Management Theory and Practice: Sustainability at JB Hi-Fi, Australia

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of management theory and practice within JB Hi-Fi, a major retail organization in Australia. It explores various theoretical concepts of sustainability, including the four-capital model, natural capitalism, and equity theory, and how these concepts influence ...Read More

Running head: MANAGEMENT THEORY AND PRACTICE
Management theory and practice
Name of student
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MANAGEMENT THEORY AND PRACTICE
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Description of the organisation........................................................................................................4
Theoretical concepts of sustainability.............................................................................................5
Theoretical concepts influence managerial practices......................................................................9
Recommendations to enhance Sustainability practice...................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
The management theories and practices are concerned with the collection of various ideas
and opinions to set up rules and regulations for managing the business in an effective manner.
The management theories and practices can also help the managers and supervisors to use their
knowledge to accomplish the goals and objectives as well as implement effective ways or
approaches to achieve the goals and objectives. The theories and practices of management thus
can be beneficial for managing the human resources of the organization JB Hi Fi and keep the
staffs motivated by allowing them to perform to their potential and meet the quality standards of
the products and services delivered by the organization in Australia (Jbhifi.com, 2017). Within a
professional field, it is always essential for the managers and supervisors of an established
business organisation to provide the most effective framework for managing the strategies
properly within JB Hi Fi (Bloom et al., 2012). It will help to guide the workforce in the right
direction for accomplishing the organisational goals and obtain the best production level along
with better company sales and revenue generation too.
The essay will discuss few of the strategic management practices used by the
organisation and various theoretical concepts to sustainability within JB Hi Fi in Australia. The
theoretical concepts and practices that can influence the managerial practices within JB Hi Fi
will also be illustrated along with the ways of achieving a sustainable business within the
competitive business environment. Lastly, few recommendations will be provided too for
ensuring that the sustainability practices within the organisation can bring out positive outcomes
that can both benefit the company and effectively enhance the performances of employees too
(Bratton & Gold, 2012).

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Description of the organisation
JB Hi-Fi is a retail organisation that offers consumer goods and services such as
electronic items and is presently one of the most successful and growing business organisations
in Australia. It is a large company within the retail industry, and it found in nearly 200 locations
all over the world. Few of the major products offered by the company are DVDs, Blu ray discs,
home appliances, hardware items, mobile phones, laptops, computer accessories, electronic
products and video games and consoles too (Brigham & Ehrhardt, 2013). The company has
managed to create a sustainable place in the market, and this has helped the organisation to
generate revenue of A$4 billion and profit of A$152 million. It has an operating income of
A$221 million, which makes it one of most successful retail companies in Australia (Jbhifi.com,
2017). Since its introduction, the company has managed to grow consistently and has even
acquired 70 percent of the chains of Clive Anthony in Queensland. Hills and Stewart chains are
also acquired by the company to enhance its sales by keeping not only limited to Australia, rather
manage its distribution and selling of products and services in New Zealand for a whopping
amount of NZ$17.5 million (Brundiers & Wiek, 2013).
Due to the good amounts of the rate of return on investments made, JB Hi Fi has also
opened a new branch in Sydney in the area of Castle Hill to expand its customer base and
increase the number of customers too. The organisation has not only created a strong market
presence but also has been specialised in delivering electronic consumer goods that have fulfilled
the quality standards as well as fulfilled the demands and preferences of the customers largely
(Carroll & Buchholtz, 2014). In the previous year, i.e., 2016, JB Hi-Fi also created a major deal
by acquiring warehouses of The Good Guys in Australia and became one of the largest and most
popular electronics retailers in Australia (Jbhifi.com, 2017).

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JB Hi-Fi has managed to promote effective environmental sustainability practices and so
presently, the company do not have any obligatory requirements that are needed by the company
to comply with. The company not only developed several voluntary initiatives but also had
strived towards business operations by creating very less impact on the environment (Clegg,
Kornberger & Pitsis, 2015). This organization has been considered as an example of strategic
management practices because of its effective Code of conduct that has been provided to all the
employees regarding their responsibilities. This is important to protect the environment from
harm as well manage disposal of wastes, reduce chemicals and furthermore utilize the resources
in an effective way too by preventing any wastage (Cornelissen et al., 2015).
Theoretical concepts of sustainability
JB Hi-Fi is one of the largest retail chains which has been working in partnership with the
NSW Government for delivering smart choices retail programs and allow the customers make
good choices related to the costs of running and management of electronic goods and services
before purchasing by the customers. This is an easy and convenient way to allow the customers
make choices before purchase as well as make them understand about how the products that they
will buy can fulfill their needs and requirements (Daft, 2012). The retail partners of the company
have helped the families of many customer to make cost effective decisions, which can allow
them to make more savings based on their energy bills and even make the customers know about
the advantages that can be incurred after buying the energy efficient home appliances, electronic
goods and other products delivered by JB Hi-Fi in Australia. JB Hi-Fi has managed to offer good
quality products that have lower running costs and thus have been preferred by many customers
of Australia (Epstein & Buhovac, 2014).

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The management theories and practices of JB Hi-Fi are quite effective for creating a good
workforce consisting of employees who are skilful and knowledgeable enough to handle critical
situations and establish themselves as major organisational assets to achieve the business goals
and objectives with ease and effectiveness (Hayes, 2014). The retail company has set up various
platforms inclined with the sustainability approaches to providing integrated products and
services to the other businesses, education sectors as well as Government with the use of its JB
Hi-Fi solutions arm. With the help of organic growth and acquisitions of effective strategies, the
company has managed to provide $500 million per year in sales, and this has even increased the
profit level largely. The company managed to enter FY16 with an aggressive and effective plan
of recruitment to expand the customer base by making a wide range of products and services
available along with generation of more customers (Hurteau et al., 2014). The trading activities
of JB Hi-Fi are quite a strong and effective because the company has cycled through the soft
trading period to gain benefits like growth in sales along with tax incentives too. In the financial
year, five new stores were opened as well, which further expanded the number of stores of JB
Hi-Fi to nearly 200 all across New Zealand and Australia (Järveläinen, 2013).
The theoretical sustainability concepts consider the corporate social responsibility of the
business organisation, which has allowed to donate to many charity partners by the management
of payroll deductions. JB Hi-Fi has managed its sustainability approaches by understanding its
responsibilities or duties towards the community and how it can be possible with the
development of an enhanced workforce. JB Hi-Fi has matched up the contributions of staffs to
create a positive impact on both the community and charities with ease and effectiveness
(Kianto, Andreeva & Pavlov, 2013). The company has been a proud member of the Australian
Charities Fund to support the goals of Mdonors till the year 2020 and ensure that the charities are

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provided with proper support and help to benefit the community (Jbhifi.com, 2017). Based on
the codes of conduct, the company has managed the business operations without creating any
negative impact on the environment. The business operations create huge amounts of wastes,
chemicals and natural resources are often wasted. Thu, to maintain sustainability properly, JB
Hi-Fi has protected the environment by managing waste disposal properly along with storage and
utilisation of natural resources in an effective manner too (Kianto et al., 2014).
The Four-capital model or theory is one of the major theoretical concepts to sustainability
that not only maintain sustainability within the society but also balances the capital so that it is
not wasted. This theory consists of four capitals, and all of these must be balanced together to
maintain a sustainable society with ease and efficiency. The four capital model includes human
capital, financial capital, natural capital and manufactured capital. By maintaining human capital
such as the labour and skills of workers, their skills, management of social networks, political
systems, influence and power along with trust and reputation, the social responsibility of the
organisation could be met (Lang et al., 2012). The financial capital including the cash, debt,
monetary instruments, investments made can help to maintain the financial sustainability
whereas the natural capital includes the resources, living systems and ecosystem services that are
responsible for maintaining environmental sustainability. The manufactured capital include the
money available for maintaining good infrastructure, implement new machinery and equipment
and make the factories function properly (Lukas, Whitwell & Heide, 2013).
The Natural Capitalism theory also helped in maintaining sustainability with the
inclusion of land, labor and manufactured capital. It ignored the natural capital for a long period
and did not even consider the sustainability within the society, because of which, the utilisation
of resources was done without any appropriate management techniques. The natural capitalism

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theory used various tools including the Radical resource productivity, Biomimicry, Services and
flowed economy and investments in natural capital (Markard, Raven & Truffer, 2012). This
helped in maintaining the environmental sustainability but also helped to shape the future
approaches that could benefit the community and even manage proper sustainable practices by
JB Hi-Fi all throughout in an easy way. The cartridges are also collected which are no longer
used and can be recycled for usage. The managers have supervised the workers properly and
made sure that they follow the laws, rules and regulations properly to maintain peace and
harmony within the organisational premises too (Neubauer & Lank, 2016).
The theoretical concept of equity represents the social aspects of the business
organisation JB Hi-Fi in Australia. The social aspects are important for benefiting the society as
well as create a sustainable environment where the organisation can easily survive in the
competitive business environment with ease and effectiveness. It can not only create
environmental justice but also will address the various aspects of the environment, social and
economic justice along with the social equity, equal rights for development, maintenance of
freedom, democracy, empowerment, the participation of individuals and allowing freedom
(Ramstad, 2014). In case of any deterioration within the business environment, the questions are
linked to the social justice, equity, rights of life for maintained a good quality of life and
furthermore ensure welfare and economic scopes related to the supporting of ecosystems. The
theoretical concepts of sustainability have helped JB Hi-Fi to implement strategies for the
development and improve the quality of lives of human beings, furthermore reducing the
negative impacts largely. The equity theory also helps in creating a goal or objective for
establishing new joint International initiatives to expand business outside Australia and even
develop an equitable global partnership for sustaining in the business environment with ease and

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effectiveness (Waldman & Jensen, 2016). The concept of intergenerational equity enables the
company to allocate the resources in an effective way for the present and future. This is done by
fulfilling the needs and preferences of the present generation without compromising on the
abilities and skills of future generations for meeting their needs. The intergenerational equity
concept focuses less on the sustainable development rather has managed to create an equitable
distribution of power for contributing largely to the improvement of quality of the environment
where the organisation operates. The power function combines the income equality index,
variables of literacy, civil rights, political rights and other geographical factors that can make JB
Hi-Fi sustain within the business environment with convenience and ease (Walker & Jones,
2012). By managing equality of power within the organisation premises, there would be
enhanced performance by the workforce along with the improvement of the environment too,
which could further assist in distributing the net benefits and costs effectively (Jbhifi.com, 2017).
Theoretical concepts influence managerial practices
These theoretical concepts have influenced the decisions made by managers through a
better understanding of the environmentally sustainable practices and ensure that the company
creates very less impact on the environment, though gaining good amounts of profit and
competitive advantage in business. The Code of conduct was issued by the manager to all the
employees which stated that they all are responsible for protecting the environment as well as
manage disposal of wastes, recycle those, store and utilise the natural resources in a proper
manner too (Yen & Yen, 2012). The theoretical concepts of sustainability also helped in making
JB Hi-Fi respond to the Carbon Disclosure Project or CDP to gain relevant information and
report the actions taken by the company to benefit the shareholders and other businesses in
Australia. The manager also decided to reduce the carbon emissions by reporting and keeping the

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emissions of greenhouse gases and consumption of energy monitored for reducing the negative
impact on the environment as well (Bloom et al., 2012).
The National Packaging Covenant is a voluntary program that involves both Government
and retail industry to make sure that the process of packaging cerates lesser environmental
impact and it is measured prior to the effects that it can bring at the initial stages of the
packaging process. JB Hi-Fi has followed the voluntary program principles properly to manage
the human resources properly and ensure that the supply chain conforms to the requirements of
the National Packaging Covenant in an effective manner. With the consultation of the higher
authorities and discussing the Theoretical concepts, the managers have made decisions to create
an environment-friendly office which can not only reduce the cost of business operations but will
also reduce the cost of products largely that can influence the buying behaviours of consumers
(Bratton & Gold, 2012). The strategies implemented by the managers have helped in recycling
the facilities for paper, cans and furthermore create awareness among the workers by ensuring
compliance with the safety and quality standards. The wastes are disposed properly, and
managers have come up with new ways to manage mobile muster by enabling the customers to
return the mobile phones that can be recycled and used afterwards. The theoretical concepts have
also influenced the managerial practices by setting minimum energy performance standards to
ensure that the televisions and other electronic goods are provided with energy efficient labels
(Brigham & Ehrhardt, 2013).
The main concept of sustainability within JB Hi-Fi is to ensure that the present decisions
made do not deteriorate the various aspects of improving the living standards. The economic
system of the organisation must be managed well by the manager and make sure that the workers
are paid with the right amounts of wages so that they can remain motivated and perform to their

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potential with ease and effectiveness (Christen & Schmidt, 2012). The manager needs to
supervise the workforce as well as manage the economic systems by living off the dividend of
the resources, maintain and improve the asset base so that the future generation can lead a
healthy life. Enough employment opportunities are provided to the individuals for getting
employment within the organisation (Brundiers & Wiek, 2013). This is a corporate social
responsibility that can not only maintain a good status of the organisation but also will enable the
organisation to create a sustainable place in the market. From all these important aspects, it could
be understood that the theoretical concepts had created a major impact on the decisions made by
the managers and supervisors that could help in the successful running of the business
(Jbhifi.com, 2017).
Recommendations to enhance Sustainability practice
Few recommendations have been provided based on the context of the essay topic to ensure
the improvement of sustainable practices within JB Hi-Fi in Australia.
 It is necessary to make the employees and staffs of the organisation aware of the
environmental statements for ensuring that less impact is created on the environment and
local community and the wastes are disposed properly along with the use and storage of
harmful chemicals.
 It is recommended for the organisation JB Hi-Fi provide relevant data and information to
the shareholders on a timely basis for satisfying the obligations and rules of the
continuous disclosure.

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MANAGEMENT THEORY AND PRACTICE
 The development of risk management and internal control systems is recommended for
management of the business risks related to the consolidated entity and make sure that the
company functions efficiently.
 Recommendations of providing good amounts of wages are made for setting the
appropriate salary according to the Remuneration report.
 It is the responsibility of the Board to approve the Continuous disclosure policy for
enabling various methods and techniques to represent the price sensitive information
related to the products and services offered and manage proper communication too.
 The Carbon Disclosure project is needed to be responded to at regular intervals for
managing the environmental actions to the external users including investors or
shareholders and other businesses.
 It is also recommended for JB Hi-Fi to adopt the initiative of mobile muster for recycling
the mobile phones and embrace environmentally friendly packaging of products and
services delivered by the company.
 All these recommendations show that the company can achieve sustainability and ensure
proper functioning with the business environment.
Conclusion
The essay discussed the various aspects of management theory and practices considering
the business organisation JB Hi-Fi in Australia. The organisation has been chosen here as an
example of strategic management practices and the various theoretical concepts to sustainability
had also been illustrated in this essay. The impact of these theoretical concepts on the decisions
made by managers had been demonstrated here as well to show the sustainability approaches
undertaken by the organisation's leader. Lastly, few recommendations were provided too for

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managing improvements of the sustainability practices and improve the efficiency of strategic
management within JB Hi-Fi in Australia, thereby derive a good conclusion at the end of the
essay.

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