Sustainability Reporting and Corporate Identity

Question: Discuss about the Sustainability Reporting and Corporate Identity. Answer: Introduction The following study provides analysis and discussion on the usefulness and practicability of the sustainability report for the benefit of stakeholders. In order to present the analytical discussion, sustainability report of HM Company has been selected for the financial year 2015. The following assignment covers the value and benefits of the sustainability report to the users of the company along with the investors of the company. Further, the assignment contains the discussion by considering necessary examples to support the key advantages as well as key issues on recognizing and reporting corporate sustainability report to the stakeholders. Background of the company HM is a multinational retail clothing company founded in 1947 serves worldwide area with around 3,716 number of locations (Hm.com 2016). The company deals in the clothing product for men, women including children along with the accessories and is the second largest clothing retailer across the globe. Considering the current performance of the company, revenue amounted to US$21.73 billion while net income amounted to US$2.34 billion have been identified (Hm.com 2016). Sustainability reporting along with its usefulness and practicability Sustainability reporting is presented along with the annual report to provide organizational performance with respect to the environmental, social, economic and governance. In order to analyze the companys performance not only financial information is necessary but also information on the performance in other factors is also necessary (Reimsbach and Hahn 2015). Sustainability reporting assists to manage the organizational impact based on social and environmental factors to improve the operating efficiency. On the other hand, it provides performance information to the stakeholders in terms of access of organizational capital, access of employment, operational efficiency as well as ability to communicate with the stakeholders. Sustainability reporting is used to provide information on improved business process and systems along with the progressing vision and organizational strategy. These information help users of sustainability report to gather organizational information other than the financial performance (Battaglia et al. 2015). Further, sustainability reporting is used to determine the companys competitive advantage in accordance with the current economy of the industrial market. The report also provides useful information to the stakeholders and potential investors on reduction or maintenance of compliance costs that states the effective use of regulatory requirements. Accordingly, sustainability report of HM for the financial year 2015 provides information on how sustainable the company is and primary challenges on sustainability in accordance with the overall fashion industry. The report also provides information on key performance by stating the share of source materials along with the impact on the companys value chain (Greco, Sciulli and DOnza 2015). It has been observed that the organization used around 1.3 million pieces, which was over 300% in comparison to the previous year 2014. Apart from that, use of materials in terms of recycling process increased from 21.2% to 31.4% reflecting the operational and production efficiency of the company (Hm.com 2016). Further, the report of the organization reflects information on effective use of raw materials and other relevant alternatives for the production of clothes and accessories. In order to improve the employment structure as per the industrial benchmark, HM stated the involvement of sustainabi lity training sessions to the employees and workers, which was improved in the year 2015 to 6,488 hours (Hm.com 2016). In view of information on HMs sustainable performance, it can be said that the stakeholders are able to evaluate the companys growth and effective use of capital employment. It has been observed that the effective use of raw materials, operational processes and employment strategies provides the competitive advantage of HM in the present market along with its progressing business strategy (Arena, Bozzolan and Michelon 2015). Accordingly, investors and stakeholders will be able to take better decisions for business deals, investment or other trading and acquisition matters. On the contrary, information on certain challenges on the sustainability gives information on the processes and factors that the company needs further improvement (Harrison and Van der Laan Smith 2015). Example and case study provided According to the case synopsis on Hennes Mauritz AB (HM) by Jerry Sheppard, sustainability analysis has been considered based on internal and external factors. External analysis covers the performance of company as per general environment, global, demographic and political segment (Sfu.ca 2016). Besides, internal analysis provides the efficient use and improvement of tangible resources as well as intangible resources. It has been stated that the organization had been innovative in utilizing the resources including fast and new products for improvement and development of business (Cho et al. 2015). Considering the challenges on business strategy of the company, low price strategy that reflects a shadow of bad quality along with the problems in terms of climate change and working conditions that affect the production process. Further, use of several chemicals in the production of clothes that cause water pollution accordingly it affects the environmental factor. In addition, meeting v arious consumer need was another challenge that the company seemed to face for instance, appropriate wage payment, overtime working, modification in product life cycle (Sfu.ca 2016). On the contrary, sustainability reporting provides organizational core competencies along with the business strategies to reflect companys key concept, design of products and brand quality to improve the business as per consumers expectations. For instance, primary core competencies of HM has been observed with respect to the quality of the products, design of clothes and accessories, creating variety of products as per fashion industry and delivery of products at best price (Sfu.ca 2016). Conclusion Considering the discussion on sustainability reporting, it can be concluded that the organizational performance is not only based on the financial results but also on the social and environmental factors. Sustainability reporting is used to provide operational efficiency of the company to the stakeholders and potential investors. Analyzing the sustainability reporting of HM Company it can be concluded that the organization had been core competent for the delivering the products my maintaining design, quality and price. Along with that, certain challenges with respect to the changes in resources, pollution issues and requirements on various consumer needs. Reference List Arena, C., Bozzolan, S. and Michelon, G., 2015. 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