Definitions and Causes of Intellectual Disabilities

Definitions and Causes of Intellectual Disabilities Task 1 1.1 Give 2 definitions of intellectual disability in accordance with a recognized source. Definition 1: â€Å"Intellectual disability means a significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information and to learn and apply new skills (impaired intelligence). This results in a reduced ability to cope independently (impaired social functioning), and begins before adulthood, with a lasting effect on development.† (World Health Organization, 2014) Definition 2: â€Å"Intellectual disability is a disability characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behaviour as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills. This disability originates before the age of 18.† (American Association on Intellectual and Development Disabilities, 2008) 1.2 Using a definition of intellectual disability give 2 examples of how this impacts on the person’s adaptive skills: Conceptual skills such as reading time, counting money, reading and writing, expressing something are affected. Practical skills such as mobility, meal preparation, using telephone or mobile and daily living skills such as eating and dressing up are also impaired. Using a definition of intellectual disability give 2 explanations of how this impacts on the person’s cognitive ability: An intellectually disabled person has problems in thinking and reasoning things to make sense of them and utilize that information or advise in the daily living. Such as person also has problems in interpreting the tone in the voices speaking to them and communicating properly with other people. Task 2 2.1 Give 2 examples of causes of intellectual disability that occur before birth and describe two (2) main characteristics of the effects. E.g.1 Genetic Disorder Chromosome abnormality or disorder in the genes can lead to intellectual disability before birth. (American Association on Intellectual and Development Disabilities, 2008) Main Characteristics: One of the examples of Intellectual Disabilities due to genetic disorder is Downs Syndrome. Downs Syndrome occurs due to abnormality in chromosome 21 whereby there is an additional Chromosome 21. It can occur in any family of any race, religion or culture. Babies or children with Downs Syndrome depict small chin, almond shaped eyes and a around face as physical characteristics. Such children will also have a oversized tongue and much shorter limbs. Another type of disability caused by genetic disorder is Prada Willi Syndrome. With Prada Willi Syndrome, there is abnormality in chromosome 15. There is a minute gene deletion in the chromosome 15. The reason for this deletion is remains unknown. People with such disability tend to suffer from food craving and weight gain mainly. E.g. 2 Brain development Caused by environmental factors such as consumption of alcohol by the mother during pregnancy, drugs, infection, other environmental toxins and unknown factors. Brain or portion of it is damaged due to exposure to such elements. (American Association on Intellectual and Development Disabilities, 2008) Main Characteristics: An example of such is Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, caused by exposure to alcohol intake during pregnancy by the mothers. There is interference by alcohol in the delivery of food (nutrition) and oxygen to the brain, which affects the brain development and the connection of brain to the other organs of the body. These children have shorter than average height, have small head and small eyes with low birth weight and have flat face too. Exposure to environmental toxins such as methyl in the air (whereby methyl molecules replace hydrogen in the air) leads to Fragile X Syndrome. Children with Fragile X-Syndrome would have been affected by DNA rearrangements and this is more common in males. These children or males generally tend to have large testicles. 2.2 Give 2 examples of causes of intellectual disability that occur during or immediately following birth and describe 2 main characteristics f the effects. E.g. 1 Low Birth Weight Children with low birth weight can also be impaired and classed under intellectual disability. Source: (Centre for Disease Control, 2013) Main Characteristics: The child with low birth weight of basically below 2.5kg but especially below 1.5kg have great risks and chances of having cerebral palsy. It is not really a c cause rather a risk factor. Such a child has problems in balancing her/himself due to cognitive impairment. Children with low birth weight can also develop or be affected by epilepsy (World Health Organization, 2012). Perinatal injury factors such as low birth weight leads to brain damage. These people tend to have involuntary episodes of seizure, which can be several at times. E.g. 2 Trauma Brain injuries or trauma can also lead to many intellectual disabilities. This can vary in degree yet leave a huge impact. Traumas at times can be prevented but there are certain times it can not be. Source: Auckland Goldstar Institute (2014), Powerpoint slides 23-27) Main Characteristics: One of it is epilepsy. The brain damage due trauma can lead to epilepsy. People with epilepsy have involuntary movements of the body. This could be referred to as episodes of seizures. Such children/clients may be devoid of awareness of their environment and can also be unconscious for sometime. Another of the intellectual disabilities caused by trauma is cerebral palsy. The brain injury during birth affects a persons’ ability to move and coordinate. Such clients have problems with bladder or bowel movements. It is difficult to control these. 2.3 Give 2 examples of causes of intellectual disability that occur during childhood years and describe the impact of the day-to-day support needs of the person. E.g. 1 Infections Infections such as Meningitis can lead to epilepsy. Meningitis affects the brain directly and can be taken as a cause of epilepsy. (Source: Auckland Goldstar Institute (2014), Powerpoint slide 23) Impact: The client will have convulsions now and again. This is due to the brain damage from meningitis infection. There could be partial seizures, which would be eventuating from a small part of the brain being affected. E.g. 2 Exposure to Environmental Factors We are exposed to many factors or toxins in the environment on daily basis. Some of these factors can lead to Autism. (Source: Auckland Goldstar Institute(2014), Powerpoint slide 33) Impact: Have difficulty in speaking, can be repetitive with words or have flat tone of voice. Hence, they experience hardships in communicating with many people. They find it hard to socialize with large groups of people. This can lead to these clients feelings isolated and as they are unable to develop or make friends. Task 3 Describe conditions frequently associated with intellectual disability. Condition 1: Epilepsy Cause: Epilepsy, another of those common intellectual disabilities has been related to many causes. While some times it is unknown, the known factors are: genetics serious head injuries or severe head trauma hypoxia or lack of oxygen during birth infections such as encephalitis and meningitis Main Characteristic 1: Such clients can experience convulsions or seizures. Seizures may be partial. This happens due to injuries to the brain whereby the part of the brain controlling body movements is affected. Main Characteristic 2: The person/client may also lose awareness of presence in a place and happenings around it. This also happens due to brain effects resulting from any of the causes. Physical Support: Need help in ensuring correct administration of medications, monitoring of that these medications are taken, tending to any effects or side effects. Safety of such clients is paramount as these clients have seizures and involuntary body movements. Thus, these clients as well as the family (or whanau) need to be educated on what it is and the management (this includes ensuring safety, taking care of other needs, medication intake, taking appropriate steps when a person has seizures) a of epilepsy. A safe environment that is free of and hazards is also needed. The airways of any person having seizures should always be kept open. Social support: Clients need encouragement and positive response to help them maintain their dignity during and after seizures. These clients also need motivation and support to help them get into studies and be educated. Since epileptic clients can get socially shy and may not mix around with others, they need constant support and encouragement to help them be in contact and maintain communication with her/his friends and co-workers. Cognitive support: Epileptic clients can end up losing a lot of learning hours and opportunities due to seizures. They thus experience difficulties in learning. This can and often leads to needing additional teaching support in terms of using devices such as visual aids, diary for appointments, calendars, memory aids and even a 1 to 1 teacher support. These support modes will be really helpful to them. Condition 2: Spinal bifida Cause(s): Spinal bifida, which is a before birth is a condition whereby a person has incomplete brain, spinal cord and/or meninges development. The type and location of the malformation denotes the severity of the condition as to where it is mild or severe. While the cause is generally unknown, it can be possibly related to genetics, folic acid deficiency in diet and also environmental factors. Main Characteristic 1: People with spinal bifida can experience bladder or bowel control loss. They have lack of control on them urinating or defecating, on the amount and when they do it. Main Characteristic 2: Feeling of muscle weakness or paralysis below the region where the incomplete closure (cleft) or malformation has occurred. Thus, as a result they can also feel loss of sensation in the region below the affected area. Physical support: A person with spinal bifida needs assistance with mobility. Walkers or wheelchairs will be required for such people as they have affected lower limbs or are paralytic. Additional support from occupational therapists or physiotherapists may be required together with additional environmental adaptation. Medical or surgical interventions can be required for such clients. Social support: Accessibility to community based activities and appropriate transportation support is required for such people. Education and work opportunities support also need so that they receive similar treatment as other people and so that these people can also advance in life. As they may feel shy because of their condition, they will need activities of sports or recreation so that it can espouse them to make friends and socialize with other people. Cognitive support: Hydrocephalous (build up of fluid in the brain) can interfere in learning process. Even surgical interventions can lead to missing school whereby learning is disrupted. Hence, additional support in the forms of having home based learning with tutors and supplementary efforts from teachers in school become mandatory. Condition 3: Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Cause: the prime cause of this condition is alcohol exposure to the foetus while in the utero. The leads to brain damage and problems with growth. The delivery of oxygen and necessary nutrition is disrupted by alcohol and this affects tissue and organ development including the brain. Main characteristic 1: Some of the physical characteristics of the such people are low birth weight, small head and small eyes. This can be basically happening due to lack of nutrition to the foetus. Main characteristic 2: Language and speech delays are also experienced by these people as brain functions and development had been affected by lack of oxygen. Physical Support: Health care staff support in forms of physiotherapists and speech therapists will be required to assist such people. These staff will help to overcome the difficulties of language, pronunciation and speech. Social support: As these people have problems with their speech and language they could hesitate in interacting and socializing with other people. Trainings for social skills, interaction and communication with family, friends and others could be very helpful. The clients could improve in confidence and interact with them more. Boosting of confidence and encouraging independency related activities could also provide the necessary support. Cognitive support: Supportive educational activities could be organized with these clients to enable them overcome their speech problems and learning. Language problems can also be addressed through this support. Special education teachers and speech therapists could play vital roles in addressing the needs of such clients. References: American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (2008), Frequently Asked Questions on Intellectual Disability and the AAIDD Definition, AAIDD Information, American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, pg. 1 Auckland Goldstar Institute (2014), Intellectual Disability, Powerpoint Slides4-36 Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (2013), Celebral Palsy, Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, National Centre on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. Retrieved from www.cdc.gov CCS Disability Action (2013), Spinal Bifida, Types of Disabilities. Retrieved from http://www.ccsdisabilityaction.org.nz Prader Willi Association of New Zealand (2014), What is Prader Willi Syndrom? Retrieved from www.everybody.co.nz World Health Organization (2012), Epilepsy, Fact Sheet No999, Geneva. Retrieved from www.who.int World Helath Organisation (2014), Mental Health, World Health Organization, Geneva. Retrieved from www.euro.who.int

Sustainability Asset Management (SAM)

Sustainability Asset Management (SAM) Introduction The concept of Sustainability currently is been paid more and more attention. The idea of Triple Bottom Line (TBL) which Economic, Social and Environment or Profit, People and Planet (PPP) are concerned not only from societies or non-government organization (NGO) but also from all stakeholders; shareholders, investors, employees, customers, etc.. As there are many studies on corporate sustainability, corporate social responsibility which many of them shown positive outcome or positive relation between corporate sustainability and corporates performances or outcomes in either in monetary or non-monetary term or both (Groot Churet, 2009; Peters Mullen, 2009; Samy, Odemilin, Bampton, 2010). Monitoring system has been developed to make business more sustainable by supporting corporation to measure, indicate, monitor and report their operation or sustainability activities and performance for their performance improvement overtime. A characteristic of monitoring system should be accurate, balance in performance accounting, comparable, easy to understand and match to firms activities plan (GRI, 2010) which also mean monitoring system should able to assess sustainability performance respect to the legislation, norm, code, and standard with accountability, be able to continuous developed according to the expectations, be able to interpret and understand the positive and negative impact to the firms, comparability over companies, over time that can support organization to make decision for organization strategy, implementation plan, outcome and continuous improvement (GRI, 2010). One of the most well-known monitoring systems is Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) which will expl ore further detail in this report. This report will briefly introduce the history and the development of sustainability accounting and reporting following by the overview concept of SAM Sustainability Asset Management, Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as monitoring systems. Then review and analyze a selected company, Nestle as a leader multinational food Producer Company in which their vision and mission are concerning not only on economic but also environment and social as their hope to be a part to shape the world for more sustainable (Nestle, 2010). Furthermore its relevant sustainability dimensions will be identified and described on the boundary implemented in its operation, including the indicator measured and results reported to the publics, its limitation, challenges and how will it use those indicators for company performance improvement. Literature review history and development One of the literatures of sustainability accounting and reporting development reviewed from Burritt and Schaltegger (2010) which aim to classify paths and the future of sustainability accounting and reporting assessment mentioned that there are two main developing tracks. The first one is a viewpoint of a critical theory which seen sustainability accounting development as a cause and source from corporate sustainability problems which may not reach the purpose of firms sustainability information disclosure and can be seen as a fashionable which may fade out after sometime. While another path looks sustainability reporting as a tool for management to support and make different decisions and actions according to those information. In the critical path sustainability accounting development, the Bruntland Report, World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), was published in 1987 and seemed to pull attention from the public for the global need of sustainable development but because insufficient understanding of sustainability this corporate sustainability report was not well defined and been abandoned (Burritt Schaltegger, 2010). Even the sustainability accounting process and reports was not clear though some companies still use sustainability reports caused by the pressure from both internal stakeholder managers and external stakeholder publics, media, societies to gained competitive advantage as reputation, market opportunities and to perceived from others perception on sustainability (Bebbington et al. as cited in Burritt Schaltegger, 2010). Another sustainability accounting development, managerial path, by comparing the financial accounting, the management reports were designed to meet the need of firms managers for decision making, planning and controlling while financial statements e.g. balance sheet, financial performance reports were designed for external stakeholders in which the first sustainability reports tried to linked with these accounting reports by integrating economic, social and environment aspect to support management decision and other stakeholder decision. Burritt and Schaltegger (2010) proposed three approaches for sustainability accounting which are inside-out, outside-in and twin-track. For the first approach inside-out, it is an approach for a company to define its business strategy, implementation plan and make decision from sustainability performance measurement and reporting that trying to contribute to social and environment together with economic to strengthen their market position, gain competitive advantage from good reputation or value added to customers and even in monetary term from new technologies concerning with triple bottom line or innovated process that reduced waste, energy saving, emission reduction which decrease operational expenses and increase profit for the firm. Secondly, the approach of outside-in is an approach from external organization such as Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) that supply guideline for a company for sustainability reporting and can be used as a driven forces for management consideration of how can the firm contribute to sustainable development and meet expectation from stakeholders. In which GRI is one of the best well-known sustainability reporting guideline (Brown et al. as cited in Burritt Schaltegger, 2010). Also, the way to measure, indicate, monitoring and reporting had taken into account as the study on the market reaction to the first-time release of corporate sustainability reports (Guidry Patten, 2010) in which they examined from US firms report according to Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) found that even there were no significant market reactions from the corporates sustainability released announcement but the it is positive significant to the quality of the reports in which the more market reaction to the highest quality report than lower quality report. Those evidences could implicate that people (investors in this study) are more concern in the detail or quality of the sustainability not only to have or simply mention corporate social responsibility in the annual report (Erusalimsky et al. cited in Guidry Patten, 2010). Monitoring System: SAM Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes and Global Report Initiative One example of monitoring system that has been develop as the important of corporate sustainability and increased interested from organizations stakeholders consist of societies, media, customers, employees, NGO, investors etc. reviewed earlier, an asset management company in Switzerland, SAM; Sustainable Asset Management, specializing in corporate sustainability investments has founded in 1995 and turn to be one of the worlds leading investment groups, looking for and identify the leading companies base on sustainability criteria using one of the largest sustainability corporation database by cooperated with Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) in analyze companies all over the world in yearly basis (SAM, 2009). In 2009, from 2,500 largest companies according to Dow Jones Wilshire Global index had been analyzed and only 15% 367 companies in 57 different sectors were qualified which classified in three different level; SAM Gold Class scored more than 75%, Silver Class scored 70-75% and Bronze Class scored 65-70%. The scores were measured across all three perspectives economic, social and environment. As mentioned the SAM collaboration with DJSI. DJSI is one of the biggest and longest datable that has been launch in 1999 provided reference point for corporate sustainability assessment by measuring and indexed base on economic, environment and social criteria of the firms. The assessment processes are conducted annually by SAM using different weighted criteria in general and specific-industrial to assess companies according to firms opportunities and risk from their sustainability trends. The assessment are the response from the companies based on SAM questionnaire including companies document and from others third-party. This assessment report then will assure by Deloitte defining rules. The dimension, criteria and weighting are shown as diagram below: Source: Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, 2010 Another example of monitoring system is GRI Global Reporting Initiative which has developed in 1997 from the idea to disclosure sustainability information framework by CRES, non-profit organization in Boston, the pioneer of environmental reporting framework since early 1990s. The first GRI version of sustainability report guidelines, G1 guideline, had released in 2000 following by the G2 Guideline in 2002 and the recent version of GRI, G3 Guideline launched in 2006 (GRI, 2010). The GRI Guideline aim support an organization to what it has to report and how to report. The overview concept can be explained by the figure: Source: Global Reporting Initiative: G3 Framework and Executive Summary (GRI, 2010). In how to report, the GRIs Principle Guidance and Protocols are provided to ensure that the report is focused to both internal and external stakeholders value. In the principle and guidance part the processes are first, to define the report content relating to core component, stakeholder comprehensiveness, sustainability perspective and completeness. Secondly, make sure the report quality by concerning with accuracy, balance, comparable, easy to understand, timely and reliable of the report. Third, set the report boundary by determine the organization unit, function or process to be include in the report. Another part on what to report Standard Disclosure, Sector Supplements and National Annexes are provided and using three different measurements which are: Profile to express strategic approach and governance, Second, Management Approach to explain the sustainability goals and management used and Third, Performance Indicators which accountable on economic, environment and social performance. Company Description: Nestlà © was established in 1867, Switzerland by Henri Nestlà © (Koese, 2008). The meaning of Nestlà © is little nest (Nestlà ©, n.d.). The first product of Nestlà © was FarineLactee Nestlà © for children who mother cannot feed them with the breast. The current product line including chocolates, soups, instant coffee, cornflakes, frozen foods, seasoning and mineral water as well as they expanded their products to pet foods, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics (Sefcik, n.d.). Nestlà © accomplished with the innovative and business acquisitions to become the world largest Food Company in term of sales which has factories in 83 countries globally. The vision of Nestlà © is known as the leading in Nutrition, Health, and Happiness company (Nestlà ©, 2010; Mali, Ali, Rana, Ilyas Khan, n.d.). According to Nestlà © (2010) stated that Our mission  of Good Food, Good Life  is to provide consumers with the best tasting, most nutritious choices in a wide range of food and beverage categories and eating occasions, from morning to night. With it vision and mission, Nestlà © focuses on 5 areas namely the consumers, human rights and labour operations, human resources, supplier and customers, and environment (The Nestlà © Corporate Business Principles, 2010) using 10 principles on its business operations consist of: Consumers Nutrition, health, and wellness is the first principle that company needs to increase the quality of consumers daily life by adding more tastier and healthier to their products. Quality assurance and product safety provides the safe and high quality to consumers. Consumer communication, the company provide responsible to consumers to reach consumers need such as infant foods. Human rights and labour operations Human rights in our business activities is the fourth principle which emphasizing providing and supporting good real situation of human right and labour performances via business activities. Human resources Fifth principle is leadership and personal responsibility by respecting and reputing to all staff as well as motivating and providing opportunities to develop themselves in management and leadership. Safety and health at work is the sixth principle of business operations that concern with obviating the hazard, harm, and sickness from work. Suppliers and customers The seventh principle is suppliers and customers relations by expressing the reliability and equality to contractors and clients. Agriculture and rural development, the company provides the advancement in the production, community, and financial to farmers and rural people as well as create environmentally friendly in term of sustainability. Environment Ninth is environmental sustainability. The company takes the sustainability in environmentally friendly into action through business activities as well as product life cycle by using the resources efficiently. The last principle is water due to the company create the sustainable of water as well as development in water systems by managing as the confining resources. Sustainability dimensions most relevant to Nestlà © Nestlà © is responsible for creating the corporate achievement in long term in term of creating shared value. (Nestlà ©, 2009) The company follows the highest standard of business activities and environmental sustainability which concerns in various areas of sustainability such as socio-cultural, economic, and environmental. Refer to the companys objective is known as the leader in Nutrition, Health, and Wellness; it relates with the sustainable in triple bottom lines such as financial, social, and environment issues (Nestlà © Oceania, 2009). Nestlà © believes their business activities in term of sustainability can create environmentally friendly for future. (Nestlà ©, 2009) Regarding to sustainable development to Nestlà ©, it can define as the expansion that reach the need in the present by using the fully ability to satisfy individuals need of next generation. Description: CSV Conversely, the company makes business profit in long term by going beyond cooperation and sustainable to create value for investors and society. In addition, Nestlà © emphasizes on the global environmental issues such as nutrition, water, and rural development as well as these issues can create strong business strategy and competitive advantage to increase the shareholder value and attain the socials requirement (Nestlà ©, 2009). The dimensions relevant to Nestle are categorized as: Socio-cultural dimensions First of all, nutrition is one of the relevance of Nestlà ©s sustainability due to the company focuses on helping people and society healthy (Nestlà ©, 2009). The company creates the nutrition aim to improve health and provide more choice to consumers as well as adding up quality of life. In addition, the company also focuses on the lowest impact with environmental problems. Moreover, the company needs to provide knowledge and understanding in the consumers. The company tries to develop and improve their products with high quality of foods to support low-income consumer as well as pursuing with World Health Organizations regulation. Furthermore, Nestlà © renovates products by providing the nutrition labelling and descriptions on the packaging as well as develop nutritional knowledge and training in infant formula marketing employees (Nestlà ©, 2009). Nestlà © has several aspects that make corporate sustainability. For instance, the research and development is one of factor that concern for the social sustainability. The RD needs to have well planning to drive the company achievement in the consumers needs. The company also provides diversify of products to improve branded active benefits for health benefits to customers. However, there are some problems that Nestlà © faces such as the increasing rate of obesity in the developing countries (Nestlà ©, 2009). Second, rural development is one of aspects that Nestlà © concerns due to the company works directly with the farmers. Most of them live in the rural areas and work as agriculturists. Nestlà © creates sustainable by supporting them to have better standard of living, increasing in productivity, and protecting the environment. The company also has the high quality of raw material to support the consumers and make more profit because they reduce the intermediaries. Nestlà © supports social sustainability by providing the knowledge, loans, rural employment, and training as well as technical assistance to rural people. The company also manages the relationship with suppliers to save the distribution costs and obtain high quality of raw materials. Moreover, the company can create shared value via supplier development by providing training and knowledge as well as reach high standard of the company (Nestlà ©, 2009). Last are human resources that focus on the sustainability and stability in work life as well as the employees satisfaction. Nestlà © aims to invest for professional training and development in quality of staff as well as provide the job opportunities and environmental in the workplace. The company also needs to create the respect and parity at all level within the company (Nestlà ©, 2009). Health and safety is one of the important factors that can create the sustainability in organization such as the zero accident during work. Employees need to work in the secure and comfortable place which can create more productivity. The relationship within employee is emphasizing on the human rights, culture and equity which can connect to the sustainable in corporation. Moreover, Nestlà © concerns in the gender balance in term of multicultural diversity within the company. Training and learning are necessary to create business success by staffs need to understand their job and use effectively skills as well as the company provides the management training and leadership development to their employees. In addition, Nestlà © creates in employee engagement and workplace wellness to build corporate sustainable (Nestlà ©, 2009). Environmental dimensions Nestlà © concerns in water and environmental sustainability which improve production process and environmental performance as well as they produce goods with lowest environmental effect. The company launches the environmental sustainability programs to reduce use in water and natural resources as well as develop the packaging to maintain environmentally friendly. Moreover, company promotes more sustainable in supply chain management in water. Nestlà © is continuing to improve the environmental performance such as water resources and reduce the energy consumption as well as renovate energy sources (Nestlà ©, 2009). Nestlà © has environmental management to improve the sustainable development in order to business activities. The company is also responsible for engaging stakeholders performance and capture leadership role. The company also creates the environmental sustainability in product life cycle by focusing on the environmental impacts such as production process, conveyances, a nd consumption. Water is the natural resources that an essential for Nestlà © due to the company uses water for agriculture. (Nestlà ©, 2009) Therefore the company manages the water resource as main factors of creating shared value. Another factor is climate change, Nestlà © concerns for the greenhouse gas emanation by improving energy, and converting to cleaner fuels as well as renewal of energy. Moreover, transport and distribution, the company works on the environmental impact to reduce the environmental issues. The company also reduces the waste and recovery of by-products and increases the reprocess of by-products as well. In addition, Nestlà © emphasizes on the packaging due to it is necessary for food safety by providing the nutritional information to consumers. Hence, the company focuses on the innovative of packaging that makes from natural resources such as plastics as well as motivates consumers to reuse plastic bottle (Nestlà ©, 2009). Economical dimensions Nestlà © provides the economic sustainability through the principles and policies which concerns in management approach. (Nestlà ©, 2009) Nestlà © also indicates the economic sustainability into risk and opportunities in climate change. Nestlà © create sustainability in core strategy in term of rural development due to the company provides knowledge training to communities as well as develop the rural areas. Moreover, the company provides long term micro financial loans to farmer as well as employment. Nestlà © has project to invest and develop in term of agriculture activities such as growing and improving coffee quality and sustainability. Nestlà © also shares the Creating Shared Value and supply chain in order to consumers, suppliers and distributors, industry, employees, government, and shareholders which sharing as consumer surplus, suppliers of raw materials and packaging, price and cost of company productivity, job and revenue of staff, taxes, and enhance in share-holder value. Analysis of Nestle indicators From Nestle company perspective, they believed that Creating Shared Value for societies that go beyond regulations, business principle, code of conduct compliance and sustainability to protect the future concerning with all stakeholders can create long-term value for their shareholder and company value in the term of economic, innovation, social and environment too. They are support UN Global compact and committed business principle base on sustainability and had developed conceptual framework measured the impacts on all stakeholders which depict as the figure below. Apart from the stakeholders impact matrix mentioned, they also looked in to materiality issues and analyze on their value chain which concerning from stakeholders and identified key performance index, focused area and prioritize according to degree from low to high of the impact and the interest of society that helped the company to utilize resources allocation, clearly goals setting and proper action plan in each focused areas. Source: Nestle Creating Shared Value, published on www.nestle.com, 2010 Analyzing to the Nestle monitoring system, their recent indicators are measured and reported in the form of United Nation Global Compact Principles which are Economic, Nutrition, Water, Environment Sustainability, Rural development, Suppliers, People and in addition with external assessment from SAM using Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) and Bureau Veritas assurance for Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). This report will describe and evaluate indicators from the dimensions of Socio-Cultural, economic and environment by using DJSI and GRI for analysis. Overall, results of performance indicator by SAM, Nestle been classified in to SAM Gold Class and ranked second leader in Food Producers Sector according to SAM methodology and assessment as shown in figure below. Source: SAM Sustainability Yearbook 2010 The performance indicators measured were weighting across Economic 34%, Environment 29% and Social Dimension 37% which can been seen that it got highest score in Social Dimension and almost highest in Environment Dimension that match with the firm focused areas on Nutrition, Rural development Our people as Social and Water Environment Sustainability as Environment Dimension as shown in table below. Source: SAM Company Benchmarking Scorecard, Corporate Sustainability Assessment, 2010 Looking into another indicator, GRI, Nestle GRI report shown its application level on B+ which mean they met criteria requirement in level B shown below and the report assured by external auditor Bureau Veritas. The reasons Nestle not met level A are because the reports did not respond to core G3 version and Sector Supplement Indicator; Nestle are categorized in Food Producers Sector. Source: GRI Application Levels version 3.0, 2010 The detail indicator analysis according to different dimension will explain in the following section. Economic Dimension DSJI Sustainability Assessment in economic dimension In DJSI Economic Dimension, it evaluated in 6 criteria indicators using the Sustainability Assessment questionnaire responded from the company, Nestle, consist of Corporate Governance Risk Crisis Management Code of Conduct / Compliance / Corruption Bribery Innovation Management Health Nutrition Strategy for Emerging Markets The DJSI report of Nestle Company evaluated by SAM can be seen as table below: It can be seen that Nestle Score are more than average in every area that evaluated by the answers responded from the questionnaire. For example: In corporate governance, it reported Checks Balance of the Board structure using two-tier system with supervisory board from non-executive and independent directors of total 14 persons compared to 13 from management board from executive management and the role of CEO is split from Chairman. It reported formal corporate government statement. There are 3 women in board for gender diversity. Board owned the company stock to align with long-term interest of shareholders. Another example in Risk Crisis Management including water and climate which Nestle got the best score shown that it assigned specific management staff Head of Group Risk Management, to response and report in this area, it using risk analysis tool such as HACCP, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), etc. and correlated analysis all this risks to business and financial risk including sensitivity and stress test such as change in carbon pricing, water quality. It has contingency plans using Nestle Environmental Management System (EMS) including ISO14001. More detail questionnaire answers can be seen from SAM Research Corporate Sustainability Assessment Questionnaire, DJSI Sustainability Assessment 2010, NESTLE SA/AG. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) for Economic dimension measuring in 3 performance areas as Economic performance, 4 indicators: EC1, EC2, EC3 and EC4 Market presence, 3 indicators: EC5, EC6 and EC7 Indirect economic impacts, 2 indicators: EC8 and EC9 For example: Nestle reported EC1: Direct economic value generated and distributed as below figures: It reviewed that the group achieved organic growth of 4.1% but because of Swiss franc currency weakness, it reported sale down to 107.6 Billion CHF. While the EBIT margin is increased to 14.6% and also dividend per share are increased 14.3%. The profitability is increased because of the cost saving target from Nestle Continuous Excellence (NEC) program. Also it increases its RD investment by 1.9% of sale for long-term brand building and investment. Another example of EC2 Risks and opportunities due to climate change: It can be seen that Nestle has improve energy efficiency and renewable energy expansion use over year such as it reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 3.1% from 2008. Environmental Dimension DSJI Sustainability Assessment in environmental dimension The score are measured in 8 different sub dimensions and Nestlà ©s score are shown in below table: Nestlà ©s all scores are above the average and some of them get the best score. Those score achieved by the company performance, for example in Environmental Policy / Management System, Nestle has adopted environmental policy which committed to environment since publish global policy on environment in 1991 where preserving natural resources and reduced wasted are in its operations which include the reduction use of water per kilo of food and beverage produced, signed UN Global Compact, improved environment through SAI-platform (Sustainable Agriculture Initiative), participated Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), shared knowledge through Greening the Supply Chain (CGS) program which help suppliers to develop their EMS (DJSI, 2010). Nestle EMS verify by ISO14001. Another indicator in Operational Eco-Efficiency, reported that the EP- Direct Greenhouse Gas Emissions in 2009 was 3976158 Metric ton CO2 equivalent compared to 4104488 in 2008, also Indirect Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Energy purchased, Water consumption, Waste generation were reduced from the previous year. Additional example of Packaging indicator, Nestle policy is integrated with environmental aspects which applied to holistic life cycle farm to consumer to reduced weight and volume of materials, Packing reduction, recyclable packaging, use recycled materials, biodegradable packaging, recovered energy from used packages in which all detail reported can be seen from Nestle publications, eco-design and by invested in RD Sustainability Council to ensure that sustainability is taking in to account in all development products. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in Environment Dimension are measured in 9 different areas as Material: 2 indicators EN1 and EN2 Energy: 5 indicators EN3 to EN7 Waster: 3 indicators EN8, EN9, EN10 Biodiversity: 5 indicators EN11, EN12, EN13, EN14 and EN15 Emissions, effluents and waste: 10 indicators EN16 to EN25 Products and Services: 2 indicators EN26 and EN27 Compliance: 1 indicator EN28 Transport: 1 indicator EN29 Overall: 1 indicator EN30 At Nestle, for example in Material EN1: Materials used by weight or volume, it shown that it reduced 58,995 tons of materials weight from 21.43 million tons in 2008 to 21.18 million tons in 2009 as table below: Next example of Energy EN3: Direct energy consumption by primary energy source. It can be seen that Nestle had reduced energy consumption and move toward renewable energy sources. Additional example of Water EN8: Total water withdrawal by source in which Nestle aim to be the most efficiency water user and they can reduced 143 million cubic meters in 2009. Another example of Emissions, effluents and waste EN16: Total direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions by weight reported reduced in 2009 compared to 2008. Further example of Products and Services EN26: Initiative to mitigate environmental impacts of products and services, and extend of impact mitigation. Nestle conducted Life Cycle Assessments to determine the impact to environment from its product such as coffee products and used those information for RD and share among communities for further improvement as shown in figure below: Social Dimension DSJI Sustainability Assessment in social dimension SAM was assessed in 7 main area indicators which Nestle assessment score are shown as below table: For example in Labor Practice Indicators, Nestle reported that it has a strict policy of non-discrimination base on gender, ethnic, nationality, religion and performance characteristic which from the Labor KPI as Non-Discrimination / Diversity shown 33% of women in the workforce and 27% in management position and the diversity distribute among 33.9% in Europe, 38% in America 28.1% in Asia, Oceania and Africa. Also for the safety in the workplace it used international standard of OHSAS 18001 as safety work indicators in which only 0.23 in

The Byzantine Empire :: essays research papers

The Byzantine Empire   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Byzantine Empire, the survivor of the Roman empire, flourished into the oldest and longest lasting empire in our history. It began with Constantine the Great's triumph of Christianity. He then transferred his capital from Rome to the refounded Byzantium in the early 4th century, year 330 AD, and named it Constantinople after himself. This city became the surviving safe spot after the breakup of the Western Roman empire by the 5th century. It was by far the largest and richest city in Christendom during the Middle Ages with a population of about one million people. (Encarta)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Constantine the Great had established a criterion for the empire to follow throughout its history. It included the harmony of the church, the leaders and the teachers of the empire. Constantine created a successful new monetary system based on the gold solidus, or nomisma which lasted well into the middle of the 11th century. Because of the commercial thriving throughout the 4th, 5th, and 6th centuries, many ancient cities flourished. Large estates dominated agriculture which continued to be fruitful in spite of the heavy taxation causing an abandonment of land. From the beginning to the end of the Byzantine empire, the church and the emperor had been the largest landholders, therefore being the largest profiteers of Byzantine. (Encarta)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After the Roman empire fell in 476 AD, Byzantine conquered all. It took over the space of southeastern Europe, southwestern Asia, and the northeast corner of Africa. The present day countries in these areas include the Balkan Peninsula, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and Egypt. This large empire known as Byzantine didn't get called Byzantine until scholars named it. The people of that time were not thought of as Byzantines but as Romans who lived a Roman lifestyle. Byzantine had been started and ruled by an emperor without any formal constitution. It slowly formed a similar establishment of late Roman institutions. Byzantine followed the Romans orthodox Christianity as well. The predominant language of this era was Greek, although some subjects spoke Latin, The Byzantine Empire :: essays research papers The Byzantine Empire   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Byzantine Empire, the survivor of the Roman empire, flourished into the oldest and longest lasting empire in our history. It began with Constantine the Great's triumph of Christianity. He then transferred his capital from Rome to the refounded Byzantium in the early 4th century, year 330 AD, and named it Constantinople after himself. This city became the surviving safe spot after the breakup of the Western Roman empire by the 5th century. It was by far the largest and richest city in Christendom during the Middle Ages with a population of about one million people. (Encarta)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Constantine the Great had established a criterion for the empire to follow throughout its history. It included the harmony of the church, the leaders and the teachers of the empire. Constantine created a successful new monetary system based on the gold solidus, or nomisma which lasted well into the middle of the 11th century. Because of the commercial thriving throughout the 4th, 5th, and 6th centuries, many ancient cities flourished. Large estates dominated agriculture which continued to be fruitful in spite of the heavy taxation causing an abandonment of land. From the beginning to the end of the Byzantine empire, the church and the emperor had been the largest landholders, therefore being the largest profiteers of Byzantine. (Encarta)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After the Roman empire fell in 476 AD, Byzantine conquered all. It took over the space of southeastern Europe, southwestern Asia, and the northeast corner of Africa. The present day countries in these areas include the Balkan Peninsula, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and Egypt. This large empire known as Byzantine didn't get called Byzantine until scholars named it. The people of that time were not thought of as Byzantines but as Romans who lived a Roman lifestyle. Byzantine had been started and ruled by an emperor without any formal constitution. It slowly formed a similar establishment of late Roman institutions. Byzantine followed the Romans orthodox Christianity as well. The predominant language of this era was Greek, although some subjects spoke Latin,

The Causes of the Great Depression :: American America History

The Causes of the Great Depression Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution early in the nineteenth century the United States ad experienced recessions or panics at least every twenty years. But none was as severe or lasted as long as the Great Depression. Only as the economy shifted toward a war mobilization in the late 1930s did the grip of the depression finally ease. Stock prices had been rising steadily since 1921, but in 1928 and 1929 they surged forward, with the average price of stocks rising over 40 percent. The stock market was totally unregulated. Margin buying in particular proceeded at a feverish pace as customers borrowed up to 75 percent of the purchase price of stocks. That easy credit lured more speculators and less creditworthy investors into the stock market. The Federal Reserve board warned member banks not to lend money for stock speculation because if prices dropped, many investors would not be able to pay back their debts. No one listened. The stock market began sliding in early September, but people ignored the warning. Then on "black Thursday" (October 24, 1929) and again on "black Tuesday" (October 29, 1929) the ball dropped. More than 28 million shares changed hands in frantic trading. Overextended investors, suddenly finding themselves in heavily in debt, began selling their stocks. Many found that no one would buy anythin g at any price. Overnight, stock values fell from a peak value of 87 billion dollars to 55 billion dollars. The crash was felt far beyond the trading floors. Speculators who borrowed money from the banks to buy their stocks could not repay the loans because they could not sell stocks. This caused many banks to fail. Since bank deposits were uninsured before the 1930s depositors' their money, which in many cases was all that many people had. The stock market crash intensified the course of the Great Depression in many ways. Besides wiping out the savings of thousands, it hurt commercial banks that had invested heavily in corporate stocks. It also caused a loss of confidence in the market prolonging the depression. The downturn began slowly and almost unnoticeably. After 1927, consumer spending declined and housing construction slowed. Inventories piled up, and in1928 and 1929 manufacturers began to cut back on production and lay off workers. Reduced income and buying power in turn reinforced the downturn. By the summer of 1929 the economy was clearly in a recession.

The Tragedy of Dr. Faustus - Analysis of Doctor Faustus Final Soliloqu

The Tragedy of Dr. Faustus - Analysis of Doctor Faustus' Final Soliloquy Dr. Turk’s comments: This is a good example of close analysis. The writer pays attention not only to what the character says, but also to his actions, or non-action, to make his conclusions about the character of Dr. Faustus. Â   Doctor Faustus' final soliloquy takes place during his last hour to live before his deal with the devil expires and he is carried off to spend eternity in hell. At this point, he has turned down every opportunity to repent of his sins and call on God to save him from eternal damnation. Faustus spends his last hour in wishful thoughts of ways to escape his impending doom. There is no repentance, though, and in the end, he is carried off to hell to spend eternity separated from God. Faustus' soliloquy begins as the clock strikes eleven, pronouncing to Faustus that he has only one hour before his eternal punishment begins. Faustus knows his fate is at hand and begins his soliloquy by wishing that time would stand still so that midnight would never come or that the sun, "Fair Nature's eye," would rise again and make the day everlasting (XIII, 62). Faustus then moves from wishing that midnight wouldn't come altogether to merely wishing that his last hour would be stretched out to "A year, a month, a week, a natural day/ That Faustus may repent and save his soul" (XIII, 64-65). He spends his last hour wishing for more time to repent instead of using the time he already has to repent. After giving up on the notion of obtaining more time, he then decides that he will look to God and acknowledges that one drop of Christ's blood can save him. Instead of calling on God to save him, though, he turns his attention back to the devi... ...d for an escape when all he really needs to do is look upward. Lucifer does not send Faustus to hell, Faustus sends himself by not accepting the gift of salvation that God freely offers him right up until the end. In his final hour, Faustus comes to the realization that he is getting the short end of the deal he has made with the devil and how even all the power he had possessed is fleeting in the face of eternity. Faustus' final soliloquy is a realistic look inside the mind of someone who stands on the threshold of forever and knows his destination. After reading this, one should either rejoice that he or she will not have to face the same fate as Faustus, or recognize that he or she is walking the same road and repent. Â   Work Cited: Marlowe, Christopher Dr Faustus in ed. WB Worthen The Harcourt Brace Anthology of Drama, 2nd edn., Texas: Harcourt Brace 1996.

Course Description Essay

This course introduces the student to the essential elements of finance for business. Emphasis is placed on financial management, financial markets, and the tools, techniques, and methodologies used in making financial decisions. Topics include: Financial planning, working capital management, capital budgeting, long-term financing, and international finance. Policies Faculty and students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: University policies: You must be logged into the student website to view this document. Instructor policies: This document is posted in the Course Materials forum. University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend class. If you have recently changed modalities, read the policies governing your current class modality. Course Materials Mayo, H. B. (2012). Basic finance: An introduction to financial institutions, investments, and management (10th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western. Titman, S., Keown, A. J., & Martin, J. D. (2011). Financial management: Principles and applications (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. All electronic materials are available on the student website. Week One: Introduction to Finance and Analysis   

Research for Human Resource Management Activities Essay

With increasing globalization, most multinational corporations can not avoid cross-culture management issues. Especially, cross-cultural human resource management (HRM) has becoming one of the critical operating strategies. And in this paper, we will mainly analyze the current situation of human resource management activities that include selection and recruitment, training and development, and performance management in the Chinese and Australian cultural background. We aimed to find out the differences of human resource management activities between Chinese and Australian human resource department, and look forward to helping a Sino-Australia joint venture (JV) enterprise which is poor at cross-cultural human resource management. Culture forms values, creates attitudes, and influences behavior (Luthans & Jonathan, 2009). Due to national traits and region of culture, the interaction between different cultures is considered as cross-culture. And under the cross cultural background, international human resource management should carry out the activities of human resource management based on characteristics and differences of culture (Ramamoorthy et al. , 2005), which could increase the efficiency of human resource distribution and utilization. According to the Hofstede’s theory, we have got five cultural dimensions which as power distance, individualism versus collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity versus feminism, and long term orientation versus short term orientation (Hofstede, 1984). China and Australia have obvious differences in the cultural dimensions, which are showed as follows. Comparison of China and Australia on cultural dimensions cultural dimensions |China |Australia | |power distance |high |low | |individualism |low(collectivism) |high | |uncertainty avoidance |low |high | |masculinity |balanced |above the average(masculinity) | |long-term |high |low(short-term) | Source: From Hofstede and Hofstede, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. And then we will analyze the activities of human resource management as selection and recruitment, training and development and performance management under their respective cultural backgrounds. Firstly, in selection and recruitment human resource activities, there is a large difference between HRM of Chinese enterprises and Australian enterprises. In Australia, the labor pool is relatively mature and developed (Dobbie & MacMillan, 2012). Because of Australia is supposed to value individualism, the HRM of Australian companies used to selecting and recruiting much people depend on market mechanism. Labors change their job and joined choice making with the need of market and the HRM think the person is wanted by them can be got through the mobility of trained personnel and market competition. They do not think this kind of person is disloyal to a company in their mind. But China emphasizes socialist collectivism as the value of the times. And in the case of collectivism, the HRM of Chinese enterprises tends to select and recruit the talents in the range of their favorable groups, they think the groups of graduates from famous colleges that should have the inherent abilities. So the degrees from domestic-famous such as Tsinghua and Peking University would be preferred by HRM. Furthermore, the HRM of Chinese enterprises attach great importance to ‘Guanxi’ (relationship) in the selection and recruitment of employee (Wang & Cindy, 2008). And by the impacts of ‘Guanxi’, the HRM of Chinese enterprises trend to create a job in order to accommodate a person, without considering person’s ability. So these situations have been a contrast with fair competition rules of Australian HRM. On the other hand, Australia is a short-term oriented country, the relationship between HR managers and staff is simple which is similar to a buyer-seller relation in short term. The manager of human resource department generally prefers candidates who have strong capacity to work and innovative consciousness. On the contrast, the long-term oriented Chinese HRM focuses on employee royalty, and try to reduce the rate of staff turnover. They expect employees to work steadily in long term, instead of frequent turnover behaviors in the workplace. Furthermore, because of the high power distance, in the standard of personnel selection in Chinese HRM, they mainly focus on personal background and seniority (Zhang, 2003). There is an obvious top-down hierarchy; the higher position is decided often by strong background and seniority. However, in the Australian HRM, the first is that personal ability to work and communicate. The job is offered to the person who is capable, and the manager of human resource department offered the qualified person an opportunity to move ahead quickly. Secondly, in the parts of training and development, there are also some differences between Australian and Chinese HRM because of the impact of different cultural dimensions. Under the influence of collectivism culture, what contents the Chinese enterprises use to train their employees generally have to meet the organization’s development goals . Most employees accept their superiors’ arrangement of the job training ,which mainly provides them with the skills training aiming at the skills that their job needs (Xiao et. al, 2011). This kind of job training is only beneficial to employment needed skills. Furthermore, being influenced by the high power distance, in the training process, the employees who are being trained are under high pressure from their superiors and have to accept the arrangement of training. Because most of the trainings are passively accepted, obviously it doesn’t work to take the ways of high participation training in China. Under the influence of individualism culture, the HRM of Australian enterprise lays stress on the career training and continuous education. The training was provided by HRM for their employees usually can help the employees to achieve their personal goals, but may be far away from the whole organization development vision, but beneficial to the employees’ personal future careers. And in such a low power distance country like Australia, the employees who are being trained appear more active in the training process. They are more willing to show themselves, and actively express their ideas; meanwhile, they are good at communicating with the coach. Thirdly, in the part of performance management, there are also some differences between Australian and Chinese HRM. Being influenced by the high power distance, in Chinese enterprise, the performance management system is usually built by the top manager, so the top manager decides the performance standards and evaluation criteria. There is a low involvement of employees. However, with the lower power distance, employee could participate in the performance system building, the employee and HR manger could come together to develop a performance management system. Australian advocate individualism, and emphasize personal achievements and rights. But in a country emphasizing collectivism culture as China, the values of pursuing the harmonious atmosphere makes the interpersonal relations in the collective obviously more important than individual achievements. When it comes to the performance evaluation, Australian emphasize standardized and quantified performance evaluation system, hoping that they can objectively measure individual contribution and value, while Chinese prefer the traditional way of evaluation which usually depends on experience because they don’t want to destroy the harmonious unity of their collective (Rajendar ; Ma, 2005) . And on the other hand, in Australian enterprise, the compensation system depends on the staff function and ability with low power distance. In this system, it is not unusual that employee with special skills or talents could get more compensation and bonus than manager in higher position. But in Chinese enterprise, the compensation system mainly focuses on job grade and employment level. There is a clear rank in the compensation system. In conclusion,  it’s very easy to find that main differences in the activities of human resource management between Chinese and Australian enterprises from what has been mentioned above. So far, for a Sino-Australia joint venture enterprise, it is necessary to combine comprehensive considerations cultural background of China and Australia for carrying out the human resource management activities. Furthermore, the joint venture enterprise should place great emphasis on building of enterprise culture and foster cohesion and centripetal force enterprises. Usually successful enterprise has excellent enterprise culture which enables employees to establish common values and standard of behaviors (Deem, 2009), it built a great channel between the parent-country nationals and host-country nationals to communicate more smoothly, that is helpful to minimize any culture clash. And in order to achieve optimal allocation of human resources under the context of international, Of course, there will be also many challenges and hardships along the way.