Sustainable Management: Challenges, Goals, and Solutions for Natura

This report analyzes the sustainable management challenges faced by Natura, a leading sustainable cosmetic brand. It identifies key issues such as cost effectiveness and product diversity, and discusses the importance of aligning with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure. The report presents three potential options for Natura: fostering innovation in sourcing, production, and research and development. The recommendation is to focus on fostering innovation and building resilient infrastructure in the research and development process to enhance product variety, reduce costs, and improve overall sustainability. The report emphasizes the need for continuous innovation to adapt to changing market trends and maintain a competitive advantage. The analysis highlights how Natura can leverage innovation to meet both economic and environmental objectives, ultimately contributing to a more sustainable business model.

Running head: SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT
Sustainable management
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Executive summary
The aim of this report is to discuss about the current challenges being faced by Natura in terms of
managing their sustainable business process. It is identified that they are facing lack of product
variability and cost effectiveness. In addition, this report also discussed the importance of
following the sustainable development goals as per the United Nations and 9th goal is set in
relation to the organizational context of Natura. There are three major options discussed in this
report where the 9th goal can be followed. It is recommended that they should foster innovative
and resilient infrastructure in their research and development process, which will reduce their
current identified challenges.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Identification of the challenges........................................................................................................3
Background......................................................................................................................................4
Discussion of the present scenarios.................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Recommendations............................................................................................................................9
Reference.......................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
In the current business scenario, gaining business sustainability is much important in
order to have the long term business viability. Moreover, the current business state of affairs is
also facing the challenges of environment issues, which can also be managed with the help of the
business sustainability. In this case, the contemporary business entities should follow and align
their business activities with that of the sustainable development goals by the United Nations.
There are different sustainable development goals being stated by the United Nations. In the case
of Natura, the most suitable will be the 9th goal that states about building resilient
industrialization and fosters innovation (Ortiz-de-Mandojana & Bansal, 2016). This goal is being
chosen because Natura is a profit making business entity and can initiate sustainability by means
of new innovations and resilient infrastructure. It should also be noted that this goal represents a
major challenge for Natura because development of sustainable technology and innovation in
accordance to the external business needs.
It is identified that as of now, Natura is partnering with different small suppliers in
following the fair trade model and sourcing the ingredients in ethical manner. Thus, there are not
extensive usages of innovation are being identified. This report will discuss about the importance
of following the sustainable development goals particularly the 9th goal of the United Nations
(Bocken et al., 2014). In addition, three major and suitable scenarios will be discussed for the
possible actions to be taken by Natura. Based on these, the most suitable action will be
recommended.
Identification of the challenges

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Natura is already as one of the leading sustainable cosmetic brands in the world and is
majorly known for their environmentally sustainable and ethical products. However, it is
identified that one of the major challenges for them is to gain cost effectiveness. This is due to
the reason that initiation of extensive process of sustainable business activities is incurring added
cost for Natura and is ultimately increasing the average cost of the products. Thus, even though
they are adding competitiveness in the forms of sustainability, they are losing the same due to
premium cost of their products with low sales volume. In addition, it is also identified that lack
of product diversity and variability of Natura is also a major challenge for them. This is due to
the reason that diverse product portfolio is required for catering the diverse trend of the global
markets. However, in the case of Natura, the extensive sustainable process involved in their
business operation is creating barriers in investing in diversifying the products. Thus, the extent
of gaining competitive advantages by Natura in terms of their sustainable activities is limited in
the real world market situation.
Background
In the assignment 1, it is analyzed that contemporary business organizations should be
meet the three dimensions under the triple bottom line model in order to gain the long term
sustainability. Hence, they should maximize their profits even maintaining the sustainability in
their operations. Moreover, it is also identified that long term impacts of environmental
degradation are not being considered because of their variable impacts in different states and in
different time (Dyllick & Muff, 2016). In this case, it can be concluded that fostering the new
innovations and building resilient infrastructure will be beneficial for Natura in meeting both the
economical and environmental dimensions. However, it is also important to determine the

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importance of meeting the 9th goal of the sustainable development goals by Natura and how it
can be beneficial from the perspective of their organizational context.
According to Griggs et al. (2013), sustainable development goals are the key standards
for the business entities in the meeting the sustainable objectives. This is due to the reason that
sustainable development goals are being designed on the basis of contemporary policy of
meeting both the economical and people expectations. Moreover, the sustainable development
goals also act as the guidance or yardsticks for the business entities in determining the areas to be
fulfilled and the desired outcome. However, on the other hand, it is stated by Nilsson, Griggs and
Visbeck (2016) that success in meeting the sustainable development goals will be dependent on
the alignment and relationships between the organizational contexts and organizational context.
This is due to the reason that if the objective of the particular goal cannot get aligned with the
organizational context, then the probability of getting succeeded will be low. In the case of
Natura, they should be foster innovation that will meet their business objectives as well as the
environmental objectives. Natura being private entity will not be able to succeed in mitigating
poverty or hunger of education in the extensive manner. Thus, it can be concluded that on the
basis of the organizational context of Natura, 9th goal of resilient infrastructure and innovation
will be most effective. It should also be noted that external business factors in the current time
are changing rapidly and it is also important for Natura to cope up with these changes. In this
case, the goals can also get changed with time.
According to Hak, Janouskova and Moldan (2016), meeting the 9th goal of the sustainable
development will be effective for Natura because it is only one, which will meet both the
dimensions for Natura. This should be noted that Natura is the business entity and they should
require economical viability to initiate the business sustainability. In this case, fostering

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innovation will get beneficial for them. On the hand, according to the 9th sustainable
development goal, innovation and resilient infrastructure will also help in environmental
sustainability by means of low wastages and requirement of resources. The end products will
also have low implications on the nature as well as on the customers. Thus, the three dimensions
of the triple bottom line model can be met with the help of this 9th goal.
In terms of the organizational context as well, it is important to foster innovation and
resilient infrastructure due to the reason that this will help in gaining competitive advantages.
According to Lu et al. (2015), fostering innovation can help Natura in gaining the competitive
advantages by means of the adding the value proposition for the customers. In addition, it is also
being stated that innovation will reduce the wastages in the production process along with the
reduction in the production and operation cost. Hence, cost leadership can be initiated and
competitive edge for Natura can be enhanced in their business operation. Thus, it can be
concluded that meeting the 9th sustainable development goals will be the maximum benefits for
Natura.
Discussion of the present scenarios
It is important to present the possible options for Natura for achieving the 9th sustainable
development goal. Each of the options should be critically analyzed in order to understand their
merits and demerits and will be beneficial in recommending the most effective one. One of the
major and present options for Natura will be to foster innovation in the sourcing process. This is
due to the reason that number of natural ingredients is being sourced from the natural sources for
the cosmetic products (Wright & Brown, 2013). Thus, fostering innovation will be beneficial for
replacing the need for natural products or sourcing them without affecting the source areas.

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Innovation in this sector will reduce the dependability of Natura over their competitors and
sourcing cost can be reduced as well. In addition, the depletion of the natural sources and
negative implications associated with that can also be managed. Goal 9 of the sustainable
development also states about the development of resilient infrastructure. In the case of this
option for Natura, resilient infrastructure in the sourcing process will be beneficial in reducing
the cost and barriers in the process (Akhavan & Beckmann, 2017). Thus, Natura will be able to
initiate the seamless and more accurate supply chain process with the help of having resilient
infrastructure and fostering innovation.
The second option available for Natura is to initiate the innovation in the production
process to change the existing practices. This is due to the reason that the more intensity of
innovation can be implemented on the production or manufacturing process, the more cost
effective it will become for Natura. With the implementation of the latest and upgraded
technologies in place, low cost will be involved in the process. In addition, innovation in the
production process will reduce the wastages and requirement of resources, which will also be
cost effective for Natura. On one hand, cost effectiveness in the production process will create
financial advantages for Natura and on the other hand, will reduce the impacts on the
environment (Hatami-Marbini et al., 2017). In this case also, both the economical and
environmental objectives can be met. However, in the case of fostering innovation in the
production process, the process should be continuous to cope up with the change in the
requirements of the market. With time, the trends and preferences of the market will get changed
and it is important for Natura to foster the innovation accordingly. In the case of building
resilient infrastructure, Natura will get benefited having proper internal factors to deal with the
change in the business and environmental requirements. The more will be the development in the

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infrastructure; the lower will be the negative implications on the environment. For example, if
the infrastructure of Natura of managing waste materials is developed and improved enough,
then the negative implications of the wastages will get reduced in the long term (Leppelt et al.,
2013). In the previous assignment, it is stated that short term implications are only be considered
by the business entities. However, fostering innovation will have long term implications on the
business of Natura.
The last option available for Natura is to foster innovation in terms of research and
development. This refers to the fact that research and development process will help Natura in
gaining competiveness by increasing the product variety. Fostering innovation in the research
and development process will help Natura to come up with more sustainable and new products
that will add value to their business. Innovation will be beneficial in reducing the cost in the
research and development process as well as introducing more sustainable products in the
market. On the other hand, developing the resilient infrastructure will also help Natura in gaining
agility and flexibility in the research and development process and can change the product
development strategy according to the change in the market situation and trends (Boons &
Lüdeke-Freund, 2013). Thus, it can be concluded that fostering innovation and building resilient
infrastructure in the research and development process can also help Natura in gaining
competitive advantages both in terms of sustainability and product diversity.
Conclusion
This report concludes that among the three major options discussed, the third option will
be the most suitable and ideal for Natura in terms of their organizational context. This is due to
the reason that the current gaps in the business operation of Natura can be properly mitigated

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with the help of the development in the research and development activities. Fostering
innovation and building resilient infrastructure in the search and development activities will be
beneficial for Natura in increasing their product variety and cost effective sustainable practices.
This can also be concluded that 9th sustainable development goal will be the most ideal for
Natura in terms of their current organizational situation. However, this should also be noted that
there are different factors also be considered in the effective implementation of the actions. The
major factors will be discussed in the following section.
Recommendations
Based on the analysis of the three possible options, it is recommended that Natura should
initiate the innovation and resilience infrastructure in their research and development process.
This is due to the reason that in terms of the current business process of Natura, they are already
sustainable enough and areas of improvement are low. However, they are lacking in increasing
the product variety in the market and offering cost effective products. In this case, focusing on
the research and development process will help Natura to continue with their existing sustainable
practices along with catering to the wide and broader target customer segments. It is also
recommended that dedicated department should be initiated for the research and development
activities with having the market oriented approach. This is due to the reason that the research
and development process should meet the current market criterion. There are few steps or factors
should be considered by the research and development department such as sustainability and cost
effectiveness. Thus, the new products to be introduced will be sustainable as well as cost
effective and the current challenge of Natura of not having cost effective products can be
mitigated.

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The implementation of this action should be made in phased manner due to the reason
that it will reduce the risks for them. Each of the products to be developed should be introduced
in phased manner. The feedback and opinion of the end customers towards the newly introduced
product should be leveraged on the further development. This will ensure the higher intensity of
market centricity and lower rate of risks in the research and development process. One of the
major limitations evident in this report is the differences in the applicability in the sustainable
development goals in the real world situation. Thus, it is also recommended that the
implementation process should be flexible enough to cope up with the change in the real world
situations. This will help in having the maximum return from the side of the implementation of
the sustainable development goals.

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