the case
of Fortis, it is relevant due to the reason that their basic objective is to provide healthcare service
to the mass population in most cost effective and extensive manner. It is identified that
healthcare facilities being offered by Fortis in India are costly and beyond the reach of major
section of the population (Andrews, Chan and Myers 2014). Thus, following of this goal will
enable them to bring their healthcare services to more mass sections. Healthcare services will be
more sustainable when larger population can be involved and affordability can be maintained.
Following of this goal will ensure that Fortis is working to promote healthcare facilities among
the underprivileged population and communicate them as a socially responsible company.

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On the other hand, it should be noted that ensuring the well being of the stakeholders also
includes the internal stakeholder also such as the employees. Thus, following the goal 3 of the
sustainable development goals will also enable Fortis to ensure the well being of their employee
also, which will further help them in having effective human resource management. Thus, it can
be concluded that promotion of this goal will help Fortis in having effective management of the
external as well as the internal stakeholders. From the annual report of Fortis, it is identified that
number of activities are being followed by them for their internal stakeholders. For instance,
employees are being given safety and skill up gradation training in enhancing their expertise. In
addition, it is also being identified that Fortis is maintaining dedicated data for child labor and
forced labor, which denotes that they are having effective approach of the human resource
management process (Wong and Mellor 2014). However, there is nothing of references being
identified regarding the engagement and well being activities for the larger population in their
sustainability report.
Combating climate change
According to the goal 13 of the sustainable development goals, it is important to ensure
that actions for combating climate change should be initiated and their impacts should be
reduced. In the case of Fortis, it is relevant due to the reason that business activities of the
healthcare sectors can also have adverse impact on the climate such as from the emission of
carbon and greenhouse gas (Vanderheiden 2017). It should be noted that the social responsibility
of Fortis will be given preferences if their activities are having negative climate impacts. It is
important for Fortis to become more carbon neutral towards their environment and initiate their
sustainable development process. From their annual report, it is identified that number of
activities are being initiated by Fortis in regards to the protection of the environment. For

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example, they are using HVAC units, which do not contribute n ozone depletion and uses diesel
generators with having the lowest level of emission. In addition, it is also being reported that
Fortis is being awarded for number of times for initiating different eco-friendly initiatives.
Recommendations
From the above analysis of the sustainable development processes of Fortis, it is
identified that there are number of activities already being promoted by them. However, on the
other hand, a few gap areas are also being identified based on which a few recommended steps
will be discussed. It is recommended that Fortis should bring more affordable healthcare services
to the major population. This strategy will be in the line of market development and with the help
of offering more cost effective services; Fortis will gain more footfalls along with representing as
a socially responsible healthcare service provider. This strategy will also enable them to fulfill
the goal 3 of the sustainable development goals, which states about the well being of all the
stakeholders. On the basis of goal 5 of the sustainable development goals, it is recommended that
they should ensure that gender equality is being maintained across their hierarchy level. This is
due to the reason that if the women are having good representation in the upper level
management also, then gender equality can be maintained effectively across all the levels.
Hence, the goal 5 of gender equality and women empowerment can be maintained in the most
effective manner.
It is also being recommended that Fortis should more focused on promoting the use of
renewable sources of energy. This is in line to the fact that they are still using diesel motors with
less emission. Initiation of the usage of renewable sources of energy will ensure that rate of
emission is getting drastically reduced for them along with becoming the carbon neutral

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organization. Moreover, using of the renewable sources of energy will also ensure that the
sustainability development process of Fortis is holistic and considering all the relevant aspects of
their business operation.
Indicators Measurement
Coverage of more population Measuring the population percentage under the healthcare
schemes
Gender ratio in the management Measuring the ratio of female to male in the organization
Ratio of renewable energy
sources
Measuring the percentage of using renewable sources of
energy
Conclusion
This report concludes that Fortis is having good process and practices in regards to their
sustainability development process. This report discussed about the sustainability focus followed
by Fortis. However, on the other hand, it is identified that Fortis is not explicitly or implicitly
stated any references of the sustainable development goals in their reports. Thus, the three most
relevant sustainable development goals are being identified from the perspective of Fortis and in
this report; these sustainable development goals are being evaluated about how it will enhance
the value for the firm. A few more gap areas also being identified and in accordance to these gap
areas, a few recommended steps are being identified and discussed in this report.
One of the major limitations identified in doing this report is lack of authentic
information regarding the sustainability development process of Fortis. In addition, the
information gathered from their annual report is also not adequate. Lack of coordination between