Business Sustainability

Business Sustainability

Introduction

Business sustainability implies the integration of the sustainable development objectives, i.e. economic efficiency, social equity, and environmental performance, into operational practices of a company. Organizations that compete globally are more and more necessitated to practice and report on their operational initiatives' sustainability performances on the whole (Labuschagnea et. al., 2005). Elkington (1998) coined the phrase triple bottom line (TBL) in his book, Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business, as a new way of accounting, expanding the traditional framework of reporting to consider social and environmental performance along with the traditional business metric of financial performance. TBL represents the three elements (or pillars) of sustainability as environment, economy, and society, which must all be balanced for a truly sustainable development to occur. Commitment to this triple bottom line is considered a step beyond environmental awareness of corporations into the realm of corporate social responsibility.

One of the metrics to evaluate sustainability of a company is the ability to scale change far ahead of its own organization. The model sustainable company has a full bucket of cash and a remarkable profile of stock growth. It aggressively uproots inadequacy from its supply chain and operations and develops new products that make allowances for resource availability and social change. It enhances its operations' transparency and calls outside scrutiny to ensure it is conforming to the highest social and legal standards. In short, the model company might be Apple. The most sustainable companies are those companies that realize new global opportunities and risks, and innovate consequently; they are best positioned to push developments in resource efficiency all through the economy globally. By the end of 2009, Apple was trading at $192. The market was outperformed by the portfolio that year and, in 2010 and 2011, Apple continued to outperform the S&P 500. Innovation and success is not that much embodied by any company other than Apple. Since 2007, annual reports have been published by Apple on its supplier relationships. Product-specific environmental reports are also published by Apple Inc., which are more thorough and comprehensive than those of majority of competitors, covering energy efficiency, climate change, materials use, packaging, recycling, and restricted substances' avoidance. (Krosinsky, 2012). For that reason, Apple has been chosen as a sustainable organization.

Discussion

Apple is in the business of designing, manufacturing, and marketing mobile communication devices, personal computers (PCs), and video players and portable digital music. Apple also offers a huge range of associated services, software, networking solutions and peripherals. Apple is also providing the service of online distribution music; for the third party, music videos, audio books, television shows, short films, etc. Headquarter of Apple Inc. is in Cupertino, California and, as of September 29, 2012, 76,100 people are employed in Apple Inc., which include 72,800 full-time equivalent employees and 3,300 full-time equivalent temporary workers and contractors (Marketline, 2013). The international admiration of products and business model of Apple is exceptional and infective in the industry (Electronic Engineering Times, 2009).

Strong Financials: Economic Efficiency

Apple has showed tremendous financial ...