MB212 Managing for Sustainability Assignment Sample

• Subject Code : MB212
• Subject Name : Management

Table of Contents

Case study 2: Sustainability Saves Money and the Environment.

Events of Case.

Role of Jib in motivating Wal- Mart.

Protest or Cooperation:.

Leadership & Motivation.

Cross- Silo Leadership in Wal-Mart.

Case Study 3: Unilever’s Pledge to Cut Back on Plastics.

Events of Case.

Shareholders and Stakeholder.

Unilever’s Decision and Supply Chain cost and Retail Prices.

Opportunities and costs of this massive shift.

Principled Stand or Calculated Business Decision or Both.

Company’s Priorities: Shareholder Interest, Stakeholder Interest or Environmental Responsibility

References.

Case Study 2: Sustainability Saves Money and the Environment

Events of Case

Jib and Wal- Mart is working together to save the company from environmentalist critics and move to the sustainable growth of the company. Ethically, they are focusing environment which is a good approach to win the customers.

Role of Jib in motivating Wal- Mart

Jib was successful in motivating Wal-Mart to become more sustainable than any other environmental activists in the present case of Wal- Mart. The initiative and the way Jib Elison make the executives and environmental activists aware of the fact that environment and business must go hand in hand to save not only involvement but the big business tycoon as well lead to the motivation of approaching the sustainable development for their company. 

Protest or Cooperation:

Gearing up to the agenda of having sustainable development along with economic development, the idea of cooperation works more smoothly rather than the idea of protesting and working things out by the environmentalists.

As provided in the Rome conference for sustainable development (2000), the idea of cooperation between the ministry, the companies, regional and local authorities can have a better impact for focusing and achieving the sustainable development guidelines provided by the United Nations.

As provided by financial Times (2019), the idea of getting into a protest against the big private companies for achieving sustainable development goals didn't go well so far. Since private companies are an integral and very critical part of solving these problems, cooperation can bring better outcomes rather than protesting against these companies amid hunger and poverty.

Leadership & Motivation

In the motivation of the company towards achieving sustainable development goals the role of the leadership of these two, Leo Scott and Wal- Mart is crucial as they paved the path for success by motivating the departments to ensure the utilisation of all the potential options to curve the destruction of the environment with their company's activities.

Leadership and motivation are two interlinked and close terms. A great leader with the right kind of motivation can lead to the improvement of the performance of the employees by translating their abilities into efforts and performance with the right kind of direction, duration of work-related behaviour and intensity (Christian, 2016).

Cross- Silo Leadership in Wal-Mart

The implementation of leadership outside the organisational boundaries is often encountered in the management and organisation these days. leadership is no longer restricted with one actor and can be a process where one or more actors are striving to work and pursue the goals and objectives of the organ organisation and motivating and energy the employees to address the requirements before the organisations (Coun, Peters and Blomme, 2019).

As quoted by Subande (2020), the culture of cross-silo leadership has taken the market as the thrives for excellence with shared commitment has much more scope than a general leadership. This culture is often visible in different organizations where vision and mission are to be achieved with excellence and not a restriction of committing with internal employees or partners only. 

Case Study 3: Unilever’s Pledge to Cut Back on Plastics

Events of Case

The Unilever has approached the green movement with a pledge of cutting virgin plastic by 2025 and has made a good ethical decision concerning the environment.

Shareholders and Stakeholder

Stakeholders are those authority's who have interest vested in the overall success of the organisation of the project in which they have their invests. On the other hand, shareholders are those what version owners in the organisation and are focused on the return of investment (ROI). Consequently, the shareholder in a company is always a stakeholder but a stakeholder is not always a shareholder in the company (Project Manager, 2019).

Stakeholders can be internal such as employees or external such as suppliers for windows. wish you a long-term relationship with the organisation and get affected by the progress of the project as well as the downfall of the project (Adams, Licht and Sagiv, 2011).

In simple terms, a shareholder has a share in the company and the stakeholder has a stake in the company.

One of the significant differences between these two lies in the fact that the shareholders rely on the ROI on the stakeholders are more concerned about the performance and progress of the project/company.

The stakeholders of the company, Unilever, includes NGOs, customers, investors, consumers, governments and regulators, suppliers, and other businesses through trade associations (Unilever, 2020). The shareholders of Unilever are Wellington Management Co. LLP, Fidelity Management & Research Co. LLC, Norges Bank Investment Management, etc (MarketScreener, 2020).

This brave step of Unilever is going to affect the shareholders as well as stakeholders of the company to a great extent and thus the company need to develop collaboration and cooperation among the stakeholders and shareholders to successfully implement these plan else will likely to fail the way Pepsico did in the United States with its plan of sustainable development (As You Sow, 2019). 

Unilever’s Decision and Supply Chain cost and Retail Prices

With this decision of shift to the sustainable product, the retail prices and supply chain can even lead to capturing more business for the company with proving the credibility towards the green environment (Graciola et al, 2018).

Opportunities and costs of this massive shift

• Higher Prices for Products

Considering the report of Nielsen report, 66% of global consumers are willing to pay higher prices for the companies which are committed to social and environmental protection such as sustainable development in their products and organization (Brave Business, 2019).

• Engagements of the employee’s loyalty

The Nielsen report (2019) has also suggested that the 67% of the employees are more related to work with the company who is socially and environmentally responsible towards the public with the production and distribution of sustainable products. This suggests an opportunity to have the loyalty of the employees towards the company which such a massive shift.

• Building potential customer

Various reports have suggested that the public is way too much concerned about climate change and the company's switching to such sustainable mode of production and development in their organisation is an opportunity of having potential customers with the launching of sustainable products.

• Increase productivity and reduce costs.

This step of integrating sustainable products in the company provides a cut in the production cost but allow the enhancement of productivity of the employees. The operation, considering sustainable development, involves conservancy of resources and indulgence of efficient operations favouring the shift in the objectives of the company (Environment & Energy Leader, 2016).

Principled Stand or Calculated Business Decision or Both

The close observation of the case study of Unilever's decision overtaking the stand of sustainable development in their company is much of a calculated business decision rather than Principled Stand taken by the corporation for the prevention of climate and environment. The company has looked into the adverse impact on the profits and turnover if not adhering with a sustainable development guideline concerning the production and distribution system of the company. This motivated the company to consider the idea of environmental protection and focus on making small changes which can contribute to a larger margin for the environment.

It may be considered as the implementation of both the principles of Principled stand as well as a calculated business decision as the company is reflecting in their business plan. All the companies usually overlooked the environmental social and governance issues over their profit as provided by Eccles and Klimenko (2019). Thus, this step of the Unilever company towards the cutting of virgin plastic by 2025 can be a calculated business decision which prima facie appears to be a Principled Stand.

Company’s Priorities: Shareholder Interest, Stakeholder Interest or Environmental Responsibility

Ethically and considering the environmental social and governance issues, companies' priority should lie in the environmental responsibility of the company towards the climate. The prioritization can never be a straight forward list with respect to the interest of shareholders and stakeholders along with the environmental responsibility of the company towards the climate. The company need to focus on environmental responsibility along with fulfilling and prioritizing the interest of the stakeholders. As per Matuleviciene and Stravinskiene (2015), Stakeholders are part and parcel of the company. They are very much integral part of the functioning of the each and every department of the company. The company should focus on the prioritising of the interest of the stakeholders concerning the environment responsibility along sides. The company will have to convince the stakeholders and the shareholders to work along with the motive of green space in their departments and they must get everyone on board with the idea of the benefit of sustainable development and it's worth with respect to the profits. Also, the report of 2014, McKinsey found that companies with such shift are having better outcomes with respect to market and productivity leading to happy shareholders as well. Thus, choosing Environmental responsibility with communicating the same to shareholders and stakeholders can be a win-win situation for the company.

To create a change and contribute to the environment with the agenda like sustainable development goals vis-a-vis the company's profitability, vision and mission, the companies need to get the corporation of stakeholders and shareholders and create a balance between the interest of these two with the objective of meeting the environmental responsibilities of the company what's the public (Business Ethics, 2020).

References for Managing for Sustainability

Adams, R., Licht, A., & Sagiv, L. (2011). Shareholders and stakeholders: how do directors decide? Strategic Management Journal, 32(12), 1331-1355. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41261796

As You sow. (2019). As You Sow Praises Unilever’s Plastic Reduction Plan, But Collection Goals Need Unprecedented Collaboration and Funding. Retrieved from: https://www.asyousow.org/press-releases/2019/10/7/unilever-plastic-recycling-goals

Brave Business. (2019). The sustainability shift: from charitable business cost to growth opportunity. Retrieved from: https://bravebusiness.today/2019/06/10/sustainability-shift/

Christian, S. (2016). Leadership and Motivation. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-31036-7_12.

Coun, M., Peters, P. and Blomme, R. (2019). Taking the Leadership Role: Understanding Leadership Across Team and Organizational Boundaries in View of the Changing Employment Relationship. J Ldrship Studies, 12, 65-68. DOI: 10.1002/jls.21612

Eccles, R. and Klimenko, S. (2019). The Investor Revolution. Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2019/05/the-investor-revolution

Environment & Energy Leader. (2016). 6 Benefits of Becoming a Sustainable Business. Retrieved from: https://www.environmentalleader.com/2016/03/6-benefits-of-becoming-a-sustainable-business/

Financial Times. (2019). Progress toward sustainable development is seriously off-track. Retrieved from: https://www.ft.com/content/0c0eadc6-f739-11e9-bbe1-4db3476c5ff0

Graciola, A.et al. (2018). Sustainability, Retail and Supply Chains: Twenty Years of Research. Revista de Negócios. 23, 7-23. DOI: 10.7867/1980-4431.2018v23n2p7-23.

Market Screener. (2020). Unilever (NL). Retrieved from: https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/UNILEVER-NL-6290/company/

Matuleviciene, M & Stravinskiene, J. (2015). The Importance of Stakeholders for Corporate Reputation. Engineering Economics, 26. DOI: 10.5755/j01.ee.26.1.6921.

Mc Kinskey & Co.. (2014). Profits with Purpose: How Organizing for Sustainability Can Benefit the Bottom Line. Retrieved from: https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Business%20Functions/Sustainability/Our%20Insights/Profits%20with%20purpose/Profits%20with%20Purpose.pdf

Nielsen Report. 2019. Total Consumer Report 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/report/2019/total-consumer-report-2019/

Proceedings of the OECD Rome Conference. 2000. Towards sustainable development indicators to measure progress, 222, Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/site/worldforum/33703694.pdf

Project Manager. (2019). Stakeholder vs. Shareholder: How They’re Different & Why It Matters. Retrieved from: https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/stakeholder-vs-shareholder

Sobande, E. (2020). Cross-Silo Leadership. The Leadership Factor.

Unilever. (2020). Engaging with stakeholder. Retrieved from: https://www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/our-approach-to-reporting/engaging-with-stakeholders/#:~:text=To%20succeed%20in%20our%20purpose,other%20businesses%20through%20trade%20associations.

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