Talk:Sustainable Business/You and your business

Background thinking
(copy pasted from main page)

User:ChrisYoung said:

Of concern to the authors was was that no other publications for small businesses addressed the issues of limited human and enviromental resources. All the books we read simply assumed every business existed to maximise profit and had an emphasis on the sort to medium term. Through discussions Leigh and I decided a publication was needed that took a more holistic view that encompassed the entrepeneur, the business and its environment.

Sustainabliity seemed to be based around switching off lights, using the company vehicle less and recycling waste.

We have decided to take an approach the planning a sustainable business starts when the decision is made by somebody to start earning an income in their own right.

We took the view that it is better to plan and avoid waste than to arrive at the conclusion that there is a problem and to then wondre what to do.

Sustainability in a small business it is simply an issue of specifying what we need. One of the great wastes is capital when we buy something that is overspecified for its job. Simple you might say but perhaps not, consider the purchase of a computer for adiministrative work, would you go to a discount store and buy the least expensive? You will probably find that a second hand computer is all that is needed and costs a fraction of the price of a new machine. This might sound easy but several years ago this was a radicle idea.

For a small business the dominant sustainablity issue is profit everyone tells me. Couple this with profit maximisation and uncontemplated outcomes can occur. (article and burnout)

We address this by having a longer term focus and is why this publication focus' on the entrepeneur and their business. We implicitly recognise that an entrepeneur may have many businesses in their life and we want to help them plan to maximise the long term self employment opportunity.

Increasingly consumers have a conscience.

Waste includes wasting human resources (not using the skills under our nose)