Business Sustainability for Gorilla Health Bars Pty Ltd - Case Study Example

Sustainability Report for Guerilla Health Bars Pty Ltd Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Abstract This sustainability report discussed the concepts of corporate social responsibility. Guerilla health bars Pty Ltd has started to experience some increase in its profits but for maximum profits to be realized, the corporate sustainability programs should be developed to improve the image of the organisation. The strategies recommended include single sourcing by creating good relationship with the suppliers; improve the working conditions of the employees and also developing water recycling strategies. The report also recommended that corporate sustainability can be achieved by engaging in community affairs and creating market for the local materials as this will improve the relationship between the community and the stakeholders. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Introduction 4 Background literature 4 Recommendations based on findings 5 Conclusions 8 Recommendations 8 References 9 Introduction Corporate suitability includes the business activities that help to improve the sustainability of any business. There are various strategies that can be employed by an organization to improve the competitive advantage. One of the strategies is corporate social responsibility. The aim of this report is to investigate the strategies employed by Guerilla health bars Pty Ltd as a way of being involved in corporate social responsibility (Lantos & Cooke 2003). This report will be limited to Guerilla health bars Pty Ltd and will only focus on the challenges facing the organization and provide appropriate recommendations to improve the business performance. In addition, the report will only be limited to corporate social responsibility strategies that can be sustainable by the business. In this effect, this report aims to recommend the corporate social responsibilities which are sustainable for the business so that it can be able to compete effectively in the market. Background literature Corporate social responsibility activities help to create good working conditions between the organization and the stakeholders. From the background information about Guerilla health bars Pty Ltd, it is evident that there are some improvements that can be applied to improve the competitive advantage of the organisation. The company has tried to implement strategies that have enabled it to start gaining some profit despite commencing just four years ago (Lantos & Cooke 2003). The companies which have sustainable business programs manage to implement strategies that are cost effective but help to improve their reputation in the competitive business environment. The main stakeholders of the organisation who take part in the corporate social responsibilities include the employees, the community and the government agencies as well as the suppliers. Despite these efforts that have been employed by the management of Guerilla health bars Pty Ltd, there are some strategies that can be employed to improve the performance of the organisation. However, corporate sustainability consumes resources and this implies that the management of organisation should be able to understand the best CSR strategies to implement and at the same time make profits. The management and the investors should however agree on the strategies that can be employed so that they cannot affect the profitability of the organisation or cause the conflicts between the management and the investors. The implementation of corporate sustainability programs helps to build good reputation of the company which in turn leads to improved productivity of the company (Bhattacharya et al 2011). Considering the case of Guerilla health bars Pty Ltd, the company has been experiencing some increase in profits but it should be able to implement appropriate corporate sustainability programs to ensure that the overall goals and objectives been achieved. This is because through corporate sustainability the corporate strategies applied can be afforded by the organisation but have greater impact on the performance of the company. Failing to engage in corporate social responsibility can lead to conflicts between the management and the stakeholders. It is important therefore to understand the best strategies that can be applied by the organisation to improve its profitability. Recommendations based on findings These recommendations are based on the findings from the research done on Guerilla health bars Pty Ltd. In the first place, the first corporate social responsibility strategy that can be applied is improving the good working conditions of the employees. This can be done by ensuring that the building or the factory warehouse is expanded because the business is also expanding. Since the business has started making some profits, it is important that the building made of the iron sheets should be eliminated and constructs better houses (Habisch et al 2005). This will help to improve the working conditions of the employees hence they will offer their best skills to achieve better results for the organisation since it will not be too hot during summer or cold during winter. In addition, building better houses will help to sustain the costs of cooling the premises. The cost of renovating the business will be cost effective as compared to the cost of cooling the build during hit summer. This is one of the sustainable strategies that can be applied to reduce the expenses of the organisation because renovation will be done once in a while (Habisch et al 2005). This will improve the working conditions of the employees and also improve the profitability of the organisation at large. On the other hand, the management of the organisation should the corporate social responsibility strategy of recycling the water consumed by the factory. This is because failing to recycle the water will lead to water shortage to the society. This will lead to conflicts between the local community and Guerilla health bars Pty Ltd. It is therefore important to consider the strategies that can be employed to reduce water consumption so that the water sources can be sustainable to the business operations (Kerr et al 2009). The management should also take initiatives to educate the society on how to conserve the water sources so that the sources can be sustainable to the organisation and the community. However, water recycling can be costly but at the long run it will be cost effective to the organisation leading to effective utilization of the resources of the community. In this effect, the corporate social responsibility will be sustainable and will help to create good image of the company. Single sourcing strategy can also help to reduce the cost of transportation. Currently, the managing director is sourcing from Darwin and South Australia and this means that the cost of transportation has been consuming the financial resources of the company greatly. Single sourcing will help to ensure that the economies of scale are achieved because the cost of transporting materials from different sources can be costly as compared to sourcing from single source. There will be discounts and after sale services like reduction in transportation (Bhattacharya et al 2011). This will help to improve the relationship with the suppliers and at the same time improve the profitability of the organisation since the cost of transport will be kept low. However, as the organisation grows, the multiple sourcing strategies can be applied to ensure that competitive bidding is done to select the best and reliable suppliers for the organisation. These strategies applied will be sustainable to the business and this will improve the competitive advantage of the organisation. In addition, the company should engage in corporate social responsibility programs like jointly working together to ensure that water sources have been preserved. This is because the water is limited and can be exhausted. This means that the management should be able to educate the society on how they can use the water sustainably (Weiss 2009). This is because if the water sources are utilized carelessly there will be water shortage and this will affect the reputation and performance of Guerilla health bars Pty Ltd. From these findings, it has been noted that corporate social responsibility can help to improve the competitive advantage of the organisation. This is because the corporate social responsibility strategies can help Guerilla health bars Pty Ltd to create good working relationship with the suppliers and other stakeholders like the employees and the community (Weiss 2009). In addition, the corporate responsibility programs will help to reduce the cost of operations since the cost of transportation will be reduced and the factory will not run short of important materials like raw materials such as water. Conclusions The report discussed the concepts of corporate social responsibility and how Guerilla health bars Pty Ltd can create competitive advantage through sustainability programs. According to the findings of this research, it has been determined that Guerilla health bars Pty Ltd has managed to improve its performance due to the strategies that have been employed. The corporate social responsibility strategies that can be employed include ensuring single sourcing, developing and implementing recycling water strategies so that the water sources can be sustainable for the company. The other sustainability program to be implemented is good working conditions among the employees. These programs will help to improve the competitive advantage of the organisation as there will be optimum utilization of resources. Recommendations The corporate social responsibility can be improved by ensuring that the local community has been engaged and given the first priority when there are employment opportunities (Bhattacharya et al 2011). This is important since it will help to manage the conflicts between the society and the management hence its activities can be readily accepted in the community. On the other, the management of the organization should sources for the products from the local market as long as they can meet the required standards (Lantos & Cooke 2003). This means that the management should focus on providing market for the local materials and in this way it will be possible to improve the relationship between the organization and the community. In this way, the community will be the ambassadors of the products produced by the company. References Bhattacharya, C., Sen, S & Korschun, D 2011, Leveraging Corporate Social Responsibility: The Stakeholder Route to Business and Social Value. Cambridge: UK: Cambridge University Press. Habisch, A; Jonker, J.; Wagner, M & Schmidpeter, R 2005, Corporate Social Responsibility Across Europe. Springer. Kerr, M.; Janda, R & Pitts, C 2009, Pitts, C., ed. Corporate Social Responsibility: A Legal Analysis. Toronto: LexisNexis. Lantos, G., P & Cooke, S 2003,"Corporate Socialism Unethically Masquerades as "CSR": The Difference between Being Ethical, Altruistic, and Strategic in Business". Strategic Direction Vol. 19, No. 6, pp. 31–35. Weiss, J. W 2009, Business Ethics: A Stakeholder and Issues Management Approach With Cases (5 ed.). Mason, OH:: South-Western Cengage Learning. Read More