英国essay：玛莎百货的可持续发展综述

玛莎百货的可持续发展综述

Sustainable Development A Review Of Marks Spencer 

 

根据目前的情况，经济增长的维度存在着快速增长的态势。许多行业只关注经济层面的问题。他们只关心提高他们的生产力。社会、生活质量和环境质量都被忽视了。因此，许多部门，如政府部门、私营部门、工业界和其他组织，现在更关注的是可持续发展的问题。目前的挑战正在改变，从专注于生产力，以确定如何将环境管理原则纳入他们的日常决策过程中，这是了解环境和供应链效率之间的权衡

 

According to the current situation, there is rapid increasing of development in a dimension of economic growth. Many industries do concern only in economic dimension. They concerned only in improving their productivity. Social, quality of life and environmental have been ignored. As a result, many sectors such as government sector, private sector, industrial sector and other organisations are now paying more attention to this issue that is sustainable development. The challenge are now changing from focusing on productivity to determining how to incorporate environmental management principles into their daily decision-making process, which is understanding the trade offs between environmental and supply chain efficiency (Wu et al., 1995).

 

A picture above demonstrates a visual representation of three components, environmental, social and economic performance. This perspective corresponds to the idea of the triple bottom line, which considers and balances economic, environmental and social goals from a microeconomic standpoint. (Carter et al., 2008 cited Elkington, 2004) It can be argued that any organizations are now trying to put themselves in an intersection area between those 3 circles, which is sustainability. As they realise that there are activities that they can engage in which not only positively affect the natural environment and society, but which also result in long-term economic benefits and competitive advantage for the firms.

 

There is no doubt that globalisation plays a significant role in the new era of supply chain management. There are many industries around the world outsourcing, which result in cost reduction and become more competitive in the market. With regard to an increasing in demand, many companies have become more competitive and are trying to find the best strategy that suits for their organisations based on their structure. Each strategy is different and changed over the period time. Nowadays, environment is the concerning issues to plan the strategies. Compare to the past, people did not concern to the environmental issue much. The example can be seen from many products in the market that use less packaging, made from recycled materials or using plastic bag that is biodegradable and so on. Environmental concern is now one of a major issue that whenever organisations plan to do something, environmental issue needs to be discussed in dept and put it into their plans. They will now have to take responsible for the environmental and social performance of their suppliers and partners. They cannot ignore it. Being environmentally responsible means improving operational efficiency by conserving resources and reuse them as much as possible. Costs can also be deducted by reducing amount of resources used, and using reusable and recycled materials. (WU et al., 1995) In the UK, There is a clear recognition that the major retailers are claiming to be increasingly integrating sustainability into their core business (Jones et al., 2008). Marks and Spencer is also one of those major retailers.

 

Marks and Spencer is one of the UK' s leading retailers, established in 1884 as a single market stall in Leeds, England and developed through the 20th century into an iconic British retailer and now become the UK's most important institution. They sell very wide range of products, which their core business include foods, cloths and home products. According to the 2008/09 annual reports, there are totally 668 UK stores, 39 outlets and 209 high streets, with over 78000 team members and over 2000 suppliers, which can ensure that its brand will continue to offer Quality, Value, Service, Innovation and Trust.(M&S 2008/09 annual report). Marks and Spencer has started environmental strategy articulated in January 2007, which is called "plan A". They found that 72% of customers surveyed are concerned about environmental issues, with 73% saying that the recession had not changed their concern. Plan A is an environmental plan that will influence on every section of the business through its period of time (2007-2012).

 

Literature review 文献综述

 

Sustainable supply chain management can be defined as the management of material and information flows as well as cooperation among companies along the supply chain, which consider three dimensions of sustainable development, which are economic, environmental and social. (2008??). About 68 per cent of the Global 250 firms generated a separate annual sustainability report in 2004 which considered environmental, social, and economic issues(Carter et al., 2008). It will require alteration to present systems and services. Services need to be available and provided with a reduction in the use of materials. (McGhie, 2001) There are many organisations in related supply chain industries introduce green and socially responsible products, proactively and services to the market or processes to their supply chains. Therefore, organisations see these dimensions as issues that need to be addressed for them to remain competitive in an increasingly aware world and market. A company, Perstorp Xytec (formerly Xytec) introduced the first large, solid-wall plastic bins to the US market in 1973. The bins were designed for agricultural and fishing industries and use as an alternative choice for wooden and steel containers. They began designing specialised reusable container systems for major automobile manufacturers such as General Motors (GM), Ford and other customers in automobile industries. (Saphire, 1994) General Motors, who is leading in automobile industries in the USA, has reduced disposal costs by $12 million by using a reusable container programme with their suppliers. (WWW) Mexican Bakery Company in Mexico used hybrid trucks in order to delivery their products. As a result, they can reduce the amount of CO2 emissions by 40 per cent and amount of CO by 90 per cent (ref to Business source premiere "Mexican Bakery Buys First Hybrid Truck In Mexico"). BMW, the German car maker uses rail to ship its parts and fully assembled cars in Europe to help preserve the environment while saving transport and packaging costs (WU et al., 1995). While AT&T expects to save packaging waste by requiring its mobile phone equipment suppliers to reduce packaging by using less materials. By the end of 2011, AT&T expects its suppliers to reduce packaging and use non petroleum based inks and recycled materials for in-box materials. It can be argued that many organisations already have the technology to solve many environmental problems. Although there are several strategies to be used, but those strategies will lead to the same objective, which is protecting the environment from any harmful substances. Moreover, the barriers to sustainable development are becoming organisational and social.

 

Green supply chain strategy 绿色供应链战略

 

The objectives of moving toward green supply chain is that organisation had to concern to both upstream and downstream in order to become 100% green. The upstream that is suppliers would have to concern about purchasing of raw materials to be used whether it is purely environmentally friendly or not. Purchasing managers, who are facing ethical and social responsibility issues, must now making a new decision whether to buy from low cost suppliers or from more expensive but environmentally friendly. According to changing in consumers buying behaviours. Consumers are now more concerning in environmental issue. For example, in a supermarket, numbers of customers who use reusable bags is increasing. Accompany with they are main stakeholder that might have a large effect to the point of sales of the companies if the companies are trying to sell the product that is not environmentally friendly.

 

While in downstream 下游

 

In order to become a 100% green, the following indicators will have to be addressed

 

- Green supply; in terms of purchasing from green supplier by using environmentally friendly methods such as using paperless or buying a 100% recyclable materials from suppliers who have minimised their environmental impact without reducing the quality of their products or drastically increasing costs. As a result of purchasing products from green suppliers, organisations can then begin their green supply chain before any material reaches their site.

 

- Green logistics; attempt to distribute, store, transport products by using activities that produce less CO2 emissions. Organisations also have to design products and package and type of transportations that is suitable for the related activities. For instance, some transportation companies prefer full container load (FCL) rather than less than container load (LCL). Bowersox et al., (2007) states that "LCL experiences a higher percentage of fixed costs that FCL"

 

- Green design or Eco-design; involves a particular framework for considering environmental issues, Reduce or minimize the use of non-renewable resources and manage renewable resources to certify sustainability.#p#分页标题#e#

 

- Green Manufacturing; using clean technology and concern to 3R factors, which are reducing the use of materials, reusing used materials and recycling recyclable materials.

 

- Green consumption; covers a full range of activities in both production and consumption fields, including green products, the recycling of materials, the efficient use of energy, and using less polluting products and services

 

Green recycling;绿色回收；

 

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Responsibility: What they have done so far?

 

Green organisations

 

Marks and Spencer was the first retailer who joined the World Environment Centre (WEC) in 2008, a global non-profit organisation that specialize in sustainable business performance, to increase their performance in order to implement sustainability initiatives. They has become a leader in sustainable development by working with customers and suppliers to become carbon neutral by 2012, reduce waste, safeguard the natural resources it uses, trade ethically and help people lead healthier lives.

 

Green transport 绿色交通工具

 

Marks & Spencer is also set to become the first company in the world to use a revolutionary articulated trailer, whose teardrop shape trailers can help to reduce amount of CO2 emissions by 20%, when compared to a standard cab-trailer fleet operation. The lightweight trailer can carry up to 16% more load. Its aerodynamic shape also delivers a 10% fuel saving and can reduce its carbon footprint by 840 tonnes per trailer every year. The company is now using 241 aerodynamic teardrop trailers to deliver to their distribution centres located around the UK. The example of teardrop shape trailers can be seen from pictures below;

 

Green packaging 绿色包装

 

From the Best Environmental Practices of MARKS & SPENCER Case Study (2009), the company ran over 300 packaging reduction projects in 2007/08, which expected to save 1,400 tonnes of packaging a year once they are fully implemented. As a result, around 40% of its cardboard packaging was produced from board containing recycled materials and around 50% was produced in the year after.

 

Sustainable raw materials 可持续的原料

 

They are launching sustainability strategies and working with key stakeholder groups. In April 2008. M&S banned the use of pesticides the production of their fruit, vegetables and salads and were rated for the best supermarket in a pesticide management, Which will certainly guarantee their customers that their products is 100% without pesticide and other contaminants. It is one way to increase customer's confidence. In terms of wood, approximately 41 per cent of wood materials used were Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified, 12 per cent were from recycled and 7 percent from other independently certified sources. It can be seen that over 50% of their wood materials used are certified.

 

Planning for the future 规划未来

 

It can be argued that the company has done many activities that concerning to environmental and moving toward sustainable development concept,

 

Plan A Commitments: Becoming the most sustainable major retailer in the world by 2015

 

If there is no cooperation from stakeholders, M&S itself will certainly not success. Therefore, In order to achieve this goal, they are setting several key objectives in several categories for customers and other stakeholders to be involved. The following shows some objectives that M&S are setting and trying to achieve in the future planning.

 

Help their customers live more sustainable lives (involve customer in the plan)

 

Reduce our operational carbon emissions by 35% and make our operations carbon neutral. (concerning to climate change)

 

M&S has already changed their transportation vehicle from a standard cab-trailer to teardrop shape trailer, which can reduce CO and CO2 emissions. Moreover, the company will also aim to transport 50% of International General Merchandise products directly to their retail destination in 2011/12 and 80% in 2013/14 rather that routing through the UK

 

Help our suppliers cut their carbon footprint (collaboration with their stakeholders)

 

Create partnerships to help our customers reuse or recycle all our products and packaging (concerning to waste)

 

Reduce the impact on the natural resources used to make our products

 

As noted by Carter et al., (2008) cited Hoffman et al., (2005), "The key to resolving this debate is the recognition that (social and environmental) behaviours are sometimes profit compatible and sometimes not. When parties acknowledge this simple fact, it becomes easier to convince corporations to adopt (environmental and social initiatives) that are mutually beneficial. This thinking moves us beyond the simple question, "Does it pay to be green?" M&S can answer this question very clearly. According to the company's annual report, it can bee seen that the company can make profit from their green activities. Activities such as reducing packaging, improving working conditions in warehouses, using aerodynamic teardrop trailer for transportation purposes, and requiring suppliers to undertake environmental and social programs, as just a few examples among many, can reduce costs while also improving corporate reputation. It can be ensured by the company's annual financial statement. M&S has done very well in these points. The report was not only tell that the company can make profits but also tell results of applying green supply chain in the company, which can guarantee in successful undoubtedly.

 

Conclusion 结论

 

In conclusion, it can be argued that M&S is best fit to be put in the intersection area between three components, environmental, social and economic performance as aforementioned. Since all of activities they have been done can be used as an indicator to measure their green performance. For instance, M&S banned the use of pesticides the production of their vegetables and fruits. This is to ensure that M&S concerns to people (social). While the firm switches from standard cab-trailer to teardrop trailer can ensure that the firm also concerns to environmental too. Finally, the annual profit will also tell that the company can also make profits by becoming green (economy). However, cooperation from stakeholders also plays vital roles and become a major factor for the company's success. They recognize that they cannot do this without cooperation from their stakeholders, which demonstrates how important of collaboration with partner.