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Sustainability in a business context
Sustainability in a business context
Sustainability in a business context
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Dell Computer Corporation asserts a corporate responsibility philosophy geared towards “enabling human potential” through technology and making access to green technology easier for everyone, including the underprivileged (“Corporate responsibility,” 2012, para. 1-2). In order for this philosophy to result in meaningful practices and actions, it is necessary for Dell to utilize performance measures. As Epstein (2008) points out, “measurement is critically important because it links performance to the principles of sustainability and facilitates continuous improvement” (p. 164). Given the size and scope of Dell Computer Corporation, there are a multitude of relevant performance measures which could be used to assess the company’s sustainability practices and progress. However, two particular sustainability factors seem stand out with particular importance with regards to performance metrics at Dell. These two factors are the energy efficiency of Dell products and the recycling of used electronic products, including disposal of waste products and donation of used products to those in need.
Given the extensive use of technology in today’s world, the energy consumed by computers and other electronic devices is a concern. It is estimated that the IT industry is responsible for over two percent of the carbon dioxide emissions released globally; this is approximately equal to that of the airline industry (“Dell aims to prove,” 2008). Manufacturers such as Dell make powerful computer processors whose energy use far outpaces the improved usefulness of the processor (“Dell aims to prove,” 2008). In addition, consumers usually leave their PCs running and companies leave their servers running nearly all the time, wasting a great deal of ...
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Dell aims to prove energy promises are not just greenwash. (2008, March 31). Irish Times.
Dell blade servers: Reduce IT management costs and improve energy efficiency. (2012). Retrieved from http://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/d/corp-comm/dell-blade-efficiency.aspx
Electronics TakeBack Coalition. (2010). Electronics recycling report card grading for: Dell. Retrieved from http://www.electronicstakeback.com/wp-content/uploads/Report_Card_Grade_Oct2010_Dell.pdf
Epstein, M. J. (2008). Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing and measuring corporate social, environmental, and economic impacts. Sheffield, UK: Greenleaf Publishing.
Koch, W. T. (Dec. 19, 2011). More states ban disposal of electronics in landfills. USA Today.
Recycling. (2012). Retrieved from http://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/dell-environment-recycling.aspx
1. How and why did the personal computer industry come to have such low average profitability?
Wheelen, T. L., & Hunger, J. D. (2010). In Concepts in Strategic Management and Business Policy Achieving Sustainability, Twelfth Edition. Pearson Education.
The Macbook Pro Retina is one of the most popular technological products in the current market. The Macbook Pro is marketed as the greenest notebook by Apple but there are elements of the product that are not environmentally sound. This is proven with the study from the process from cradle to grave of the new Macbook Pro Retina. The environmental impact of the Macbook Pro can be measured by the lack of recyclability in the creation stage, the level of emissions in the transportation stage, the facilitation of disposal by Apple and local governments, and the economic viability of the MacBook Pro.
Based on Laurel Nesbit, a program assistant in the Office of Sustainability here at UF, our campus manages to utilize 470,000 Megawatts of energy annually. This figure is generated from all the energy-consuming gadgets that operate on our campus on a daily bases. These gadgets include computers that are left turned on over the night even they are not in use, copiers, and the fume hoods in our laboratories. Admittedly, the success and the health of wellbeing of the students is contingent upon some of these equipment. For instance, the laboratories need the fume hoods in order to keep the experimenters safe. Instead of casting these necessities away, we can develop alternatives which will be capable of generating energy in order to compensate for the electricity that we endlessly
It is known that manufacturing process and cost reductions, which are pillar of the Dell business model, high profit margin will break the mightier growth for the company, through which, the best practices come in all forms. Hence, to conclude, when it comes time to decide the selection of the strategies, Dell should accept both strategies to a greater extent. It will be popular course of action for Dell to refute the claims of experts about the future of Dell. However, in this uncertain age of market, where globalization can play a key and integral role for business progress, Dell has to contemplate all the factors now to enhance its brand via products and marketing together with wide-ranging business models. Nonetheless, the management has to put its shoulder to the wheel to make the things
Dell Inc. has realized that the most efficient path to the customer is through a direct relationship, with no intermediaries to add confusion and cost. With the power of their direct model and their team of talented people, they are able to provide to their customers high-quality, relevant technology, customized systems, superior service and support and products and services that are easy to buy and use.
The second key point for Apple is renewable energy their goal was to achieve 100 percent of renewable energy which they have accomplished. In their data center in Maiden, North Carolina they have several approaches of energy efficient element designs. Two of their energy efficient designs were a chi...
This strategy was carried out by selling via phone, fax and direct sales, instead of selling through retail stores. Not only this approach differentiated Dell from other competitors at the time, it also reduced its operating costs as it did not have to rent expensive retail space. In addition, Dell’s strategy of selling customised computers allowed it to hold only a small amount of inventory, which reduce...
The tremendous success that Apple has been for the efforts that they have made not only in ensuring that they produce quality products, but also in ensuring that they are socially responsible in their business model (Avetisyan and Ferrary 2013, 115-133). Apple is believed to be one of the companies that are socially responsible in the world, but has received criticism from all corners in the world (Aguinis and Glavas 2012, 932-968). The criticism has worked to the advantage of Apple since it has been able to improve in their social responsibility. The paper discusses the environmental and social performance regarding Apple and how it impacts the society and how the operations of the company should be done (Backer 2013, 805-879). Both the areas
(i.e. computers, servers, data centers, etc.). Hence, they make use of virtualization, i.e. one server is used to spawn several virtual servers. This process reduces resource redundancy, use less energy, moreover less wastage of resources by efficient usage methods. Specific actions to achieve these goals are mainly by getting rid of inefficient hardware, introducing efficient hardware, and promoting server virtualization. (Adidas16, 2015). Adidas`s global goal to meet more stringent energy savings by 2015 are being planned to implement using below techniques,
A declared goal of multiple corporations, non-profit organizations, and local/state/federal governments in the past ten to fifteen years has been sustainability. Although sustainability is a goal for many, measuring the degree to which a business is being sustainable or tracking sustainable growth can be challenging. A man by the name of John Elkington saw the need for a sustainable growth measurement system, and strove to measure sustainability by bringing to view a new outline to measure sustainable performance in corporate America. This outline, called the triple bottom line, went beyond the customary measures of shareholder value, profits, and return on investment to include social and environmental dimensions. By focusing on widespread
When every IT professional starts their journey into the IT Sector, they are bound to come across social issues which will have to be dealt with professionally. One important Issue is being green in Information Technology. The earth’s resources are continuously becoming scarce whilst the demand for them increases sharply. Every IT professional should understand that power consumption does not cover the whole green IT spectrum. Recycling dangerous electronic waste, optimising/virtualising servers to distribute workloads, having a long term green policy, reducing your workplace carbon foot print such as the paperless desk and an efficient data centre-business continuity model; these are a few examples of issues that professional must consider as these issues all occur in the green IT world.
The United States of America is known as the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. America earned this nickname and has one of, if not the most productive economy in the world. However, one area that the United States shows great room for improvement in is the politics of energy. There’s plenty of ways that I believe America should begin preserving energy and become much more energy sufficient in general.Energy efficiency is defined as a way of managing and restraining the growth in energy consumption. In other words, using less energy in order to provide the same services. Since the late 1900’s, many countries around the world have been installing guidelines to improve energy efficiency. America’s energy intensity and efficiency ratings are nearly the lowest worldwide, due to its current debt, the immense population, and the nations recent budget cuts.
Another measure that cloud computing reduces cost for an organization is lowering the electrical power and people costs. This idea relates to the electricity needed to power the hardware used by the servers and the IT staff that is needed to help maintain them. According to Richi Jennings from the Webroot Security website, by effectively utilizing hardware and servers, electricity usage will be lowered and will also save en...
[4] Charles E. Craig, Jr. 2013. [Online]. Advantages and Disadvantages of Linux. Renewable Pcs. Available: http://www.renewablepcs.com/about-linux/advantages-of-using-linux [21 MARCH 2014]