Business Report - Gorilla Health Bars Pty Ltd - Business Sustainability - Assessment Answer

Business Report Assignment

Assignment Task

Write a 1,000 word Business Sustainability Report for Gorilla Health Bars CEO Janet Jones, in which you make specific recommendations, based on your research, about how the company can become more sustainable.

Company Background and Issue:

Gorilla Health Bars is a Victorian company that produces health-oriented snack bars made of fruit, cereals and nuts. The business has been operating for four years, and has recently begun to make a small profit with the increased public focus on healthy eating.

The CEO of Gorilla Health Bars (GHB), Janet Jones, wants to improve the Corporate Sustainability focus of the company. She believes that a better sustainability profile will enhance the GHB company reputation, and hopes also that it might in the long run help the company finances.

You are a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) consultant from Deepgreen Enterprises, which advises clients on how best to implement CSR initiatives in their organisations. The GHB CEO has a limited budget but is prepared to spend whatever it takes to give the company an improved CSR profile and operating system.

The company operates in rural Victoria in an old 2-storey factory warehouse with attached office. The factory area is built with corrugated iron, so it is very hot in summer and very cold in winter. Consequently, the electricity bills for heating and cooling the premises are very high. The building was constructed in the 1960s and has never been renovated.

Another problem which the CEO has reported is that production of the health bars consumes large amounts of water. As water rates have been increasing rapidly in the last 2 years, the CEO is keen to try and reduce water consumption where possible.

Introduction

The Health Bars Company began its operations in 2012. This company is involved in the production of health oriented snack bars that contain cereals, fruits and nuts. In the recent years the company has made low profits. This has been brought about by increased awareness on health eating among people. This report investigates the challenges or problems the company is facing and their possible solutions. It will also focus on the advantages and disadvantages that may accompany some of the solutions. Additionally the report will provide recommendations on how the company can engage in sustainable practices. Sustainability refers to development whose aim is to meet the needs of the current generations without reducing or damaging their availability to the coming generations (Blackburn, 2007). It ensures fixed and health survival for companies.

Sustainable business practices have various benefits to the company. The main benefit of sustainable business practices is reduction in the cost of production and operations (Doppelt, 2003). This is where the company may come up with alternative sources of energy to reduce the costs or even recycle some products. Another benefit is that, it may lead to improved and better public relations between the employer and employees. This gives the employees a high sense of belonging hence may increase their productivity.

Findings and Discussion

High Electricity Bills

The company is located in rural areas hence it incurs heavy electricity bills for cooling and heating during summer and winter respectively. The activities of the company also need electricity for production of some goods; this contributes to high electricity bills. The company can relocate to urban areas where electricity is subsidized. However, this may this may be costly as it may involve constructing new buildings which may be expensive. The company can lose some of its esteemed customers who live in the rural area by relocating to urban areas (Blackburn, 2007). Additionally the company can adopt energy saving practices such as the use of low light bulbs for lighting. It can also develop alternative sources of energy such as use of biogas as a source of energy for internal production activities.

Heavy Water Bills

Production activities lead to the consumption of large amount of water. This causes the finances used to pay for the water to be high due to increased rates on water. To solve this problem the company can involve in the production of bars that require less amount of water (Bansal, 2002). However this may lead to loss of customers who preferred the alternative. The company can re-use the water used for activities like cleaning of the premises and external washing of machines. Where possible the company can dig its own borehole to act as a source of water for its operations. This may be expensive but it’s not compared to the continuous paying of water bills.

Poor Building Structures

The Gorilla Health Bars building is made of corrugated iron, and yet it has not been renovated for the four years the company has been operating. Iron reacts with water to form rust which gives it a brownish appearance. This appearance may create a poor image to potential customers, hence low market for the bars (Bansal, 2002). The building can be renovated to improve its image. To avoid periodical renewal of the company, they can renovate it using wood or even bricks and this may be a permanent solution to this issue.

Recommendations

The use of sustainable practices should involve management of resources in a way that the social, natural and economic needs are met and include the following:

Economic sustainable practices- The Company should be involved in practices that generate enough profit. This profit can then benefit economic systems at local, private and public sectors of a nation. The company can benefit the economy by creating jobs to the jobless, providing goods at low prices and even development of infrastructure.

Developing good relations between the employer and employees and also between the employees and the general public is essential. This leads to recognition and appreciation of the efforts of everyone (Doppelt, 2003). Owing to this, there is an increase in the morale the workers hence increased productivity and quality of goods. Good relations with general public will make the company different from its competitors hence will attract more customers for their products.

The company should come up with rules and regulations that are acceptable to all members of the company (Black, 2009). This enhances the workers to be innovative and inventive to solve problems or challenges that are facing the company. In addition, the company should develop practices and processes that are environmentally friendly. This can include proper disposal of their wastes, proper use of water, energy saving practices and recycling or reusing some of its wastes (Anderson, Sweeney, & Williams-Rochester, 2007). This will prevent conflicts between the surrounding community and the company hence creating an enabling environment for its operations. Finally, the company should come up with alternative sources of energy and water to reduce the costs involved. The company can also put up water saving devices within its premises to avoid loss of water.

Conclusion

From the evaluation, it is evident that there are several problems facing Gorilla Health Bars; these include high power usage, high water bills and the poor building structure. The company can however overcome these problems through the adoption of sustainable practices which aid in the management of the available resources. The recommendations offered are easy to implement and through their implementation, the company will be able to curtail on the losses incurred. The recommendations include engaging in profit making activities to prevent incurring the low profit, alternative water and energy sources to reduce or even avoid the costs of paying for them. Through this, the company will be able to increase productivity and subsequently the profitability.