Responsibilites Of Businesses

RESPONSIBILITIES OF BUSINESSES

IN BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE

AND CONVIVIAL FUTURE

  
 Businesses depend on the resources of the societies within which they operate. Today, we stand at a crossroads in the world’s economy. On one hand, we are poised to generate better standards of living for more of the world’s people than ever before, and on the other hand it is increasingly clear that the consumption based model of economic growth cannot be applied globally without causing immense environmental and economic disruption. By living the lives we know, shaped by our societies and our culture, we remain on dangerous grounds. We have begun to reach planetary limits, threatening the health and function of ecological systems that support all activity on Earth. Solely profit maximizing, resource-intensive business strategies could leave companies exposed and consumers and national economies vulnerable. Businesses have a social responsibility to use wisely the natural resources of this world, and minimize the damage their operations create.

   Industrial progress has changed our lives extremely in the last centuries. Fossil fuels, which have taken over 150 million years to formulate, provided us with cheap energy which helped the increase in production for the businesses and made it possible for them to provide cheaper goods to the customer, are now shrinking. At this rate the oil supplies will be finished by the end of this century, creating a different world and change everything about how we live. It can be argued that businesses should aim for profit maximization, but they can have successful operations, and at the same time act responsible by taking measures to preserve natural resources. Kellogs company could be an example. They have joined operations with the TDG, a logistic company, to help transport and store their products at a reduced cost while at the same time reducing the usage of fossil fuels and the emission of carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere. Puma company’s new “Clever Little Bag”packaging will reduce card board use, saving paper, and because it weighs less than a shoebox, it will also reduce the amount of fuel used to transport the shoes.
                                 

 
With the increase in the human population and with the help of Industrial revolution, commersialization has substituted machinery for people. A century ago 50% of American people were farmers. Now this ratio is only 1%. We are now living mostly in the cities where our average food item travels 1500 miles to reach our table. The societies we live in have become more complex and costly. As the population is rising we need bigger governments, a stronger military, more social institutions to take care of the increased number of people.  Because of aging population, our societies need funds for the pension, and the cost of health care is rising. We need more and more energy to preserve our way of life. Companies can be socially responsible and at the same time benefit themselves by designing and offering their customers environmental friendly, energy efficient products. One example can be smart buildings that reduce energy and other forms of resource use. The Sunwise company is offering reliable solar energy solutions which will cost less than electric power.

Companies such as Best Buy are already looking at such market opportunities as they invest in the device-management hard ware company control to help people save money and manage home energy and water use. Digital market places can also drive down resource use, as exemplified by eBay, which has started trade in pre-owned items that drive demand for recycled products. Retailers, which are in contact with both consumers and products, are uniquely positioned to influence consumption choices. Through a project called the Healthy Food Retailer Initiative, 25 neighborhood retailers partnered with the Hartford Food System to confront health problems such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity by expanding food choices in low-income communities in Hartford,  Connecticut.

Participating stores committed to shifting shelf space allocated to junk food and soft drinks to healthier items, and each store agreed to stock a short list of healthy items such as whole wheat bread and reduced-fat milk. A few rearranged their merchandise layout to create new sections for additional groceries, while others moved junk food to less prominent locations in the store. With this project they helped their community consume healtier foods.

   As global economy is growing, the implications of this growth on our natural resources and our planet are also growing. Environmental concerns such as increasing water scarcity, polution of air, and the accumulation of toxins in the environment are pushing the boundaries. Seas are getting polluted, fish supply diminishing, and forests are exploited. We all hear about the green house effect, the global warming, the softening of the ice causing the sea levels to rise. Businesses may argue that they should decide to their best advantage, but how ethical a decision it is for example, when the oil companies get together with automative industry companies and to stop the developments of the electrical car because it will decrease their profits in the short run?

   Businesses have the social responsibility of minimizing their waste and carbondioxide which their operations reliese into the athmosphere. The huge amount of waste generated can be eliminated by efficent product design, materials selection and manufacturing, and service-delivery systems. Waste is anything that does not create value, and companies can think through how and for what function the product is being used, and therefore incorporate waste prevention into the design phase of products. Eighty miles west of Copenhagen, local Danish businesses have cultivated an “industrial ecosystem” in Kalundborg, one of the best-known examples of industrial ecology and closed-loop systems where a dozen industries cooperate in exploiting "wastes" from neighboring factories. A coal-fired electric power plant supplies an oil refinery with waste heat from its steam turbines, previously released into a nearby fjord. The oil company removes polluting sulfur from gas released by the refining process, and that gas can then be burned by the power plant, saving 30,000 tons of coal. The removed sulfur is sold to a nearby sulfuric acid plant. The power plant also precipitates pollutants from its coal smoke in the form of calcium sulfate, which is consumed as a substitute for gypsum by a sheetrock company. Ash removed from the same smoke goes to a cement factory. Other surplus steam from the power plant warms a biotech pharmaceutical plant and 3,500 homes, as well as a trout farm. High-nutrient sludge from both the fish farm and the pharmaceutical factory's fermentation vats are used to fertilize local farms. When companies cooperate in this clever way, they minimize waste and polution to the environment and they create value reducing the cost of their own inputs.

   With population growth, and tremendous technological capacity leading to ever greater levels of production and consumption, we have begun to reach planetary limits concerning our natural resources, threatening the health and function of ecological systems that support all activity on Earth. We need a new model of economic development in which basic needs are met without disrupting healthy ecosystems, which serve as the foundation for sound economies, sustaining and enhancing human life. Businesses have many opportunities to engage consumers to increase awareness with regard to their consumption choices and behavior. They have a social responsibility to think about the future, invest in products, services, policies, programs and communications which will support the environment.