Assessment 1: Case Study- Tata Steel

1. Explain how Tata Steel’s approaches to CSR (corporate social

responsibility) and its priorities that help the company make ethical and
sustainable decisions:
(a) Tata Steel aspires to be the global steel industry benchmark for value creation and
corporate citizenship. By balancing economic prosperity, environmental
responsibility, and social benefit. Tata Steel aims to address larger global challenges
through its progressive steel products and competent production processes.
The core value that defines Tata Steel are: Integrity, Excellence, Unity,
Responsibility, and Pioneering
(b) In keeping with the Tata Code of Conduct, Tata Steel has standardized specific
policies in diverse areas of operations that help to bring consistency in processes by
clearly defining the business approach. Some of these policies are:
 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Policy : Tata Steel has always endeavored
to conduct its business responsibly, mindful of its social accountability, and
respecting applicable laws. For this, the company is allocating at least 2% of its
average net profits before taxes of the preceding three years, towards CSR
activities to sustain and improve a healthy and prosperous environment and to
improve the quality of life of the community it handles.
1) Environmental Policy: Tata Steel’s environmental responsibilities are driven by
its commitment to preserving the environment and are integral for doing the
business. Following are the ways that Tata Steel has adopted to protect the
environment:
 It proactively deals with the Climate Change issue.
 It identifies, assesses, and manages environmental impact.
 It regularly monitors, reviews, and reports publicly the environmental
performance.
 It has enhanced the awareness, skill, and competence of its employees and
contractors to enable them to demonstrate their involvement,
responsibility, and accountability for sound environmental performance.
 2) Social Accountability Policy: Tata Steel is committed to protecting workers’
rights and improving labour conditions and social performance within the
organisation and also in all its stakeholder partnerships and relationships. The
company is committed to complying with local, national, and all other applicable
laws and prevailing industry standards.
3) Sustainability Policy: Tata Steel is committed to Sustainable Development and
growth as an integral part of its business philosophy. The company includes
environmental and social considerations into all its strategic and operations
decisions and believes that acting sustainably is not only a business imperative
but also provides it with a competitive advantage in the long run.
2. Based on this case, explain how sustainable practice can help a business
to compete.

Sustainability is a business approach that creates long-term value by taking into

consideration the ecological, social, and environmental operations of a given organization.
Therefore, Sustainability leads to real business benefits when conscientiously integrated
into business operations. Following are the sustainable practices that can help a business to
compete:

 Innovation: The patterns of production and consumption have changed substantially

over the past years, leading to transformation in society and the environment, and
creating demands and pressure for companies, that resulted in increasing competition
related to the adoption of innovation management that includes sustainability. Hence,
companies have understood the relevance of adopting sustainable innovation practices
to minimise negative social and environmental impacts, and consequently, achieve
superior corporate performance.
 Reducing wastage: Sustainable waste management means collecting, transporting, and
disposing of various types of waste, in such a manner that it does not jeopardise the
environment, human health, or future generations. Hence, the goal of sustainable
waste management is to reduce the number of natural resources consumed, reuse the
material taken from nature as much as it is possible, and create as minimal waste as
possible. For reducing wastage, the business must create an efficient waste
management plan.
  Employee upskilling: Sustainable business strategies can improve employee loyalty
and retention because the professionals who work for companies dealing in
sustainable practices are more happy, productive, and cared about the company.
Sustainability helps in accepting and supporting employees from different backgrounds
and perspectives that lead to a diversity of thought, greater innovation, and better
business outcomes. The rewards for the company in upskilling employees are that it
will earn better results for people, profits, and planets.
 Niche Segment: Sustainability helps a company in understanding the market and its
segments. Focus is on those niches that aren’t well redressed by competitors and can
be profitably targeted and sold to. This will develop an understanding of what
customers want and establish a value proposition that grabs their attention. Then a
company can work out things that will support and deliver the value proposition such
as service levels, quality, branding, pricing, etc.

3. Analyse why LCA (Life cycle assessment) is a more accurate type of

analysis than just looking at the carbon footprint of the ‘use phase’ of a
material.

There are various environmental assessments for assessing environmental impact and the
need for sustainability. These are Life cycle assessments (LCA), carbon footprint analysis,
CSR reports, VOC testing, environmental risk assessment, etc. However, Life cycle
assessment and carbon footprint analysis are two of the most common evaluations used for
assessing environmental impact and providing a business with information about creating
greener systems. Following is the distinction between the two assessments:

 A carbon footprint analysis evaluates the greenhouse gas emissions caused by the
manufacture of a product or any given activity that contributes to global warming.
This can be done with the assessment of emissions of carbon, sulfur hexafluoride,
and methane. Whereas, a life cycle assessment (LCA) systematically evaluates
multiple environmental impacts of a product, activity, or process over its whole life
cycle.
  Three core standards around carbon footprint analysis are the GHG Protocol, ISO/TS
14067, and PAS 2050. The GHG Protocol is the most frequent international tool used
by business leaders and governments to comprehend, quantify, and control GHG
emissions. Whereas, the core standards around LCA are ISO 14044 and ISO 14040.
The multiple assessment divisions under LCA include natural resource depletion,
climate change, ecosystem degradation, and human health.
 Carbon footprint analysis is a mono-criterion analysis focused on only one
environmental impact i.e. climate change by GHG emission. On the other hand, LCA
takes environmental releases including GHG and all other material inputs throughout
the life cycle into account and estimates all the probable direct and indirect impacts
on the environment.

Hence, Life cycle assessment is a more accurate type of analysis than carbon footprint.

4. Evaluate the contribution of Tata Steel to sustainable and ethical business

practices.

The contribution of Tata Steel to sustainable and ethical business practices are:

(a) Health and Safety: Tata Steel believes in promoting a safe working environment across
the organization and has taken the onus of being a role model to showcase the
paramount importance of workplace safety, which is embedded as a core value in its
culture. It also conferred the Safety and Health Excellence recognition 2016 in the
'Leadership' category by the World Steel Association.

(b) Employer of Choice: Tata Steel is aimed at developing a culture of care, commitment,
engagement, and harmony across the workforce. There is an increased focus on
encouraging diversity, through the inclusion of women, underprivileged sections of the
community, and specially-abled people.
(c) Innovation: Apart from leveraging the technological capabilities to address inferior
quality of indigenous raw material and the inconstancy of domestic ore in comparison
with imported raw materials, Tata Steel continuously yearns to be at the high end of
technological capabilities and strives to meet superior product requirements as and
when the evolving demand for newer, high-strength grades of steel arises.
(d) Environment Leadership: Tata Steel yearns to be the Indian steel industry benchmark
for environmental performance by concentrating on climate change mitigation and
resource efficiency. The key natural resources on which its affairs are primarily
dependent are: coal, iron ore, water, and ferroalloys.
5. If Tata Steel was operating in Australia, what environment regulations
will apply to the company?

While operating in Australia, Tata Steel has to keep in mind all the environmental
regulations and manage the environmental impact by following:

A. Manage energy use: Depending on business size and activities, energy costs can take up
a large part of a budget. By making some changes in the workplace, a business can
reduce its energy use. Energy can be used effectively by:
 Comparing energy contracts to make sure a business is getting the best value.
 Using energy-efficient equipment.
 Improving to build energy efficiency.
 Generating energy on own.

B. Manage business waste: Waste management is not only good for the environment; it
can also benefit a business’s reputation and save money. Waste of a business can be
managed effectively by:
 Assessing the lifecycle of products and services.
 Measuring business waste.
 Reducing, reusing, recycling.
 Managing hazardous waste.
 Checking waste management rules in a state or territory in which a company is
operating.

C. Manage water use: Conserving water is not only good for the environment but also the
business’s bottom line. By simply managing the runoff of water on a building site, or
recycling the water use, a company can significantly reduce its water bills. The water use
in a business can be managed by:
 Monitoring water usage and creating a benchmark.
 Identifying any leakage.
 Using water effectively
 Checking state and territory water rules because each state and territory have
unique water resources and information.
 A company can also find support in the form of a water ombudsman and grants and
fundings.