 healthy economy cannot be sustained without a healthy society or environment. From the small-scale economy of a single business, up to the larger-scale global economy, all financial facets are at the mercy of social and environmental factors, and it is the environment that ultimately deals the trump card.
The next part of this article outlines case studies to show the sustainable business model and its interacting three principles, in real-life scenarios.
Case studies for sustainable business
Sustainable business case study one: The collapse of cod fisheries
The year 1993 saw the commercial extinction of the Northern Cod.
Commercial extinction is the depletion of a species population to the point where not enough can be caught and sold to earn a profit.
Technological advances, like ocean-trawling and pinpointing fish using radar and electronic navigation systems, meant the number of fish caught in Canadian catches dramatically rose. Peaking in the 1970s and 1980s, the economic success of Canadian fisheries skyrocketed with the overexploitation of our environmental resource.
This success was, however, short-term.
Negative repercussions soon prevailed in 1992 as the cod species projected towards extinction. The environmental resource was not sustained.
The Canadian cod fisheries consequently collapsed. 35,000 fishermen and fish plant workers lost their jobs in the largest industrial closure of Canadian history. A non-sustained environmental resource resulted in adverse social and economic repercussions. Displaced workers were given financial aid and provided with retraining programs, all at a cost to the Canadian economy.
Sustainable business case study two: 2015 Indonesia fires
In February 2015, 5,000km of Indonesia burned under a thick smog. The vast palm oil monocultures, which provoked this catastrophe, were reduced to ash.
Torching a wonderland rich in endemic species to clear the way for plant monocultures of palm oil had always imposed a hazard. In 2015, which was a warmer year than usual, that hazard sprea