Project Report: Sustainability Evaluation in Business - QUT

This report provides an evaluation of sustainability in business, emphasizing the importance of innovation for the future. It assesses current sustainability initiatives and proposes suitable sustainable strategies. The report highlights the necessity of a unique leadership approach that goes beyond financial performance, focusing on people and the environment. Findings indicate that while many large businesses have implemented sustainability programs, commitment from top leadership remains limited. The research also suggests a growing demand for sustainability leadership skills as the economy shifts and consumers prioritize sustainability. The report underscores the importance of social responsibility in organizational sustainability, enhancing stakeholder relationships and business reputation. Furthermore, it notes that organizations committed to sustainability attract and retain talent, particularly millennials.

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO STRUCTURES
INTRODUCTION TO STRUCTURES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1INTRODUCTION TO STRUCTURES
Executive Summary-
This report presents an evaluation sustainability in business and the importance of innovation
in sustainability for future. The major purpose of the report is to evaluate the current
sustainability initiatives of business and based on the evaluation, develop suitable sustainable
initiatives. A sustainable business certainly needs a unique type of leadership. The discussion
in the report helps to observe that to build a sustainable business, an executive must have to
go beyond the financial performance to meet the goals that revolve around people and the
environment. The findings of the report indicates that most of the large business have
introduced sustainability programs of some type of as well as several business owners are
following sustainable business start-up. However, a significant fact in the report is that the
numbers are not high when it comes to Chief Officer of the business demonstrate a strong
commitment to sustainability when leading a significant public or privately-held business. In
addition to this, the findings of the research also indicate that the sills of sustainability
leadership are rapidly growing in demand because the economy may shift and the customers
could care about sustainability. Another significant fact derived from this sustainability
research is that sustainability of businesses as well as sustainability of the planet may require
a similar sort of leadership skills. Likewise, the sustainability commitment should also be
developed because the labour of the organizations, particularly, the millennial firmly prefer
organizations that make sustainability commitment. The organizations or the business work
with the sustainability should be on the basis of the social responsibility that organizations
acknowledge. So when a business reinforce its relationship with the stakeholders it could
prevent as well as minimize conflicts aligning with its activities and the products. Similarly,
at the same time, organization’s work on sustainability and communication could help to
enhance business reputation and stakeholders’ confidence in the organizations.

2INTRODUCTION TO STRUCTURES
Introduction
It has been identified that since the early stage of 1990’s CR (“Corporate
Responsibility”) has gained prominence in the political and business agenda in response to
corporate scams and the understanding that development only revolves around the economic
growth paradigm, which is unsustainable. Such increasing need for a more pro-active role by
state, organizations and communities in balancing economic development with environmental
sustainability. However, Benn, Edwards and Williams (2014) mentioned that sustainability
initiatives of business should be developed on the basis of needs identified in the external
environment of business. This means today’s corporate sustainability initiatives might not
work for tomorrow’s business. It is found that most of the organizations tend to think of
sustainability as the effect they observe on the environment and the society. Nonetheless, it is
worth mentioning that changes that world environment is facing are more far-reaching. It has
been discovered that new technologies are transforming the way people live and work.
Consequently, the remote virtual teams are keeping thousands of labours out of the
organizational premise, which further turns into change in the size and environmental effect
of office foundation and commuter traffic (Hesselbarth & Schaltegger, 2014).
The major barrier that is presently found is that the sustainability practices are not
enhancing societies or the business to protect them. Most of the businesses have made efforts
to resolve the social and environmental challenges; nonetheless, these efforts have been too
incremental as well as marginalized and they have not usually led to development and
innovation (Beckmann, Hielscher & Pies, 2014). This usually happens because the
organizations or the business tend to approach sustainability in three old and conventional
ways such as by applying risks management approach, increasing operational efficiency and
reporting. In this context, Carroll and Buchholtz (2014) in business, the potential profit-
sustainability lies in observing what people really care about, and helping them attend to what

3INTRODUCTION TO STRUCTURES
they really care about in a sustainable way. It is a process of innovation and a significant
concern which provides scope for a new generation of leaders who should be committed to
generate profit by not reducing competition; rather by caring for the consumers as well as for
everyone.

4INTRODUCTION TO STRUCTURES
References
Beckmann, M., Hielscher, S., & Pies, I. (2014). Commitment strategies for sustainability:
how business firms can transform trade‐offs into win–win outcomes. Business
Strategy and the Environment, 23(1), 18-37.
Benn, S., Edwards, M., & Williams, T. (2014). Organizational change for corporate
sustainability. Routledge.
Carroll, A., & Buchholtz, A. (2014). Business and society: Ethics, sustainability, and
stakeholder management. Nelson Education.
Hesselbarth, C., & Schaltegger, S. (2014). Educating change agents for sustainability–
learnings from the first sustainability management master of business
administration. Journal of cleaner production, 62, 24-36.