1 Introduction Flashcards
What did the World III simulation model presented in “Limits of growth” predict?
The world3 simulation model simulated in 1972 the consequences of interactions between the Earth’s and human systems with the five variables: world population, industrialization, pollution, food production and resource depletion.
Central result: assuming that the growth in human population, industrialization, environmental pollution, food production, and use of natural resources is continuing at the same rate the earth’s limits will be reached within the next 100 years.
How did the “Brundtland Commission” define sustainable development?
Sustainable development is defined as:
“Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
What does the triple bottom line approach to sustainability refer to?
The tripple bottom line approach refers to an accounting framework encompassing three parts: social, environmental and financial performance.
Nowadays it is also known as the three pillars of sustainability: People, Planet and Profit
What is the moral reasoning behind the duty to act in a responsible way?
There are two dimensions why we should act in a sustainable way:
- Intergenerational fairness: It would be unfair if our current consumption would compromise our children’s abilities to meet their future needs
- Intragenerational fairness: It would be unfair if our current consumption would compromies our fellow human’s abilities to meet their needs
Name three of the biggest problems facing humanity. How can companies contribute to remedying these adversities?
- Economic collapse: fragilities in the current global economy could tip the developed world into conditions not seen since te 1920s
- Peak Oil: Petroleum has powered the modern world for almost 100 years, today, many industry insiders say tat we may be reaching a permanent peak in oil production
- Global Water Crisis: Over the last 50 years the human population has nearly tripled, while industrial pollution, unsustainable agriculture, and poor civic planning have decreased the overall water supply
- Species Extinction: Certain species that human beings depend upon for our food supply are going extinct; if their numbers fall too low we may face extinction ourselves
- Rapid Climate Change: While the debate rages on about the causes of climate change, global warming is an empirical fact. The problem is both a curse and blessing, in that people from different cultures will either have to work together or face mutual destruction
Which actors can be addressed in the search for solutions for problems like global warming? Discuss how these parties can contribute to solving pressing problems and what the obstacles are to them making a real change?
- Governments: can provide frameworks of what is right and wrong from a legal standpoint
- NGOs: can put pressure on governments to support certain causes such as, e.g., prevention of climate change, malaria prevention, or a global ban on landmines
- Consumers: can contribute to sustainable development via sustainable consumption, buycotts, or political action
- Companies: can promote innovation for more sustainable products/ packaging and business models, voluntary adherence to environmental and social standards, fair trade, transparency
Which claim does Noreena Hertz make in her talk “Better to shop than to vote”?
Noreena Hertz claims that corporations take over state functions and consumer politics is the new politics and politicians are stepping aside to make space.
What is meant by the consumer paradoy referred to by Devinney?
It is meant that the consumers state in survey that they care for ethical products but at the checkout they turn into economic conservatives. It is claimed that there is a kind of “consumer apathy” because everybody is not acting as noble as he says in polls.
What are factors that increase the power of private business?
- Liberalization and deregulation of markets
- Privatizazion of formerly public services and publicy owned companies
- employment
- globalization facilitates this process and potentially makes companies able to engage governments in a “race to the bottom” (=continuous relocation to low-cost regions with lower regulation or at least enforcement)
Why is it so hard to hold multinational corporations accountable for their actions?
- extremely powerful
- cross-border activities (who is responsible? legal conflicts?)
- race-to-the bottom (globalization - companies can move)
- MNCs increasing role in politics
What does the term “greenwashing” refer to?
Greenwashing refers to the practice of falsely promoting an organization’s environmental efforts or spending more resources to promote the organization as green than are spent to actually engage in environmentally sound practices.
Thus Greenwashing is the disseminaton of false or deceptive information regarding an organization’s environmental strategies, goals, motivations, and actions
Which provocative claim does Banerjee (2008) make?
He claims that e.g. corporate social responsibility is an ideological movement intended to legitizimize and consolidate the power of large corporations. Also transnational companies responsible for negative impacts have actually become stronger and more powerful rather than lose their license to operate.
What is a corporation? And why can we say that corporations should be morally responsible for their actions over and above the responsibility of their individual members?
- What is a corporation:
- separate entity
- has perpetual succession
- are regarded as “artificial persons”
- owned by shareholders but exist independent of them
- managers and directors have a fiduciary responsibility to protect the investment of shareholders
- Why can a company be morally responsible for its actions?
- corporate internal decision structure
- organizational culture
What are the basic relations of responsibility?
- A subject (society/ group/ person) acts for an object (self/ others/ environment) and justifies this action in front of an authority (law/ religion/ moral)
Please juxtapose the positions of Milton Friedman and Archie B. Carroll on
corporate responsibilities. What is their common core? And how do they
differ?
- Milton Friedman: “The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits”
- only human beings have moral responsibility
- managers responsibility to act in shareholders interest
- Archie Carrol: “corporate executives have to wrestle with how they balance their commitments to the corporation’s owners with their obligations to an ever broadening group of stakeholders who claim both legal and ethical rights”
