The objective of this document is to inform about the antecedents and concepts that encompasses the subject of Sustainability and Social Responsibility of Companies, in order to offer a solid base in the study of these trends that are currently showing signs of being the right path for companies must follow.
Keywords: Sustainability, environmental sustainability, financial sustainability, social sustainability, social responsibility, development.
Introduction
Today, there is a topic that every ear in the business environment has heard: sustainability. Commonly, this term is related only to supporting the environment and the footprint that humanity has left on the planet, but the dimensions it encompasses go beyond the actions that each one does to protect the world in which we live, when We are talking about Sustainability, it should be borne in mind that companies are perhaps the factor that has the most influence in the social, environmental and financial spheres, since the impact of a single decision is projected on a larger scale.
Background
Development is a key aspect of any business. Every business has the long-term goal of continuous improvement and profitability. Sustainable profitability for a company means that an organization provides a service or product that is profitable and respectful of the environment.
Most people think that companies avoid sustainability programs like the plague; the common misconception is that by focusing on costly green initiatives, profits take a back seat. Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, however, shows that sustainability and profit are far from mutually exclusive. 37% of companies report sustainability benefits and up to one in two companies has adapted their business model to take advantage of sustainability opportunities.
Sustainability
Sustainability means meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs (Valencia, Olivar, & Redondo, 2018). In addition to natural resources, we also need social services and economic resources; he sustainability is not just environmentalism. Embedded in most definitions of sustainability, we also find concerns for social equity and economic development.
While the concept of sustainability is a relatively new idea, the movement as a whole has roots in social justice, conservationism, internationalism, and other past movements with a rich history. By the late 20th century, many of these ideas had come together in the call for sustainable development.
Global Pact
The United Nations Global Compact is a non-binding agreement of the United Nations to encourage companies around the world to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies and to report on their implementation. The United Nations Global Compact is a principles-based framework for companies, which establishes ten principles in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption. According to the Global Compact, companies meet with UN agencies, labor groups and civil society. Cities can join the Global Compact through the Cities Program (Valencia, Olivar, & Redondo, 2018).
The United Nations Global Compact is the world's largest corporate sustainability initiative with 13,000 corporate participants and other stakeholders in more than 170 countries with two goals: "Incorporate the ten principles into business activities around the world" and " Catalyze actions in support of broader UN goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals. Moving forward, the United Nations Global Compact and its signatories are deeply interested and enthusiastic about supporting work towards the SDGs.
The United Nations Global Compact was announced by then-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a speech to the World Economic Forum on January 31, 1999, and was officially launched at the UN headquarters in the city. in New York on July 26, 2000. The Global Compact Office works on the basis of a mandate established by the United Nations General Assembly as an organization that "promotes responsible business practices and UN values among the global business community and the UN System ”. United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative in conjunction with the Principles for Responsible Investment, the Finance Initiative of the United Nations Environment Program and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
Sustainability
Environmental sustainability
Environmental sustainability is defined as responsible interaction with the environment to avoid the depletion or degradation of natural resources and allow long-term environmental quality (Challener, 2011). The practice of environmental sustainability helps ensure that the needs of today's population are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
When we look at the natural environment, we see that it has quite a remarkable ability to rejuvenate and maintain its viability. For example, when a tree falls, it decomposes, adding nutrients to the soil. These nutrients help maintain the right conditions for future suckers to grow.
When nature is left alone, it has an enormous capacity to take care of itself. However, when man enters the scene and uses many of the natural resources provided by the environment, things change. Human actions can deplete natural resources, and without the application of environmental sustainability methods, long-term viability can be compromised.
Social sustainability
Social sustainability is about identifying and managing business impacts, both positive and negative, on people. The quality of the relationships and commitment of a company with its stakeholders is critical (Aguiar, Sperber, & Vieira, 2019). Directly or indirectly, companies affect what happens to employees, value chain workers, customers and local communities, and it is important to proactively manage impacts.
Companies' social license to operate is highly dependent on their social sustainability efforts. Furthermore, a lack of social development, including poverty, inequality, and weak rule of law, can hamper business operations and growth.
At the same time, actions to achieve social sustainability can unlock new markets, help retain and attract business partners, or be the source of innovation for new lines of products or services (Aguiar, Sperber, & Vieira Cubas, 2019). Internal morale and employee engagement can increase, while productivity, risk management and conflict between the company and the community improve.
The first six principles of the United Nations Global Compact focus on this social dimension of corporate sustainability, of which human rights are the cornerstone. Our work on social sustainability also covers the human rights of specific groups: labor, women's empowerment and gender equality, children, indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, as well as people-centered approaches to business impacts on poverty. In addition to encompassing groups of rights holders, social sustainability encompasses issues that affect them, for example education and health.
Broadly speaking, sustainability refers to the ability of managers to maintain an organization over time. However, the definition of financial sustainability can vary widely between for-profit organizations and non-profit organizations, depending on the business structure, revenue structure, and overall objective of the organization. For both for-profit and non-profit organizations, financial capacity consists of resources that give an organization the ability to seize opportunities and react to unexpected threats while maintaining the overall operations of the organization (Bowman, Kearney, 2011). It reflects the degree of administrative flexibility to reallocate assets in response to opportunities and threats.
Financial sustainability refers to the ability to maintain financial capacity over time (Bowman, Kearney, 2011). Regardless of the for-profit organization or non-profit status, the challenges of establishing financial capacity and financial sustainability are central to the organizational function (Bowman, Kearney, 2011).
However, maintaining the ability to be financially agile over the long term can be especially important for nonprofits, as many of them serve high-need communities that require consistent and continuously available services. With this in mind, the goal of financial sustainability for nonprofits is to maintain or expand services within the organization while building resistance to occasional short-term economic shocks.
Social responsability
The concept of Social Responsibility emerged in the business sector in the 1950s, but it has been gaining relevance since the 1990s, especially with the globalization and internationalization of companies and some environmental scandals. The important thing is that the company must create value for all the groups affected by its activity and not only for shareholders and investors (Montesinos, Brusca, 2019).
The social responsibility / sustainability reports, were born as an instrument of accountability of this responsibility of the company before the interest groups, the social and environmental aspects acquire special relevance in this way to promote and even standardize these sustainability reports, it was created the Global Reporting Initiative in 1997. Since then, it has issued different guidelines and recommendations for sustainable reporting.
Currently, the G4 Guide for the preparation of sustainability, Reports, are being used by many companies to prepare their sustainability report and it has become a useful tool to achieve comparability of sustainable information. In 2018, the Global Sustainability Standards Board was created to issue GRI standards (Montesinos, Brusca, 2019).
conclusion
The studies and pacts that are made between scholars, scientists and countries must be taken into account for large-scale decisions, since the probability that the consequences will be as serious as they are exposed are very high.
Companies must assume the responsibility that their actions generate and adapt these to the social good and not only to the corporate one.
There are reference frameworks and standards that must be followed to achieve the proposed objectives and these are constantly changing and updating.
References
- Montesinos, V., & Brusca, I. (2019). Non-financial reporting in the public sector: alternatives, trends and opportunities. Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, 22 (2), 122–128. https://ezproxy.upaep.mx:2154/10.6018/rcsar.383071 Aguiar Dutra, AR, Sperber Silva, E., & Vieira Cubas, AL (2019). Innovation ecosystems and measures aimed at environmental sustainability: Cidade Pedra Branca case study. Interacoes, 20, 155–170. https://ezproxy.upaep.mx:2154/10.20435/inter.v20i1.1878Valencia-Rodríguez, O., Olivar-Tost, G., & Redondo, JM (2018). Modeling a productive system incorporating elements of business sustainability. Dyna, 85 (207), 113–122 http://www.scielo.org.co/pdf/dyna/v85n207/0012-7353-dyna-85-207-113.pdfChallener, C. (2011). Sustainable Performance: Coatings Resins Continue to Evolve. JCT CoatingsTech, 8 (8),40–45. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.upaep.mx:2057/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aci&AN=513205455&lang=es&site=ehost-liveBowman, Ann O'M., Kearney, Richard C. (2011). State and Local Government: The Essentials. Florida. Cengage Learning.
