Discuss about the Case Law for New Belgium Brewing Company.
At the initial stage of the New Belgium Brewing Company, Inc. (NBB), company develops environment stewardship as its core value. Some years back, a group of employees required asset structure for the environment, and they also demand for more guidance related to sustainable decision making, access to data and support at executive level for efforts they made. By establishing sustainability management system (SMS) New Belgium continuously won awards for best practices of corporate. In 2007, they involved planet earth as their stakeholder while doing strategic planning, and they also decided to create SMS.
Whether company is good or bad can be judged by number of ways such as payment of high dividends paid by the company to the shareholders or whether net incomes presented in the monthly or yearly statement are increasing or not, and many more. To judge the working of company in financial perspectives there are number of ways, but one of the best way to decide the working of the company is to check whether company is fulfilling their ethical or social obligations. NBB was the company which not only meets the requirement of these standards but also exceed them (Dahl, n.d. ; Rumbin, 2012).
In this paper, we discuss the case study of New Belgium Brewing: Engaging in Sustainable Social Responsibility, and after analyzing the case we answer three questions. First we answer the operation management of the New Belgium Brewing Company, and then we discuss the importance to involve employees in ownership to improve the quality and efficiency of working of the company. Last question is what you understand about alternative empowered and whether focus of the company on environment and sustainability development in its production process enhance the profits of the company. After discussion on this case we will be able to understand the greatness of New Belgium by meeting its social obligations. At last we conclude the report with the brief conclusion.
The idea of this company is commenced from the trip of bicycling through Belgium. In Belgium, finest ales of world are present, and some of them are brewed from centuries in the monasteries. Electric engineer of America named as Jeff Lebesch, visits the country and decided to produce beers of high quality in his hometown. After learning the style of making Belgian ales, he returned to his home and tries to make ales like Belgium ales in his Colorado basement. After doing some successful experiments and received approval from his friends, Lebesch decided to sell the beers in market.
In 1991, Lebesch incorporated company named as New Belgium Brewing Company (NBB) and initiate the production of beers in the basement of his home in Fort Collins. Kim Jordan, who is also the wife of Lebesch was appointed as managing director of the firm. Beers produced by NBB attract customers in small number but these customers are devoted and loyal. First customers of NBB were from Fort Collins but after that there are many customers of NBB throughout Colorado. Later, they decided to shift their business into an old railroad and in 1995, the business was shifted in custom-built facility. Today the company produces variety of ales to serve their customers, and business of company is growing day by day (New Belgium Brewing Company, 2011)
New Belgium stated in its mission that it is dedicated towards the quality of the product, environment, employees of the company, and customers of the company. Following are the core values and beliefs of the company related to environment and social responsibility:
Company believes that development of these values helps them to build good reputation. These values were added by the company almost 15 years ago because these values give meaning to the company and their customers, which results in the growth of the company (Ethics workshop, n.d.; Lyczkowska, 2012).
Marketing director of the company that is Greg Owsley states that promotions of ethical activities are the main aim of the company. Ethical culture of the company refers to the values, belief and norms shared by the members of the organization. Usually, culture of the organization is judged by the appearance of employees, furnishing of office, and other personality traits of an organization. On the other hand culture of NBB involves the commitment, good relations, and how employees are treated in an organization. NBB focuses on the personal and professional growth of the organization and employees. NBB encouraged the concept of employee-owner in which award is granted to the employee after completing one year of employment by sharing the ownership and a cruiser bike (Withall, 2014).
Along with these things, company follows the fiscal transparency policy and an open book management policy which results in mutual policy and trust. This culture of the company leads to the growth and success of an organization together with the growth and success of an employee. In NBB there is no discrimination between the employees and every employee is treated in the same way and any practice which harms the reputation and functioning of the organization must be avoided. This culture of an organization is considered as ethical and healthy culture because they treat their employees well and inspires them (Sustainable Tourism, 2011).
Not only employees but company also focuses on the sustainable management. Contribution of NBB can be determined by identifying the areas in which company work such as water, stewardship, carbon and change in climate, waste, and most important advocacy. Following are the things which made NBB different:
Community- NBB donates $1 to non-profit organizations for per can of beer produced by the company, and it also donates 5% of its profit to charity.
Customers- Company is spreading the culture of beer by dedicated world class beer to its customers.
Environment- almost 99.9% waste of solid are recycled and reused by the company.
Workers- Company is owned by employees, for full time employees company was paying insurance premiums, and they adopt policy of open book management and give information to the employees through internal blog (Gunther, 2016).
Three questions are generated after analyzing the case study of NBB:
Describe the operation management of the New Belgium Brewing Company, Inc.?
Answer 1: NBB adopted the policy of open book management system in which employees of the company can see the financial position of the company, and company involves the employees in decision making process of the company. Financial training is provided to the employees of the company so that they can understand the financial prospective of the business. Employees can also suggest the new type of beer that can be introduced to the public and contribution from employees affect the profitability of the company. An employee is eligible to vote for the beer from different beers he want to produce (Wann, n.d. ; Dahl, 2016)
NBB always ensures that they provide best quality and productivity to their customers, and they adopt the environment friendly way to produce the beer. When product is produced in large volumes then it becomes difficult for the company to ensure quality in their product, but employees of NBB monitor every step of production to ensure the quality of the product. Profitability of the company is ensured only by the expertise, knowledge, and passion of the employees of the company, and by getting the best technology in their plants company try to reduce the cost of the product and maintain environment stewardship.
whether company ensures quality and efficiency by adopting the concept of sharing ownership with employees?
Answer 2: involvement of employee in the company is the way to create an environment in an organization in which employees have impact on the decision and actions of the company because such environment affects the working of employees. Engagement of employees is not the goal or nor any tool which is practiced in NBB. Employee engagement is the key factor for NBB for encouraging the high motivated culture. The idea of employee engagement is considered by the management with their co workers to ensure efficient working system in an organization. NBB recognize their employees as unique gifts which help them to operate more efficiently.
In NBB almost 43% of ownership is owned by the employees of the company through an ESOP, and after the employment period of one year they are qualified for becomes employee owners. Company also shares its profits and other benefits with their employees by giving them interest in the shares of the company. Open management policy of the company gives access of books to the employees of the company and financial training provided by the company to its employees that helps in understanding the financial position of the company. These policies help in understanding and appreciating the employee. In NBB employees has right to ask questions and share their ideas with the management or fellow employees of the company.
If employees of the company are engaged in their work then they are able to create loyal customers which result in big profits to the company. Company believes that their first responsibility is towards the people who work for the company, and then for the customers and shareholders. Because if staff is happy then customers are happy, which ultimately result in profits of shareholders or other stakeholders.
Employees of NBB are the area leaders and it is the responsibility of each employee to ensured the quality of the products that company supplied to their customers. In other words we can say that NBB ensures the benefit of those who work hard for the success of the company (New Belgium, n.d.; New Belgium, n.d.).
the approach of New Belgium towards environmental responsibility and sustainability enhance the profit of the company and help them in making major cost benefit?
Answer 3: NBB mainly focuses on its responsibility towards environment and sustainability in its production process which increases the chances of profit of the company. NBB also focuses on the environment which helps the company in growing their business and earn profit by using those advanced technologies such as wind power, water recapture, turning waste water into energy, energy efficient brew kennels, 98% landfill diversion rate, constructing the factory from reclaimed timber, and recapturing steam. These methods are eco friendly which help the NBB to fulfill its responsibilities towards environment.
NBB follows these procedures to fulfill their responsibilities towards environment and this helps the company to improve their clients. This concept of environment stewardship helps the company to get competitive advantage over other companies because customers also being loyal towards those companies which fulfill its responsibilities towards the society. Initially this will cost the company for going green but it will eventually save the money in long run for the company and give huge profit to the company. In U.S. NBB is the ninth largest brewery and third largest craft brewery. NBB secured its position in the U.S. and in future it will earns lots of loyal customers because of advanced technology which help the company in producing quality products and keep the production process environment friendly (Foust, 2015).
The concept of alternatively empowered was adopted by the company which means that company is try to minimize the social and environmental negative impacts which by protecting the natural resources. For example company recycles the bottles and cans, save paper by using the method of E-bills and turn off the electric equipment which was not used in production process. They also save the water by reprocessing of water. These practices help the company in reducing their cost and carry their production in the efficient manner. Company also respects their employees and co workers because it motivates the employees to work with responsibility and keep their customers happy. While making the decisions of Business Company always consider the factor of utilizing and preserving the natural resources, technical, and human resources.
Presently the development of industrialization increases the pressure on environment, which results in depletion of natural resources. It is the responsibility of the business organizations to reserve the natural resources and protect environment. NBB care for the planet on which they conduct their business and their method of reducing the coal-fired electricity helps in reducing the air pollution. Burning coal is the reason of smoke, acid rain and global warming and also the diseases related to heart and breathing. NBB adopt the innovative technology, and process of saving water by installing innovative waste water reclamation plan which result in creation of their own energy by using waste water. Company also supports the involvement of its employees which result in successful implementation of these plans.
NBB started the business at very small stage and it focused on the quality of its product but their production process is not able to fulfill the demand of their customers because of lack of resources. Later they purchased new location for their business and at this new location were designed as the state-of-the-art custom which is more efficient than their standard brewers. After the availability of new resources company is able to meet the demand of their customers by efficient production and by maintaining the quality of the product.
Company decided to take advantage of the abundant sunshine in Fort Collins and maximize the use of light produced by the sun with the help of sun tubes, UV blocking windows and shelves of light. They used the evaporative coolers for their hall instead of compressors because these coolers use less energy which result in less power consumption and also reduced the cost of production.
Company uses the fallen trees as material for various numbers of jobs they conduct because pine beetles kills almost 80% of their lodge pole pines. A company uses other facilities and also applies innovative technologies in their production such as waste water reclamation plan which helps the company in converting the waste water from the plant into energy, and that energy was used in the factory. The use of innovative technologies not only gives efficient production but also gives competitive advantage to the company over other companies such lower cost of production helps the company to sell their products at reasonable prices, company fulfilled its social responsibility which attract customers and leave the impression of the company as green company.
In 1999, company was the largest private consumer of the electricity generated from wind power and company makes commitment for the period of 10 years for buying the electricity through the city-sponsored wind program in Colorado. Unwanted judgment passed by community not only reflects the bad impression of the company but also spoils the image of the company, so company decided to follow their own way and choose electricity generated from wind power. Company improves its efficiency by deciding not to pollute the environment and reducing unnecessary cost of the production.
Later, many companies followed the policy adopted by NBB and try to make this industry as newer, smarter, and greener industry. By taking another step in the green industry company add more innovative technologies in their production process which helps the company in growing faster.
At last we can say that NBB is the company which fulfilled all its responsibilities towards its employees, environment and society. It is the ethical responsibility of the company to fulfill all its responsibilities by adopting the approach of environment stewardship and employee ownership.
Conclusion:
In this essay, we understand the importance of environment sustainability by reading the case of New Belgium Brewing: Engaging in Sustainable Social Responsibility. In this NBB adopts two approaches that are to fulfill its ethical responsibility:
Employment ownership: NBB followed the approach of employment ownership by making the employee’s part in decision making process of the company. It mainly gives emphasis to the commitment and good relations with both customers as well as employees of the company. Objectives of NBB involve personal and professional growth of both organization as well as employees of the organization. After completing the one year of employment, employee was eligible for sharing the ownership and get cruiser bike as award.
Company adopt the policy of open book management system and fiscal transparency in which company gives financial training to the employees so that they are able to understand the financial perspectives of business, and this policy results in growth and success of an organization.
Environment stewardship: the concept of Environment stewardship is adopted by the company to fulfill its responsibilities towards environment and society, and this approach of company towards environment will lead to good clientage of the company. This approach helps the company to get competitive advantage over other companies because customers would like to be with the company which know its responsibilities and take steps to fulfill them.
At last we conclude the report that NBB is the company which fulfills all its responsibilities towards its employees, environment and society.
References:
Gunther, M. (2016). The Brewery That Acts as a Sustainability Leader and Engages Employees to Be Best for the World. Retrieved on 28th December 2016 from: https://www.bthechange.com/stories/products/food/new-belgium-sustainable-beer/.
Sustainable Tourism. (2011). Case Study: New Belgium Brewery. Retrieved on 28th December 2016 from: https://sustainabletoursimdevelopment.wordpress.com/2012/12/11/case-study-new-belgium-brewery/.
New Belgium Brewing Company, (2011). New Belgium Brewing Company, Inc.
Sustainability Management System Version 2011. Retrieved on 28th December 2016 from: https://www.newbelgium.com/files/SMS%204th%20edition,%202011%20for%20external%20release.pdf.
Ethics Workshop. New Belgium Brewing: Ethical and Environmental Responsibility. Retrieved on 28th December 2016 from: https://ceo.ethicsworkshop.com/images/NewBelgiumBrewingCase.pdf.
Lyczkowska, K. (2012). Case Study of New Belgium Brewery. Retrieved on 28th December 2016 from: https://www.academia.edu/4182482/Case_Study_of_New_Belgium_Brewery.
Withall, R. (2014). A Splash of Beer, A Ripple of Awareness: Sustainability at New Belgium Brewing. Retrieved on 28th December 2016 from: https://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/leadership/ryan_withall/splash_beer_ripple_awareness_sustainability_new_belgium_brewi.
Wann, D. New Belgium Brewing Company. Retrieved on 28th December 2016 from: https://www.terrain.org/articles/9/wann.htm.
Dahl, D. (2016). How New Belgium Brewing Has Found Sustainable Success. Retrieved on 28th December 2016 from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/darrendahl/2016/01/27/how-new-belgium-brewing-has-found-sustainable-success/#1d7093083a12.
Rumbin, M. (2012). New Belgium Brewing: Ethical and Environmental Responsibility. Retrieved on 28th December 2016 from: https://prezi.com/btjkxfhvip8z/new-belgium-brewing-ethical-and-environmental-responsibility/.
New Belgium. SUSTAINABILITY STORIES. Retrieved on 28th December 2016 from: https://www.newbelgium.com/Sustainability/Stories.
New Belgium. POLICY AND CRAFT BEER INDUSTRY. Retrieved on 28th December 2016 from: https://www.newbelgium.com/Sustainability/Community/PolicyandIndustry.
Foust, J. (2015). New Belgium Brewing Honored as ‘Best For the Environment. Retrieved on 28th December 2016 from: https://www.craftbeer.com/news/brewery-news/new-belgium-brewing-honored-as-best-for-the-environment.
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