Introduction
The current issues affecting the natural environment are compelling companies to make their business models more sustainable. Customers are becoming more sensitive and informed about the challenges of global warming and climate change. Organizations that promote desirable practices and engage in corporate social responsibility will become more successful and admirable. TOMs presents a good case of a company that has tried to improve its overall sustainability profile. The sustainability efforts associated with TOMs need to become the best model for guiding companies to promote partnership circular economies and reconsider their overall social impacts.
Problem Statement
Many companies are relying on traditional business models with the aim of maximizing profits. Such corporations continue to ignore the challenges affecting the global environment, such as climate change and global warming. This scenario means that the planet might become unsustainable in the coming years. Government agencies and policymakers still remain reluctant, thereby allowing more firms to promote inappropriate strategies and models (Martins). This problem is what needs to compel leaders of companies to focus on the best approaches to improve their sustainability efforts.
Research Question
The specific research question for this analysis is:
- What efforts and initiatives TOMs undertake to make its business model sustainable?
Data Collection Methods
To complete this study, the investigator relied on various strategies to collect the much-needed data and information. First, TOMs’ annual reports were identified and analyzed since they offer timely results and approved financial reports. Second, social media pages focusing on the sustainability efforts of this company presented useful insights about the company’s efforts (Martins). Third, latest publications and newspaper articles were considered to learn more about TOMs’ sustainability agenda. The emerging evidence was utilized to answer the outlined research question for this specific study.
Findings
To achieve the intended sustainability goals, the completed research revealed that TOMs was promoting cross-sector collaboration to deliver high-quality shoes to the targeted customers. For instance, it was liaising with FutureSwitch to promote innovation and ensure that the final products were capable of protecting the environment and meeting the demands of the customers (Wydick et al. 730). The company had gone further to identify additional suppliers who took the idea of environmental protection seriously. This effort was essential towards reducing the overall ecological footprint of the company’s activities. Promoted affiliate programs encourage different partners in the sector to deliver a wide range of products that resonate with TOMs business model (Social Value Portal 48). Friend of TOMs is a nonprofit organization associated with TOMs that helps the company identify individuals who might be in need of shoes.
To promote and support a circular economy, TOMs has developed a guiding philosophy that helps take the brand’s sustainability to the next level. Superficially, the company ensures that all the available and marketing shoes are made from waste or recycled materials. This effort remains crucial for protecting the environment and ensuring that the level of resource exploitation remains as low as possible (Maltais et al. 9). Additionally, the boxes used for the shoes tend to be recycled or come from other products that have already been marketed to different customers. The company relies on soy-based ink to mark the boxes used to market their final products.
TOMs takes the idea of repurposing shoes seriously since it resonates with its wider business model. Specifically, the company provides timely guidelines for ensuring that customers can reuse their worn-out shoes in various ways. For example, they can redesign and develop sandals out of their old shoes (Rask 1298). Individuals can go further to donate them to the less fortunate. The company promotes awareness to encourage and allow most of the customers to be part of the process. This effort has continued to support the company’s overall social responsibility. The concept of repurposing reduces the overall footprint or impact of this company’s shoes on the natural environment.
The completed investigation has identified TOMs as a profitable business organization whose mission resembles that of an organized community. The company liaises with different schools, NGOs, and customers to improve sustainability (Maltais et al. 14). Strategic social approaches and partnerships have become a defining attribute of TOMs. The company promotes the idea of change in such a way that more people are willing to acquire and reuse most of the shoes (Maltais et al. 17). The partners are encouraged to present additional insights to support recycling and engagement in a wide range of social corporate responsibilities. These efforts have taken TOMs’ social efforts and agenda to the next level.
Analysis and Discussion
The case of TOMs stands out as a powerful model for guiding more companies to take the issue of environmental degradation seriously. Most of the challenges affecting the global community today are directly linked to overuse of natural resources, the destruction of forests, and failure to promote conservation efforts. The wave of capitalism has compelled companies to engage in business efforts with the primary aim of maximizing their profits (Martins). This trend has affected the sustainability of most of the ecological zones and habitats. More people acknowledge that the forces of climate change and global warming might worsen their lives and conditions in the near future.
To mitigate most of the predicaments, business firms need to focus on TOMs’ business model since it presents various strategies to protect the planet against human activities. For example, the company’s cross-sector collaboration has resulted in the manufacturing and marketing of shoes that take sustainability to the next level (Wydick et al. 731). The participants in this model understand the importance of pursuing a circular economy characterized by continuous recycling and repurposing of shoes. Companies in different sectors could consider most of these tactics to increase their use of waste materials. This model minimizes the efforts and activities needed to acquire fresh resources from the natural environment.
The emerging insights explain why there is a need for companies, policymakers, and government agencies to collaborate and introduce superior models. The concept of partnership would be plausible to maximize the overall involvement of all key players to identify practical and timely strategies to maximize sustainability efforts (Rask 1292). TOMs’ model should guide more companies to take the concept of continuous improvement to the next level based on their business goals. Such efforts will help conserve the environment, make the circular economy the norm, and promote recycling practices.
Conclusion
TOM Shoes is a profitable company that donates shoes depending on the sales made. The idea of sustainability has made it possible for this organization to attract like-minded partners who can promote the intended circular economy. The company has succeeded in delivering a have reputable brand name that takes repurposing and recycling to the next level. More companies should replicate these efforts since they have the potential to protect the natural environment while at the same time maximizing the recorded profits.
Works Cited
Maltais, Aaron, et al. SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals. Stockholm: Stockholm Environment Institute, 2018.
Martins, Nischith. “One-For-One Business Model How Does this Work? A Case Study of Toms Shoes.” Linkedin, Web.
Rask, Nanna. “An Intersectional Reading of Circular Economy Policies: Towards Just and Sufficiency-Driven Sustainabilities.” The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, vol. 27, no. 10-11, 2022, pp. 1287-1303.
Social Value Portal. 2021. TOMs Measures Handbook. Web.
Wydick, Bruce, et al. “Shoeing the Children: The Impact of the TOMs Shoe Donation Program in Rural El Salvador.” The World Bank Economic Review, vol. 32, no. 3, 2018, pp. 727-751.