Evaluating Sustainable Business Management: University of Bedfordshire

This report evaluates the University of Bedfordshire's approach to sustainable business management in the face of global megatrends. It begins with an introduction highlighting the increasing importance of sustainable practices in today's business world, followed by an overview of key megatrends such as climate change, resource scarcity, and energy crisis, and their impact on organizations. The report then analyzes how the University of Bedfordshire addresses these challenges through technological innovations like solar panel installations and waste management systems, as well as its rainwater harvesting facility. The role of leadership in promoting sustainability is also discussed. The report concludes with recommendations for the university to further enhance its sustainability initiatives and strategically engage with sustainability through its leadership and staff members.

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Sustainable Business Management

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction........................................................................................................................2
2. Global Megatrends.............................................................................................................3
2.1 Climate Change................................................................................................................3
2.2 Resource Scarcity.............................................................................................................5
2.3 Energy Crisis.....................................................................................................................7
3. Leadership and Sustainability.............................................................................................8
4. Conclusion.........................................................................................................................10
5. Recommendations............................................................................................................10
6. References........................................................................................................................12

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1. Introduction
In today’s competitive business world, the importance of adaptation of a sustainable
business approach has increased substantially since it enables organisations to generate a
competitive advantage in the industry while discharging their social responsibilities (Liu,
2013). Organisations are facing threats due to global megatrends which are referred to
global, sustained and macroeconomic forces of development which resulted in affecting
cultures, business, economy, personal lives and society which define the future world and
increasing pace of change (Singh, 2012). Global megatrends have shifted the focused of
companies towards adopting a sustainable approach to ensure that they are prepared for
handling issues which are brought by these megatrends. The objective of this report is to
evaluate the case study of the ‘University of Bedfordshire’ to explore various threats and
opportunities faced by the university from sustainability issues which include climate
change, resource constraints, and energy scarcity. This report will evaluate how the
University uses technology and innovation in order to address these threats by adopting
sustainable practices. The role of leadership in adopting a sustainable approach will be
analysed in this report along with the role of staff and students in the achievement of
sustainable goals. Lastly, a conclusion will be drawn, and recommendations will be given for
the university which are appropriate to ensure that the university can engage more
strategically with sustainability through its leadership and staff members.

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2. Global Megatrends
‘Megatrend’ is a common word coined to describe a set of key changes which are faced by
earth which are substantial when it comes to their impact on the world and living beings.
These trends are unprecedented in their magnitude, and they are unstoppable in their
march which poses a serious threat to humankind (Singh, 2012). These trends are global in
nature, and they are macro-economic forces which affect business, cultures, society,
personal lives and economy which resulted in defining the future world and its increasing
pace of change. Some examples of megatrends include population growth, food security,
urbanisation, material resource scarcity, climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation and
others (Retief et al., 2016). It is important that organisations and individuals play their part
by adopting a sustainable approach to address these megatrends and reduce their impacts
on society. The University of Bedfordshire is also affected by these megatrends which pose
many threats and opportunities for the university to adopt a sustainable approach to
address these megatrends and reduce their negative impact.
2.1 Climate Change
Climate change is one of the most challenging megatrends which have the power to wipe
out the humankind from the earth. It is defined as a change in global or regional climate
patterns which are in particular apparent from mid to late 20th century that attributed
largely due to the increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced due to the extensive
use of fossil fuels (Seinfeld and Pandis, 2016). Within a period of two centuries, the
humankind has produced the highest amount of greenhouse gas emission in human history
which resulted in challenging the balance of the planet, and it has created many issues. It
has led to the global warming phenomenon which has resulted in increasing the
temperature of the earth at an alarming rate. Climate change is an ongoing issue which has
increased gradually due to human activities which of releasing harmful gases in the
atmosphere as a result of activities such as industrialisation, burning of fossil fuel and
deforestation (Hansen, Sato and Ruedy, 2012). The impact of climate change can be
described through ‘tipping points’ effect which Rockstrom defined as a series of small
changes which lead to sudden and more important change (Anderies et al., 2013). These

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changes are likely to be unpredictable and rapid which is the case with climate change as
well.
Climate change is likely to affect organisation across the world which includes the University
of Bedfordshire which is an educational service provider. Although there is no immediate
and direct impact of climate change faced by the university; however, climate change and
global warming are global phenomena which are likely to affect the university in the long
run. Therefore, it is important that appropriate actions are taken in order to ensure long
term survival of the business. The negative impact of climate change is visible across the
globe; a good example is the melting of Arctic ice which is melting at a faster rate than ever
(Edenhofer, 2015). This was described as 2007 tipping point ‘albedo effect’ which shows the
changing the composition of the sea which is becoming warmer and less salty (Lenton,
2012). Another example is extreme weather in the United Kingdom which is caused due to
climate change. Studies have shown that the heatwaves that previously occurred between a
continuous period of three years are happening in every 200 days which is a result of global
warming (Mathiesen, 2015). This poses many challenges for individuals and businesses since
it becomes difficult for them to run their operations in a normal manner.
Since the Industrial Revolution, the global temperature has risen by 0.85C as the number of
industries that release greenhouse gas emission increases substantially (Mathiesen, 2015).
These changes require companies to adopt alternative and renewable sources of energy to
ensure that they reduce their carbon emissions. A good alternative is solar system which
generates energy through sunlight. Solar power is the third most important renewable
energy after hydro and wind. Over 100 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) were installed in 2012
across the globe which generated 110 TWh of electricity each year (Energy Informative,
2012). However, the use of this resource become difficult for companies especially in
countries where there are less sunlight and intense rains which lead to massive floods.
Extreme weather patterns resulted in drastically affecting the infrastructure, utilities, and
transportation system in countries which also makes it difficult for companies to rely on
solar panels to power their operations (Timilsina, Kurdgelashvili, and Narbel, 2012).
Therefore, companies have to use different renewable energy sources to run their
operations to ensure that the extreme weather and changes in the climate did not affect the
operations.

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The University of Bedfordshire has installed solar panels in order to take advantage of this
renewable energy source to run the operations of the university while reducing its carbon
footprint. The University has installed 180 solar panels on the roof of postgraduate
development building which is used in order to generate and store electricity that is used in
different buildings of the University (Beds, 2016). These solar panels were installed by the
university in February 2013, and since then they have generated over 124,826-kilowatt
hours of electricity which is used in the university. This step has substantially reduced the
carbon footprint of the University of Bedfordshire, and it resulted in establishing a
sustainable approach. The threat of climate change is addressed by the University of
Bedfordshire through the opportunity to generate electricity from sunlight.
However, the university did not solely rely on this source to generate electricity on the
campus. The combi heating system installed by the university also uses gas to generate
electricity which has a lower carbon footprint than compared to petrol or diesel. This combi
heating system runs on the turbine which heats up while generating electricity. The
university mix this heat with water in order to deliver hot water across three buildings of the
university. There is a storage unit beside the machine that store 40 gallons of water at 80
degree which goes to the business school and new library (Beds, n.d.). This approach saves
the electricity which would be used to run emergency boilers to heat the water in the
university. This system provides heat and power to three buildings which cover around
12,000-meter square area. These initiatives show the actions taken by the university in
order to adopt a sustainable business management approach to ensure that it addresses the
threats relating to climate change.
2.2 Resource Scarcity
Resource scarcity is defined as the lack of availability of suppliers which are required in
order to maintain life or a certain quality of life (Barnett and Morse, 2013). Natural
resources are limited in number, and they are used by people across the globe which makes
them scarce. Urbanisation is a key fact that has increased the demand for natural resources
as the population grows across the globe. The demand for food, fuel, water, and minerals
has increased substantially which leads to resource scarcity. It is major issue which will
undoubtedly affect the long term survival of the human kind; however, this issue has been
escalated due to factors such as deforestation, urbanisation and climate change

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(Griskevicius et al., 2013). A good example is water scarcity which is referred to lack of fresh
water resources in order to meet water demand. Due to the operations of companies and
individuals, fresh water sources have become scarce, and other sources have been polluted
by industrial operations.
Fluence Corp (2017) reported that 1.2 billion people in the world did not have access to
fresh water. It is estimated that two third of the world’s population will be facing water
shortages by 2025. Another alarming statistics provides that the water demand on a global
stage is likely to increase by 40 percent by 2030 (Fluence Corp, 2017). It shows that it has
become important that corporations and individuals take steps in order to protect and
preserve natural resources and reduce their wastage to eliminate the issue of resource
scarcity. In the ‘resource constrained economy’, it is important that organisations manage
their business operations within natural resource limits which provides various benefits such
as saving of costs, waste reduction, resource efficiency, reduction of toxic substances in the
environment, use of less energy, reduction in depletion of non-renewable resources and
value created is retained locally (Bell, Mollenkopf and Stolze, 2013). Therefore, it is
important that organisations adopt a sustainable business management approach in which
they take actions towards the protection of natural resources and reduction in waste.
The University of Bedfordshire has taken various steps to ensure that they limit their energy
usage from non-renewable sources and wastage to establish a sustainable business
approach. For example, the University has adopted a waste disposal system which enables
the university in recycling its waste. The University along with the Sustainability Steering
Group has recycled over 110,000 coffee cups every year (Beds, 2019). The university uses
two types of bins to collect waste which includes general waste and mixed recycling waste.
In mixed recycling waste, the waste which can be recycled is thrown such as cardboard,
paper, cups, and others. The university also goes through the general waste to find items
which can be recycled to avoid wasting them. Glass bottles are stored separately which
makes it easier for the recycling process. The university recycled 80 percent of its waste, and
the remaining 20 percent is sent for energy purposes where the waste is used to fuel energy
plants. The remaining 20 percent is sent by the university to countries such as Norway and
Finland which did not have enough resources to fill up their energy plants.

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The food waste of the university goes to industrial compost system through which organic
materials are recycled. The university did not send any of its wastage to the land field which
is a major achievement. Another major step taken by the University is the investment in
rainwater harvesting facility which enables it to save the rainwater which is used for
drinking as well as other purposes. This facility is situated in PSO graduate centre which has
the capability to store 600,000 litres of water (Beds, n.d.). Although this plant is not able to
meet the complete water demand in the university; however, this water is used in toilet
flush which saves the clean and drinkable water from being used in flush. This shows that
the university uses technology and innovation to resolve its issues in order to adopt a
sustainable business approach.
2.3 Energy Crisis
The energy crisis is referred to the shortfall in or interruption of the provision of energy
suppliers which makes it difficult for organisations and individuals to fulfil their energy
needs (Coyle and Simmons, 2014). Energy is a vital ingredient to sustain the economic and
social growth of a country since it helps people light up their homes, keep them warm, run
agriculture operations, fuel production plants and others. There are various factors which
resulted in increasing energy demand across the globe such as increased population,
industrialisation, globalisation and others. However, the excessive use of fossil fuels such as
coal, fuel, and others resulted in increasing greenhouse gases in the environment which lead
to major issues such as climate change and global warming (Alam et al., 2015). The fossil
fuel sources are limited in number which creates the issue of energy scarcity. The North
America natural gas crisis 2000-2008, 1990 oil price shock caused by the Gulf War, 2000s
energy crisis, and 2008 Central Asia energy crisis are only some examples of major energy
crisis which affected a large number of people around the world (Coyle and Simmons, 2014).
Many corporations have taken major steps to tackle this issue by adopting a sustainable
business system. A good example is Apple Incorporation which operates in consumer
electronics, software, hardware, and digital distribution industry. The company has adopted
a sustainable business approach based on which it has recently announced that it is using
100 percent renewable energy sources in order to run its stores around the world (Statt,
2018). Similarly, the University of Bedfordshire also took major steps to address the issue of
the energy crisis. The combi heating system of the university generates electricity which is

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used in order to power different buildings. This system runs on gas which has lower carbon
emission than compared to petrol. Moreover, it also uses solar panels to generate electricity
which shows the role of renewable energy sources and how they are used by the university
to address the issue of the energy crisis.
3. Leadership and Sustainability
Leadership plays a major role in the implementation and accomplishment of sustainable
business objectives in a company. Leadership concerns with the strategic vision and the
management focus on operational decision making both of which are necessary in order to
integrate the necessary resources and capabilities of the company to produce goods and
services while generating a sustainable competitive advantage (Metcalf and Benn, 2013).
Leaders and managers take decisions as “organisation integrators” who have the ability to
create synergy which is crucial to ensure that the staff members also work together to
achieve sustainable goals of the company. Leaders play a major role in creating sustainable
organisations by developing corporate strategies that embrace sustainability and based on
key principles of business ethics, environment social issues and community outreach
(Marshall, Coleman and Reason, 2017). Without active actions of the leaders and staff
members, a company cannot successfully adopt sustainable business management
practices. A good example is the autocratic leadership style in which leaders lead the
organisation based on values that enable them to maintain a balance between the interests
of key stakeholders. These values affect the way people are motivated at work and how
they are on the same page when it comes to the achievement of common goals (Bhatti et
al., 2012).
The case study of the University of Bedfordshire highlighted the role of leadership in the
achievement of a sustainable business approach. The leaders of the university are focused
on relying on technology and innovation in order to take business decisions which embrace
sustainable practices. For example, the decision of establishing combi heating system, waste
disposal system, rainwater harvesting facility and solar energy system are some of the
actions which are taken by the leaders to ensure that they support sustainable principles.
They also encourage the staff members and students to participate in this goal as well. For
example, they put a poster on the gate of the lift which reads “why not use stairs,” and they

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also put the mixed recyclable bin on the right side since most students and staff members
are right handed. These small and bigger decisions enable the staff and students to
participate in sustainable approach by recycling their waste, using rainwater for flush and
renewable energy for electricity and hot water.

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4. Conclusion
In conclusion, the importance of adaptation of a sustainable business approach has
increased substantially as the threats associated with megatrends increased. Organisations
can address these threats by taking the most out of opportunities brought by technology
and innovation to address threats such as climate change, resource scarcity, energy crisis,
and others. Leadership plays a vital role in the adoption of sustainable business
management practices in the organisation as identified by the case of the University of
Bedfordshire. The University has taken various steps towards reducing its carbon footprint
and using renewable energy sources to run its operations. Decisions such as combi heating
system, waste disposal system, solar panels, and rainwater harvesting assist the university in
addressing threats brought by climate change, energy crisis, and resource scarcity. These
actions enable the university to rely on technology and innovation in adopting a sustainable
business approach which is crucial to address the threats of megatrends.
5. Recommendations
Following are recommendations which can assist the University of Bedfordshire in further
developing its sustainable programme.
 The University should use 100 percent renewable energy to run its machines rather
than gas and grid electricity. It should use biodegradable gas to run the machines
which will further reduce the carbon footprint of the company.
 Investment should be made in the research and development program through
which researchers can find out different technologies which can make it easier for
the university to reduce its energy consumption through non-renewable resources.
 The University should make the campus more ‘greener’ by growing more trees and
asking the students and staff members to participate in the program to grow more
trees.
 More solar panels should be installed in the university to generate more electricity
through sunlight.

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 A new campaign should be started by the university to promote reuse and reduce
products for recycling purposes which will increase engagement of staff and students
in the sustainability process.
 Awareness regarding recycling should be spread by the university by holding
exhibitions and conferences inside and outside the campus area.

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