Reflection Paper: Sustainable Practices and Responsible Consumption

This reflection paper delves into the concepts of sustainable practices and responsible consumption, emphasizing the need for consumers to adopt habits that control resource wastage and regulate household consumption. The paper explores the co-strategies necessary for environmental sustainability, focusing on the economic, social, and environmental pillars. The economic pillar involves financial stability and profitability for businesses, achieved through effective sales and marketing strategies. The social pillar highlights the importance of community and employee support for business sustainability. The environmental pillar emphasizes reducing pollution from manufacturing firms. The paper also discusses the management of consumer behavior, including the influence of buying motives (people) and profit motives on sustainability. Finally, the author reflects on personal responsibility in consumption to achieve sustainability.

Running head: SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION 1
Sustainable practices and responsible consumption
Name
Institution

SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION 2
Abstract
The thesis of the reflection paper presented entail sustainable practices and responsible
consumption habit by us as consumers thus according to the consumers’ taste and preferences
since responsible practices will help to control wastage of resources by the consumers hence
responsible consumption is necessary to regulate the household consuming habit.
The paper will further discuss some our personal responsibility we are expected to practice or
consider in order to realize the sustainability concept. Through our personal responsibility, it is
believed that the overall consumption of goods and services by the household will be regulated
as an household we will only go for the goods and services that we only need hence ensuring the
sustainability of resources in the market.

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Sustainable practices, concepts and theories
Co-strategies
Sustainability can be defined as the focus on achieving or meeting the needs of the current
household or consumers without compromising the ability of future households or consumers to
achieve their needs. The process of sustainability is considered important by the management
bodies of various production firms in order to meet our current needs of the household or the
consumers which they serve without altering the satisfaction of other needs we have in future
(Zhan, Tan, Ji, Chung & Chiu, 2018).
The co-strategies we have to develop in order to ensure sustainable environment in the field
of our consumption habit includes various pillars like environmental pillar, the economic pillar
and social pillar. The mentioned strategies are discussed in the context below.
Economic pillar
The economic pillar can be defined as a stage where all our business and the production firms
are financially firm on the ground that is according to our field of operation so as to enable us to
thrive in the competitive market. These is always determined by the profitability of the firm in
terms of its products and services we offer to the households. For a firm to be economically
stable, our entire management team has to concentrate on various factors like sales strategies
which will aid in boosting the sales volume of our products. Various strategies must be
implemented by the management body of the companies so as to lure a good number of
customers to buy our manufactured products. We have to reconsider some of the marketing and
sales strategies like promotional programs and pricing of the manufactured goods and services so

SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION 4
as to attract many buyers to our products hence contributes to the profitability of the firm
(Schroeder, Anggraeni & Weber, 2019).
Social pillar
For a sustainable business, we should have the full support of the employees and the members
of the communities in which we operate in which is very essential for the growth of our business.
Social involvement by the business is considered one of the pillars for business sustainability
since it dictates the external operations of the firm.
The business has to consider various involvement strategies which will ensure business
sustainability within the community in which the business is situated since social involvement by
the business will aid to better the public image and brand name of the business thereby attracting
investors from different regions which are willing to buy shares from our firms (Bendell, 2017).
Environmental pillar
The environmental pillar for business sustainability focusses on the reduction of the pollution
by our manufacturing firms which negatively Impacts the environmental condition within the
region in which we operate. Emission of the poisonous gas by the manufacturing firms will
negatively affect us as the residents of that particular area since such poisonous gasses are very
harmful to human health by triggering cancerous cells in the body (Ortiz‐de‐Mandojana &
Bansal, 2016).

SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION 5
Management of consumer behavior and global challenge
Butler’s sequence
Management of consumer behavior in our consumption sustainability so as to ensure
responsible consumption and utilization of the resources is very important in meeting the current
needs without compromising future needs as indicated in the butler’s sequence. In managing our
consumption behaviors, we need to consider various elements like people, planet and profits
barriers.
People
Our buying motives involves various internal factors or conditions that motivate us to buy
firm’s manufactured goods and services. We as the household influence the sustainability of the
business due to our buying motives which will dictates the sales volume of the company’s
products. These will ensure our sustainability form consumption of various goods and services.
Profit
Product motives are factors which lures us as buyers to choose and buy their products while
patronage motives are situations which prompt buyers to buy a certain product. Profit made by
the manufacturing firms or our small business will ensure sustainability of the business as they
will be able to sponsor most of the business activities. The above-mentioned motives will ensure
sustainability in consumption responsibility.

SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION 6
Responsibility for personal learning
From the above-discussed sustainability pillar, our responsibility for consumption should be
adhered to so as to meet the current set consumption goals for sustainability of the business.
Profit and people is a factor which will ensure our sustainability process since it will enable us
not to compromise other future needs hence better balance in consumption.

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References
Bendell, J. (2017). Terms for endearment: Business, NGOs and sustainable development.
Routledge.
Ortiz‐de‐Mandojana, N., & Bansal, P. (2016). The long‐term benefits of organizational resilience
through sustainable business practices. Strategic Management Journal, 37(8), 1615-1631.
Schroeder, P., Anggraeni, K., & Weber, U. (2019). The relevance of circular economy practices
to the sustainable development goals. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 23(1), 77-95.
Zhan, Y., Tan, K. H., Ji, G., Chung, L., & Chiu, A. S. (2018). Green and lean sustainable
development path in China: Guanxi, practices and performance. Resources, Conservation and
Recycling, 128, 240-249.