Fluent Essays

I need this NLT this Friday August 13th by 2pm EST. This is a culmination of all of the modules put together for one paper. Attached are the three papers and the final project instructions and rubric.  Final Submission: Environmental and Social Sustainability Plan In Module Seven, you will submit an eight- to 10-page paper addressing the assignment for XYZ Manufacturing Company. Based on what you learned from your case study and throughout this course, formulate a plan to improve the company’s triple bottom line while addressing the specific goals that the VP of Operations initially proposed. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the Final Project. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission is graded with the Final Project Rubric. Running head: PATAGONIA COMPANY CASE STUDY 1 PATAGONIA COMPANY CASE STUDY 4 Patagonia Company Case Study Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Milestone 2 Patagonia Company Case Study Patagonia is an American clothing company founded in 1973 by Yvon Chouinard. The company is known for marketing and selling outdoor clothing. After its establishment, the company opened its first store in Ventura. This store was used to sell bespoke mountain climbing gear; however, after a while, the company expanded its production line to include outdoor sports apparel like surfing. Today, Patagonia is doing more than sports. It is engaging in outdoor products such as camping foods, sleeping bags, and backpacks. Patagonia has done a lot to ensure that it is sustainable. For instance, in 2017, the company introduced the Worn Wear concept to give its customers a chance to return some items purchased from Patagonia as long as they are in good condition in exchange for new merchandise. Overview Patagonia is known for excellently matching the companys operating model to pursue the objectives of the business model. According to research, Patagonias business model focuses on the growth of core consumer products while prioritizing the same impact on the brand image. The business model at Patagonia is to manufacture and sell quality outdoor clothing products through distributors and consumers (Krchová, 2019). More so, the model aims at the creation of social and economical business value while impacting environmentalism in its brand. Therefore, the company ensures that its operations do not harm the environment and the consumers. Therefore, it ensures that the facilities are resources are sustainable and environmentally friendly. Patagonia is a leader in corporate social responsibility. It seeks to achieve its CSR through donations of the profits it makes internal sustainability initiatives, and raising awareness on environmental issues. Patagonias initiatives include monitoring and publishing its supply chain information, donating 1\% of its profits to environmental organizations, and creating the Worn Wear website aimed at reselling used Patagonia products to reduce waste (O’Rourke & Strand, 2019). The company has also developed more sustainable materials like desert shrub-based rubber in place of petroleum-based wetsuit materials. Furthermore, the company is also working hard towards raising awareness on environmental issues through their blog called The Cleanest Line. Therefore, these are some of the best practices affecting the environmental and social sustainability at Patagonia Company. Assessment According to the companys protocol, it carries out serious scrutiny of the companies intending to be its suppliers. Therefore, before becoming a supplier to Patagonia, the supplier is screened against four criteria. These include quality, social standards, impacts on the environment, and production or sourcing. Patagonia goes ahead to perform audits to develop deep and collaborative relationships with its suppliers. The company attempts to ensure that collaboration with its suppliers improves environmental sustainability across the supply chain network. Thus, the screening is done down the farm level, sourcing products and ensuring the harvesting methods are sustainable to the environment (Michel et al. 2019). Moreover, the company has a supply chain environmental responsibility program that aims at measuring and reducing the environmental impacts of products and materials manufactured at Patagonia. Collaborating with suppliers has also ensured that the suppliers facilities have wastewater treatment systems to meet the companys global requirements. If a facility does not meet Patagonias requirements, the company does not approve it to be its supplier. Furthermore, Patagonia collaborates with its customers to improve its environmental sustainability efforts throughout its operations. For instance, the company developed a website, Worn Wear, to allow Patagonia customers to take back their used products, as long as they are in good condition, in exchange for merchandise on credit. This is a key attribute of the company’s collaboration with its customers to reduce wastes and maintain its sustainability efforts. Taking back worn-out clothing products ensures that recycling is done and no more wastes are dumped in places they are not needed. Therefore, the collaboration between Patagonia and its suppliers and customers is essential in improving its environmentally sustainable efforts across the supply chain network. Company metrics There are more than 240 organizations in the textile and apparel industries across the world through the GRI sustainability disclosure database. The company uses various tools in measuring metrics like supply chain categories impacting lifecycle. For instance, designers have a Yvon Scorecard used in measuring attributes that a product must achieve, a failure to which they are dropped from the company despite the profits it makes (O’Rourke & Strand, 2019). More so, the company uses the metric of taking risks to assess its environmental sustainability measures. For instance, the 2011 ad don’t buy this jacket was a great and best-selling line during that year. Consumer response and impacts on the environment data are essential in supporting the metrics. In conclusion, Patagonia is an American clothing supplier company that focuses on environmental and social sustainability across its operations. The company has done a lot to ensure sustainability in its products. More so, it has always collaborated with its customers and suppliers to ensure that environmental and social sustainability efforts are achieved. References Krchová, E. (2019). Green communication: a case study of the outdoor clothing company Patagonia Inc. Michel, G. M., Feori, M., Damhorst, M. L., Lee, Y. A., & Niehm, L. S. (2019). Stories we wear: Promoting sustainability practices with the case of Patagonia. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 48(2), 165-180. O’Rourke, D., & Strand, R. (2017). Patagonia: Driving sustainable innovation by embracing tensions. California Management Review, 60(1), 102-125. 6 Environmental and Social Sustainability Plans for XYZ Manufacturing Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Course Name & Number Date Milestone 3 Driving Environmental and Social Sustainability for XYZ Manufacturing by Embracing Tension The impetus of the Patagonia case study is to better understand the tensions and pressures that have arisen as a result of their determination to stick to their goals. Patagonias objectives are based on the principles of excellence and sustainability. With a dedication to build the greatest goods, do no needless harm, utilize business to inspire and execute solutions to the environmental crisis, their purpose has always been the driving force. Its no surprise that the company has to rethink all of its decisions and commit to incorporating an ecologically responsible mindset into its goals and visions (Famiyeh et.al, 2021). Utilizing the Patagonia case study as an example, XYZ manufacturing should strive to implement environmental conservation, especially by using the index it has established as a model for other businesses. The companys focus on conservation should be parallel to its profit margin, starting with the items they offer. They should, for example, make their products using organically farmed raw materials. XYZ Corporation may establish a brand of stability that allows it to contribute successfully to environmental preservation despite its high costs. As a result, the XYZ production team can connect to the Patagonia Durable Water Repellant challenge as an ecologically concerned firm. For example, the by-products utilized in the manufacturing process were rendered poisonous and had a short lifespan, requiring regular replacements and posing a hazard to the environment (Geradts & Bocken, 2019). The cost of replacing the garments on a regular basis was high owing to the quantity of energy and water required to produce trash and gases, an act that went against Patagonias conservation beliefs. The metaphor ultimately refers to the companys capacity to deal with these pressures while also dealing with the water repellant issue. In terms of effective waste disposal and the use of raw materials that do not harm the environment, XYZ manufacturing may use a similar approach to become an ecologically and socially responsible firm. The main issue that businesses face is striking a balance between performance and their desire to continue to support environmental protection. Supply chain and sustainability friction describe this situation. The most pressing challenge facing supply chain departments is dealing with demand from a wide range of consumers. The concerns included those who prioritized quality, those who prioritized compliance, and those who prioritized cost, delivery efficiency, and volume capacity. The issue for XYZ Manufacturing might encompass all of their stakeholders, notably their suppliers, who may not see conservation as a priority (van de Wetering, Mikalef, & Helms, 2017). Still, there may be an employment element where the firm favors full-time employees over part-time employees. Furthermore, because most businesses are focused on cheap cost, low quality, and profits, it would be difficult to locate businesses that prioritized social responsibility and quality. The firm can face integration problems in the area of sustainability, which affects its every function. The strategys decentralization results in insufficient decision-making procedures and fewer people to deal with the supply chains growing difficulties. The pursuit of ideas and technology as a way of addressing these issues is critical, as is engagement with consumers to promote environmental and social sustainability across the supply chain. Patagonia, for example, has partnered with numerous innovative technologies and innovators to improve supply chain investments. XYZ Manufacturing can apply scientific knowledge to reduce textile chemicals while using natural textile source materials. XYZ may alter their image by using technology to be recognized as socially responsible and ecologically friendly, resulting in green marketing. The technique of selling items and services based on their environmental benefits will be referred to as green marketing. Every company has a unique narrative to tell, and expressing that story to individuals who care about hearing it is critical to achieving success and investing in long-term relationships with customers. The creation or design of a brand identity is the first step in promoting environmental and social sustainability (van de Wetering, Mikalef, & Helms, 2017). In todays shifting culture, creating a marketing identity may be quite beneficial to a company sustainability. It will assist XYZ in identifying its ideal consumers, the extent to which the organizations products and services matter to them, and the best technique to target them in a marketing environment. This strategic hook revitalizes businesses by identifying new marketing and sales possibilities in an environmentally responsible setting. The establishment of a trust connection between the product and the customer is at the heart of marketing hence improving environment and social sustainability. Its not enough for a company to declare itself environmentally friendly; it also has to be followed up with action and results. Organizations should think about how recyclable packaging, wind or solar power, reusable versus disposable options, eco-friendly educational materials, waste reduction policies, and energy conservation policies might fit into their business model (Orji, 2019). XYZ Manufacturing can utilize operational and management metrics to measure their potential environmental impacts. Operational metrics measure inputs and outputs of materials and energy that can cause potential environment burden and will include determining the quantities and types of materials used, energy consumer, non-product output and pollutant release. Management metrics offer information on measures taken to affect operations, whereas operational metrics provide information on the current status of a companys environmental performance (Huang & Badurdeen, 2018). The allocation of cash and labor, the execution of environmental programs and new environmental regulations, environmental-related legal expenditures, environmental remediation operations, and the condition of environmental information systems are all examples of management metrics. Data collection will involve computing the quantities materials used, energy consumed, number of physical facilities and equipment, number of products introduced in the market with reduced hazardous properties, quantity of waste per unit of product in a year and quantity of emissions. The metrics will be useful for XYZ to compute and visualize their goals to meet their environmental and social sustainability expectations. The metrics will be effective, as they will help seek out the sources and understanding the regulation of manufacturing effects on the environment. References Famiyeh, S., Opoku, R. A., Kwarteng, A., & Asante-Darko, D. (2021). Driving forces of sustainability in the mining industry: Evidence from a developing country. Resources Policy, 70, 101910. Geradts, T. H., & Bocken, N. M. (2019). Driving sustainability-oriented innovation. MIT Sloan Management Review, 60(2), 1. van de Wetering, R., Mikalef, P., & Helms, R. (2017). Driving organizational sustainability-oriented innovation capabilities: a complex adaptive systems perspective. Current opinion in environmental sustainability, 28, 71-79. Orji, I. J. (2019). Examining barriers to organizational change for sustainability and drivers of sustainable performance in the metal manufacturing industry. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 140, 102-114. Huang, A., & Badurdeen, F. (2018). Metrics-based approach to evaluate sustainable manufacturing performance at the production line and plant levels. Journal of Cleaner Production, 192, 462-476. Running head: FINANCIAL IMPACT OF SUSTAINABILITY 1 FINANCIAL IMPACT OF SUSTAINABILITY 2 Financial Impact of Sustainability Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Milestone 4 Financial Impact of Sustainability Patagonias objectives and goals are to maintain its excellence and ensure sustainability. The company is dedicated to producing a good with no harm. It utilizes the business to inspire and execute solutions to the environmental crisis because it has a strong driving force. At some point in its operations, Patagonia had to rethink its business decisions and commit to incorporating an ecologically responsible mindset to better its goals and vision (O’Rourke & Strand, 2017). Therefore, since XYZ manufacturing company intends to emulate Patagonias working ethics and operations, it should strive towards improving the environment. The conservation efforts at XYZ manufacturing industry should be parallel with the companys profit margins. This should begin with the products and services offered at the firm. For instance, organic raw production can aid in the contribution of a successful and sustainable environment. Implications for financial sustainability XYZ manufacturing company intends to an environmental and social sustainability plan. This plan can potentially affect the companys financial sustainability in the long term. When a company decides to be environmentally and socially sustainable, there are possibilities that the company will face a positive impact in its sustainable course since it can increase the number of available resources at ease. Creating a sustainable environment increases the number of resources available for a companys operations, creating more financial opportunities. On the contrary, a company that operates in a poor quality environment faces a low or decreased economic growth because the quality and quantity of available resources also reduce in the long run (Huang & Badurdeen, 2018). Therefore, if XYZ manufacturing company implements its sustainability plan, it is more likely to positively affect the environment, leading to increased resources and consumer base. This is because, in todays business environment, good or quality products are not enough to win consumer loyalty; customers are continually looking for products and services that align with their values. Hence, XYZs sustainability plan can potentially improve its financial sustainability in the long term. Emerging technology and best practices for environmental and social sustainability have implications on the financial bottom line of XYZ manufacturing company. From Patagonias examples, XYZ must partner with other innovative technologies and investors to improve its supply chain investments. The company can engage in green marketing whereby it will market and sell its products through the environmental benefits. More so, XYZ manufacturing company can use the emerging technology to provide scientific knowledge to its employees to sustain the use of raw materials for its textile industry instead of textile chemicals (Marota, 2017). This aspect is somehow different from what Patagonia does. Patagonia has been a leader in environmental and social sustainability. It has diversified its efforts into websites and blogs that create awareness for sustainability (O’Rourke & Strand, 2017). For instance, the worn wear website helps Patagonia customers return their worn outwears to exchange new products for reducing waste. Such efforts are better off compared to those at the disposal of XYZ manufacturing company because it is in its initial stages of sustainability. Integration The financial, social, and environmental plans at XYZ integrate to represent best practices for sustainability. For instance, the by-products at the manufacturing company were rendered poisonous and with a short lifespan. This required regular replacements and was environmentally unfriendly. The cost of regular replacements was high given that the amount of water and energy required to produce trash and gases was also higher. More so, XYZ intended to operate alongside Patagonias conservation beliefs; therefore, it had no choice but to restructure and redefine its practices and plans to suit the environmental and social sustainability efforts. SOME PRACTICES RELATE TO THOSE PRACTICED AT Patagonia in XYZs environmental and social sustainability plan (Huang & Badurdeen, 2018). For instance, the company intends to engage in raw material production to reduce health hazards. More so, XYZ intends to partner with technologically advanced companies to promote its efforts towards a sustainable environment. Furthermore, technology will help the company engage in green marketing, which is essential in attracting customers and gaining a competitive advantage. The three aspects of the triple bottom line include the social, environmental, and economic impacts, which encourage the business to track and manage economic, social, and environmental value-added advantages. Businesses can balance or remove conflicts from the three aspects of the bottom line. Businesses can seek new business opportunities, adapt to the local context, share risks or work alongside nature and not against it (Marota, 2017). For instance, the XYZ Company has decided to work towards nature by investing in nature-based solutions in supplementing and replacing large-scale infrastructure to reduce costs, improve operations, increase financial income and relations in the community. The XYZ manufacturing company has a lot to do to achieve the same environmental and social sustainability as that of Patagonia. The company has to leverage a technologically enabled action to ensure its consumers through green marketing. The company has to switch its means and mode of production from chemical production to raw production. The company has to ensure that all its activities and metrics are computed and visualizes its goals to meet its sustainability goals (Huang & Badurdeen, 2018). References O’Rourke, D., & Strand, R. (2017). Patagonia: Driving sustainable innovation by embracing tensions. California Management Review, 60(1), 102-125. Huang, A., & Badurdeen, F. (2018). Metrics-based approach to evaluate sustainable manufacturing performance at the production line and plant levels. Journal of Cleaner Production, 192, 462-476. Marota, R. (2017). Green concepts and material flow cost accounting application for company sustainability. Indonesian Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship (IJBE), 3(1), 43-43. QSO 328 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric Overview The Final Project for this course is the creation of an Environmental and Social Sustainability Plan. Sustainability has moved beyond being a buzzword to become an integral consideration for planning and executing business processes. The term sustainability embodies not only environmental considerations, but also social and financial aspects. Combined, these three aspects comprise the “triple bottom line.” Arguably, the operations function is the best focus area for an organization to enhance the triple bottom line. Operations is the function that transforms inputs (such as raw materials and supplies) into outputs (such as finished goods ready to ship to consumers, or other products that are used as inputs for downstream customers). Properly managing and leading the workforce and using lean tools are just some of the means by which major sustainability improvements can be made in operations. For your final assessment, you will benchmark sustainability practices from a company of your choice to develop an environmental and social sustainability plan for a fictional company. It is important that you incorporate both the knowledge you gained from this course and research on a company that currently uses the triple bottom line strategy to achieve sustainability goals. The project is divided into four milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules One, Two, Four, and Five. In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:   QSO-328-01 QSO-328-02 Analyze operations and supply chain trends for their benefits and drawbacks regarding social, environmental, and financial sustainability Assess the coordination of sustainability efforts with trading partners across the supply chain for the extent to which it reduces environmental impacts   QSO-328-03 QSO-328-04 Assess organizational performance by applying triple bottom line theory in balancing social, environmental, and financial requirements Evaluate business practices for their appropriateness in achieving sustainable operations in manufacturing and service operations Prompt You are the director of operations at XYZ Manufacturing Company. Your boss, who is the VP for Operations, came to your office to vent. She just got out of a meeting where senior executives were pressuring her for increased output and better financial performance in the company’s operations. However, she is concerned that the company has been focused too much on short-term financial performance, and not on the long-term sustainability of the company. She worries that employees are not satisfied, and the company is currently experiencing a “brain drain,” where many top performers are actively searching for employment elsewhere. Unfortunately, some employees have already left, and they are helping to convince others to leave too. She also is concerned about constant threats from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has recently questioned whether or not some of the firm’s processes are polluting local water sources. In addition, customer focus groups have indicated that the company does not have a good environmental reputation, and data from the focus groups suggests companies’ environmental efforts are becoming increasingly important to consumers. In summary, she is worried that the company will not last if it keeps going in the same direction. She wants to develop a plan to present to the COO that addresses some of the issues described above, but she’s not sure where to start. She has asked you to do some research on ways the company can improve, but beyond just financial performance. She understands that there must be a balance and that financial performance measures will always be important, but you know that “performance” is not based on financial statements alone. To get started, she has been considering some environmental and social sustainability goals for the company, such as:  Exceed all EPA and other environmental regulatory standards.  Reduce carbon footprint by 50\% in the next 20 years.  Attract and retain the best talent.  Improve the company’s reputation in the local community and with customers. With your instructor’s help, you will choose a company to research to inform a sustainability strategy for the hypothetical XYZ company. You may choose to use the company at which you currently work if there is enough information to inform sustainability recommendations for XYZ Manufacturing Company. When researching your chosen company, focus specifically on social, environmental, and financial stability. Next, apply what you have researched to inform sustainability choices for XYZ Manufacturing Company. Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed: I. Overview A. Briefly introduce the company you researched. Focus on the company’s sustainability efforts, especially its efforts to maintain financial, environmental, and social sustainability and what the results of these efforts have been. B. How do emerging technologies or best practices affect environmental and social sustainability efforts at the company you researched? How do they affect the financial bottom line at this company? Be sure to provide support for your analysis. C. Assess this company’s collaboration with its suppliers and customers. Does this collaboration improve its environmental sustainability across the entire supply chain? If it does, what evidence is there of this? If it doesn’t, why do you think this is? Support your reasoning with evidence. D. What metrics are this company using to assess how well it is meeting its environmental and social impact goals? What data are used to support these metrics, and how are these data collected? Explain why you think the company chose these metrics. II. Environmental and Social Sustainability Plan A. How might the technologies or best practices described in the overview be effective in meeting XYZ’s environmental and social sustainability goals? How might they hinder XYZ’s pursuit of environmental and social sustainability? Be sure to support your analysis. B. How could XYZ collaborate with its suppliers to improve environmental and social sustainability across the entire supply chain? Be sure to support your assessment with the information you have previously researched. C. Assess these efforts to collaborate with suppliers for their effectiveness in reducing XYZ’s environmental and social impact and provide support for your conclusions. D. How could XYZ collaborate with its customers to improve environmental and social sustainability across the entire supply chain? Remember, customers can be both businesses and direct consumers. Be sure to support your assessment with the information you have previously researched. E. Assess these efforts to collaborate with customers for their effectiveness in reducing XYZ’s environmental and social impact and provide support for your conclusions. F. Choose metrics to assess how well XYZ Manufacturing Company is meeting its environmental and social impact goals. What data would be used to support these metrics? How would you collect these data? Explain why these metrics would be effective. III. Implications for Financial Sustainability A. How could this environmental and social sustainability plan potentially affect the financial sustainability of XYZ Manufacturing Company in the long term? Provide support for your explanation. B. What are the implications of emerging technology or best practices for environmental and social sustainability on the financial bottom line of XYZ? How does this differ from the implications discussed earlier on your researched company? Provide supporting evidence for your answers. IV. Integration A. How do the financial, social, and environmental plans at XYZ come together to represent the best practices of sustainability? How do the practices suggested in the environmental and social sustainability plan relate to the company you researched previously? Provide support for your answers. B. How do you balance and remove conflict among all three aspects of the triple bottom line? For example, how do you ensure that your plans for environmental sustainability do not negatively impact your plans for financial and social sustainability? Provide support for your answers. C. Outline key milestones that XYZ Manufacturing Company would need to meet to achieve the same level of environmental, social, and financial sustainability as your researched company based on the timeline that it took your researched company to achieve its current level of sustainability and your current knowledge of the triple bottom line. Milestone One: Company Case Study Selection Milestones In Module One, submit the name of the company you have chosen to use as a comparative model for your Final Project. Answer the first question of the first section of the Final Project (Section I, Question A) by including a brief one-paragraph explanation of why you choose your company. Your selection will be approved by your instructor. This milestone is graded with the Milestone One Rubric. Milestone Two: Company Case Study Overview In Module Two, write a two- to three-page paper answering questions B–D in the Overview, Section I of the Final Project. Be sure to identify emerging technologies that affect your company’s triple bottom line. In addition, determine how the company’s relationship with its supply chain does or does not promote sustainability, and identify what metrics track this collaboration. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Two Rubric Milestone Three: Implementing Your Case Study’s Environmental and Social Plan In Module Four, you will submit a two- to three-page paper assessing the feasibility of implementing your case study’s environmental and social sustainability plans for XYZ Manufacturing. Addressing the questions in Section II of the Final Project, be sure to explain the entire supply chain, including how XYZ could collaborate with suppliers and customers as well as assessing what benefits XYZ might see in environmental and social sustainability through these efforts. Finally, be sure to choose metrics that you think would identify success in these endeavors. This paper should focus on where your company is heading with regard to social and environmental sustainability. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Three Rubric. Milestone Four: Financial Impact of Sustainability In Module Five, you will submit a two- to three-page paper considering the questions in Sections III and IV of the Final Project. These questions concern the financial impact to XYZ Manufacturing Company of implementing the environmental and social sustainability measures discussed in Milestone Three. While examining the financial sustainability forecast, discuss what impact emerging technologies or industry best practices will have on the environmental and social sustainability plans. Be sure to address how these will affect the overall plan, either positively or negatively. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Four Rubric. Final Submission: Environmental and Social Sustainability Plan In Module Seven, you will submit an eight- to 10-page paper addressing the assignment for XYZ Manufacturing Company. Based on what you learned from your case study and throughout this course, formulate a plan to improve the company’s triple bottom line while addressing the specific goals that the VP of Operations initially proposed. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the Final Project. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission is graded with the Final Project Rubric. Deliverables Milestone Deliverables Module Due Grading 1 Company Case Study Selection One Graded separately; Milestone One Rubric 2 Company Case Study Overview Two Graded separately; Milestone Two Rubric 3 Implementing Your Case Study’s Environmental and Social Plan Four Graded separately; Milestone Three Rubric 4 Financial Impact of Sustainability Five Graded separately; Milestone Four Rubric Final Project: Environmental and Social Sustainability Plan Seven Graded separately; Final Project Rubric Final Project Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Your environmental and social sustainability plan should be well developed, comprehensive, and formatted to meet APA 6th Edition standards, including in-text citations. Your eight- to 10-page paper should be double spaced, with 12-point Times New Roman font and one-inch margins. Include at least four references cited in APA format. Critical Elements Exemplary (100\%) Proficient (85\%) Needs Improvement (55\%) Not Evident (0\%) Value Overview: Introduce Meets “Proficient” criteria and discusses sustainability efforts in the context of the triple bottom line Introduces researched company, focusing on efforts to maintain financial, environmental, and social sustainability and the results of these efforts Introduces researched company, but focus is not on efforts to maintain financial, environmental, and social sustainability or the results of these efforts Does not introduce researched company 5.94 Overview: Technologies Meets “Proficient” criteria and analysis demonstrates a nuanced insight into sustainability efforts’ abilities to affect the financial bottom line Logically analyzes how emerging technologies or best practices affect environmental and social sustainability efforts and the financial bottom line at researched company and provides applicable support for answers Analyzes how emerging technologies or best practices affect environmental and social sustainability efforts and the financial bottom line at researched company but explanation is cursory or missing components, or support provided for analysis is not applicable Does not analyze how emerging technologies or best practices affect environmental and social sustainability efforts and the financial bottom line at researched company 5.94 Overview: Assess Meets “Proficient” criteria and assessment provides nuanced insight into collaboration’s influence on sustainability Assesses researched company’s collaboration with suppliers and customers for how collaboration does or does not improve its environmental sustainability, supported by appropriate evidence provided Assesses researched company’s collaboration with suppliers and customers for how collaboration does or does not improve its environmental sustainability, but evaluation is cursory; or is supported by evidence, but evidence is inappropriate Does not assess researched company’s collaboration with suppliers and customers for how collaboration does or does not improve its environmental sustainability 4.75 Overview: Metrics Meets “Proficient” criteria and assessment demonstrates keen insight into components of metrics successfully used to analyze environmental and social sustainability Comprehensively assesses performance metrics being used to analyze environmental and social sustainability Assesses performance metrics being used to analyze environmental and social sustainability, but some aspects of assessment are missing Does not assess performance metrics being used to analyze environmental and social sustainability 7.92 Sustainability Plan: Technologies Meets “Proficient” criteria and explains how emerging technologies can be integrated with best practices to provide tailored solutions for XYZ Logically explains how technologies or best practices described in overview could be effective and could hinder XYZ’s pursuit of environmental and social sustainability Explains how technologies or best practices described in overview could be effective and could hinder XYZ’s pursuit of environmental and social sustainability, but explanation is cursory or illogical Does not explain how technologies or best practices described in overview could be effective and could hinder XYZ’s pursuit of environmental and social sustainability 5.94 Sustainability Plan: Collaborate With Suppliers Meets “Proficient” criteria and includes suppliers and upstream channels in assessment Logically assesses how XYZ could collaborate with its suppliers to improve environmental and social sustainability across the entire supply chain and provides appropriate support Assesses how XYZ could collaborate with its suppliers to improve environmental and social sustainability but evaluation is cursory, illogical, or does not consider the entire supply chain, or support is inappropriate or weak Does not assess how XYZ could collaborate with its suppliers to improve environmental and social sustainability 4.75 Sustainability Plan: Assess Efforts With Suppliers Meets “Proficient” criteria and support includes information from previously researched company Logically assesses how effective efforts to collaborate with suppliers might be in attempts to reduce XYZ’s environmental and social impact and provides appropriate support for assessment Assesses how effective efforts to collaborate with suppliers might be in attempts to reduce XYZ’s environmental and social impact, but support provided is cursory, inappropriate, or weak Does not assess how effective efforts to collaborate with suppliers might be in attempts to reduce XYZ’s environmental and social impacts 4.75 Sustainability Plan: Collaborate With Customers Meets “Proficient” criteria and assessment addresses customers as both businesses and direct consumers Logically assesses how XYZ could collaborate with its customers to improve environmental and social sustainability across the entire supply chain and provides appropriate support Assesses how XYZ could collaborate with its customers to improve environmental and social sustainability but evaluation is cursory, illogical, or does not consider the entire supply chain, or support is inappropriate or weak Does not assess how XYZ could collaborate with its customers to improve environmental and social sustainability 4.75 Sustainability Plan: Assess Efforts With Customers Meets “Proficient” criteria and assessment addresses customers as both businesses and direct consumers Logically assesses how effective efforts to collaborate with customers might be in attempts to reduce XYZ’s environmental and social impact and provides appropriate support for assessment Assesses how effective efforts to collaborate with customers might be in attempts to reduce XYZ’s environmental and social impact or support provided is cursory, inappropriate, or weak Does not assess how effective efforts to collaborate with customers might be in attempts to reduce XYZ’s environmental and social impacts 4.75 Sustainability Plan: Metrics Meets “Proficient” criteria and chosen metrics encompass supply chain partners and/or other external elements Chooses appropriate metrics to assess environmental and social impacts and includes what data would be used to support metrics, how these data would be collected, and a logical explanation of why these metrics would be effective Chooses metrics to assess environmental and social impacts but choices are inappropriate or lack detail, or explanation of why these metrics would be effective is cursory or illogical Does not choose metrics to assess environmental and social impacts 7.92 Implications for Financial: Plan Meets “Proficient” criteria and clearly describes both potentially positive and negative impacts on financial sustainability Logically explains how environmental and social sustainability plan could potentially affect financial sustainability of XYZ in the long term and provides appropriate support for explanation Explains how environmental and social sustainability plan could potentially affect financial sustainability of XYZ but explanation is cursory, illogical, or short-sighted; or support for explanation is inappropriate or weak Does not explain how environmental and social sustainability plan could potentially affect financial sustainability of XYZ 7.92 Implications on Financial: Technology Meets “Proficient” criteria and provides subtle differences between implications in researched company and implications in XYZ Accurately analyzes the implications of emerging technology or best practices on environmental and social sustainability on the financial bottom line of XYZ, how these differ from the company researched in the overview, and provides appropriate support for answers Analyzes the implications of emerging technology or best practices on environmental and social sustainability on the financial bottom line of XYZ but analysis is inaccurate or cursory, or support for answers is inappropriate Does not analyze the implications of emerging technology or best practices on environmental and social sustainability on the financial bottom line of XYZ and how these differ from the company researched in the overview 5.94 Integration: Come Together Meets “Proficient” criteria and explains how their plan will be an improvement over the researched company’s plan Logically explains how financial, social, and environmental plans of XYZ come together to represent the best practices of sustainability; logically explains how these plans relate to the researched company’s plans; and provides support for answers Explains how financial, social, and environmental plans of XYZ come together to represent the best practices of sustainability, but explanation is cursory or illogical; and explains how these plans relate to the researched company, but explanation is cursory or illogical; or support for answers is inappropriate Does not explain how financial, social, and environmental plans of company XYZ come together to represent best practices of sustainability and does not logically explain how these plans relate to the researched company 7.92 Integration: Balance Meets “Proficient” criteria and explanation also describes how all aspects of the triple bottom line enhance one another Explains how to balance and remove conflict among all aspects of the triple bottom line and provides support for answer Explains how to balance and remove conflict among aspects of the triple bottom line but explanation is cursory, some elements are missing, or support for answers is inappropriate Does not explain how to balance and remove conflict among all aspects of the triple bottom line 7.92 Integration: Outline Meets “Proficient” criteria and also includes future milestones for reaching levels above what the researched company has currently achieved Outlines logical key milestones XYZ would need to meet to achieve the level of environmental, social, and financial sustainability that the researched company has currently achieved Outlines key milestones XYZ would need to meet to achieve the level of environmental, social, and financial sustainability that the researched company has currently achieved but key milestones are not logical steps toward achieving sustainability levels Does not outline key milestones XYZ would need to meet to achieve the level of environmental, social, and financial sustainability that the researched company has currently achieved 7.92 Articulation of Response Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-to-read format Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas 4.97 Earned Total 100\%