Assignment Overview

This is an individual assignment. For this sustainability research project, you will be choosing an industry

sector to focus on $($agriculture$,$ manufacturing, services telecommunications Information technology,

etc.$)$

You will be responsible to research the sustainability priorities and challenges for this sector.

After researching the stainability priorities and challenges, you will be offering recommendations for

how a company in this sector can improve their sustainability.

The Content

After some thought you decide that your research report should answer the following questions:

What is sustainability and CSR$?$ Provide a definition for each of these terms.

What THREE sustainability challenges are most relevant to businesses in your sector in

Canada? Why are they relevant?

What are businesses in your sector doing to manage those challenges? Please provide a

description of THREE companies demonstrating best practices.

Based on the above, describe THREE sustainability actions you would recommend a

company in your sector of choice undertake considering your research.

Clarifications

Sector$/$Company: You should choose a real industry sector for the recommendations that you

will make for a company operating in the sector.

Audience: Remember that your audience may not be familiar with the concepts of sustainability

and CSR$.$ You should be clear in your discussion and definitions

Question $3$: When mentioning best practice examples, you should focus on what specific

businesses do $($or say they do$).$ You may refer to what other actors such as the government or

other organizations do to help businesses in this area, but this is not what is being asked here.Assignment Structure

Note that it is the contents that counts, rather the length of the assignment. However, a thorough

examination of this topic will probably require $4-5$ single$-$spaced pages $(12-$point font$)$ to adequately

discuss this topic. Please do not exceed $5$ pages. Figures are not part of the page count so feel free to

use them to support your report. The body of the paper should be divided into appropriately numbered

sections, sub$-$sections, sub$-$sub$-$sections, etc., each with descriptive titles. Please follow the following

order:

Title Page $(1$ page$)$

The title of your report should be informative and specific to draw the reader's attention.

Executive Summary $($No more than $1$ page$)$

Here you should summarize the main points of your report to give your reader a whole picture of the

research when they have no time to read it all. This should be at the beginning of the paper, as it is a

summary of your paper, you should write this section after you have completed the research and

recommendations.

Introduction $($No more than $1/2$ page$)$

The introduction should provide the context for this report: why it was written and why the topic that

you will present in the rest of the report is important. You should also define the objectives that will

guide the rest of the report. You should also describe the sector you have chosen so that the readers

know what to expect.

Research Questions $1-3($No more than $2\mathrm{.}5$ pages$)$

This is the main part of your assignment where you present the findings of your research. You may use

the research questions $(1$ through $3)$ as the basis to structure this part.What is sustainability and CSR$?$

What THREE sustainability challenges are most relevant to businesses in your sector in Canada?

Why are they relevant?

What are businesses in your sector doing to manage those challenges? Please provide a

description of THREE companies demonstrating best practices.

Your description of your research must be well$-$documented. Make liberal use of tables, figures, and

diagrams $($with appropriate captions$),$ and include literature references appropriately. Be concise and

informative.

Recommendation $($No more than $1$ page$)$

Based on Questions $1$ to $3,$ describe in detail Three Sustainability Actions you would recommend that a

company in the sector undertake based on your research. This is essentially answering the last research

question.

References $($Depending upon the number of references used$)$

Use APA Style to format your references AND in$-$text citations. It is expected that $5-10$ references are

adequate for this kind of assignment. THIS IS NOT AN OPINION PAPER. You MUST support points made

with outside research and all information found MUST be referenced $($see below instructions$).$