Responsible Organization - ESEC

We are a team of 38 students from the ESEC Barcelona Business School. We are studying in Barcelona until June 2010 in an Option called: Management of Organization.

Among our courses that make links between strategy and the organization, we follow a course on “The Responsible Organization”. The main idea of this course is to make us aware of the many ideas linked to responsibility, environment and social issues.

Our teacher Mr Jan Jonker is an Associate Professor and Research Fellow. He works on the following subjects: Change Management, Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility. He is working at the Nijmegen School of Management (NSM) - Radboud University Nijmegen (RU). He is also a visiting professor in several French Business schools and in Aarhus.

All the students were involved in the construction of these videos.

The coordination team, Clémence H, Brieuc C, and Zoé M, was responsible for the construction of the blog and its editing.

Why a blog?

This blog is a funny way to communicate and to deal with the items linked to a Responsible Organization. It is an entertaining way to talk about a serious subject. 

All the videos and articles you will see in this blog were done in the frame of our course of Responsible Organization.

Enjoy our blog!

· Sustainable Development :

To watch the video : click here

In 1987, the United Nations released the Brundtland Report, which defines Sustainable Development as a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Sustainable development is also the balance between economic, social and environmental issues.

 That means the association of three concepts: to be bearable, to be equitable and to be viable.

In our movie, we will show you some different example of this concept but you must know that sustainable development can be done in any activity and have to be done.

Nowadays, Sustainable development is increasingly regarded as a true solution for tomorrow's world and more and more companies are integrating Sustainable Development into their line of conduct. The movies, we makes, will show you the definition of Sustainable Development, and after 3 different ways of it.

· Team members :

Thanks to Aymeric S, Rita M and Laura R.

· Sources :

- http://www.defra.gov.uk/sustainable/government/

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_development

- http://www.globalissues.org/issue/367/sustainable-development

- www.wbcsb.org

· Introduction to Post Fossil design

To watch the video (part1) : click here

To watch the video (part2) : click here

Nowadays, carbon emissions and the use of natural resources are at stake in every decisions people take.

So the following question can be asked:

What is going to be the future in a post fuel age?  

The post fossil design concept is one way among others to solve this issue.

Post fossil design consists in manufacturing a range of odd and wonderful objects that don’t use any form of fossil energy.

These items are intended to encourage everyone to reconsider their own behavior and to be more responsible for their actions. It is also a way to make people aware of new issues such as the sustainable treatment of resources.

In the film we made about post fossil design, we focused on the epitome of a post fossil design object. In fact, the dream farm is basically a farm which uses and harvests the rejection produced by the farm (Livestock manure & waste water…). It allows the farm to be energy independent. Finally it is an ecological system which is nested in an economical one.

· Team members :

The group which has done this work is composed of Hugo M, Marc A-H and Ghassane C.

· Bibliography :

If you are curious and if you want to go further on this subject have a look to these links.

- The report of Dr. Mae-Wan HO called “Dream Farm II – A Proposal : How to Beat Climate Change & Post Fossil Fuel Economy”

- http://www.postfossil.ch/postfossil

- http://dmy-berlin.com/en/festival/2009/allstars/postfossil/

- www.postfossil.ch

· Introduction to CRADLE TO CRADLE

To watch the video : click here

In our consumer society, we are used to buying, using and throwing away our items. Thus, most products go very fast from cradle (that is to say the factory where they have been manufactured) to grave (the trashcan). However, in the nature, every component is 100% recycled and sometimes re-used to serve other goals.

This phenomenon is what we call a perpetual cycle in which everything goes from a cradle to another cradle.

William McDonough (an eco-friendly designer) and Michael Braungart (a German chemist) have indentified this phenomenon and wondered: “Shouldn’t we imitate nature’s process for our products?”

Thus, in 2002, William McDonough and Michael Braungart published the publication “Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things”. 

In this publication, the two researchers are calling for the transformation of human industry through ecologically intelligent design. In this manifesto, they made a dichotomy between two kinds of products: on the one hand, consumption products carried out to foster the ecosystem after their use; and on the other hand, service products manufactured to become technical nutrients which goal is to be re-used for the production of new products and services.

· Team members:

Persons worked on this video: Ghassan C, Brieuc C, Marie D, Marc AH, Hugo M, Kenza R.

· Bibliography for curious people

If you are curious and if you want to go further on this subject have a look to these links.

§ Book :

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, published in 2002

§ Web sites :

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoRjz8iTVoo

- http://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/fr/2007/02/article_0002.html

- http://www.mbdc.com/c2c/

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/fre_fr/william_mcdonough_on_cradle_to_cradle_design.html

· Introduction to Micro –credit

To watch the video : click here

Over the past two decades, micro credit programs have emerged as one of the leading strategies in the overall movement to eradicate poverty. The idea began when a Bangladeshi economist Professor Mohammad Yunus first demonstrated that poor people, especially poor women, could produce near-perfect repayment rates.

According to Oxfam, micro credit consists of "very small scale financial services, including loans for emergencies, day-to-day living, and investment in productive activities" Credit is usually provided to groups of individuals or village organizations that use joint-liability to enforce loan repayment.

The Grameen Bank (GB) has reversed conventional banking practice by removing the need for collateral, thus creating a banking system based on mutual trust, accountability, participation and creativity.  The GB provides credit to the poorest in Bangladesh without any collateral requirements.   Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, reasoned that if financial resources can be made available to poor people on terms that are appropriate and reasonable, "these millions of small people with their millions of small pursuits can add up to the biggest development wonder."

· Team members

Thanks to this team, we have learned more about micro credits :

 Florence D, Clémence H, Clémentine L, Julie L, Lucie L, Clotilde R, Maxence V.

· Bibliography for curious people

If you want to have more information about micro credits, just have a look to these links :

- www.indiana.edu

- http://www.grameenfoundation.org/

- http://www.grameen-info.org/

- Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty, 2006

· Introduction to Community Investment :

To watch the video : click here      

Community Investment is a quite unknown part of Corporate Social Responsibility. However, even if this concept is mostly famous in North America, it remains very important.

“Community investing is financing that creates resources and opportunities for economically disadvantaged people who are undeserved by traditional financial institutions.”

Each of us can participate in Community Investment. You can of course invest some of your time and energy for the good of a community. But you can also invest money in a bank which goal is to help communities. In this short movie, Maxime M. plays the role of a customer of a Community development bank where Mathieu N. is the manager, both interviewed by Florian M.. In 1997, In Louisville, KY, such a bank managed to revitalize an old and dirty neighborhood.

Companies are encouraged to work with Community Investment centers. Indeed, they will offer some help for the reintegration of unemployed people for example. Emilie L. plays the role of a manager in a company which hired a rehabilitated employee, Julie T-T.

Community Investment deserves to be developed in more countries. Indeed, such actions are getting more and more necessary and this all over the world.

· Team members :

 Thanks to them, we have discovered what the community investment concept was:

 Emilie L, Maxime M, Florian M, Julie T-T, Mathieu N.

· Bibliography for curious people

If you are curious and if you want to go further on this subject have a look to these links.

- www.communityinvestment.ca

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9aN9QCvGZ4

- www.communityinvest.org

• Introduction to Carbon Tax

To watch the video : click here

A carbon tax is an environmental tax on emissions of carbon dioxide, a gas responsible for the greenhouse effect, in order to control global warming. Its aim is to discourage the polluting emissions by taxing proportionally those who pollute our air. The tax increases the final price proportionally to the emissions done by their production. This tax has also been made to help companies producing ‘clean’ goods.

The Kyoto Protocol has been the starting point of the setting of the carbon tax. It has been primary settled in 1997 and was implemented in February 2005. Under the protocol, 37 industrialized countries have agreed to reduce their emissions of four greenhouse gases, and among them is the carbon dioxide. The countries agreed to reduce their collective greenhouse gas emissions by 5, 2% (from the 1990 level).

The carbon tax is a solution offered to the countries who agree to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The tax can be applied to the final products or more commonly to their production or their importation of fossil energy which will consume carbon dioxide when it is used.

The carbon tax is complementary to the principle of quotas of emissions. The tax imposes a fixed price to free quantity, whereas the quotas impose quantities and let the price be variable. Both systems exist, but the tax enables to regulate a large number of small issues initially hard to regulate with quotas.

· Team members :

Thanks to this team we have learned more about Carbon Tax:

Florence D, Lucie L, Julie L, Clotilde R.

· Bibliography for curious people

If you are curious and if you want to go further on this subject have a look to these links.

• Web sites

www.ocde.org

www.carbontax.org

www.actioncarbone.org

§ Magazine

“Alerte aux profiteurs du business vert “, Capital, March 2010

· The corporate social responsibility.

To watch the video : click here

Nowadays more than ever, businesses have a much more important role to play in supporting society. That is the reason why the notion of corporate responsibility is at stake in our society.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a description of the role that the company plays serving many different stakeholders like the society, employees, the state, shareholders, Non Governmental Organizations.

More precisely, today many businesses are trying to find simultaneously the way to do well financially while at the same time doing something positive for society and environment.

However, there are some issues dealing with CSR regarding the fundamental purpose and nature of business: making profit.

Some people wonder if this corporate social responsibility movement is sincere. Critic people describe it as a hypocritical concept.

The critics emphasize the real motivation of some companies which are undertaking CSR programs. Indeed some of them start CSR programs for the commercial benefit they enjoy through raising their reputation with the public or with the government.

We may wonder: can we blame a company that is claiming we have to protect the environment?

Even if it is for its green communication, it is a way to lead people to others horizons.

· Team members :

Thanks to Clémentine L, Vincent M, Maxime D-C, we have learned more about corporate social responsibility.

· Bibliography :

If you are curious and if you want to go further on this subject have a look to these links.

- www.youtube.com

- www.wikipedia.org

- http://ec.europa.eu

· Introduction to Embodied Energy Analysis :

To watch the video : click here

Embodied energy is an accounting methodology which goal is to find the total sum of the energy necessary for an entire product lifecycle

How to calculate the energy required for a product?

The embodied energy analysis gathers the energy required for a lifecycle product: including raw material extraction, transport, manufacture, assembly, installation, disassembly, deconstruction and/or decomposition.

Typical embodied energy units used are MJ/kg and tCO2.

What can we do of this analysis?

It can be useful to rethink our way of conceiving a product from the beginning to the end, which is not selling to a consumer but rather the product’s decomposition. It can also appear on the product to inform the consumer of the energy needed to build it.

However, we can deplore that there is still no international standards to do this analysis; therefore, we wonder if the consumer will really take a look at the embodied energy written in the product before buying it?

· Team members :

Thanks to Julien J, Marie Pauline L and Carole V, we have learned more about the embodied energy analysis.

· Bibliography :

If you are curious and if you want to go further on this subject have a look to these links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IstoBVIFW4k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXzYoKtRqPg

http://www.scienceinthebox.com

· Introduction to THE BOTTOM OF THE PYRAMID

To watch the video : click here

 The « Bottom of the Pyramid » is an expression which was proposed by professor Prahalad, to describe the poorest people in the world. They are the four billion people that are living with less than two dollars a day.

In his book The fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, Prahalad explains that it would be far wiser to consider these people as a potential market, instead of seeing them as victims. It would be a more efficient way to eradicate poverty in the world.

  In his book, Prahalad also gives some examples of current projects that follow this idea, and how the new technologies can help creating these new markets.

However, his ideas do not have unanimous support. In fact, some opponents claim that Prahalad’s ideas cannot be applied everywhere. Yet, this new concept has changed dramatically the vision of the Third World and now sparks off a true debate between researchers.

· Team members

This video was done by Lucille B, Maxime C, Guillaume F, Pierre G, Vincent M, Anaïs N, Laurène S.

· Bibliography for curious people

If you are curious and if you want more information on the subject, have a look to these links:

- Coimbatore Krishnarao Prahalad: The fortune at the bottom of the Pyramid (http://books.google.com )

- Aneel Karnani: The Mirage of Marketing to the Bottom of the Pyramid

- Suparna Chatterjee: “Selling to the Poor” Reflection, Critique, and Dialogue http://warrington.ufl.edu/academics/pdbp/docs/proposals/2009_SuparnaChatterjee.pdf

- http://www.wri.org/