8.7: Sustainability in Practice Flashcards
What is the role of Grameen Bank in sustainable community development?
Grameen Bank plays a pivotal role in sustainable community development by providing microcredit to the rural poor in Bangladesh as a tool to help build local economies and reduce poverty.
How does Grameen Bank’s business model differ from traditional banking?
Grameen Bank’s business model differs from traditional banking by offering services based on nontraditional business models that are innovative, have lower margins, and target the “market at the bottom of the pyramid” without the requirement of collateral.
What percentage of Grameen Bank’s borrowers are women, and how many villages do they cover in Bangladesh?
As of December 2015, 97 percent of Grameen Bank’s 8.81 million borrowers are women, and the bank provides services in 81,392 villages, which covers more than 97 percent of the total villages in Bangladesh.
What additional services does Grameen Bank provide beyond credit?
Beyond credit, Grameen Bank has diversified to offer additional products and services such as renewable energy schemes, telecommunications services, and information technology development.
What is Oikocredit, and what is its primary function?
Oikocredit is a worldwide organization that manages one of the world’s largest sources of private capital for development finance.
It finances and invests in microfinance institutions, co-operatives, and small and medium enterprises in developing countries to create a positive social impact.
How does Oikocredit Canada contribute to sustainable development?
Oikocredit Canada contributes to sustainable development by partnering with a credit union to offer Oikocredit Global Impact Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs), which allow investors to earn a guaranteed return on their investments in socially impactful projects through tax-advantaged plans like Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP).
What are the business implications of regional economic integration like the EU and NAFTA?
Regional economic integration has created opportunities for businesses to expand markets for their goods and services, reduce costs, and simplify processes due to harmonized standards and tax regimes.
It also enables businesses to realize significant cost economies by centralizing production in optimal locations within these integrated regions.
How has the EU’s single market affected business practices?
The EU’s single market has lowered the costs of doing business by allowing free movement of goods and services across borders, harmonizing product standards, and simplifying tax regimes, enabling businesses to centralize production and take advantage of optimal cost and skill factors across the EU.
What opportunities does regional economic integration offer to businesses?
Regional economic integration offers
opportunities for businesses to expand their markets,
lower factor costs,
benefit from open markets,
and enjoy reduced costs of doing business due to free movement,
harmonized standards,
simplified tax regimes,
and the potential for significant cost economies by centralizing production.
How has the EU’s single market affected the costs of doing business?
The EU’s single market has reduced the costs of doing business by allowing for the free movement of goods and services, harmonizing product standards, and simplifying tax regimes.
What is a potential drawback of standardizing products for a single market, as illustrated by the case of Atag Holdings NV?
The potential drawback is that consumer preferences can vary greatly across nations, which may limit the ability of companies to realize economies of scale with standardized products for a single market.
What are the threats to businesses due to the emergence of single markets?
The threats include
increased competition within single markets,
the potential decline of price differentials,
a high-cost structure that limits the ability to compete globally,
and the possible creation of “trade fortresses” due to political sensitivities.
What strategic limitations might companies face in the EU when trying to merge or acquire other firms?
Companies in the EU may face limitations imposed by the European Commission on mergers and acquisitions, which can constrain corporate strategy and require specific conditions to be met for such actions to proceed.
How has opposition to free trade areas, like the withdrawal of the US from NAFTA and the UK from the EU, threatened businesses?
Opposition to free trade areas, like the US’s withdrawal from NAFTA and the UK from the EU, poses a threat to businesses as it can lead to the loss of benefits that businesses enjoyed from trade and integration, such as increased market access and cost efficiencies.
