Coco-Mat S.A.

Corporate
Environmental Responsibility

Written Individual Project- Level 6

Meletios Lioulis
ID:131247
MG 4128 A1 Corporate Social Responsibility
November 23, 2018
Professor: Kyriaki Metinidou
Fall Semester 2018
 Table of Contents

Introduction..................................................................................................3
Corporate Environmental Responsibility.................................................... 3
CER Stages.................................................................................................. 4
Environmental Management in Practice (EMPs)........................................5
Top Management Commitment and Leadership............................ 5
Clear Goals and Metrics..................................................................6
Employee Engagement................................................................... 6
Rewards and Incentives.................................................................. 6
Environmental Monitoring, Auditing and Reporting.....................6
Environmental Partnerships............................................................7
COCO-MAT Case Study.............................................................................8
References............................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Introduction
According to the expanding mindfulness on fundamental issues, and the
greatness of expenses related, it has turned out to be essential for organizations to
coordinate environmental endeavors into their business methodology. There is a
developing awareness among associations on preservations and ideal use of natural
assets to increase also competitive advantage through corporate environmental
responsibility (Hart, 1995). As a result, the green part of CSR is characterized as an
obligation to cover the natural implications of the organization's activities, items, and
offices, reduce waste, augment the effectiveness of its assets, and minimize activities
that burden the environment. This project will investigate the stages and the
management practices concerning Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER)
within an organization.
Moreover, the project will be examining the costs, benefits, and the
approaches that a company have to take into consideration the application of
Corporate Environmental Responsibility. COCO-MAT S.A Athens profile has been
picked, with the end goal to have more extensive and more precise information.
Human Resource manager Eugenia Liannou has directed orderly qualitative research.

Corporate Environmental Responsibility

Corporate environmental responsibility as examined by Jamison et al. (2005),
considering natural duty, whereby the organization completely enfold and has a net
positive effect on condition and society. Partner commitments such as stakeholders
with full straightforwardness and responsibility, and a procedure to connect with and
enable stakeholders are punctuated. Generally, CER can be portrayed as precautionary
measures and arrangements that companies receive to decrease and forestall risks for
the environment (Kusku, 2007), alongside stakeholder's support to initiate
transparency. It fits well for organizations to be environmental accountable in light of
their several substantial and insubstantial benefits (Hansen and Mowen, 2007).
According to this event, companies implement programs concerning corporate
environmental responsibility. The developing countries tend to focus on the material
well being according to Dasgupta et al. (2000) arguments, consequently at the first
ages of development, and pollution is an effect that can be referred as agreeable
according to economic growth.
However, in developed countries that have to accomplish an adequately high
standard of living, environmental enactment is achieved, foundations for the insurance
of conditions are introduced, and nature quality strides through higher
implementations of practices and innovative technologies about manufacturing goods.
Some firms do not follow the protocol to implement their responsibilities for the
environment if the fines of violating environment are smaller than the cost of
compliance (Kusku 2007). As a result, some challenges differ from a developing
country to a developed country. Also, strategies and environmental approaches of
associations vary from the way to implement them from country to country. The
literature review on this paper continues to explain the stages, management practices
and cost and benefits regarding CER.
CER Stages
Porter (1991) recommended that great environmental performance is a
potential hot spot for competitive advantage as it can be prompt more proficient
procedures, enhancements in profitability and brings down expenses of consistency
and new market openings. A Harvard Study (Kotter & Hesket, 1992) recommends
that great social administration inside an organization has a positive relationship with
great financial performance. As a result, the environmental management of a
corporation has a significant impact on the whole operation of a company. The types
of management in this particular occasion listed as proactive and reactive
management (Zhingang Fan & Dong Wu, 2013), therefore both of them have core
characteristics, but the results of the study indicated that firms should pay more
attention to the proactive management. To emphasized better in environmental issues,
three major stages covered as pollution prevention, product stewardship, and clean
technology (Lawrence & Weber, 2017). Indeed natural assurance requires the
prevention of pollution as opposed to the control of squanders toward the finish of the
pipeline. Prevention of pollution is the practice that controls the utilization of
materials, forms, and "practices that reduce, minimize, or eliminating the creation of
pollutants or wastes as a source (Michael Berry & Dennis Rondivelli, 1998). Pollution
prevention advances in assembling incorporate materials substitution, process
alternation, reusing of materials inside existing procedures. As a result, this stage of
management becomes a challenge for firms. As following the second stage of CER
regarding product stewardship referred as the practice that is related to the life-cycle
of the products according to their effects on the environment. Product stewardship
tends to be similar to pollution prevention. They are two practices that could be
operated in parallel because of the common goal of reducing waste, recycling, and
reusing of materials in order to operate with sustainability. However, coming up to the
third and last stage of CER, the term of clean technology became very crucial,
especially at the proactive management. Also, developed countries have greater
possibilities to reach this stages because of the better conditions according to
innovative technologies. Bradly, clean technology is the practice in which companies
emphasized in depth for the implementation of CER. According to Lawrence &
Weber (2017), we can define this stage as a continuing attitude of the firms to upgrade
their technologies through innovations to support sustainability. The special target of
this stage is to "provide environmental benefits rather than prevent harm." As a result,
companies looking for the expansion of technology to better implement CER. Finally,
evidence from McKinsey (2014) shows that nowadays corporations driving their
concerns through this stage.
Environmental Management in Practice (EMPs)
Associations of all kind of dimension have an extensive degree for enhancing
their ecological execution. With inspirations going from eco-friendly to notoriety and
worries about the manageability of their operations, numerous associations tend to
diminish their effects on nature. Environmental management practices (EMPs) are
characterized as the common framework that incorporates natural systems and
procedures for the training of employees in a firm, for observing and controlling
ecological effect and for concluding, coordinating and revealing natural execution
(Robert Sroufe, Ram Narasimhan, Frank Montabon, Xinya Wang, 2017). As also
explained from the above authors, EMPs vary from internal and external operation
according to stakeholders. The levels of being participated in environmental
management practices are listed as operation, tactic and strategic. This paper will
emphasize in operational and tactic levels which are being utilized broadly because of
changing business condition and focus on environmental performance. Is going to be
described the nature of proactive environmental elements of performance with respect
on EMPs. These practices listed as following:

 Top Management Commitment and Leadership

 Clear Goals and Metrics
 Employee’s Engagement (line manager involvement)
 Rewards and Incentives
 Environmental Monitoring, Auditing, and Reporting
 Environmental Partnerships

Top Management Commitment and Leadership

Top management commitment and leadership are described as to which top
management or leadership of a firm is accountable for producing a sustainable effort
for the greater implementation of environmental performance (Isaiah O. Ugboro, Kofi
Obeng, 2000). These aspects cover the participatory attitude of CEOs to the
involvement in sustainability practices. This event focuses on starting and keeping up
quality objectives and culture of performance, correspondence with the best
administration vision and duty of nature related to green practices and the nearness of
approaches and methodologies upon the based idea regarding corporate
environmental responsibility (CER). Duties are made to continually enhance natural
execution in an organization's procedures, tasks, and exercises. An organization
appears administration in CER that endeavors to persistently enhance, tracks its
enhancement and shows how it has enhanced execution and lessened its natural effect
(Jamison, Raynolds, Holroyd, Veldman, 2005).
Clear Goals and Metrics
Clear goals setting is also a key for environmental performance since goals
will profit the business and grow open doors for the organization. Goals should be
optimistic, and it is appropriate to have a significant effect on a firm's ecological
footprint. From a business point of view, this is the manner by which support to
environmentalism can be sustainable for the company regarding in the long term
(Sustainability Goals,2010). Metrics, additionally, are primary devices to evaluate the
execution of the sustainability commitment program and can help reveal regions for
development (C2EC).

Employee Engagement
Employee engagement is a working environment approach bringing about the
correct conditions for all individuals from associations to give their best, focused on
association's objectives and qualities, roused to add scholarly achievement with their
imposed feeling. It depends on trust, uprightness, and correspondence between
associations and their employees (Nita Clarke & David Macleod, 2008). Additionally,
employee engagement is a way to give the opportunity to the employee to identify
clear goals and be creative. This practice of sustainable management referred to the
involvement of line managers in decision making when we conclude the argument
about CER management practices. Cross-functional teams which referred to all
managers of every department in a firm, also, participate in environmental
management practices in the manner of efficiency and for the best ecological
company's image concerning nature.

Rewards and Incentives

As (Alfand & Shabieb, 2014) claimed in their research paper, rewards and
incentives in the working environment have benefits for representatives and the
business too. At the point when perceived for excellent execution and efficiency,
workers have expanded spirit, work fulfillment and contribution in hierarchical
capacities. Subsequently, managers encounter more exceptional proficiency through
rewards and incentives, and both managers and laborers are working in the manner of
a pleasant workplace.

Environmental Monitoring, Auditing, and Reporting

Auditing, monitoring and reporting sustainability practices as referred by
(David Nitkin & J. Brooks,1998) is the practice that mirrors developing
acknowledgment that is alluring and fundamental for associations to comprehend the
expenses and advantages of their activities upon partners. This practice covers the
consideration of the life cycle outcomes of items and services according to the current
environment or the worldwide economies. Triple bottom line (TBL) is a reporting tool
that is proposed to propel the objective of sustainability in management practices in
which the consideration of the firm is stretched out past benefits to incorporate social
and ecological issues and to indicate the aggregate expense of apply business.
Environmental Partnerships
Organizations have to make viable utilization of knowledge and outsourcing
data to perpetually reexamine their proactive projects and equalization ecological and
business needs. As a result, environmental partnerships are needed following
organizations to became broadly sustainable though expertise of a third party
collaboration for the enormous potential of CER.

Table 1. EMPs Graphic

COCO-MAT Case Study
Coco-Matt is a Greek company with establishment stores around the world,
especially organization has a developing system of stores in 12 nations and supplies
clients in any place of the world. The organization of Greece was the first and
established in 1989, and its operations focused on the production of the mattress
through eco-friendly and natural materials. In 1992 the central organization station
moved to a new territory of industries in Xanthi (Northen Greece), which factory can
reach the appropriate requirements of the sustainable operating company through the
more extensive capacity of items such as the production of mattress and furniture.
Moreover, the specific strategy about quality worked in parallel with the application
of CER, because these actions operated for sustainable improvement and highlighted
for environmental quality materials for making goods. As a result, customer and
employee satisfaction, and the using of exclusively natural raw materials were the
core characteristics of the company's operation.
Coco-Matt stages of (CER) worked in parallel with the business initiatives as
much as the voluntary initiatives and this sustainable forcing practices have a big
correlation with the company's environmental performance. Its structure and executed
program for utilizing plastic was one o the core actions. Besides, the plastic that has
just been utilized in the creation procedures of the organization is gathered after its
utilization and then reusing them. The same action occurs with the paper utilized for
authoritative needs of the organization. Business initiatives following with the
application of program which promotes the slogan "less plastic." For this reason,
company continuing the supplantation of plastic through recoupment the plastic
bedding case with texture and the shipping of furniture is done in wooden boxes.
Additionally, bags manufactured from cotton as a whole are distributed in contrast to
plastic bags. As a result, pollution prevention is an accomplished goal for the
company through substitution materials using and process alteration. The second
stage of CER is also achieved by the event of reusing and recycling of materials. The
sustainable horizon of initiatives is continuing by the voluntary actions that have been
made. The specific significance of natural mindfulness that Coco-Matt illustrates
focused on it is sponsorship to ecological associations and on actions such as planting
trees and cleaning rivers and beaches by organization's voluntary teams. As a result,
the company has won real honors for ecological mindfulness.
The interdependence between environmental management practices, the
environmental audits, and technology that the company uses to manufacturing goods
is a vital characteristic of Coco-Matt. The company from the first act of its operation
has built up an arrangement with attention on quality and takes an interest in the
"EFQM Business Excellence Model." Also, the organization executes a quality and
environmental management system which are structured and worked in relation the
"OEKO-TEXT Standard 100" which is an outsourcing tool that investigates and
validates a framework for materials at all phase of generation to guarantee items
sheltered and don't comprise unsafe synthetics or chemical materials. The
environmental audits also based on "ISO 9001:2000" and "ISO 14001:2009" that
referred to the factory requirements for the sustainable process of production and the
meet of quality and environmental management. Under these circumstances, Coco-
Matt is an environmentally conscious company, so it actualizes plenty of
arrangements to diminish the negative impact on nature. The core practice, examined
from Coco-Matt perspective is to avoid the chemicals all through the creation
procedure. All of the materials that used by the specific company are natural such as
rubber, wool and cotton, horsehair, linen, and fibers that included in the coconut. The
commitment to keeping up biological instruments is additionally clear by the way that
the virtue level of the natural rubber created in the company highlighted up to 96%.
By the recognition of the environmental audits based on "GOTS" company's products
such as mattresses are made by 100% organic cotton. The innovative technology of
using and combine materials for a sustainable product and the event of covering high
standards, the EMPs of Coco-Matt work in relation also with the stage of clean
technology. The company of Coco-Matt is committed to decreasing its environmental
footprint, as it is elaborated above by promoting and use natural and healthy materials.
The organization has adequately restricted the utilization of synthetic compounds in
the treatment of items absolutely. Coco-Matt also takes a stab at limiting the measure
of waste. Its factory that is located in the industrial are of Xanthi (Northen Greece)
achieved the challenges that avoid industrial noise and has no chimney to prevent
pollution through the utilization of gas both to the machines and cars. By putting the
resources into new generation strategies company has accomplished a sustainable rate
of 96% today and reached the test by utilizing 100% natural wool and focuses on
making beds that are 100% organic. Moreover, according to the implementation of
CSR, the company has a persistent exertion concerning employees to give
development prospects, perfect working conditions and lower working hours.
Representatives get an expansive number of benefits such as proceeding with
education through participation in conferences and events for environmental
accountability. Also, it is basic to evaluate the singular achievements of staff as
progression and gifts and the chance to participate in the implementation of CER.
The environmental impact of the task of the focal processing plant of Coco-
Matt is ceaselessly decreased to a minimum. For example, the only waste of water is
the water used for the production line, those of the staff used and for the standard
cleaning. Machinery also is confirmed by CE check for avoiding pollution. Additional,
advantages are the fulfillment of the general public, the acknowledgment of the
organization as a model of social commitment, the expansion of efficiency, the
decrease of expenses and the way that organization through natural process and
sustainable outcomes created loyalty with customers and clients and both attract and
retain talented and connected employees. The welfare on the society also creates a
positive reputation for the company as well as Coco-Matt is remaining on a firmly
accounting report and has perfect relations with local and outside suppliers and
franchisees with durable contracts

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