Project 7

Nationali Teas: Triple-Bottom-Line and B-Corp Certification Author’s Name The Institutional Affiliation Course Number and Name Instructor Name Assignment Due Date Introduction Tea is the largest manufacturing sector in the global food and beverage (F&B) industry. Tea factories embrace a lean approach to coordinate with forward and backward supply channels while manufacturing finished products for commercial activities. Tea remains a popular beverage option for global audiences (Thirunavukkarasu & Sawle, 2022). However, the recent evolutions in supply chain functions and business practices emphasized the ‘triple-bottom-line (TBL)’ approach to balancing business efforts robustly between corporate mission, stakeholder values, and ethical accountabilities. Businesses must fulfill all parameters to declare robust profitability driven by the TBL model in the long run (Ivanov, 2022). This paper will develop an operational goal for ‘NationaliTeas (NT)’ and discuss the benefits of ‘B-Corp Certification (BCC)’ in the next two years. The paper will propose a prioritization plan for TBL to the Board of Directors (BoD), incorporating impactful initiatives for strengthening business position in the long run. TBL is inevitable for businesses to achieve sustainable profitability. Part One: Justification of Benefits A. Key Components The TBL concept was coined by John Elkington in 1994 to explain the significance of sustainable profitability in business practices. Theoretically, TBL educates businesses to emphasize social and environmental wellness while maximizing shareholder value. Businesses must express holistic commitment towards ecology and societal constraints by distributing profitability in the long run. TBL comprises three components, namely 'profit,' 'people,' and 'planet' (3Ps; Le, 2022). * Profit is a fundamental reason for businesses to operate. Profit is a societal necessity to receive consumable goods, such as tea products, and generate employability for economic benefits (Ecer & Pamucar, 2022). * People are the stakeholders like employees, customers, government representatives, legislators, and competitors. People ensure businesses deploy fair practices while distributing benefits for holistic growth (Ecer & Pamucar, 2022). * The planet is an indirect interest of businesses, influenced by industrial and commercial activities. Businesses should control carbon footprints, deforestation, and other malpractices that influence ecological balance in the long run (Ecer & Pamucar, 2022). B. Organizational Value Organizations operate in the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0)’ era, making transparency and accountability inevitable components of the business model (Piwowar-Sulej & Iqbal, 2023). NT is a leading tea producer, offering rejuvenating and refreshing beverages for diverse audiences. The company envisions respect, sustainability, and ethical commitments as core values in marketplaces. TBL would empower NT to achieve the embedded mission and vision for continuous growth in the global tea segment. NT must use TBL to enjoy the following values and benefits in the long run (Fatima & Elbanna, 2023): * TBL empowers businesses to measure their financial, social, ecological, and ethical performances while deploying corporate strategies for continuous profitability. * TBL generates sustainable trust with people, particularly employees, customers, and investors, allowing a company to enjoy market dominance in the long run. * TBL prevents companies from violating social, ecological, and commercial laws while maintaining the legitimacy of business practices. C. B-Corporation Certification Benefits Nonetheless, companies operating in the Industry 4.0 era must establish stakeholder trust with evidence. BCC is a legitimate certification that justifies a company’s position with societal and environmental standards accepted in 161 industries and 90 countries. BCC ensures accountability and transparency of business functions using the TBL framework to standardize actions (Patel & Dahlin, 2021). Hence, NT should acquire BCC to strengthen its industrial position and establish sustainable trust driven by the TBL concept in the long run. According to Silva et al. (2022), companies like NT should acquire BCC for the following reasons: * Formulate trusted relationships with customers, investors, employees, global value chain (GVC) partners, and communities. * Ensure employee retention for sustainable operations in the long run. * Present the company’s vision and mission as meaningful initiatives to foster positive change in society and ecology. The above benefits indicate that BCC directs the company’s activities within the TBL boundaries by deploying sustainable strategies. Part Two: Operational Recommendations A. Organizational Impacts The TBL framework and BCC acquisition would empower NT to foster positive impacts in organizational structure. According to Khan et al. (2022), TBL framework integration allows businesses to cultivate green practices in workplace culture. Companies deploying TBL-driven strategies could influence stakeholders to participate in the corporate mission and vision. Besides, such companies could build trust through BCC and apply sustainability initiatives wi...