(BSS017-2 ) Business Sustainability assignment exploring the challenges faced by Amazon
Question
Task: how to identify challenges faced by Amazon using Business Sustainability assignment research techniques?
Answer
Introduction
Sustainable business practices operations are carried out in such a way that provide unique value to all their stakeholders (Jørgensen and Pedersen, 2018). This Business Sustainability assignment report aims at identification of sustainable business management challenges faced by Amazon with help of triple bottom line approaches. In the report, a possible solution to manage those kinds of sustainable business management issues faced by Amazon has also been proposed with refer to triple bottom line approaches.
Five Sustainable challenges faced by Amazon linked with Triple bottom line approach Carbonization issue
Emission of carbon dioxide is an eye-popping issue for Amazon to achieve sustainability from the last two decades. According to the Business Sustainability assignment Triple bottom line approach of business sustainability, it is necessary for organisation to focus on the people, planet and its profitability (Elkington, 2018). But Amazon was unable to strongly focus on the planet as the emission has increased by 18% in 2021 compared to 2020. It has been identified that 71.54 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2021 results in issues regarding achievement of business sustainability (Annie Palmer, 2022). Pandemic driven buying of customers and it leads Amazon to rapidly grow its warehouse footprint in order to meet that extra demand.
Business Sustainability assignment – employee/ suppliers Commitment
Amazon has been identified on this Business Sustainability assignment, as not committing their role towards satisfying the needs and wants of their employees. Amazon pays $5,000 to their employees resulting in quitting their jobs especially during the peak seasons (Aboutamazon.com, 2022). According to the triple bottom line approach it is necessary for business organisation to provide sufficient wages to employees which Amazon is completely lacking now. Amazon has also underscored their commitment towards the wellbeing of their suppliers. According to He et al. (2022), 24% of large brands report that after supplying the product to Amazon, the overall rating of the product has decreased significantly. Amazon also fails to provide safety to their suppliers during times of pandemic when the purchase capacity of customers has significantly decreased.
Business Sustainability assignment - crisis management
Though Amazon is a sustainable business, it is still facing issues regarding serving the needy during times of crisis. Amazon has already taken responsibility towards protecting partners and seasonal associates. Even Amazon has also invented only $11.5 billion in the community to manage pandemic related crises (Yu et al. 2022). It has invested a $25 million relief fund for their stakeholders but still no initiatives are taken for managing their suppliers and employees. During the peak pandemic period the organisation had 10,000 jobs instead of providing financial support and flexible working hours to them. According to the Business Sustainability assignment triple bottom line approach it is necessary for Amazon to focus on the wellbeing of their people during the time of crisis (Helen Kopnina, 2022). But Amazon was also unable to timely pay their suppliers and even it was irresponsible about the disruption of its supply chain where its main focus was to generate profit with aggressive marketing compared with its competitors.
Lack of consent about customers sustainability
2021 was a spectacular year for Amazon because it generated a 22% increase in net sales compared to 2020. According to Greg Petro (2022), overall sales volume of Amazon during the fourth quarter has decreased by 1%. It has been identified by Millennials and Gen Z customers of Amazon that they were feeling uncomfortable about sustainability issues such as wasteful packaging. According to the triple bottom line approach it is necessary for businesses to care about the health and wealth of their clients. But Amazon was negligent about the matter and they sometimes provide items or goods with improper packing or decreased quality of goods hindering them to achieve sustainability.
Issues with managing business ethics
According to the Business Sustainability assignment triple bottom line approach of business sustainability, It is a necessary duty for each and every organisation to manage ethics for their stakeholders (Ferro et al. 2019). Amazon has been accused of having poor business ethics in this context. According to the triple bottom line, equity, health, wellbeing, safety and security of stakeholders are necessary responsibilities of Amazon. But it was completely unable to provide a basic safe working environment for their interest having different cultural backgrounds. Abuse, discrimination and maltreatments common ethical issue within Amazon. In addition to this, equality is not followed properly within Amazon is an improper which facility and failure to provide payment to their supply on time raise question about their sustainability.
Possible solution to manage those issues with Triple bottom line approach
Based on the overall issue faced by Amazon regarding management of sustainable business practices, a certain solution has been identified. Those solutions are mentioned in the below section:
Decarbonizing green technologies
Amazon needs to strongly follow the green technology for running their entire operation. In order to manage the carbon footprint, it is strongly needed for Amazon to use renewable energy sources like tidal energy, water energy and wind energy. As stated by Beloeil and Albaladejo (2021), 5RS (refuse, reduce, reuse, rot, recycle) is beneficial for the management of operation waste. Amazon is strongly recommended to use 5RS for recycling their waste as well as production of carbon footprint. Amazon is also recommended to follow sustainable green packaging in order to achieve zero carbon footprint by the year 2030.
Commitment for employees and suppliers
As per the Business Sustainability assignment triple bottom line commitment for the well-being of suppliers in place and other stakeholders are the primary responsibility of every sustainable business (Elkington, 2018). In order to manage certain ability issues faced by Amazon regarding poor commitment for their employee and supplier, it is probably needed to improve their commitment towards them. Providing flexibility to employees, establishment of equality and diversity into the workplace area, timely payment of root suppliers would be some of the approaches.
Implementation of business ethics and policies
The Business Sustainability assignment findings also show that Amazon needs to focus on establishing good governance policies and business ethics in order to manage a sustainable business process. In this regard Amazon needs to implement equal payment, timely payment, rewards, incentives, recognition, employee safety and suppliers’ safety policies. It is also needed for Amazon to offer health and safety policies for their employees too. Corporate transparency, environmental protection, response for climate change, data protection. and customer prioritization needs to be given special focus by Amazon.
Initiatives for crisis management
In order to respond to any type of prices Amazon also needs to improve their involvement in the community. As mentioned by Agrawal and Singh (2019), risk management is an integral part of sustainability in the bottom line. Amazon needs to develop a risk management team who would help to analyse risk situations hindering their sustainability. Amazon needs to focus on the wellbeing of people under the community especially during times of any crisis. Instead of cutting jobs, it needs to provide job opportunities for people under poor socioeconomic groups during crises, offering medical help for the needy and serving for environment protection will help to manage suitability of Amazon in future.
Conclusion
From the overall discussion it can be said that sustainable business management for Amazon means operating a business in such a way that recognizes that resources are limited and valuable. Amazon was facing issues regarding its sustainability like high carbon footprint, poor business ethics, poor concern about the community and its stakeholders. In order to manage all kinds of issues, the organization needed to strongly focus on implementing strong business ethics. Amazon needs to strongly focus on improving its commitment for employees and suppliers regarding their wellbeing. Instead of focusing only on profit generation, the other two elements of the triple bottom line like people and the planet need to be given the same focus by Amazon. The Business Sustainability assignment concludes that Amazon also need to implement green technologies for decarbonising the environment and achievement of zero carbon footprint.
Reference list
Aboutamazon.com, 2022. Our Environmental Commitments. Available at: https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/environment [Accessed on 25th October 2022] Agrawal, S. and Singh, R.K., 2019. Analyzing disposition decisions for sustainable reverse logistics: Triple Bottom Line approach. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 150, p.104448. Business Sustainability assignment
Annie Palmer, 2022. Amazon emissions increased 18% last year as Covid drove online shopping surge. Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/01/amazon-says-carbon-emissions-increased-18percent-in-2021.html [Accessed on 25th October 2022] Beloeil, H. and Albaladejo, P., 2021. Initiatives to broaden safety concerns in anaesthetic practice: The green operating room. Best Practice & Research Clinical Anaesthesiology, 35(1), pp.83-91. Business Sustainability assignment
Elkington, J., 2018. 25 years ago I coined the phrase “triple bottom line.” Here’s why it’s time to rethink it. Harvard business review, 25, pp.2-5. Ferro, C., Padin, C., Høgevold, N., Svensson, G. and Varela, J.C.S., 2019. Validating and expanding a framework of a triple bottom line dominant logic for business sustainability through time and across contexts. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing. Business Sustainability assignment
Greg Petro, 2022. Consumer Sustainability Concerns Threaten Amazon’s Ecommerce Juggernaut. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregpetro/2022/03/25/consumer-sustainability-concerns-threaten-amazons-ecommerce-juggernaut/?sh=5992798e571f [Accessed on 25th October 2022]
He, S., Hollenbeck, B. and Proserpio, D., 2022. The market for fake reviews. Marketing Science. Helen Kopnina, 2022. Sustainable Business: Key Issues (Key Issues in Environment and Sustainability) 2nd Edition. Available at: https://www.amazon.com/Sustainable-Business-Issues-Environment-Sustainability/dp/1138087904 [Accessed on 25th October 2022] Business Sustainability assignment
Jørgensen, S. and Pedersen, L.J.T., 2018. RESTART sustainable business model innovation (p. 253). Springer Nature.
Yu, W., Hassan, A. and Adhikariparajuli, M., 2022. How Did Amazon Achieve CSR and Some Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—Climate Change, Circular Economy, Water Resources and Employee Rights during COVID-19?. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 15(8), p.364. Business Sustainability assignment
