MGNT2SM Principles of Sustainable Management Practice Assessment Answers

OBJECTIVE

This assignment is the last of the three assignments. The assignment is aligned with the following objectives:

• Provide for a balanced and curriculum-aligned assessment that obligates your engagement with the learning material we have associated with these two learning themes:
  1. Responsible Marketing
  2. Responsible Operations Management
• Provide an opportunity for you to earn a mark towards your final module grade award.

BACKGROUND TO THE TASK

These South African products contain a controversial ingredient

South African volunteer group No Palm Oil has released a list of products that contain the controversial ingredient and even in its early stages it features many household names and products, from rusks to face cream.

The list identifies many individual McDonald's meals as being prepared with palm oil, as well as Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (which are fried in a palm-oil shortening), and warns that volunteers have been unable to determine if there are any KFC products at all that are not fried in palm oil.

Various types of bread from Albany, Blue Ribbon, and Woolworths feature, as do cereals from Bokomo and Kellogg's, Ouma rusks, and Bakers biscuits. The list also includes crisps from Simba, Lays, and Doritos, coffee drinks from Nescafe, spreads from Black Cat and Yum Yum, sweets from Nestl, and ready-made meals from Woolworths.

Then there are the cosmetics: soaps from Dove, shaving cream from Gillette, moisturisers from Vaseline, and antiperspirants from Nivea.

In a post on the No Palm Oil initiative which links to the database of products organiser Nechama Brodie says that "with few exceptions, the majority of manufacturers and retailers have done bugger-all about cutting out palm oil or switching to certified sustainable sources".

Palm oil has long been linked to environmental destruction, but a recent upsurge in high-visibility activism by the likes of Greenpeace, awareness initiatives that closely link the oil to the fate of orangutans, and attempts by consumer companies to prove they are working to limit its impact, have put it firmly back on the agenda.

Palm oil has been identified as the biggest driver of deforestation in Indonesia, with associated impacts on climate change and habitat destruction and massive air pollution for various countries as entire forests are set on fire.

Many major consumer companies have committed themselves to using only sustainably produced palm oil, but reports from the likes of GReenpeace have claimed that even some of those companies are still buying oil from mills that deal in the distinctly un-sustainable product. Sustainability efforts have also seen trouble with reporting systems, and earlier this year Nestl was briefly suspended from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil for missing a deadline on submitting a roadmap.

THIS IS YOUR QUESTION TASK:

You have learned that corporate citizenship is the notion that businesses have a responsibility a social compact - to contribute to sustainable outcomes, no matter what they do. And, you have learned that responsible business decisions are made according to specific contributing components, supported by strategic guidance instruments.

Prepare an essay in two parts, that addresses the following two components:

A.  Firstly, explain what responsible marketing and responsible supply chain and operations management are.

(This is a theoretical perspective. Academic essays that seek to explain and justify the need to be adequately supported by theory. If the appropriate theory is not presented in Part A, the essay will be weak and likely to fail. This is because the theory in Part A is the basis upon which you offer justification in Part B.

B Secondly, discuss how the various fast-food outlets and FMCG companies in South Africa can address the use of palm oil products by consumers through their marketing, supply chain and operations activities.

(This is a practical perspective. Where part A places the theory on display, part B uses that theory as a form of leverage, building on the principles, and enabling you to defend the opinions you resent in your discussion).

Just as with the previous assignment, it will be necessary to prepare an introduction and a conclusion, but the emphasis of the body of your essay is on these two parts. If you want to, you can label them with headings (like, for example, A The theoretical perspectives of responsible Marketing and Operations Management and B The practical perspective , or anything you think will emphasise your understanding of the concepts.