Veja can be viewed as a company that strives to improve the environmental sustainability of its operations. This policy can be explained by several factors. First of all, this organization strives to gain the loyalty of ethical consumers who are concerned about the practices of manufacturers. Secondly, in this way, the management of Veja attempts to establish a partnership with various local suppliers. On the whole, this strategy gives the business a competitive advantage over others. These are the main strategies implemented at Veja.
First of all, it should be noted that Veja strives to improve its environmental sustainability to practices fair trade with suppliers. For instance, this organization purchases rubber for its footwear at a premium. Therefore, local farmers are not forced to engage in such practices as wood extraction, land cleaning, or cattle breathing (Beavis 2012). This approach enables the company to preserve local forests. This example confirms the idea that fair trade is conducive to environmental sustainability (Warrier 2010, p. 94). Moreover, this organization cooperates only with those suppliers that do not use pesticides while growing cotton (Beavis 2012). One can say that this organization ensures that its business partners do not pose a threat to nature. This environmental sustainability is one of the things that distinguish Veja from many other businesses that operate in Brazil. In many cases, these organizations do not attach much importance to the practices of their suppliers (Jabbour 2010, p. 6334). Thus, one can say that Veja emphasizes the sustainability of its operations.
Furthermore, one should note that this company tries to gain the loyalty of customers by improving its environmental practices. This approach is quite acceptable at the time when people stress the importance of ethical consumerism (Brown 2005, p. 453; Schwartz 2010, p. 3). Veja has been able to gain an advantage by improving its environmental performance. This approach is adopted by many manufacturers of clothing or footwear (Caniato et al 2012). For example, this organization uses organic acacia extracts that do not pollute the environment (Beavis 2012). This problem is of great importance for footwear producers that must promote the safety of workers and customers. Moreover, Veja uses packages that are completely recyclable, and in this way, they minimize the impact of their activities on the environment. Therefore, the manufacturing processes of this company conform to high environmental standards. This is one of the reasons why the products of the company enjoy popularity among many consumers, especially those ones who are not very price-sensitive.
The approach taken by the management of Veja suggests that environmental practices do not necessarily harm the financial performance of a business. More likely, they can differentiate the products of a company among others. Certainly, one should bear in mind that as any company Veja has to comply with the environmental laws and regulations existing in France and Brazil. However, many of their initiatives can be explained by corporate social responsibility, rather than legal requirements. This is a distinctive trait of this company.
References
Beavis, L 2012, Veja: an ethical passion for fashion. Web.
Brown, C 2005, The Sustainable Enterprise: Profiting from Best Practice, Kogan Page Publishers, New York.
Caniato, F., Caridi, M., Crippa, L & Moretto, 2012, ‘Environmental sustainability in fashion supply chains: An exploratory case based research’, International Journal of Production Economics, vol. 135 no. 135, p. 659-670.
Jabbour, C 2010, ‘In the eye of the storm: exploring the introduction of environmental issues in the production function in Brazilian companies’, International Journal Of Production Research, vol. 48 no. 21, p. 6315-6339.
Schwartz, D 2010, Consuming Choices: Hics in a Global Consumer Age, Rowman & Littlefield, Boston.
Warrier, M 2010, The Politics of Fair Trade, Taylor & Francis, New York.