An Effective Classroom Teacher Essay Example for Free

An Effective Classroom Teacher Essay I believe that with being a teacher comes great responsibility. A teacher will leave a lasting impression on their pupils, they should be free from any prejudice and treat children as individuals by respecting their backgrounds, religion, disability and race. I am extremely concerned about becoming an effective teacher and many factors contribute to this. This essay will highlight my areas of concern and how my initial thoughts have developed during my placement. My areas of concern include planning and executing enjoyable lessons. They also include the strategies I observed the teacher using to mange behaviour in the classroom which is essential for the smooth flow of the day. Confidence is a factor which I feel improves every time you teach, and if lessons are well planned and subject knowledge is secure a teacher would automatically begin to feel confident. I am also concerned about classroom organisation and the implementation of routines. I observed many examples of set routines which the school follow, this is the responsibility of the teacher to enforce and then keep consistent. These are all attributes or responsibilities of an effective teacher and this essay will explore them and discuss possible ways of improving or developing them. I have also included my experience regarding assessment and the importance of identifying strengths and weaknesses to become an effective teacher. Finally, I have included some experiences of my university education which has helped me to identify my areas for concern. I feel that being an effective teacher should involve valuing, gaining and giving respect to the children. I was concerned how this could be achieved. I saw fantastic examples on my school placement which I hope to adopt myself. Every morning the teacher would give the children time to settle on the carpet and instead of talking amongst each other, they would in turn talk to the teacher and the rest of the class, often about issues which were concerning them or something exciting that happened over the weekend. The teacher made sure every child had a chance to talk no matter how trivial. She showed genuine interest in them and never let them feel insignificant. I really admired the teacher for this. I initially thought it was just a nice way to start the morning however, after thinking about it so many strategies are involved and learning taking place. The children develop confidence in talking in front of the class; they are sharing their thoughts and feelings, and learning how to express themselves. The bond of trust is being formed between pupil and teacher. Finally, it is good strategy for managing behaviour. Children learn to listen to each other and they also learn patience and turn-taking. The most effective teachers frequently involved the whole class in discussion and were skilled at doing this, which was not necessarily whole-class teaching as such. (Dean, J. (2001) p.39)Â  Therefore I feel that it is extremely important to value a child despite race, gender, religion or disability. And to truly show an interest in them and respect their thoughts and beliefs. I feel that I established a good relationship with the children and they felt comfortable around me. This is where I felt I was effective in my teaching. All this contributes to being an effective teacher. Mortimore et al. (1988) found that effective teachers gave rewards rather than punishments, as punishments had a negative effect on learning. I observed a great deal of this on my school placement which I quickly adopted. Unwanted behaviour was often ignored until absolutely necessary, whereas good behaviour was praised quickly and an example made of it to the rest of the class. This practise worked, I saw the class react quickly try and act the same way to please the teacher and me as a student teacher. I feel that an effective teacher should have implemented a classroom routine and then to keep it consistent. An arrangement of getting things out and putting away can be made with children. All the children can be given a responsibility of taking care of a small area of the classroom. Places for resources, books etc should have a permanent place and be clearly labelled to enable the children to tidy up efficiently. I also noticed that the class teacher had seated the children in rows on specific places on the carpet. Bennet and Blunder (1983) found that children got more work done when sat in rows. I found that this is an effective classroom management strategy. There are no arguments of sitting next to friends or lack of space. The children know where they sit and with one glance, the teacher can see who is missing and spot ant disruptions. The children were seated on the table in groups according to ability. Independent work was often completed on the tables, however, the child were always given the chance to discuss ideas with each other before asking the teacher for help.

Traffic problems in city centres

Traffic problems in city centres Traffic problem has become a major problem in the word,it is obvious from the upsurge of private car use on the roads and the amount of problem they cause.Banning private cars in inner city is a blessing or a curse has sparked spirited debate. Admittedly, one might have benefited a lot from ones improved ability to move rapidly from one place to another space.Compared to other model, cars provide carring captivity and privacy,50% of commuters travel to work by car in London(Newman,1996).According to a survey,97,000 cars enter to central area between 7:30 am and 10:00 am.This may explain based on Figure3.3,it emphasize the fact that people spend money on cars reduced(exclude added costs) when travel the same trip,with 6% decreased from 1997 to 2004.However,the price of bus ticket and rail ticket has increased 10% and 4% respectively during the seven years.This may explain why more and more private cars are used. However, the massive cars enter to inner city cause some serious problems.The most significant problem is traffic congestion and this is evident in every morning and evening in rush hours(Figure3.1).Moving on a congestion road, speeds of traffic reduced to 6-10 km/h(Newman,1996).As figure3.1 indicates,moving on a congestion road,travel time increased more than 4 minute when drivers travel 1 kilometre.Moreover, sluggish traffic flow leads to high fuel and maintenance costs(Schuitema,G 2007).For instance,the cost of congestion in London is at least â‚ ¬3.5 bn per annum(Bailly). In addition,the growth in car use decreases the quality of life in urban areas due to exhaust gas and irritating noise,causing actual harm to people health.The WHO reports that in European more than 30% urban dwellers has been disturbed by irritating noise,and 5-15% of all citizens suffer noise disturbance(Bailly).The massive cars enter to central area takes the menace to the bicycle riders and pedestrians.The total number of deaths in Europe per year due to traffic accidents reached 45,000.Inadequate of parking car is another recognize consequence of the upsurge of private car enter to central area that result in many gardens and grasslands give way to construct traffic facilities like highway,avenues(Bailly). Because of these negative effect some people argued that private car should be banned to enter to inner city.However,if banning car enter to inner city will cause another problems.For instance,in Tokyo,the commute rail system has a over-loaded of 300%of capacity in rush hours so that public transportation fail to cope with the increasing transportation demand(Schuitema,G 2007).So,banning private cars in inner city could reduce the number of transport,it is most unlikely to be an acceptable solution. Statistic from the London Congestion charge Report are illustrated in Figure 3.1 which shows the problem of traffic delays has improved since implement charging during rush hours in the March of 2003. Figure3.1 shows the travel time saved about 1 minute compared with charging before.However, the development of national economy and the improvement of living standard,people afford to extra fee ,the problem picked up again in 2006.From then onward it fluctuated ,and the general trend was upwards.Therefore,an approach to control the number of private car use is focusing on the sales of the private cars(figure 3)and imposing of road tolls during rush hours which, as figure3.2 indicates,has reduced from 2002 to 2006 the number of cars entering to central area fell dramatically,with a 36% reduction,and vans ,lorries and other charging vehicle decreased by 13% respectively.In contract ,for no-charging vehicle rose sharply,such as the number of bus and coaches increased by 25%.Not only avoid common use of private car entering to center area but solve the under-use and serious wastage of the public transport in peak hours. To sum up,private cars indeed bring lots of benefit for urban residents,banning private cars in inner city will cause another problem.So government need make some methods control the number of cars,such as to impose charges,to establish bus lane and to subsidy the public transport fares(Newman,P1996) and people should reduce unnecessary daily commuting by car.

Value of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM)

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

College Admissions Essay: I’m Not Deaf, and I’m Not Dumb! :: College Admissions Essays

I’m Not Deaf, and I’m Certainly Not Dumb! A hearing loss can present many obstacles in one's life. I have faced many issues throughout my life, many of which affected me deeply. When I first realized that I was hearing-impaired, I didn't know what it meant. As I grew older, I came to understand why I was different from everyone. It was hard to like myself or feel good about myself because I was often teased. However, I started to change my attitude and see that wearing hearing aids was no different than people wearing glasses to see. I attended the BOCES Program for the Hearing Impaired for eleven years. I initially liked BOCES but later grew to dislike this program. The teachers often made me feel incapable of doing what the "normal kids" were doing. I wanted to do more challenging things! I remember that one time I asked one of my teachers if I could take a Spanish class. Her reply was "NO!". She didn't think I could handle it because I had a hearing loss. I was persistent and took the class anyway. I did very well. I proved her wrong. But above all, I proved to myself that if I wanted something enough, I could do it. It was a great feeling! During my junior year of high school, I was transferred from the Boces Program to East Meadow High School. This was an exciting time in my life! I was finally going to attend classes with "hearing" students. So many emotions filled my head. I was happy but, on the other hand, I was scared. I thought these kids would tease me and not accept me for who I am. When I went into the classroom, every student looked at me as if I were different, but they liked me anyway. Much to my surprise, within a couple of days I had made friends. I quickly realized that they didn't think of or treat me as I were different. They saw me for who I am on the inside, not a person with hearing aids on the outside. Although I have a hearing problem, it doesn't stop me from living the life of a teenager. I enjoy doing things with friends and I am involved in school activities. I had the opportunity of joining Key Club this year and participating in their community-related services.

Baz Luhrman´s Version of Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet Essay -- Romeo

Baz Luhrman ´s Version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet One of the characteristics of Elizabethan and also Jacobean drama is the low number of stage directions and the lack of details they contain. As a logical consequence theatrical representations or film versions of these ages may allow an important quantity of freedom in the performance. In other instances stage directions and other important theatrical elements are consciously left aside in order to create totally different visions of the original idea. That is not the case of Baz Luhrman ´s version of Romeo and Juliet filmed in 1996, which despite the numerous alterations of the original play still retains Shakespeare's initial conception. On the question of setting, instead of the Verona of the sixteenth century in Italy, the action occurs in another Verona in the nineties, a coastal city dominated by two large skyscrapers belonging to the Montagues and the Capulets respectively, two adversary industrial powers. The places appearing in the play are barely respected, however the Capulet ´s mansion including its walls and garden appear both in the play and the film due to the fact that the events taking place there are crucial because it is the place in which Romeo and Juliet ´s first meet and develop their love affair. Apart from this, they are forbidden for Romeo, so any other location would have reduced the tension of his intrusions. In addition to this, in the film the streets of Verona are repeatedly replaced by the beach, and so the friar Lawrence ´s cell by his chapel. It is usual to find that whereas in a single scene of the play the events occur in a single space location, in the film it is possible to see more than one, as in the case of the first scene o... ...already dead. Apart from these elisions, some passages or sentences are extrapolated as in the case of 5.3., when Romeo says: "thy drugs are quick" referring to the apothecary's poison. This sentence only appears before Romeo and his friends go to the fancy-dress ball referring to the ecstasy tablet that Mercutio gives him. An interest case regarding to the text is prince Escalus' last intervention (5.3.), that in Luhrman's versions is performed by a newsreader on a t.v. who also performs the role of the chorus at the very beginning of the play. From all this, it follows that faithfulness is the key word since this version, unlike others as West Side Story by Jerome Robins and Robert Wise, retains the basic plot, metrics and literary devices in order to achieve a faithful and, at the same, time new vision of the Shakespeare's work that keeps his poetic richness.

The Impact of Information Technology on Marketing Strategies for Health

Information has become the most valuable commodity in any market. Utilizing accurate information about customers and their interests is vital for successful marketing activities. In today's fast paced, highly competitive markets, companies must make marketing decisions quickly or risk losing their competitive edge. Using information technology (IT) allows companies to gather, analyze, and utilize large amounts of customer information. This information is used to reduce risk and uncertainty in decision making and maximize the profitability of marketing activities. IT also allows companies to evaluate the success, benefits, and profitability of IT investments, marketing strategies, and other business ventures over long periods of time. Today utilizing IT is essential in all aspects of marketing activities and successful marketing is not possible without the use of IT. Marketing in healthcare involves unique challenges which other markets do not face. According to Shaw (2008) "healthcar e marketers promote a service that is complicated, expensive, and even frightening." Most people do not want to imagine themselves needing healthcare products or services and usually reject information concerning the statistical chances of their future medical needs. As a result, traditional marketing techniques like directing products and services to specific consumers or broadcasting brand images are often ineffective in healthcare markets. In order to maintain a marketing advantage, healthcare marketers started moving toward a consumer driven marketing approach focused around consumer wants, needs, and expectations. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of IT on the marketing strategies of healthcare organizations. The rapid expans... ...ult, healthcare organizations have started marketing campaigns focused on patient privacy and cyber security. References Berisha-Namani, M. (2013). Information technology, internet, and marketing. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 4(1). doi: 10.7903/ijecs.1116 Kotler, P., & Clarke, R. N. (1987). Marketing for health care organizations (p. 265). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Rooney, K. (2009). Consumer-Driven Healthcare Marketing: Using the Web to Get Up Close and Personal. Journal Of Healthcare Management, 54(4), 241-251. Shaw, G. (2008). Department Focus: Marketing–Lessons from the Field. Online article on HealthLeaders Media website. White, K. R., Thompson, J. M., & Patel, U. B. (2001). Hospital Marketing Orientation and Managed Care Processes: Are They Coordinated?. Journal Of Healthcare Management, 46(5), 327. The Impact of Information Technology on Marketing Strategies for Health Information has become the most valuable commodity in any market. Utilizing accurate information about customers and their interests is vital for successful marketing activities. In today's fast paced, highly competitive markets, companies must make marketing decisions quickly or risk losing their competitive edge. Using information technology (IT) allows companies to gather, analyze, and utilize large amounts of customer information. This information is used to reduce risk and uncertainty in decision making and maximize the profitability of marketing activities. IT also allows companies to evaluate the success, benefits, and profitability of IT investments, marketing strategies, and other business ventures over long periods of time. Today utilizing IT is essential in all aspects of marketing activities and successful marketing is not possible without the use of IT. Marketing in healthcare involves unique challenges which other markets do not face. According to Shaw (2008) "healthcar e marketers promote a service that is complicated, expensive, and even frightening." Most people do not want to imagine themselves needing healthcare products or services and usually reject information concerning the statistical chances of their future medical needs. As a result, traditional marketing techniques like directing products and services to specific consumers or broadcasting brand images are often ineffective in healthcare markets. In order to maintain a marketing advantage, healthcare marketers started moving toward a consumer driven marketing approach focused around consumer wants, needs, and expectations. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of IT on the marketing strategies of healthcare organizations. The rapid expans... ...ult, healthcare organizations have started marketing campaigns focused on patient privacy and cyber security. References Berisha-Namani, M. (2013). Information technology, internet, and marketing. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 4(1). doi: 10.7903/ijecs.1116 Kotler, P., & Clarke, R. N. (1987). Marketing for health care organizations (p. 265). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Rooney, K. (2009). Consumer-Driven Healthcare Marketing: Using the Web to Get Up Close and Personal. Journal Of Healthcare Management, 54(4), 241-251. Shaw, G. (2008). Department Focus: Marketing–Lessons from the Field. Online article on HealthLeaders Media website. White, K. R., Thompson, J. M., & Patel, U. B. (2001). Hospital Marketing Orientation and Managed Care Processes: Are They Coordinated?. Journal Of Healthcare Management, 46(5), 327.

Ethics Munson’s 5 Ethical Theories Essay

Ethics is a branch if philosophy that deal with ideas about what is morally good and bad. Ethics act as tools, giving us guidance when we need to make important decisions in personal and professional situations. There are biblical inferences that can relate to most if not all situations that we come across in our daily lives. God will not put us in any situations that we cannot be triumphant in. If the Bible is an absolute in all of these theories, so is Jesus Christ. The first ethical theory is Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is the ethical theory that describes how the moral value or worth of an action is determined by how much benefit is gained from that action. It is measured by not only the amount of benefit gained but also the amount of people with benefits in the process. This theory hopes to provide guidance when choosing a course of action. Utilitarianism is divided into two groups based off of how they apply the theory. A Rule Utilitarian believes that the action is right if it results in happiness of great benefit (Munson, 2009). For example, the commandment, â€Å"thou shall not kill† is very straight forward and doesn’t leave room for interpretation. Someone who follows Rule Utilitarianism would strictly follow this rule by never committing murder or killing any living creature. An Act Utilitarian would decipher the commandment according to its greatest benefit. Act utilitarianism is the belief that an action is right if it is better than all of the other options as long as it yields the best results. In other words, there may be situations in which breaking the rules may be the best option. Breaking the commandment, â€Å" thou shall not kill† may seem wrong when looking at it from the surface, but if it is done to save the life’s of others it may yield the best result. The absolute that applies to Utilitarianism is the Bible. 2 Corinthians 9:7 says, â€Å"Each one must give as he has decided in his heart; not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.† This theory is about the best benefit and focuses on the amount of benefit as well as the amount of people it benefits. In order to achieve this, the reason for giving cannot be selfishly or self- motivated. Immanuel Kant’s deontological theory is the complet ely opposite of Utilitarianism. Kantian Ethics believes that right and wrong are not depended on their consequences but on whether the duty or task at hand is fulfilled. Kant theory is also reliant on the view that humans, unlike any  other creature, have the capacity to rationalize. He believes that a person’s feelings and inclinations should not play any part in motivating a chosen action. This theory does not work well in the field of healthcare. Feelings and inclinations are a necessity when working with human beings. Healthcare workers are not reading step by step instructions as if they are putting a car together, but instead are caring for a patient whose case is different and patient specific. Patients cannot be treated like a checklist. Although this theory eliminated any of the categories under the Bible: commandments, guidelines, inferences, and convictions; completion is a big topic in the Bible. God completed the creation of the world in six days, and rested on the seventh. Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day. In John 17:4, Jesus said to them, â€Å"My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.† W.D. Ross believed that there was not one rule or principle that one must abide by. Instead he believed that we can progress through moral duties. Ross proposed that we have self-evident prima facie moral duties and that there are some things have intrinsic value (Ross, 2002). He believed we have the duty of fidelity or the duty to keep our promises, the duty of reparation or the duty to pay for harm done to others, the duty of gratitude or the duty to return favors, the duty of beneficence or the duty to maximize the good, and the duty of non-injury or the duty to refuse harm to others (Ross, 2002). For example, it is generally wrong to kill a person because it causes pain and is one of the 10 commandments. In order for it not to be wrong to kill, a person must have an overriding reason to do it such as saving the lives of others. Ross’s belief in overriding reason is very similar to that Act Utilitarianism. The Bible is an absolute in this theory as well. Ross puts emphasis on the duties we must uphold. The Bible lays out many duties given to Christians. One of the most popular lists is the Ten Commandments. Virtue Ethics is the approach that deemphasizes rules and duty, focusing on a person’s character (Munson, 2009). Character is an impor tant focus when choosing employees in the Healthcare field. I have worked in many healthcare areas and have worked with many people who truly were not in the field for the right reasons. Passion is a necessity when working with human beings. There are many workers who lack this characteristic and are simply in the field for monetary benefit. Although it may be impossible to completely rid the  healthcare field of â€Å"bad seeds,† providing an overflow of kindhearted, loving employees would definitely help. The Bible is an absolute in this ethical approach. Matthew 12:35 says, â€Å"The good person out of his good treasure bring forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.† As a Christian we must make sure we are living our lives in God’s image. We are walking billboards for Christ and need to make sure that we act accordingly. As a Christian, this walk will definitely be hard and there will be many temptations along the way but our character will help us to choose the right path. Care Ethics argues that some duties cannot be justified by theories of right, justice, and utility (Velasquez, 2002). Care ethics believe that the most important factor is the concrete relationship with a person or persons (Velasquez, 2002). This theory is very evident in the healthcare fiel d and I find this theory most appealing. I have worked in the healthcare field for most of my career and realize that it is my duty to take care of and provide for each patient I serve. Through experience, I also realize that there are certain patients that I have been drawn to, and that I feel closer to. At my last job, I worked on the spinal cord injury unit. Most of my patients were fully depended on what I did for them. The interaction could be awkward as I was performing tasks such as showers, bowel programs, and diaper changes. I felt it my duty to make them feel comfortable and to let them know that I care. For a lot of my patients, I was the only family they had. No one ever came to visit them so our conversation was something to look forward to. As I worked with a patient every day, special bonds were formed. We celebrated any and all progress made. Whether it is something as small as moving a pinky for the first time or taking a first step after, everything should be celebrated. Both Jesus Christ and the Bible are absolutes in this theory. This job has also taught me to be more appreciative of the things I do have. It has taught me to stop complaining about little things. Most of my patients lived regular lives just as I do, and in an instance it was taken away from them. Most people unknowingly take things for granted such as being able to walk, talk, brush your teeth, and clothe yourself. Instead, we feel that the things are owed to us and that we are deserving of these things. The Bible and Jesus Christ are definitely absolutes in this theory. We as Christians yearn for a strong, deeper relationship with God and the best way to attain this is by  studying the word of God daily. Proverbs 8:17 says, â€Å"I Love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me.† References Holy Bible Kant, I. (1785) â€Å"First Section: Transition from the Common Rational Knowledge of Morals to the Philosophical.† Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals. Munson, R. (2009). Intervention and Reflection: Basic issues of bioethics (9th ed.). Ross, W.D., (2002). The Right and the Good. Edited, with an Introduction, by Philip Stratton- Lake. New York: Oxford University Press: rpt. of original 1930 edition. Velasquez, M.G., (2002). Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.