This presentation on business sustainability is a product of team of students from the University of Huddersfield, UK who mentored students from Kajire Secondary, Kenya in marketing, customer relations and business sustainability. Students communicated through skype and email in the first term of 2016. The cooperation was managed by student Chris Wainwright from the University of Huddersfield and Abuga Ezra, teacher and Sote ICT Club mentor at Kajire Secondary.
2. Business ethics
• Acting in an ethical way involves distinguishing between “right” and
“wrong” and then making the “right” choice. It is relatively easy to identify
unethical business decisions. For example, companies should not use child
labour.They should not unlawfully use copyrighted materials and processes.
They should not engage in bribery etc.
3. Business ethics
• However, it is not always easy to create similar definitions of good ethical
practice. A company must make a competitive return for its shareholders
and treat its employees fairly. A company also has wider responsibilities. It
should minimise any harm to the environment and work in ways that do not
damage the communities in which it operates.This is known as corporate
social responsibility.
4. Corporate Social Responsibility
• Corporate Social Responsibility is the term given when businesses consider
the wider implications of their actions.This can increase business revenue,
as well as have benefits for society. CSR means considering society (e.g.
paying a living wage, investing in education) and the environment (e.g.
water harvesting, replacing natural resources) as well as profit.This is
referred to as the triple bottom line for businesses.
5. Corporate Social Responsibility
There are two main approaches to CSR:
• Defensive – focuses on reducing risk and carrying out CSR in order to
protect organisational reputation
• Offensive – this means using CSR as a way to expand into new markets and
find profitable ways of addressing social issues
6. Corporate Social Responsibility
The benefits of focusing on CSR include:
• More public support – more customers
• Long-term profits
• Ethical obligation – it’s the right thing to do
• Better environment for future generation
• Discourages government regulation
• Will improve business value
7. Corporate Social Responsibility
However, CSR does have some disadvantages:
• It may hurt a business’s main responsibility to make a profit
• It may increase costs
• Businesses people may not have the skills to implement a CSR strategy
8. Corporate Social Responsibility
Ways that CSR and ethical behaviour can be encouraged:
• Employee training and selection
• A code of ethics to prevent corruption
• Leading by example
• Reinvesting in society (philanthropy)
• ‘Green’ business behaviour, such as
preserving natural resources and moving
to sustainable forms of energy
9. What makes a business sustainable?
A sustainable business is any organization that participates in
environmentally friendly or green activities to ensure that all
processes, products, and manufacturing activities adequately
address current environmental concerns while maintaining a
profit.
10. Types of business sustainability
• Community – with shifts in population size, it’s expected that we will reach
9bn by 2050.This will mean that food production needs to increase by 70%.
A sustainable business may adjust their behaviour in order to cope with this
rise in population.
11. Types of business sustainability
• Economy – more people are living in poverty than ever before. It’s important
that businesses investing in other countries pay fair wages to try to break
this cycle. An example of a major corporation working with charities is
Amazon with their very own Amazon Smile service whereby Amazon
donates 0.5% of the price of a customers eligible Amazon Smile purchases
to the charitable organization of the customers choice.
12. Types of business sustainability
• Environment – climate change is affecting the way in which we live. Global
temperature rises will mean decreased crop yields, water shortages and
extinction. Successful and sustainable businesses will look to have
alternative methods of running their business if problems such as flooding,
fires or extreme weather were to arise.