Business Report: Sustainable Development and Competitive Advantage

This report delves into the concept of sustainable development, emphasizing the balance between human activities and environmental preservation. It examines how environmental awareness enhances an organization's long-term competitive advantages, citing the example of Tesco's sustainability initiatives, such as reducing plastic use and carbon emissions. The report outlines the attributes and capabilities businesses must adopt for sustainable development, including waste reduction, responsible resource use, and social responsibility through initiatives like tree planting and environmental awareness campaigns. The conclusion highlights the importance of integrating ecological and economic aspects for resource management and competitive benefits. The report references academic sources to support its findings, making it a valuable resource for understanding and implementing sustainable practices in business.

Building a Sustainable
Organization

TABLE OF CONTENTS
..........................................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Task A..........................................................................................................................................3
Task B..........................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
The following report will be highlighting the area of sustainable development that can
help the organization to commence business successfully without disrupting the environmental
factors. Many business activities create a major dis-balance in the environment which can harsh
consequences of the human race. Major focus of this report will be on enlightening the ways of
economic development with maintenance of ecological systems. Usage of resource in a manner
that it can generate benefits for the current population without overusing it so that it can benefit
the future generation as well. Moreover, the report will be mentioning the effect impact of
environmental awareness of the organization in developing competitive advantage which will be
followed by its respective examples. Attributes that has to be pertained by a business
organization towards sustainable development will be enlightened briefly.
MAIN BODY
Task A
Concept of sustainable development
Sustainable development focuses principles of growth that depicts the balance between
human development and ecosystem. Growth activities dine by humans has to be organized in
such a way that its impact on the environment should be reduced to a certain level that can be
handled by the ecosystem. This balance focuses on reduction of overexploitation of resource or
eliminating the unnecessary activities that causes major harm to the environment. Human
development depend on these natural process and resources which are being used by the business
organization to full-fill the demand. Sustainable development focus on conservation and
regeneration of such resources which are of high demand and lower availability (Sachs and et.al.,
2021). These are termed as non-renewable resources as they take the time of millions of years to
regenerate.
Impact of environmental awareness on long term competitive advantages for organizations
Sustainable development diverts the business towards concerning environmental factors
that needs immediate action to preserve resources and to stop such activities that are highly
causing environmental issues. This awareness towards the environment impacts the goodwill of
the organization in a positive way as these acts are highly appreciated from the side of various
external stakeholders of the organization such as government, customers, investors etc. concern

towards the environment enhance the image of an organization from the perspective of public.
This reputation of an organization in the market can help a business to increase its profitability
which can eventually result in developing competitive advantages for the business (Holmberg
and Sandbrook, 2019). Various steps taken to implement the sustainable development ion the
business operations can eliminate the social factors that impacts the organization. Various legal
consequence can be dodged by reducing the activities that causes harm to the ecosystem.
Elimination of such threats can also make the organization more flexible as it can resist such
major impacting factors. This may help organization to develop a competitive edge over its rival
organization which may not be following such measures for environmental protection. Tesco is
the example of business organization which has taken a step towards sustainable development by
eliminating the use of plastic in most of its business areas (Reznichenko and et.al., 2018). The
organization has also focused heavily on reducing the harmful carbon emission that are being
released from the manufacturing outlets which is too harsh on the environment. This has helped
the firm to divert customer attention and has increased its goodwill which has resulted in making
the brand one of the most successful business in the sector.
Task B
Attributes and capabilities of the business organization towards sustainable development.
Attributes of a business towards sustainable development depicts their responsibilities to
commence business activities in respect with environmental welfare. Elimination of such
business activities that are highly effecting nature should be prioritized and its solution has to be
discovered quickly. There various business activities that releases high amount of wastage that is
very difficult to dispose. Organization has to focus on reduction of the waste that is being
produced and if the reduction is not possible then the proper waste disposal system has to be
followed that ensures the safety of natural bodies. Various business activities such as
manufacturing of goods cause a lot of air population as the factory outlets releases harmful gases
in the air which pollutes it badly. The business attributes can be focused on investment in such
resources that don't cause any harms to the environment or which can repair the damages that are
already done (Silvestre and Ţîrcă, 2019). Elimination of the usage the plastic material that are
not easily recyclable is focused by the business organization which is highly seen these days.
Business organization are expected to perform such activities that depicts the social values

possessed by the firm. These can be wide plantation of trees, investment in such resources which
can heal the harm that is being caused to the environment, conservation of various areas etc.
these activities can also help the firm to improve their goodwill as they can use effective
marketing techniques that delivers the efforts of business to its stakeholders. Creating awareness
for sustainable development among employees and customers can be counted as the role of
business organization as they are taking benefits from the natural resources (Thacker and et.al.,
2019). These efforts and attributes of the business organization can lead to a healthy
development of the economy with reasonable use of resources and the environmental balance
can be also achieved.
CONCLUSION
From the above report various aspects of sustainable development has been concluded.
Accurate concept of sustainable development has been highlighted which has shown the true
meaning of the topic. The importance of balance between ecological and economical aspect has
been learnt which can be used to take benefits from the available natural resource without over
exploiting it. Moreover, the competitive benefits that can be gained by a business by focusing on
sustainable development ahas been mentioned with a specific example of Tesco. The report has
shown how Tesco implement the concept of sustainable development in its business operations.
Further on, characteristic of a business organization towards the betterment of environment has
been discussed thoroughly.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Holmberg, J. and Sandbrook, R., 2019. Sustainable development: what is to be done?. In Policies
for a small planet. (pp. 19-38). Routledge.
Reznichenko, S.M. and et.al., 2018. Methodological aspects of assessing factors affecting the
sustainable development of the region. Modern journal of language teaching methods.
8(11). pp.69-79.
Sachs, J. and et.al., 2021. Sustainable development report 2021. Cambridge University Press.
Silvestre, B.S. and Ţîrcă, D.M., 2019. Innovations for sustainable development: Moving toward
a sustainable future. Journal of cleaner production. 208. pp.325-332.
Thacker, S. and et.al., 2019. Infrastructure for sustainable development. Nature Sustainability.
2(4). pp.324-331.
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