Sustainability Strategy and Roadmap Review of Brambles - Case Study Example

SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY AND ROADMAP REVIEW OF BRAMBLES NAME: INSTRUCTOR: INSTITUTION: COURSE: DATE: INTRODUCTION Brambles is a supply-chain logistics organization which specializes in the pooling of unit-load equipment as well as related services. It was founded in 1875 with headquarters in Sydney Australia and currently operates in more than sixty (60) states, mainly in North America and Western parts of Europe operating through the CHEP and IFCO brands. It is listed in the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX:BXB), Brindley, Chaille (1 May 2012). Brambles enhances presentation for its clienteles through assisting them transport their products via their supply chains in a more efficient, sustainable and safe way. The Group’s main activity is to provide eco-friendly unit-load equipment such as pallets, wrecks and vessels for common use by several members all through the supply chain using the pooling system where the company has exceptional system scale together with extensive experience. Brambles mainly attend for the fast-moving customer products such as grocery and generally the manufacturing industries. The Group also operates special businesses where it serves the automotive, aerospace and oil and gas subdivisions. Brambles operates on values that are integrally maintainable by providing effective, harmless and maintainable solutions for customers’ supply chains while minimalizing effects in the environment through positive contribution in order to;   SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY AND ROADMAP REVIEW In order for Brambles to remain significant in the market over time, the stakeholders should consider; 1) CUSTOMERS In this sector, Brambles looks at; Customer satisfaction; Brambles believes that for it to succeed it must ensure satisfaction of its customers. Hence its main focus is to improve the levels of customer satisfaction by ensuring better quality of product and services and therefore equal relations factors that are believed to be the main source of competitive advantage in the market. Customer solutions; through attending to customers’ needs and concerns and replying with innovative solutions, the company will maintain its customers. Brambles trusts that its business models create positive contributions to maintainable business practices and it aims at integrating sustainability into the ways it carries out its business activities and the value proposition it offers. Through customer solutions Brambles is also able to keep track of their customers which enables management to recognize any market changes if any and hence come up with the necessary solutions. In 2010, the CHEP USA team developed several customer focused activities to help with the client response from its Net Promoter program. Among the developed activities is the total account management service; in this case a CHEP manager is located at the client’s site in order to take care of management and asset control, offer detailed reports and ascertain ways to cut on the supply chain costs. Through the program, CHEP is able to understand clients’ needs and what is required in order to bring about improvements in their products and services. PRODUCT & SERVICE QUALITY & SAFETY; Brambles is dedicated to attaining Zero Harm and therefore considers the health, safety and environment influences in its decisions all the way from project development to product launch. Hence, Brambles is dedicated to constantly improve the quality of its products and services in order to maintain its customers. In every CHEP centre all around the world has a safety management system and innovation centres that assess the impacts that every product produced has on the health and safety of its customers. 2) ENVIRONMENT sustainable timber sourcing; any manufacturing company takes into consideration how its manufacturing process and the wastes emitted affect the environment and Brambles is no different. One of the main values of Brambles is to achieve Zero Harm and deliberates on environmental effects in all its decisions, which includes obtaining of lumber. CHEP has strict timber obtaining rules and by 2015, it achieved the chain custody for certification for timber pallets assuring accountable and sustainable practices. From the IUCN Red List2, CHEP uses a total of 58 species of trees in timber supply none of which are considered to be either endangered or extinct. Out of the 58 species, one species is considered to be ‘’susceptible’’, two of them as ‘close threatened’ and the remaining 55 as ‘tiniest concerned’. Greenhouse gas emission; brambles target by 2015 was a reduction in the gas emission by over 20%. The company was able to achieve its target since in 2015, emissions decreased by over 23%. Therefore, Brambles was able to attain its objective f reduced emissions. WASTE MANAGEMENT Brambles is dedicated to efficient use of resources while minimising wastage. Pallet pooling in CHEPS systems is operated in the principle of reducing, reusing and recycling. This principle helps minimise wastage in that one by-product in can be used in the production of a new product. CHEP's pallet combining system functions on the principles of reducing, reusing and recycling of products. Water; since Brambles is dedicated to using resources more efficiently and at the same time minimising waste. Brambles identifies that water is important in numerous zones of its operations and therefore, the supply of water is essential for the environment and the community at large. Hence, it has to utilise water wisely in the production activities. Due to this, Brambles through the business unit Brambles developed procedures that could be used in monitoring water usage and wastage and therefore try to cut on wastage. Transport effects; Brambles is operating towards reducing its environmental footprint by using its logistics knowledge to reduce the footmark of its clients and the supply chain. Network enhancement leads to a reduction in the transport distance as well as related emissions. CHEP’S Total Pallet Management (TPM) is a program that is offered to main producers and retailers in order to help them manage the client’s pallet requirements on the ground and hence supply them without using additional forms of transport. Clients’ use of the TPM program aids enhance the network and also decreases the energy desires related with the pallet pool. PEOPLE Employee engagement; Brambles acknowledges that individuals are its most significant asset and therefore it is devoted to providing a safe, satisfying and puzzling environment for its personnel. Ensuring its personnel are engaged; listening to their feedback and treating them with integrity and respect. Engagement of personnel is done via the Brambles Employees Survey (BES) that is applied to all personnel and is private. The BES is used in investigating the perception the personnel have concerning their working environment and the data used to track progress of the workers from the previous studies. The results are used to identify if there are any changes required for improvement. Well-being and safety; Brambles' Zero Damage Charter states that each and every worker has the right to be safe in the work place and return home as healthy as they reported to work. Each worker is supposed to work in a safe environment and Brambles aims to apply best professional health, protection and location practices for the workers, contractors, clients and resident communities. Attracting and retaining talent especially in leadership; Brambles operates a competent employee structure which allows employees to comprehend the abilities and capabilities that are obligatory for them to perform their duties and also what they need to develop for them to progress in their career paths. Career development is a significant part of Brambles’ employment offers and executive development undertakings in the company. Therefore it is important for the employees to develop their careers since it plays an important role in the employee’s future in the company in terms of promotions and appraisals. Diversity and inclusion; like any other company, Brambles recruits its employees based on their qualifications and professional abilities irrespective of gender, age and race. Training and development; for the company to meet its current and future needs, it is devoted to equip its employees with the necessary skills through training for them to be able to grab the opportunities that might be available in the company instead of the company hiring new worker which could be expensive. COMMUNITY Supplier sustainability; Brambles supposes that the believes and practices of their suppliers need to be in line with its values. Through monitoring their suppliers, Brambles is able to keep track of their supplier’s activities and therefore able to identify in case something is not right in the supply chain. Community investment; it is important for a company to be part of the communities in which they are located. Brambles business units identify their duty in making positive contributions to the communities in the areas where they are located in terms of sustainability and education. Through these activities, the communities would realise the importance of the company in the area. GOVERNANCE Governance; Brambles is aware that it essential to have the correct risk and governance together with suitable organisations in place to cope all effects in a sensible manner. The company’s sustainability strategy identifies that sustainability need to be entrenched into its company disaster management frame. Brambles utilises the business governance measures and procedures so as to supervise its performance, most importantly the sustainability performance. Mergers and acquirements; the mission of Brambles is to create greater stockholder worth by using its people and their innovative spirit. Brambles will work with the companies it obtains in order to recognise and approve the better practices available for utilization. Vision of Brambles IFCO’s vision is to attain and uphold the international market control and success in all of our businesses without either forgoing or bargaining the ethical accountability of the company towards all the people with whom we deal and to the environmental system from which we draw our resources. Mission The RPC solutions of the company are advanced and are envisioned to bring about the best environmental guard. IFCO's mission is to take into consideration the social and environmental effects in the process of constantly improving the company’s solutions so that they provide the most cost effective and ecologically friendly ways to support the company’s clients. Performance of Brambles Performance of any company is measured through; Efficiency; this is the ratio of the resources used to the produced goods and services. An efficient company will utilise the available resources in order to maximize its profits. Efficiency is also measured in the market share and the company’s productivity levels. Effectiveness; this is measured in terms of how close the company was to attain its set objectives. In case the company does not achieve its set goals, the management team will be able to come up with procedures to be used in order for them to achieve the objectives. Satisfaction; this leads leads to long term efficient dependency on staff development and the attitudes and values of employees. Adaptability; this leads to long term effective dependency on the product/service leadership and the balancing of the short-term and long-term objectives of the company. Brambles displays the above factors in performance. Therefore, due to the sustainability strategies adopted by Brambles, its performance has improved over time in relation to customers, the environment, the community in which they operate in, waste management, and governance. It is due to these strategies that the company is able to run its activities throughout the world in a smooth manner. Culture of Brambles As an international company, it is essential to reason and communicate across verbal and environmental barriers, and to also position our policies accordingly. Nevertheless, as we attempt to succeed in each single market that we are present in, we purpose to be supple enough so as to familiarize our international approach to the local market conditions. The company’s business model requires it to maintain close relations with their clients as well as the resident market surroundings, for us to realise this, we reason on a global level while we act locally. Therefore, we normally recruit our staff members from the countries in which we operate so as to cut on cost as a result of language barrier among other factors. Since they are from the same region as the clients, they are acquainted with specific client requirements and worries, and are familiar with the diverse beliefs describing the numerous separate markets. This close interaction between the company and their customers together with the environment in which they function is crucial for the long term success of the company. CONCLUSION Sustainability is the usage of resources to allow society to fulfil present wants, without compromising the aptitude of the future generations to meet these wants, Baumgärtner, S., & Quaas, M. (2009). Therefore, Sustainable development satisfies the present needs without hurting needs of the future generations in any form. Sustainable development has three pillars; economic, social and environmental sustainability pillars. An organisation is a group of people who are working together with division of labour for them to accomplish a mutual purpose. Organisations can also be viewed as sectors with subsectors that are composed of consistent parts that function together. Open systems convert the raw material inputs from the environment into final goods or services through processing. According to Tsai, M., Tsai, M., & Chang, C. (2013), the organization consists of the internal and external systems. Bramble being an international company faces a number of challenges such as; Resource flows; this is the flow of resources from one country to another especially in cases where tariffs do not apply. This will affect the company both positively and negatively considering whether the company is located in a developed or less developed country. Product markets; international expansion leads to the expansion of the product market in that the company’s products are introduced to international market which could result in higher profits as well as increased market share. Business competition; as a company expands globally, there is increases competition in the international market. This completion can be in the form of cost and price of the company products or the target market. The profit or loss that the company incurs depends on how it approaches competition in the international market. Therefore, it is important for the company to have a competitive team that would keep up with changes in the market and hence develop counter measures for the company not to suffer loses since the objective of any business organization is to maximize profits while minimizing cost as much as possible. The management process involves; Planning; this involves setting objectives of the organisation and determining procedures on how to achieve them Organising; this is the organizing of company resources including workers in order to meet the set goals Leading; this is a situation where the leaders inspire the subordinate staff so as to achieve high performance Controlling; this is a method that is used by the management team to measure the workers’ performance and make adjustments accordingly to make sure that the objectives are met. Therefore for a company to be successful either locally or in the international market, the organisation of its management plays a critical role. The company should differentiate between top managers, middle managers and the lower level managers. Through separation of duties, each employee knows what to do and when to do it making it easy to run the operations of the company. The management should also understand the difference between local management systems and the international management systems since management systems differ between countries. Additionally, they should also consider risks associated with both currency and political risks which may lead to huge losses in international investments. REFERENCES Baumgärtner, S., & Quaas, M. (2009). What is sustainability economics?. Lüneburg: Inst. für Volkswirtschaftslehre. Brindley, Chaille (1 May 2012). "CHEP and IFCO Systems Integration: Brambles Unveils Growth and Business Strategy Plans at Investors Conference". Pallet Enterprise. Retrieved 16 October 2014. Elena Windolph, S., Schaltegger, S., & Herzig, C. (2014). Implementing corporate sustainability. Sustainability Accounting, Management And Policy Journal, 5(4), 378-404. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/sampj-01-2014-0002. Golinska-Dawson, P., & Kübler, F. (2017). Sustainability in Remanufacturing Operations. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Madhavan, G. (2013). Practicing sustainability. New York, NY: Springer. Snyder, C., & Spaner, D. (2010). The Sustainability of Organic Grain Production on the Canadian Prairies—A Review. Sustainability, 2(4), 1016-1034. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su2041016 D'heur, M. Sustainable value chain management. Pezzey, J., & Toman, M. The Economics of Sustainability. Tsai, M., Tsai, M., & Chang, C. (2013). The Direct and Indirect Factors on Affecting Organizational Sustainability. Journal Of Management And Sustainability, 3(4). http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/jms.v3n4p67 Wirtenberg, J. (2014). Building a culture for sustainability. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger. Read More