Measuring Sustainability in a manufacturing /operation Organization - Essay Example

Since then the group has realigned itself over time and entered the real estate development business too under the label of Al Ain Properties. The real estate wing was created in 2005 to deal with real estate development at home and abroad. Al Ain Properties (formerly Seba Properties) now deals with real estate in both the UAE and the Middle East as well as globally. The company has investments and assets in North America, Europe, North America as well as North Africa. The real estate development by the company has not been limited to residential spaces alone but has expanded to take on commercial and industrial projects too.

Currently, Al Ain Properties deals with the development of apartment complexes, villas, retail space, hotel and resort complexes, commercial offices as well as industrial warehouses (Al Ain Properties, 2013). Al Ain Properties has been at the fore front of the real estate industry in Abu Dhabi and is committed to the application of industrial best practices. In addition, the company is aware of the need to use advanced architectural design and adherence to building standards. Another major facet of Al Ain Properties’ operation is the emphasis on environmental sustainability.

The company does its level best to achieve environmental sustainability by minimising the need for energy during development and operation of its projects globally. Sustainability is central to all business operations at Al Ain Properties (Al Ain Properties, 2013). Introduction to Area of Research Sustainability has grown as a top concern for corporate governance over the years. The contention behind such a growth is to ensure the continuation of operations for the concerned business and to minimize any forms of damage to the framework that the business operates in.

Typically sustainability is meant to deal with environmental issues and hence minimisation of damage to the environment. However, in more modern terms, sustainability has assumed new dimensions such as human resources, ethics, social interaction, fiscal reporting as well as other facets (Kolk, 2008). On another note, sustainability has been seen for long as a means to increase shareholder value. This was taken as a central means to deal with corporate governance for decades in advanced economies such as the United States.

The continuation or sustainability achieved by this approach was directed at reinvesting corporate gains in the business so as to produce more profits for the shareholder. However, this practice has come into question given doubts as to its long term efficacy. The maximisation of shareholder value does provide a simple means to measure the induced sustainability but the long term effects of such an approach are seen as being unsustainable (Lazonick & O'Sullivan, 2000). Additionally, this approach does not support social and economic goals in terms of the larger picture to produce sustainable business operations.

The constant evolution of current and past ideas on sustainable business operations indicates that there is room for improvement in sustainability. The qualitative approaches to sustainability gauging used in the past have failed to avert large problems such as the Enron scandal. The failure in Enron’s case provides strong evidence to unsustainable operations based on erroneous fiscal reporting practices. In response to current challenges and evolving ideas on sustainability, there seems to be a need for better sustainability measurement in