Sustainability and ethicality in a business are two fundamental qualities required in order for a business to survive. Sustainability revolves around practices that improve the environmental surroundings of the business, benefit stakeholders and have a positive impact on the social surrounding of the business (Whelan and Fink, 2016). Generally, a sustainable business should be able to effect positive change in the environment and create value for its employees, stakeholders and the civil society while generating profits through its day to day running. On the other hand, an ethical business is one that bases its decisions and governing system on moral principles and stipulated codes of conduct in the workplace (Goel and Ramanathan, 2014). This entails the responsibility that a certain business has towards the society and the environment, and how efficient it has been in carrying out its responsibilities. Ethicality brings about the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), which ensures that any business is concerned with the larger group rather than those running the business. In this case, the larger group comprises of customers to the business, employees, vendors and the entire community (Rodin, 2005).When these two concepts are combined, a sustainable and ethical business is one that works towards environmental conservation and social development while upholding any set moral laws. A strategic analysis on a business is carried out by looking at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats presented for the business. This entails looking at the current situation of the business at hand by comparing its strengths to its weaknesses, and looking at the future of the company by identifying possible threats from competitors and opportunities available for the business to expand its market share and revenue. In assessing the strategic analysis of a company that applies both sustainable and ethical measures, the business and marketing plans are also reviewed, in order to differentiate from other businesses that do not pay include these measures in their strategies.
When looking at the core values of most companies that are geared towards sustainability and promoting ethics in business, the most outstanding values include integrity, excellence and responsibility, an indication of their involvement in maintaining a sustainable environment and promoting social responsibility. Some of the industries that have been known to have businesses that adhere to sustainability and ethicality are the food industry, energy and technology. Companies in these industries have found ways to manage the various social and environmental problems in their surroundings. When it comes to sustainability, these companies have been able to come up with innovative and sustainable practices that will help to limit the emission of poisonous gases and exposure of compounds that contribute to environmental pollution to the environment. This way, they have helped to reduce the effects of global warming thus depicting their sustainability measures. With regards to ethicality, these companies are concerned with human rights of their employees. Most of them look out for the safety of their employees and provide them with the necessary gear to protect them from harm while at work. Industries that involve massive use of machines and hence provide protective equipment to prevent them from being injured at work. These companies also provide their employees with extra payment for work done in form of incentives and compensations. Compensations carter for those who may have been hurt while working, and this is common in situations where employees handle dangerous machinery or carry heavy loads and end up getting hurt. They also abide by the set labor standards to ensure that they provide proper working environment for the employees. The companies, especially technology companies, promote innovation among its employees and highly reward employee efforts. When it comes to corporate social responsibility, the companies have managed to develop good relations with the surrounding social environment by providing employment opportunities and supporting entrepreneurs, not taking part in corruption and supporting various human rights.
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When looking at the food industry, various businesses have been established, ranging from food processing companies, and wineries to restaurants and vendors. Many restaurants have been established globally, to provide services to the community. The business has a lot of ongoing competition that not only presents threats but also provides room for improvement and other opportunities. Various restaurants in various places cater for different needs of the people, with some only serving during the day, or providing specific meals during the day and night. Depending on these differences, this business consists of retail hosts that are mostly found at gas stations, eating and drinking places that consists of vendors and caterers, quick services that provide customers with buffets and take-out food, and full service (Akers, N.d.). These business may be owned by an individuals or a chain of people and have been known to be the most profitable businesses in the United States, and one that provides most employment in the private sector. Its constant growth is due to the availability of numerous customers locally and the ease of access of different foods and trending menus that fit the customer’s needs (Ban, 2012)
An example of a restaurant that has strived to promote its business using sustainable and ethical practices is the Jimmy Johns restaurant located in over 2000 locations in the US. The restaurant is famous for preparing organic sandwiches using organic foods, and has limited its use of energy to energy sources that do not emit carbon into the atmosphere. The packaging they use is made of earth-friendly material which has been recycled, as a show of their sustainability practices. When looking at the ethicality of the business, the chain as grown locally as a way of promoting local members by providing them with employment. The chain of restaurants purchase organic foods from farmers within the locality where they are located. The restaurants also strive to use fresh organic foods to ensure that their customers only consume fresh foods. The business plan for the restaurant can be used to show an example of a business plan used by other similar businesses with sustainable and ethical approaches.
Business plan
A business plan for any viable business contains major components that help to identify the business and the product that is being provided by the business. This blue print provides the goals of a company and the strategies it has put in place to ensure that it attains these goals. The plan comprises of an executive summary, the mission and vision statements, market and financial analysis (Pinson, 2001). The mission statement provides an overview of the company’s current state and its goals, while the vision statement gives the current strengths and future plans of the company, with respect to its position in its social environment. It also contains a business description of which gives details regarding how the company intends to solve any existing or possible environmental or social issues that may arise to showcase its sustainability and ethicality in the business environment. Below is a sample for the Jimmy John’s business plan
Jimmy John’s Business Plan
Executive Summary
Jimmy John’s is a chain of restaurants supplying organic sandwiches based on the needs and requirements of the health-conscious American. The business was started by Jimmy John Liautaud, who is also the CEO and board director. The chain of restaurants make use of available locally-produced organic foods to ensure that only fresh foods are supplied to customers, while supporting the local environment into which the business has been established. Its main goals are to supply nutritious foods consistently to its ever-growing consumer-base, while focusing on preserving the environment through the use of environment friendly resources which sustain it and through recycling its materials. Efficient use of water and energy while reducing overall waste exposure to the environment is also part of the sustainability program that the business has adopted.
Mission and Vision
The mission of the business, based on its mission statement is to be the greatest supplier of gourmet sandwich in the world using its employees so as to attain success as a global sandwich empire (Jimmy John’s Gourmet, 2010). The fact that it is fast growing despite facing competition from other upcoming organic food restaurants shows that it provides a conducive working environment to enable the employees to thrive. It also provides a schedule that can accommodate student employees who work in the restaurants while studying. The vision of the business is to be the best at serving gourmet sandwiches in its locality, and to serve the minds f the future (Jimmy John’s Gourmet, 2010).
Marketing Plans
The marketing plan provides a description of the product that a given business will provide and at what price and explains where the business will be located. It also states any promotions or incentives that will be issued by the company to its employees and customers (Godsey, 2010). From current studies, it has been shown that including sustainability into the marketing plan of a business makes it more market-oriented and increases its competitive advantage over its competitors (Crittenden, Crittenden, Ferrell, Ferrell and Pinney, 2010).
The company intends to promote the brand via radios in order to reach more students within the university and more locals within the area. This they will do using funny ads to capture the interest of the listeners. They also plan to use social media sites as a way of promoting the foods sold at the restaurant. Their Facebook account will be used to provide reminders to any customer who ‘likes’ their page, where they will also get coupons for the meals that they will purchase at the restaurant or any of its branches. However, the coupons will only be used to attract customers on a day that business is slow (Jimmy John’s Gourmet, 2010). More employees will be employs will also be employed to cover all hours of delivery, since the restaurant is always open until three o’clock in the morning and to cover for student employees who will leave for summer holidays. Innovations on new ways of preparing the organic meals will also be adapted as a way of encouraging creativity and meeting different customer preferences. By engaging in activities that show support for the community, the company will be able to market itself to the locals who will in turn support it by becoming frequent buyers. This will help to build a positive image which will help strengthen its public relations both nationally and globally. However, after an initial failure I a number of stores, the owner and CE is not interested in opening up stores in other countries just yet.
Just like any other business in the industry with a sustainable and ethical approach, the business and marketing plans involve the inclusion of ways in which the business environment can be made more conducive to the workers and comfortable to customers. Corporate social responsibility is also included in the plan to show their contribution to community as part of their ethical approach. Furthermore, this approach should be detailed as to what the business will be involved in, so as to present the people with a better understanding of how exactly they will benefit from the given business and how their environment will be improved. Stating the economic approach to business with regards to treatment of employees and customers is also important
When looking at the strategic analysis of the business with regards to sustainability and ethicality, the strengths can be said to be their ability to work long hours and efficiently. This means that more produce is purchased from the locality and thus they have the ability to promote the economic status of the surrounding community (Jimmy John’s Gourmet, 2010). This also means that they have to employ more people. This, coupled with the fact that they are evenly spread throughout the country, makes it an ethical business since they support their social environment. Their delivery of fresh gourmet sandwiches made from organic foods also shows their sustainability approach, combined with their use of recyclable material and energy-efficient sources of fuel. Generally, the use of fresh produce is a sign that they are concerned with the health of its customers (Taylor, 2017). The adoption of the online ordering system and a mobile app has ensured that the business is more efficient with supplies, given that the supplies are delivered within 10 minutes of placing an order (McAloon, 2016). This regard for their customers shows the ethical approach that the company has adopted into their system. This convenient approach helps to save time for other activities, and ensures that their customers are satisfied. Their specialization in gourmet sandwiches also ensures that they have a constant price for the goods. This makes it easy for them to improve this product rather than have different products that may not be appealing to the consumers.
Their internal weaknesses include the bad publicity that the company has faced as a result of the non-compete agreement it wanted its employees to sign to ensure that they would not work for competitors to Jimmy John’s such as Subway and Potbelly within the first two years after leaving their jobs at Jimmy John’s (Taylor, 2017). Such a move was not conducive to the employees and it resulted in them getting a lawsuit.
Opportunities presented include the ability to offer discounts to their customers by giving out coupons. The business can also be involved in community development by supporting the Grizzly Football team (Jimmy John’s Gourmet, 2010). It can also partner with nearby schools to provide lunches for students, thus making it less hectic to seek food from outside sources, in the event that the school does not provide lunch. By opening up more chain stores since it is gaining recognition, the business will be able to increase employment opportunities to students, an thus help to reduce cases of unemployment. The business can also include breakfast meals as a way of attracting more customers, and to increase its sales. Market diversification will also ensure that the business expands its products to attract customers of diverse needs. This will enable it to differentiate from its immediate competitors. This way, its market share will grow and it will be able to offset competition. Expanding its operations to other regions beyond USA will also help to promote its products and achieve its mission of being the global supplier of gourmet sandwiches. The inclusion of vendors in their marketing plan will also help to associate with more customers through exposure, where they will be able to obtain first-hand information on trending foods in the market.
Other opportunities present for other similar businesses include the inclusion of other services such as private dining for customers as a way of increasing sales. Since most products rely on current trends, they can offer newer goods of the same quality but at lower prices or with incentives to manage good relationships with customers.
Threats that are imminent to the business include the lack of employee dedication during summer holidays since most employees are students. This will make it less efficient in deliveries. Poor weather also contributes to inefficiency in delivery, in the event that a customer makes and order. There is also competition from other organic restaurants, especially those using recyclable wood products and clean energy sources and which supply food for longer hours. Others provide a wide range of healthy foods that meet different preferential needs of the consumers, making them more appealing, and thus threatens to reduce the number of customers to the restaurant (Jimmy John’s Gourmet, 2010). Another threat is bad publicity that the business has received courtesy of its CEO Jimmy John, when a photo of him posing next to dead elephants, a rhinoceros and a leopard while he was on a safari resurfaced and made the public question the sustainability approach of the restaurant, seeing that he was the brains behind the organic restaurant (Taylor, 2017).
It is evident that for any business whose approach is sustainability and ethicality, care should be taken to ensure that the core values present are implemented into their strategies. Through innovation, they should strive to find newer ways of disposing the waste that cannot be recycled and adopting new sources of energy. It is also evident that the provision of employment is an important sustainability approach, while providing a suitable working environment as part of their ethical approach.
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