Assignment Sample on Strategic Management and Sustainability
1. Introduction
Strategic management is a process that helps to set numerous goals, objectives and procedures in order to make an organization more competitive in the global markets. This essay aims to highlight facts of strategic management and sustainability in the Hawthorn clothing industry in the UK. On the other hand, sustainability states that it is essential to use necessary elements from nature in a suitable way by providing an opportunity to use these elements by future generations. Current practices show that most of clothing organization wasperusing to enhance their strategic management and sustainability to meet global challenges. In order to mitigate this system, Hawthorn needs to take some current practices for enhancing people suffering from their basic needs and provides stability.
2. Discussion
Human development and technological enhancements have brought environmental degradations and affect natural phenomena to a great extent. The problems of global changes, poverty, global warming and gender inequality and international conflicts are mostly observed across the world. According to Souza and Alves (2018), private organizations can contribute to minimizing all the negative impacts by adopting suitable Corporate Sustainable Development approaches based on Sustainable Development Goals.
Current practices
Innovation by private companies for representation of SDGs: Hawthorn has been running their business for a large period of time, and in this present scenario, is considered as the leading manufactures in the UK. Organization is currently producing huge items and distributing their quality products to small and medium-sized fashion organizations (Hawthornintl.com, 2021). Hawthorn always focuses on maintaining its quality and meeting demands of its customers in a suitable way. Present organizations only provide supply for their organizations having a minimum order of 50 pieces per design. Hawthorn needs to reduce amount of wastes for their clothes which can help them to reduce huge amounts of costs and increase their profits (Hawthornintl.com, 2021). Besides this, organizations must take some necessary steps to maintain social responsibility and provide awareness among their employees.
Focusing on minimizing pay gap in organizations- Many organizations in this present scenario have been considered gender-biased and provide huge facilities on the basis of it. Hawthorn has eliminated this concept from their workplace and provides importance to all their employees. According to Sroufe and Gopalakrishna-Remani (2019), it was found that Hawthorn provides the same payment for all their employees and additionally provides incentives on the basis of their quality of performing their works. Along with it, an employee’s promotion depends on the basis of their works, not on the basis of gender bias. It can be considered as a positive step to enhance productivity of their organization.
Hawthorn’s CSR: Hawthorn was trying hard to minimize water usage as the deficit of drinking water has created a headache for many governments. According to Calabrese et al. (2019), in order to minimize these solutions and carry out their work in a suitable way. Hawthorn was trying to find some alternatives that can help them reduce water usage for preparing jeans and other items. Along with it, Hawthorn was trying to implement some modern tools and technologies in their workplace like artificial technologies, Virtual reality and Internet of things (IoT). Finary is an advanced tool that helps in automated wardrobe planning; Truefit helps their customers to fit products and maintain new styles with markets.
Challenges
Poor goal setting- Many organizations have stated that strategic goals seem to be more complex and need large amounts of resources in order to maintain guidelines properly. Hawthorn needs to adopt strategic goals in a suitable way to meet the global challenges as it is one of their responsibilities to work for these dominated people. Hawthorn needs to establish clear goals among its employees, apart from creating quality products for conducting business. According to Lynch (2019), all the necessary elements need to be provided among all the members performing in every team consisting of more clarity and on their priorities and responsibilities. The business’s role is to adopt smart techniques that help to measure specific and timely goals for uplifting downtrodden people in an appropriate way.
Inability to track progress- Most organizations were currently using spreadsheets in this technologically advanced scenario to regularly track their objectives. Current techniques seemed to be worked between the managers and their employees for providing suitable results but unable to make transparency in their systems. Hawthorn needs to adopt some modern technologies in their workplace, which can help them enhance their productivity and diminish the level of pollution created by them. According to Sullivan et al. (2018), in this way, organizations can track their progress to enhance their global challenges by reducing the wastage of water and maintaining equality in their workplace. It was found that eliminating inequality in the workplace helps to motivate their employees, which can lead them to increase productivity of Hawthorn.
People not getting connected with this strategy- Employees from every manufacturing organization seemed to follow a perfect routine; for this reason, Hawthorn needs to focus on their operations. It was found that strategic goals seemed to be rarely easy but difficult to connect with the people working differently for enhancing sustainability in their organization. According to Domingues et al. (2017), in order to maintain this strategy, Hawthorn needs to connect professional goals with their personal interest. Hawthorn needs to enhance its employees by providing adequate responsibility and skills to enhance their working environment and play an important role in a team. Hawthorn can provide an opportunity for their employees to think in an innovative way and enhance their creativity to maintain their strategic planning.
Needs to work for the environment and common people- UN has declared that on 17th June World Day to Combat Desertification enhancing public engagement and awareness about climate changes as the soil gets dried up readily. Hawthorn needs to adopt some strategic steps like food that gets wasted in their work needs to be delivered to those unable to feed every day. According to Ordonez‐Ponce and Clarke (2020), along it, employees of the organization need to plant a large number of trees in the organization’s surroundings, which can help enhance sustainability in their workplace. Reducing level of pollution to a greater extent, organizations need to provide some eco-friendly products in their clothing.
Opportunities
Training and development- Hawthorn has provided an immense focus to train their employees in a proper way and to build their personal development, and support them with appraisals. Organization seemed to provide necessary facilities for their employees, which can help them, increase their workplace productivity and support them to join in this positive campaign of minimizing global challenges. According to Stevens et al. (2018), due to these reasons, every member of the organization must be engaged with their work and can reduce conflict in the workplace. It is the duty of every employee to gather foods that seem to get wasted and needs to deliver these foods for NGOs and other homes. It can help them to eat some luxury foods for a day and makes they sustainable with this competitive environment.
Providing healthcare facilities- Hawthorn takes some bold steps to enhance the health of their employees, which can help them to retain a large number of people in a suitable way. Standing in this post-pandemic scenario, it has been found that a large number of people have lost their jobs to a greater extent. On the other hand, Hawthorn is still providing healthcare facilities for its employees, which seems that the organization is concerned about their employees, which can lead them to maintain a sort of global challenge perfectly. According to Wijethilake (2017), besides this, the organization needs to provide limited usage of water in their organization as many employees seem to waste some useful water through casualties. It is important to minimize the usage of water to a greater extent and needs to supply some fresh drinking water to some areas in which scarcity seems to be taking place.
Focusing on reducing less water content- Apart from reducing wastages of water from their workplace, organizations need to prepare their denim and other clothes with less amount of water. However, it was found that Levi’s has taken a positive approach for reducing usage of water for preparing their jeans and other products (Forbes.com, 2021). Hawthorn needs to adopt this approach from Levis and makes themselves sustainable through their modern designs and manufacturing process. In this way, Hawthorn can easily enhance both their brand image and attention from a large number of customers, which can enhance their growth in the markets.
Trying to adopt polyester materials for their clothing- Hawthorn needs to find some alternatives to cotton, which can help them to reduce the amount of pollution to a greater extent and minimizing their costs. However, it was found that H&M was trying to shift their attention from fast fashions towards conscious collection by using organic cotton and recycled polyester (Forbes.com, 2021). Hawthorn needs to adopt these positive steps and needs to implement these items in their workplace and become sustainable by using eco-friendly fabrics.
Collect old clothes and can provide them for NGOs- It was found that many organizations across the UK started to collect old clothes that were thrown away by their customers. According to Doktoralina and Apollo (2019), apart from their clothes, cardboard and plastics seemed to be collected and recycled in a proper way for further usage. Hawthorn needs to join in this campaign and makes them sustainable by recycling their products in a suitable way through home insulations. Along with it, some oil clothes need to be transferred towards children’s residing in child homes and NGOs. It can help them to a greater extent as they do not have sufficient clothes to maintain their lifestyle (Unglobalcompact.org, 2021)
Needs to take a positive step for zero waste policy- Many clothing organizations were concerned about waste of their unsold items; it creates a demonization for the organizations. Brands like Amour Vert provide direct ventures with mills to ensure use of non-toxic dyes for preparing their sustainable products in a suitable way. Another innovative step was taken by the organization for planting a number of trees for every item that was purchased. According to Williams et al. (2017), in the same way, Hawthorn can easily adapt the following steps, which can help the environment for getting new plants successfully. Organizations need to follow Zero-waste policies and implement creative ideas for recycling and reusing items properly.
Research needs to be carried on recycled plastic bottles- People usually use plastic bottles and throw them in the riversides and drains, and it gets accumulated in oceans and takes a huge shape. According to Nathan (2018), a few years back from the Pacific Ocean, huge tons of plastics were collected, which can easily make a small island and polluting environments to a huge extent. Ever line, a garments organization, has provided a positive approach to use these plastic bottles and other reused materials for their line of clothing. Hawthorn can adopt these innovative ideas in their organization and prepare some quality items, which can extensively attract their customers (Unglobalcompact.org, 2021).
4. Conclusion
Present essay was prepared on the basis of strategic management and sustainability and focused its entire facts on Hawthorn clothing organization. Present essay comprises current practices, challenges and opportunity for the organization in terms of maintaining sustainability in a suitable way. It was found that most of the large organizations from clothing industries were trying to adopt some innovative ideas in order to meet their global challenges. Some necessary items need to be taken into account as it is the duty of every organization to provide some facilities for people suffering from financial conditions and basic needs. Hawthorn has taken some necessary steps to train its employees and provides necessary facilities for its employees like healthcare facilities and others. In the last stages, some recommendations have been provided for Hawthorn as most of the organizations were trying to adopt some practices to make them sustainable.
Reference List
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