Sustainable Development Goals Report
The United Nations created strategies through which sustainable development would get achieved by including all individuals. Sustainable development goals are the call for actions for all countries despite their economic status. These goals aim to promote prosperity on the planet without jeopardizing the world through irresponsible operations (“The Sustainable Development Agenda,” 2020). According to the united nation, sustainable development is the ability for individuals to meet their day-to-day needs without putting the future of the world at risk. United Nations recognizes the challenges experienced by different countries and tries to reduce these challenges by creating a framework through which countries can progressively solve different economic, social, and political issues. Sustainable development goals (SDGs) are 17 interconnected objectives created as a guide for a sustainable future for humanity (“The Sustainable Development Agenda,” 2020). SDGs are created for countries, but countries are defined by the economic activities conducted by organizations and individuals. Sustainable Development Goals Report shows the progress of the countries in implementing the goals. The reports also provide insight into progress areas that need to be addressed to ensure all countries register the same progress. The reports act to prove that countries are employing the right effort and resources to ensure sustainable development. Business organizations may adopt SDGs to measure the non-financial benefits to the organization and society.
Literature Review
The paper presents a different article that discusses SDGs strategies and their effects on business operations. Pattanaro and Donato (2018) SDGs to businesses by assessing business opportunities through the strategies. The article assesses how the revised SDGs’ strategies and goals present to business entities by evaluating how tourism is affected. SDGs gauge the key issues affecting the contemporary world by connecting economies, societies, and the environment. The goals address issues that affect the business world since operations are determined by the economies, society, and the environment. Businesses exist to address society’s issues, and their sustainability depends on decisions that affect economies, societies, and the environment. The article argues that although SDGs touch on the issues within the society that influence businesses, there are no clear connections between SDGs and business issues such as new products, competition management, and new markets. Although the insights developed by Pattanaro and Donato (2018) only relate to tourism, these factors can also get applied to other businesses because they share the same model of operations.
An article by Redman (2019) shows how SDGs may result in sustainable operations by businesses. The article stresses the importance of the SDGs framework’s effective linkage to transform businesses by making them sustainable. Redman proposes that the SDG framework become operationalized for businesses through a progressive structure for actions. Adopting the business framework would include three unconnected levels, including communication, tactical and strategic levels. Communication helps businesses identify their sustainability status; tactical level helps improve the effects of business sustainability while strategic efforts influence the creation of plans for bigger sustainability benefits. Although Pattanaro and Donato (2018) identified a few benefits, Redman (2018) creates an idea of how integration may increase the business’s benefits.
Swain and Yang-Wallentin (2019) assess the strategies applied to achieve sustainable development goals in developed and developing countries. The article mentions universality, broad framing, and difficulties implementing SDGs as the dilemmas surrounding the framework. SDGs foundation is grounded on pillars such as the countries’ economic, social, and environmental responsibilities. Countries, however, achieve sustainability differently. The developed countries benefit from sustainability by focusing on their social and environmental factors. Developing countries, on the other hand, benefit from SDGs by focusing on economic and social factors. Challenges exist in quantifying SDGs’ benefits because of the existing conflicts between socio-economic progress and environmental sustainability. Swain and Yang-Wallentin (2019) article link with the previous articles through recommendations on how countries can effectively achieve sustainable development. Sustainability in countries depends on factors bringing the most benefits to those countries.
SDG Reporting
SDG Reporting includes companies including information about their sustainability efforts in their reports. Reporting is a strategy aimed at influencing business transparency and accountability through business contributions to SDGs. Organizational reports show how they have integrated SDGs in their operations to influence how they affect the economy, society, and environment. The aim of reporting, in this case, is to influence organizations to participate in achieving the goals and making sustainability a reality.
Organization Overview
Ford Motor Company is an international automobile company that designs, manufactures, and market vehicles. The company was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, in the United States (“Ford Motor Company,” 2020). The company is one of the world’s largest companies but faces major competition from General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Hyundai-Kai. The organization operates in North America, Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa. The company’s mission is, ‘To drive human progress through the freedom of movement.’ The company’s main customers include automobile enthusiasts and businesses. The company manufactures Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs), cars, trucks, and luxury vehicles.
SDG Reporting in the Organization
SDG reporting is supposed to help organizations become sustainable by implementing the framework in their operations. Ford Motor Company can achieve sustainability by adopting SDGs in designing, manufacture, and marketing automobile products. Measurement of Ford’s organizational success can be achieved through the following strategies.
- Measuring Social Integration
Social integration includes the rate at which the company influences society by including it in the operations. Organizational success in this category is measured through the positive perception the community has towards the company. In this case, the SDG reporting includes identifying how Ford operations create employment, opportunities, actual and potential danger to society (“Integrating SDGs into sustainability reporting,” 2020). Some of the SDGs affected by this reporting include zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, and clean and sanitation. Success emerges when the report shows how Ford’s operations reduce hunger, improve health outcomes, promote gender equality, and promote environmental conservation. These factors are measured according to the time the Ford Company has existed in a particular region.
- Measuring Ethical Business
Ethical business is measured through honest and responsible operations. SDG reporting can enable the company to measure the level of its business operations by reports on tax information, operational process, economic progress, and working environment (“Integrating SDGs into sustainability reporting,” 2020). The report would show how the organization uses its finances and how the process, employees, and working environment influence the operations. The quality of work, level of diversity, and transparency would reflect the company’s ethical status. The ethical standards influence the relationship of the organization with the stakeholder and government. Reporting, therefore, influences how the organization gains new business opportunities and support from the governments.
- Measuring Technological Adoption
Ford Motor Company can measure the level of technology adoption to determine its effectiveness in manufacturing. SDG reporting, in this case, includes reporting on the level of infrastructure investment, economic value achieved through innovation and infrastructure, and fuel consumption (“Integrating SDGs into sustainability reporting,” 2020). Organizational success is achieved when the company is effectively improving operations and efficiency through the adoption of technology. The improvement includes the reduction of operational costs and negative effects on the environment. These measurements affect the relationship of the organization with the stakeholders and the community. Stakeholders are affected by the production costs, while the community is affected by the acquisition of knowledge through the new technology and loss of jobs.
References
Redman, A. (2019). Harnessing the Sustainable Development Goals for businesses: A progressive framework for action. Business Strategy & Development, 1(4), 230-243. file:///C:/Users/Smart%20Lee/Downloads/2018_Redman_BSD_PREPRINT.pdf
Pattanaro, G., & Donato, S. (2018). Sustainable development goals: a business opportunity for tourism companies?. Ekonomiczne Problemy Turystyki, 43, 21-27. file:///C:/Users/Smart%20Lee/Downloads/Sustainable_development_goals_a_business_opportuni.pdf
Bali Swain, R., & Yang-Wallentin, F. (2020). Achieving sustainable development goals: predicaments and strategies. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 27(2), 96-106. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504509.2019.1692316
Ford Motor Company. (2020). Retrieved 14 November 2020, from https://corporate.ford.com/about/purpose.html
Integrating SDGs into sustainability reporting. (2020). Retrieved 14 November 2020, from https://www.globalreporting.org/public-policy-partnerships/sustainable-development/integrating-sdgs-into-sustainability-reporting/
The Sustainable Development Agenda. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/