For this assignment, students are expected to evaluate a companys sustainability performance. With this goal in mind, this assignment is meant to ensure that students are aware of the social, ecological, and economic issues relevant to an industry, those forces that make sustainability very difficult to adopt, and the existing sustainability performance of a company in the industry. COMPANY- WALMART

Social/environmental Issues (20%): Students must identify three relevant sustainability issues associated with the industry their chosen firm is in. They must explain why these issues pit the interests of businesses operating in this industry against the interests of society. This will require some reflection. Taking a look at your chosen business' website and CSR reports will help but it is unlikely your only source. Ultimately, you want to ask: what are the top negative externalities that this industry is known to create? Are they all ecological? Are they a mix of social and ecological? Economic? Whatever you choose, I should see a justification on why these are particularly relevant and important. At 20% of the assignment grade, you should be relatively brief here. Identify the three and explain why they are relevant.

Institutional Forces (30%): Students must then identify the institutional forces that make it difficult for companies in the industry to adopt more progressive sustainability strategies.

Students must identify any cognitive, normative, and regulatory forces that explain why mainstream companies resort to a denial, defense or, at best, an isolated strategy.

Students must also identify how their chosen company contributes to these forces (e.g. through the influence on government, marketing, setting industry standards, etc.).

Performance (40%): Students must then assess the performance of their chosen company. Specifically, they must assess the companys response to the three issues identified in part a. A key resource for you will be the companies sustainability or CSR reports which should be available on company websites. A video from the Bronfman library has been made available for you to assist in this research Students are expected to draw on our company assessment framework in Module 5 to conduct their analysis.

Report presentation (10%): This includes quality of writing (e.g. grammar, sentence structure), proper use of citations, and the professional nature of the report.