Introduction
The modern world is widely discussing the environmental issues that uncontrolled human activities have led to during the last two centuries. Water and air pollution, soil damage, and melting of the Arctic ice are the most often cited effects of what is nowadays called technological progress. Drawing from this, the modern world of business has environmental protection and being environmentally friendly, i. e. sustainability and economic effectiveness, like its two basic requirements that either facilitate the company’s success in the market, in case if they are followed or place the company under public condemnation if the environmental concerns are ignored. The business project discussed in this paper, the bike parking system in New York City called BICO, belongs to the former group as sustainability is its basis and one of the major sources for economic prosperity and development.
Project Summary
The essence of the proposed business project lies in the creation of the bike parking system for New York City. The major point about the project is that the carbon gases emissions in the air equal the estimated figure of 6.676 tons of CO2 per person annually. At the same time, the bicycle is the most environmentally friendly way of transportation. Due to this, the discussed project focuses on facilitating the use of bicycles for transportation in New York City. The project also solves the issues of bike theft and the lack of bike parking places in the city by arranging considerable and accessible bike parking facilities and opportunities for bike purchase and rent. The ideas of sustainability and economic efficiency are crucial to the project.
Project Analysis
Sustainability
On the whole, sustainability of the business is defined by Smukowski (2006) as “the increase in productivity and/or reduction of consumed resources without compromising product or service quality, competitiveness, or profitability”. In other words, sustainable business is the one that brings profit without, or with little, harm to the environment, society, the economic conditions of the community, and the health of this community (Business Link, 2005; SAS, 2009; Sustainability Report, 2009). The BICO project discussed in this paper meets this definition of sustainable business as its main focus is to make a profit by reducing the CO2 emissions in the air and providing better traffic opportunities for people using such an environmentally friendly way of transportation as a bicycle.
Further on, the issues of business sustainability are regulated by various international organizations that are either governmentally authorized bodies like the United Nations Organization and the Rainforest Alliance or community-based companies like the Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability (Capra and Pauli, 2000, pp. 12 – 13; NBIS, 2009). The BICO project is also planned to cooperate with those organizations and undergo the certification by the Rainforest Alliance to ensure that the project’s effect on the environmental and economic conditions of the community it is launched in are positive and sustainable for both the community members and the project developers (The Global Compact, 2007).
Economic Effects
The economic effects of the proposed project can be observed in two major planes, i. e. the effects for the project developers and the community or the customers in New York City. On the whole, NBIS (2009) single out the economic profitability of business put under the community and environment needs as the basis for sustainability (NBIS, 2009). Therefore, the character of the discussed project allows speaking of its positive economic effects as a part of the overall project sustainability. In more detail, the project developers plan to retrieve profit from the set of services that include the building and exploitation of the bile parking tower, the bike rent, purchase, and delivery services, the sponsorship from the governmental and non-governmental agencies as well as from interested bicycle manufacturers (SAS, 2009; The Global Compact, 2007).
Thus, the economic effects of the project on its developers are positive and also not harmful to the community and environment. BICO will retrieve its profit from solving one of the burning environmental problems and facilitating the development of the community consciousness regarding the CO2 emissions and their reduction (Sustainability Report, 2009). Moreover, BICO will benefit the community by reducing the traffic loads and assist in solving the two bicycle parking issues, i. e. the lack of parking places and the associated bike theft issue. Finally, the BICO project is intended to be integrated with the government-originated environmental initiatives to create win-win cooperation.
Conclusions
Thus, the above discussion allows concluding that the proposed BICO project for designing the bicycle parking system in New York City is a win-win community benefiting and an environmentally friendly project that, moreover, allows its developers to gain profit from solving the environmental problem of the CO2 emissions and the community issues associated with heavy traffic and bike theft. So, the BICO project possesses sustainability and the potential for positive economic effects in the spheres of business and community development.
Works Cited
Business Link. Make your business more sustainable – an overview. Practical Advice for Business, 2005. Web.
Capra, Fritjof and Gunter Pauli (Eds.). Steering Business toward Sustainability. United Nations University Press, 2000. Print.
NBIS. Profitable Sustainability. Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability, 2009. Web.
SAS. Sustainability Management. The Power to Know, 2009. Web.
Smukowski, David. Business Sustainability. UWCIE, 2006. Web.
Sustainability Report. Sustainable Business. SustReport, 2009. Web.
The Global Compact. Measuring Business Success from Sustainability Certification. Rainforest Alliance, 2007. Web.