SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT FUTURE

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Executive Summary
Sustainable management refers to manage the environment, economy and expectation of
future generations by a company in the most efficient ways. The whole report describes the
leadership approach and functions for sustainable management plan of Bentley- a famous car
manufacturer in the UK for their future survival in the competitive business world. The
importance of sustainable management is also described in the report. Among various
approaches of sustainable management, two important approaches are used here for critical
analysis. For making the report more meaningful, definitions of sustainable management is
provided clearly along with necessary references. Locust approach and Honeybee approach
are used here for a critical analysis of the sustainable management of Bentley. Both
approaches have been analyzed and evaluated for matching them with the company
fundamentals. The result of using any of the two methods is also given in the report and
Honeybee approach has got the priority. Again, a clear discussion and conclusion are also
made relating it with those approaches and priority of Honeybee approach that helps a
company in sustaining in the competitive market and flourishing is also shown. And various
types of leadership practices have also been explained in the report comparing with both
Locust and Honeybee approaches.

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Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 4

Theoretical approaches .............................................................................................................. 5

Analysis...................................................................................................................................... 9

Discussion and conclusion ....................................................................................................... 13

References ................................................................................................................................ 14

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Introduction
The main purpose of the report is evaluating the sustainability perspective of Bentley- a UK-
based multinational company. The main purpose of any kind of business is to earn money
fulfilling public interest. All kinds of business organizations must have to sustain in their
respective industry facing hard competition. They also have responsibilities toward various
stakeholders by whom they are surrounded. Sustainable management is one of the important
factors in the present business world. It refers to manage the environment, economy and
expectation of future generations by a company or an organization in the most efficient ways.
As the business environment is becoming more competitive due to a shortage of resources,
survival has become an important issue for any organization. Managing people, planet and
profit have become a very difficult task. But all organizations have to manage these by
adopting various ways for their survival (Grecu, V, 2014). In this report, sustainability of
Bentley- a famous UK-based company will be critically analyzed and evaluated.

Bentley- a car manufacturer has been chosen for completing the assignment. It is one of the
famous car manufacturers in the UK situated in Crewe, England. It was established on 18
January 1919 in Cricklewood, London by W. O. Bentley. It is a subsidiary company included
in Engineering and manufacturing industry. It was first acquired by Rolls-Royce Limited in
1931. Then, in the year 1980, it was acquired by Vickers PLC. And at last in the year 1998, it
came to the hand of Volkswagen Group. It is a luxury car builder especially the hand-built
luxury car. It sells its cars around the world via franchised dealers. Its current is Wolfgang
Durheimer. Around 3600 people work in Bentley Motors Ltd. (http://bentleymotors.com/
[Accessed 29 Nov. 2015]
In the report, at first both locust and honeybee approaches will be clearly defined. Then their
differences will also be provided. Next, the leadership plan and functions adopted by Bentley
will also be described. At last, a conclusion will be given based on the description.

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Theoretical approaches
The main concern of this report is sustainability management. So at first, it is necessary to
know, what does sustainable management mean?
The term sustainable management comes from the words sustainability and management.
Sustainability means to survive facing all the adverse factors. And management means using
resources in the most efficient ways. So sustainable management means managing
resources of an organization and keeping the organization running meeting its predetermined
goals, missions, vision etc.( Botin, J. 2009)
Sustainable management also means to consider the people, planet, and profitability by a
business organization. (Ougolnitsky, G. 2011)
Sustainable management also refers to responsible, ethical, innovative, and daring to care
form of management. It is also very important in every sector of life or in a company.
Sometimes, it is so mandatory to follow for an organization. (Healey, J. 2011)
Sustainable management has three key branches. These are the environment where an
organization runs its business, the economy where the organization buys and sells its products
and the expectation of various generations. (Crowther, D. 2009). Any organization must have
to consider the above three factors for running its business successfully. It has to manage the
environment, compete in the economy and fulfill the expectations of current and future
generations.

For a learner to understand sustainable management more elaborately, there are many
approaches of sustainable. For completing the assignment and understanding the sustainable
management, two major approaches have been discussed and compared. Those are Locust
approach and Honeybee approach. They are also called sustainable leadership management.
They have helped critically analyzing the sustainable management of Bentley Motors Ltd.
Day by day, demands for goods and services are increasing. Organizations are meeting this
extra demand increasing their productions. But it is known to all that, resources are limited.
And at a time, they will be depleted. Then it would be impossible to meet public demands.
The possible solution of this problem is to use those resources most efficiently so that
production can be increased with the same level of raw materials and it is more profitable for
any organization. For this reason, sustainable management has become one of the major
issues to any organization.
To maintain sustainability, high-quality management is required that develops an
organization performance. And for this purpose, leadership management is the best way for

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the business organization because the report evaluates two important models such that locust
approach and honeybee approach. (Matten, D. 2010)

Now, it is important to know details about both Honeybee approach and Locust approach.
Honeybee approach is a well-known leadership approach that gives much importance on the
long-term valuation. The main objective of Honeybee approach is to prepare outcomes in
such a way that serves a maximum number of stakeholders. (Walker, J. 2011)
Honeybee approach holds that, when the operating context of a firm is sustainable and all
important elements of involved parties are considered carefully, then that organization can be
called the sustainable organization. (Ferrell, L. 2014)
If the interest of different involved parties is evaluated and taken into account carefully, then
the organization is sustainable. (Jones, M. 2013)
Honeybee approach always tries to show that it takes care of the interest of the stakeholders,
tries to increase business performance, considers the environment carefully by the firms
corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and gives a satisfactory result. Honeybee
approach also gives much importance on maintaining the value, image, brand of the firm by
ethical and logical business behavior. It tries to provide the performance for matching with
the definition of sustainable management.
Locust approach is another type of leadership style which is also common in use. In the case
of locust approach, it gives much importance on the short-term result. As it is known that
Honeybee approach takes care of the interest of the stakeholders, tries to increase business
performance, considers the environment carefully by the firms corporate social
responsibility (CSR) activities, gives an eye to the expectation of future generations etc;
locust approach actually tries to show higher profit and growth rate to the shareholders.
Locust approach mainly serves the sustainable management by its intention of making a
higher profit. It is not expected as there are two other objectives or elements of sustainable
management. The environment should be taken into account and the future expectation
should be fulfilled. Only short-term goal is not expected, long-term objectives are also
expected to be made. (Shani, A. 2011)
Corporate social responsibility is helpful for creating employment opportunity and adding
value to the shareholders. In the case of locust approach, managers can violate any rules that
may be harmful to the environment for achieving their short term goal of higher profit. They
can pollute the water, air etc for their respective interest. They are not concerned for the

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hamper of the environment that may cause a hazard for mankind. Here, fulfilling the goals at
any cost is the basic ideology. (Senge, P. 2010)
A table containing the differences between Locust and Honeybee approach is provided
below.

SL Leadership Approaches Locust Approach Honeybee Approach

no.
More importance on staff More importance on
1. Employee retention
turnover. employee tenure.
2. Top team and chief CEO makes decisions. CEO is the top team member
executive officer (CEO) or speaker
3. Quality Importance on control Importance on culture

4. Trust Less trust rather a high Good relationship and trust.

control.
5. Knowledge Restricted to only a few. Not restricted rather
available to all.
6. Team orientation Managers control teams. More power is given to
teams.
7. Decision making Controlled by managers. Developed and consensual.

8. Key performance drivers Selective and limited. Systematic, strong and

strategic to all areas

9. Organizational Culture Weak culture. Broad culture.

10. Financial markets Following markets. Tries to be independent.

11. Social responsibility Both people and community Both people and community
are exploited. are valued highly.

12. Long term outlook Highly valued short term Highly valued long term
profit. goals.

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13. Value Less importance on Much importance on
employee welfare. employee welfare.

14. Environmental activities Exploits environment. Protect environment.

15. Ethical behaviour Low-importance on ethical High importance on ethical

behavior. behavior.

16. Labor relation Not so friendly labor Friendly labor relation

relation. between manager and
employees.
17. Role of the vision Focused on present Vision is shared.
condition.

18. Staff engagement Staffs are managed by the Staffs are self-managed.
managers.

Table: Differences between Locust approach and Honeybee approach

From the above analysis, it is clear that Honeybee approach is more suitable for sustainable
management because it fulfills the major requirements of serving the people, planet and profit
purpose of sustainable management.

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 Analysis
Bentley is one of the renowned UK-based multinational companies. It belongs to the car
industry. It has sustained in the business world and running its business successfully for a
long time. It happens due to sustainable management of Bentley Motors Ltd.

As the report is concerned with the approach used by Bentley Motors Ltd, now it is time to
analyze the strategies used by Bentley for sustainable management. Two approaches have
been described earlier. Now it is necessary to know what approach actually is used by
Bentley Motors Ltd for sustainable management and what their outcomes are. (Wells, G.
2013)

After a long research, it is found that Bentley Motors Ltd believes in sustainable management
and they use Honeybee approach for their sustaining strategy. The company also holds that
this approach is the most favorable one for them to sustain in the business industry and it
gives them maximum outcome than that of any other approach. As it is a large company and
running its business for a long time, it always tries to satisfy its customer, earn an expected
profit, protect the environment, hold the market position, sustain in the long run etc. And all
of these activities are suitable in the Honeybee approach of leadership.

Some other strategies that are followed by Bentley are provided below.
Bentley Motors Ltd gives much importance on developing the abilities of its employees,
Bentley always tries to keep good relation with the labors,
It gives much value its employees,
It focuses on culture rather than on control,
It is always dedicated to its employees,
It maintains keeping good relationship with employees,
It helps employees acquiring adequate knowledge required for the job
Work teams are given much power to complete their task,
The organizational culture is widely shared and valued,
They are more flexible to their staffs,
Vision and mission of the company are shared by all,
Bentley tries to serve the interest of all the stakeholders,
Bentley gives importance on the people, environment and community in which it runs,
It tries to focus on the long term goals,
It keeps succession planning for future,

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Bentley gives importance on the environmental, economic and social impact of it activities in
the industry. Some of the recent activities of Bentley Motors Ltd for sustainability are given
below:

Figure: Sustainability report of Bentley Motors Ltd (Key performance indicators)

(http://bentleymotors.com/ [Accessed 29 Nov. 2015]
Bentleys major performances are economic performance, environmental performance, social
performance and outlook.

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1) Economic performance: In the year of 2014, Bentley faced some economic challenges.
These challenges were continuous economic growth rate, attracting investment, improving
the supply chain, increasing competitiveness, enhancing its skills to produce the lower level
of CO2.
There were some reasons behind making a good performance. These are increasing economic
activities by attractive finance for the buyers, producing the standard products via committed
and flexible workforce etc.
After meeting the challenges and considering the reasons, Bentley made a good performance
last year. Its sector turnover in the year 2014 was 6.6% to 69.5bn. In the last year around
4.7bn was invested in the manufacturing activities in the UK. It produced around 1.6m cars
in last year which is considered the best performance after the year 2008. Its market was up to
9.5% which is also considered the best one since 2004. Bentley also registered a large
number of new vehicles last year.
All of these indicate a better performance in the economic sector by Bentley Motors Ltd
through their strategies.
2) Environmental Performance: In the year of 2014, Bentleys environmental performance was
also satisfactory. Last year it faces several environmental challenges those they had to meet.
The major economic challenges Bentley faced last year were improving environmental
standards, increasing competitiveness in manufacturing activities in the UK, following
environmental rules and regulations etc.
There were some reasons behind making a good performance in the environmental sector.
These reasons are designing the process to produce cars efficiently, manufacturing the
product decreasing waste, making the cars safer etc. These reasons forced Bentley to be met.
After meeting the challenges and considering the reasons, Bentley made a good performance
in the environmental sector last year. Last year Bentley produced a lot of products using
10.4% less energy. Bentley used 10.4% less water comparing the previous year. Bentley also
became more efficient and used 26.3% less waste to landfill and reduced CO2 by 900t by
using summer boiler.
All of these indicate a better performance in the environmental sector by Bentley Motors Ltd
through their strategies.
3) Social performance: All organizations must have some responsibility towards the society in
which it is situated. Bentley also has the same responsibility to its respective society. Last
year, Bentley had shown a better performance in the social sector.

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 There were some social challenges which made Bentleys activities difficult. But Bentley
faced them successfully adopting required strategies. Major challenges were developing and
sustaining workforce, developing skills among employees for meeting the possible change in
car technology.
There were also some reasons to be considered in social performance. These reasons are
making an investment for launching new models, measure on-going activities to develop the
performance of the staffs, retention, safety etc.
Bentley considered both challenges and reasons in case of it social performance. It increased
the sectoral jobs by 3.5% last year. It provided training to its employees which is more than
35% compared to previous year. The number of employee accident also decreased
significantly. As there was good social performance, the number of road accidents decreased
by 6.2% comparing previous years records.
All of these indicate a better performance in the social sector by Bentley Motors Ltd through
their strategies.
4) Outlook: In outlook activities, Bentley focuses on vehicle emissions, connectivity,
manufacturing sector and competitiveness.
The UK introduced laws related to emissions of greenhouse gas. UK has set out a target of
reducing the emission of CO2 by 80% within 2050. Bentley is trying to produce such vehicle
that produces low greenhouse gas.
UKs manufacturing output is growing rapidly. So Bentley has to increase its number of
production and its production growth is satisfactory.
This is the age of technology. In all spheres of life, technology has become a must. So the use
of various technologies in the vehicles is also necessary. And Bentley is producing higher
class luxury cars connected with technologies.
Bentley is also competing with its competitors successfully.
At last it is found that Bentley has a good performance in economic, social, environmental
sectors. And it is only possible by adopting Honeybee approach of leadership.

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Discussion and conclusion
Sustainable management also refers to responsible, ethical, innovative, and daring to care
form of management. Two leadership styles are discussed above for understanding
sustainable management. They are Locust approach and Honeybee approach. There are many
qualities, characteristics of these two approaches. (Johansson, P. 2010)
Honeybee approach always tries to show that it takes care of the interest of the stakeholders,
tries to increase business performance, considers the environment carefully by the firms
corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities etc. (Tench, R. 2009)
Locust approach gives much importance on short-term result. Locust approach actually tries
to show higher profit and growth rate to the shareholders. It mainly serves the sustainable
management by its intention of making a higher profit. It cant fulfill all the requirements of
sustainable management. (Jones, C. 2013)
After comparing both Locust and Honeybee approaches, Honeybee approach has got priority
due to success in sustainable management.
Bentley Motors Ltd is running its business around the world for decades. It has survived in
the business world facing all the challenges carefully and meeting all the economic needs,
social and environmental laws. Its sector turnover, in the last year, increased. In the previous
year, around 4.7bn was invested in the manufacturing activities in the UK. Last year,
Bentley produces a lot of products using less energy comparing to previous years. Bentley
used less water than that of previous year. It also became more efficient in producing car and
used 26.3% less waste to landfill. Bentley reduced CO2 by a great quantity. It has increased
the sectoral jobs by a large number. It provided its employees with training opportunity
which is more than 35% compared to previous year. Bentley is trying to produce such vehicle
that generates low greenhouse gas. Its production growth is quite satisfactory. Bentley is
producing higher class luxury cars connected with technologies. It is also competing with its
competitors successfully.

At last it is found that Bentley has a good performance in economic, social, environmental
sectors. It is only possible by adopting Honeybee approach of leadership. And their good
performance in all the sectors is the key to their sustainability.

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