...Hershey Foods has been telling concerned consumers and investors for over a decade that they would work to source their cocoa in a more responsible manner, yet nothing has happened. They have fallen behind competitors who are all making strides in this area. The “Still Time to Raise the Bar: The Real Corporate Social Responsibility Report for the Hershey Company” published in 2011 by Global Exchange, Green America, International Labor Rights Forum details Hershey’s extensive labor and sourcing issues. The four biggest issues are transparency, sourcing, green washing and certification. The report shows that much of the cocoa used by Hershey is from West Africa, an area overrun with forced labor, abusive child labor and over all poor working conditions. Currently Hershey’s doesn’t have a system to guarantee that their cocoa is not coming from these farms. This ties in to their transparency issue. Hershey does not identify their suppliers, making it impossible to ensure that the cocoa is not harvested in appalling conditions. To combat this issue, many organizations are calling on Hershey to adapt to Fair Trade standards set by an independent Third Party group. Finally, Hershey has donated generously to local charities around the company’s headquarters and to programs in West Africa. However, the concerned customers are calling on Hershey to change their whole policies instead of just writing a check to make people believe they a socially responsible company. This “real CSR...
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...Tim O'Brien does a fantastic job of blurring the lines of what is true and what is fiction in The Things They Carried. In fact, he often points out that he has made entire stories up, after the fact. He defends his decisions by proposing that what he has done is, in fact, not lie, but rather tell a story-truth. He argues that his reason for doing this is to bring the story to life more than it could live through the happening-truth. 'I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth' (O'Brien, 183). O'Brien believes that, when accompanied by vivid details which essentially make the reader view the scene as a dream, story-truths can carry greater emotional truths than ever possible to be achieved through actual, happening-truths. With this, he shows, contrary to belief, how story-truths are often truer than happening-truths, and demonstrates this through the addition of often graphic details. Happening-truth encompasses actual events that take place. However true these stories may be, they are often times viewed as unreal simply because they have no details to back them up. The entire shit field scene that was put into this book, for example, was turned from a happening-truth into a story-truth because the original version was not believable. The reader can see this through O'Brien describing the letters that he received from Norman Bowker. Norman writes to Tim, telling him that he should write about the event. 'What...
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...“What I tell you three times is true.” (Lewis Carroll) Might this formula – or a more sophisticated version of it – actually determine what we believe to be true? Repetition is our way of learning knowledge. Repetition is drilling something to memory, reinforcing the idea in our heads. It is the key to reflexive use (use without conscious thought). Your mind “learns” by repetition and reinforcement. Repetition and its effects on what we believe to be true, play a major role in the way that we accumulate general knowledge. The formula implies that repetition is equal to truth, when really repetition is just repetition. Repetition does not make a statement the truth. But a statement, if repeated often enough, can come to be accepted as truth. This leads us to the question whether a lie can be accepted as truth. From the standpoint of logic, the number of times an incorrect fact is repeated is irrelevant. It is still false. But research has shown that a statement, even an incorrect fact, if repeated often enough, can be accepted as truth. This paper will examine several research studies, influencing variables, and examples from everyday life to identify this occurrence. In addition to this, the possible effects of repetition will be discussed as well. One of the simplest ways to show how repetition causes a statement to be accepted as truth is gossip. First, someone tells a friend a statement, which can be true or false. This friend tells another friend, who tells another...
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...Contemporary Sustainability Strategies: How corporate responsibility can lead to financial profit and competitive advantages Executive Summary Sustainable, socially responsible corporate programs and tactics are becoming more widespread in professional practice due to increased regulations, scrutiny from Non Government Organizations (NGOs), and a more vigilant and informed customer base. As a result, many firms often have hesitantly embraced sustainable initiatives, largely due in part to an effort to receive positive public recognition and to avoid still penalties. Background of issues Organizational development strategies are changing during current business climates. Business has become more complex, more demanding, and operating speeds have increased, therefore business decisions must be more accurate, timely, and provide competitive advantages. Also businesses have been charged with the challenge of making decisions that are socially and environmentally friendly, which further complicates resources constraints. Key theories The key theory approached on the article is sustainability, the entire set of principles, concepts, and strategies that ultimately aim to produce a competitive advantage for the firm, while producing environmentally and socially responsible results for the greater community, and all of the firm’s stakeholders. Details Some researchers have indicated that business professionals should abandon the pursuit of financial profits as the sole...
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...Economic, Social, and Environmental Success— and How You Can Too I chose this book because the title drew my attention since the beginning. When I read the title I understood that in this book the Author’s were going to talk about how big corporations deal with sustainability. That for me was really important, as sustainability is such a hard concept to grasp. I believe that the best way to understand about sustainability is with examples and cases that happen in real life. On this book Andrew Savitz and Karl Weber, put all their vast experience and knowledge in sustainable practices and recollect big cases of the corporate world and study them. Some events are about mistakes the corporations did when they failed to understand the Triple bottom Line in their business decisions. Others are great examples of how companies found the “sustainability sweet spot” (a concept of them) and were able to achieve success not only economical, but also social and environmental. The purpose of the authors is to inform and educate the reader about how a company needs to balances social economical and environmental growth on todays world. The books starts with an important introduction, explaining what it is sustainability or at least they try as like I said before is such a hard concept to calculate. Where I believe they nail their explanation is when they start telling us what a sustainable company is and what are the benefits that a sustainable company has. “A sustainable corporation...
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...Ones and Dilchert’s article: the creation of organizational cultures. Here, we will develop the idea of how culture, value creation, and competitive advantage are linked to environmental sustainability. We will briefly illustrate our arguments with findings from our case-study research in the hospitality industry in 13 Iberoamerican countries.1 1. Ours is research in progress, based on qualitative and mixed research methods. It aims to analyze the role of sustainability in the hospitality sector in Iberoamerica: Spain, Portugal, and Latin America (concretely, in Chile, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic). Organizational culture and sustainability Sustainability and Organizational Culture There is a nascent body of literature that aims to understand how companies can embed sustainability in their organizational cultures (Howard-Grenville & Bertels, 2012). For these authors, culture has been conceptualized as shared norms or values (reinforced through the role of leaders and ‘‘champions,’’ the allocation of resources, the use of incentives, and the existence of corporate policies), as a frame or filter (that is, as recursive connections between people’s day-to-day actions and the meanings associated with them), and as a toolkit (made malleable by individual actors who use cultural resources in new ways). Among the myriad of conceptualizations available, Ulrich and Brockbank...
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...environment. CSR has become a strategic imperative for corporations world-wide as the pressure to play a more active role in the social and environmental impacts of their business grows. The most successful CSR programs in the future will be those that integrate their social and environmental goals into their core business function. They will implement many levels of CSR activity, from fundraising and employee donations, to community involvement through volunteering, and environmental improvement of their business processes (TVF, 2004). There are many arenas a company can consider when developing a strategy for corporate social responsibility. The strategy I am putting forth for TruNet Telecom will focus on four areas: environmental, ethics, sustainability, and legal. The following pages will discuss what the company is currently doing to fulfill these areas as well as make recommendations to bolster the current CSR status. A solid CSR strategy can reinforce the trust the customers have in the company, it can strengthen relationships with suppliers, and the company will garner more respect from not only the public, but from their own employees as well. By satisfying these stakeholders, there will be a trickledown effect to the investors of TruNet Telecom....
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...Walmart and Sustainability. That pairing of terms elicits strong reactions, usually falling into roughly three camps: The "oxymoron" camp, who believe Walmart's business model of overdriven underpaid factory workers pumping out cheap goods into thousand-mile supply chains that feed a consumption-based society inherently and unavoidably conflicts with sustainability. The "salvation" camp, who welcome Walmart using its market muscle as a "bully pulpit" to push sustainability advances from the top down -- which arguably produces more change quicker than grassroots, bottom-up sustainability initiatives. And then there's the rest of us, who see truth in both of these two contradictory ideas (with a nod to this maxim from F. Scott Fitzgerald.) I include myself, because I lived in this schizophrenia for almost a year while I wrote Walmart's first sustainability report in 2007, keenly skeptical of the Goliath's conversion to the religion of sustainability, and cautiously hopeful of the promise of grander conversions that Walmart's change of heart heralded. I continue to straddle both sides. Now, two years later, Walmart just unveiled its Sustainable Product Index, which provides fuel for both fires. In a nutshell, the index (which has been in development for over a year) poses 15 questions in four broad categories (energy and climate; material efficiency; natural resources; and people and community) to 100,000 of its suppliers worldwide, with a future goal of translating the data...
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...intention to bring awareness to sustainability. In Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, the issue of agriculture sustainability is presented. True sustainability is not just agriculture; it is all the natural renewable resources available in the world. Humans do not realized the amount of packaged products they consume in a day or the harmful chemicals that we pollute the earth with when we drive or apply them to agriculture. As consumers we look for convenient, cheap, and accessibility to minimize the time needed in order to perform everyday tasks. Until humanity grasps how these every day products are hazardous not only chemically but also on our natural resources; we as a people will continue to consume un-renewable resources. By increasing the concept of a sustainable development, humanity will use fewer nonrenewable resources such as petroleum’s and fossil fuels and rely on renewable resources such as solar energy. Without a defined structure of true sustainability; governments, corporations, businesses, companies and individuals will continue to depreciate the Earth’s natural resources until it is uninhabitable. “All definitions of sustainable development require that we see the world as a system—a system that connects space; and a system that connects time.”(EurActiv, 2004) Sustainability as referenced in Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma is referring to human sustainability. The use of sustainability in this form has yet to receive a true definition. In order to receive...
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...automotive leadership, which is measured by the satisfaction of our customers, employees and essential business partners, such as our dealers, investors, suppliers, unions/councils and the communities in which we operate. We have defined a set of behaviors that are expected of all employees to support the ONE Ford plan. The goal of ONE Ford is to create an exciting and viable company delivering profitable growth for all. We are focused on building: Great Products, a full family of vehicles – small, medium and large; cars, utilities and trucks – with best-in-class quality, fuel efficiency, safety and smart design Strong Business, based on a balanced portfolio of products and global presence; and Better World, accomplished through our sustainability strategy Our aim is to have profitable growth across geographies and product types (see graphics below). As detailed in the Financial Health section, during 2012 Ford continued its turnaround, fueled by disciplined adherence to the ONE Ford plan. Driven by strong results from Ford North America, we reported total Company full-year, pre-tax profit of $8 billion – our third year in a row of $8 billion or more in pre-tax profits.1 Ford was the...
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...Sustainability and System Change Wal-Mart’s Pioneering Strategy Frank Dixon (Published on CSRwire.com, April 18, 2006) On October 24th, 2005, Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart, gave one of the most important business speeches ever. In it, he committed the largest company in the world to making zero waste, using 100% renewable energy and selling sustainable products. The implications are huge. These goals cannot be achieved without broad systemic changes in areas including supply chain, regulatory and consumer awareness. To achieve its goals, Wal-Mart is integrating system change efforts into its sustainability strategy. By doing so, it is pioneering what may be the first sustainability strategy that actually has the potential to achieve sustainability (sustainability relates to ensuring society survives and prospers over the long-term). This article discusses the need to better address systemic issues that essentially compel all firms to negatively impact society. It also describes why sustainability will be the competitive advantage strategy of the 21st century and how Wal-Mart is capitalizing on this opportunity. System-Watch All companies produce negative environmental and social impacts. As companies impact the closed Earth system, pushback from the system is inevitable. This pushback can take the form of activist campaigns. As the largest company in the world, Wal-Mart has high environmental and social impacts. Several activist efforts have arisen in response to...
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...CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY & HENKEL’S APPROACH There is a growing trend for big companies to use sustainable concepts as core business drivers For decades, many companies have typically responded to sustainability challenges by pursuing incremental operational improvements. But we are beginning to see an interesting new trend – businesses using sustainability as a tactic for long-term offense, rather than just short-term defence. Despite the uncertain economic outlook, leading international companies across diverse sectors are investing heavily in sustainable products and services. Others are making cross-industry partnerships to develop next generation products such as the elusive mass market electric car. Some are even enhancing their business models through mergers and acquisitions that seek to address, and capitalise on, sustainability trends. Drivers of Sustainability A number of factors are driving the adoption of corporate sustainability programmes in the global business community: * Regulatory Mandates: Growing regulatory pressures compel companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, industrial effluents, and other environmental hazards. * Operational Cost Efficiencies: Rising raw materials and energy prices incentivize businesses to invest in waste recycling, waste-to-energy, water conservation and related technologies. * Reputational Risks: Increasing scrutiny of corporate conduct induces managers to engage environmental,...
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...stomer loyaltyLAU | School of Business BUS831: Management Theory Sustainability of Customer Loyalty Presented to: Dr. Silva Karkoulian Prepared by: Siham Kibbi Aline Ibrahim Mohammad El Mogharbel Mounir Ghazal Date: 27/11/2013 Paper Outline * Introduction: Four major approaches toward achieving sustainable customer loyalty * Corporate Social Responsibility: CSR plays a significant role in developing customer's loyalty * Customer Relationship Management: Delivering superior customer value has become a major concern targeting the buildup of a sustainable competitive advantage * Product/Services Cost and Price: Pricing strategies are considered to be critical aspects for creating competitive advantage and customer loyalty * Human Resources: Promoting sustainability requirements through HR management * Conclusion: Management, employment, social responsibility, and affordable prices are all keys to give customers a reason to come back Introduction Behind a sustainable business, there are many successful strategies to achieve customer loyalty. Fostering our customers’ decision in keeping a relationship with our company is not an easy job. Thus, attaining sustainability of customer loyalty is a key for a major long- term success of our organizational goals. It is our responsibility to create an attractive yet profitable business which focuses on the ways that not only satisfy but also keep a high satisfaction level...
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...FROM “(R)EVOLUTION” TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: CURRENT FEATURES AND PERSPECTIVES ABSTRACT This article aims to address the issue of Sustainable Development (SD) in an evolutionary perspective within its multidisciplinary scope. The complexity of developments for sustainability has frequently proven difficult in its implementation, evaluation and effective communication.It was our intention to provide an outline of the diverse views on the subject, focusing on globalization as a change of attitude towards sustainability.It is a review of terminology associated with the SD and its multiple interpretations.It is referenced the apparent and irrelevant impact of initiatives to solve the economic, social and environmental problem. It emphasizes the influence and importance of strategies and the positioning of SMEs on the way to SD in the policy of act local think global. KEYWORDS Strategy Sustainable development Sustainability, SMEs JERÓNIMO, WINSTON CENSE, Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research, Departamento de Ciências e Engenharia do Ambiente, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal OLIVEIRA, NUNO GASPAR DE CIGEST, Assistente Instituto Superior de Gestão, Portugal 1. INTRODUCTION “(R)Evolution or Death”, adapted from the revolutionary slogan used and popularized by the Cuban regime, serves as motto for the urgent need to transform our production and consumption systems and our standing towards the environment around us....
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...MDG- Environmental Sustainability Article- Governing for Sustainability Governance in simple terms means “the process of decision making and the process by which decisions are implemented.” As governance pertains to the process of decision making and the process by which decisions are implemented, an analysis of governance focuses on formal and informal mechanisms that are set in place to manage social, political and economic relationships. Governance therefore encompasses complex systems structured as hierarchies with centralized and structured chain of communications with collective decision making. One truism that can be drawn from governance is that it is differs from place to place and system to system. Good governance usually is based on some characteristics like it is consensus oriented, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, allows specialization. It is responsive to the present and future needs of the society. Environmental sustainability involves making decisions and taking actions that are in the interest of protecting the natural world with emphasis on preserving the capability of the environment. Environmental sustainability is not just about reducing the amount of waste or using less energy, but it’s concerned with developing processes that will lead to a sustainable future. Many cities are responsible for polluting the environment in ways that are not sustainable. Environmental sustainability forces people to look beyond short term gains and look...
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