A Business Case for an ISO 14001 Certification Essay Example for Free

A Business Case for an ISO 14001 Certification Essay A Business Case for an ISO 14001 Certification A Final Project Presented to the Faculty of the School of Business In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Science in Business Administration By Abstract of Thesis A Business Case for an ISO 14001 Certification By Problem In response to the raising awareness of damage to the environment, a series of standards for environmental management systems called The ISO 14000 was introduced in 1996. It provides guidelines on the ingredients that an environmental management should necessarily posses and also on the supporting technologies. These standards were not so specific as regards to how it should be done rather it more emphasizes on what should be done. ISO 14000 is an environmental management standards designed to guarantee products and services to cover the minimum environmental impact. The ISO 14000 series takes the international standards system to the field of environmental concerns. ISO 14001 focuses on the development and maintenance of an Environmental Management System, within the ISO 14000 series. The ISO 14000 series is of relatively recent origin, having been instituted in 1991. However, it has emerged as a significant force within a short time. The ISO 14000 series is relevant for the world of business, for governments and regulators, for organizations that work not-for-profit and for entities of all types and sizes, wherever they may be. Its universal nature makes it a unique and dominant system for all people who are concerned with pollution, waste and about the consumption of resources that are limited and which cannot be renewed. ISO 14000 promotes professional conduct. Training people and involving them in key processes lie at the heart of the ISO 14000 system. The rigors of certification serve to develop human resources. It can serve to motivate people at all levels of the hierarchy, and to foster team spirit. The ISO 14000 system is not limited to altruism and to noble intentions. It is worth hard cash. ISO 14001 puts great pressure to bear on achieving productivity improvements that translate to valuable cost savings. Major international corporations enjoy impressive profit growth through the ISO 14000 series. All ISO certifications carry the benefits of independent and international recognition. ISO extension in to the field of environmental concerns through the 14000 series brings desirable pressure on companies that produce hazardous substances and which generate enormous amounts of waste. Customers everywhere have the choice to insist on ISO 14000 certifications. Companies may find themselves excluded from significant market segments if they continue to ignore or to avoid ISO 14000. Some organizations may find themselves out of business if they do not secure ISO 14000 certification. Apple leads a galaxy of the world’s most respected enterprises in using ISO 14001 certification as a cornerstone of competitive strategy. Lithium ion battery technology is an example of innovation that a commitment to environmental conservation can present. Solutions inspired by ISO 14001 can have welcome economic benefits, apart from noble achievements in terms of environmental conservation. Reduction in energy consumption is an outstanding example, since power generation can be both expensive as well as polluting. ISO 14000 calls for abiding commitment on the part of all entities that seek certification. The system consumes major portions of employee time. ISO 14000 becomes a major element of cost, though it does produce handsome returns. The ISO 14000 series follows a highly structured implementation procedure. There is comprehensive documentation widely available that any organization can use to enter the system. Most organizations find it expedient to use consultants to guide them through the process. Independent auditors are inevitable. External auditors must be knowledgeable, experienced and accredited. ISO 14000 has important weaknesses. Loss of proprietary information is the most serious risk. Certified companies may find that their defenses have been compromised in the event of litigation. This arises from the documentation and management reviews that are integral to ISO 14000. ISO 14000 leaves organizations free to choose their own goals, priorities and standards. It therefore lends itself to potential abuse by organizations that may push important social concerns to the background, or to prevaricate about deleterious aspects of environmental degradation. Some organizations may not be able to fund the investments in time and money that ISO 14000 requires. The benefits may therefore evade small enterprises. ISO 14000 documentation needs can also duplicate documentation that other systems and some regulations require. Training and audit infrastructure is inadequate for widespread and global application of ISO 14000. Some organizations, especially in remote regions can find themselves excluded though they may wish to enlist. ISO 14000 confines itself to the environment. It does not consider issues of human wellness. There are many community concerns that ISO 14000 does not address. It is not a guarantee of ethical performance of an organization on all fronts. Business interests may be served best if companies were to use ISO 14000 for internal review, without going in for certification or even registration. It would then be an effective tool of risk management without opening the firm to unwelcome public scrutiny. As stated ISO 14000 can prove to be a significant undertaking that can task the resources of any size organization, if the task is undertaken correctly and managed well the benefits will outweigh the costs in many ways, from financial to organizational image. Method The Historical/Case study method is used in this thesis. The study consists of real life cases gathered from, various sources. These cases are evaluated for relevance as well as content. Cases used will be from varying sizes and types of organizations, public and private as well as local and international. Further research analysis by overview of the statistical research methods, selection of the sample and descriptive statistics is also used in this thesis as a corroborative evidence to substantiate the findings of this thesis. Conclusion This study has shown that ISO 14000 certification can tax the resources of organizations, but in the majority of cases the end result has proven that the benefits of certification exceed the costs. The study of the data presented has demonstrated that, for most organizations, not implementing ISO 14000 can be much more costly than implementation. Recently several universities, including the University of Michigan, suspended contracts with Coca Cola on campuses (Dump Coke at U of M, 2005). While several reasons are given for the suspension of contacts at the campuses including human rights violations, specifically mentioned is â€Å"Environmental Devastation† in India. Perception is key for business in today’s global economy, being able to prove environmental responsibility as stewardship on the organizations behalf can result in the loss or gain of business. Table of Contents Chapter No Headings Page No Chapter 1 IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY AND INTRODUCTION 6 Statement of the Problem 7 Purpose of the Study 10 Scope of the Study 11 Rationale of the Study 12 Definition of Terms 12. Overview of the Study 17 Chapter 2 REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE 2. 1 Introduction 21 2. 2 The Sustainability Imperative for Environmental Management 23 2. 3 Image Incentives for Environmental Management 25 2. 4 The Lines of Business 30 2. 5 Implemental aspects 31 2. 6 ISO 14000 and Global Trends 31 2. 7 ISO 14001 and Profits 34 2. 8 ISO 14001 and Seasonal Business 37 2. 9 ISO 14001 and Building Projects 39 2. 10 ISO 14001 and Equator Principles 40 2. 11 SME Experience with ISO 14001 41 2. 12 Summary of Benefits of Environmental Management Systems 44 2. 13 What is it? 46 2. 14 Environmental Labeling and ISO 14000 50 2. 15 ISO 14001 for International Corporations 53 2. 16 ISO 14001 in Mergers and Acquisitions 58 2. 17 Detailing Product Life Cycles 58 2. 18 Specific Benefits That Business Can Expect From ISO 63 2. 19 ISO 9000 AND ISO 14000 65 Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY Approach 66 Data Gathering Method 67 Data Base of Study 68 Validity of Data 68 Originality and Limitation of Data 69 Summary 70 Chapter 4 DATA ANALYSIS 4. 1 BAXTER INTERNATIONAL INC 71 4. 2 ELI LILLY 72 4. 3 Beyond Compliance by Baxter and Eli Lilly. 74 4. 3. 1 EPA ‘s 33 / 50 program 74. 4. 3. 2 Responsible Care Compliance 75 4. 3. 3 Green Products 75 4. 3. 4 Environment Audits 76 4. 4 An analysis of Environment compliance by Baxter and Lilly. 76 4. 5 Policy Dynamics 76 4. 6 Baxter International Inc and Environment Compliance 77 4. 6. 1 Baxter’s Environment Performance –At a glance. 78 4. 6. 2 Green House Gas Emission 80 4. 63 Reduction in Emissions in Carbon Di Oxide 81 4. 6. 4 Baxter Historical Performance as reported in 1997 81 4. 6. 5 Baxter’s Environment Program through year 2010 81 4. 6. 6 Baxter’s Cost Savings due to Environmental initiatives 82 4. 6. 7 Environment Performance Data of Baxter 83 4. 6. 8 Baxter’s Cost Reduction Data’s 84 4. 6. 9 The Toxic Release Inventory and the 33/50 Program by Baxter and Lilly. 85 4. 7 Baxter and Lilly ISO 14000 -Response 86 4. 8 Blue Scope Steel and ISO 14000 86 4. 9 ISO 14000 Rockwell Automation, Twinsburg –Ohio 87 4. 10 Plasti Color -Ohio 88 4. 11 Xerox Corporation 88 4. 12 IBM 88 4. 13 Carter Holt Harvey Tissue –New Zealand 89 4. 14 3M Corporation 89 4. 15 Case studies of ISO 14001 Companies 91 4. 16 Coca-Cola 95 4. 17 Research Approach Methodological of Sample Collection 98 4. 18 Methods of Resources 98 4. 19 Description of dependent and Independent variables –Table -1 99 4. 20 Table 2- Entity Type 101 4. 21 Table 3 – Categories of NED 102 4. 22 Table 4-Multiple Regression results for test Of H1 through H 4. 103 Chapter 5 SUMMARY , RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSIONS 105 REFERENCES 118 List of Table and Charts Chapter No Headings Page No Chapter 4 4. 6. 1 Baxter’s Environment Performance –At a glance. 78 4. 6. 2 Green House Gas Emission 80 4. 63 Reduction in Emissions in Carbon Di Oxide 81 4. 6. 6 Baxter’s Cost Savings due to Environmental initiatives 82. 4. 6. 7 Environment Performance Data of Baxter 83 4. 6. 8 Baxter’s Cost Reduction Data’s 84 4. 15 Case studies of ISO 14001 Companies 91 4. 19 Description of dependent and Independent variables –Table -1 99 4. 20 Table 2- Entity Type 101 4. 21 Table 3 – Categories of NED 102 4. 22 Table 4-Multiple Regression results for test Of H1 through H 4. 103 A Business Case for an ISO 14001 Certification A Case Study Chapter 1 Importance of the study and Introduction Several industries are trying very hard to change their public image as environmentally â€Å"unfriendly†. The oil industry with its need to seek more sources, often in wilderness areas, chemical companies which have in the past legally dumped toxic waste, the timber industries and the automotive industry which continues to produce large gas guzzling SUV’s and trucks are all very sensitive to public perception. Perception is very powerful and a company does not want to be perceived as harmful to the environment or not environmentally friendly. Frequency of industrial accidents and media publicities such as the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) highlighted the environmental consequences of unfettered industrialization . Respecting the public concerns; the United States Congress has made several laws stipulating environmental standards and technologies for manufacturing companies. Only after Rio Summit in 1992, the policy makers seem to have acceded the fact that the governmental coercion alone will not bring any success and right incentives must be provided to the industries. In recent years, United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched voluntary beyond –compliance programs such as Green Lights, Project XL and 33/50. The ISO 14000 certification system can be used as a tool to not just say that are concerned about the environment, but to show what you have been doing, are doing and will be doing to improve your performance. In doing so you should be able to add to your bottom line, both direct and indirect. As more and more of these companies will seek and obtain the ISO 14000 certification and they require suppliers to do so as well. This study seeks to contribute to the on-going debate within some sections of industry about the economics of ISO 14001. It is known that large corporations invest in registrations, often under duress from social activists. But is there money to be gained by following the system? Can there be purely business reasons for seeking ISO 14001 certification? Can smaller enterprises participate? These are some of the questions that this study seeks to answer. Statement of the Problem The problem; organizations have a need to show environmental stewardship but what is the cost of doing so and how so they justify the cost to management and/or shareholders. Today companies and organizations face many financial challenges and to survive in the global economy they must be fiscally responsible. There is also a need to be considered environmentally responsible and perceived as such. The ISO 14OOO series specifies beyond –compliance management systems . These standards have been sponsored by the International Organization for Standardization, a Geneva -based non governmental organization . ISO 14000 could be viewed as an industrial code of practice that needs to be certified by external auditors. Currently such certification costs about $ 20000 per facility. The cost has acted as a barrier for many financially weak corporations to have the ISO 14000 Certification for their facilities. Recently several universities, including the University of Michigan and New York University, suspended contracts with Coca Cola on campuses (Dump Coke at U of M, 2005). While several reasons are given for the suspension of contacts at the campuses including human rights violations, specifically mentioned is â€Å"Environmental Devastation† in India. Perception is key for business in today’s global economy, being able to prove environmental responsibility and stewardship on the organizations behalf can result in the loss or gain of business. Most companies still have a choice whether to obtain certification or not and the best illustration for this is Baxter International Inc and Eli Lilly , a U. S based multinational Companies , the details are discussed in the Research Analysis chapter in this thesis. However, more and more must obtain certification to maintain their status in the supply chains of other companies. To ensure suppliers are meeting environmental benchmarks, manufacturers such as General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co, DaimlerChrysler, IBM, Xerox, Honda Corporation, Toyota are requiring suppliers to be ISO 14001 certified. Generating environmentally damaging emissions and waste is often an indication of an un-optimized production process, and manufacturers that implement ISO 14001 requirements can realize improvements in efficiency and profitability and retain their positions in OEM supply chains†. (Susan Gilbert-Miller n. d). It is very likely that both public and private demand for environmental responsibility will continue to fuel the shift towards certification as proof of doing so. In the global economy today an ISO 14000 certification could become as important, to show a companys environmental responsibility, as ISO or QS 9000 is to show a commitment to quality. It may become a prerequisite to doing business with some companies and in more industries as it has in the automotive industry. The direct cost of certification can range from a few thousand dollars for a small facility to hundreds of thousands for larger companies and millions for international companies. Presenting the business case for certification will be much easier if the benefits and cost reduction are included as part of the presentation. Purpose of the Study There are a number of excellent consulting services and other resources available at a cost, to help companies through the process of achieving certification. The key is the element of cost. In order to receive funds for consulting services or any other resources, you may have to justify your endeavor financially prior receiving any funding. Even if your company is capable of going through the process without any outside resources there are still direct and indirect costs associated with the process, prior to hiring a certification company to conduct an audit. You will have to buy materials, pull people in full time and part time, audit and update records. Training will be required for employees and management. The purpose is to show that the costs associated with obtaining and maintaining an ISO 14000 certification as part of an Environmental Management System, can be exceeded by the benefits of doing so. The benefits are not just monetary, but also how the company is viewed in the public eye as well, which is increasingly important in today’s global economy. Scope of the Study The majority of the top 100 companies in the United States have already achieved ISO 14000 certification. The same trend exists in the European Union. The research will look at what is driving the movement towards certification. It will also look at what is required to become certified and to maintain that certification. This will be done through case studies of companies that have already achieved certification, how it has affected their companies and in what ways. The main focus being that it makes good business sense, and the justification thereof. The study concentrates on the business and profit reasons for ISO 14000 registrations, with tertiary scans of ethical issues and applicability of not-for-profit organizations. The study includes brief descriptions of all phases of the ISO 14001 process, with outlines of the various sections of the manual that is an integral part of the process. Rationale of the Study While a lot companies have already achieved ISO 14000 certification many more have not. One of the biggest factors in failure to achieve or to get the company to attempt certification, especially in small and medium size companies, is that often the appointed SME (subject matter expert) has little knowledge as to what is required. It is a task that is added to their current â€Å"to do† list and they are not given the proper resources or time to conduct a thorough study as to what needs to be done, the resources it will require and what is most important in some cases, R. O. I. (Return On Investment). This study will help to explain what is required, where to look for information and through case studies show that a positive R. O. I. can be achieved through ISO 14000 certification and the maintenance of the certification. Definition of Terms Climate change: An alteration to measured quantities (e. g. precipitation, temperature, radiation, wind and cloudiness) within the climate system that departs significantly from previous average conditions and is seen to endure, bringing about corresponding changes to ecosystems and socio-economic activity. Associated with greenhouse gas emissions, of which fossil fuel combustion and forest decline are contributors. Code of Federal Regulations: United Stated Code of Regulations, commonly referred to as CFR is a publication established by and Act of Congress. It documents all regulations issued by federal administrative agencies that have â€Å"general applicability and legal effect. † Ecological or Environmental sustainability: This entails maintaining an ecosystem an adjacent ecosystem at the same or higher levels as the ecosystem in question to be able to maintain its productivity, adaptability and capacity for renewal. It requires that forest management respects, and builds on, natural processes. EMAS: Eco-Management and Audit Scheme, In Europe the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) was created and many European countries made implementation of EMAS mandatory for many large manufacturing facilities. EMAS and ISO 14001 are not very different; EMAS has two significant elements more than ISO 14001, namely a baseline environmental assessment and a public environmental performance report. Environmental Aspect: An element of an organizations activities, products or services that can interact with the environment, whether it be in a positive of negative manner. Environmental Impact: Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organizations activities, products or services. Gap Analysis: One of the initial steps in successful implementation of ISO 14000 is gap analysis. The gap analysis looks at a facility’s written programs, policies, and procedures to see how they compare to the requirements of ISO 14000. Once this analysis is complete a guideline will be established to bring them into compliance to prepare for certification Global Warming: The term Global Warming refers to the observation that the atmosphere near the Earths surface is warming, without any implications for the cause or magnitude. This warming is one of many kinds of climate change that the Earth has gone through in the past and will continue to go through in the future. ISO 14000: ISO 14000 is a series of environmental management standards developed and published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for organizations. The ISO 14000 standards provide a guideline or framework for organizations that need to systematize and improve their environmental management efforts. The ISO 14000 standards are not designed to aid the enforcement of environmental laws and do not regulate the environmental activities of organizations. Adherence to these standards is voluntary. The ISO 14001 standard is the most important standard within the ISO 14000 series. ISO 14001 specifies the requirements of an environmental management system (EMS) for small to large organizations. An EMS is a systemic approach to handling environmental issues within an organization. The ISO 14001 standard is based on the Plan-Check-Do-Review-Improve cycle. The Plan cycle deals with the beginning stages of an organization becoming ISO 14001-compliant. The Check cycle deals with checking and correcting errors. The Do cycle is the implementation and operation of the ISO 14001 standard within an organization. The Review cycle is a review of the entire process by the organizations top management. And the Improve cycle is a cycle that never ends as an organization continually finds ways to improve their EMS. The entire process can take several months to several years depending on the size of the organization. If an organization is already ISO 9000-certified, the implementation of ISO 14001 does not take as long. When an organization is compliant, they can either register with a third-party registrar or self-declare their compliance. The ISO 14001 standard is the only ISO 14000 standard that allows an organization to be registered. ISO 9000: ISO 9000 is a series of standards, developed and published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), that define, establish, and maintain an effective quality assurance system for manufacturing and service industries. The ISO 9000 standard is the most widely known and has perhaps had the most impact of the 13,000 standards published by the ISO. It serves many different industries and organizations as a guide to quality products, service, and management. Kyoto Protocol: It is a pact agreed on by governments at a United Nations Conference in Kyoto, Japan 1997 to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by developed countries by 5. 2 percent of 1990 levels during the five-year period 2008-2012. Eighty-four countries have signed the pact and 40 of have ratified it, according to U. N. data. Only one country, which has an emissions target, Romania, has ratified to date. LCA: Life-Cycle Assessment is a systematic approach used to manage the environmental impacts of products and service systems, and it is applied at several levels. It tracks the entire life cycle of a product from inception to disposal and looks for environmental impact throughout and how that can be reduced. Lean Manufacturing: Lean Manufacturing is an operational strategy oriented toward achieving the shortest possible cycle time by eliminating waste. It is derived from the Toyota Production System and its key thrust is to increase the value-added work by eliminating waste and reducing incidental work. The technique often decreases the time between a customer order and shipment, and it is designed to radically improve profitability, customer satisfaction, throughput time, and employee morale (Lean Manufacturing, n. d). Overview of the Study The study will consider the attributes of ISO 14000 as an Environmental Management System. In this paper the main focus will be to define the quantitative as well as qualitative benefits for employing an EMS, in our case ISO 14000. While ISO 14000 will be the primary focus, other EMS systems will also be discussed as alternatives and for relative comparisons. The procedures for and the costs of implementation will also be looked at as part of the study. In the process case studies will be studied and discussed through the use of Internet searches, relevant case studies and publications as well as personal experience and interviews with others in the field. This study will attempt to provide methods for justification of perusing certification. It will also try to give an overview of the process for obtaining certification from the planning stage, through implementation, certification as well as the follow up and continuous improvement required to maintain certification. The Ethical Rationale for Environmental Management Standards Concern for the environment is one of the hallmarks of social concerns during our times. Awareness has been growing since the last quarter of the 20th century. It has snowballed in to a major force. There are signs that countries and people will become increasingly demanding of all organizations with which to deal, in this respect. Though the first world is more influenced by concern for the environment, developing economies are also dragged in to the vortex of global opinion, as electronic media and desire for market access drive even poorer people to conform to conservation standards. Pollution, use of hazardous substances, non-degradable waste and consumption of limited natural resources are the four principal corners of environmental concerns. Pollution of air and water are most perceptible for lay people, but the effects of landfills can be equally devastating. Pesticides and organic solvents lead a series of chemicals with both acute and chronic effects. Mesothelioma is an example of a consequence of exposure to a hazardous substance, the fatal implications of which can surface after decades. Organochlorine pesticides persist in nature almost indefinitely. People at large have become very concerned about such residues and threats that surround them. Women and children are especially vulnerable. The awareness among the public regarding pollution and hazardous material is of high now-a-days. There was protest in India during January, 2006 against the French government’s decision to send a decommissioned battleship and military air craft carrier† Clemenceau â€Å"allegedly containing toxic wastes to a ship-breaking yard at Alang on the Coast of Gujarat ,in India. Green peace activists claimed the ship was loaded with hundreds of tones of toxic wastes, including 500 tones of asbestos alone and it was a violation of international Basel convention on trade of hazardous materials. Greenpeace activists claimed that â€Å"Clemenceau† is French property containing hazardous waste on ship and can not allowed to dump this hazardous waste in India . Yielding to the pressure , the French Government finally recalled its decision to scrap the ship in India . The concept of supply chains has spurred thoughts about life cycle analysis. Exhaustive labeling requirements have made people more generally aware that an innocuous finished product may involve the use of hazardous substances. Processed foods are common examples of convenience products that may contain harmful ingredients and sources of infection and contamination. This matter also leads to consideration of packaging materials that have been traditionally taken for granted. Consumers are now aware that products made from paper can involve the destruction of forest cover, while plastic has acquired a notorious image for its persistence. This applies to tin and other metals as well. Mercury and other heavy metals in batteries and electronic products are also causes of concern. Clean water has been in acute shortage in many parts of the third world for some time now, but even developed economies have begun to worry about large-scale use of this precious resource, Ground water contamination and depletion of the ozone layer are other matters that engage much popular attention. Large corporations that generate profits are prime targets for pressures to develop environmental management standards. Companies, whose operations transcend national boundaries, have to be especially careful of their environmental footprints. However, government, social service organizations and small business may all affect the environment in serious and indelible ways. Hence it is possible that environmental management programs may become increasingly universal with the passage of time. It may be concluded that there is a strong ethical foundation for environmental concerns. All organizations regardless of their size, nature and location, will be subject to pressures to monitor their environmental impacts, and to find ways of reducing or even eliminating all harmful implications of their transactions. The ethical rationale has a firm linkage with business reasons for ISO 14000 certifications, as there are societal trends that it soon become a pre-requisite for continuing to be in business. Chapter 2 Review of Related Literature 2. 1 Introduction Business survival in today’s global economy is difficult at best. Today business’ look for advantage in every possible area and lean manufacturing programs like Six Sigma with its belts levels to parallel karate, Kaizen, 5S and many others have become not just popular but an integral part of maintaining and doing business. How does an Environmental Management System fit into the â€Å"Lean Culture† of business? That is the question that will be studied in this paper through the review of related literature, case studies, interviews, technical periodicals and Internet sources. An overview of lean manufacturing concepts will be given with the focus on integrating an E. M. S. into a companies existing lean program or as part of the implementation of a lean program. While other Environmental Management Systems will be referenced, I. S. O 14000 case studies and statistics will be used in this study. In the United States and the rest of the world I. S. O. 14000 is a recognized standard for Environmental Management Systems, much the same as ISO 9000 is for quality systems. The literature reviewed in this paper was selected for relevance to either a single topic, Lean Manufacturing, I. S. O. 14000 or the integration of the EMS into the lean manufacturing system and will be reviewed in that order. By the process of lean manufacturing, Toyota, the world greatest manufacturer, consistently makes the highest quality cars with the fewest defects of any competing manufacturer by using fewer man-hours, less on-hand inventory and half the floor space of its competitors.

Literature Review of Finance and Share Price

Literature Review of Finance and Share Price LITERATURE REVIEW This study relates to examine the relationship of cash flow from operations, earning and sales with share price and the previous research has predicted the comparative abilities of cash flow, earning and sales but this study is only concerned with the relationship of cash flow, earning and sales with share price. In the finance literature that market forces determine share price equal to the discounted value of a stream of expected future cash flows (Hollister et al., 2002). Cash flows represent amounts investors expect to receive in the form of dividend payments or from the sale of their shares and not necessarily the annual operating cash flows generated by a firm. Consequently, it is in a very broad sense that share price is considered to embody a firms future cash flows. Even if share price is often thought of and evaluated in terms of cash flows, earnings is also known to be extremely important to managers and analysts because of the key information it conveys about future prospects (Brigham and Ehrhardt, 2002). Various researchers examined value in terms of share return that Earnings reflect a stronger correlation with share return than does current operating cash flows (Watts, 1977; Dechow, 1994; Bartov et al, 1997) .It has been shown that earnings better predicts future operating cash flows than does current operating cash flows because accruals in earnings â€Å"offset the negative correlation in cash flow changes to produce earnings changes that are much less negatively serially correlated ( Dechow, et al 1998) that is why earnings, rather than current operating cash flows, tends to be used in firm share valuations. Earnings quality can be affected by sales volatility (Dechow and Dichev (2002) and Francis et al. (2004). By and large the greater the sales volatility, the more unstable is the operating environment. This results in larger estimation errors for accruals and diminished earnings quality. It gives an idea about how monthly sales announcements of major department and discount stores provide information for investors not only for the retail giants but also for their suppliers (Olsen and Dietrich (1985). The sales volume announcements for the retailers furnish information on the future cash flow prospects for their suppliers and, thus, are incorporated into the suppliers share prices. Dharan (1987) examined the comparative abilities of accrual sales and cash collections of sales to predict future cash flows. It is found that when cash realization occurs in a period subsequent to sales realization, cash flow forecasts from earnings based on accrual sales are better than cash flow forecasts from earnings based on cash collections. This is because of accrual sales â€Å"provides information on managements expectations about future cash flows (Dharan, 1987). Greenberg, Johnson, and Ramesh (1986) used 1963-82 compustate data to test the ability of earnings and CFFO to predict future CFFO, for each firm two separate ordinary least squares regression models were used. The first model test used previous earnings against current CFFO (earnings model) the second model used CFFO for lags of 1-5 years against current CFFO (cash flows model).R square for the earnings and cash flows model were compared and the model with the higher R square was determined to be the better predictor. The results showed that earnings outperformed CFFO in predicting future CFFO. It was concluded that the study provides evidence in support of the FASBs assertions that current earnings is a better predictor of future cash flows than is current cash flows. Juan M. Rivara(1996) found out the accuracy and the consensus among forecasters of earnings estimates for U.S. domestic and U.S. multinational corporations, it was observed that the accuracy of earnings forecasts is significantly lower for purely domestic firms than for U.S based multinationals. Like wise the level of consensus in earnings estimates submitted by financial analysts is significantly lower for U.S. domestic than for U.S. multinational firms. The accounting profession requires that firms disaggregate net income into specific components, even though earnings disaggregation is important for assessing firm profitability, there is little empirical evidence that the classification scheme actually improves profitability forecasts by analyzing the accuracy improvements in out-of-sample forecasts of one-year ahead return-on-equity (ROE) to examine the predictive content of earnings disaggregations (Fairfield, Sweeney, Yohn) .The results show that the classification scheme prescribed by the accounting profession does increase the predictive content of reported earnings. It was found forecasting improvements from earnings disaggregation. These improvements go beyond separating extraordinary items and discontinued operations from the other components of earnings. Further disaggregation of earnings (into operating earnings, non-operating earnings and taxes, and special items) improves forecasts of ROE one year ahead. (Ball and Watts (1972), Albrecht, Lookabill McKeown (1977), Watts and Leftwich (1977) and Lev (1983) studied the Earnings ability to predict future earnings studied first or second order autocorrelations and or forecasts over one or two-year horizons and provided evidence to support a random walk model that is uncorrelated earnings changes, However, random walk may not be descriptive of the earnings process Where as Ramesh and Thiagarajan (1989) rejected a random walk earnings model and Lipe and Kormendi (1993) show that higher order, rather than random walk, models are descriptive of market-adjusted earnings time-series process. Finger (1994) found out the earnings ability to predict future earnings and future cash flow from operations1 one through eight years ahead using annual data from1935-87 for 50 firms. I use time-series methods to test firm-specific predictive ability over the entire time period (hereafter in-sample regression tests) and then compare out-of-sample forecast errors to assess earnings ability to improve earnings or cash flow forecasts up to eight years ahead. He found that earnings are a significant predictor of future earnings, in sample, for 88% of the firms. The random walk provides better out-of-sample forecasts than do individually estimated models one year ahead for 52% of the sample firms, Out of sample forecasts show that random walk models outperform individually estimated earnings models for one-year but not for four- or eight-year horizons. Earnings, used alone and with cash flow, are a significant predictor of cash flow for the majority of firms. However, out-of-sample foreca sts show that adding earnings rarely improves cash flow forecasts. Cash flow is a better short-term predictor of cash flow than are earnings, both in and out of sample, and the two are approximately equivalent long-term. The nature of the information contained in the accrual and cash flow components of earnings and the extent to which this information is reflected in stock prices Sloan (1996). It is found that earning performance attributable to the accrual component of earnings exhibits lower persistence than earnings performance attributable to the cash flow component of earnings, hence results also indicated that stock prices act as if investors fixate on earnings, failing to distinguish fully between the different properties of the accrual and cash flow components of earnings. Lorek Willinger (1996) the time series properties and predictive abilities of cash flow data. Results indicate that this model clearly outperforms firm-specific and common-structure ARIMA models as well as a multivariate, cross-sectional regression model popularized in the literature. These findings are robust across alternative cash-flow metrics (e.g., levels, per-share, and deflated by total assets) and are consistent with the viewpoint espoused by the FASB that cash-flow prediction is enhanced by consideration of earnings and accrual accounting data. Bowen, Burgstahler Daley (1986) examined relationships between signals provided by accrual earnings and various measures of cash flow, Findings indicate that Correlations between traditional cash flow measures and alternative CF measures that incorporate more extensive adjustments are low, 2nd the correlations between alternative measures of CF and earnings are, while the correlations between traditional measures of CF and earnings are high. These first two results are consistent with earnings and alternative measures of CF that incorporate more extensive adjustments conveying different signals. Finally, for four out of five cash flow variables, the results are consistent with the hypothesis that random walk models predict CF as well as (and often better than) models based on other flow variables. An exception to this general result is that net income plus depreciation and amortization and working capital from operations appear to be the best predictors of cash flow from operations. Overall there results are not consistent with the FASBs statements that earnings numbers provide better forecasts of future cash flows than do cash flow numbers. Earlier additional information content of cash flows relies primarily on cross- sectional regression models relating both earnings and cash flows to security return metrics that assumes a uniform relation between earnings (cash flow from operations) and security returns across observations. Ali (1994) however, conditions the incremental information content of unexpected earnings and cash flows from operations on their magnitude with respect to price. It is found that changes in earnings (cash flows from operations) are not expected to persist and thus have reduced implications for returns. Cheng, Liu Schaefer (1996) investigated the Earnings Permanence and the Incremental Information Content of Cash Flows from Operations, findings suggest that the incremental information content of accounting earnings decreases, and the incremental information content of cash flows from operations increases, with a decrease in the permanence of earnings. Barth, Cram Nelson investigated the role of accruals in predicting future cash flows and findings proved that disaggregating earnings into cash flow and the major components of accruals significantly enhances earnings predictive ability, findings also showed relation between cash flow next year and current cash flow and each component of accruals is significant and has a sign consistent with prediction. One of two researchers has re examined the association between earnings forecast error and earnings predictability because there is evidence suggesting that deliberate earnings forecast optimism is not an effective mechanism for gaining access to managers information ( Eames et al. 2002; Matsumoto 2002) ,For earnings level to be an important control variable in examinations of the association between forecast error and earnings predictability, there must be associations between earnings level and both forecast error and earnings predictability. Numerous studies report an inverse relation between forecast error and the level of reported earnings ( Brown 2001; Eames et al. 2002; Eames and Glover 2002; Hwang et al. 1996). The association reflects both earnings shocks due to unanticipated events and earnings management. Dechow Dichev suggested a new measure of one aspect of the quality of working capital accruals and earnings, they illustrated the usefulness of analysis in two ways. First, they examined the relation between measure of accrual quality and firm characteristics. The nature of the accrual process suggests that the magnitude of estimation errors will be systematically related to business fundamentals like the length of the operating cycle and variability of operations. It was found that accrual quality is negatively related to the absolute magnitude of accruals, the length of the operating cycle, loss incidence, and the standard deviation of sales, cash flows, accruals, and earnings, and positively related to firm size. Results suggest that these observable firm characteristics can be used as instruments for accrual quality. This is important because the regression based estimation of accrual quality demands long time series of data and the availability of subsequent cash flows, which m akes it costly or infeasible for certain practical applications (e.g quality-of-accruals-based trading strategies). Second they illustrated the usefulness of analysis by exploring the relation between measure of accrual quality and earnings persistence. Firms with low accrual quality have more accruals that are unrelated to cash flow realizations, and so have more noise and less persistence in their earnings. Indeed, they find a strong positive relation between accrual quality and earnings persistence. Although the measure of accrual quality is theoretically and empirically related to the absolute magnitude of accruals, and Sloan (1996) documents that the level of accruals is less persistent than cash flows. Probing further, they found out that accrual quality and level of accruals are incremental to each other in explaining earnings persistence, with accrual quality the more powerful determinant. There are two widely held views regarding managements motivations to managing earnings and each has quite different implications for the predictive usefulness of the resultant numbers .One view is that earnings management is motivated by mangers attempt to sustain the overvaluation of the firms stock price and to enhance managers personal welfare by disguising the true underlying economic performance of the firm (opportunistic perspective). An alternative view is that managers manage earnings to reveal private value-relevant information about the future prospects of a firm (informational perspective). They shown that originally reported (managed) earnings of firms classified as managing earnings for opportunistic reasons are less predictive of future cash flows relative to the restated (unmanaged) numbers. Conversely, they find that originally reported (managed) earnings of firms classified as managing earnings for informational reasons exhibit greater predictive ability with respect to future cash flows relative to restated (unmanaged) numbers. (Badertscher , Collins and lys 2007). Theoretical and empirical work in accounting and finance has documented the importance of firm size when testing the information in security prices with respect to future earnings (Collins et al., 1987) and interested in assessing the information in security prices with respect to the predictive ability of earnings, their finding that price-based-earnings forecasts outperform time-series forecasts by a greater margin for larger firms than smaller firms is of direct interest here. Their result implies that firm-size may help to explain inter-firm differences in the predictive ability of quarterly earnings data and helps to motivate the consideration of firm-size as an independent variable in the current study. Foster et al (1984) report that firm-size independently explains a substantial portion of the variation in post announcement drifts in security returns due to potentially misspecified quarterly earnings expectation models. The magnitude of abnormal returns associated with good or bad news earnings signals is inversely related to firm-size Freeman (1987), speculates that these findings might simply be due to differential time-series properties of the earnings numbers of large and small firms-an uncontrolled factor in his research design-and calls for future research to examine the possibility. Bathke , Lorek Willinger ( 1989) found out differences in the auto regressive parameters of the Foster and Brown and Rozeff ARIMA models across firm-size strata . One-step-ahead quarterly earnings forecasts were generated by a set of best fitting time-series models. Their Tests also indicated that large and medium size firms generated one-step ahead forecasts that were significantly more accurate than smaller firms at the .05 level and they obtained similar predictive findings on the significance of the size-effect in a supplementary analysis of the non seasonal and volatile growth and inconsistent strata membership firms. ChengDana examined the persistence of cash flow components in predicting future cash and the findings were that the cash flow components from various operating activities persist differentially. They found out that the cash related to sales, cost of goods sold, operating expenses and interest persists a great deal into future cash flows; cash related to other has lower persistence; and cash related to taxes has no persistence and then they incorporated accrual components into persistence regression model and found that the persistence of cash flow components are generally higher than those of accruals; however, accrual components do enhance model performance, their findings are consistent with the AICPAs and financial analysts rationale for their recommendation that the financial effects of a companys core and non-core cash flows should be distinguished. Reference Ashiq Ali â€Å" Incremental information content of earnings , working capital from operations and cash flow † Journal of Accounting research†( spring 1994): 61-74 Robert M. Bowen, David Burgstahler, Lane A. Daley â€Å"Evidence on the Relationships between Earnings and Various Measures of Cash Flow † The Accounting Review, Vol. 61, No. 4 (Oct., 1986), pp. 713-725 Richard G. Sloan â€Å"Do Stock Prices Fully Reflect Information in Accruals and Cash Flows about Future Earnings† The Accounting Review, Vol. 71, No. 3 (Jul., 1996), pp. 289-315. Kenneth S. Lorek and G. Lee Willinger â€Å"A Multivariate Time-Series Prediction Model for Cash-Flow Data† The Accounting Review, Vol. 71, No. 1 (Jan., 1996), pp. 81-102 Catherine A. Finger â€Å"The Ability of Earnings to Predict Future Earnings and Cash Flow† Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 32, No. 2 (Autumn, 1994), pp. 210-22 C. S. Agnes Cheng, Chao-Shin Liu, Thomas F. Schaefer â€Å"Earnings Permanence and the Incremental Information Content of Cash Flows from operations† Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 34, No. 1 ( Spring, 1996), pp. 173-181. Olsen, C. and J. Dietrich, Vertical Information Transfers: The Association Between Retailers Sales Announcements and Suppliers Security Returns, Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 144-166, 1985. Juan M. Rivera (1996) â€Å" Prediction Performance of Earnings Forecasts: The Case of U.S. Multinationals.†Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 22, No. 2 (2nd Qtr. 1991), pp. 265-288. Patricia M. Fairfield Richard J. Sweeney Teri Lombardi Yohn â€Å"Accounting classification and predictive content of earning† The Accounting Review, Vol. 71, No. 3 (Jul., 1996), pp. 337-355. BALL, R R.WATTS â€Å"Some Time Series Properties of Accounting Income† Journal of Finance (June 1972): 663-82 Mary E. Barth, Donald P. Cram, Karen K. Nelson â€Å"Accruals and the Prediction of Future Cash Flows †The Accounting Review, Vol. 76, No. 1 (Jan., 2001), pp. 27-58 Michael J. Eames and Steven M. Glover â€Å"Earnings Predictability and the Direction of Analysts Earnings Forecast Errors †Accounting Review, Vol. 78, No. 3 (Jul., 2003), pp. 707-724. Patricia M. Dechow and Ilia D. Dichev â€Å"The Quality of Accruals and Earnings: The Role of Accrual Estimation Errors †The Accounting Review, Vol. 77, Supplement: Quality of Earnings Conference (2002), pp. 35-59. Patricia M. Dechow and Ilia D. Dichev â€Å"The Quality of Accruals and Earnings: The Role of Accrual Estimation Errors †The Accounting Review, Vol. 77, Supplement: Quality of Earnings Conference (2002), pp. 35-59. Brad Badertscher , Daniel W. Collins Thomas Z. Lys â€Å"Earnings Management and the Predictive Ability of Accruals with Respect to Future Cash Flows † Journal of finance, (2007) , PP 01-52. Allen W. Bathke, Jr., Kenneth S. Lorek, G. Lee Willinger â€Å"Firm-Size and the Predictive Ability of Quarterly Earnings Data † The Accounting Review, Vol. 64, No. 1 (Jan., 1989), pp. 49-68 C. S. Agnes Cheng Dana Hollie (1996) â€Å"The Persistence of Cash Flow Components into Future Cash Flows† Journal of finance, pp 1-32.

Chelsea Green Publishing Company: An Overview :: Essays Papers

Chelsea Green Publishing Company: An Overview Book publishing enjoys a certain social prestige—it can be both moderately profitable and extremely rewarding in psychological benefits. The odds that a publishing entrepreneur will succeed at this business seem to be related to the degree of care and thought given to planning and the sometimes-tricky balancing act of effective management. Sustainability is a balance of economy and ecology. That is, how we satisfy human needs and still preserve what we have in nature. Examples of this are the forest industry and energy. We must find ways to harvest a forest without destroying the forest. Similarly, we must find practical alternatives to energy sources, such as solar and wind power, so that we don't harm the atmosphere and deplete natural resources. The following is an account of Chelsea Green Publishing Company, a small publishing business that has successfully found its niche, while at the same time has made (and continues to make) the world a bit more sustainable. In 1985, Ian Baldwin and his wife Margo founded Chelsea Green Publishing Company in their house located near Chelsea, Vermont's green. It was in the middle of the Reagan era—not an especially favorable time to start a publishing company that even remotely highlighted environmental issues. In fact, the books that the Baldwins published then didn't really have a unifying theme, they were simply "nice" books that were well written, finely edited and beautifully produced. Earlier in his life, Ian spent five years as an editor at Holt, Rinehart, Winston before leaving to join the Institute for World Policy, a non-profit organization with a mission to organize intellectuals from around the world in a quest for world peace. He later worked as a consultant for the Environmental Defense Fund on a project to convince Pacific Gas and Electric Company that through conservation, co-generation, and the use of renewable resources, the utility could avoid building new nuclear or coal power plants. In 1984 the Baldwins' neighbor, gardening writer Eliot Coleman, shared with them a story that Helen Nearing had given him years earlier. The author of the fictional piece was Jean Giono, and the title was The Man Who Planted Hope and Grew Happiness, which first appeared in Vogue in 1954. It was a tale of a shepherd who singlehandedly reforested thousands of acres in war-ravaged Europe.

Soft Corals :: Ecology Great Barrier Reef Essays

Soft Corals Organisms of the order Alcyonacea, more commonly referred to as soft corals, are fascinating and poorly-understood animals. Although they are Cnidarians, and thus among the simplest of all animals, they have developed remarkable ways of thriving in the Great Barrier Reef and all over the world. They possess symbiotic relationships, special toxins, and several different methods of reproduction, each helping to ensure the survival of the various soft coral species. The purpose of this paper is to investigate physiological and ecological aspects of soft corals, especially the purposes and benefits behind their many reproductive strategies. Taxonomy: What is a soft coral? Soft corals are members of the phylum Cnidaria, meaning they have stinging cells, a gastrovascular cavity, and are radially symmetrical. They belong to the class Anthozoa, which also includes hard corals, sea fans, and anemones. Soft corals, sea fans, and sea pens are sometimes referred to as octocorals, as they have eight tentacles on each polyp. All soft corals belong to the order Alcyonacea, which is composed of several families (Order Alcyonacea 1995-2005.) The most common families on the Great Barrier Reef are Alcyoniidae, Nephtheidae, and Xeniidae. Corals in the family Alcyoniidae are often large and fleshy with medium-sized polyps, but can have many different forms. Xeniid corals have large polyps, usually in pale colors, and some of them pulsate. Corals that belong to Nephtheidae have small polyps, and are often branched and tree-like. Less common families on the Great Barrier Reef include Nidaliidae and Astrospiculariidae (Fabricius and De’ath 2002. ) Life Cycle Soft corals begin their lives as small, featureless free-swimming larvae called planulae (Alderslade and Fabricius 2002.) Planulae generally drift in a planktonic state for several days before finding an acceptable substrate. This allows soft corals to spread throughout large reefs like the GBR (Bastidas et al. 2001,) and also lets them colonize reefs around the world if the planulae are picked up by large ocean currents. The main element that qualifies a substrate as acceptable for a soft coral is the amount of light it receives, although water temperature and the strength of the current are also important factors. Soft Corals :: Ecology Great Barrier Reef Essays Soft Corals Organisms of the order Alcyonacea, more commonly referred to as soft corals, are fascinating and poorly-understood animals. Although they are Cnidarians, and thus among the simplest of all animals, they have developed remarkable ways of thriving in the Great Barrier Reef and all over the world. They possess symbiotic relationships, special toxins, and several different methods of reproduction, each helping to ensure the survival of the various soft coral species. The purpose of this paper is to investigate physiological and ecological aspects of soft corals, especially the purposes and benefits behind their many reproductive strategies. Taxonomy: What is a soft coral? Soft corals are members of the phylum Cnidaria, meaning they have stinging cells, a gastrovascular cavity, and are radially symmetrical. They belong to the class Anthozoa, which also includes hard corals, sea fans, and anemones. Soft corals, sea fans, and sea pens are sometimes referred to as octocorals, as they have eight tentacles on each polyp. All soft corals belong to the order Alcyonacea, which is composed of several families (Order Alcyonacea 1995-2005.) The most common families on the Great Barrier Reef are Alcyoniidae, Nephtheidae, and Xeniidae. Corals in the family Alcyoniidae are often large and fleshy with medium-sized polyps, but can have many different forms. Xeniid corals have large polyps, usually in pale colors, and some of them pulsate. Corals that belong to Nephtheidae have small polyps, and are often branched and tree-like. Less common families on the Great Barrier Reef include Nidaliidae and Astrospiculariidae (Fabricius and De’ath 2002. ) Life Cycle Soft corals begin their lives as small, featureless free-swimming larvae called planulae (Alderslade and Fabricius 2002.) Planulae generally drift in a planktonic state for several days before finding an acceptable substrate. This allows soft corals to spread throughout large reefs like the GBR (Bastidas et al. 2001,) and also lets them colonize reefs around the world if the planulae are picked up by large ocean currents. The main element that qualifies a substrate as acceptable for a soft coral is the amount of light it receives, although water temperature and the strength of the current are also important factors.

Strategic Management Essay -- Business Analysis Management

Every firm competing in an industry has a competitive strategy. Strategy is the direction and scope of an organization over the long-term: which achieves advantage for the organization through its structure of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfill stakeholder expectations. In other words, strategy is about the direction in which the business is trying to move in the long term. A strategy should help in finding the potential markets in which the business competes and its corresponding activities. It should help in analyzing the resources needed to compete, example : skills, assets, finance, technical know-how etc. Strategies should help in Analyzing the external environmental factors that affects the ability of the business to compete. Finally it should help in analyzing the values and expectations of the stakeholders who have the power in and out of the business. The organization's strategy must be formulated in such a way that it has a unique distinctiveness which is clearly specified. This distinctiveness must place the organization in the potential market with a strong base . The strategy developed will be successful when it fits into the company's activities and they should balance each other and they should supply the right benefits to the firm and its customers. The ultimate concept is to position the firm in a way that will ensure its survival in the long term among the competitive environment. The various elements of strategies are strategic planning, strategic thinking and strategic management. Strategic planning is a management tool. It serves one of the main purpose as a management tool i.e., to help an organiz... ...al and the dynamic approaches are equally important. The organizations will prove to be more successful when they apply both these strategic approaches. The organization should know where it is heading to and must also be quick enough to grab the new opportunities and welcoming changes in the competitive market to gain a competitive advantage. BIBLIOGRAPHY : Strategic Management - An Integrated Approach Charles W. L. Hill / Gareth R. Jones (Third and Sixth Edition ) Strategic Management - Issues and Cases Paul Dobson, Kenneth Starkey and John Richards Competitive Strategy - Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors Michael E . Porter WEBSITES : 1. www.findarticles.com 2. www.pim.com 3. www.tutor2u.net 4. www.whatcar.com 5. www.strategyclub.com Strategic Management Essay -- Business Analysis Management Every firm competing in an industry has a competitive strategy. Strategy is the direction and scope of an organization over the long-term: which achieves advantage for the organization through its structure of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfill stakeholder expectations. In other words, strategy is about the direction in which the business is trying to move in the long term. A strategy should help in finding the potential markets in which the business competes and its corresponding activities. It should help in analyzing the resources needed to compete, example : skills, assets, finance, technical know-how etc. Strategies should help in Analyzing the external environmental factors that affects the ability of the business to compete. Finally it should help in analyzing the values and expectations of the stakeholders who have the power in and out of the business. The organization's strategy must be formulated in such a way that it has a unique distinctiveness which is clearly specified. This distinctiveness must place the organization in the potential market with a strong base . The strategy developed will be successful when it fits into the company's activities and they should balance each other and they should supply the right benefits to the firm and its customers. The ultimate concept is to position the firm in a way that will ensure its survival in the long term among the competitive environment. The various elements of strategies are strategic planning, strategic thinking and strategic management. Strategic planning is a management tool. It serves one of the main purpose as a management tool i.e., to help an organiz... ...al and the dynamic approaches are equally important. The organizations will prove to be more successful when they apply both these strategic approaches. The organization should know where it is heading to and must also be quick enough to grab the new opportunities and welcoming changes in the competitive market to gain a competitive advantage. BIBLIOGRAPHY : Strategic Management - An Integrated Approach Charles W. L. Hill / Gareth R. Jones (Third and Sixth Edition ) Strategic Management - Issues and Cases Paul Dobson, Kenneth Starkey and John Richards Competitive Strategy - Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors Michael E . Porter WEBSITES : 1. www.findarticles.com 2. www.pim.com 3. www.tutor2u.net 4. www.whatcar.com 5. www.strategyclub.com

What Are The Kinds Of Water Pollution Environmental Sciences Essay

Water is one of the chief beginnings in the Earth. It is a really of import resource for people and the environment. Our blood consists of H2O and we can non populate without H2O. We need H2O in our life daily because it is a line of life. We chose this study about the H2O pollution because the H2O is really of import component we need to populate, but human, mills and ships play an of import function in H2O pollution. Clean H2O is increasing devastation because people do non care what throw in the H2O and the Earth is traveling to acquire destroyed. If destroyed clean H2O, life will be much worse on the land and the lone 1s who can forestall this from go oning and for us. Definition: Water pollution can be defined in many ways. Normally, it means we have built one or more substances in the H2O up to the extent that they cause jobs for the animate being or human being. This stuff is chemical, physical and biological alteration in the quality of H2O has an inauspicious impact on our lives. Was detected by H2O taint in the research lab, where they are analyzed little samples of H2O for assorted contaminations. It can besides populating beings such as fish that is used to observe H2O pollution. Changes in behaviour or growing show us that the H2O in which they live contaminated. Labs besides use the computing machine so find if the H2O has no drosss Classs: Point Beginnings of Water Pollution: The beginnings of H2O pollution and discharges include municipal H2O intervention works, drainage and industrial installations. Can the municipal intervention works point beginnings of pollution, sewage contribute to the signifier of oxygen-depleting substances and stuffs nutrient caused wellness hazards in the countries of imbibing H2O and swimming. Some illustrations of the non-point H2O pollution are exchange agricultural and exchange urban countries from excavation, and building locations.. Non Point Source Water Pollution: In contrast to the pollution from a beginning other than the specific industrial workss and sewerage intervention, ( NPS ) pollution comes from many beginnings is widespread. And do taint of atomic power beginnings by rainfall or thaw snow, and during the motion on the land. While the overflow moves, it picks up contaminations and carries off natural and semisynthetic, and eventually deposited in lakes, rivers, wetlands and coastal Waterss and groundwater. 40 % of all lakes and watercourses of H2O contaminated with a really used for fishing or swimming in the United States. Oil and unsafe toxins and pathogen taint of waterways and imbibing H2O, and can kill worlds, animate beings and workss. Non point beginning pollution is the taking staying cause of H2O quality jobs. The effects of nonpoint beginning pollutants on specific Waterss vary and may non ever be to the full assessed. However, we know that these pollutants have harmful effects on imbibing H2O supplies, diversion, piscaries and wildlife. Groundwater pollution: The groundwater pollution is the 1 of the H2O pollution and its importance parts to explicate it because groundwater is the importance beginning for the people in most universes and I will desiccation the beginning for pollution of groundwater. One of these possible beginnings of groundwater pollution: Natural: The pollution of natural substances by taint grounds such as the presence of gustatory sensation and odor in the H2O Wellss, the presence of musca volitanss in the H2O and find of unacceptable consequence in the degrees of substances found in H2O. Besides this causes the natural dirt or stone status. To prevention this job by if possible, avoid countries where there are jobs in groundwater, usage of treated H2O and Change to public H2O supply, if executable. Agribusiness: Pollution of groundwater by chemical spills, fertilisers and pesticides.So I will explicate the fertilisers, Contamination Evidence by High nitrate degree in good H2O trials this it causes over fertilisation and Ill- timed application. To Prevention by fertiliser usage in times that needed by the works and clip when hive awaying carnal manure to ease the airing of the Earth. Industrial: Such as building digging this show by Spills and alteration in colour, gustatory sensation and odor or the presence of drosss in H2O Wellss near. This job causes: Fuel and chemical spills, inordinate dust and chemicals are falsely. To Prevention by follow the cleansing processs and utilize fuel and risky stuffs harmonizing to the recommended actions. Residential: Such as infected systems this Contamination Evidence is appearance waste above surface land and sensing presence bacteria addition of. This Causes failing in the installing or care and disposal of family chemicals such as pigment waste. For trade this job by proper installing tools for the exchange of wellness, cheque and clean tools every 2 to 4 per twelvemonth and non dispose of chemicals in wellness systems. Causes of H2O pollution: Oil spills Oceans are polluted by oil on a day-to-day footing from oil spills, everyday transportation, run-offs and dumping. Oil waste can foul the ocean. They are coming from leaking storage armored combat vehicles and grapevine leaks, and the Wellss. Oil spilled from ships and oilers includes the transit fuel used by the vass themselves or their ladings, such as rough oil, fuel oil, or heating oil. It is estimated that about 706 million gallons of waste oil enter the ocean every twelvemonth. Drilling and production operations and spills or leaks from ships or oilers typically contribute less than 8 per centum of the sum. The balance comes from everyday care of ships ( about 20 per centum ) , and natural ooze from the seafloor ( over 8 per centum ) . Marine Dumping Many mills are dumping of waste into coastal Waterss such as plastics and other stuffs. These wastes take a long clip to degrade and they are really harmful to marine life. The disposal of wastes into H2O by worlds was practiced universally because it was a inexpensive and convenient manner to free society of nutrient wastes ( e.g. , cleaned carcases, shells, etc. ) , rubbish, excavation wastes, and human wastes ( or sewerage ) . This Industrial Age brought with it the new job of chemical wastes and byproducts: these were besides normally disposed of in the H2O. By the early 1970ss, marine dumping began to be viewed as a serious environmental issue. Industrial waste Industry is a immense beginning of H2O pollution, it produces pollutants that are highly harmful to people and the environment. Many industrial installations use fresh water to transport away waste from the mills and into rivers, lakes and oceans. There are 370,000 mills use large saddle horse of fresh water to transport off many types of waste. The waste H2O is put into watercourses, lakes, or oceans. Besides, the hot H2O from mills will increasing H2O temperatures and do thermic pollution. The addition of temperature change the sum of O dissolved in the H2O. That will kill some works and carnal species and others species will overgrowth. Pesticide A pesticide is any substance or mixture of substance intended for preventing, destructing, driving or extenuating any plague. Pesticides are a serious unsafe to wildlife and marine life. At high doses they non merely kill insects and other invertebrates, but birds and mammals every bit good. Many pesticides are soluble in H2O.The higher the solubility of the pesticide, the higher the hazard. High degrees of rainfall increases the hazard of pesticides polluting H2O. Pesticides that get applied to farm Fieldss and waysides and place run away into local watercourses and rivers or run out down into groundwater, polluting the fresh H2O that fish swim in and the H2O we worlds drink. In the Midwestern United States, a part that is extremely dependent on groundwater, H2O public-service corporations spend $ 400 million each twelvemonth to handle H2O for merely one chemical-the pesticide Atrazine. Global Heating An addition in H2O temperature can ensue in the decease of many aquatic beings and interrupt many marine home grounds. For illustration, a rise in H2O temperatures causes deceasing of coral of reefs around the universe. This can ensue in great harm to coral reefs and later, all the marine life that depends on it. Temperature alterations in coastal and Marine ecosystems will act upon being metamorphosis and alter ecological procedures such as productiveness and species interactions. Speciess are adapted to specific scopes of environmental temperature. As temperatures change, species ‘ geographic distributions will spread out, species that are get downing to migrate or vie with other species for resources.Species that are unable to migrate or vie with other species for resources may confront local or planetary extinction. Measurement of H2O pollution: For the analysis of H2O and measured in several ways such as taking sampling, physical, chemical and biological. I will be explicating this ways of measuring of H2O pollution. Physical testing Trials physical Joint H2O includes heat, focal point solids and turbidness. So will explained turbidness. Turbidity is sum of particulate affair that is suspended in H2O. Turbidity measures impact dispersing that suspended solids on visible radiation: badness light big scattered, rose turbidness. Materials which grounds H2O to be Turbid include: clay silt divided finely publish organic and inorganic runing vehicles organic colored plankton objects microscopic Chemical testing Can be found on samples of H2O utilizing the rules of analytical chemical science. Published several trial methods are available for organic compounds and inorganic alike. Often used methods include pH, biochemical O demand, chemical O demand, foods ( nitrate and phosphorus compounds ) and metals ( including Cu, Zn ) , pesticides. Biological testing Be proving ways to utilize workss and animate beings and indexs for supervising the wellness of H2O and microbic environment. Consequence of H2O pollution: 1-Effects of Oil Pollution and Antifreeze Oil is the most unsafe H2O pollutants as oil spilled into the H2O cause in the formation of gluey bed on the surface which lead to the issue of an unpleasant order and this causes the violent death of the beings that depend on this beginning of imbibing H2O. 2-Contaminated Ground Water Effects Groundwater the chief beginning of imbibing H2O on the Earth, and the taint of this H2O is a major menace to human life is cause human exposure to disease may hold serious cause such as disease and decease in the liver and kidney jobs, malignant neoplastic disease and other diseases. 3-Effects of Agricultural Water Pollution The usage of fertilisers and chemicals is defined by husbandmans to better and develop farms and agricultural Fieldss to assist workss turn, but there is a danger of the stuff in that it leaked into the dirt and when rain Aogerian H2O above the surface of this rich dirt these chemicals it is washed to the cloacas and rivers and lakes, which leads to the accretion of contaminated deposits in these Waterss. 4-Fertilizers and other chemicals Melting compound of nitrates in the H2O and metal Cd found in fertilisers used for harvests to the outgrowth of diseases in worlds such as being diarrhoea and diseases of the liver and kidneys. And inorganic stuffs such as quicksilver, lead stuffs, lead to jobs related to gustatory sensation and odor and alter the colour of the H2O. The pesticides and PCBs toxic substances used in pesticides that are found in places, agribusiness, are besides found in merchandises such as wood preservatives. 5-Effects of Thermal Water Pollution This happen because they wash the machine of the factors in the H2O of lakes and rivers. This machine really hot so its heated the H2O, and this is job is that H2O reduces the ability of the system on the continuance of O and raises the growing of warm-water species. 6-Effects of Heavy Metal Water Pollution Heavy metals such as quicksilver and lead found in H2O beginnings. Solutions: As we saw antecedently there are many effects of H2O pollution, and to cut down this effects or seeking to forestall this jobs we must happen some solutions such as: Water pollution control in the place, utilizing stuffs from non-toxic cleansing merchandises are free from toxic substances and to forbear and to cut down to the extent possible the usage of pesticides in the place and gardens. Always dispose of pigments, motor oils and toxic chemicals in ways that a healthy and safe. 3- Always protect and clean groundwater as the chief beginning for imbibing and irrigation systems and forestall the reaching of a chemical. 4- Raise consciousness of the extent of H2O pollution measure and demand that the Government promote more sustainable agriculture techniques. Decision: Water is really of import component we need to populate and it is portion of our lives. Oil spills, industrial waste, pesticide and planetary heating are cause H2O pollution. These will destruct the H2O we drink and will destruct our lives. To forestall H2O pollution we should supply rigorous punishments for people or mills who try to foul the H2O. To reason, we should maintain our environment clean to populate safe without any pollution by do n't utilize more pesticides and do n't throw the trash on the H2O such as the industry trash.

The Definition of Family in the Constitution

Article 41 of the Constitution recognises the Family â€Å"as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society†, and as a â€Å"moral institution possessing certain inalienable and imprescriptible rights† which are â€Å"antecedent and superior to all positive law†. The State guarantees to protect the Family in its constitution and authority â€Å"as the necessary basis of social order and as indispensable to the welfare of the Nation and the State†[1]. Article 41 of Bunreacht na hEireann contains the main provisions relating to the family. It is generally considered that Articles 41 and 42 were heavily influenced by Roman Catholic teaching. They were clearly drafted with one family in mind, namely the family based on marriage. †[2]. Since 1937 when the constitution was drafted there has been major social changes such as, changing attitudes to sexual behaviour, contraceptive use, social acceptance of pre marital relations, cohabitation and single parenthood, social acceptance of divorce, just to name a few. These social changes which would not have readily existed in 1937 have not been adapted to in the Constitution in Article 41/42 concerning the †family†. Simply put the definition of family in the constitution is old fashioned. I am of the opinion that an amendment to â€Å"The Family†- namely Article 41 is required. I base my argument on 3 main reasons 1) More types of family should be recognised, not just that of a marital family. 2) The definition of family should be changed to include expressed rights of a child incorporated into Article 41 and the rights of a child not just fall under that of †the family† 3) The wording of the rights of the family to change to allow for more state intervention. Though the â€Å"family† is not defined in the constitution the Supreme Court held that the family is based on marriage – State(Nicolaou) v An Bord Uchtala[3] : Walsh J – â€Å"the family referred to on [Article 41. 3. 1] is the family which founded on the institution of marriage, on which the family is founded on the institution of marriage and, in the context of the Article, marriage means valid marriage under the laws for the time being in force in the state†. Article 41. 3. [4] states â€Å"The State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of marriage, on which the family is founded, and to protect against attack† . From this definition it appears that a non-marital family would not be protected by the State against attack. In my opinion this provision should be amended to conform to the social change that I have previously mentioned as a family in current times is no longer just a marital family. â€Å" The law must, as far p ossible mirror contemporary civilization and as that changes so must the law. If the law becomes too rigid and inflexible, then there is always the danger that it will conflict with the needs of the people, with all the unfortunate consequences to which conflict may arise†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. during the dynamic periods of History †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. for it becomes essential for the legal system to adjust itself to the novel conditions of social life†[5] As a general rule most rights and obligations flowing from family law legislation are confined to families based on marriage. There are few contexts where non marital relationships are recognised such as domestic violence[6] and wrongful death[7]. The European Court of Human Rights have taken broader approach then Ireland and has been deemed to protect inter alia the family life of non-marital parents and their children. â€Å"It is likely that the failure to recognise the rights, and indeed the duties, of the members of non-marital families may constitute a breach of Art. 8 of the European Convention of Human rights, which requires that the State respect the family life of all persons†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. iven that the convention is now part of domestic law it is only a matter of time before Irish Law is found to be in breach†[8] The European Court of Human Rights(ECHR) broader approach to the definition of a †family† can be seen in Mouta v Portugal[9]. In this case the ECHR recognised a homosexual man and his child as a family which wouldn't be recognised under the Irish Constitution. Da Silva was previously married and had a daughter in this relationship and divorced 3 years later. .The applicant (Da Silva) sought an order giving him parental responsibility for the child. The Lisbon Family Affairs Court awarded Da Silva parental responsibility. His ex-wife appealed against the Family Affairs Court's judgment to the Lisbon Court of Appeal, which reversed the lower court's judgment and awarding parental responsibility to the ex-wife, with contact to the applicant. It was held by the ECHR that the judgment of the Court of Appeal, in so far as it set aside the judgment of the lower court, constituted an interference with the father's right to respect for family life and attracted the application of Art 8 of the Convention. Were this case to appear in an Irish Court De Souza would not have been awarded custody due to the the rigidness of the courts to move from strictly interpreting †family† in the constitution . Secondly I will explore how 1)Article 41 acts as a shield against state intervention against matters concerning †the family† and also 2)why I think †the child† should be given expressed rights in the constitution contained in the definition of family. In my opinion I think that Article 41 acts as a shield against state intervention. I think â€Å"a shield† is an effective way of describing the Article as a shield protects against attack but does not block all danger/damage, just like Article 41protects the †family† but does not provide complete immunity. This article emphasises the rights of the family as a whole while not exploring individual rights such as the rights of the child. I think the words †inalienable and imprescriptible†/rights superior to positive law† are too strong as it gives the State limited opportunity to intervene with matters concerning †the family†. When can the state intervene?. Murphy J gave his view on this question â€Å"where conduct of parents are such to constitute a virtual abdication of their responsibility or alternatively, the disastrous consequences of a particular parental decision are so immediate and inevitable as to demand intervention and perhaps call into question either the basic competence or devotion of the parents† A State intervention must be proportionate -breach of Article 41 must have justifiable circumstances. As I previously mentioned Article 41 does not provide complete protection. This can be seen in People v T[10] where a father had been convicted of sexual offenses against his daughter. Casey made the point that while Article 41 â€Å"established that the family as a unit had it's own special rights, other provisions make it clear that each member of that unit had his/her own constitutionally-guaranteed personal rights†¦.. It follows from this that the common law rule can have no application in cases where one member of a family is alleged to have committed an offense against another†[11]. I have already given my opinion that i think the words ‘inalienable and imprescriptible† and †above positive law† are too strong and limit the courts powers in intervening. One case where I think this is prevalent is is N v Health Service Executives[12] aka †the baby Ann case†. At the time of A's birth in July 2004 the applicants were unmarried and they decided to place A for adoption. The applicants married in Northern Ireland in January 2006, strengthening their legal position as they now formed a family under the constitution. The High Court held that the child was in the lawful custody of Mr and Mrs D(the Adoptive parents) and that, accordingly, a conditional order for the inquiry under art 40 had to be discharged. The decision of the High Court was based on his conclusion that the applicants had failed in their duty towards their daughter and abandoned her and that there were compelling reasons why the child should not be returned to their custody. The decision was overturned by the Supreme Court. I feel that the decision by the Supreme Court was inappropriate, it did not take into account the welfare of the child, Article 41 restricted the courts ability to award custody of the child to the adoptive parents, as the maternal parents and Baby Ann has formed a †family† under the constitution. If the State had more powers to intervene and supersede Article 41 then the custody would probably have been given to the adoptive parents (which would have been the right decision from my point of view). John Walters gave his view on the Supreme Courts decision â€Å"its hands tied by outmoded provisions of the Constitution, was prevented from doing the â€Å"decent† thing: leaving baby Ann with her prospective adoptive parents†[13]. Judge Catherine McGuiness, closing remarks in the case were interesting. She voiced criticism regarding the rights of the child in the constitution and also how she was reluctant to come to the decision to support the maternal parents claims. â€Å" It would be disingenuous not to admit that I am one of the ‘quarters' who have voiced criticism of the position of the child in the Constitution. I did so publicly in the report on the Kilkenny Incest Inquiry in 1993. The present case must, however, be decided under the Constitution and the law as it now stands. With the reluctance and some regret I would allow this appeal. †[14]. I think that the argument to give the child expressed rights under the constitution is intertwined with giving the State more scope on intervening in family cases. As it stands children's rights are thought as secondary to the parents and this can be see in Crowley. [15] I think that there should be a change from the paternalistic approach, whereby the adults know best. Were there to be an express provision outlining the right of the child there would gave been an alternative decision in the PKU test case[16]. The court acknowledged the right of the parents to refuse a both standard and important test for a new born child while ignoring the best interests of the child. The Council of Europe Recommendation 1289 (1996) point 8(i) on a European Strategy for children advised that there should be guarantees that children's rights should be explicitly incorporated into constitutional text. [17] To summarise I think Article 41 concerning the definition of family should be changed. It is outdated basing a family on marriage as in current times there are more then just marriage based families, there are a variety of situations which the normal person would regard as a ‘family'. The Constitutional Review Group stated that there is a â€Å"multiplicity of differing units which may be capable of being considered family†. [18] I think there should be an exhaustive list including the instances above where a member of the public would regard the situation as being a family. Alternatively you could leave the definition of family open and state that â€Å"family† is not confined to that of just a family based on marriage. This would leave the judiciary to determine a family on a case by case basis which is similar to the ECHR approach. This would result in a large amount of uncertainty. I would favor the first option even though it would arise it's own problems such as would being forced to become a legal family under the constitution infringe on personal rights? And also how would you determine the length of time a family is together to qualify as co-habitant?. Either way I think the implied definition of family needs to be changed. To highlight the constant increase of different types of families and the need for reform, I have taken statistics from the last 3 census' of the number of units formed by cohabiting couples (which are one †family I think should be recognised) and formed a table, this furthermore indicates the need to incorporate the change in society into the constitution.