Individual Report and Reflection: Sustainable Business Management

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of sustainable business approaches and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) challenges. Part A of the report delves into the significance of sustainable business strategies, including strategic planning and management, and examines the differences in CSR approaches across micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and corporate businesses. It explores how these businesses can maintain a sustainable environment through various strategies and CSR initiatives. Part B offers a reflective report on key skills development, supported by entries from an online journal, demonstrating the student's self-management and learning abilities. The report emphasizes the importance of stakeholder engagement, goal setting, and establishing systems for sustainable business practices, highlighting the impact of these practices on environmental and societal aspects, as well as financial performance. It also addresses the challenges in implementing sustainability and the steps to overcome them, such as recognizing issues, analyzing strategies, and engaging with stakeholders. The report also provides examples of sustainable strategies, including employee empowerment, water conservation, and digital filing systems.

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Individual Report and Reflection

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Contents
Part A...............................................................................................................................................3
Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
A sustainable approach to business strategy and management...................................................4
Analyze different approaches to CSR of Micro, SME and corporate business...........................7
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11
Part B.............................................................................................................................................13
Reflective Report on Key Skills Development..........................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................16

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Part A
Introduction
This report is made in regards to the analysis of the various sustainable approaches used in the
proper management of the business. As it has been analyzed that business management includes
various strategic planning and CSR challenges. The business needs to face several challenges in
the maintenance of sustainable approaches as these approaches are too important and effective in
the overall organization. Sustainable business operations are included in this report. CSR is one
of the important challenges faced by the different types of organizations and this can improve the
overall process of the organization.
Sustainable business strategy includes the combination of economic, environmental and social
aims to achieve the overall goals and objectives of the business. This also includes the
stakeholders and other several activities of the firm. These strategies are used by the business to
maintain a sustainable environment in the business. The different approaches are used by the
business to maintain sustainability in the business. CSR is one of the main approaches that is
used by the company to manage the overall business in the proper environment. The differences
of approaches in micro, SME and corporate business will be discussed in this report. But
sometimes these different types of business adopt the same approaches and these approaches are
used by the business to manage the sustainable environment in the business.

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A sustainable approach to business strategy and management
A sustainable approach is one of the important approaches used to analyse the business strategy
and development. The sustainable approach is used to manage the overall environment by the
different activities of the business. This process is based on the creation of the long-term value
for a particular business or firm. This strategy is the vehicle the supports the sustainable process
implemented in the company. This strategy is used to make a pathway to implement this strategy
in the long-term (Dentchev, et al., 2016).
The business achieves better development in the sustainable process and this also saves the
overall environment with the required strategies. Sustainability and CSR are an effective strategy
that properly maintains the overall business management. The strategy involves several aims to
achieve the objectives and planning that includes economic social and environmental aims. This
process is also related to stakeholders and other business members. The sustainable corporate
strategy includes several steps which have been discussed below.
 Engage with stakeholders
The engagement with the stakeholders is necessary to maintain a sustainable strategy in
the business. This improves the several environmental aspects of the business.
 Set goals and commitments
The goals and commitments are necessary for the overall development of sustainability
and it is one of the main processes that maintain a sustainable strategy in the business.
 Establish a system and process
The establishment of the system and process is essential for the overall development of
the business. The system establishment provides several aspects of business development.
 Understand the sustainability and identify its importance
The understanding of sustainability is necessary to implement sustainable strategies as
these are essential for proper development.
 Track progress and actions
The last aspect of sustainability is to track the progress and actions of the strategies.
The sustainability company helps to identify the activities and behavior of production services.
This gives the proper understanding of the environment and society in which all the operations of
the business take place (Polk, 2015). This process provides better understanding related to the

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environment and society which fulfil all the demands of the business. It ensures that the various
activities highly positively impact the environment and society.
The various organizations use the sustainability strategy to attract investment that supports
private investors and banks. The company maintains its positioning to achieve all the business
objectives that maintain the environment. The investors also involved in the management of the
business which includes proper strategy related to the environment. The company strategy is one
of the important areas that required proper focus in maintaining sustainable corporate behavior.
The several sustainable practices are used by the business to improves its financial performance
and fulfil the needs of the society (Prause, 2015).
Although, the sustainability strategy faces several challenges while implementing in the
companies. The main challenge in sustainability is the proper understanding of environmental
and proper issues. The business needs to analyse sustainability practices. For overall
improvement. the various companies established several programs related to the CSR,
environment management and sustainability which includes as a mainstream of the business
development. These programs affect the company directions and decision-making process. The
challenges largely hamper business development. To overcoming the challenges includes several
steps that are discussed below.
Step 1: Recognize the issues which show the threats and opportunities for the organization.
Step 2: Recognize the corporate ambition that improves the overall plan of the company
Step 3: Analyse the strategy develops in the organization and the issues related to the planning
and development of the business.
Step 4: Analyse the process uses to manage strategic change
Step 5: Ensure that the various opportunities and threats maintain the sustainability issues
Step 6: Make the proper engagement with the external stakeholders to achieve better outcomes.
Step 7: Make the proper solutions to remove strategic issues which relate to the competitive
positioning of the company.
Step8: Make a proper strategic vision that includes social, economic and environmental aspects.

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Step 9: start to invest in the maintenance of leadership which reduces the risk occurs in the
sustainability process.
Sustainability is a strategic business issue that needs to be solved by the business organization to
attain proper management. A sustainable approach is one of the best approaches to manage
business activities and helps to gain a competitive advantage. Sustainability is related to the
corporate social responsibility that creates the long- term value of the company. This strategy
defines the various operations of the company and its markets (Mazur, 2015). The sustainable
business strategy gives a positive impact on the business functions and reduces all the issues
related to the environment. For the business, sustainable development defines the use of a
business strategy that fulfil the needs of enterprise and stakeholders (Ganescu, 2012).
There are several examples of sustainable strategies adopted by the business. Some of the main
practices include
 Empower the employees
The empowerment of employees is must for sustainable strategies as without
empowerment they cannot able to accept these strategies.
 Conserve water
Water conservation is one of the important examples of the sustainable strategies that are
used by the business for achieving better options.
 Recycle paper
The recycling of paper is also important in the business so that environment cannot get
affected.
 Formalize the commitment to sustainability
The companies need to commit to the process of sustainability as it is essential for better
business management.
 Invest in a digital filing system
The organizations need to invest in the digital filing system as this can decrease the use of
resources so sustainability can be managed.

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Analyze different approaches to CSR of Micro, SME and corporate business
CSR is one of the famous approaches that use by the companies to integrate the social and
environmental concerns along with the stakeholders. Corporate social responsibilities is a
business model that supports the organization to become socially accountable with the
stakeholders. Companies manage the several issues of the environment with the help of CSR
strategy (De Langen, 2013). The several companies depend on the concept of CSR to provide an
advantage to the society and to boost their brands. CSR functions support a proper bond among
employees and corporation.
CSR in micro business
CSR plays an important role in micro, small business and corporate business. CSR is used as a
competitive tool in managing the economic conditions of the micro and small enterprises. The
micro-business takes the support of CSR in the overall development of business. The micro-
business is depending on the CSR for improving the overall business management. CSR in small
business focus on the well being of employee and maintains the good reputation of the business
in the local community. Almost 75% of small and medium-size enterprise uses CSR practices.
All the environmental and social problems of small-medium enterprises can manage by adopting
the CSR concept (Becker, et al., 2012).
CSR is an important concept that creates drastic changes in the evolutionary development of the
business. The micro and SME's highly contribute to the management of the economy of the
overall environment so it is important to manage the activities of CSR to manage the different
environmental aspects. The CSR includes several approaches that include the societal approach,
environmental approach, economic approach and stakeholder approach.
The micro-business manages all the environmental problems of the business enterprise and the
whole business process is based on the economic, social, environmental and stakeholder
approaches. Enterprise follows the overall principles to manage the four approaches in which one
principle is important (Eccles, et al., 2012). The prominent principles are the core principles that
improve the overall approach of the business. In the micro business, the societal approach of
CSR is used that manages the different issues occurred in society. The core principle of the

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societal approach is that business enterprise that integrates the various social concerns into the
internal strategies and considers the full extent of the communities.
CSR in small-medium enterprises
CSR is one of the important issues used in the business enterprises and it manages the overall
organizational phenomenon properly. As per the analysis, it has been determined that the CSR is
one of the most common approaches that is used to maintain the social responsibility of the
business (Liu, et al., 2012). This particular approach is useful for overall organizations to
improve their value in the business process. The micro-business is used to follow the several
approaches of the business.
Along with the micro-business, CSR also adopted by the SME's for achieving the better
development of the business. The social responsibility is treated as the key factor of operations
running in small-medium enterprises. The companies can survive in the long-term by using the
different practices of social responsibility (Aslan, et al., 2012). The different practices of CSR
are included in the management of the economic process of the business. The economic of the
business gets increasing continuously by using the practices of social responsibility. All the
relevant issues like employment, innovation and standard of living can be easily managed by the
social responsibility process. The quality approach to social responsibility has been used in
small-medium enterprises.
The SMEs used to maintain the several practices of the CSR to achieve better sustainable
development. The small-medium enterprises need several approaches of CSR mainly the
environmental approach to manage the environmental concerns in the business process (Brien
and Hamburg, 2014). By adopting the environmental approach overall process can be maintained
and it also gives several positive impacts on the business. All the negative environmental impacts
reduced with the small-medium enterprises to improve the overall process of the business. The
environmental approach of the CSR also increases the better economic conditions of the business
and make their different image in the market. CSR approaches play an important role in the
management of the business of small enterprises.

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CSR in corporate business
CSR also plays an important role in corporate business. The corporate business is at large levels
so they need to flow the different approaches of CSR for the proper management. The four types
of CSR approaches include philanthropy, environment conservation, diversity and supporting
volunteer efforts. The company becomes socially responsible for the proper development of the
business. CSR becomes the relevant strategic marketing tool as they improve brand equity in the
corporate business and improves brand loyalty. The positive brand image is too essential for the
overall business and it only depends on the use of CSR (Bocken and Seuring 2014). The four
approaches included in the CSR that used in the corporate business are obstructive, defensive,
accommodating and proactive. CSR is used to manage strategic or ethical purposes. This
improves the long-term profits and it improves the shareholder trust by maintaining positive
public relations. The corporate business needs CSR responsibility for maintaining sustainable
strategies.
The high ethical standards are used to improve the overall process of corporate business. The
largest corporate companies use the approach of philanthropic efforts to manage the overall
process of the business. As this approach implements several technologies in the business. The
innovation process can be implemented in the business by adopting this approach. The other
approach that is used by the corporate business is environment conservation that includes several
environmental problems like climate change and other issues of the environment.
Companies decrease their environmental problems by using this approach of CSR. The other
main approach of CSR used by corporate business is company diversity and labour practices.
Business leaders realize that diversity in the workplace is necessary as it provides several
advantages to the business. This approach improves the corporate business and provides them
with several benefits (Kelley and Nahser, 2014). The other approach relates to the supporting
volunteer efforts which include a better productive way for the company. The company improves
its production by adopting this approach of social responsibility.

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Conclusion
From the above report, the several aspects related to the sustainable approaches and the CSR
approaches have been analyzed. The sustainable strategy is the vehicle the supports the
sustainable process implemented in the company. This strategy is used to make a pathway to
implement this strategy in the long-term. Sustainability and CSR are an effective strategy that
properly maintains the overall business management.
The sustainability company helps to identify the activities and behavior of production services.
This gives the proper understanding of the environment and society in which all the operations of
the business take place. For the business, sustainable development defines the use of a business
strategy that fulfil the needs of enterprise and stakeholders.
CSR plays an important role in micro, small business and corporate business. CSR is used as a
competitive tool in managing the economic conditions of the micro and small enterprises. The
micro-business takes the support of CSR in the overall development of business. The micro-
business manages all the environmental problems of the business enterprise and the whole
business process is based on the economic, social, environmental and stakeholder approaches.

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Becker, A., Mladenow, A., Kryvinska, N. and Strauss, C., 2012. Aggregated survey of
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Bocken, N.M., Short, S.W., Rana, P. and Evans, S., 2014. A literature and practise review to
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Brien, E.O. and Hamburg, I., 2014. Supporting Sustainable Strategies for SMEs through
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pedagogy. Journal of Business Ethics, 123(4), pp.631-644.

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