Question

Question 1 (B) 3 Marks A growing number of corporations across the globe adopt sustainable practices that focus on environment, society and economic well-being with a mission for a brighter future. Required: Briefly comment on the challenges facing corporations on sustainable practices and provide examples where applicable.

Answer 1

Corporations face several challenges with regards to sustainable practices. First of all companies, especially companies that are not large and hence have limited access to resources, struggle with the increased costs of sustainability. For companies sustainability can be difficult to value from a monetary point of view and when this is the case small companies with limited funds often struggle. The second challenge is with regards to use of proper metrics to assess the initiatives. Without these metrics the stakeholders of the companies fail to understand the risks of not providing for a sustainable operations and sustainable business practices. For example PepsiCo. was using excess groundwater in many developing economies to make its beverages and colas. Its stakeholders did not realize that it was using excessive water as the company was not using appropriate sustainability related metrics. Once it started using appropriate metrics the company put in place measures and steps to ensure that it was using water in a more responsible manner and was even taking action to preserve water through mechanisms like rain water harvesting etc. The last challenge is with regards to the proper integration of environmental factors into the long term business strategy of companies. Due to this companies often fail to implement environmental improvements in their processes and operations.