Housing Industry in America Essay Example for Free

Housing Industry in America Essay The American housing industry forms a vital component of the American economy as homes are the basic necessity for everyone. The industry offers jobs for various people from different professions including carpenters, masons, architects, engineers, technicians, interior designers, civil engineers, designers, artists, etc. The entire industry is distributed over several small companies rather than one single large company. However, in the US, there have been several mergers and acquisitions of the smaller companies recently. Most of the people in the US actually live in homes or apartments constructed by the housing industry and hence they have a huge stake in the market. The American housing industry constructs variety of homes including apartments, townhouses, single-family house, custom-build house, etc. A small number of people in the US actually live in houses build by themselves. Most of the houses constructed in the US are build on-site and a fewer number are fabricated in the factory and late transported to their actual site. The construction material used in various areas of the US is also different based on the geographic requirements, local resources available, etc. It may be cheaper and easier to build homes in one region of the US compared to another. Besides, the material used by the housing industry has changed over the last century since the housing industry came into picture. Earlier the housing industry used a lot of wood, asbestos, tiles, and lead-rich paint. Today the construction industry is using greater amount of concrete, steel and plastics (Muldin, 2008). Due to the recent recession and economic slowdown, the housing industry in the US has experienced a significant drop of about 3. 1 %. In more than 43 states the cost of homes has dropped by about 8 %. One of the main reasons for this is the difficultly for consumers to pay loans and mortgages (Muldin, 2008).

Human Impacts on Deciduous Forest

Human Impacts on Deciduous Forest Autumn Blaze Maple Tree The autumn blaze maple tree is a unique combination of good traits from the red maple and silver maple. The qualities mixed by the autumn blaze maple tree are brilliant orange-red color in the fall, dense and healthy branching, and enhanced growth that protects from insects and disease. They are known for their unexcelled speed of growth. The autumn blaze maple tree can also live in a variety of climates, ranging from the frigid cold of zone three, to the humid south of zone eight. The autumn blaze maple tree will grow to fifty or sixty feet tall and have a mature spread of thirty to forty feet. They are not a susceptible to storm damage as the silver maple, as they received stronger wood from their red maple parent. The autumn blaze maple tree also has the ability to grow in most soil conditions. The leaves of the autumn blaze maple tree resemble the leaves of a silver maple tree, being opposite, simple, and five-lobed with toothy margins. The deep red veins of the leaves are derived from the red maple. The summer color of the autumn blaze maple tree is a rich medium green, which turns into orange and crimson in the fall. The leaves of the autumn blaze maple tree will last longer on the branch than those of other maple trees. The Birch Birch species are generally small to medium-sized trees or shrubs, mostly of temperate climates. The simple leaves are alternate, singly or doubly serrate, feather-veined, petiolate and stipulate. They often appear in pairs, but these pairs are really borne on spur-like, two-leaved, lateral branchlets. The fruit is a small samara, although the wings may be obscure in some species. They differ from the alders (Alnus, other genus in the family) in that the female catkins are not woody and disintegrate at maturity, falling apart to release the seeds, unlike the woody, cone-like female alder catkins. The bark of all birches is characteristically marked with long, horizontal lenticels, and often separates into thin, papery plates, especially upon the paper birch. It is resistant to decay, due to the resinous oil it contains. Its decided color gives the common names gray, white, black, silver and yellow birch to different species. European larch Larix decidua, common name European larch, is a species of larch native to the mountains of central Europe, in the Alps and Carpathian Mountains, with also low populations in southern Poland and southern Lithuania. Larix decidua is a medium-size to large deciduous coniferous tree reaching 25-45 m tall, with a trunk up to 1 m diameter (exceptionally, to 55 m tall and 2 m diameter). The crown is conic when young, becoming broad with age; the main branches are level to upswept, with the side branches often pendulous. The shoots are dimorphic, with growth divided into long shoots (typically 10-50 cm long) and bearing several buds, and short shoots only 1-2 mm long with only a single bud. The leaves are needle-like, light green, 2-4 cm long which turn bright yellow before they fall in the autumn, leaving the pale yellow-buff shoots bare until the next spring. The cones are erect, ovoid-conic, 2-6 cm long, with 30-70 erect or slightly incurved (not reflexed) seed scales; they are green variably flushed red when immature, turning brown and opening to release the seeds when mature, 4-6 months after pollination. The old cones commonly remain on the tree for many years, turning dull grey-black.It is very cold tolerant, able to survive winter temperatures down to at least -50 °C, and is among the tree line trees in the Alps, reaching 2400 m altitude, though most abundant from 1000-2000 m. It only grows on well-drained soils, avoiding waterlogged ground. Deciduous forest animals A wide variety of mammals, birds, insects, and reptiles can be found in a deciduous forest biome. Mammals that are commonly found in a deciduous forest include bears, raccoons, squirrels, skunks, wood mice, and in the U.S., deer can be found in these forests. While bobcats, mountain lions, timber wolves, and coyotes are natural residents of these forests, they have nearly been eliminated by humans because of their threat to human life. Other animals that were native to this biome, such as elk and bison, have been hunted to near extinction. Migration and hibernation are two adaptations used by the animals in this biome. While a wide variety of birds migrate, many of the mammals hibernate during the cold winter months when food is in short supply. Another behavioral adaptation some animals have adopted is food storage. The nuts and seeds that are plentiful during the summer are gathered by squirrels, chipmunks, and some jays, and are stored in the hollows of trees for use during the winter months. Cold temperatures help prevent the decomposition of the nuts and seeds. Deciduous forest plants A deciduous forest typically has three to four, and sometimes five, layers of plant growth. Tall deciduous trees make up the top layer of plant growth, and they create a moderately dense forest canopy. Although the canopy is moderately dense, it does allow sunlight to reach the forest floor. This sunlight allows plants in the other layers to grow. The second layer of plant growth includes saplings and species of trees that are naturally shorter in stature. A third layer (or understory) would include shrubs. Forest herbs, such as wildflowers and berries, make up a fourth layer. During the spring, before the deciduous trees leaf out, these herbs bloom and grow quickly in order to take advantage of the sunlight. A fifth layer would include mosses and lichens that grow on tree trunks. Plant adaptations In the spring, deciduous trees begin producing thin, broad, light-weight leaves. This type of leaf structure easily captures the sunlight needed for food production (photosynthesis). The broad leaves are great when temperatures are warm and there is plenty of sunlight. However, when temperatures are cold, the broad leaves expose too much surface area to water loss and tissue damage. To help prevent this damage from occurring, deciduous trees make internal and physical adaptations that are triggered by changes in the climate. Image of deciduous forest trees with leaves of red and orange. Cooler temperatures and limited sunlight are two climatic conditions that tell the tree to begin adapting. In the Fall, when these conditions occur, the tree cuts off the supply of water to the leaves and seals off the area between the leaf stem and the tree trunk. With limited sunlight and water, the leaf is unable to continue producing chlorophyll, the green stuff in the leaves, and as the chlorophyll decreases the leaves change color. The beautiful display of brilliant red, yellow, and gold leaves, associated with deciduous forests in the fall, is a result of this process. Most deciduous trees shed their leaves, once the leaves are brown and dry. Humans in the ecosystem The original broad lived deciduous forest that covered most of the lowlands of temperate Europe have almost disappeared to give way to an intensively farmed landscape. (Peterken, G. F., 1996). European natural nemoral woodland is considered to be among the most degraded ecosystems in the world (JÄâ„ ¢drzejewska et al., 1994). Although there is the perception that the greatest concern should be held for tropical rain forests, temperate deciduous forests have a smaller fraction of original vegetation remaining than boreal or tropical forests, and also have been more severely impacted by land use change and air pollution. Remaining deciduous forests in the Fennoscandian boreal landscape have high ecological value, and are considered as key components of the forest landscape. In Europe and North America, less than 1% of all temperate deciduous forests remain inundisturbed state, free of logging, grazing, and deforestation or other intensive use. In  south  and  central  Sweden,  during  the  20th  century much  of  the  deciduous  forests  were  transferred  to  coniferous  forest  plantations, while  the  remaining  deciduous  forests  are  to  a  large  extent  also  characterized by  commercial  forestry.  Estimates  by  SEPA  indicates  that  less  than  2%  of  the original  distribution  of  deciduous  forests  are  still  intact,  in  terms  of  natural forest  dynamics. In Norway more than 20% of the broad-leaved forests are logged and replaced with non-native tree species. The forest sector continues this destructive management, manipulating living forests into boring monoculture of non-native species. This is the biggest threat to this unique and biodiversity rich forest ecosystem, for which Norway has an international responsabiliity. The history of deciduous forest in Scandinavia: The example of picea albes Although climate changes are considered as the driving force of forest modification, (Webb 1987), the actual vegetation landscape of Europe is the result of thousands years of interferences between human activity and forests. (Behre, 1988; Huntley Webb, 1989). This can be illustrated by the immigration of Picea abies into Fennoscandia. Both human disturbance and climatic change are responsible factors (Tallantire, 1977; Nunez Vuorela, 1979; Huntley, 1988; Dahl, 1990). To retrace forest landscape history we can use pollen analysis (Bradshaw, 1988; Bradshaw Zackrisson, 1990). The major deciduous tree species in the Fennoscandian boreal forest, Betula pendula, B. pubescens and Populus tremula, all depend on disturbance for their perpetuation (Zackrisson, 1985; Nikolov Helmisaari, 1992) Pollen records and charcoal remains provide evidence of intense deforestation for agricultural uses 4000 years ago in Southern Scandinavia. This clearing facilitated a dramatic change in the forest composition, although at the beginning in southern Sweden forest where dominated by deciduous trees and Spruce were found only in the northern and central part of Sweden,(Bjorse Bradshaw 1998, Lindbladh Bradshaw, 1998) During the following two millennia, the spruce spread southwards rapidly and is now the dominant forest species in most of southern Sweden. This process has been explained as being based on a combination of climatic changes and of anthropogenic influences such as grazing by domestic animals, selective cuttings, pollarding, and burning, which has been unfavorable for deciduous tree species (Nilsson, 1997a, Lindbladh et al., 2000). Since the mid-19th century the Swedish boreal land- scape has been transformed by forestry operations, which have produced intensively managed forests, mainly even-aged conifer monocultures, in which production of tim- ber and pulpwood are the main goals (Ostlund et al. 1997; Linder Ostlund, 1998; Axelsson Ostlund, 2001) The landscape perspective has come to play an important role in efforts to achieve sustainable forestry, especially regarding the protection of biodiversity However, many temperate zone economies have shifted from rural, agricultural to urban manufacturing and technologically driven economies. This has led to large-scale agricultural abandonment and the reversion of agricultural lands back to forests. Recent studies indicate an increase in forest area and volumes in both North America and Europe (Kauppi et al., 1992; Houghton, 1995). Restoration and management of deciduous forests Temperate deciduous forests are important to regional economies as a source of wood, they provide many ecological services, and they play a major role in the global carbon cycle The need to repair habitat and restore forest structure and function is recognized throughout the boreal and temperate zone as a component of sustainable forest management. Forest restoration is a complex task, complicated by diverse ecological and social conditions, that challenges our understanding of forest ecosystems. Forest are human dominated ecosystems. Reconstructing forests where they are now absent, as well as altering existing forests to more natural conditions, are important aspects of sustainable forest management. Rare herbaceous species, lichens, mosses, insects and birds that are dependent on old, dying and dead deciduous trees occur in these forests (Sturesson, 1983; Lundqvist, 1986; Wikars As, 1991) In Sà ¶derà ¥sen National Park Sweden CONCLUSION: WHAT FUTURE FOR  TEMPERATE FORESTS? Long, long ago forests of oak, elm, beech, chestnut, maple, ash, poplar, linden, birch, and many other species blanketedmost of the lowlands of Europe. Similar forests covered much of the northeastern United States. Many of those forests have gone, cleared by long-dead settlers to make way for farms. Farms were needed, of course. People must be fed-and so must the draft animals that helped the farmers till the land. But forests have always been needed. Most furniture, house frames, floors, and everyday tools are made wholly or partly from wood. This book is made from paper manufactured from what were once trees growing in a forest. Wood was once the only fuel that heated every home, from the kings palace and the barons castle to the villagers cottage. It cooked everyones meals, and the only way to obtain hotwater for washing was to place a cauldron over a wood fire. Many people burn wood to keep warm even today. We mayboast of living in the Information Age, but the truth is that we live in the Wooden Age, and we always have. Nowadays a new use has been found for our forests, basedon a deeper understanding and appreciation of the way they function. Forests are seen not simply as sources of raw materials and fuel, but as living communities of plants, animals, fungi, and organisms so small they can be seen only with the aid of a microscope. The forest reveals itself as a wonderland of diversity, a community of living organisms so vast and complex as to be barely comprehensible. Most North Americans and Europeans now live in cities. The countryside and its forests are remote from the sidewalks, subways, city blocks, and suburban sprawl, and city parks are pale imitations of genuine countryside. This makes the forests still more special-and valuable. The forest is a place to visit. It is where families can walk, children can play, and naturalists can observe what is around them. It is where scientists can study the planet we all share, and where students can learn. Throughout much of the Tropics, forests are being cleared, although strenuous efforts are being made to halt the clearances. In temperate regions, on the other hand, the forests are expanding. Forests that have stood for centuries, known as old-growth forests in most of the world and as ancient woodland in Britain, are protected. The protection is not always effective and valued forests are sometimes lost, often through illegal logging, but conservation bodies are increasingly vigilant and the chainsaws can no longer enter the forest unchallenged. It seems certain, therefore, that the temperate forests will survive long into the future. Changes in the climate may alter their composition, but forests are not static; their composition is changing all the time. Trees come and go, but the forest will remain. Of that we may be certain.

Value of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM)

Value of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) Organizations worldwide are continuously trying to develop new and innovative ways to enhance their competitiveness. Bacallan (2000) suggests that some of these organizations are enhancing their competitiveness through improvements in their environmental performance to comply with mounting environmental regulations, to address the environmental concerns of their customers, and to mitigate the environmental impact of their production and service activities. Green supply chain management as a form of environmental improvement is an operational initiative that many organizations are adopting to address such environmental issues. Currently, the green concept is a critical issue for companies, but when the majority of businesses are cost focused, the idea of implementing and moving toward green practices is often seen as a costly strategy. Bowen et al. (2001) state that organizations will adopt green supply chain management practices if they identify that this will result in specific financial and operational benefits. According to Routroy (2009), Greening the manufacturing supply chain may result in one or more benefits, in terms of cost reduction, operational efficiency improvement, flexibility improvement, sales enhancement, customer value enhancement, and societal image improvement. Green supply chain management is also to enhance firms environmental performance through inter-organizational collaboration with business partners and increase efficiency by cost saving programs and proactive risk management practices (Hervani et al., 2005; Rao and Holt, 2005; Zhu and Sarkis, 2007). We will review the literature about Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) concept and then we will see how it is translated within the supply chains. Then, the common purpose of this research will be to identify the link between GSCM and overall firm performance. We decided, based on the literature and on a specific framework (Rao Holt, 2005) applied in Asia, to tackle the concept of green supply chain management in Western Europe by including environmental initiatives in: (1) Inbound logistics; (2) Production or the internal supply chain; (3) Outbound logistics, including reverse logistics. Nowadays, how organisations are implementing GSCM and what are the impacts on their business? At the end of this research we will identify the best practices, and the way they are they measured. Moreover, we will see in what extent an effective Green Supply Chain Management could be a driver for innovation and business performance in manufacturing firms? Finally, we will see if Green Supply Chain Management lead to profitability and competitiveness. Our study will consider manufacturing companies in Western Europe. II Literature review Definition Green supply chain management Several studies have considered the concept of ecological sustainability as a framework for studying management practices in both operational and strategic contexts (Sarkis and Rasheed, 1995; Klassen and McLaughlin, 1996; King and Lenox, 2001). As part of this effort, other studies have examined the greening of supply chains within various contexts including in product design (Allenby, 1993; Gupta, 1995), process design (Porter and Van der Linde, 1995a; Klassen and McLaughlin, 1996), manufacturing practices (Winsemius and Guntram, 1992), purchasing (Handfield et al., 2002) and a broad mixture of these elements (Bowen et al., 2001a). It is not surprising that GSCM finds its definition in supply chain management. Adding the green component to supply chain management involves addressing the influence and relationships of supply chain management to the natural environment. Motivated by an environmentally-conscious mindset, it can also stem from a competitiveness motive within organizations. In this paper GSCM is defined as: Green Supply Chain Management GSCM = Green Purchasing + Green Manufacturing/Materials Management + Green Distribution=Marketing + Reverse Logistics Figure 1 shows this GSCM equation graphically, where reverse logistics closes the loop of a typical forward supply chain and includes reuse, remanufacturing, and/or recycling of materials into new materials or other products with value in the marketplace. The idea is to eliminate or minimize waste (energy, emissions, chemical/hazardous, solid wastes). This figure is representative of a single organizations internal supply chain, its major operational elements and the linkage to external organizations. A number of environmentally conscious practices are evident throughout the supply chain ranging from green design (marketing and engineering), green procurement practices (e.g. certifying suppliers, purchasing environmentally sound materials/products), total quality environmental management (internal performance measurement, pollution prevention), environmentally friendly packaging and transportation, to the various product end-of-life practices defined by the Res of reduction, reuse, remanufacturing, recycling. Expanding this figure, a number of organizational relationships could be found at various stages of thismodel, including customers and their chains, as well as suppliers and their chains, forming webs of relationships. Figure 1. GSCM graph The development of industrial ecosystems would be greatly supported by GSCM practices. Korhonen and Niutanen (2003) in their study of material and energy flows in the local forest industry in Finland suggested these flows were comparable to other economic and industrial systems. In the last two decades, the product-based systems perspective and the geographically defined local-regional industrial ecosystem have Porter (1991) argues the pressure to innovate from an environmental perspective comes from regulatory pressure, as firms respond in creative and dynamic ways to environmental regulation by introducing innovations improving environmental outcomes. Other studies concluded environmental innovation is the result of market pressures causing firms to become more efficient. Porter and Van der Linde (1995a, b) concluded firms respond to competitive conditions and regulatory pressure by developing strategies to maximize resource productivity, enabling them to simultaneously improve their industrial and environmental performance. Furthering this issue, Greffen and Rothenberg (2000) suggest suppliers can be an important source of enhanced competency for radical environmental innovation, which, in relation to an integrated technological system, demands capabilities beyond those likely to exist within a single company. The added competency brought by the supply chain partners is important. Other external pressures do exist and include environmental compliance, liability, issues of business continuity, the call for benchmarking to national, international, or industry standards, customer attitudes toward product take-back, and even pressures from inter-organizational information technology/data management systems. The innovation of GSCM/Performance Measurement is necessary for a number of reasons in response to external pressures. For example, business performance measurement, for purposes of external reporting, is fundamentally driven by the creation, maximization and defence of economic rents or surplus. These surpluses or rents in business come from distinctive capabilities such as brands and reputation, strategic assets, innovations, and the distinctive structure of relationships firms enjoy both internally with their employees and/or externally with their customers and suppliers. External reporting is also necessary to maintain organizational legitimacy with respect to environmental issues (Harvey and Schaefer, 2001). Sustainability. One of the major definitions of sustainability and certainly most well known is that of the Brundtland Commission (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, p.8): development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. This short definition includes the interest of understanding the environmental impact of economic activity in both developing and industrialized economies (Erlich and Erlich, 1991); ensuring worldwide food safety (Lal et al., 2002); ensuring that vital human needs are met (Savitz and Weber, 2006); and assuring the protection of non-renewable resources (Whiteman and Cooper, 2000). Unfortunately, the societal aspect of sustainability is complicated for firms to apply and provides little explanation regarding how organizations might recognize future versus present needs, determine the technologies and resources necessary to meet those needs, and understand how to balance organizational responsibilities to numerous stakeholders such as shareholders, employees, society and the natural environment (Hart, 1995; Starik and Rands, 1995). Sustainability has been also investigated in the fields of management, operations, and engineering. Within the management literature, most of the current conceptualizations of organizational sustainability have focused on ecological sustainability (the natural environment), with little recognition of social and economic responsibilities (Jennings and Zandbergen, 1995; Shrivastava, 1995a; Starik and Rands, 1995). Sustainable refers to the triple bottom line, for economic, social and environmental. An approach to competitive advantage. A particular organization has competitive advantage when it achieves a higher return on investment than its competitors, or it is able to do so (Grant, 1996). Therefore, in order to have competitive advantage organizations must have the ability to obtain higher profit margins than other companies in the industry. Organizations with competitive advantage, however, might show not the highest profit rate. For example, competitive organizations might prefer, for one or another reason, to sell their products and services at a lower price than the maximum price it could mark. Two major types of competitive advantage can be enjoyed by organizations (Porter, 1985): cost advantage, which is the result of supplying similar products and/or services to low prices; and differentiation advantage, which comes from offering differentiated products and/or services to customers, who, in turn, are ready to pay an additional price which overcomes the additional differentiation costs. While the cost advantage position implies to have the lowest costs in the industry, differentiation advantage refers to offering something unique which is valued by customers. Competitive advantage can derive from one or more factors or sources. Firstly, literature on strategic management suggests the following major sources of cost advantage (e.g., Porter, 1985; Grant, 1996): scale economies, learning economies, production capacity management, product design, cost of inputs, process technology, and management efficiency. Secondly, sources of differentiation advantage include tangible and intangible aspects which are significantly valued by potential customers as to be ready to pay an additional price for them (e.g., Porter, 1985; Grant, 1996); tangible aspects refer to observable characteristics of the products and services, their performance, and complementary products and services; intangible aspects, in turn, include social, emotional, psychological and aesthetic considerations which are present in any choice of products and services. Recently, a major theoretical framework has been developed in strategic management literature which seems to be particularly appropriate for identifying the characteristics that a particular resource or capability must show in order to be a major source of competitive advantage. This theoretical framework is the resource based view of the firm theory. Performance Corporate performance measurement and its field application continues to grow. The diversity and level of performance measures are linked to the goal of the company or the individual strategic business units features. For instance, when measuring performance, organizations have to think about existing financial measures such as return on investment, profitability, market share and revenue growth at a competitive and strategic level. Other measures are more operationally focused, but may inevitably be linked to strategic level measures and issues. This is the case of customer service and inventory performance (supply, turnover). GSCM implementation Where to begin? Viable environmental sustainability programs require meaningful action across a broad range of processes. Some of the most impactful areas include: Production planning: The most valuable members of a supply chain are able to provide accurate forecasts and deliver reliably so as to help reduce over purchasing, over-production and waste Manufacturing: The adoption of techniques such as lean process improvement should result in less over processing as well as reduced energy intensive storage and waste Distribution: Network redesign. Smart routing, backhauling, fill optimization and mode switching à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬  all are likely to result in fewer freight miles Green design: The electronics and related high-tech industries practice collaboration as a means of optimizing the green aspects of their components and end-products; proactive and/or influential members of a supply chain can promote/pursue similar collaboration/ innovation Packaging: The greenest firms seek to minimize the environmental impact of packaging, not only by using less, but also by evaluating the energy, waste, recovery and other life cycle impacts of their packaging choices Recycled content: Companies score green points by maximizing their use. of these materials as well as by using materials in products that are in turn easily recyclable Warehousing: Challenge existing assumptions in light of higher energy costs and the need to reduce carbon footprints Green energy: More green points are available by using green or renewable energy sources à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬  although this can be difficult in regulated energy markets (and a factor in future location decisions) IT: Videoconferencing and remote servicing can reduce business travel; Energy Star rated PCs along with optimized power consumption settings can significantly pare energy costs Server farms: Energy efficient servers arrayed according to state-of-the-art cooling practices can generate enormous energy savings Ridesharing/telecommuting: A growing number of companies are working with municipalities to better optimize public transportation to their facilities. More companies are also enabling more workdays at home as well as providing incentives for carpooling Estates: Investments in building air tightness, insulation and energy efficient heating, cooling, lighting, plant and equipment can significantly reduce carbon footprints Green procurement: It is possible to reduce your carbon footprint by paying more attention to your own procurement. Supplier carbon footprint, ISO certifications, procurement distance have to be part of the selection criterias. Conceptual framework Greening the inbound function It is argued that greening the supply chain has numerous benefits to an organization, ranging from cost reduction, to integrating suppliers in a participative decision-making process that promotes environmental innovation (Bowen et al., 2001; Hall, 1993; Rao, 2002). Critical parts of the inbound function are the purchasing and supply field. Green purchasing strategies are adopted by organizations in response to the increasing global concerns of environmental sustainability. The Green purchasing should be able address reduction of waste produced, material substitution through environmental sourcing of raw materials, and waste minimization of hazardous materials. (Rao Holt, 2005) The involvement and support of suppliers is crucial to achieving such goals. (Vachon and Klassen, 2006). Furthermore, organizations are managing more and more their suppliers environmental performance to ensure that the materials and equipments supplied by them are environmentally-friendly in nature and are produced using environmentally-friendly processes. Min and Galle (1997) explore green purchasing to determine the key factors affecting a buying firms choice of suppliers, the key barriers and the obstacles to green purchasing initiatives. They also investigated the impact of green purchasing on a corporations environmental goals. Below listed subjects to get information on the green inbound phase of a supply chain: (1) Guiding suppliers to set up their own environmental programs; (2) bringing together suppliers in the same industry to share their know-how and problems; (3) informing suppliers about the benefits of cleaner production and technologies; (4) urging/pressuring suppliers to take environmental actions; and (5) choice of suppliers by environmental criteria. Greening the production phase or the internal supply chain In this phase, there are a number of concepts that can be explored, such as cleaner production, design for environment, remanufacturing and lean production. Hong, He-Boong, Jungbae Roh, (2009) highlight through their research that strategic green management needs the combination of integrated product development (IPD) and supply chain coordination (SCC) for desired business outcomes. Thanks to a survey on 580 manufacturing plants in the US, adopting cleaner production techniques, Florida and Davison (2001) showed that green corporations are innovative in their environmental practices, and these strategies emerge from a real commitment towards reducing waste and pollution. Lean production/manufacturing is also an important consideration in reducing the environmental impact of the production phase. In their research King and Lenox (2001), concludes that lean production is complementary to improvements in environmental performance and it often lowers the marginal cost of pollution reduction thus enhancing competitiveness. In addition, Rothenberg et al. (2001) identify that lean plants aim to minimize waste and buffers, leading not only to reduce buffers in environmental technology and management, but also in an overall approach to manufacturing that minimizes waste products. (1) Environment-friendly raw materials; (2) substitution of environmentally questionable materials; (3) taking environmental criteria into consideration; (4) environmental design considerations; (5) optimization of process to reduce solid waste and emissions; (6) use of cleaner technology processes to make savings in energy, water, and waste; (7) internal recycling of materials within the production phase; and (8) incorporating environmental total quality management principles such as worker empowerment. Greening the outbound function On the outbound side of the green supply chain, green logistics comprises all links from the manufacturer to the end users and includes products, processes, packaging, transport, and disposal (Skjoett-Larsen, 2000). Rao, (2003) and Sarkis, (1999) argue on the fact that green marketing, environment-friendly packaging, and environment-friendly distribution, are all initiatives that might improve the environmental performance of an organization and its supply chain. Reverse logistics and waste exchange and ore generally management of wastes in the outbound function can lead to cost savings and enhanced competitiveness (Rao, 2003). In order to address these environmental impacts of packaging, many countries now have programs and legislation that aims to minimize the amount of packaging that enters the waste stream, such as the Packaging Directive in the EU. The distribution, for the whole supply chain is a huge stake for green management. In fact the distribution results of a trade-off between efficiency and effectiveness firm strategy. For this reason is difficult to handle As part of outbound logistics, green marketing has an important part to play in the link between environmental innovation and competitive advantage (Menon and Menon, 1997). Encouraging suppliers to take back packaging is a form of reverse logistics that can be an important consideration in greening the outbound function, with a study by Dorn (1996) identifying an increase in market share amongst companies that implemented an environmentally-friendly packaging scheme. The product design step is more and more integrated within green supply chain issues because 80% of the environmental burden and cost of a product is fixed during this phase (Carbone, Moatti, 2008). Strategic variables to take in account for an empirical study; (1) Environment-friendly waste management; (2) environmental improvement of packaging; (3) taking back packaging; (4) eco-labeling; (5) recovery of companys end-of-life products; (6) providing consumers with information on environmental friendly products and/or production methods; and (7) use of environmentally-friendly transportation. Competitiveness Economic performance Bacallan (2000) suggests that organizations are enhancing their competitiveness through improvements in their environmental performance to comply with mounting environmental regulations, to address the environmental concerns of their customers (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦). However, an interesting point to notice is that, as long as the market does not seek environmental value-drivers in the products and services it purchases, environmental issues are not necessarily considered by organizations and consumers. (Rao Holt, 2005) Fortunately, over the last few years there has been a growth in environmental awareness of consumers in general. Clearly a growing number of corporations are developing company-wide environmental programs and green products sourced from markets around the world. Therefore, environmental issues are becoming a source of competitiveness. All these efforts aim to improve environmental performance, enhance corporate image, reduce costs, reduce risks of non-compliance and improve marketing advantage. Nevertheless, some organizations are still looking upon green initiatives as involving trade-offs between environmental performance and economic performance. The financial performance of firms is affected by environmental performance in a variety of ways. When waste, both hazardous and non-hazardous, is minimized as part of environmental management, it results in better utilization of natural resources, improved efficiency, higher productivity and reduces operating costs (Rao Holt, 2005). Nowadays and in the future, a good green player could expect to increase its brand image and its market share and then improve its profitability against company without enough green concern while saving costs by innovative processes. To investigate the link between green supply chain management and economic performance we could refers to those key aspects: (1) New market opportunities; (2) product price increase; (3) profit margin;(4) sales; and (5) market share. And competitiveness: (1) Improved efficiency; (2) quality improvement; (3) productivity improvement; and (4) cost savings. Methodology To validate our research, an empirical, survey-based research approach will be taken. Based on the empirical studies through the literature, and a meaningful framework used in the relevant research of Rao Holt in 2005 applied on Asian companies. We choose to follow a common technique to validate the framework presented in the preceding section, a linear SEM (Stochastic Expectation Maximization) approach is used (JÃÆ' ¶reskog and SÃÆ' ¶rbom, 1993) to validate the causal relationships between the different latent constructs of: greening the inbound function; greening production; greening the outbound function; competitiveness and; economic performance. The questionnaire will be distributed to the supply chain managers and/or environmental management representative (EMR) or the chief executive of manufacturing organizations in Western Europe. In order to have both MNCs and SMEs ( Responses will be collected on a four-point and five-point Likert scale, and open-ended questions. The four-point scale served to force the respondents to check either on the negative side or on the positive side. The choice not to focus only on the leading edge ISO14001 accredited organizations (running environmental management) allow us to broader our research and then make a comparison between those without formal environmental management accreditation, and best players accredited. In terms of financial performance, this strategy will be interesting for identifying benefits and again do comparisons. Expected results. As this type of research was already done in South-Est Asia, our results will allow us to compare our findings and trend with those in South-Est Asia. We expect a response of 10%, therefore we will send to a consequent sample to get sufficient and tangible return. We will probably be able to confirm that greening the supply chain also has potential to lead to competitiveness and economic performance. As the current environmental concern in Europe is high, including governmental and customers pressures these research findings would probably show that firms that are greening their supply chains not only achieve substantial cost savings, but also enhance either sales, market share or exploit new market opportunities. The cost aspect will be important to assess as it is directly connected to the overall performance. The main limitation of this research will be probably the small sample of organizations, but the lack of empirical research in Europe will be also one of the main strengths of this paper. Therefore, the findings cannot be generalized to all organizations in this region or around the world. Finally, future research should empirically test the relationships suggested in this paper in different countries, to enable comparative studies. For further research, a larger sample will allow detailed cross-sectoral comparisons and establish international patterns regarding benefits from GSCM. Performance Measurement for Green Supply chain management: Context In supply chains with multiple actors, (vendors manufacturers, distributors and retailers) whether regionally or globally dispersed, it is difficult to attribute performance results to one particular entity within the chain, by the way performance measurement is really challenging. There are difficulties in measuring performance within organizations and even more difficulties arise in inter-organizational environmental performance measurement. The reasons for lack of systems to measure performance across organizations are multidimensional, including non-standardized data, poor technological integration, geographical and cultural differences, differences in organizational policy, lack of agreed upon metrics, or poor understanding of the need for inter-organizational performance measurement. (Hervani, A. Helms, M. Sarkis, J., 2005) Performance measurement in supply chains is difficult for additional reasons, especially when looking at numerous tiers within a supply chain, and green supply chain management performance measurement, or GSCM/PM, is virtually non-existent. With these barriers and difficulties in mind, GSCM/PM is needed for a number of reasons (including regulatory, marketing and competitiveness reasons). Overcoming these barriers is not a trivial issue, but the long-term sustainability (environmental and otherwise) and competitiveness of organizations may rely on successful adoption of GSCM/PM. The basic purposes of GSCM/PM are: external reporting (economic rent), internal control (managing the business better) and internal analysis (understanding the business better and continuous improvement). These are the fundamental issues that drive the development of frameworks for business performance measurement. It is important to consider both purpose, as well as the interrelationships of these various measurements. Supply chain management Supply chain management is the coordination and management of a complex network of activities involved in delivering a finished product to the end-user or customer. It is a vital business function and the process includes sourcing raw materials and parts, manufacturing and assembling products, storage, order entry and tracking, distribution through the various channels and finally delivery to the customer. A companys supply chain structure consists of external suppliers, internal functions of the company, and external distributors, as well as customers (commercial or end-user). Firms may be members of multiple supply chains simultaneously. The management and coordination is further complicated by global players spread across geographic boundaries and multiple time zones. The successful management of a supply chain is also influenced by customer expectations, globalization, information technology, government regulation, competition and the environment. Performance management and measurement Corporate performance measurement and its application continue to grow and encompass both quantitative and qualitative measurements and approaches. The variety and level of performance measures depends greatly on the goal of the organization or the individual strategic business units characteristics. For example, when measuring performance, companies must consider existing financial measures such as return on investment, profitability, market share and revenue growth at a more competitive and strategic level. Other measures such as customer service and inventory performance (supply, turnover) are more operationally focused, but may necessarily be linked to strategic level measures and issues. Overall, these difficulties in developing standards for performance measurement are traced to the various measurement taxonomies. Example taxonomic considerations include: management level to measure à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" strategic, tactical, or operational; tangible versus intangible measures; variations in collection and reporting; an organizations location along the supply chain or functional differentiation within organizations (e.g. accounting, versus marketing or operations). Similar to the performance measurement used, the performance measurement system may be unique to each individual organization, or unit within an organization, reflecting its fundamental purpose and its environment. Several studies have investigated the universal principles of performance measurement (Adams et al., 1995; Gunasekaran et al., 2001; Sink and Tuttle, 1990). These studies arrived at a number of conclus Value of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) Value of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) Organizations worldwide are continuously trying to develop new and innovative ways to enhance their competitiveness. Bacallan (2000) suggests that some of these organizations are enhancing their competitiveness through improvements in their environmental performance to comply with mounting environmental regulations, to address the environmental concerns of their customers, and to mitigate the environmental impact of their production and service activities. Green supply chain management as a form of environmental improvement is an operational initiative that many organizations are adopting to address such environmental issues. Currently, the green concept is a critical issue for companies, but when the majority of businesses are cost focused, the idea of implementing and moving toward green practices is often seen as a costly strategy. Bowen et al. (2001) state that organizations will adopt green supply chain management practices if they identify that this will result in specific financial and operational benefits. According to Routroy (2009), Greening the manufacturing supply chain may result in one or more benefits, in terms of cost reduction, operational efficiency improvement, flexibility improvement, sales enhancement, customer value enhancement, and societal image improvement. Green supply chain management is also to enhance firms environmental performance through inter-organizational collaboration with business partners and increase efficiency by cost saving programs and proactive risk management practices (Hervani et al., 2005; Rao and Holt, 2005; Zhu and Sarkis, 2007). We will review the literature about Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) concept and then we will see how it is translated within the supply chains. Then, the common purpose of this research will be to identify the link between GSCM and overall firm performance. We decided, based on the literature and on a specific framework (Rao Holt, 2005) applied in Asia, to tackle the concept of green supply chain management in Western Europe by including environmental initiatives in: (1) Inbound logistics; (2) Production or the internal supply chain; (3) Outbound logistics, including reverse logistics. Nowadays, how organisations are implementing GSCM and what are the impacts on their business? At the end of this research we will identify the best practices, and the way they are they measured. Moreover, we will see in what extent an effective Green Supply Chain Management could be a driver for innovation and business performance in manufacturing firms? Finally, we will see if Green Supply Chain Management lead to profitability and competitiveness. Our study will consider manufacturing companies in Western Europe. II Literature review Definition Green supply chain management Several studies have considered the concept of ecological sustainability as a framework for studying management practices in both operational and strategic contexts (Sarkis and Rasheed, 1995; Klassen and McLaughlin, 1996; King and Lenox, 2001). As part of this effort, other studies have examined the greening of supply chains within various contexts including in product design (Allenby, 1993; Gupta, 1995), process design (Porter and Van der Linde, 1995a; Klassen and McLaughlin, 1996), manufacturing practices (Winsemius and Guntram, 1992), purchasing (Handfield et al., 2002) and a broad mixture of these elements (Bowen et al., 2001a). It is not surprising that GSCM finds its definition in supply chain management. Adding the green component to supply chain management involves addressing the influence and relationships of supply chain management to the natural environment. Motivated by an environmentally-conscious mindset, it can also stem from a competitiveness motive within organizations. In this paper GSCM is defined as: Green Supply Chain Management GSCM = Green Purchasing + Green Manufacturing/Materials Management + Green Distribution=Marketing + Reverse Logistics Figure 1 shows this GSCM equation graphically, where reverse logistics closes the loop of a typical forward supply chain and includes reuse, remanufacturing, and/or recycling of materials into new materials or other products with value in the marketplace. The idea is to eliminate or minimize waste (energy, emissions, chemical/hazardous, solid wastes). This figure is representative of a single organizations internal supply chain, its major operational elements and the linkage to external organizations. A number of environmentally conscious practices are evident throughout the supply chain ranging from green design (marketing and engineering), green procurement practices (e.g. certifying suppliers, purchasing environmentally sound materials/products), total quality environmental management (internal performance measurement, pollution prevention), environmentally friendly packaging and transportation, to the various product end-of-life practices defined by the Res of reduction, reuse, remanufacturing, recycling. Expanding this figure, a number of organizational relationships could be found at various stages of thismodel, including customers and their chains, as well as suppliers and their chains, forming webs of relationships. Figure 1. GSCM graph The development of industrial ecosystems would be greatly supported by GSCM practices. Korhonen and Niutanen (2003) in their study of material and energy flows in the local forest industry in Finland suggested these flows were comparable to other economic and industrial systems. In the last two decades, the product-based systems perspective and the geographically defined local-regional industrial ecosystem have Porter (1991) argues the pressure to innovate from an environmental perspective comes from regulatory pressure, as firms respond in creative and dynamic ways to environmental regulation by introducing innovations improving environmental outcomes. Other studies concluded environmental innovation is the result of market pressures causing firms to become more efficient. Porter and Van der Linde (1995a, b) concluded firms respond to competitive conditions and regulatory pressure by developing strategies to maximize resource productivity, enabling them to simultaneously improve their industrial and environmental performance. Furthering this issue, Greffen and Rothenberg (2000) suggest suppliers can be an important source of enhanced competency for radical environmental innovation, which, in relation to an integrated technological system, demands capabilities beyond those likely to exist within a single company. The added competency brought by the supply chain partners is important. Other external pressures do exist and include environmental compliance, liability, issues of business continuity, the call for benchmarking to national, international, or industry standards, customer attitudes toward product take-back, and even pressures from inter-organizational information technology/data management systems. The innovation of GSCM/Performance Measurement is necessary for a number of reasons in response to external pressures. For example, business performance measurement, for purposes of external reporting, is fundamentally driven by the creation, maximization and defence of economic rents or surplus. These surpluses or rents in business come from distinctive capabilities such as brands and reputation, strategic assets, innovations, and the distinctive structure of relationships firms enjoy both internally with their employees and/or externally with their customers and suppliers. External reporting is also necessary to maintain organizational legitimacy with respect to environmental issues (Harvey and Schaefer, 2001). Sustainability. One of the major definitions of sustainability and certainly most well known is that of the Brundtland Commission (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, p.8): development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. This short definition includes the interest of understanding the environmental impact of economic activity in both developing and industrialized economies (Erlich and Erlich, 1991); ensuring worldwide food safety (Lal et al., 2002); ensuring that vital human needs are met (Savitz and Weber, 2006); and assuring the protection of non-renewable resources (Whiteman and Cooper, 2000). Unfortunately, the societal aspect of sustainability is complicated for firms to apply and provides little explanation regarding how organizations might recognize future versus present needs, determine the technologies and resources necessary to meet those needs, and understand how to balance organizational responsibilities to numerous stakeholders such as shareholders, employees, society and the natural environment (Hart, 1995; Starik and Rands, 1995). Sustainability has been also investigated in the fields of management, operations, and engineering. Within the management literature, most of the current conceptualizations of organizational sustainability have focused on ecological sustainability (the natural environment), with little recognition of social and economic responsibilities (Jennings and Zandbergen, 1995; Shrivastava, 1995a; Starik and Rands, 1995). Sustainable refers to the triple bottom line, for economic, social and environmental. An approach to competitive advantage. A particular organization has competitive advantage when it achieves a higher return on investment than its competitors, or it is able to do so (Grant, 1996). Therefore, in order to have competitive advantage organizations must have the ability to obtain higher profit margins than other companies in the industry. Organizations with competitive advantage, however, might show not the highest profit rate. For example, competitive organizations might prefer, for one or another reason, to sell their products and services at a lower price than the maximum price it could mark. Two major types of competitive advantage can be enjoyed by organizations (Porter, 1985): cost advantage, which is the result of supplying similar products and/or services to low prices; and differentiation advantage, which comes from offering differentiated products and/or services to customers, who, in turn, are ready to pay an additional price which overcomes the additional differentiation costs. While the cost advantage position implies to have the lowest costs in the industry, differentiation advantage refers to offering something unique which is valued by customers. Competitive advantage can derive from one or more factors or sources. Firstly, literature on strategic management suggests the following major sources of cost advantage (e.g., Porter, 1985; Grant, 1996): scale economies, learning economies, production capacity management, product design, cost of inputs, process technology, and management efficiency. Secondly, sources of differentiation advantage include tangible and intangible aspects which are significantly valued by potential customers as to be ready to pay an additional price for them (e.g., Porter, 1985; Grant, 1996); tangible aspects refer to observable characteristics of the products and services, their performance, and complementary products and services; intangible aspects, in turn, include social, emotional, psychological and aesthetic considerations which are present in any choice of products and services. Recently, a major theoretical framework has been developed in strategic management literature which seems to be particularly appropriate for identifying the characteristics that a particular resource or capability must show in order to be a major source of competitive advantage. This theoretical framework is the resource based view of the firm theory. Performance Corporate performance measurement and its field application continues to grow. The diversity and level of performance measures are linked to the goal of the company or the individual strategic business units features. For instance, when measuring performance, organizations have to think about existing financial measures such as return on investment, profitability, market share and revenue growth at a competitive and strategic level. Other measures are more operationally focused, but may inevitably be linked to strategic level measures and issues. This is the case of customer service and inventory performance (supply, turnover). GSCM implementation Where to begin? Viable environmental sustainability programs require meaningful action across a broad range of processes. Some of the most impactful areas include: Production planning: The most valuable members of a supply chain are able to provide accurate forecasts and deliver reliably so as to help reduce over purchasing, over-production and waste Manufacturing: The adoption of techniques such as lean process improvement should result in less over processing as well as reduced energy intensive storage and waste Distribution: Network redesign. Smart routing, backhauling, fill optimization and mode switching à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬  all are likely to result in fewer freight miles Green design: The electronics and related high-tech industries practice collaboration as a means of optimizing the green aspects of their components and end-products; proactive and/or influential members of a supply chain can promote/pursue similar collaboration/ innovation Packaging: The greenest firms seek to minimize the environmental impact of packaging, not only by using less, but also by evaluating the energy, waste, recovery and other life cycle impacts of their packaging choices Recycled content: Companies score green points by maximizing their use. of these materials as well as by using materials in products that are in turn easily recyclable Warehousing: Challenge existing assumptions in light of higher energy costs and the need to reduce carbon footprints Green energy: More green points are available by using green or renewable energy sources à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬  although this can be difficult in regulated energy markets (and a factor in future location decisions) IT: Videoconferencing and remote servicing can reduce business travel; Energy Star rated PCs along with optimized power consumption settings can significantly pare energy costs Server farms: Energy efficient servers arrayed according to state-of-the-art cooling practices can generate enormous energy savings Ridesharing/telecommuting: A growing number of companies are working with municipalities to better optimize public transportation to their facilities. More companies are also enabling more workdays at home as well as providing incentives for carpooling Estates: Investments in building air tightness, insulation and energy efficient heating, cooling, lighting, plant and equipment can significantly reduce carbon footprints Green procurement: It is possible to reduce your carbon footprint by paying more attention to your own procurement. Supplier carbon footprint, ISO certifications, procurement distance have to be part of the selection criterias. Conceptual framework Greening the inbound function It is argued that greening the supply chain has numerous benefits to an organization, ranging from cost reduction, to integrating suppliers in a participative decision-making process that promotes environmental innovation (Bowen et al., 2001; Hall, 1993; Rao, 2002). Critical parts of the inbound function are the purchasing and supply field. Green purchasing strategies are adopted by organizations in response to the increasing global concerns of environmental sustainability. The Green purchasing should be able address reduction of waste produced, material substitution through environmental sourcing of raw materials, and waste minimization of hazardous materials. (Rao Holt, 2005) The involvement and support of suppliers is crucial to achieving such goals. (Vachon and Klassen, 2006). Furthermore, organizations are managing more and more their suppliers environmental performance to ensure that the materials and equipments supplied by them are environmentally-friendly in nature and are produced using environmentally-friendly processes. Min and Galle (1997) explore green purchasing to determine the key factors affecting a buying firms choice of suppliers, the key barriers and the obstacles to green purchasing initiatives. They also investigated the impact of green purchasing on a corporations environmental goals. Below listed subjects to get information on the green inbound phase of a supply chain: (1) Guiding suppliers to set up their own environmental programs; (2) bringing together suppliers in the same industry to share their know-how and problems; (3) informing suppliers about the benefits of cleaner production and technologies; (4) urging/pressuring suppliers to take environmental actions; and (5) choice of suppliers by environmental criteria. Greening the production phase or the internal supply chain In this phase, there are a number of concepts that can be explored, such as cleaner production, design for environment, remanufacturing and lean production. Hong, He-Boong, Jungbae Roh, (2009) highlight through their research that strategic green management needs the combination of integrated product development (IPD) and supply chain coordination (SCC) for desired business outcomes. Thanks to a survey on 580 manufacturing plants in the US, adopting cleaner production techniques, Florida and Davison (2001) showed that green corporations are innovative in their environmental practices, and these strategies emerge from a real commitment towards reducing waste and pollution. Lean production/manufacturing is also an important consideration in reducing the environmental impact of the production phase. In their research King and Lenox (2001), concludes that lean production is complementary to improvements in environmental performance and it often lowers the marginal cost of pollution reduction thus enhancing competitiveness. In addition, Rothenberg et al. (2001) identify that lean plants aim to minimize waste and buffers, leading not only to reduce buffers in environmental technology and management, but also in an overall approach to manufacturing that minimizes waste products. (1) Environment-friendly raw materials; (2) substitution of environmentally questionable materials; (3) taking environmental criteria into consideration; (4) environmental design considerations; (5) optimization of process to reduce solid waste and emissions; (6) use of cleaner technology processes to make savings in energy, water, and waste; (7) internal recycling of materials within the production phase; and (8) incorporating environmental total quality management principles such as worker empowerment. Greening the outbound function On the outbound side of the green supply chain, green logistics comprises all links from the manufacturer to the end users and includes products, processes, packaging, transport, and disposal (Skjoett-Larsen, 2000). Rao, (2003) and Sarkis, (1999) argue on the fact that green marketing, environment-friendly packaging, and environment-friendly distribution, are all initiatives that might improve the environmental performance of an organization and its supply chain. Reverse logistics and waste exchange and ore generally management of wastes in the outbound function can lead to cost savings and enhanced competitiveness (Rao, 2003). In order to address these environmental impacts of packaging, many countries now have programs and legislation that aims to minimize the amount of packaging that enters the waste stream, such as the Packaging Directive in the EU. The distribution, for the whole supply chain is a huge stake for green management. In fact the distribution results of a trade-off between efficiency and effectiveness firm strategy. For this reason is difficult to handle As part of outbound logistics, green marketing has an important part to play in the link between environmental innovation and competitive advantage (Menon and Menon, 1997). Encouraging suppliers to take back packaging is a form of reverse logistics that can be an important consideration in greening the outbound function, with a study by Dorn (1996) identifying an increase in market share amongst companies that implemented an environmentally-friendly packaging scheme. The product design step is more and more integrated within green supply chain issues because 80% of the environmental burden and cost of a product is fixed during this phase (Carbone, Moatti, 2008). Strategic variables to take in account for an empirical study; (1) Environment-friendly waste management; (2) environmental improvement of packaging; (3) taking back packaging; (4) eco-labeling; (5) recovery of companys end-of-life products; (6) providing consumers with information on environmental friendly products and/or production methods; and (7) use of environmentally-friendly transportation. Competitiveness Economic performance Bacallan (2000) suggests that organizations are enhancing their competitiveness through improvements in their environmental performance to comply with mounting environmental regulations, to address the environmental concerns of their customers (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦). However, an interesting point to notice is that, as long as the market does not seek environmental value-drivers in the products and services it purchases, environmental issues are not necessarily considered by organizations and consumers. (Rao Holt, 2005) Fortunately, over the last few years there has been a growth in environmental awareness of consumers in general. Clearly a growing number of corporations are developing company-wide environmental programs and green products sourced from markets around the world. Therefore, environmental issues are becoming a source of competitiveness. All these efforts aim to improve environmental performance, enhance corporate image, reduce costs, reduce risks of non-compliance and improve marketing advantage. Nevertheless, some organizations are still looking upon green initiatives as involving trade-offs between environmental performance and economic performance. The financial performance of firms is affected by environmental performance in a variety of ways. When waste, both hazardous and non-hazardous, is minimized as part of environmental management, it results in better utilization of natural resources, improved efficiency, higher productivity and reduces operating costs (Rao Holt, 2005). Nowadays and in the future, a good green player could expect to increase its brand image and its market share and then improve its profitability against company without enough green concern while saving costs by innovative processes. To investigate the link between green supply chain management and economic performance we could refers to those key aspects: (1) New market opportunities; (2) product price increase; (3) profit margin;(4) sales; and (5) market share. And competitiveness: (1) Improved efficiency; (2) quality improvement; (3) productivity improvement; and (4) cost savings. Methodology To validate our research, an empirical, survey-based research approach will be taken. Based on the empirical studies through the literature, and a meaningful framework used in the relevant research of Rao Holt in 2005 applied on Asian companies. We choose to follow a common technique to validate the framework presented in the preceding section, a linear SEM (Stochastic Expectation Maximization) approach is used (JÃÆ' ¶reskog and SÃÆ' ¶rbom, 1993) to validate the causal relationships between the different latent constructs of: greening the inbound function; greening production; greening the outbound function; competitiveness and; economic performance. The questionnaire will be distributed to the supply chain managers and/or environmental management representative (EMR) or the chief executive of manufacturing organizations in Western Europe. In order to have both MNCs and SMEs ( Responses will be collected on a four-point and five-point Likert scale, and open-ended questions. The four-point scale served to force the respondents to check either on the negative side or on the positive side. The choice not to focus only on the leading edge ISO14001 accredited organizations (running environmental management) allow us to broader our research and then make a comparison between those without formal environmental management accreditation, and best players accredited. In terms of financial performance, this strategy will be interesting for identifying benefits and again do comparisons. Expected results. As this type of research was already done in South-Est Asia, our results will allow us to compare our findings and trend with those in South-Est Asia. We expect a response of 10%, therefore we will send to a consequent sample to get sufficient and tangible return. We will probably be able to confirm that greening the supply chain also has potential to lead to competitiveness and economic performance. As the current environmental concern in Europe is high, including governmental and customers pressures these research findings would probably show that firms that are greening their supply chains not only achieve substantial cost savings, but also enhance either sales, market share or exploit new market opportunities. The cost aspect will be important to assess as it is directly connected to the overall performance. The main limitation of this research will be probably the small sample of organizations, but the lack of empirical research in Europe will be also one of the main strengths of this paper. Therefore, the findings cannot be generalized to all organizations in this region or around the world. Finally, future research should empirically test the relationships suggested in this paper in different countries, to enable comparative studies. For further research, a larger sample will allow detailed cross-sectoral comparisons and establish international patterns regarding benefits from GSCM. Performance Measurement for Green Supply chain management: Context In supply chains with multiple actors, (vendors manufacturers, distributors and retailers) whether regionally or globally dispersed, it is difficult to attribute performance results to one particular entity within the chain, by the way performance measurement is really challenging. There are difficulties in measuring performance within organizations and even more difficulties arise in inter-organizational environmental performance measurement. The reasons for lack of systems to measure performance across organizations are multidimensional, including non-standardized data, poor technological integration, geographical and cultural differences, differences in organizational policy, lack of agreed upon metrics, or poor understanding of the need for inter-organizational performance measurement. (Hervani, A. Helms, M. Sarkis, J., 2005) Performance measurement in supply chains is difficult for additional reasons, especially when looking at numerous tiers within a supply chain, and green supply chain management performance measurement, or GSCM/PM, is virtually non-existent. With these barriers and difficulties in mind, GSCM/PM is needed for a number of reasons (including regulatory, marketing and competitiveness reasons). Overcoming these barriers is not a trivial issue, but the long-term sustainability (environmental and otherwise) and competitiveness of organizations may rely on successful adoption of GSCM/PM. The basic purposes of GSCM/PM are: external reporting (economic rent), internal control (managing the business better) and internal analysis (understanding the business better and continuous improvement). These are the fundamental issues that drive the development of frameworks for business performance measurement. It is important to consider both purpose, as well as the interrelationships of these various measurements. Supply chain management Supply chain management is the coordination and management of a complex network of activities involved in delivering a finished product to the end-user or customer. It is a vital business function and the process includes sourcing raw materials and parts, manufacturing and assembling products, storage, order entry and tracking, distribution through the various channels and finally delivery to the customer. A companys supply chain structure consists of external suppliers, internal functions of the company, and external distributors, as well as customers (commercial or end-user). Firms may be members of multiple supply chains simultaneously. The management and coordination is further complicated by global players spread across geographic boundaries and multiple time zones. The successful management of a supply chain is also influenced by customer expectations, globalization, information technology, government regulation, competition and the environment. Performance management and measurement Corporate performance measurement and its application continue to grow and encompass both quantitative and qualitative measurements and approaches. The variety and level of performance measures depends greatly on the goal of the organization or the individual strategic business units characteristics. For example, when measuring performance, companies must consider existing financial measures such as return on investment, profitability, market share and revenue growth at a more competitive and strategic level. Other measures such as customer service and inventory performance (supply, turnover) are more operationally focused, but may necessarily be linked to strategic level measures and issues. Overall, these difficulties in developing standards for performance measurement are traced to the various measurement taxonomies. Example taxonomic considerations include: management level to measure à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" strategic, tactical, or operational; tangible versus intangible measures; variations in collection and reporting; an organizations location along the supply chain or functional differentiation within organizations (e.g. accounting, versus marketing or operations). Similar to the performance measurement used, the performance measurement system may be unique to each individual organization, or unit within an organization, reflecting its fundamental purpose and its environment. Several studies have investigated the universal principles of performance measurement (Adams et al., 1995; Gunasekaran et al., 2001; Sink and Tuttle, 1990). These studies arrived at a number of conclus

An Economic Analysis of Oregon’s 2007 Road User Fee Pilot Program Essay

I. Introduction and Background The gasoline tax has provided revenue for the Federal and State Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for decades; however, the tax rates have remained stagnate leading to the funds depletion. The HTF is responsible for funding highway and mass transit projects and also maintenance of those projects at the Federal and State level. In 2005 around 80 percent of funding for all projects came from the gasoline tax (Kim, Porter, Whitty, Svadlenak Lareson, Capps, Imholt & Person 2008, pg. 37). Thus, it is vital for the HTF to be a revenue collecting system that can replace the gasoline tax. Oregon has recently begun testing an alternative revenue collection program to fund their HTF. Currently, State gasoline tax is set at 24 cents per-gallon and that is on top of the Federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents, which only, 18.3 cents is used for roads, the total tax equals to 42.4 cents per-gallon (McMullen, Zhang, & Nakahara, 2010, pg. 360) (Austin & Dinan, 2012 pg.2). The gasoline tax has not been raised in years and is unable to keep up with fuel-efficient technologies. Consequently, the Federal government has had to allocate funds to States HTF for projects along with States having to borrow money form their other accounts. Therefore Oregon proposed the 2007 Road User Fee Pilot Program to test if a vehicle mileage traveled (VMT) tax is a feasible solution to the gasoline tax. Oregon’s propose program is in response to new fuel-efficient vehicles and corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards that have forced the automotive industry to rise miles-per-gallon in new vehicles to help combat climate change. It is estimated that CAFE standards have lower the gasoline tax revenue around twenty percent (Austi... ... Evaluation of Oregon's Vehicle-Miles-Traveled Revenue Collection System." Transportation Research Board 2079: 37-44. Print. McMullen, Starr, Lei Zhang, and Kyle Nakahara. "Distributional impacts of changing from a gasoline tax to a vehicle-mile tax for light vehicles: A case study of Oregon." Transport Policy 17: 359-366. Print. Rufolo, Anthony, and Thomas Kimpel. "Responses to Oregon's Experiment in Road Pricing ." Transportation Research Board 2079: 1-7. Print. Thomas, Michael , and Kevin Heaslip. "Technological Change and the Lowest Common Denominator Problem: an Analysis of Oregon's Vehicle Miles Travelled Fee Experiment ." Journal of City and Town Management 2: 1-23. Web. 6 May 2014. Whitty, James. "Oregon's Mileage Fee Concept and Road User Fee Pilot Program: Final Report ." Oregon Department of Transportation 1 Nov. 2007: iv-92. Print.

A Review Paper of Internet Banking Services -- internet banking, bankin

Today, Information Technology revolutionized our life almost in every filed. One of among several blessing of information technology is Internet Banking services that brings ease and comfort for our banking activities. Over few years Internet Banking has evolved as convenient, self-serviced technology, cost-reducing and time saving channel. Internet banking is available 24x7 across geographies. In last few years, the number of internet banking users has been increasing rapidly. In present hyper competitive environment internet banking works as a competitive differentiator among banks. Internet banking has become an important revenue builder for banks. Increased competition in the banking sector and customer demand is forcing banks to provide their services online (Southard, P. & Siau, K, 2004). Banks try to gain competitive advantages in technological atmosphere by adopting new technological developments in their area as soon as possible (Ozcan, 2007; Chang 2002). Information technology developments in the banking sector have speed up communication and transactions for clients. It is vital to extend this banking feature to clients for maximizing the advantages for both clients and service providers (Safeena, Abdullah and Hema, 2010, 2011; Qureshi et al, 2008). In the past, internet banking has been adopted by banks mainly to decrease costs and increases revenue by reducing staff and branch networks. Today, banks are visualizing the internet banking as a strategic enabler of customer services and others view internet banking as the key to expansion. Internet banking has gained acceptance throughout the world as a new delivery channel for performing various banking and financial activities. Internet Banking is an internet portal,... ...ility of technology and infrastructure to support the new model of banking. Second, the need for Internet banking itself – Internet Banking or an efficient system of instantaneous banking or convenient banking. Third, an adequate mechanism to tackle the security risk and operational risk aspects (Sharma, 2001). Fourth, a proper legal framework to take care of the rights and obligation of the consumers. While most of these issues have been somewhat addressed, an important issue still remains - what existing and potential consumers feel about Internet banking and on the basis of this how an appropriate banking model can be developed in Indian context. (Sharma B.R., 2001; Gupta P.K., 2008). Perceived Factors behind the Growth in Internet Banking: †¢ Competition †¢ Cost Efficiencies †¢ Geographical Reach †¢ Branding †¢ Relationship building †¢ Customers Demographics

Brave New World Government

Government: this word is used to define the system that maintains the state and her people. This system is run by officials who, hopefully, have the nation's best interest at heart; but these best interests for a country often find themselves conflicting in their particular perspectives. In the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, the government has chosen to preserve the interest of state and this dystopia is the result of mankind choosing the wrong faction in the conflict of interest.To clarify, the principles, theories and arguments presented here in are democratic in orientation and not communistic, because the arguments aim toward freedom and rights. Those in control in Brave New World have misguided the nation’s populace into dystopia, they have lost the people's interest, they have disregarded the people's respect and they have effectively stolen evolution. There will always be a great conflict for those with the misfortune of being leaders: to preserve the state or the people.A decisive argument will skip the moral ethics and get right down to the primary idea: a nation is only possible through her people. This being said, it becomes logical that the right course of action for any leading party is that of the interest of the people; the interest of the people has been touted by many famous political icons throughout the ages as the most vital of a nation's concerns. In fact â€Å"the nation's concerns† is directly related to the concern's of her people. This idea, being understood, it is absolutely impossible in a utopian setting that there would be dissatisfaction.A good leader must make sure that their people are provided for, and this can be done simply by meeting the needs of the nation. If the nation wants for nothing, it can be assumed that order would automatically be ensured amongst her people. In Brave New World, the World Controllers have implemented human conditioning and predestination, these methods have indeed assured them that they operate within the nation's best interest. In fact, one can say that by brainwashing the people they have stolen control and not earned it, and the ‘utopia' in Brave New World can be defined as a controlled dictatorship.This is but another example of how the State has failed the people. Any ruler worth his salt must first earn the respect, or alternatively fear, of his subjects in order to reign successfully. Respect earns the ruler the trust of the people: this trust then allows for orderly conduct amongst the citizens of the country. Earning respect can be achieved by conducting one's self honorably and proving one's capabilities. Huxley presents another technique of acquiring respect by employing â€Å"hypnopaedia† as means of earning respect and gaining control over the nation. â€Å"Of course they don't.How can they? They don't know what it's like being anything else. We'd mind, of course. But then we've been differently conditioned. Besides, we start w ith a different heredity†(Huxley,5). Brave New World's Henry foster shows us how conditioning effects a person's values. The citizens do not respect the controllers, they merely adhere to the rules. Though this does not mean that they are dissatisfied, in actual fact they have no sense of dissatisfaction unless it stands opposed to their hypnopaedic prejudice. â€Å"What a hideous colour khaki is,† remarked Lenina, voicing the hypnop? ic prejudices of her caste†(Huxley,4). Essentially what Huxley has wrought is a world of mindless drones with no sense of self, which is quite possibly the worse outcome for mankind, to become enslaved by a system they created and lost control over. There is one major variable that needs to be considered in keeping order in a nation. People change, things change, nothing will ever remain the same for long, and a good government should be as adaptable as the people. If one is to properly maintain order, one must be able to conform wit h society and trends.These changes and trends are how mankind has learned and developed, and will continue to do so. As stated, government or those in power, must too be able to move forward or to risk losing control and becoming obsolete. This is quite possibly the biggest flaw in Huxley's Brave New World: mankind now controls and predestines the people that inhabit their world, and the price for this control has become progress. A society built on the basis of ‘Community, Identity, Stability’ will never be able to face the ever changing, fickle nature of humanity. In order to preserve control they must therefore eliminate evolution.They have stolen evolution’s format: the world and mankind will forever be stuck in the small cage of Brave New World, and in essence this eliminates anything that is truly either brave or new. In conclusion, it is safe to say that Huxley's utopia went about achieving its status in the wrong way. Mankind has lost its free will to the controlling powers of a system. This system cannot be called government, as it is more akin in characteristics to slavery. Man no longer has freewill and order is kept not through respect and intellect, but via degeneration nd conduct. The former sections of this essay present strategies and techniques used to maintain order in a society of individuals. Finally, it may be argued that the Brave New World protects society by locking them in a cage of ignorance; however, this is at the cost of freedom, and this is unacceptable. Mankind needs be free in order to progress as has been explained. Protection is all well and good but not at the cost of freedom: humans must be free to make mistakes in order to evolve, grow and create. Societal order must still be maintained, but not abused.Those in charge are well within their right to impose laws and rules, as long as these laws keep within a reasonable parameter. Protection is one thing, enslavement is another; if protection must come at t he cost of freedom then it is not worth it, and I am sure that those in Brave New World, if given the chance, would choose freedom. Huxley's utopia is a future that we should hope is never realized, it would bring us to ruin. If we must place faith in those in control, let us hope that they possess the qualities presented in this essay, and have the ability to lead a world of free people forward and beyond.

Conditions according to John Casey impact on Police Practice and Community Policing Essay

â€Å"Critically examine the conditions, which according to author John Casey impact both positively and negatively on the police practice required to implement a community policing strategy† There are a variety of conditions according to John Casey that impact both positively and negatively on police practice and on community policing strategies. Some impacts on these strategies are the types of model police practices such as democratic Anglo-peelian, continental, developing, and authoritarian regimes. Other conditions that impact on police practice and community policing strategies such as; country stability, community cohesion, pay rates of police, trust within the community and police, political agenda, resources for the police and means for reform and many more. Some of the most easily identified negative impacts that Casey (2010) expresses is the ethnic minorities in communities and the negative impacts that he explains reflected within these situations. Reinforcing these conditions and helping to express Casey’s (2010) concepts of impacts on police practice and community policing is Skolnick and Bayley, (1988) in ‘Theme and Variation in Community Policing’ as well as the Ontario Ministry Of Children And Youth Services, (2010) in ‘Community Policing Strategies’, Cordner (1995) in ‘Community policing: elements and effects’ and also Tyler (2005) with ‘Policing in black and white: Ethnic group differences in trust and confidence in the police’. A combination of Casey and these other authors can help to explain and identify the positive and negative conditions that impact on police practice and implementation of a community policing strategy. Before looking at individual conditions that positively and negatively impact directly on police practice and community policing, the main models of policing such as Anglo-peelian, continental, developing and authoritarian have shaped the current conditions. According to Casey (2010), Skolnick and Bayley, (1988) as well as the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth services (2010) there is no one true meaning as to what community policing is as the meaning changes from culture and geographical location. In the past according to Cordner (1995), the idea of community policing was considered to be only an aspiration, but not an operational concept, which is still valid in some countries that are still developing. To this day though the concept of community based policing can basically be defined as working with a community, engage with it and co-operate together for the benefit of both the community (also known as the geographic residents of an area) and the police (Casey 2010). Casey (2010) argues how the idea and concept of community policing is now a global aspiration or goal for most countries in their policing practices, but it is important to recognize that the meaning is different for each country and may not be evenly used throughout. Development is still undergoing (Cordner 1995), but community policing is very much active now (Casey 2010). Anglo-Peelian (also known as democratic) mode is one of the main policing models in Western societies. The advantages that Casey (2010) explains are the effective response of police, better methods of preventing crime, more effective work and information by working with communities, making the citizen central is paramount in this model of policing. It is also effective as it can easily balance community welfare and the initial crime prevention roles and actions that the police undertake. In contrast to this approach, the continental policing model is similar to an extent. This can be seen from the basic principles for the reasoning of need for the introduction of community policing, (even though the continental community policing comes under a different name known as neighborhood policing (Casey 2010). The primary difference can be seen within the policing practice, for example, the continental policing practice such as in France, focuses on being more present in the community and operating in the community, as opposed to actually working with the community such as in the Anglo-peelian model. Another difference between these two policing models is that with the continental model according to Casey (2010), focuses more primarily on actual geographical locations, more central policing practice and state focused on militarized policing rather than emphasis on ethnic and racial minorities and communities such as the Anglo-peelian model. Developing countries are limited as they don’t have the growing and stable economy or community to generally maintain an effective community policing strategy. Majority of the police in developing countries are highly corrupt as a result of lack of morale, low pay, corruption and many other reasons. Countries still developing their communities within them are self-policing and governing rather than police governing. Skolnick and Bayley (1988) emphasis the limitations that models such as for developing countries may face as a result of lack of funds and resources to effectively improve the police standard and community policing. Finally the last policing model, the authoritarian practice according to Casey (2010) is said to be actually moving away from the general attempts to implement community policing in society such as within china (Skolnick and Bayley 1988). Community based policing encourages the cooperation of police and residents within communities. Without trust and co-operation such as found within the strict authoritarian model, there is a lack of information of crimes, possible minorities may form in retaliation of the policing strategies, and individuals may start to feel marginalised as well. There are positives and negatives found within all these different types of policing practices. There are a number of conditions that are concern and determine the effectiveness of policing practice and community policing. There are both positive and negative impacts of these conditions. Some general conditions according to Casey (2010) revolve around the stability of the community and the co-operation and cohesion of this community. For the concept of community policing to work, there must be a sense of stability within the community, trust with the police, belief of the community that the police are generally interested in the benefit of the community (Ontario Ministry Of Children And Youth Services, 2010), the belief and will of the country and community political commitment to help reform and provide a better form of safety and cohesion of the community for its own benefit. Another concept that is argued again is the resources of the police and government in different countries that allow the functioning of these policing practices being undertaken. For example, in developing countries, there are not usually any resources to apply these policing practices. Therefore also due to these different conditions within this country such as South Africa for example, there won’t be a positive effect of community based policing strategy; because of culture and other impacts on the type of communities and the running of the country will not allow for the community policing as opposed to other western countries such as how well it would benefit Australia. Other conditions that Casey (2010) also expresses that impact on the implementation of community policing, such as the connection and networks of the community with itself, the police and also other international organizations which is fundamental in positive direction of community policing and the practice worldwide. These conditions are greatly influential and impact on the positive or negative effects of community policing and policing practice globally. To further examine these impacts and conditions an example where all these conditions interplay with the policing practice and community policing can be seen with ethnic groups, minorities such as in multicultural Australia. Due to discrimination, some groups of people may feel stigmatized or marginalized in society. Some people that come to Australia may already have a negative idea and concept of police from their previous country which will make it harder for Australian police to connect and build trust with these individuals. Although these conditions play a major role in the policing practice, it may be found that some problems that rise is over-policing on these ethnic groups and discriminating against them. A negative side-effect of this is possible ethnic based gangs who prey on their own community (Casey 2010) and develop distrust and rift between the community and the police, disrupting the progression for a desired community based policing strategy. As Tyler (2005) states, the trust in the police and the community is usually to have low morale and cooperation due to distrust, a sense of unfairness in policies and regulations surrounding these minorities and also the way in which the police conduct their policing. If the police and these groups worked together for community safety, other benefits such as allowing effective social preventative procedures, proactive partnerships, responsive and confidence in community and police co-operation, better trust between community, mutually beneficial ties, creating local-level accountability, working with other agencies and NGO’s to better help efficiency in operation would occur and build a stronger overall wellbeing and cohesion. In conclusion, Casey (2010), demonstrates that there are a variety of different negative and positive aspects of community policing and policing practices. It is also evident through Casey’s work (2010) and also a variety of other authors, the different conditions arise and impact on the implementation of these community based strategies such as policing type models and community stability, resources and many more. There are a variety of positive and negative impacts according to John Casey that impact on police practice and community policing. References Casey, J. 2010. Comparing Policing Strategies. In Policing the World: The practice of International and Transnational Policing. Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, pp. 58 – 87 Cordner, G. 1995. Community policing: elements and effects. Police forum: Academy of criminal justice sciences police section, 5 (3), pp. 1 – 16. Ontario Ministry Of Children And Youth Services. 2010. Community Policing Stategies. Review of the roots of youth violence: a review of major theoretical perspectives, 5 [Accessed: 4 Sep 2013]. Skolnick, J. and Bayley, D. 1988. Theme and Variation in Community Policing. Crime and Justice, 10 pp. 1 – 37. Tyler, T. 2005. Policing in black and white: Ethnic group differences in trust and confidence in the police. Police Quarterly, 8 (3), pp. 322—342