Managing the Sustainable Business course. Research and Analysis of an organization’s status in relation to sustainability phases, industry benchmarking, documenting the process of establishing and developing an agenda for the green team, assessing the progress made in implementing the green team, assessing the factors working for and against the success of the green team using a ‘force field’ analysis, and developing an implementation plan delineating next steps in establishing an ongoing green team.
This document discusses the "triple bottom line" of people, planet, and profit in sustainability. For people, it addresses treating employees, NGOs, and suppliers well. For the planet, it discusses reducing fines and legal fees while improving a company's ethical reputation. For profit, it notes that sustainability can provide competitive advantages through brand reputation and efficiency, allowing companies to charge premium prices. The document provides examples of Campbell's and Nestle implementing sustainability solutions from Intelex to improve compliance, standardization, and visibility across locations. It concludes with background on Intelex and contact information for questions.
In August 2014, SSC completed a peer benchmarking analysis of the athletic wear industry that examined the sustainability performance of five prominent brands: Adidas, Lululemon, Nike, Puma, and Under Armour. During this process, we focused on six different dimensions of sustainability with four categories as a part of each dimension:
-Governance - Materiality, Ethics, Risk, Communications
-Environment - Energy & Climate, Waste & Recycling, Water, Land Use & Biodiversity
-Workplace - Diversity, Health & Safety, Training & Education, Working Conditions
-Community - Philanthropy, Volunteering, Community Investment, Engagement
-Product - Life Cycle Management, Product Quality, Product Safety, Packaging
-Supply Chain - Materials Stewardship, Green Purchasing, Social Standards, Engagement
Not only did we assign four categories to each dimension, but for thoroughness we applied a three prong analysis to each dimension reviewing policies, programs, and performance to each category.
It is also important to note that SSC relies only on publically available data when conducting a peer benchmarking assessment.
Obtaining a green audit for your organization is a great step in a sustainable direction. But often a company finds that moving beyond this point is difficult. Identifying a specific route to take can be challenging with so many options of change available. But have no fear...this Slideshare will allow you to review your audit, and use it to propel you forward. It prepares you for both the pros and cons of change so that you can easily overcome obstacles when they arise.
The steps that Sustainability Change Management lays out are geared for both formal and informal leaders, who are ready to involve their employee base beyond just their green team. While getting a team rallied behind sustainable initiatives is not a simple task, it is a feasible one when leaders are aware of how to educate their peers, communicate plans, and positively address resistance to their efforts.
Another often neglected but important step in managing change is rewarding good behavior. This Slideshare brings this element to the forefront and examines how to successfully reward employees. Even simple recognition can give your employees a major boost.
Embrace the change for a greener business market and hear all that Sustainability Change Management has to say!
The Electronics Supply Chain Can Thrive in the Circular EconomyAntea Group
Antea Group senior consultant Pamela Gordon completed the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's six-week Executive Education Introductory Course, titled "Enterprise, Innovation and the Circular Economy." This slideshow capsulize her learnings as relevant to the electronics supply chain.
Sustainability in Facility Operations 101: Establishing a Foundation For Co...Antea Group
This document outlines a three-phase approach to establishing a sustainability program at a facility. Phase 1 involves developing policies, setting goals, and implementing quick wins. Phase 2 focuses on defining KPIs, creating teams, benchmarking data, and deploying reporting. Phase 3 involves rolling out the program enterprise-wide, defining long-term goals, and formalizing the program into management systems. Each phase builds upon the previous one to help facilities progress towards sustainability best practices. The document also provides examples of techniques to reduce energy, water, and waste like fixing leaks and improving processes. It emphasizes establishing foundations, pursuing continuous improvement, and engaging employees.
Relevance of an Environmental Management System, ILTA 2017Antea Group
This presentation from ILTA 2017 includes information on: What is an EMS? EMS Standards and Guidelines; Applicability; Benefits; Challenges; Certification; and the 2015 ISO Revision.
How Sustainability management and the GRI structure can benefit your companyNico Smit
This document discusses sustainability reporting and management. It outlines the advantages of adopting GRI sustainability standards, including risk mitigation and improved performance. It emphasizes the importance of establishing departmental objectives, metrics, and targets to monitor sustainability efforts across an organization. Key benefits mentioned include increased revenues, reduced costs, and less profit erosion from implementing sustainability practices.
Healthcare plans are customized for each client. Insurance companies have to incorporate all changes negotiated for each customer into their automated system.
Carole-Ann will present techniques that have been adopted by Healthcare Insurers to reduce the number of business rules into their systems, and therefore reduce the maintenance on their traditionally creeping systems.
This document discusses the "triple bottom line" of people, planet, and profit in sustainability. For people, it addresses treating employees, NGOs, and suppliers well. For the planet, it discusses reducing fines and legal fees while improving a company's ethical reputation. For profit, it notes that sustainability can provide competitive advantages through brand reputation and efficiency, allowing companies to charge premium prices. The document provides examples of Campbell's and Nestle implementing sustainability solutions from Intelex to improve compliance, standardization, and visibility across locations. It concludes with background on Intelex and contact information for questions.
In August 2014, SSC completed a peer benchmarking analysis of the athletic wear industry that examined the sustainability performance of five prominent brands: Adidas, Lululemon, Nike, Puma, and Under Armour. During this process, we focused on six different dimensions of sustainability with four categories as a part of each dimension:
-Governance - Materiality, Ethics, Risk, Communications
-Environment - Energy & Climate, Waste & Recycling, Water, Land Use & Biodiversity
-Workplace - Diversity, Health & Safety, Training & Education, Working Conditions
-Community - Philanthropy, Volunteering, Community Investment, Engagement
-Product - Life Cycle Management, Product Quality, Product Safety, Packaging
-Supply Chain - Materials Stewardship, Green Purchasing, Social Standards, Engagement
Not only did we assign four categories to each dimension, but for thoroughness we applied a three prong analysis to each dimension reviewing policies, programs, and performance to each category.
It is also important to note that SSC relies only on publically available data when conducting a peer benchmarking assessment.
Obtaining a green audit for your organization is a great step in a sustainable direction. But often a company finds that moving beyond this point is difficult. Identifying a specific route to take can be challenging with so many options of change available. But have no fear...this Slideshare will allow you to review your audit, and use it to propel you forward. It prepares you for both the pros and cons of change so that you can easily overcome obstacles when they arise.
The steps that Sustainability Change Management lays out are geared for both formal and informal leaders, who are ready to involve their employee base beyond just their green team. While getting a team rallied behind sustainable initiatives is not a simple task, it is a feasible one when leaders are aware of how to educate their peers, communicate plans, and positively address resistance to their efforts.
Another often neglected but important step in managing change is rewarding good behavior. This Slideshare brings this element to the forefront and examines how to successfully reward employees. Even simple recognition can give your employees a major boost.
Embrace the change for a greener business market and hear all that Sustainability Change Management has to say!
The Electronics Supply Chain Can Thrive in the Circular EconomyAntea Group
Antea Group senior consultant Pamela Gordon completed the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's six-week Executive Education Introductory Course, titled "Enterprise, Innovation and the Circular Economy." This slideshow capsulize her learnings as relevant to the electronics supply chain.
Sustainability in Facility Operations 101: Establishing a Foundation For Co...Antea Group
This document outlines a three-phase approach to establishing a sustainability program at a facility. Phase 1 involves developing policies, setting goals, and implementing quick wins. Phase 2 focuses on defining KPIs, creating teams, benchmarking data, and deploying reporting. Phase 3 involves rolling out the program enterprise-wide, defining long-term goals, and formalizing the program into management systems. Each phase builds upon the previous one to help facilities progress towards sustainability best practices. The document also provides examples of techniques to reduce energy, water, and waste like fixing leaks and improving processes. It emphasizes establishing foundations, pursuing continuous improvement, and engaging employees.
Relevance of an Environmental Management System, ILTA 2017Antea Group
This presentation from ILTA 2017 includes information on: What is an EMS? EMS Standards and Guidelines; Applicability; Benefits; Challenges; Certification; and the 2015 ISO Revision.
How Sustainability management and the GRI structure can benefit your companyNico Smit
This document discusses sustainability reporting and management. It outlines the advantages of adopting GRI sustainability standards, including risk mitigation and improved performance. It emphasizes the importance of establishing departmental objectives, metrics, and targets to monitor sustainability efforts across an organization. Key benefits mentioned include increased revenues, reduced costs, and less profit erosion from implementing sustainability practices.
Healthcare plans are customized for each client. Insurance companies have to incorporate all changes negotiated for each customer into their automated system.
Carole-Ann will present techniques that have been adopted by Healthcare Insurers to reduce the number of business rules into their systems, and therefore reduce the maintenance on their traditionally creeping systems.
This presentation provides a summary of the white paper Engaging Employees in the Company’s Sustainability, which goes through five steps to head your company in a sustainable direction, each step exploring how to successfully integrate sustainability into your bottom line.
The benefits that come from greening your business go beyond simply feeling good, indeed tangible benefits result. Greener behavior reduces costs associated with energy consumption, waste disposal, and paper use. Customers will also respect a company with green initiatives.
The key to integrating sustainability into your company’s bottom line is to get everyone involved, especially employees.
DRIVE | organising for the product that lastCLICKNL
What are the organizational challenges to designing and selling circular products? How can these challenges be overcome? What to do within your company and how to arrange your network cooperation? Professors and researchers at Groningen University and Radboud University decided to combine forces on the subject of sustainable and circular innovation, as a result of the IOP IPCR research program. They started working on a practical guidelines for companies, addressing questions like: This session reveals a tip of their research ‘iceberg’ and shows the main conclusions of their book ‘How to organize for the products that last?’ (expected early 2016)
1. The document outlines steps for creating a vision and plan for sustainable practices, including creating a vision statement, conducting a baseline analysis, and developing a strategic action plan.
2. It recommends "backcasting" by envisioning the desired future vision and working backwards to identify goals and actions.
3. A case study of Interface Carpets is presented as an example of a company that set goals to become more sustainable and outlined short, medium, and long term priority actions to work towards its vision.
Process Improvement Through Use Of Lean Six Sigma Methods 110609maedog
Saint Luke's Hospital and Missouri Enterprise are collaborating to improve processes at Saint Luke's using Lean Six Sigma methods. Saint Luke's is a large non-profit hospital that has participated in over 10 Lean Six Sigma projects through a partnership with Missouri Enterprise, a consulting firm specialized in process improvement. These projects have reduced waste, defects, and costs while improving safety, communication, and leadership awareness of processes. The presentation introduces common Lean and Six Sigma tools and provides an example of mapping a process's suppliers, inputs, outputs, customers, and requirements.
The STEM program is a step-by-step guide to help small and medium enterprises implement an environmental management system (EMS). An EMS assesses a business's environmental impacts, helps manage them, ensures compliance, and provides benchmarks for improvement. STEM has three levels - Blue, Silver, and Gold - that are compatible with ISO14001 and BS8555 standards. The Blue level involves management commitment, a baseline assessment, identifying significant environmental impacts, drafting a policy, and collecting data. The Silver level builds on this with steps to calculate and reduce carbon footprint, manage impacts, comply with laws, and provide training. STEM helps businesses enhance their green credentials, reduce costs, maintain legal compliance, and prepare for
Antea Group is an environmental consulting firm that specializes in environment, infrastructure, urban planning and water. It has over 4,300 consultants in 160 offices across 6 continents. It provides full-service solutions to clients through a multidisciplinary approach that combines strategic thinking, technical expertise and pragmatic action. Its services include environmental liability management, health and safety, information management, operational performance and assurance, sustainability and corporate responsibility, and transaction support.
FDA ASQ presentation metrics April 2012Doug Bryson
This document discusses metrics and how they can drive both positive and negative behaviors if not implemented properly. It provides examples of good metrics that are fact-based, objective, and focus attention on key goals like customer satisfaction and regulatory compliance. Good metrics also reflect both internal and external factors. The document outlines characteristics of effective metrics and provides examples for regulatory purposes and quality improvement. It emphasizes the importance of having metrics that are close to the problem source and drive accountability.
This document discusses using a relationship matrix to identify contextual relationships between identified root causes and various environmental concerns when developing solutions. It involves transferring critical issues from a root cause identification matrix to the relationship matrix and identifying which environmental concerns need to be considered for each root cause by placing a "Y" in the corresponding cell. The relationship matrix helps ensure environmental issues are addressed before solutions are selected to avoid suboptimal outcomes.
1) Corrective action is important for customer satisfaction, profits, and ISO compliance. It helps reduce scrap, rework, and inefficiencies.
2) Weak corrective action processes can fail to properly involve people, utilize problem solving skills, consider costs, or follow through on verifying solutions.
3) Effective corrective action requires a clear problem statement, interim containment actions, root cause analysis, permanent corrective actions, and verification that the problem has been resolved.
Morgan Rider of Triple Bottom Line Business Advisors gave a presentation on sustainability measurement and metrics at the Northwest Food Processors Expo, covering definitions of key concepts like sustainability and materiality, the process for developing metrics to inform strategy, provide data, drive improvements and evaluate performance, and the benefits of sustainability measurement for businesses.
The document provides an overview of sustainability principles and strategies for "going green". It discusses key sustainability concepts like energy efficiency, various renewable energy sources, and green certifications. It also outlines steps organizations can take to pursue sustainability, from compliance and green marketing to achieving net zero carbon footprints. Leaders are seen as critical to driving sustainable change through goal-setting, communication, and managing initiatives.
The document discusses green auditing, including planning, areas of concern, reporting, and implementation. It provides an overview of the necessity of green audits and differences between internal/external audits. Key aspects of audit planning discussed are engagement circumstances, risks, intended users, and standards like AA1000. Areas of concern addressed include regulations, waste management, and supply chain risks. Reporting guidelines from India, GRI, and benefits of reporting are covered. Implementation is shown to involve deciding to report, identifying impacts and audiences, and assuring and publishing the final report.
Rising Sun Energy Center\'s "Return of the Plastiki" Event ProposalTeo Tertel
Proposal: The Rising Sun Energy Center, in partnership with the Plastiki Expedition and
Adventure Ecology, will promote and fund sustainable services and projects by cosponsoring
the "Return of the Plastiki" Festival in San Francisco, CA on Saturday, July 24,
2010 at AT&T Park.
This project involves applying project management tools such as project selection, project scheduling, resource allocation, risk management, and budgeting.
An old woman adopted a puppy who provided both challenges and companionship. The puppy liked to pull on its leash when walking, bark at any noise, and play tug-of-war, while the woman enjoyed reading but was easily startled. Though the puppy was energetic and clumsy, knocking into things, and loved to eat people food, the woman grew fond of the puppy as it showed her affection.
Helium Interactive is a marketing agency focused on the healthcare IT marketplace that has been creating targeted and results-oriented marketing for clients in the industry since 2006. They have expertise in areas like branding, thought leadership, digital strategies, social media, product launches, and sales acceleration. Their services include interactive campaigns, channel marketing, executive event planning, and marketing automation tools. They help clients with strategies to grow their pipeline and accelerate sales through content marketing, utilizing multiple media to reach audiences, and special events.
El documento expresa el amor eterno de Dios hacia la humanidad a través de la naturaleza, la cruz y las Escrituras. Señala que Dios dice que ama a través de la lluvia, el atardecer, el mar y la respiración, y que quiere estar y conquistar nuestro corazón para alegrarlo. También menciona que el amor de Dios se ve en las heridas de Jesús en la cruz.
Nina Designs Green Business CertificationTeo Tertel
Helping a local small business
obtain Bay Area Green Business certification; Researching best practices and appropriate metrics for sustainability
tracking and reporting in a particular vertical market.
Risk adjustment of bloodstream infectionsedwardtong
This document summarizes a study that aimed to develop a more objective method of risk adjusting healthcare-associated bloodstream infection (BSI) rates between hospitals in Queensland, Australia. The study analyzed BSI outcome data from 18 hospitals over 7 years to identify hospital services associated with high or low BSI rates. Regression models were developed using four types of BSI outcomes and 12 candidate hospital services as risk adjustment variables. The models identified several services associated with increased or decreased BSI risk. The models showed good fit for overall BSI and S. aureus BSI rates but poorer fit for device-related and MRSA BSI rates, likely due to lower frequency of events. The study concluded hospital-level risk adjustment may be useful for
This document discusses different types of computer networks and protocols used for electronic business over the internet. Key network types mentioned include intranet, extranet, and public versus private networks. Protocols listed that enable internet communication are SMTP, POP, and markup languages HTML and XML. The document suggests that using computer networking and the internet is important for electronic business operations.
An old woman adopted a puppy who provided her much entertainment but also frustration as he pulled on his leash, barked at everything outside, played tug-of-war with her shoes and nipped at her ankles. Though the puppy crashed into things and wanted people food, he showed his affection by licking the woman's hand, and she slowly grew to love him.
The United States Postal Service has made the most improvements in sustainability out of the major delivery companies based on several criteria. USPS has committed to ambitious sustainability goals around reducing energy use, fuel consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions. They have implemented numerous initiatives like increasing their alternative fuel vehicle fleet and optimizing delivery routes. Through these initiatives, USPS has achieved significant reductions in energy use and emissions while saving millions of dollars. However, regulators continue to push for further reductions in environmental impacts from delivery operations.
This presentation provides a summary of the white paper Engaging Employees in the Company’s Sustainability, which goes through five steps to head your company in a sustainable direction, each step exploring how to successfully integrate sustainability into your bottom line.
The benefits that come from greening your business go beyond simply feeling good, indeed tangible benefits result. Greener behavior reduces costs associated with energy consumption, waste disposal, and paper use. Customers will also respect a company with green initiatives.
The key to integrating sustainability into your company’s bottom line is to get everyone involved, especially employees.
DRIVE | organising for the product that lastCLICKNL
What are the organizational challenges to designing and selling circular products? How can these challenges be overcome? What to do within your company and how to arrange your network cooperation? Professors and researchers at Groningen University and Radboud University decided to combine forces on the subject of sustainable and circular innovation, as a result of the IOP IPCR research program. They started working on a practical guidelines for companies, addressing questions like: This session reveals a tip of their research ‘iceberg’ and shows the main conclusions of their book ‘How to organize for the products that last?’ (expected early 2016)
1. The document outlines steps for creating a vision and plan for sustainable practices, including creating a vision statement, conducting a baseline analysis, and developing a strategic action plan.
2. It recommends "backcasting" by envisioning the desired future vision and working backwards to identify goals and actions.
3. A case study of Interface Carpets is presented as an example of a company that set goals to become more sustainable and outlined short, medium, and long term priority actions to work towards its vision.
Process Improvement Through Use Of Lean Six Sigma Methods 110609maedog
Saint Luke's Hospital and Missouri Enterprise are collaborating to improve processes at Saint Luke's using Lean Six Sigma methods. Saint Luke's is a large non-profit hospital that has participated in over 10 Lean Six Sigma projects through a partnership with Missouri Enterprise, a consulting firm specialized in process improvement. These projects have reduced waste, defects, and costs while improving safety, communication, and leadership awareness of processes. The presentation introduces common Lean and Six Sigma tools and provides an example of mapping a process's suppliers, inputs, outputs, customers, and requirements.
The STEM program is a step-by-step guide to help small and medium enterprises implement an environmental management system (EMS). An EMS assesses a business's environmental impacts, helps manage them, ensures compliance, and provides benchmarks for improvement. STEM has three levels - Blue, Silver, and Gold - that are compatible with ISO14001 and BS8555 standards. The Blue level involves management commitment, a baseline assessment, identifying significant environmental impacts, drafting a policy, and collecting data. The Silver level builds on this with steps to calculate and reduce carbon footprint, manage impacts, comply with laws, and provide training. STEM helps businesses enhance their green credentials, reduce costs, maintain legal compliance, and prepare for
Antea Group is an environmental consulting firm that specializes in environment, infrastructure, urban planning and water. It has over 4,300 consultants in 160 offices across 6 continents. It provides full-service solutions to clients through a multidisciplinary approach that combines strategic thinking, technical expertise and pragmatic action. Its services include environmental liability management, health and safety, information management, operational performance and assurance, sustainability and corporate responsibility, and transaction support.
FDA ASQ presentation metrics April 2012Doug Bryson
This document discusses metrics and how they can drive both positive and negative behaviors if not implemented properly. It provides examples of good metrics that are fact-based, objective, and focus attention on key goals like customer satisfaction and regulatory compliance. Good metrics also reflect both internal and external factors. The document outlines characteristics of effective metrics and provides examples for regulatory purposes and quality improvement. It emphasizes the importance of having metrics that are close to the problem source and drive accountability.
This document discusses using a relationship matrix to identify contextual relationships between identified root causes and various environmental concerns when developing solutions. It involves transferring critical issues from a root cause identification matrix to the relationship matrix and identifying which environmental concerns need to be considered for each root cause by placing a "Y" in the corresponding cell. The relationship matrix helps ensure environmental issues are addressed before solutions are selected to avoid suboptimal outcomes.
1) Corrective action is important for customer satisfaction, profits, and ISO compliance. It helps reduce scrap, rework, and inefficiencies.
2) Weak corrective action processes can fail to properly involve people, utilize problem solving skills, consider costs, or follow through on verifying solutions.
3) Effective corrective action requires a clear problem statement, interim containment actions, root cause analysis, permanent corrective actions, and verification that the problem has been resolved.
Morgan Rider of Triple Bottom Line Business Advisors gave a presentation on sustainability measurement and metrics at the Northwest Food Processors Expo, covering definitions of key concepts like sustainability and materiality, the process for developing metrics to inform strategy, provide data, drive improvements and evaluate performance, and the benefits of sustainability measurement for businesses.
The document provides an overview of sustainability principles and strategies for "going green". It discusses key sustainability concepts like energy efficiency, various renewable energy sources, and green certifications. It also outlines steps organizations can take to pursue sustainability, from compliance and green marketing to achieving net zero carbon footprints. Leaders are seen as critical to driving sustainable change through goal-setting, communication, and managing initiatives.
The document discusses green auditing, including planning, areas of concern, reporting, and implementation. It provides an overview of the necessity of green audits and differences between internal/external audits. Key aspects of audit planning discussed are engagement circumstances, risks, intended users, and standards like AA1000. Areas of concern addressed include regulations, waste management, and supply chain risks. Reporting guidelines from India, GRI, and benefits of reporting are covered. Implementation is shown to involve deciding to report, identifying impacts and audiences, and assuring and publishing the final report.
Rising Sun Energy Center\'s "Return of the Plastiki" Event ProposalTeo Tertel
Proposal: The Rising Sun Energy Center, in partnership with the Plastiki Expedition and
Adventure Ecology, will promote and fund sustainable services and projects by cosponsoring
the "Return of the Plastiki" Festival in San Francisco, CA on Saturday, July 24,
2010 at AT&T Park.
This project involves applying project management tools such as project selection, project scheduling, resource allocation, risk management, and budgeting.
An old woman adopted a puppy who provided both challenges and companionship. The puppy liked to pull on its leash when walking, bark at any noise, and play tug-of-war, while the woman enjoyed reading but was easily startled. Though the puppy was energetic and clumsy, knocking into things, and loved to eat people food, the woman grew fond of the puppy as it showed her affection.
Helium Interactive is a marketing agency focused on the healthcare IT marketplace that has been creating targeted and results-oriented marketing for clients in the industry since 2006. They have expertise in areas like branding, thought leadership, digital strategies, social media, product launches, and sales acceleration. Their services include interactive campaigns, channel marketing, executive event planning, and marketing automation tools. They help clients with strategies to grow their pipeline and accelerate sales through content marketing, utilizing multiple media to reach audiences, and special events.
El documento expresa el amor eterno de Dios hacia la humanidad a través de la naturaleza, la cruz y las Escrituras. Señala que Dios dice que ama a través de la lluvia, el atardecer, el mar y la respiración, y que quiere estar y conquistar nuestro corazón para alegrarlo. También menciona que el amor de Dios se ve en las heridas de Jesús en la cruz.
Nina Designs Green Business CertificationTeo Tertel
Helping a local small business
obtain Bay Area Green Business certification; Researching best practices and appropriate metrics for sustainability
tracking and reporting in a particular vertical market.
Risk adjustment of bloodstream infectionsedwardtong
This document summarizes a study that aimed to develop a more objective method of risk adjusting healthcare-associated bloodstream infection (BSI) rates between hospitals in Queensland, Australia. The study analyzed BSI outcome data from 18 hospitals over 7 years to identify hospital services associated with high or low BSI rates. Regression models were developed using four types of BSI outcomes and 12 candidate hospital services as risk adjustment variables. The models identified several services associated with increased or decreased BSI risk. The models showed good fit for overall BSI and S. aureus BSI rates but poorer fit for device-related and MRSA BSI rates, likely due to lower frequency of events. The study concluded hospital-level risk adjustment may be useful for
This document discusses different types of computer networks and protocols used for electronic business over the internet. Key network types mentioned include intranet, extranet, and public versus private networks. Protocols listed that enable internet communication are SMTP, POP, and markup languages HTML and XML. The document suggests that using computer networking and the internet is important for electronic business operations.
An old woman adopted a puppy who provided her much entertainment but also frustration as he pulled on his leash, barked at everything outside, played tug-of-war with her shoes and nipped at her ankles. Though the puppy crashed into things and wanted people food, he showed his affection by licking the woman's hand, and she slowly grew to love him.
The United States Postal Service has made the most improvements in sustainability out of the major delivery companies based on several criteria. USPS has committed to ambitious sustainability goals around reducing energy use, fuel consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions. They have implemented numerous initiatives like increasing their alternative fuel vehicle fleet and optimizing delivery routes. Through these initiatives, USPS has achieved significant reductions in energy use and emissions while saving millions of dollars. However, regulators continue to push for further reductions in environmental impacts from delivery operations.
The document presents a zero-adjusted gamma model for estimating loss given default (LGD) on residential mortgage loans. It compares the performance of this model, which directly models the loss amount, to a traditional linear regression approach. The zero-adjusted gamma model is found to accommodate the non-linear relationships between loss amounts and predictor variables better than the linear model. It also estimates separate factors that predict the probability of loss and those that influence the loss amount. The zero-adjusted gamma model is shown to produce competitively predictive LGD estimates through validation testing.
Borders vs. Amazon: Comparative Analysis of Organizational Design InfluencesTeo Tertel
Project objective is to apply course concepts to understand how an organization\'s design influences its performance and to draft a proposed change to enhance the company\'s performance.
Comparative Analysis of SWOT and TOWS, Company Diagnostics, Force Field Analysis, and Recommendations for Borders.
BUS 890: Culminating Experience in Strategic Management, FALL 2010
The culminating project is an in-depth case analysis of Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. The analysis includes multiple concepts from the course to help explain the strategies, actions and performance of the company.
The document summarizes a Netflix consulting project report on how Netflix can respond to competition and better serve customers. It analyzes Netflix's industry, competitors like Amazon and Hulu, and provides insights from a consumer survey. The report's key recommendations are that Netflix should offer premium early access to new releases, acquire more current content, pursue cross-promotions, convert remaining DVD users to streaming, and grow its overall user base.
The document summarizes a sustainability workshop presented by Michael Luehrs and Andrew Walker at the Estoril Congress Centre on September 29, 2011. The workshop covered sustainability fundamentals and principles, the business case for sustainable events, emerging sustainability standards, a four-step approach to implementation, engagement of partners, effective measurement and reporting, and case studies. Participants were encouraged to think differently about sustainability and given resources and tools to help plan more sustainable events.
This document provides guidance on developing and implementing an environmental sustainability program. It outlines four key steps: 1) determine your organization's environmental footprint, 2) assess the level of control over issues, 3) identify risks and opportunities, and 4) select a program based on needs. It then describes several program options from the EPA and partnerships that can help organizations achieve their sustainability goals.
Water And Wastewater Optimization Aureus Solutions Inc.Aureus
Aureus Solutions provides holistic optimization services to improve water and wastewater treatment plant performance. Their services include identifying issues, developing standards, and providing technical assistance to address problems in operations, maintenance, and management. This avoids costly upgrades and improves quality, efficiency, and staff skills. Aureus presents a three phase approach: evaluating plant status, performing a facility evaluation, and implementing optimization activities based on findings.
David Hall presented on environmental standards and ISO 14001 certification. He explained that ISO 14001 establishes a framework for managing a business's environmental impact. Certification can help businesses improve efficiency, meet regulations, and gain customers. Implementing an environmental management system typically involves analyzing processes, planning documentation, training staff, and undergoing third-party audits to achieve certification.
The document outlines a roadmap for businesses to progress on their sustainability journey through 5 destinations: Commitment, Implementation, Embedding Sustainability, Value Creation, and Sustainable Enterprise. Each destination represents increased sustainability performance and leadership. The roadmap provides guidance on key themes like engagement, environmental footprint, innovation, and management systems to help businesses evaluate their current position and identify next steps to advance.
This document discusses corporate sustainability and the South Carolina Association of CPAs' (SCACPA) initiatives related to it. It defines corporate sustainability as the integration of human values and creating intergenerational equity. It explains that SCACPA formed a Sustainability Task Force to research sustainability standards and programs, implement a "1,000 Points of Green" program for small businesses, and promote awareness. SCACPA also established an internal Green Team to certify the organization as a green business and implement sustainable practices for meetings.
This document summarizes a student research project on applying lean and green operations principles to local restaurants in NEPA. It introduces the group members and advisor for the project. It then provides summaries of what it means to be lean, focusing on eliminating waste, and what it means to be green. Specific lean and green practices that could benefit restaurants are discussed, like reducing overproduction, waiting times, and inventory. The restaurant industry overview provides statistics on its size and importance to the economy. Limitations to implementing changes are noted, like different restaurant sizes and types and targeting specific NEPA businesses.
This document summarizes Oracle's sustainability solutions and services for businesses. It discusses how sustainability reporting is becoming mandatory in many regions and provides business benefits. It outlines Oracle's enterprise performance management and business intelligence tools that can streamline sustainability reporting, planning, and management. Key features of Oracle's solutions allow companies to capture both financial and non-financial metrics from various systems, report on sustainability indicators, and integrate sustainability data into regular business processes.
Green Business 101: This one-hour class covered the business case for sustainability, the range of approaches that companies can take to green their operations and image and a few case studies of industry leaders.
Monetizing Sustainability: Addressing the Why and How with Case StudiesAntea Group
Antea Group presented on monetizing and quantifying sustainability investments and initiatives at the 2016 Sustainability Leadership Forum. We appreciated the opportunity to discuss the Monetization Working Group (cofounded by Fundación FEMSA and Antea Group) and hope those who attended found value in the discussions on monetizing sustainability. It is a great challenge and we feel fortunate to be able to work with so many leading organizations who share Antea Group’s interest in removing this obstacle to better, more sustainable business decision-making.
This 5-step guide helps small businesses become more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Step 1 involves assessing compliance, engaging employees, and building knowledge. Step 2 is to create a long-term green vision, choose an approach, and identify environmental impacts. Step 3 is to set specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goals. Step 4 is to implement the strategy through green actions. Step 5 is to continually measure progress and update goals over time to become more sustainable. The guide provides worksheets to help plan and assess impacts in key business areas.
The document summarizes the mission, vision, goals, and services of Cadiz + Green, a consulting firm that assists organizations with sustainable practices. Their mission is to minimize environmental footprint through sustainable business practices. They work with clients to assess resource use, recommend strategies to reduce environmental impact and improve sustainability in business operations, facilities, and community involvement. Cadiz + Green utilizes a multi-step process of evaluation, reporting, recommendations, implementation and review to help clients achieve their sustainability goals.
This document outlines sustainability strategies for businesses. It discusses establishing a sustainable brand and reputation, managing supply chains responsibly, developing new sustainable products and services, and increasing operational efficiency through reducing energy, waste, emissions, and water usage. The document emphasizes that sustainability can improve a company's bottom line through cost savings and increased revenue and brand value while also positioning the company for future regulations and resource constraints.
Environmental management sytems and processesRakesh Bhaskar
The document discusses environmental management systems and environmental impact assessments. It provides details on the key components of an environmental management system, including developing an environmental policy, planning objectives and targets, implementing procedures, checking performance, and reviewing to enact continual improvement. The Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle is described as the model for an EMS. Environmental impact assessments are outlined as a process to predict and mitigate environmental effects of development activities. The stages of an EIA from initial assessments to monitoring are summarized.
Environmental Management System - ISO 14001:2015-Kawther MEKNI
The ISO 14001 standard stands as the world's most acknowledged environmental standard.
It's internationally recognized, applying to organizations of all sizes and sectors.
The document discusses environmental management systems and environmental impact assessments. It provides details on the key components of an environmental management system, including establishing an environmental policy, planning procedures, implementing operations, checking performance, and reviewing to enact continual improvement. The Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle is described as the model for an EMS. Environmental impact assessments are outlined as a process to predict and mitigate environmental effects of development activities. Baseline studies, initial inquiries, full studies, impact mitigation, monitoring, and auditing are components of the environmental impact assessment process.
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
GridMate - End to end testing is a critical piece to ensure quality and avoid...ThomasParaiso2
End to end testing is a critical piece to ensure quality and avoid regressions. In this session, we share our journey building an E2E testing pipeline for GridMate components (LWC and Aura) using Cypress, JSForce, FakerJS…
zkStudyClub - Reef: Fast Succinct Non-Interactive Zero-Knowledge Regex ProofsAlex Pruden
This paper presents Reef, a system for generating publicly verifiable succinct non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs that a committed document matches or does not match a regular expression. We describe applications such as proving the strength of passwords, the provenance of email despite redactions, the validity of oblivious DNS queries, and the existence of mutations in DNA. Reef supports the Perl Compatible Regular Expression syntax, including wildcards, alternation, ranges, capture groups, Kleene star, negations, and lookarounds. Reef introduces a new type of automata, Skipping Alternating Finite Automata (SAFA), that skips irrelevant parts of a document when producing proofs without undermining soundness, and instantiates SAFA with a lookup argument. Our experimental evaluation confirms that Reef can generate proofs for documents with 32M characters; the proofs are small and cheap to verify (under a second).
Paper: https://eprint.iacr.org/2023/1886
Alt. GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using ...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 5DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 5. In this session, we will cover CI/CD with devops.
Topics covered:
CI/CD with in UiPath
End-to-end overview of CI/CD pipeline with Azure devops
Speaker:
Lyndsey Byblow, Test Suite Sales Engineer @ UiPath, Inc.
Observability Concepts EVERY Developer Should Know -- DeveloperWeek Europe.pdfPaige Cruz
Monitoring and observability aren’t traditionally found in software curriculums and many of us cobble this knowledge together from whatever vendor or ecosystem we were first introduced to and whatever is a part of your current company’s observability stack.
While the dev and ops silo continues to crumble….many organizations still relegate monitoring & observability as the purview of ops, infra and SRE teams. This is a mistake - achieving a highly observable system requires collaboration up and down the stack.
I, a former op, would like to extend an invitation to all application developers to join the observability party will share these foundational concepts to build on:
Securing your Kubernetes cluster_ a step-by-step guide to success !KatiaHIMEUR1
Today, after several years of existence, an extremely active community and an ultra-dynamic ecosystem, Kubernetes has established itself as the de facto standard in container orchestration. Thanks to a wide range of managed services, it has never been so easy to set up a ready-to-use Kubernetes cluster.
However, this ease of use means that the subject of security in Kubernetes is often left for later, or even neglected. This exposes companies to significant risks.
In this talk, I'll show you step-by-step how to secure your Kubernetes cluster for greater peace of mind and reliability.
A tale of scale & speed: How the US Navy is enabling software delivery from l...sonjaschweigert1
Rapid and secure feature delivery is a goal across every application team and every branch of the DoD. The Navy’s DevSecOps platform, Party Barge, has achieved:
- Reduction in onboarding time from 5 weeks to 1 day
- Improved developer experience and productivity through actionable findings and reduction of false positives
- Maintenance of superior security standards and inherent policy enforcement with Authorization to Operate (ATO)
Development teams can ship efficiently and ensure applications are cyber ready for Navy Authorizing Officials (AOs). In this webinar, Sigma Defense and Anchore will give attendees a look behind the scenes and demo secure pipeline automation and security artifacts that speed up application ATO and time to production.
We will cover:
- How to remove silos in DevSecOps
- How to build efficient development pipeline roles and component templates
- How to deliver security artifacts that matter for ATO’s (SBOMs, vulnerability reports, and policy evidence)
- How to streamline operations with automated policy checks on container images
Dr. Sean Tan, Head of Data Science, Changi Airport Group
Discover how Changi Airport Group (CAG) leverages graph technologies and generative AI to revolutionize their search capabilities. This session delves into the unique search needs of CAG’s diverse passengers and customers, showcasing how graph data structures enhance the accuracy and relevance of AI-generated search results, mitigating the risk of “hallucinations” and improving the overall customer journey.
Unlock the Future of Search with MongoDB Atlas_ Vector Search Unleashed.pdfMalak Abu Hammad
Discover how MongoDB Atlas and vector search technology can revolutionize your application's search capabilities. This comprehensive presentation covers:
* What is Vector Search?
* Importance and benefits of vector search
* Practical use cases across various industries
* Step-by-step implementation guide
* Live demos with code snippets
* Enhancing LLM capabilities with vector search
* Best practices and optimization strategies
Perfect for developers, AI enthusiasts, and tech leaders. Learn how to leverage MongoDB Atlas to deliver highly relevant, context-aware search results, transforming your data retrieval process. Stay ahead in tech innovation and maximize the potential of your applications.
#MongoDB #VectorSearch #AI #SemanticSearch #TechInnovation #DataScience #LLM #MachineLearning #SearchTechnology
Pushing the limits of ePRTC: 100ns holdover for 100 daysAdtran
At WSTS 2024, Alon Stern explored the topic of parametric holdover and explained how recent research findings can be implemented in real-world PNT networks to achieve 100 nanoseconds of accuracy for up to 100 days.
Encryption in Microsoft 365 - ExpertsLive Netherlands 2024Albert Hoitingh
In this session I delve into the encryption technology used in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview. Including the concepts of Customer Key and Double Key Encryption.
Threats to mobile devices are more prevalent and increasing in scope and complexity. Users of mobile devices desire to take full advantage of the features
available on those devices, but many of the features provide convenience and capability but sacrifice security. This best practices guide outlines steps the users can take to better protect personal devices and information.
“An Outlook of the Ongoing and Future Relationship between Blockchain Technologies and Process-aware Information Systems.” Invited talk at the joint workshop on Blockchain for Information Systems (BC4IS) and Blockchain for Trusted Data Sharing (B4TDS), co-located with with the 36th International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAiSE), 3 June 2024, Limassol, Cyprus.
Climate Impact of Software Testing at Nordic Testing DaysKari Kakkonen
My slides at Nordic Testing Days 6.6.2024
Climate impact / sustainability of software testing discussed on the talk. ICT and testing must carry their part of global responsibility to help with the climat warming. We can minimize the carbon footprint but we can also have a carbon handprint, a positive impact on the climate. Quality characteristics can be added with sustainability, and then measured continuously. Test environments can be used less, and in smaller scale and on demand. Test techniques can be used in optimizing or minimizing number of tests. Test automation can be used to speed up testing.
11. Force Field Forces For Forces Against Cost savings No time! Too many projects already and low morale Enhanced reputation and company image Traditional way of doing things “old school” More convenience with digital processes in various departments Limited capital New sources of revenues Deviates attention from core business Preparing for future standards (ISO 14001) Not a business requirement
Our team has identified, Oceanic Worldwide, a scuba diving manufacturer headquartered in San Leandro, CA, as our organization of focus for a ‘green team.’ Oceanic has approximately 125 employees within the United States and another 300 employees located worldwide. Our team initially met with Oceanic’s Marketing Director, Doug Krause, and Director of Management Systems, Chauncey Chapman; for a tour of the entire facility which includes manufacturing, assembly labs, customer service, shipping, and administrative offices for the marketing, sales, operations, engineering, accounting, and purchasing departments. On another visit, our team met with Oceanic’s Senior Account Manager, Credit Manager, and Shipping Manager to evaluate their daily operations and help with our team’s assessment on the feasibility of a green team at the company. http://www.oceanicww.com
Resistance > Non-Resp. > Compliance > Beyond Compliance > Efficiency > Strategic > Sustainable Oceanic’s Current Stage: Compliance Oceanic’s currently in the Compliance stage in the movement toward sustainability, since the company is managing its risks and liabilities to meet regulatory requirements by agencies and governments. Although the company does show signs of progress in attempting to move towards more sustainable operations, the decision factor is the cost associated with evaluating and implementing new practices. Due to financial constraints, Oceanic is unwilling to take on short term costs unless long term cost savings are apparent for the bottom line. Evidence of the company’s current compliance status include: Cardboard boxes, metal shavings, and lubricating oil being recycled through external pick-up arrangements. ISO 9000 certified quality management system which allows the company to decrease operating costs in certifying products for the European markets. Skylights have been installed throughout the warehouse to reduce energy use. Oceanic Buy-Back Program that encourages consumers and dealers to send old Oceanic dive gear back to the headquarters so that it can be properly disposed of. For their efforts, consumers receive a 20% off discount for new Oceanic products while dealers receive a 15% off discount. Lights switches in the administrative offices and conference rooms have been upgraded to motion sensor lighting systems to reduce energy use. Printers throughout the administrative offices have “These Come From Trees” sticker reminders to encourage employees to reduce the amount of paper used for printing and copying. Recycling bins are available for employees to use in the following departments and offices: Credit, Accounting, Marketing, Customer Service and Sales, Shipping, Inventory, Operations, Quality Control, Engineering, and machinery. Fax machines were adjusted so that all received and forwarded fax messages are sent via email and are not printed unless necessary. This e-fax setup has improved department productivity and reduced the cost of printing all faxes. The Sales department has reduced paper usage by converting a daily 200-page sales report to a PDF that is emailed everyday instead. In the summer, Oceanic keeps its shipping bay doors open during work hours to increase natural air flow and cool the facility. Oceanic is also working with five environmentally-friendly organizations: Reef Check, Save the Leatherbacks, Oceana, Ships 2 Reefs, and the Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences. Oceanic has received national recognition for assisting the Steinhart Aquarium with the design of a custom wetsuit for one of their penguins, in which the company covered the cost of materials and labor hours. Employees have invested a lot of time and energy into a beautiful garden area located between the warehouse and employee parking lot. Motivations for the garden include workers’ enjoyment in growing flowers, vegetables, and fruits as well as having the opportunity to be outside rather than in the warehouse all day. Product catalogs for customers to pick up at dealer stores have also been scaled back significantly leading to less paper wastage and a reduction in printing costs. The company has decided to transition from a 53-page high-quality product catalog to a three-fold brochure that highlights the best selling Oceanic products. Certain products (Oceanic Datamask, Oceanic OC1 dive watch) no longer are shipped in boxes with packaging materials; instead these products are protected in hard plastic cases that do not harm the environment and are more cost effective for shipping.
Benchmarking Oceanic’s sustainability status and initiatives in comparison to industry competitors. While there have been well-known dive magazines providing “green” articles and information for change, there is no dive company support at this point. Oceanic’s immediate involvement would enable the company to establish an environmental leadership position in the dive industry as well as a competitive edge for choosing Oceanic over competitors’ products. Our team identified two companies that are showing signs of green teams; these companies are: Body Glove (http://www.bodyglove.com/eco/) Aqua Lung (http://www.aqualung.com/us/content/view/260/321/) . Body Glove has an ‘Eco Mission’ section on its website that describes the sustainability initiatives that will be implemented as a part of its mission. The ‘Eco Mission’ divides Body Glove’s initiatives into five parts - mission statement, products, history, organizations we support, and take action. Body Glove already has an environmentally-friendly product line and partnerships with other non-profit organizations, including Reef Check, Surfrider Foundation and Heal the Bay. The mission of Body Glove is to become smarter, greener and cleaner but there is no other information provided on the website regarding green team goals or sustainability initiatives. Aqua Lung, a scuba diving equipment manufacturer for more than 60 years now, claims to be the first diving company in the world to receive the ISO 14001 certification from the British Standards Institute. In 2006, Aqua Lung measured the impact of each company process in order to calculate its impact on the environment. As a result of the ISO 14001 certification, the company was able to improve its compliance with regulations and environmental legislation, minimize waste, and reduce: energy use, environmental risks, and operating costs through sustainability initiatives. Aqua Lung also supports a number of non-profit organizations that are involved in environmental education, research and conservation groups, including EarthEcho, Total Pole Airship and Deepsea Under the Pole. With regards to Oceanic, other industry competitors such as Atomic Aquatics, Cressi, Genesis, Mares, ScubaPro, Seaquest, Tusa and XS Scuba do not have any green teams or sustainability initiatives being reported.
Process of establishing and developing an agenda for the Oceanic green team, and an assessment of the progress made in implementing the green team. To begin the process of establishing an Oceanic green team, our team scheduled a time to tour the entire facility and arrange meetings with employees from various departments to get their feedback on job processes and sustainability initiatives. On Friday, October 8th, 2010, our team met with the Marketing Director and the Director of Management Systems for Oceanic. The Marketing Director gave our team a VIP tour of the Manufacturing Machinery area, Assembly labs, Shipping warehouse, and administrative offices for the Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, Engineering, Credit, Accounting, and Purchasing departments. On Monday, October 25th, 2010, our team met with Oceanic’s Senior Account Manager, Credit Manager, and Shipping Manager to evaluate their daily operations and get more feedback on the feasibility of a green team being established at the company to address the environmental impacts of work processes. The intention of our evaluation meetings with Oceanic managers was aimed at collecting information about work processes and working conditions. By seeing first hand the operations of the facility, our team was able to identify areas of compliance, as well as, areas of Improvement that a green team could address. Meeting with each manager individually allowed our team to gain a better understanding of each manager’s feelings on sustainability and if it is something they would consider getting involved in and support. Here are some of the questions we asked the Oceanic managers during our evaluations: EVALUATION QUESTIONS What is your daily routine for work activities? Are there any day-to-day operations you perform that seem unnecessary or a duplication of work? How about in other departments? What is your current budget? How much of the budget is used in areas you believe can be reduced? Please identify and explain if any. Are there any changes you would like to see? How willing are you yourself to give up personal time to helping the company achieve better resource management? Please describe your level of commitment to sustainability. Do you feel any of your employees in your department would be interested in leading or taking their own time to reduce resource use? Please identify them. Do you think there are any significant opportunities to reduce waste or optimize resource usage in other departments? Please describe them. We experienced immediate resistance and skepticism during our initial facility tour when trying to explain to employees our interest in establishing a green team. To resolve this issue, we adapted our terminology to avoid the negative connotations of “green” and began using “resource efficiency evaluation” and “sustainability assessment” in its place. Doing so allowed our team to have more meaningful conversations with employees; keeping them engaged in answering questions and providing valuable insights. We found most managers to be supportive of getting involved in a green team if monetary incentives were tied into their commitment. Managers also acknowledged the challenges of dedicating time to this green team with their already busy schedules as well as getting the Oceanic President’s support. Managers expressed their concern in making progress on green team goals and sustainability initiatives if certain “old school” employees refused to participate because they didn’t see any value in changing their work activities. Our team decided it would be necessary to replace the generic “green team” title with a title more appropriately aligned with the company’s ocean theme. For this reasons we have suggested the title “New Wave Sustainability Team” (NWST) as a way to reduce the negative connotations associated with a green team and treehugger stereotypes. Our team recommends that the NWST set up barbecues, movie days and engaging guest speaker PowerPoint presentations, to increase employee awareness and education on the benefits of environmentally-responsible practices at Oceanic. During our evaluations, we provided Oceanic managers with the following definition of “sustainable development” to make sure we had a common understanding. (Source: Brundtland Commission's definition of sustainability, http://www.unngosustainability.org/CSD_Definitions%20SD.htm): "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." PROFILE: New Wave Sustainability Team A team of Oceanic employees, selected from different departments and disciplines, committed towards a common goal of facilitating, Developing and reporting environmentally-responsible practices for internal and external business processes. NWST will take a leading role at Oceanic in developing and facilitating the involvement of the company’s strategic partners for combining synergies, resources, experience and coordinating capabilities that contribute to improved environmental performance. NWST will focus on Three Pillars of Success: Education, Awareness, and Action. Starting a green team would enable the company to focus efforts on sustainable activities which include: marketing campaigns, joint ventures with environmental organizations, magazine article coverage, Scuba Board announcements, and NWST merchandise. The dedicated NWST team will provide the necessary education, training, and access to resources so that Oceanic employees can get involved. These efforts will help transition the company into a business that improves the quality of life for its employees, the surrounding community, and the environment overall.
‘ Force field’ Analysis assessing the factors working for and against the success of an Oceanic green team. With a successful green team in place, Oceanic will be at the intersection of profitable business practices and good corporate citizenship. The company should facilitate the development of environmentally-responsible solutions and resource efficiency projects that are not harmful to the planet and its inhabitants. Forces For: Cost savings Enhanced reputation and company image by taking responsibility with environment 1st in industry (minimal involvement currently from dive companies) Passionate about protecting the world’s oceans Employees wanting to make a change More convenience with digital processes in shipping, inspections, billing dept “ Right thing to do” Positive PR New sources of revenues More effective use of limited office space and resources Preparing for future standards (ISO 14001) Decrease paperwork physical clutter in offices Growing customer base demanding environmentally friendly products and practices Forces Against: No time! Too many projects/tasks already and low employee morale Traditional way of doing things “old school” (not easy to change behaviors) Conservative culture for change Want proof that “going green” is effective and a cost savings Feel already doing enough Limited capital Resistance to working with “treehuggers” Worry about job security Deviates attention from core business Limited staff availability Not a business requirement People don’t believe or understand the business case as was apparent in pursuing ISO 9000 (Which is currently certified to ease transactions in Europe) No support from top management
5) Develop an implementation plan delineating the next steps in establishing an ongoing green team: 1. Present a business case to the Oceanic President for establishing a green team. During the evaluations, we noted that all Oceanic managers were reluctant to voluntarily establish a green team due to time constraints and a lack of formal authority. By first establishing a Sustainability Steering Committee (SSC) that includes managers from Marketing, Sales, Finance, Shipping, as well as the President, we feel the company will have the necessary resources to brainstorm the environmental impacts of all operational activities and identify areas of improvement. The SSC should set the stage for a green team and emphasize not only the advantages of internal improvements but also external factors that affect the company’s reputation. Establishing the NWST would show Oceanic’s commitment to protecting the world’s oceans and set an example for the rest of the dive industry. The NWST should provide trustworthy information, expert training and tools for taking action that other companies can take advantage of to get involved with environmentally-responsible processes. A green team, like the NWST, would provide a framework for success for Oceanic employees; equipping them with the skills necessary to manage the environmental impacts in work processes more effectively. Below is a list of areas identified by Oceanic managers and our team for reducing costs and environmental impacts at the company: Investigate the money Oceanic can generate by handling the recycling of cardboard internally rather than arranging a truck pick-up. Finding a better way to manage excess palettes since the company currently leaves them outside and they are picked up by unknown people. Depending on the number of pallets Oceanic collects throughout the year, the company may be able to profit from wood pallets by reselling them to manufacturers for $2.50-3.50 per palette (http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Make-$125-A-Day-Recycling-Wood-Pallets&id=974015) Meet with the facility’s janitor (independent contractor) to make sure recycling and garbage are being separated during collection each night. Employees have complained that even though they have gotten into the habit of recycling, the janitor does not appear to be separating the items during collection. Oceanic needs to enforce the recycling policy with the janitor since the company has placed blue recycling bins in accessible, high-traffic areas and provided clear information about what can and cannot be recycled. Another alternative instead of having a janitor is to consider National Recycle, a company that pays for recycled mixed paper and cardboard. (http://www.nationalrecycle.com/index.htm) Schedule an inventory audit so that Shipping, Purchasing, and Marketing can work together to identify boxes of products and accessories that no longer are being sold through Oceanic and need to be removed from the warehouse inventory. Adjust printers to duplex printing as the default. Encourage IT to look at company computers and make sure they are Energy Star compliant and using effective energy-saving features to reduce electricity costs. Evaluate the benefits of Oceanic getting ISO 14000 or 14001 certified to reduce operational costs and environmental impacts. Revisit the proposal to install solar panels on the warehouse roof as a source of renewable energy that reduces the cost of energy use. Revitalize the Oceanic Buy-Back Program with a promotional campaign so consumers and dealers are encouraged to return old equipment to Oceanic for proper disposal. Also look into what the disposal process is for these returned or broken items sent to Customer Service and identify methods to refurbish and reuse the materials. Look into the cost savings of upgrading all facility lighting to motion sensor lighting, so that lights are automatically shut off when they're not needed. The new CFO at Oceanic has recognized areas of opportunity in the Finance and Credit departments for digital processes that reduce the unnecessary printing and duplication of work activities. Efforts are in place to have the Financial Audit List and Credit Records, starting January 1, 2011, be converted to a digitalized system to eliminate paper use. Engineering inspection documents and Customer Service documents should also be considered since they have been recognized as sources of high paper use. Since Oceanic is transitioning to a low-cost product catalog, we suggest the Marketing department dedicate more time and money to update the Oceanic website since this is where customers will be spending more time. Identifying ways to consolidate the 3 sister companies’ sales forms. Currently, the Purchasing department orders 3 different forms that the Sales department uses for product orders and therefore needs 3 printers that have the forms inserted. By taking the time to look into the design of a new blank form that all 3 sister companies can use (having an area that the printer can add the specific company’s logo), would reduce the need for three printers, separate form orders, and ink expenses. It’s also important to note that invoices are being printed routinely and sent with every order, even though many dealers are asking for the invoices to be emailed as PDF's. Virtual data recovery plans should be integrated to reduce the amount of office paper being printed and filed in rented storage areas. Evaluate how cost efficient it is having the Air Conditioning system for the office area on one master control (during our evaluations, it was noted that despite current renovations there are no plans to change the system.). The Operations, Shipping, and Customer Service departments are evaluating the integration of a UPS system that digitizes manual product-picking processes for packages and digital Return Authorization tags, ensuring more effective and efficient management of items being shipped and returned.(The original quote of $3 million for this integrated system forced Oceanic to put the project on hold and try to reduce the cost of the system’s implementation.). UPS integration would speed up the shipment of orders by using electronic confirmation hand-held devices that increase productivity and minimize shipping incorrect products. Identify new ways to cross-promote with environmentally-friendly organizations for an enhanced brand reputation and greater impact on raising environmental awareness. Conduct a life-cycle assessment or activity-cost based assessment to evaluate the supply chain (Mapping the environmental impacts of business: Raw materials > Suppliers > Business itself > Markets > End-of-life disposition)
2. Select well-positioned members for the NWST from a cross-section of departments. The SSC should work closely with Oceanic’s President to identify prospective members for the NWST and determine the level of formal authority and incentives (measured in performance reviews) each member will receive for their involvement. The goal is to craft a small cross-disciplined green team of 3 to 5 members; carefully selected by the SSC based on their backgrounds and passion for balancing business activities with environmentally-responsible practices. The SSC should establish meeting roles, processes, and ground rules that provide a framework for identifying, assigning, monitoring and reporting the status of the NWST sustainability programs and processes. To attract prospective members for the NWST, the SSC should schedule sustainability presentations that stress the need for environmentally-responsible alignment with Oceanic’s business goals, emphasizing the cost reductions and improved business efficiency and productivity by streamlining work activities. The SSC should also emphasize to prospective NWST members that Oceanic has the tools, time, and talent to be an industry leader in environmentally-responsible business practices. The SSC should also identify one individual to act as the NWST Sustainability Coordinator that leads, monitors and assigns projects to the NWST members. This individual should have some sustainability management expertise, excellent oral and written communication skills, as well as, have a determined attitude for championing sustainability initiatives. A strong leader of this nature will influence others to have a mindset that: “We are looking for solutions, not obstacles.” These characteristics moving forward, should be included by HR in job description requirements to further institutionalize the NWST job roles. 3. Establish a SSC that lays out the framework for a future NWST at Oceanic. The SSC will be used as a platform for the NWST launch. The SSC should meet weekly for an hour to review the list of sustainability projects being planned, underway, or finalized. The SSC should prioritize the list of projects that the NWST will work on with “low hanging fruit” projects at the top of the list. Having the NWST focus on these projects will give the team instant credibility from employees since these projects have easily attainable goals that can be accomplished with minimal effort. Another step that the NWST can take to achieve company-wide buy-in is to implement changes that do not cost more money than would be expected for the current activities. The SSC will be responsible for creating performance metrics that monitor the progress of NWST projects, making sure to allow some flexibility in meeting targeted goals and objectives. The SCC should conduct financial audits for the proposed sustainable initiatives to determine the true cost of resources (reviewing departmental budgets) and figure out what is expected of the NWST with regards to ‘what gets measured and what gets done.’ The SCC will need to assess the return-on-investment for capital-intensive projects and estimate an effective operating budget for financing NWST projects. Once the NWST is launched, the SCC should assure members of the NWST that they will have adequate time, money, and power to manage sustainability projects and that any levels of resistance should be reported to the SCC immediately. Transitioning from the SCC to the NWST should be a good indicator that a framework is in place for identifying, prioritizing, and addressing work processes based on their environmental impacts and levels of resource allocation.
PHASE 1 : AWARENESS This phase should raise company awareness to compliance practices already in place as well as the need for the SCC to institutionalize environmentally-responsible practices through the use of the green team, NWST. The NWST should touch on the company’s current practices which include: having “Made from Trees” sticker reminders on printers, recycling bins made available for janitorial collection, and the Purchasing department’s reduction in office supplies. The current work activities and ways to improve them for added productivity and cost-savings should be addressed in this phase, such as going to digital processes instead of printing documents. Oceanic should also have the President inform the entire company through meetings and emails that the company is committing to a green team as a way to improve business practices and performance. PHASE 2 EDUCATION The NWST should seek to establish an educational experience for employees that helps them understand the benefits of taking steps toward sustainability. The NWST should work with top management to schedule blocks of time for employees to learn more about environmental conservation and how to get involved. The Plastiki expedition (http://www.theplastiki.com), Shark Water documentary (http://www.sharkwater.com), along with ways companies are getting involved and making a difference with their environmental impact should be discussed. Bulletin boards and and posting areas should be used to promote the NWST and provide facts and trivia using environmental graphics. The NWST should explain ways that employees can commit to environmentally-friendly practices for work and home that save on money and reduce environmental footprints. PHASE 3 ACTION The action phase should be used by the NWST to determine what the budget will be and the time it will take to execute NWST sustainability initiatives. These new projects should have metrics for progress made as well as be monitored and reported routinely to top management. The NWST will need to work closely with top management and departments to identify and prioritize all projects based on the resources (money, time, manpower) needed to meet targets and goals. By raising awareness and educating employees, taking action on sustainability initiatives should be a smoother process and not encounter as much resistance. Initiatives would include introducing a paperless process for the Finance, Accounting, and Credit departments, as well as in other departments such as Customer Service and Sales. Purchasing Department The NWST should work with the Purchasing department on “closing the loop” and introducing purchasing policies that require environmentally-friendly products. Purchasing should look into ordering 100% post-consumer recycled paper, furniture made from recycled materials, and Energy Star-rated light bulbs and fixtures (which use at least two-thirds less energy than regular lighting). IT Department The NWST should work with IT to identify old equipment (computers/monitors/printers) that should be upgraded for energy-savings as well as the default settings for printers (set to duplex printing) and computer sleep modes. Maximizing computer efficiency (Computers in the business sector unnecessarily waste $1 billion worth of electricity a year.) by making a habit of turning off computers and unplugging power strips during non-work hours. During the day, IT should make sure employees have their computer monitors dim instead of going to a screen saver as well as have computers set to go to sleep automatically during short breaks (which can cut energy use by 70%). Marketing Department The NWST should work with departments on a variety of environmentally-friendly solutions from day-to-day office tasks to marketing campaigns over a period of one year - all focused on bringing awareness and opportunities to take action in protecting the world’s oceans. The NWST marketing strategy would emphasize the need for human responsibility in the care of our planet through environmentally-friendly solutions. Ocean protection advocates can support the cause by joining the Oceanic NWST movement via co-op environmental programs and marketing campaigns promoted on Oceanic’s website and Facebook. Empowering employees and consumers to take action and understand that their efforts are valuable in making a difference with regards to environmental impacts will bring them pleasure and satisfaction. Human Resources Once NWST has identified the appropriate sustainability initiatives it will implement, NWST should work with the human resource department and discuss ways to integrate these initiatives into various job descriptions. For example, a job description for a purchasing position might require a candidate to implement a plan that would increase purchase of post-consumer paper by a certain percentage. Additionally, department managers could use NWST initiatives as a metric to grade each employees’ performance evaluation. This method would hold every employee accountable towards reaching a company-wide goal. By tying sustainability initiatives directly to employee performance, financial incentives are automatically built-in. International advocacy for environmental conservation has become a popular message over the past 10 years. Our team’s market research shows that there is a minor influence in the dive industry in taking responsibility for the damages done to the ocean because of human impacts. Providing supporters with educational pieces and the ability to take action are essential in establishing a successful NWST program at Oceanic. It is again important to remember that the company has the tools, time, and talent to make a significant impact in global efforts to protect the environment. The NWST merchandise should be made available and used to leverage the NWST program by showing Oceanic’s contribution towards ecology, the environment and sustainability. As a gift to each employee, NWST should order Klean Kanteen bottles (http://www.kleankanteen.com ) for all employees at the headquarters and use this as a first step to gain their commitment. A section of Oceanic’s website should be dedicated to the NWST and provide a one-stop connection to educational resources, awareness, and tools for visitors and researchers who are interested in taking action. The Marketing department should work with environmental organizations on cross-promotional campaigns that show Oceanic’s support for environmental conservation and protection. Efforts to revitalizing the Oceanic Buy-Back dive gear recycling program should also be under consideration for increased sales. Another key effort by Marketing is to work with the Purchasing and Shipping departments to identify old inventory that needs to cleared out and/or donated so that the company no longer needs to rent overflow cargo containers for inventory. It was also brought to our attention that product manuals, merchandising items, promotional materials, catalogs, and brochures have a tendency to be ordered in excessive quantities and not tracked on a routine basis to see if future order quantities should be adjusted. This seems to be an inventory management and communication issue where no one is being held accountable for tracking inventory levels. There are some instances where products (such as Oceanic BCs) are ordered by the Purchasing department and yet are no longer on the price list and therefore are being stored but not sold! It would be in Oceanic’s best interest to address this for increased productivity during end-of-year inventory counts (less overtime reduces labor costs) and more space for current product inventories.
Monitoring and Reporting the progress of the NWST sustainability initiatives. Routine check-ins with Oceanic’s President will be required to ensure the SCC and the NWST remain aligned with the company’s business goals. Schedule meetings between the NWST and departments should also be conducted to document the current progress of initiatives and identify if there are more ways to improve work processes. Quarterly performance reviews should be conducted to measure the progress made by employees on meeting targeted goals for sustainability initiatives and reward them if their contributions were valuable to improving the company’s environmental performance.