Course Name: Sustainability Report - Business Impact and Strategies

This report, prepared by a student, delves into the critical importance of sustainability in modern business practices. It begins with an executive summary highlighting the need for integrating sustainability and responsibility across all organizational aspects. The report explores the influence of the Triple Bottom Line (Profit, Planet, People) and Systems Thinking on achieving sustainable business practices, emphasizing their role in fulfilling responsibilities towards business, society, and the environment. It provides a critical analysis of the Triple Bottom Line, discussing its potential challenges and complexities, especially concerning market changes and institutional frameworks. The report then offers recommendations for future business strategies, emphasizing the need for transparency and a focus on economic factors to facilitate sustainability. It concludes by underscoring the growing significance of sustainable business practices and the necessity of adapting to market changes while integrating multiple approaches to achieve sustainable development.

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Title: Importance of Sustainability
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Executive Summary
The main aim of conducting responsible business is creating new approaches that help in
incorporating sustainability and responsibility in each aspect of an organization whether
small or big. The attainment of sustainable and respo0nsible business have increased the
demands of innovations in an organization. The approaches that are implemented by an
organization should aim at fulfilling all the responsibilities an organization has towards
business, society and environment. In this assignment, some sustainable practices that will
have a huge impact in the present and future working scenarios of an organization is
discussed and analyzed.

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Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Influenced by Triple Bottom Line Principles & System Thinking............................................3
Critical Analysis.........................................................................................................................4
Recommendations......................................................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Responsible business is essential for every organization to follow. For an
organization, to generate profits is one of the most important aspects, but the organization
should never sideline the other important responsibilities that are expected out of them. To
achieve sustainable and responsible practice, it is important for each organization to make a
good sense of the business that should fulfill all the three aspects associated with each
business that are sustainability, ethics, and responsibilities. The one theory that fulfills all
these aspects is the Triple Bottom Line that includes the wellness of Profit, Planet, and
People. The sustainable development in business can be acquired by following the simple
definition of Richard Watts and Lord Holme, who described sustainable development as
“Making Good Business Sense”.
Influenced by Triple Bottom Line Principles & System Thinking
In my opinion, one of the best approaches to conduct sustainable responsible business
is the Triple Bottom Line. Sustainability in business does not only mean the wellness of
society and the environment, but it also means earning profits that can be easily attained by
the triple bottom line principles (Hammann, Habisch & Pechlaner, 2009). The biggest
influence that triple bottom line had on my perspective, is due its approach of fulfilling the
current needs without sacrificing the wants and desires of the future generations. For any
organization to be a sustainable business it is important to have a neutral triple bottom line.
The triple bottom line also includes some of the practices like product life-cycle, sustainable
management, and sustainable capital. All these practices are implicated in a business for
achieving sustainability in social, economic, and environmental factors. To reflect all these
practices a business it is important to create an environmental impact by utilizing more
natural resources and control the wastage in an organization, thus, in my view, to create a
social impact it is important that the workforce of the organization is satisfied and for

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building an economic impact it is important that the organizations’ taxation policy is
effectively implemented along with the effective supply chain method (Hasford & Farmer,
2016).
The other sustainability aspect that I consider will have the biggest impact on any
organization is Systems Thinking. Systems thinking should be executed in every organization
as this will help in creating a well-thought-out plan for an organization to achieve sustainable
and responsible practices in an organization that will further help in attaining the principles of
the triple bottom line (Heaton, 2017). Systems thinking helps in the formulation of
interrelated practices that focus on achieving the desired goals of an organization. According
to my views and experiences, the practices associated with social, economic and
environmental factors should be interrelated as this helps in achieving greater heights of
sustainability in an organization. The system thinking also comprises of three factors that are
elements, interconnections, and functions, all have to work coherently to achieve the desired
goals. Thus, I think that the combination of systems thinking and the triple bottom line is the
best approach for any organization to conduct responsible business (Lubberink, Blok, van
Ophem & Omta, 2017).
Critical Analysis
The institutionalization of the triple bottom line, though displays a lot of potentials,
but the changes in the market and the policies related to social, economic and environmental
aspects sometimes have an adverse effect on the organization that implements it. The triple
bottom line is based on a number of theoretical frameworks that defy the concepts of
unrestricted capitalism, this further brings modifications in the corporate behavior that affects
an organization to conduct sustainable and responsible business practices (Murphy, Sharma
& Moon, 2012). Many a time, I have also studied that it leads to loss of investors and

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stakeholders in the organization. Institutions have an inhibited nature that has concocted by
the actors who are responsible for the interactions in an organization. According to the
normative theory, the institutions in an organization are the rules and regulations and any
changes in the institutions will increase the level of complexity (Seow, Sarkis, Lockström &
Callarman, 2014). The triple bottom line framework that is implemented in an organization
will suffer a huge loss in the long run as the changes in the corporate governance requires
further adjustments which the framework triple bottom line will be unable to handle. In my
opinion, complexity creates chaos in an organization that affects the sustainable functioning
of the organization. The triple bottom line promises sustainability in all three aspects but to
evaluate this sustainability of the triple bottom line is a complex process that every
organization will fail to do so. The aspect of the triple bottom line that enhances the
measurement complexity is the reliability of the results obtained. This is due to the
consideration of the intangible assets in the measurement process like loyalty and the
reputation of the organization. In my perspective, these aspects do not help in understanding
the value of each factor, that is, economic, social and environmental. The results which might
be received through the measurement process will create a number of doubts (Singhal,
Suryawanshi & Mittal, 2017).
System thinking is a process of integration and this integration is very beneficial for
solving wicked and complex problems that may arise in an organizational framework in my
opinion. This process of system thinking encourages to build a bigger understanding about
the interrelationships, perspectives and the boundaries, all these aspects help in dealing with
the inhibited nature of the institution (Slavova, 2015). The complexity created by the rules
and regulations has to be addressed by multiple actors and system thinking helps in
identifying those actors and implementing them effectively. According to my knowledge, the
process of system thinking also helps in creating a sustainable management environment in

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an organization that helps in conducting sustainable and responsible business practices
(Tyagi, 2012).
Recommendations
The market is evolving with the passing time and in the future, there is a definite need
for implementing practices that help in continuous improvements in the organization. For
every future organization, thus there is a need for recognizing a sustainable and strategic
mission and vision for an organization. In my perspective, the amalgamation of system
thinking and the triple bottom line is an effective approach, but with the changing times, there
will be a requirement for more transparency in an organization. This is essential for reducing
the complexities in an organization and also will help in better management of problems and
issues. All organizations have responsibilities that have to be fulfilled towards the
environment, society, and economics. But, the main focus of each organization in my views,
has to be on the economic factor as through this the other two factors can be attained (Weller,
2017). The triple bottom line many a time leads to loss of stakeholders and investors, this
issue needs maximum curbing as the stakeholders and the external sources play a major role
in the development and welfare of any organization. For all the future business, it is
important that all the activities, processes and practices that are executed in an organization
should aim at improving the present and the future of the upcoming generations, through this
mean each organization will be able to achieve sustainable and responsible business.
Conclusion
The importance of sustainable business practices has increased in the last decades.
There are a number of approaches that can be beneficial for the organizations. But, according
to the impact different sustainable practices had on me, there is a need for understanding their
drawbacks and loopholes, so they can be handled with sustainable alternatives. Like, the

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combination of triple bottom line and systems thinking. So, sustainable practices can be
attained if each practice that is executed in an organization, should analyze the various factors
that play a major role in achieving sustainable development in an organization and then
further improvisation should be conducted on the implemented practices. I consider that for
any organization, a single approach can also help in conducting sustainable business, but due
to the growing changes in the market and the institutions, there is a need for executing
multiple approaches.

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References
Hammann, E., Habisch, A., & Pechlaner, H. (2009). Values that create value: socially
responsible business practices in SMEs - empirical evidence from German
companies. Business Ethics: A European Review, 18(1), 37-51.
Hasford, J., & Farmer, A. (2016). Responsible you, despicable me: Contrasting competitor
inferences from socially responsible behavior. Journal Of Business Research, 69(3),
1234-1241.
Heaton, D. (2017). Stop Teaching: Principles and Practices for Responsible Management
EducationStop Teaching: Principles and Practices for Responsible Management
Education, by RimanoczyIsabel. New York, NY: Business Expert Press, 2016. 168
pages, Paperback. Academy Of Management Learning & Education, 16(1), 165-167.
Lubberink, R., Blok, V., van Ophem, J., & Omta, O. (2017). Lessons for Responsible
Innovation in the Business Context: A Systematic Literature Review of Responsible,
Social and Sustainable Innovation Practices. Sustainability, 9(5), 721.
Murphy, R., Sharma, N., & Moon, J. (2012). Empowering Students to Engage with
Responsible Business Thinking and Practices. Business And Professional Ethics
Journal, 31(2), 313-330.
Seow, C., Sarkis, J., Lockström, M., & Callarman, T. (2014). “Responsible Purchasing and
Supply Practices”-Editorial. Decision Sciences, 45(4), 571-576.
Singhal, N., Suryawanshi, P., & Mittal, G. (2017). Crafting Responsible Management
Practices in Business School Learning Outcomes: An Indian Case Study. Vision: The
Journal Of Business Perspective, 21(1), 46-62.

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Slavova, I. (2015). Social responsible business practices in Bulgaria: Change in
organizational culture. Trakia Journal Of Science, 13(Suppl.1), 212-218.
Tyagi, R. (2012). Sustaining by working on the bottom of the pyramid: a case of Jaipur Rugs
India on its socially responsible practices. International Journal Of Business
Performance Management, 13(1), 46.
Weller, A. (2017). Aligning responsible business practices: A case study. Business Ethics: A
European Review, 26(4), 457-467.