Often times when businesses strive arduously for financial success, the impact of its actions on external factors can create many social, ethical, political and environmental issues between stake-holders. This is exactly the case with the Nak’azdli’s opposition against the Northern Gateway pipeline and the Tislhqot’s disapproval with mining their tribal park. In both cases, the Aboriginal parties feel a spiritual bond to the land and rely on it for tradition hunting and gathering of food. The exploitation of their land for economic reasons raises many concerns and external factors which may force organizations to adjust their business model.

As a result of diminishing supply of natural resources such as minerals and oil and an increase in demand, an incentive is offered to companies who can discover new resources because of the potential profit available. However, this comes in direct conflict with the culture and tradition of the Aboriginal peoples, who have been taught to protect their land. This has pressured businesses to revisit their models to perhaps find a compromise. A perfect example is the Northern Gateway Pipeline. This organization is fully-aware of the environmental concerns of their stake-holders. Thus, they formulated their business model to directly address this issue and promise an “environmentally responsible way to build a pipeline” as well as other environmentally-friendly claims to ease the concerns instead of sweeping them under the rug.  This is a rather innovative plan as they promise to use world class safety-guards to diminish chances of spillage or leaks. By formulating their business plan in terms of public concerns, it reduces the controversy of building such a long pipeline, especially crossing Aboriginal territory and is an excellent example of how external factors shape business plans.