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Sustainable business practices are aimed at creating long-term value for stakeholders, including customers, employees, shareholders and the community, while ensuring that natural resources are conserved and protected for future generations. More and more companies today are embracing this triple bottom line concept (People, Plant and Profit), recognizing that there is room to realize business advantages along with social and environmental benefits, as an analysis by the Harvard Business Review points out. But how can a company, and especially a small-medium sized one, achieve that? And why should a business choose a green approach?
What is a sustainable business practice
A sustainable business practice is an approach that takes into account the social, economic, and environmental impact of business activities, according to a definition by the Coggin College of Business, University of North Florida. Sustainability is viewed as a form of triple-bottom-line system whereby a business enterprise communicates to their stakeholders its Economic (profit) performance, Environmental (planet) performance and Social (people) performance.
In fact, sustainability is not only about reducing the environmental impact of business operations by minimizing waste and pollution, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and conserving natural resources. A green strategy is a whole new business model including corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices, wherein even for-profit businesses work to achieve social and environmental goals in addition to their organizational objectives.
Social responsibility means, for example, promoting fair labor practices, supporting local communities, and ensuring product safety and quality.
Business objectives can be “sustainable” too: organizations should strive for economic sustainability, that is ensuring long-term profitability through sound financial management and responsible business practices.
