To identify the efficiency and quality of a business, management usually prioritizes either helping people or generating revenue. It is incorrect to evaluate the results by only one criterion since this will not allow the evaluation of the place of business objectively. Financial indicators will only talk about the revenue that the project received (Factor & Ulhøi, 2021). Therefore, the results of the work of social projects are at the intersection of several criteria at once (Gunasekera & Narayanan, 2019). There is a sustainable development of companies when the benefits are achieved without compromising the interests of future generations.
Three Key Components
All work is built on three pillars of sustainable development:
- Profit. While commercial companies consider financial success as the main indicator of their work, companies with a TBL approach consider it only as part of the business plan (Information Resources Management Association, 2019). Social enterprises also seek to make a profit and develop their projects.
- People. This is both the employees working on the project and society as a whole. A company that follows the TBL concept pays fair wages and takes steps to ensure decent working conditions (Information Resources Management Association, 2019). Moreover, it provides the public with complete information about its products and services.
- Planet. This clause means that the organization should strive to reduce its environmental footprint as much as possible (Information Resources Management Association, 2019). This parameter concerns the concept of TBL and small social enterprises.
There is a significant correlation between the company’s vision and its mission, which is expressed in the adjustment and adjustment of choices and tools to achieve business goals. How NationaliTeas sees its production determines the way it is implemented. The value of integrating the TBL structure is that it ensures that all established frameworks are met. Its advantage is to facilitate the task of management to control the fulfillment of all three of the above criteria.
Benefits of B Corporation Certificate
The B-Corp certification helps build NationaliTeas’ credibility as a company that lives up to its principles. Industries that have passed a comprehensive review of public transparency and compliance with certain standards receive this category. (Gunasekera & Narayanan, 2019). NationaliTeas is related to activities in the field of tea, such a certificate allows getting several advantages (Factor & Ulhøi, 2021). Tea is associated with a healthy lifestyle, and with care for nature (Factor & Ulhøi, 2021). Thanks to B Corp, customers can see that environmental values and care for people are above all at NationaliTeas, which means loyalty will be increased.
Operational Recommendations
To do business most efficiently, NationaliTeas needs to implement several initiatives. First of all, it is necessary to secure production from child labor and low-quality raw materials. The fact is that the organization must share corporate social responsibility, and fight against an illegal child or slave labor (Singh, 2021). It is essential to analyze initiatives:
- Fair pricing will allow the corporation to attract more customers and, therefore, positively influence potential buyers. The feasibility study will have a positive impact on the financial position of the firm since it will allow recouping of additional costs (Ziolo, 2021). The consumer will be ready to pay extra for the protection of the environment by the corporation and the provision of quality goods. The social benefit will be demonstrating to people a position on the availability of a product that takes care of both customers and the environment.
- The use of recyclable materials has the greatest possible social impact. The fact is that the majority of society is aware of the negative impact of mankind on nature and seeks to minimize it (Information Resources Management Association, 2019). It can be interpreted as public propaganda of an eco-friendly policy that will increase the loyalty of customers who share such values (Gunasekera & Narayanan, 2019). It has a positive effect on the organization’s profits since recycled raw materials are cheaper than alternatives.
- Increased payment to the supplier has the least impact on the environmental factor, but it has a serious social and organizational impact. Firstly, in this way one of the most pressing problems is being combated, namely slave labor on tea plantations. Secondly, it increases the supplier’s loyalty and makes other manufacturers willing to cooperate, which has a positive effect on the organization (Ziolo, 2021). The credibility of the company in the eyes of a potential buyer will grow since such actions are essential for the development of society.
The implementation of each initiative leads to the establishment of certain volumes and terms for which these processes will be calculated. Thus, the replacement of all tools with reworked ones seems to be the most ambitious initiative, which means that the terms should be flexible. The remaining two initiatives have an instant solution, for which the deadline can be one month. It must be emphasized that this will negatively affect the company’s budget in the short term, but in the long term, NationaliTeas expects both high revenue and huge customer loyalty. Moreover, changes in scope or requirements will not drastically change the time frame or budget, which indicates the flexibility of initiatives.
Risks and Management, Roles and Responsibilities
It must be emphasized that the initiatives described above create certain risks for the organization. However, there is an effective method of Six Sigma to reduce risks. With it, management can identify weaknesses in the organization’s activities and eliminate them (Singh, 2021). Six Sigma encourages the fastest and most painless integration and modernization of the entire business (Singh, 2021). An additional method is the equal distribution of responsibilities and roles in the firm, the delegation of authority program (Bini & Bellucci, 2019). Its essence is that when creating the appropriate units, each area will be controlled, which will lead to the minimization of errors.
References
Bini, L. & Bellucci, M. (2019). Integrated sustainability reporting. Linking environmental and social information to value creation processes. Springer International Publishing.
Factor, A. & Ulhøi, J. P. (Eds.). (2021). Sustainability and small and medium-sized enterprises. Lessons from mixed methods research. Taylor & Francis.
Gunasekera, J. S. & Narayanan, G. R. (Eds.). (2019). Sustainable material forming and joining. CRC Press.
Information Resources Management Association. (Ed.). (2019). Supply chain and logistics management. Concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications. IGI Global.
Singh, J. B. (2021). Sustainability. The influence of leadership and culture. FriesenPress.
Ziolo, M. (Ed.). (2021). Adapting and mitigating environmental, social, and governance risk in business. Business Science Reference.