Sustainable Value Portfolio - Research Paper Example

? Sustainable Value Portfolio Introduction Sustainability in business refers to the focus an organization puts on the impact of its activities to the environment, the economy and society. Sustainability in business can take different concepts, which include; a balance in the operational concepts of a business, integration of the operational concepts of a business, and integration of business concepts, to ensure sustainability. In the balanced concepts of business sustainability, the business attempts to maximize its organizational value, by focusing on the investor value. This concept is normally intended to keep the business going. The concept mainly puts emphasis on sustaining the stakeholder relationships, which are essential in protecting the license required to operate the business. Sustainability in the integrated operational concept of business implies; striving to ensure simultaneous value creation for the stakeholders in the organization. This form of sustainability works towards enforcing positive effects of business elements. In this concept, the success of the business is normally built on unique competitive advantage of the business in its industry. The other concept of sustainability is the integrated strategic concept to ensure business sustainability. The major intention of this concept is to influence and include stakeholder views, in order to create value for the society. This concept of sustainability, also puts emphasis on the critical global issues, and ensures the organization has the capacity to solve the problems (Anderson, 2006). A Comparison Of Sustainability Value Portfolio Between Toyota and Hyundai An examination of the sustainability value portfolio between Toyota and Hyundai reveals that Hyundai has the best portfolio in terms of sustainability value. To enhance sustainable management issues, Hyundai has put effort in ensuring awareness among the executives and the staff members concerning sustainability, by ensuring an effective communication system. The company has created a wide sustainable management culture. To enhance sustainability, the company has put in place a global reporting initiative. It has also taken into consideration the social, environmental and economic factors necessary to ensure performance of the business. Hyundai has also proved to have the best portfolio in terms of sustainability through their stakeholder participation. The company has made a classification of its stakeholders into staff members and stakeholders, subcontractors, customers, shareholders and investors, local communities, and government agencies. Through this, key issues concerning sustainability management have been assigned to each group. However, examining Toyota’s portfolio towards sustainability, the company has focused on ensuring they always make better cars, and enriching the lives of different communities, hence the company is likely to ensure sustainability, however, in the long term range (Becker, 2008). Examining the sustainability value portfolio for Hyundai reveals that; the company has put emphasis on upgrading the core capabilities of the organization. The company has encouraged creative and innovative thinking among the employees, to boost performance in procurement, design and construction management. To ensure global leadership, the company has put in place a vision towards sustainable management. An examination of their future projects, the company has put in place strategies, to accompany the action plans required to unsure sustainable growth of the company (Boudreau, Ramstad, 2005). An examination of the company’s sustainability value portfolio, in terms of the working environment, it is evident that; the company, which is under the construction industry, has undergone rapid transformations in the business environment because of the global environmental issues which include climate change. The business areas of the industry have also expanded and include the development of resources and infrastructure. To enhance sustainability, then company has focused on competition issues, which include marketing and finances. The company is also focusing on the corporate social responsibility, which entails nurturing of new growth engines, for example, nuclear power plants, and the use of new and renewable energy. Hyundai’s sustainability value portfolio seems to be the best compared to Toyota in that; in order to enhance development and to keep up with the global competition, the company has managed to change from engineering and construction based company, to a company that comprises, procurement, engineering and construction management. With these efforts and advancements in technology, Hyundai is likely to evolve into a world class construction firm (Colbert, 2004). The sustainability value portfolio for Hyundai has also proved to be the best, because of their social contribution. The company has attempted to create a positive economic value, by investing in infrastructure that also benefits the public. The company has invested in infrastructure such as roads. This is different from Toyota in that; Toyota strives to ensure sustainability in the global level, and the community level, by ensuring they provide high quality services and products, but they do not concentrate on the social contributions such as building infrastructure (Cooney, 2009). Hyundai’s sustainability value portfolio also seems to be the best because; Hyundai has attempted to enhance environmental value, by attempting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and they have also attempted to reduce the amount energy and resources they use in construction, design and operation. The company has made efforts to ensure an improvement of the natural environment by employing strict internal standards, which imitate the criteria in international standards. The company has built nuclear power plants; they have also attempted to utilize new and renewable energy, by ensuring the optimization of the recycling rates of energy and water. The company has also built a tidal power plant, and they have also focused on the development of high performance materials that are eco-friendly. The company has also concentrated on energy saving methods focusing on green energy. This is different from the Toyota Company which does not put attention on the environment as a way of ensuring sustainable value portfolio for the company. However, in their strategies for sustainable value portfolio, Toyota is also seen to be making efforts in creating a resource recycling society. This is evident from the afforestation activities, the agricultural biomass operations, and the environmental greening projects. The company has attempted to counter urban heat by offering smart parking areas. However, this cannot be compared to the sustainability value portfolio of Hyundai (Hahn, 2008). Importance Of Sustainability In Business Sustainability is of importance to business in today’s world because; businesses that adhere to sustainability value portfolios normally have little negative impact on the local environment, global environment, the society, the community, and the economy. Such businesses normally adhere to environmental, and human rights policies. Sustainability in business normally ensures an organization supplies products and services that are environmentally friendly, therefore, replacing the demand for non-green products and services (Dobson, 1998). Sustainability is also vital in business today because; it ensures that companies make enduring commitments to the different environmental principles as they undertake their business operations. An organization engaging in sustainable business ensures that its processes, manufacturing activities, and products address the environmental concerns as it maintains its profits. Sustainability, therefore, ensures a company meets the needs of the present world, without affecting future generations. Sustainability is also crucial in today’s world in that; it enhances the assessment of new products, taking advantage of today’s environmental situation, and how to improve the performance of a company with the renewable resources available. Sustainability is also beneficial for any business in that it tends to put into consideration the long term consequences of an industry. To ensure economic stability, long lasting trade systems should normally be developed, to ensure the systems have reduced environmental impacts compared to previous methods. Corporate sustainability normally puts emphasis on social and environmental impacts of a business action (Rennie, 2008). Sustainability is also beneficial to any business in terms of investment. Many investors normally seek good business practices. These include worthy projects, which are brought in by sustainability. Investors tend to analyze the life cycle of the business, examining the carbon footprint and environmental impact of a product. Companies with large carbon footprints tend to lose investors (Sullivan, 2007). Sustainability also ensures a company remains competitive in the market. Companies that practice sustainability strategies tend to obtain greater profits for the business. Sustainability regulation is normally helpful in assisting competition, in business. This is because sustainability normally forces the business to innovate new solutions, which drive up profits for the company ensuring the company provides better products. With sustainability, new markets and demands are normally provided for the business. Increased demands by consumers for sustainability improvements have caused business to show interest in the green issues, hence improving the sustainability practices of different business. The main intention for this is normally to ensure they stand the competition they face from other companies (Tueth, 2010). Sustainability is also normally paramount in ensuring good business practice; this is because sustainability normally helps a company improve employee confidence. Businesses that engage in proper sustainability practices attract ethical investors. The companies can also gain funds to manage sustainability by accessing government grants and sales made to green activists (Dobson, 1998). References Anderson, D. R. (2006). "The critical importance of sustainability risk management." Risk Management. Vol. 53, no. 4. Becker, T. (2008). "The Business behind Green, Eliminating fear, uncertainty, and doubt." APICS magazine. vol. 18, no. 2. Boudreau, J. & Ramstad, P. (2005). “Talent ship, Talent Segmentation, and Sustainability: A New HR Decision Science Paradigm for a New Strategy Definition,” Human Resource Management 44(2): 129–136. Colbert, B. A. (2004). “The Complex Resource-Based View: Implications for Theory and Practice in Strategic Human Resource Management,” Academy of Management Review 29(3): 341–358. Cooney, S. (2009) "Build A Green Small Business. Profitable ways to become an entrepreneur." Hahn, Keenan. (2008). What is sustainable business? Dobson A (1998). Justice and the Environment: Conceptions of Environmental Sustainability and Dimensions of Social Justice, New York: Oxford University Press. Rennie, E. (2008). "Growing Green, Boosting the bottom line with sustainable business practices." APICS Magazine. Vol. 18, no. 2. Ron, S. (2007). "Enduring Success, Using the APICS body of knowledge to achieve greater sustainability." APICS magazine. vol. 17, no. 8. Tueth, M. (2010). Fundamentals of Sustainable Business A Guide to the Next 100 years. Hackensack: World Scientific Publishing Co. Read More