Major Barriers of Implementing Green Management and ISO in Business Sector of Hong Kong
To achieve and maintain competitive advantage firms need to be
appropriately positioned with their industry. “Going Green” becomes an
important issue for business to ensure its marketing position and a
source of competitive advantage.
An environmental management system (EMS) is based on the concept of
continuous improvement in all aspects of the firm’s environmental
performance. ISO 14000, which was introduced in September 1996,
specifies the requirements for an EMS and it applies to those
environmental aspects over which the firm either has control or could
be expected to have an influence. ISO 14000 is the international
standard that reflects a new and better understanding of the
expectations of environmental management. ISO 14000 is, therefore,
built on total quality management concepts, in particular it follows
the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. Even ISO 14000 does not specify absolute
requirements for firms but the specifications are based on the
traditional management principles. In particular commitment from all
levels of the organization to environmental sustainability and
management is essential. But, to commit the principles underpinning
ISO 14000, Policy, Planning, Implementation and Operation, Checking
and corrective action and Management Review and Continual Improvement,
there have a number of issues Hong Kong Business especially SMEs to
overcome the barriers of ISO 14000 or encouraging business
implementation.
Lack of financial support is one of the big problems to implement ISO
14000. The cost of t...
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..., carbon taxes, etc. can be
considered to provide fund for these financial incentives. And
Government will have green purchasing policy to promote the green
industry, we will bulk purchase of environmental-friendly products and
stationery. A regular Expo will provide to promote green technology
and the recycling trade. More, Environmental education and awareness
is the key of environmental conservation and protection. Then,
Government will introduce the waste avoidance, minimization, reuse and
recycling widely in all education levels, which then increase the
public demand of consumers of green products.
From these actions, we know that companies will more interested to
think and to implement the green business to improve their benefit,
together with the health and livelihood of residents and workers in
Hong Kong.
Question: “MNCs” face particularly demanding challenges when it comes to managing their corporate social responsibilities”. Critically discuss this statement using real business to support your arguments
Environment: The world is largely affected in the environment sector with negligence from all spheres. Hence KPMG has dedicated itself to environment excellence in own procedures and policies plus the consultancy to clients. They strive towards a low carbon business by reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions. They also encourage their employees to employ the same principles at home and in their own lives and extensively contribute to environmental needs on the national and international stage. They are reducing on unnecessary travels for meetings and discussions and opting for video conferences or online webex meetings and creating new sustainable offices and in accordance with suppliers and clients striving to a better
The pressure from different stake holders such as regulator, supplier and strategic obligations has leaded the companies to follow the green supply chain strategy. The advantage of Green supply chain for the company is to reduce cost of resources used such as energy. The other environmental factors such as environmental detoriation, decrease in the raw materials being used and increase in the pollution level has forced the organizations to look for ways other than the traditional supply chain. The following diagram shows how the Green supply chain is integrated with tangible outcomes, intangible value drivers and stake holder interests.
Everyone has their own personal set of ethics or set of moral principles on what one believes is right and what is wrong and social responsibility to society brought into the business world (“Ethics”). Every day, an individual is deciding to do something, whether it is at work, at home or at the grocery store, an individual’s decision may be right or wrong depending on the person and the situation. In businesses, one must interact with several different morals from the employees and the customers, as well as a social responsibility to the business of what is right and what is wrong to help it become profitable. (Kurtz and Boone 32). Business owners and employees can encounter common business ethical challenges such as conflict of interest,
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) comprises of a wide variation of groups. As definition varies, it would be demanding to elucidate the entity where NGOs are basically non-profit organisations that is “independent of government and depend in whole or in part on charitable donations and voluntary services” (Serina Rahman, 2016). In Brunei Darussalam, there is no distinct explanation for this term as it is deemed to be ambiguous. Despite that, Brunei still has a wide variation but a limited number of registered NGOs from focusing on humanities, to environmental aspects, which all are under surveillance of the government. In the case of environmental NGOs (ENGOs), they focus on long-term sustainable management and conservation in the field
For a decade the hotel industry is trying to implement a strategy to help with sustainability. Water, electric, gas is highly generated every day in hotel rooms. The Deliotte Game changers or spectators article (2015) stated that Hospitality is vulnerable to water shortages, relies heavily on built assets, and consumes significant amounts of electricity and, generally speaking, is an item on which spending is discretionary. This is the case because when people travel they do not pay attention to how much energy or water they are actually consuming. The hotel industry is one the largest establishment that is constantly using water, electric, and gas.
Companies are making great strides in developing new and innovative measures to decrease the negative effect on our environment through what is called green practices. There are many pressures by the consumers and governing agencies where the auto manufacturers are located to improve on green practices. This has pushed many companies to adopt green practices across the board to better themselves as well as increase sales and profits. The article “Green initiatives: A step towards sustainable development and firm 's performance in the automobile industry” written by Kushwaha and Sharma, they reviewed data to decide if following green practices yield positive results for automobile firms.
Going green is an “It” topic now throughout the world. Singapore Prime Minister Mr. Lee Hsien Loong has mentioned about building a sustainable nation more than once in his public speeches. In his recent speech at the launch of Clean & Green Singapore 2015 on 8 November, he said that Singapore should continue its Clean and Green culture in order to cope with future challenges (Lee, 2015). The publishing of Sustainable Singapore Blueprint 2015 also pointed out that Singapore has made good progress in its sustainability journey and will continue to achieve its 2020 target as well as its 2030 target (2014). This going green mission includes all aspects in our lives such as transportation, housing, living. Some key points are water saving, energy saving and waste management.
Nowadays environmental awareness is growing in the minds of each and every individual in the world. People are aware of the world’s environmental issues such as global warming, toxic substance usage, and inadequate resources. Governments are taking many proactive measures like campaigns to promote this problem to everyone in the world. Several businesses responded to this by applying green principles to their company, such as using environmental friendly raw material, reducing the usage of petroleum power, and using the recycle papers for packaging and so on. Green supply chain management is one of the emerging technologies in the last few years which concentrates on and environment friendly way of manufacturing products from first to last stage of its life cycle i.e., from product design to recycle. This short paper is about the implementation of this GREEN supply chain management and its impact in the environment for the well being of all human beings.
Some hotels have an only ISO14001 certificate, but some of them have Hong Kong Eco business Award and Green Globe certificate. The research dimensions are energy efficiency, water management, waste management, and indoor air quality. It needs the competencies of the building, internal design, staff training, communication with guests in order to enforce the policies and practice properly (Heung and Pun, 2013). The finding of energy efficacy is Hotel A implemented ISO14001, such as using energy-saving bulbs in bathrooms, corridors, and table lamps, and it helps Hotel A reduce 10.7% of energy consumption and save HK$ 1.5 million in 2 years. Moreover, Hotel A saved 15.2% water consumption in 2 years because of its effective water management, such as 70 to 90-liter water from washing and laundry daily (Heung and Pun,
?The eco-efficiency imperative is based on the idea that companies must come to terms with the new realities of population growth, increased evidence of global warming, ozone depletion, loss of fertile soils and forests. These new realities will change the markets (customers' attitudes) and lead to tougher government regulation. This will change the bottom-line of each company now and increasingly in the future. Costs related to pollution will become staggering. Customers will ask for green products and they will even select companies on their proven ability to produce green products. Instead of waiting for government action and lobbying to get the right kind of action, companies must seek value creation through minimizing resource input. According to its proponents, eco-efficiency leads to economic and ecological efficiency. (Schot 1997).
Sustainability is about the planet- healthy relation among people, profit and planet. Individual effort to earn money by business activity in the earth should be harmless to environment where it operates and beneficial to the people surviving in that society.
The need to be ISO 9000 certified becomes so attractive that it captures the minds of all the levels of corporate management. It influences the organization from the top executives to clerks and process operators. The movement to the quality management transforms businesses. Why is ISO 9000 so important? At some point, it is a matter of resource allocation. How does management allocate scarce resource such as time, energy and money? ISO 9000 becomes a marketing tool which shows customers that the company offers high quality products. While other companies do not have the certification, it is one step further to be more competitive at the market. (www.xanedu.com)
. ISO 14001 is a management standard, it is not a performance or product standard. The underlying purpose of ISO 14001 is that companies will improve their environmental performance by implementing ISO 14001, but there are no standards for performance or the level of improvement. It is a process for managing company activities that impact the environment.
1.- INTRODUCTION: Without doubt, the 20th century has changed our priorities, especially when it comes to the way we do business. Popular sustainable business models, as advertised in the media, have evolved into much more than a moral obligation or an external requirement to generate money. Essentially, they are forcing companies to reinvent the systems and approaches with which they generate value and profitability for the company.