1. How can an organization ensure that all the members of its supply chain will behave ethically?
Asnwer:
Your customers will always hold you responsible if your suppliers behave badly. Follow Smarta's three ideas to make sure your supply chain is as scrupulous about its ethics as your business is.
1. Create guidelines for your suppliers
While the jargon-tastic term 'ethical supply chain management policy' makes us shudder, the idea behind term is very sound: create a list of guidelines for those involved in your supply chain to ensure at every point, suppliers are observing best practice.
If parts of your supply chain are abroad, consult with local trade unions and NGOs to identify areas of concern. Take into account issues such as forced labour, whether the supplier allows trade union activity, workplace health and safety, workers' ages, wages, working hours, known cases of discrimination, and any history of inhuman treatment. Outline how you expect your suppliers to behave and what sort of conditions you expect to see in factories. See the Ethical Trading Initiative's (ETI) base code for inspiration.
For the best results, communicate your policy as much as possible: identify employees such as buyers or managers who will need training - but ensure the policy is available to all your staff so they know exactly how you manage your supply chain.
If you want to go the extra mile, take inspiration from Divine Chocolate and incentivise your suppliers into becoming more socially conscious. The business' suppliers all have a stake in the company - which means they have a vested interest in maintaining its ethical image.
2. Look out for suppliers' credentials
Your suppliers may say their practices are squeaky clean, but if they can't prove it, how can you trust them? Instead, find out if they have any certification: bodies such as the Fairtrade Foundation, the Soil Association, the Forest Stewardship Council, the Marine Stewardship Council and the Product Authentication Inspectorate (PAI) all have the power to determine whether a company's products can be deemed ethical or not.
Take a look at the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI), Business in the Community (BITC) and Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) websites as well - all four feature lists of members with socially responsible credentials.
3. Waste
Making your supply chain ethical isn't all fair wages and eliminating child labour - how the chain deals with its waste is equally important. Ask your suppliers to cut down on unnecessary packaging - particularly if it's plastic - or look at more sustainable alternatives. The government's Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has made a voluntary agreement, called the Courtauld Commitment, with a range of British retailers, to cut down on waste. Its website lists targets and timescales supply chains should be aiming for.
2.What responsibility does an organization have to ensure that its suppliers and business partners behave ethically?
Asnwer:
Ethics are concerned with doing good, or the right thing in a given human situation (Wilson, 1975). In the business context, ethics has to do with the extent to which a person's behavior measures up to such standards as the law, organizational policies, professional and trade association codes, popular expectations regarding fairness and what is right , plus one's own internalized moral standards (Sauser, 2005). Business ethics are, therefore, concerned with an evaluation of business practices in the light of some concept of human value; it looks at corporate profits not for their own sake but with respect to the achievement of some human good.Suppliers and customers need to be viewed as a partnership. The benefits of cooperation rather than conflict in buyer-supplier relationships include on-going cost reductions, quality improvements, increased operating flexibility and more powerful competitive strategies (Peck, Payne, Christopher & Clark, 2000). Customers who work more closely with suppliers will also be able to create a more responsive supply chain that can meet final demand in a timely manner.
Partnership is based upon commitment, trust and continuous improvement. Marketing attempts to create an impression of a personal relationship to customers even if the supplier does not know the customers or even meet them. It is a pseudo-personal relationship, but, all the same, it could be an efficient one (Gummesson, 2002). Several employees from both the supplier and buyers side are involved in the relationship. They are involved in negotiation, communication, bargaining, the transfer of goods, services and money. Ethical issues and personal values always influence such transactions.
Chapter 10 - Case Study 3: Manufacturers Compete on Green Computing
1. How have green computing efforts lowered the total cost of computer ownership?
Answer:
IT managers are increasingly seeking out suppliers of high performance, cost-effective and energy-efficient Green IT products. Their primary driver is economic: to reduce skyrocketing data center operational costs, a large proportion of which are energy related costs. As energy costs continue to escalate, users will need to spend significantly more to power and cool their server hardware than to purchase it."Earth-friendly" Product Advantages
Supermicro leverages advanced technology and system design expertise to reduce the power consumption of our server, blade, workstation and storage systems. Over many years of experience, we have become an industry leader in power saving technology. In 2006, for example, our 1U Twin™ servers were introduced featuring two DP nodes in a 1U form factor with 89% power efficiency. In 2007 our SuperBlade® systems built on this technology achievement to develop 93% power efficiency. In 2008 Supermicro's DatacenterBlade™ and OfficeBlade™ won Blade System Insight's "Best Green Data Center Solution" award for 93%+ power supply efficiency and our TwinBlade™ won Blade Systems Insight's prestigious "Best Blade-Based Solution" award in 2010 for the highest-performance/density Blade solution with 94%+ power supply efficiency.
Leading the way to even greater results, our engineers continue to improve green technology as a primary product design objective. In 2011, Supermicro introduced a major breakthrough in power supply technology with the industry's first SuperCompact (L220mm x W54.5mm x H40mm ) 1U 400W supply module conforming to Energy Star 2.0 specifications.
2. Which approach can yield greater benefits—building greener computers or implementing programs that change users’ behavior so that they operate their computers in a more responsible manner? Explain your response.
Answer:
In my opinion implementing programs that change users? behavior so that they operate their computers in a more responsible manner is the best approach that can yield greater benefits , in the manner that such programs will definitely change the attitude of every individual in the working environment with regards to operational procedures of computers thus resulting to responsibility education to the manpower through green operation that will in turn minimize the green house effect to the whole world itself.
3.Do research at the EPEAT Web site and determine which computer manufacturer currently has the best green computing ratings.
Answer:
However, computing consumes energy and gives off waste heat and radiation. Green computing entry is the outcome that redefines the IT industry's effort deliver environmentally sustainable green computing products. IT products that reduce energy consumption yet efficient in operation are a valued commodity in the green computing market. It represents the best practices IT producers use to deliver environmentally sustainable green computing products. At Green Computing, we offer tips and information on green computing to help consumers in their product decision.
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento