Supply the Environment
(A Solution to Timothy Smith’s, Climate Change: Corporate Sustainability in the Supply Chain) The global supply chain delivers goods to consumers in a complex system designed around speed and efficiency. This dynamic network is becoming stressed as the transfer paths and production of materials grow globally. Anna Nagurney a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, confirms, “Added stress can wreck local and national economies. The entire world is at the tipping point.” When analyzing issues within the supply chain there is more at stake than just economics. Timothy M. Smith from the University of Minnesota, looks at the environmental consequences of supply chain disruption in his article, Climate …show more content…
The solution to the faulty global supply chain, presented by Timothy Smith’s Climate Change: Corporate Sustainability in the Supply Chain, lies within including environmental sustainability into; transnational policy regimes, technological development, and consumptive behavior of society. The legitimacy, authority, and effectiveness of environmental sustainability must come from transnational policy regimes. Supply chains are global from start to finish. As such, the problems associated within the supply chain stem across many different political boundaries and jurisdictions. Only a transnational policy regime, whether it be an existing organization like the United Nations or a new entity, can effectively fulfill the burden of fixing the global supply chain. Over seventy percent of all emissions come from the supply chain (Suh). Environmental sustainability is something many groups are working towards—like the Carbon Disclosure Project-- but, because environmental sustainability lacks legitimacy, authority or effectiveness, these ventures aren’t treated like corporate projects, but rather, pet projects. Likewise, Timothy Smith’s Climate Change: Corporate Sustainability in the Supply Chain, takes into account the expensive nature of enforcement, “Conducting audits is expensive, but the risks of poor
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Changes within the supply chain can disrupt the normal flow of goods and services because each change hasn’t been fully scrutinized. A firm can plan and speculate that a change with have a certain effect on the supply chain, but until those processes have been measured it is impossible to know the true cause and effect of any disruption.
Earth has experienced many episodes of dramatic climate changes with different periods in earth history. There have been periods during which the entire planet has been covered in ice and at another time it has been scorchingly hot and dry. In this regards, earth has experienced at least three major periods of long- term frigid climate and ice ages interspersed with periods of warm climate. The last glacial period which current glaciers are the result of it, occurring during the last years of Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years age (Clayton, 1997). Indeed, glaciers present sensitive indicators of climate change and global warming and by estimating and monitoring the dynamic evolution of these ice masses, several
The essay “The Climate emergency” is based on a speech made by Al Gore at Yale University in April 2004 to a room full of students. Al Gore is the former Vice President of the United States under President Bill Clinton. He is also an environmental rights activist. In the beginning of the speech the former vice president shares a story about his trip to a Shoneys Restaurant with his wife Tipper to draw the audience in. (300-301). Once he captures their attention he is able to focus them on his real message.
The article “Cold warriors,” Gregoire (2008) indicates that climate change leads to environmental issues and melting ice, and the scientists’ researches point out climatic issues in Canada. The author comes up with a point that everyone is responsible for protecting the environment because people around the world are bearing negative effects due to climate degradation. For example, residents in Grise Fiord and Inuit notice a huge differences, the landscape is becoming warmer, softer and unpredictable. Moreover, a greater risk of environmental pollution is caused by climate change. In addition to changes in environment, shrinking glaciers, earlier ice breakup, later freeze-up and less snow caused by warmer temperature bring double-edged effects
No matter the company, the production of goods in any shape or form is bound to have both costs and benefits to its consumers, its workers and the environment. The widely used phrase ‘commodity chain’ describes process by which firms gathers resources, transforms them into goods (commodities) and, in the final step of the process, and distributes them to consumers (Sparke, 2013). In our age of technology and the ever reigning presence of the internet, commodity chains are becoming increasingly more transparent, just as transgressions of large multinational corporations are brought to the public’s attention much more frequently (Sinclair, 2012). To thoroughly explore the logistical side of commodity chains, this paper will be examining the example of Apple, the American multinational corporation headquartered in California, which designs, develops and distributes our Apple electronics - our iPhones, iPads, iPods, MacBooks, iMacs – as well as various online services and computer software (Apple Inc., 2014). When it comes to customer service, Apple is a bold innovator – very much leading the industry and forces others to catch up. To Apple’s credit, they have also set an incredibly high standard in their innovative energy-efficient electronic products (in fact, the most
In “ Think Again: Climate change,” Bill Mckibben addresses the climate change catastrophe. The damage has already begun and it may be too late to save the planet. There has been many debates and controversies on climate change, but that is about to change, and scientists have accepted the fact that humans are warming the planet. In 2007, the Arctic Ocean melted more ice than ever before. Again in 2008, more ice was melted and the Arctic is now open water. In addition, other regions will eventually suffer from crop loss and food shortages. Eventually, climate change will force states to start conflicts and wars over resources.
The majority of people in today’s global society have a false sense of security in believing that the effects of climate change will not take place until the very distant future, and are to dire to bear engaging. Environmental protection is currently one of the largest social issues facing different groups within society including; governments, special interest groups, everyday citizens and global organisations. The actions of organisations with regards to environmental sustainability are becoming a larger factor in business operations. Today’s more informed society expects businesses to perform out of the traditional economic measure of profit motive and adjust to society’s efforts to achieve modern sustainability goals. BHP Billiton (BHP) is the largest and leading global resources company, being the world’s largest producers of major commodities including; coal, copper, iron ore, nickel and uranium. BHP’s annual revenue for 2014 can be rounded off to $607,206million US Dollars and currently hires 128,800 employees and contractors over 141 locations. These figures not only represent how large BHP is, but they highlight the importance of BHP’s contribution to help achieve
Cooperated with partners and leaders in the field of supply chains and transport, the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Logistics and Transportation started to conduct research on the supply chain. The report “Beyond Supply Chains Empowering Responsible Value Chains” analyses the impact that supply chain practices has brought to business, society and environment, and explores the issue how shared value can be made through better supply chain decisions. The report identifies “a set of 31 proven supply chain practices which provide companies with a blueprint of where they can gain both commercial and socio-environmental advantage (both environment and local economic development)—driving a triple advantage” (). In addition, the report “provides a framework for evaluating the potential value at stake behind each of these practices, and an implementation framework for
Sustainable Supply Chain – working with and influencing suppliers to manage and reduce the environmental and social impacts of their operations and of the products and services they provide to Telstra.
However, in Global Supply Chain Management, there is also a need to protect the environment, although for more selfish reasons. Businesses need to be environmentally friendly because people around the world are catching onto the fad of “going green” and want products and companies that boast that. By having sustainable product development and sustainable transportation methods, business are both protecting the environment and attracting more consumers. This is an interesting point because one would not think that a book about best business practices would attract a business towards being more environmentally friendly, but the book is clear that that is what is
Increasingly globalized distribution systems present obstacles to promoting sustainability and justice in the distribution of goods. It is harder to track the location and conditions under which products are made and harder to hold decision makers accountable along the way.
The economy today runs on an antiquated ritual of exploiting, plundering, devastation, and manipulation of land for material wealth, profiting the wealthy and condemning the poor. This mindset is no more sophisticated than feudalism, a system so bad it had to be outlawed along with witchcraft. The idea that exploitation of land is justified has brought plastics to the ocean and leveled rainforests. Large corporations have grown larger by manufacturing and production, depleting the planet’s resources in the process. Now, companies must make a combined effort to put the environment first, before profit. Because of their harmful practices, consumers have the right to know where products come from, how they’re made, and the impact on the environment. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the large corporations to change their harmful practices, to make strides towards ending climate change and use clean, sustainable methods.
Intro: This report will aim to define responsible business, in relation to the vast range of topics such as Corporate social Responsibility/Corporate Citizenship, sustainability, whilst comparing these through academia and their different meanings relating to Responsible Business. Furthermore, this report will also aim to critically analyse climate change and its effect in relation to making Business more responsible as well as the drawbacks/opportunities this holds for business. Finally, this report will exploit the relation between government and Business; identify possible barriers for businesses through government via academic views and evidential impacts on businesses and how government supports business to create a more sustainable world, through incentives such as the climate change Act 2008.
The many benefits of social responsibility to an enterprise include the ability to transform their diverse processes and systems so they deliver the greatest value to the environment while reducing costs and emissions, in addition to streamlining new product development and introduction strategies. An added benefit of pursuing social responsibility is the ability to unify the entire value chain of an enterprise to the goals of reducing carbon footprint, increasing efficiencies that also reduce the impact of production and service operations on the environment, while also increasing supply chain compliance to government requirements (Schnietz, Epstein, 2005). There are also the many benefits to reverse logistics operations and the dramatic reduction in supply chain costs over the long-term (Bartol, Tein, Matthews , Sharma & Scott-Ladd, 2010). When all the benefits of social responsibility are taken together, it is common to see entire comp[anise changed in the process, as Hewlett-Packard has been able to achieve for example with their many sustainability and Design for Environment (DfE) initiatives (Foote, Gaffney, Evans, 2010). HP has struggled in strategic decision-making yet their greatest accomplishments this century continue to be in their sustainability, DfE and corporate social responsibility programs that include funding for local start-ups throughout the Bay Area to benefit from their expertise and
3. Thomas L. Wheelen & J. David Hunger. 2012. Strategic Management and Business Policy Toward Global Sustainability. Thirteenth edition. Pearson Education