Management for a Small Planet: Book Review Preface This book is based on the environmental issues which help the managers decide on the strategic decisions that are both economically successful and delicate to the natural enviroment. It will help managers to know about the current global and public issues which particularly relate to the economic activities but the businesses. There are scientific, social and economic concepts being introduced, which can be co related to sensitive environmental issues. This can help achieve a long term economic success within the limits of the ecosystem. The Earth is Small Planet Over the years of the Industrial Revolution, business organisations have ignored the effects on the Earth which has been …show more content…
After the Industrial Revolution, the introduction of powerful fossil fuel energy sources and mass production techniques, modern and improved communication and transport techniques; the humans are now being able to survive and thrive which in turn is helping the population to grow. But with the advancement, the Earth’s natural resources are also being depleted. The humans are doing everything possible to squeeze more and more from less and less. However, with the emergence of new technology this can be changed. Becoming Part of Something Larger The most crucial part of doing business in today’s world is to understand how to make a positive contributions to the quality of life while earning a profit. This can be achieved by considering the new values and concepts of thinking while running a business organisation. (Halal, 1968; Handy 1989; Maslow 1962; Schumacher, 1973.1977; Senge 1990; Senge et al. 2008). According to these authors, the organisations should have a clearer goal in considering the contribution to the quality of life in a larger community and innovate more structures, processes and outputs designed to attain the social, ecological and economic needs of the consumers, employees etc. Edward (2005) has named this development as the ‘sustainable organisation management’. The transition from the Industrial Revolution to the Sustainable Revolution is presently more on ideas and thoughts but less on the solutions.
Bertrand Piccard quotes, “In the 21st century, the heroes will be the people who will improve the quality of life, fight poverty and introduce more sustainability. This is a powerful message, it sums up the concepts discussed throughout the course. Additionally, the case studies such as the New Belgium Brewery, SC Johnson and The Kimberly Clarke organization have been proven to practice this philosophy. As society progresses in its efforts to provide a more sustainable future, there is a fundamental foundation of principles that must be followed to ensure success. Sustainable business development takes into account the application of business operations as it relates to the three pillars of sustainability, which is a dynamic yet integrative place to begin this journey. DesJardins, (2006) calls for a re-imagination of the future to create a vibrant sustainable model; which forms similar beliefs to Piccard. In addition, organizations are more inclined to create sustainable practices based on consumer demand and the willingness of leadership to participate in sustainability programs.
Earth has not yet, reached its carrying capacity. Many people believe that Earth’s resources are running out due to the human population exponential growth, and the linear growth of food supply. The document, “Has Earth Reached its Carrying Capacity?” by Julia Layton, points out the fact that if the human population does more to extend the amount of resources available to us, we can increase Earth’s carrying capacity. For example, On page one, Paragraph four, Layton writes, “...technological advancement... they(scientist) have argued that this human ability allows food production to grow exponentially, as well.” Many advances in technology have giving us a wide range of information. Some of which could help us, now or in the future, to create
Its value and longevity are connected to its ability to contribute to the evolution of society and its sustainable development,” (Balestrero & Udo, 2014, p. 78). As HP highlights, organizational sustainability is made possible through all sizes of changes, even down to the efficiency of real estate office
The earths resources are finite and we are very close to meeting the earths carrying capacity. We created the era of a constant want and desire for material products which has created the concept of supply and demand; which inevitably led to corporations to go multinational, also known as transitional companies. These transitional companies are what have created sweat shops in third world countries therefore we are not only destroying our own resources to fill this supply and demand, we are also creating an idea of power and dominance over ourselves which has ultimately led to economic disparity. We should be trying to salvage our resources and share amongst ourselves of whatever we have left, not using everything until it’s gone and leaving people better off than others. This constant want and desire for materialistic items has blinded us, forgetting every time we create a phone or a laptop we are taking from the earth and what we are taking can not be replenished.
To a regular person, the global concern about ‘going green’ might appear as a result of speculation from nervous politicians and alarmed citizens. But the reality is totally different. In recent years, businesses have gained much knowledge about the impact of their activities on environment and in turns their customers. Businesses are successively venturing to earn greater revenues. In this process, they are trying out every best possibility to entice their contributors- from customers to investors. Regardless to say, stakeholders these days are more socially responsible than ever. So to keep up to their expectations, businesses are also trying to expand or limit their activities to save the environment- from doing relentless research on lowering waste to lean management and even trying out various eco-friendly activities. Despite of all these, the ultimate question remains unanswered if it is financially beneficial to adapt those initiatives that is going to serve the
In this unit the author speaks about time for a management reset, meaning that since there are so many changes occurring in the business world such as in our economy that it is essential that companies start changing their management strategies. Company managers tend to be more effectively reset their management by restructuring their goals, thus prioritizing environmental and social issues. Furthermore, there are two management resets that occurred in the past, one was the Command and Control Organizations (CCOs), which came about because of mass production due to high consumer demand. The other management reset was the High Involvement Organizations (HIOs) in which began when the work became more difficult and higher educational levels were necessary. The author further states that because of the various environment, social, and business changes that CCOs and HIOs are now obsolete in our current business world; and that the two main reasons are due to the rapid pace of globalization and the rising rate of environmental degradation. Furthermore, the author continues by mentioning that in order to have sustainable management there must be flexibility for change while having environmental awareness, supporting all the employees involved, and making a consistent profit. In order for the effectiveness of an organization it would depend on four methods, which are the how the value is created, how work is organized, how people are treated,
An environmental analysis in plays an essential role in business management by providing possible opportunities or threats outside the company in its external environment. The purpose of an environmental analysis is to help to develop a plan by keeping decision-makers within an organization. The changes include exchanging of executive parties, increasing guidelines to decrease pollution, technological developments, and fluctuating demographics. An environment analysis helps the industries to improve the outline of their environment to find more opportunities or threats.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impacts of different environmental factors on the business operations of a company. The discussion has been made in the light of international accepted microeconomics concepts and practices.
Nowadays, many international companies take sustainable development seriously. They understand that sustainable development can enhance their quality of life and their reputation in public. Sustainable development is "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." (Brundtland, 1987) Sustainability requires monitoring and managing all the person to ensure that our economy and society can continue to exist without destroying the social and natural environment during development. The sustainability includes three pillars, which are economic, social and environment, forming a triple bottom line. The triple bottom line demands that a company 's responsibility lies
For example, Interface’s model emphasised a more ecological and environmental drive, while accompanying the social aspects of maximising stakeholder satisfaction. However, Bendigo Bank solely emphasised on the social aspects, in accordance to the enhancement of customer and community welfare. Overall, the contribution to sustainability elucidated a post-bureaucratic view, however, Clegg and Courpasson (2004) suggest, post-bureaucracy forms are an original amalgamation of older principles in a perception designated as a new. Therefore, the degree of bureaucratic essence was evidential as both cases acknowledge profit as a significant outcome in the social and the environmental aspect of an organisation. Therefore, Stubbs and Cockling (2008) highlight the role of leadership in contributing to sustainable values, by aligning organisational ideal's with the “community values”. Hence, focused leaders are then contributing to “cultural sustainability” in the minds of the “stakeholder” (Bansal, 2002 cited in Stubbs and Cocklin 2008 pg. 116). However, Cockling and Stubbs advocate, once the culture attains sustainability there is little reliance on hierarchical leadership. Thus, modern-bureaucratic leadership has indefinitely interpolated with this collective style of post-heroic stakeholder sustainability, shaping and driving the purpose and mission of the business, through the sustainable business
One positive implication capitalism has to the natural environment is industrial ecology, a system of chain production and consumption, serving to the lowest environmental impacts in a most environmentally sustainable economy as the main goal of operation (Richards & Pearson, 1998). The Companies in a like to operate in such way because of four major reasons. The most important factor is known as the corporate well-being, for it is determined by higher profits and growth provided by innovations in an industry. Profits are increased from recognizing the production ineffiency costs that comes from wasted inputs and energy losses; this allowing cost savings to increase and ineffiency to decrease. compliance with cleaner technology alternatives such as ones that produce less waste and less energy will provide long term savings which are both beneficial to the environment and the business at hand. A real world example freight company changes their salvaged driving equipment to hybrid vehicles. Money is temporarily lost, but the gasoline and maintenances cost savings will compensate in a long run period of time.
Humans, like all other species, exploit their surroundings for the resources they need to survive. Our current exploitation of the world, however, is greater than those of most species. There are many reasons for this exploitation but we will focus on one and that is our technology, which is used for various
With the development of the global economy, the interaction between environment and companies became more important, therefore, throughout macro environment analysis, which includes political, economic, social, environment, legal and technology (PESTEL) that provides an indispensable part in the comprehensive list to understand opportunities and threats on the businesses (Searle and Barbuto, 2010). In this industry, political, economy and technology would mainly influence the strategies, thus
An organization is an open system; therefore it interacts with its environment. To manage the relationship with the environment, a large part of strategic planning is concerned. The environmental factors can be divided to 2 main categories, which is MACRO and MICRO .Macro environmental factors seriously affect an organization business practice, profitability and future progress. It can
This research is compiled to explain how good ethical practices and good values in business can yield sustainability within the business and the society as a whole and in order to do this the concept of ethical business practice and values have to be understood.