Assignment 3: ECSR & Me by Kim Fabay

MAIN THEMES THAT RESONATES WITH ME

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CIRCULAR ECONOMY

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One of themes that resonates with me the most was the circular economy. I learned through Ellen Macarthur Foundation that "circular economy, products and materials are kept in circulation through processes like maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture, recycling, and composting." (n.d.)

This matters in general because the system "tackles climate change, and other global challenges, like biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution, by decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources." (Ellen Macarthur Foundation, n.d.)

TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE MODEL

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Another theme in ENMN:429 - ECSR that I value the most is the triple bottom line model. "The triple bottom line aims to measure the financial, social, and environmental performance of a company overtime." (Kenton, 2023) I find importance on the theory, as it teaches companies to commit on other aspects of businesses. Rather than focusing only on the financial outcome, the theory allows us to look on the social, and environmental outcomes as well.

To be more specific, companies can benefit through the model in various ways. “Other benefits of the model includes improve brand reputation, talent attraction and retention, minimizes compliance risks, improved investment opportunities, and drives prosperity.” (Mind Tools Content Team, n.d.)

GREEN-MARKETING

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In contrast of greenwashing, “green-marketing promotes products or services as being eco-friendly and sustainable.” (BDC, n.d.) The difference between two concepts is that green-marketing stays true and authentic with
businesses commitments to the environment. It’s important because it helps consumers to be aware of their purchase decisions towards a product/service. Furthermore, “green marketing can improve credibility and visibility among conscious consumer, distinguish brands from its competitors, and ultimately save money through adoption of less wasteful business practices.” (Shopify Staff, 2024)

KOTTER'S 8 STEP CHANGE MODEL

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ECSR PRACTICE MOVING FORWARD

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CONCLUSION: KEY TAKEAWAYS

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MAIN ISSUES: FAST FASHION

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For someone working in the retail industry for 7 years, and I find fast fashion becoming a big problem in the world. According to research, "fast fashion is associated with pollution, waste, the promulgation of a disposable mentality, low wages, and unsafe workplaces." (Ogbonnaya, 2022) Ogbonnaya also stated that "Fashion emits more than 10% of global emissions" (2022) Fast fashion has been negatively impacting the environment in a lot of ways and it is continuously growing in a very alarming rate.

INTRODUCTION

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Welcome to my final assignment in ENMN429: Environmental and Corporate Social Responsibility with Ingrid Mitchell. For this project, I will be using a digital storyboard to get creative visually about all the learnings and opinions I gathered from my ECSR journey in BCom program.

First, I will be sharing four main themes and issues that resonate with myself in the past few weeks of the course. I'll also be sharing why these themes and issues matter in today's time. Furthermore, I will share how I can incorporate all the knowledge and learnings I've acquired as a Bcom student. Lastly, I will share how I'll utilize all my knowledge from ENMN429 and apply it to my upcoming business venture in the Philippines this 2024.

GREENWASHING

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Another issue in businesses being sustainable is greenwashing. "Greenwashing is when an organization spends more time and money on marketing itself as environmentally friendly than actually minimizing its environmental impact." (Edwards, 2024) For example, companies would market their products with terms like "organic," "vegan", "natural," "conscious," and "eco-friendly." They would use this terms to mislead customers and provide wrong information about their environmental initiatives.

While some companies stay true to what they are, there are still a lot of businesses making false claims about their sustainability efforts. For example, fast fashion brands such as H&M we're reported being sued for 'misleading' sustainability marketing in 2023. According to research, "H&M created illusion "that old clothes are simply turned into new garments, or that clothes will not end up in a landfill" is misleading, adding that "recycling solutions either do not exist or are not commercially available at scale for the vast majority" of H&M's products." (Sierra, 2023)

REFERENCES

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Edwards, C. (2024, January 14) What is Greenwashing? https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/10946-greenwashing.html

Sierra, B. (2023, August 17) H&M is being sued for misleading sustainability marketing. What does this mean for the future of greenwashing. https://www.thesustainablefashionforum.com/pages/hm-is-being-sued-for-misleading-sustainability-marketing-what-does-this-mean-for-the-future-of-greenwashing

Rauturier, S. (2024, February 2) Everything you need to know about waste in the fashion industry. https://goodonyou.eco/waste-luxury-fashion/

Ellen Macarthur Foundation. (n.d.) What is Circular Economy? https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview

Ogbonnaya, E. (2022, November 30) Let's face it, Fashion has its benefits. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/lets-face-fast-fashion-has-its-benefits-emeka-ogbonnaya/

n.a. (2020, September 4) Leading Change: John Kotter's 8 Step Change Model.

Kenton, W. (2023, December 17) Triple Bottom Line. Investopedia. www.investopedia.com/terms/t/triple-bottom-line.asp

The Mind Tools Content Team. (n.d.) Triple Bottom Line. https://www.mindtools.com/awbh8iv/the-triple-bottom-line

BDC. (n.d.) Is green marketing right for your business?

https://www.bdc.ca/en/articles-tools/sustainability/environment/green-marketing-provides-competitive-advantages

https://www.thehubevents.com/resources/leading-change-john-kotters-8-step-change-model

WASTE POLLUTION

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Based on research, "92 million tons of textile waste is created annually by the fashion industry. It's also reported that textile waste is to increase by around 60% between 2015 and 2030." (Rauturier, 2023)

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I find value with this system as a BCom student or future entrepreneur as it gives an opportunity to reinvent and do businesses in today and in the future. Rather than looking at one straight line cycle of a product, the circular economy provides vision on how to extend product's life while creating a positive impact in the planet.

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"One of the main benefits of using Kotter's 8-step model is that it provides a clear and structured roadmap for change that can be applied to various types of changes and contexts." (LinkedIn, n.d.)

I find value on this structured-approach map because it helps businesses to implement change in organizations. It is “creating sense of urgency and creating the guiding coalition." (2020)

My new business venture

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As a Bcom student, I plan to address the ECSR issues of fast fashion and waste pollution through reselling over-run clothing. Rather than having unsold inventories sitting in factories and going to waste, I saw an opportunity on it and make it accessible to women living low-to-middle-income class. Other than empowering women through good and accessible clothing, we’re also helping the environment to lessen the waste in the community in the Philippines.

My approaches in turning my new venture into being sustainable.

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The goal? To lessen the waste pollution contributed by the fast fashion industry. - Meaningful yet reasonable targets to measure the success of my plan.

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Some meaningful targets that I have so far is to focus on sustainable initiatives that can help lessen the waste that fast fashion produce in the environment. Some of the initiatives that Kit's Curated Apparel consists of:

Reselling overrun clothing in the Philippines
Using recyclable packaging in orders
Focused on minimal fashion styles with great quality of clothing (To emphasize quality over quantity)
Looking forward to incorporate reselling second hand clothing with my business idea in the future

Connecting with Social Impact Consultant in the Philippines.

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How and to whom will you be accountable to report on your ability to meet these targets? If you have not already addressed this, in what other ways might you engage your stakeholders?

For now, I haven't launch my business yet and I don’t have anyone to report my ability to meet my targets. Tha plan right now is to look for people that can help me meet my targets. During my panel presentation, one of my panelist Dr. Connie was able to refer me to a Social Impact consultant based in the Philippines named Marko which is a managing director at Fundlife. I'm looking forward to talk to him so I can get guidance to creating an effective business idea that supports sustainability in clothing in the Philippines.

Guidance on using sustainable model canvas.

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To conclude, the ENMN429: ECSR with Ingrid was indeed a very helpful course for Bcom students like me who aspire to create a business in the future.

Without this course, it won't make students think about the other aspects of business such as the impacts of society and environment. This course puts importance of teaching business students to use or create businesses as an instrument to protect ecosystems, living organisms, and the planet.

A lot of valueable concepts, principles, and frameworks we're also shared from the past few weeks throughout the course for students to be able to learn and possibly incorporate some of the themes for our business idea.