Implementing a Sustainability Plan at St. Jude Medical Essay

Implementing a Sustainability Plan at St. Jude Medical - Essay Example When organizations understand what sustainability is, they begin to wonder if they have been doing enough. Martin (2011) describes sustainability as a process through which social, economic, and ecological imperatives are reconciled. A sustainability plan must be composed of the following five components: a sustainability framework, rationale, vision, key impacts, and action plan. Developing a sustainability plan is not an easy task because they are several barriers that make it difficult to develop. Uncertainty in the future is one of the common barriers. Another barrier is the inability of the organization to define sustainability. Most organizations define sustainability in terms of compliance to environmental regulation. Overcoming these barriers requires the organization to develop a clear vision of where it is heading, to develop a culture of sustainability, and to create collaborative relationships. St. Jude Medical This proposal will look at implementing a sustainability plan at St. Jude Medical. St. ... The stakeholders of St. Jude Medical include individuals who affect and are affected by its business. Stakeholders’ feedback is important as the organization seeks to focus and expand on its sustainability reporting and initiatives. Stakeholders of St. Jude Medical include the surrounding community, customers, employees, environment, investors, patients, regulators, and suppliers. Each stakeholder is important to the organization and in its quest to become sustainable so St. Jude Medical has a primary area of focus to each stakeholder (St. Jude Medical, 2012). The primary area of focus for the community is volunteerism and charitable giving. Concerning customers, the primary areas of focus include product quality and safety, appropriateness and ethics of relationship with physicians, product innovation, and professional training. The area of focus among the employees is health and safety, inclusion, competitive benefits and compensation, and personal development. Carbon dioxid e, waste management, water usage, recycling, and energy use are the primary areas of focus concerning the environment. St. Jude Medical influences the environment and makes use of natural resources in manufacturing, offices, and distribution. Product innovation, security of personal information, product safety, and quality are the main areas of focus for the patients. For the regulators and suppliers, the main areas of focus include product safety and quality, public policy, privacy, and ethical business practices (St. Jude Medical, 2012). Literature Review Sustainability Sustainability is described as a process through which social, economic, and ecological imperatives are reconciled (Martin, 2011). Sustainability is not a destination, but a journey. Just like