Sustainable Social Responsibility and Competitive Advantage: A Case Study of New Belgium Brewery

1. The Environmental Issues Faced by New Belgium Brewery

1. What environmental issues does the New Belgium Brewing Company work to address? How has NBB taken a strategic approach to addressing these issues? Why do you think the company has taken such a strong stance toward sustainability?

2. Do you agree that the New Belgium’s focus on social responsibility provides a key competitive advantage for the company? Why or why not?

3. Some segments of society contend that companies that sell alcoholic beverages and tobacco products cannot be socially responsible organization because of their nature of primary products. Do you believe that New Belgium’s actions and initiatives are indicative of a socially responsible corporation? Why or why not?

Sustainable social responsibility has become one of the vital issues for all the organizations working all over the world. It is a big challenge for companies to fulfil the parameters of sustainability in their organization. New Belgium Brewery is a company at Belgium that met the standards of sustainable social responsibility. This company sets as an example for other companies too. We cannot judge the status of the company whether it is good or bad. The greatness of the company can be depending on many elements. It can be either the higher amount of dividends to its shareholders or it can be a huge amount of monthly income earned by a company. Hence, there are many ways by which one can judge a company. There is a company that not only achieves such standards but also exceeds the benchmarks set for it.

In this study, we learn how New Belgium Brewery achieved such sustainable development. We will also discuss about the all the strategies and approaches related to environment. The company has a strong focus on the environmental issues related to Belgium. The learners will understand the importance of sustainability in every organization. The company has also taken many measures and initiatives for an ethical and social conduct of environment. NBB had faced many environmental issues but due to its strategic approaches, the company is able to survive and set a remarkable position n the markets of Belgium.

There are basically three issues faced by new Belgium Brewery which are-

1. Cost-efficient energy-saving alternatives to conduct the business operations,
2. Decreasing the impact of its operation on environment,
3. Developing reuse, recycle and green building techniques.

To achieve all the above desires, the company initiated a cost-efficient and energy saving technology to perform the operations so that the impact of the same on the environment can be reduced (Tongo, 2011). According to the core values and beliefs of the company, the owners of NBB unanimously allowed investing the money in a wind turbine. It was the first company in USA that was fully-wind powered.

Steps Taken by NBB to Address these issues

Afterwards, they started using coal power that helped new Belgium to decrease the CO2 emissions by 1800 metric tons per year. Then, NBB invested its money in a steam condenser to reduce its energy use. The steam condenser collects and reuses the hot water that helps to boil the barely and hops in the process of production and start the next brew. The steam is then used to heaten up the floors, tiles, etc. and to de-iced the docks in winters. They also save the energy by using the sun tubes. Sun tubes helps to transmit natural daytime lighting to all over premise of NBB throughout the year.

New Belgium also involved them in reducing the wastes by recycling of the same and also through reuse strategies. The company stated recycling many waste like boxes, caps, office scarp, glass, bottles, etc. Brewery also collects (Aras and Crowther, 2010) the waste from barley and hop and asked the farmers to collect the grains to fed their pigs that too free of charge. They encouraged the employees to use alternative transport to reduce the pollution. For this, they provide “cruiser bikes” for its employees and asked them ride it while coming for work.

It has a long term interest in “green building techniques”. The expansion of this company facilitates the incorporation of new technology in the organization and learned new chapters of sustainability. In the year of 2002, the company participated in the environment design for existing buildings (LEED-EB) and the United States green building council’s leadership in energy. With the expansion of time and brewery, they continue to capture the new technologies to close loops and conserve energy and resources (Leszczynska, 2011).

They initialize the program of reuse, recycle, and reduce- the three R’s of environment safeguard in their organization. Such as-

The program of reuse comprises of heat emits while brewing process, cleaning of chemicals, water etc. waste products into some useful like spent grain to fed the cattle.

The program of recycling includes converting to keg caps into surfaces of tables, paper to office furniture, etc. they also purchased recycled products (Barter and Bebbington, 2012).

Reduction of energy includes, the motion sensors of lights in entire premise, induction fans that helps to chill the beer, etc helps the company to offset the need of energy to being environmentally efficient and effective.

The director of new Belgium brewery said, “To operate a profitable Brewery which makes our love and talent manifest”. By this line, we can identify the core (Keys, 2009) values and beliefs of NBB. The role of the company is an environment concerned and socially responsible brewer that comprises of-

• Brewery is producing a world-class beers in Belgium
• They are also promoting the culture of beer and the enjoyment one has while drinking beer
• The company has adopted a constant change in the quality and efficiency in improvements
• Meeting the expectations of the clients and customers
• Environment stewardship: By minimizing the consumption of resources and maximizing the efficiency to use energy.
• Managing social, cultural and environmental changes
• Act as business model for other organizations.
• Analyzing the potential by learning new things, management and by adopting new opportunities
• The company also tries to balance the needs of staff, employees and families.
• NBB also commit authentic relations with the employees
• The flow of communication internally and externally is also effective
• The employees enjoy while working (Capaldi, 2016)

The Company has taken such a Strong Stance Toward Sustainability Because

2. I agree with the new statement that new Belgium brewery focus on the social responsibility that is a key competitive advantage fir the company.

NBB is performing a lot of activities that proved that it is focusing on social responsibility. We can quote some examples like- Reuse the waste products, Recycle the products, reduce the use of natural resources, adopting the technology that helps to conserve the natural resources, etc. NBB continuously trying to improve the lives of community by providing corporate giving, sponsorships of events and occasions, mankind involvement and every year donates 1 percent of its profits to the needy people (Corporate Social Responsibility, 2016).

The company also maintains a bulletin board in which they post an array of involvement activities of company to community and its proposals. In this way, new Belgium brewery brand has achieved a remarkable position. It has become famous for two things i.e., the commitment of sustainabity and high quality of products.

The competitive advantage of company is its social responsibility and sustainability. It helps Brewery to achieve the trust of the customers as they want to use products of a company whose products are good and give maximum utilization. They want to believe in the products and felt good about NBB products. The most important asset of NBB is its brand image which is a corporate brand that remember because of its quality, responsibility, care for society and concern for natural resources. For these all above written reasons, we can believe that New Belgium brewery has more competitive advantage than any other companies in Belgium.

The company has (Roosa, 2010) achieved many applauds for the sustainability activities done by them. It is said by the director of the Institute for Brewing studies at the Brewers Association in Boulder, Colorado, “They have created a very positive image for their company in the brew- consuming public with smart decision making.”

Brewery is producing world-class beers in Belgium. They are also promoting the culture of beer and the enjoyment one has while drinking beer. The company has adopted a constant change in the quality and efficiency in improvements.  They are Meeting the expectations of the clients and customers. They are also promoting “Environment stewardship: By minimizing the consumption of resources and maximizing the efficiency to use energy”. The company also trying to manage social, cultural and environmental changes that can impact the sustainability and NBB also acts as business model for other organizations. They try to analyze the potential by learning new things, management and by adopting new opportunities. The company also tries to balance the needs of staff, employees and families. NBB also commit authentic relations with the employees. The flow of communication internally and externally is also effective. The employees enjoy while working (Capaldi, 2016).

2. The Competitive Advantage of New Belgium Brewery's Focus on Social Responsibility

3. We believe that New Belgium Brewery is one of the responsible and ethical organizations. This company is very careful for the advertising and marketing strategy used by them. It is very good that the company advertises and promotes their products through sports that are human powered and results in minimum harm to the society. But still, there is a need to analyze the demographics of the fans of such sports.

Many sports are very famous among children but it is the responsibility of the (Morse, 2008) company to make sure to pick such sports that are having fans of above 18 of age or of legal age to drink. They should choose a target market which always considered as a responsible drinker or do not have a myth in their minds that drinking make people cool. It is a good thought by NBB to return back to the society which is a very responsible thing to do. This though can be flourished through team up with some organizations like Mother against drunk driven that works for welfare of the society. It helps the company to achieve their desires to become responsible and socially active (Jaffeer, 2011).

Yes, we do believe that New Belgium’s actions and initiatives are indicative (Elder-Woodward, 2014) of a socially responsible corporation. They dreamt of a sustainable business that has paid off by loyalty. For this, the company has raised the number of tours to facilitate the demand of the customers (Székely, Moore and Komdeur, 2010). The company has achieved many awards that includes the Business Ethics Magazine’s Business Ethics Awards because of its “dedication to environmental excellence in every part of its innovative brewing process,” the involvement in the Wall Street Journal’s 15 best small places. I also awarded for Best Mid-sized Brewing Company of the Year and Best Mid-sized Brewmaster at the Great American Beer Festival. The company has been awarded medals for 3 special categories of brews:

• Abbey Belgian Style Ale
• Blue Paddle Pilsner
• La Folie specialty ale

The company has (Roosa, 2010) achieved many applauds for the sustainability activities done by them. It is said by the director of the Institute for Brewing studies at the Brewers Association in Boulder, Colorado, “They have created a very positive image for their company in the brew- consuming public with smart decisiosn making.”

But still there are some people who believe that an alcohol company can never be socially responsible. The company mentioned that alcohol is only for those who can take it with responsibility. They also said that they can do anything to help the society. There is a responsible participation of beer to support the culinary art. Beer helps to promote new Belgium beer dinners where beer is served with every course of meal (Behrendt, 2012).

Conclusion

They constantly tried to create a socially responsible band image by examining its social, ethical and environmental responsibilities. In the year of 2004, the company was awarded as the environmental protection agency’s regional environmental achievement award. This is the most reputed award won by the new Belgium Brewing company as it only give to those companies who deserves.

Through such awards, we can say that company has proved as a socially responsible organization. These awards acted as motivators and honor for NBB. These all awards and recognitions are enough to prove that the New Belgium Brewing Company is one of the most socially responsible corporations as compared to other companies who are in manufacturing of alcohol and brewing beverages (Tilt, 2016).

Conclusion

At last we can conclude that, the NBB is one of the reputed companies being a brewer company of Belgium. This is the uniqueness of the company that lies within. The every pack of beer displays that, “In this box is our labor of love, we feel incredibly lucky to be creating something fine that enhances people's lives." The company believes that this line helps the company to maintain their brand image. The company’s concern for environmental and sustainable development gives it a competitive advantage because the customers want to get the best product out of all. They also want to feel good for the products and goods used by hem. The precious thing for NBB is its brand image.

The company has still many ways to achieve and improve corporate citizen. They are not in a production of organic beers. The process of manufacturing is still far away from zero emissions and waste. The company always faces a dialogue with public about avoiding alcohol use. They have a long list of works. With the increase in the sale, company faces more challenges to maintain on a human scale and cultural authentic brand. It is the biggest challenge for NBB.

Reference List

Aras, G. and Crowther, D. (2010). NGOs and social responsibility. Bingley: Emerald.

Barter, N. and Bebbington, J. (2012). Environmental paradigms and organisations with an environmental mission. IJISD, 6(2), p.120

Behrendt, R. (2012). The Evolved Structure of Human Social Behaviour and Personality. London: Karnac Books.

Capaldi, N. (2016). New (Other?) Directions in Corporate Social Responsibility. Int J Corporate Soc Responsibility, 1(1).

Corporate Social Responsibility. (2016). IJSR, 5(1), pp.1829-1831.

Elder-Woodward, J. (2014). ‘Living Well’ vs Neoliberal Social Welfare. Ethics and Social Welfare, 8(3), pp.306-313.

Jaffeer, R. (2011). Environmental Performance and Sustainable Development. JSD, 4(6).

Keys, T., (2009), Making the most of corporate social responsibility, [Online], Accessed on: 20 September 2016, Available at: http://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/leadership/making-the-most-of-corporate-social-responsibility

Leszczynska, A. (2011). Cultural conditions of sustainable development of organisations. IJSE, 3(3), p.341.

Morse, S. (2008). Post-sustainable development. Sustainable Development, 16(5), pp.341-352.

Roosa, S. (2010). Sustainable development handbook. Lilburn, GA: Fairmont Press.

Székely, T., Moore, A. and Komdeur, J. (2010). Social behaviour. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Tilt, C. (2016). Corporate social responsibility research: the importance of context. Int J Corporate Soc Responsibility, 1(1).

Tongo, C. (2011). A conceptual model of cultural change for African indigenous organisations. WREMSD, 7(3), p.330.