BIOMECHANICAL FORCES ACTING ON ELBOW( A STATIC ANALYSIS) Essay

BIOMECHANICAL FORCES ACTING ON ELBOW( A STATIC ANALYSIS) - Essay Example Meanwhile, a force is an effect on a certain body which changes its shape or motion. The elbow transforms shearing, compressional, and rotational forces into a normal motion. During flexion, the arm is bent, the pressure forces that moves along the elbow joint shift forces from the humerus to the ulna. Under extension, on the contrary, the applied forces run along the radius and the humerus, with the arm straightly open. The elbow displaces such forces largely through the muscles and ligaments that absorb and disperse stresses. Since the surface area of the ulna is bigger than that of the radial head, the ulna contributes lesser force per unit area as compared to the humerus. In addition, to avoid bone strain absorption, the elbow articular cartilages acts as a buffer between the bones. In the event that the cartilage is forced to absorb great stress for various times, the stress flattens out the cartilage and will eventually result to early wearing. Basically, the elbow is considered as a hinge joint with a single degree of freedom. However, its anatomical structure necessitates the inclusion of the articulations along with the radius and ulna. Thus, the elbow is best treated as having a mechanism of a two degree freedom that supports the supination/pronation of the forearm and the extension/flexion of the elbow. In terms of internal structure, the three synovial joints, along with subtle interactions, are radio-ulnar, humero-ulnar, and humero-radial. The humero-radial joint is of prime interest because of the combination of relative motions that occur therein: the axial rotation that involves in the forearm supination/pronation and the elbow flexion accompanying the ulna (Lockard 2006, p. 72). Flexion/extension moments are produced by the muscles that act over the elbow join, including brachioradialis, brachialis, triceps, and biceps brachii. While pronation is achieved through the muscles in the forearm, pronator quadratus,

Personal Experience Essay Example for Free

Personal Experience Essay Life is full of adventures and experiences. The key to living well is making these experiences as meaningful as possible. I went through a very significant experience, which was actually more of a risk, about two years ago. I was 15 years old and I had to decide whether I would stay in my hometown or move to Monterrey, Mexico. As in every dilemma faced, there are pros and cons that will try to sway you. Time wouldn’t stop and the day of my decision was getting closer and closer; the less time I had to decide, the more confused and undecided I became. All I could do was imagine myself living the future in my hometown or in Monterrey. But, why was I put into this situation? Should I have stayed where I was born and where I’d lived my whole life or would the best thing be to move to an entirely new city? My family once consisted of my mom, my dad, two older brothers, and me. Unfortunately, my dad passed away in December of 2007 when I was twelve years old. Monterrey is a city characterized by having many foreign students because of the highly recognized university, Tec de Monterrey (ITESM). Both of my brothers decided to study there. This left a lonely house with only a widowed mother and a teenage girl. That was the moment I realized we needed to do something, having me make the decision of my life with the pressure of time. I was born and raised in Matamoros, Mexico, which is a border town with Brownsville, Texas. Having my student passport, I studied there my whole life. I had many friends living in both Matamoros and Bro wnsville. This was a major factor on my decision because I didn’t want to leave them and, in Monterrey, I didn’t know anyone. The thing was that in Matamoros, every corner of my house, every street, and every part of the city would only remind me of my dad who was already in Heaven. To me, this was a kind of torture. I had to either leave my friends and start a new life, or stay there with everyone’s support, but constantly having to deal with the suffering of not being able to let go of my dad because of my surroundings. I knew moving to Monterrey was a very good idea, but like everything, it had its negative views as well. It would be a good thing to move because my mom and I would now live with my brothers and we would all be united like we were before. This new beginning would help us overcome the death of my dad. The bad part was that, as I was about to enter high school, moving to Monterrey without knowing anyone would be very difficult. I had always studied in the USA, so attending a school in Mexico would probably lower my grades and make things more complicated. It was all about taking the r isk. Decision time was near. After I analyzed everything, I understood that the best thing I could was to move to Monterrey with my mom. This was a very significant experience because it really impacted me. The first semester was very hard as I felt all alone. As soon as I began making friends, however I realized I couldn’t have made a better decision. People in Monterrey are very humble and caring. They taught me many things, enabling me to become a better person with better feelings. These friends were the ones who pulled me closer to God when I most needed Him. There was no better feeling than getting home and seeing my brothers living with me again. My family was once again united, and I am very grateful for all of this. View as multi-pages

Three Types of Friends Essay -- Classification Essay, Friendship

There are many types of people in the world and many types of friends. Knowing that, it becomes all the more important to select the right people so that one might have the correct friends, but which types of friends are required? There are ten different types of friends that everybody should have, each fitting into one of three categories: the occasional friends, the benefactors and the greats. The first category, the occasional friends, encompasses three friend types. The first one is the grenade. This type of friend is usually annoying and tough to be around but they serve a critical purpose. They make you look better by comparison. Slightly better than the grenade, is the jerk with the heart of gold. Like the grenade they are generally annoying but unlike the grenade they are genuin... Three Types of Friends Essay -- Classification Essay, Friendship There are many types of people in the world and many types of friends. Knowing that, it becomes all the more important to select the right people so that one might have the correct friends, but which types of friends are required? There are ten different types of friends that everybody should have, each fitting into one of three categories: the occasional friends, the benefactors and the greats. The first category, the occasional friends, encompasses three friend types. The first one is the grenade. This type of friend is usually annoying and tough to be around but they serve a critical purpose. They make you look better by comparison. Slightly better than the grenade, is the jerk with the heart of gold. Like the grenade they are generally annoying but unlike the grenade they are genuin...

Old Age in Sylvia Plath’s Poetry

Leaving cert study notes  © Paula O’Sullivan Plath and old age. Plath has a fear of growing old, and deals with the passage of time and old age in many of her poems. Morning Song, written after the birth of her first child, deals with Plath’s preoccupation with growing old. The poet has birthed a child, and therefore fulfilled her requirement as a human being to procreate. Human’s get to an optimum age for bearing children, and after that, it is a slow decline into old age and inevitable death. Plath speaks of â€Å"Effacement at the wind’s hand†, which basically means she will be rubbed out and forgotten with the passage of time. Related reading: How to be Old PoemThe poet uses a complex image of rainwater reflecting it’s mother cloud to tell us that she sees herself in her daughter, and now all that’s left is to disappear into nothing. The condensed water of a cloud falls to the ground, and the cloud is no more. Mirror follows the theme of growing old very closely. Time moves on and on in this poem. The first stanza contains phrases like ‘so long’ and ‘over and over’ to tell us that time keeps moving. The second stanza continues to chart the march of time. She comes and goes’ and ‘each morning’ reflect the poet’s unrest and constant awareness that time is still ticking away. The poet sees her youth as wasted, the ‘young girl’ has been ‘drowned’. She has a premonition of the future, in which an old woman has failed to break the cycle, and describes her condition as a ‘terrible fish’. The poet sees herself as elderly and is afraid. The metaphor of the fish is as if the poet is stuck, netted and helpless. Plath shows she is dreading old age in the final lines of the poem. The passage of time throughout the text points to the inevitability of growing old.

Growing up: A Journey of One’s Identity

It is inevitable that people age. Every human being, and every being for that matter, grows old. Age is a natural phenomenon that cannot be avoided. Part of growing up is discovering one’s identity. As people age, they constantly undergo a process where they mold themselves into unique individuals. Every experience that a person goes through influences his personality, his character, and his identity. It is through such experiences that people get to see who they really are. Triumphs and failures in life are vital for they help strengthen the character of the person. In a way, when an individual goes through an experience, he is shaping his character regardless of the outcome of his endeavor. From childhood to adulthood, every experience brings forth a certain lesson that is inculcated in the individual’s being. These lessons are what define the individual for they directly affect the person that they are. The development of the person and the journey of self-discovery as a person grows up are discussed not merely in the various fields of science. Literature too has its share of works of art that provide an input of how growing up involves the molding and shaping of the person’s identity. Although not directly discussed, literature highlights how the journey of aging is in parallel with an individual’s journey towards defining an identity of his own. In Mary E. Wilkins’ short story, â€Å"Mistaken Charity,† the journey of two women through age and time is told. Moreover, it shows how their aging coincides with their realization of who they really are. Harriet and Charlotte are two sisters who never marry. Their life is built on their work and on their struggle to survive. However, as age catches up with them, and their aged bodies can no longer stand their own lines of work, they begin to realize that they are not all about their work. When given a chance to move out of their tattered house and into a better life, they discover that it is their experiences living in that house that defines who they are. They are not used to the life in the â€Å"Home† for it does not feel like home to them. This is what drove Charlotte to say, â€Å"O Lord, Harrià ©t†¦ let us go home. I can't stay here no ways in this world. I don't like their vittles, an' I don't like to wear a cap; I want to go home and do different. The currants will be ripe, Harrià ©t. O Lord, thar was almost a chink, thinking about 'em. I want some of 'em; an' the Porter apples will be gittin' ripe, an' we could have some apple-pie. This here ain't good.† (Wilkins, 148) This shows how no matter how much better another life seems to be, people will always go back to their old way of life for the life they have gotten used to defines who they really are. Another story that show how growing up means defining who you really are is told in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown.† The story tells of how one experiences that Goodman Brown went through in his young days completely changed his outlook on life. His journey through the forest wherein he met the mysterious figure which many associate with the devil may indeed be a dream. However, that experience opened his eyes to the reality that people may not be what they perceive him to be. The good Christians that he thought they were may actually simply be a cover-up of their real selves. Although it could be a dream, the experience was enlightening for Goodman Brown. More importantly, it was very influential in molding the personality of Brown and his outlook on life. After the experience, Goodman Brown ended up becoming a cynic. He was always wondering whether the people around him were who they really were. In fact, Goodman Brown even began to doubt the sincerity of his wife, whom he used to love and trust dearly. After the said event,   Ã‚  he turned into a cynic, wary and pessimistic of his wife and his faithfulness and fidelity. The last paragraph of the story explains the effect that the experience in the forest had on him. In the said paragraph it was stated: â€Å"A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become from the night of that fearful dream. On the Sabbath day, when the congregation were singing a holy psalm, he could not listen because an anthem of sin rushed loudly upon his ear and drowned all the blessed strain. When the minister spoke from the pulpit with power and fervid eloquence, and, with his hand on the open Bible, of the sacred truths of our religion, and of saint-like lives and triumphant deaths, and of future bliss or misery unutterable, then did Goodman Brown turn pale, dreading lest the roof should thunder down upon the gray blasphemer and his hearers†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Hawthorne, 127) The stories provide evidence of how experiences mold and shape the identity and personality of the individual. Both Goodman Brown and the sisters demonstrated how they are made by their experiences. Thus, it can be said that growing up and aging is a process of defining one’s self. It is a process of discovery brought about by life experiences where lessons are learned and imbedded in one’s way of life. Works Cited: Hawthorne, Nathaniel. â€Å"Young Goodman Brown.† Literature and society: An introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, nonfiction. 4th ed. Eds. Pamela Annas, Robert Rossen. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2007, pp 117-127. Wilkins, Mary. â€Å"Mistaken Charity.† Literature and society: An introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, nonfiction. 4th ed.   Eds. Pamela Annas, Robert Rossen. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2007, pp 140-150.

The Giver In the Curriculum Essays - The Giver, Jonas, Lois Lowry

The Giver In the Curriculum Essays - The Giver, Jonas, Lois Lowry The Giver In the Curriculum Mrs. Vore English CP II October 15, 2013 The Giver In the Curriculum The Giver by Lois Lowry is about a boy named Jonas who lives in small town. The people of this town are enforced in sameness. The leaders of the community regulate sameness by having no color, no memories of the past, plus, the people do not choose their own occupation, and the townspeople do not know their birth family. By having sameness, the superiors of the town can control everything to a point where there is no pain. The Giver by Lois Lowry should be added to the curriculum of the school. The reader can ask questions or debate a subject with someone else. The book makes the reader think about the book and what is saying about the world. The novel can be used as a way introduce literary devices to students. While reading The Giver, there will be items that will come up that will cause the reader to ask questions. While reading alone or at home the reader cannot ask someone for help or to clarify something they do not understand. For example, in this quote Jonas is walking with a friend and he sees something happen to her hair. He looked up and toward her going through the door, it happened: she changed, (24). The people of this town see in black and white and so does Jonas. At this time, Jonas is seeing his friends hair change to a color. Lowry had never said that the characters saw in black in white. This rises up a question of what is happening to the hair, or to why would the author put this in the book. We, as the reader, would have had to keep reading and would not be able to ask the enquiry to someone, but if reader was reading for the school they could go and ask about their question to a fellow student or a teacher. This question then could lead to a discussion, which in return could cause the reader to ask a greater meaning of what is happening and relate it to the their world. The Giver by Lois Lowry has many deep and thoughtful messages with in it. These messages make us rethink our lives and what is going on in the world. One theme that shows up in The Giver is the idea of conformity and nonconformity and what comes with these ideas. In the book, all of the townspeople conform together so that they have the same thoughts, clothes, transportation, living environment, and family. Jonas, is a non-conformer. He does not follow these ideas that people in the community do. Jonas, because he does this, suffers and goes through agony, but in the end he ends up at a better place where people are full of joy. In this quote Jonas is just at the edge of his old community and is entering another town. In this other community the people are all different and have their own ideas. He heard people singing. Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too, (179). In this quote the reader sees that non-conform ing his hard to do, but you will be rewarded in the end, like Jonas was. The reader can then take this concept and apply it to his or her own life. Maybe he or she will not conform then so they look different from everyone else in their grade, which allows them to get into a better collage. If the school adds this book to the curriculum, the students are exposed to this idea, which will make them a better student and or human being. The Giver by Lois Lowry is filled with literary devices. If a teacher reads the book in class she or he can expose the students to new exponents of writing. One example that is found in the book is color imagery. In the story there is no color or memories. Jonas learns memories for his job that he is assigned. One memory he learns about is color. Jonas, because he is learning about it, starts to see

Movie Analization

Movie Analization Introduction Many people consider movies as paramount features that add value to life. Movies serve to entertain human beings and perhaps educate them on certain issues in life. They therefore serve as tools for entertainment, enlightening and disseminating people. After work or during free time such as weekends and holidays, people enjoy watching movies as a form of leisure. However, the art of movie watching depends on one’s perception and the ability to make meaning out of a movie.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Movie Analization specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More For instance, depending on one’s perception and art of viewing, the moving image within a movie can entertain, educate or inform. The moving camera is also paramount in giving meaning of the movie to the audience. In most cases, a positive perception towards movies helps the audience to understand the elements of film production hence, analyze it. For example, an informed awareness instills dexterity and background instructions as ingredients of film understanding. In addition to entertainment and education, critical and conscientious film watching is vital when it comes to creating awareness on what is happening in the society and the world at large. It is important to note that viewing a movie not only lifts up a person’s celluloid experience, but also enable persons to understand the complexity, dense language, principles, cryptograms, and signs cinematic attributes exhibited during viewing. Thus, for a person to analyze a movie effectively, he or she must understand these elements on top of reading some facets of cinematography and familiarizing with the terms used in order to comprehend the film language-one of the prerequisite of movie analysis. This will stimulate thought as regard to the film, hence making the viewers cinematically literate. Most importantly, with an informed awareness, every viewer can interpret and analyze a film without any complication (Boggs Petrie, 2008, pp.1-5). Analyzing an Entire Movie The art of film analysis involves many features and not just sections in a movie. Thus, a movie analyzer should devote much time in order to do an effective movie analysis. Before engaging in the movie analysis process, an analyzer should read the synopsis of the movie to understand its progress and development. The synopsis is fundamental in that it helps the analyzer to know the topic of the movie, the actors involved, and successive developments. To start with, it is better to define to understand the meaning of movie analysis. Movie analysis involves breaking up the entire movie into numerous sections aimed at ascertaining the scenery, proportion, purpose, and correlation of the scenes. Each movie has its own plot as designed by the director or cinematographer. However, the plot cannot make the film entertaining or educative without good action. Actors are the one who give meaning to the plot of the movie. For instance, the critique emotions and moods of the actors are potential ingredients that add vitality to the plot hence, success of the movie.Advertising Looking for term paper on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Without further deliberation, the art of film watching calls for decisive analytical approach in order to understand the plot of the movie. In addition, this analytical approach enables the audience to understand the fundamental elements of cinematography. Thus, movie analysis entails prior pertinent preparation aimed at understanding the rationale of the movie and an inquisitive thought of adjudicating the basic elements, which compose the movie. Ordinarily, the credibility of analyzing a movie lies in the question â€Å"how†. Additionally, part of the movie evaluation involves proper deliberation on the role of music and other special effec ts as elements that compose the movie. For example, illumination, actors, colors, locale, wardrobe, and frame composition are some of the elements behind film production (Boggs Petrie, 2008, p.6). Thus, in order to do an explicit movie analysis, an analyzer must be in a position to comprehend the talent and delirium of various actors, the roles played by producers and directors, the reason of using different types of costumes, and the inclusion of makeup artists or actors. For instance, if a viewer is in a position to combine these elements, the probability of divulging the theme of the movie is high. Nonetheless, what matters most in the art of film watching is the end as it is vital in laying out the theme of the movie. There are certain times when viewers fail completely to understand the entire movie. They therefore cannot analyze the movie. However, to arrive at the first-pace action, producers must first focus on the plot making it hard for viewers to comprehend the movie eas ily. However, repeated watching of the movie institutes impressions of the plot, and as time goes by, viewers are in a position to depict the mood and theme of the movie. For instance, if actors are acting a movie titled â€Å"Life†, laughter and emotions are imperative in order to furnish meaning to the plot. Below are steps for analyzing the entire movie (Boggs Petrie, 2008, p.7). Efficacy of Dialogue and Storyline The efficacy of storyline and dialogue are imperative elements when it comes to movie analysis.Many movie analyzers tend to forget the role of a screenwriter and instead, focus on the roles played by actors and producers. On the other hand, they should understand that screenwriters as chief architects of the movie may choose to acclimatize a book and abrogate it to script form or write an original story for action. Whichever the way, viewers should be in a position to identify minutiae of dialogue and plotlines. For instance, research shows that a flourishing mo vie script characterizes with authentic dialogue and scenarios easily manageable by artists and actors.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Movie Analization specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More On the other hand, most screenwriters use full of personal obscenities and thoughts easily understood by viewers. Thus, part of the analysis entails establishing dialogue honesty and the flow of scenes in a logical manner. Furthermore, the scenes must remain on the storyline. Background and Set Pieces In order to understand thebackground and set pieces of a movie, it is paramount to interpret the role of movie directors. These are the one responsible in building the ambiance of the movie. Thus, when a person decides to analyze a movie, he or she must first examine the color of the panorama, costumes and sets. During this time, the analyzer will assume that actors and dialogue do not exist- at least for a moment. This is because color, costumes and sets develop the mood and atmosphere of the movie. Good movies have excellent backgrounds that add vitality to scenes without overwhelming the movie. On the contrary, poor cinematography leads to anachronism and inadvertent focus. Individual Performance of Actors This is also another important aspect of interpreting a movie. Before analyzing a movie, it is important to know what actors who are not in the main action do. For instance, good actors are those who understand their roles especially in generating the plot of the movie. For example, a character acting as villain should exhibit redoubtable opposition to the one portraying intrepidness. Thus, an analyzer should ask whether these actors play their roles effectively to attract other actors who will counter them. Editing of the Movie A number of literature materials on movie analysis indicate thatexcellent movies are the one manufactured or those that start from editing houses. This is true because there are so many excellent movies that have become poor due to poor editing. For instance, these movies have their storyline cut or scenes that deny forward plot. Thus, when analyzing a movie, one should consider the flow of scenes in reference to the storyline. Fabulously edited movies do not confuse the audience, as there is a systematic forward plot from one scene to another (Boggs Petrie, 2008, pp.14-134). As depicter earlier, movie directors play a significant role in film production. Nevertheless, directors should be in apposition to comprehend the thoughts of the screenwriter, and at the same time, the competence and skills of actors and other persons involved in film production.Advertising Looking for term paper on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Thus, when analyzing a movie, it is important to inquire from the director on how he or she arrived at the actors and their reputation. The analyzer should also examine contributions from the director especially on edgy dialogue, signature elements, the milieu of music, and other perspectives such as photography angles. Finding and Interpreting Meaning in Movies When it comes to movie analysis, the difficult part is finding and interpreting meaning in a movie. This area has also attracted a lot of criticism regarding the modalities of finding and interpreting meaning in movies. Nonetheless, this depends on how one view a movie, entertaining, educative or something else. For example, there are people who believe movies are for entertainment purposes only while some believe that movies can educate people on culture, economics and politics. However, the truth of the matter is movies are substantially real phenomena, which portray something. Movies have great impact on people’s l ives especially on historical and social realities. Thus, the theme of a film can influence people perform social, political and economic duties. Nonetheless, this cannot happen minus first finding and interpreting the meaning of a movie. The meaning in a movie can vary from one viewer to another depending on interpretation. Research shows that there are four levels of meaning in a movie, which help people in finding and interpreting meaning in a movie (Perkins, 1990, pp. 1-6). The first level of meaning in movie analysis is referential meaning. The plot summary differs from one movie to another. This makes viewers to come up with different interpretations based on individual ability to identify the fundamental elements that make up the movie. For instance, in the film, Wizard of Oz, tornado knocks a young girl only to wake up in a supernatural world named Oz. This means that she has one option and that is making new friends who will show her the Wizard; the only friend who will ret urn her back home. Thus, the plot summary helps one to find and interpret the meaning in a movie. Secondly, we have the explicit meaning, which comprises the message in the film. In order to understand the meaning of a film, it is imperative to familiarize with the context of the movie. The context of the movie helps viewers to understand the plot summary and the developments happening from one scene to another. Thus, explicit meaning in movie analysis tries to answer the â€Å"how question† and then â€Å"why subject†. Thirdly, we have implicit meaning level that represents the factual interpretation of a movie. The implicit meaning goes beyond explicit meaning pending the fact that every viewer interprets a movie differently. Furthermore, viewers can use the move to refer to their own life and make informed decisions. For instance, in the film Wizard of Oz, young adults are acquainted on the dangers of indiscipline and rebellion. The last level under this discussion is symptomatic meaning, which explains the social ideology that characterizes the movie. In addition, it also explains the cultural ambience of people living in a certain place at a particular time. This can make viewers strive to work hard and become prosperous or continue celebrating their cultural diversity (Nowlan, 2002, p.1). Personal Criteria for Evaluating Movies People have different criteria of analyzing movies depending on their perceptions. Perhaps this is the reason why a particular movie can have numerous interpretations. Nevertheless, if analyzers understand the synopsis and other elements of movie analysis, it is likely that interpretations will appear similar to certain extent. According to my view of movie analysis, genre plays an imperative tool in movie analysis. I am conversant with many genres, which I apply in evaluating movies that I enjoy watching. In particular, I enjoy watching science, horror, drama and comedy genres and love evaluating them using their sy nopsis. I have different approaches in evaluating each of these. For instance, in evaluating a science fiction, I emphasize on the projected realism in order to find meaning. Thus, taking a real worldview enables me to interpret and analyze science movies easily. The same case applies to fictional genres where human beings change into dogs or objects. In most cases, I assume that magic world does not exist and instead dwell on magic free world. As for comedies-dumb and smart, my criterion of interpretation is simple, that is, they must make me laugh for me to make meaning out of them. For example, comedies like Greedy, While You Were Sleeping and Clue always make me laugh, and by this, I find myself in a position to evaluate them. Other criteria I use in evaluating movies include reading the screenplay, taking copious notes, summarizing ideas, spotting the pros and cons, digesting the meaning, and finally making a critical appraisal. I also examine the title of the movie in real lif e situation and relate it to what happens in the society. In general, my criteria of evaluating movies lie in the synopsis of the movie and the elements of movie analysis such as plot, actors, set pieces, and many more. Conclusion People do movie analysis for different reasons. To others, movie analysis helps them to understand movies better, while to others, movie analysis educates. Thus, it greatly depends on a personal view on movies and its significance to self. Reference List Boggs, M. J. Petrie, W.D. (2006). The Art of Watching Film. (7th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Publishers. Nowlan, B. (2002). Interpreting Film: Meaning and Representation, Culture and Politics, the Truman Show and Stranger with a Camera. Web. Perkins, V. (1990). Must We say What They Mean?: Film Criticism and Interpretation. Movie, 34(5). 1-6.

Act One of Bruce Norriss Play Clybourne Park

Act One of Bruce Norris's Play Clybourne Park The play Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris is set in a modest three-bedroom bungalow in central Chicago. Clybourne Park is a fictional neighborhood, first mentioned in Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin in the Sun.   At the end of A Raisin in the Sun, a white man named Mr. Lindner tries to convince  a black couple not to move into Clybourne Park. He even offers them a substantial sum to purchase back the new home so that the white, working-class community can maintain its status quo. It isnt mandatory to know the story of A Raisin in the Sun to appreciate Clybourne Park, but it certainly enriches the experience. You can read a detailed, scene by scene summary of A Raisin in the Sun to enhance your comprehension of this play. Setting the Stage Act One of Clybourne Park takes place in 1959, in the home of Bev and Russ, a middle-aged couple who are preparing to move to a new neighborhood. They bicker (sometimes playfully, sometimes with underlying hostility) about various national capitals and the  origin of Neapolitan ice cream. Tensions mount when Jim, the local minister, stops by for a chat. Jim hopes for a chance to discuss Russ feelings. We learn that their adult son committed suicide after returning from the Korean War. Other people arrive, including Albert (husband of Francine, Bevs maid) and Karl and Betsy Lindner. Albert arrives to take his wife home, but the couple becomes involved in the conversation and the packing process, despite Francines attempts to leave. During the conversation, Karl drops the bombshell: the family that plans to move into Bev and Russ home is colored. Karl Doesnt Want Change Karl tries to convince the others that the arrival of a black family will negatively affect the neighborhood. He claims that housing prices will go down, neighbors will move away, and non-white, lower-income families will move in. He even tries to obtain the approval and understanding of Albert and Francine, asking them if they would want to live in a neighborhood like Clybourne Park. (They decline to comment  and do their best to stay out of the conversation.) Bev, on the other hand, believes that the new family could be wonderful people, no matter the color of their skin. Karl is the most overtly racist character in the play. He makes several outrageous statements, and yet in his mind, he is presenting logical arguments. For example, while trying to illustrate a point about racial preferences, he recounts his observations on a ski vacation: KARL: I can tell you, in all the time Ive been there, I have not once seen a colored family on those slopes. Now, what accounts for that? Certainly not any deficit in ability, so what I have to conclude is that for some reason, there is just something about the pastime of skiing that doesnt appeal to the Negro community. And feel free to prove me wrong†¦ But youll have to show me where to find the skiing Negroes. Despite such small-minded sentiments, Karl believes himself to be progressive. After all, he supports the Jewish-owned grocery store in the neighborhood. Not to mention, his wife, Betsy, is deaf - and yet despite her differences, and despite the opinions of others, he married her. Unfortunately, his core motivation is economic. He believes that when non-white families move into an all-white neighborhood, the financial value decreases, and investments are ruined. Russ Gets Mad As Act One continues, tempers boil. Russ doesnt care who is moving into the house. He is extremely disappointed and angry at his community. After being discharged because of disgraceful conduct (it is implied that he killed civilians during the Korean War), Russ son could not find work. The neighborhood shunned him. Russ and Bev received no sympathy or compassion from the community. They felt abandoned by their neighbors. And so, Russ turns his back on Karl and the others. After Russ caustic monologue in which he claims I dont care if a hundred Ubangi tribesman with a bone through the nose overrun this goddamn place (Norris 92), Jim the minister responds by saying Maybe we should bow our heads for a second (Norris 92). Russ snaps and wants to punch Jim in the face. To calm things down, Albert places his hand on Russ shoulder. Russ whirls toward Albert and says: Putting your hands on me? No sir. Not in my house you dont (Norris 93). Before this moment, Russ seems apathetic about the issue of race. In the scene mentioned above, however, it seems Russ reveals his prejudice. Is he so upset because someone is touching his shoulder? Or is he outraged that a black man has dared to put hands on Russ, a white man? Bev Is Sad Act One ends after everyone (except Bev and Russ) leaves the house, all with various feelings of disappointment. Bev tries to give away a chafing dish to Albert and Francine, but Albert firmly yet politely explains, Maam, we dont want your things. Please. We got our own things. Once Bev and Russ are alone, their conversation feebly returns to small talk. Now that her son is dead and she will be leaving behind her old neighborhood, Bev wonders what she will do with all of the empty time. Russ suggests that she fill the time up with projects. The lights go down, and Act One reaches its somber conclusion.

Zara's Secret for Fast Fashion Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Zara's Secret for Fast Fashion - Case Study Example   Zara’s competitors in the fashion and industry were amazed at how the company was rapidly expanding both locally and internationally. It is important to note that all these stores were opened under the company’s brand but when the ventured into the Asian market, the company’s managers had different views of the market in that they decided to exercise the concept of Franchising. For instance, in Malaysia, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the company operates as a B2B Company. Zara did virtually no advertising unlike its international clothing competitors such as Gap, Benetton, and H&M. Instead, the company places only two ads to promote its yearly sales and announce the opening of the new store. This decision has led Zara to realize 0.3% average revenue instead of 4%. Zara store managers have no discretion about the look and the feeling of their stores (Wikipedia, n.d). Zara does not aim to produce classic clothes that are always in style instead of the company intend ed to have its clothes to have fairly short life spans both in stores and customers wardrobe. In the year 2003, Inditex operated 1,558 stores in more than 40 countries of which 550 were part of Zara chain stores. The company has 90,000 employees of which 80% are female while the rest are male. Currently, Inditex is the biggest and fastest growing retailer while Zara is the biggest leading retail innovator in the world and that has established its place in the fashion industry by offering not only apparel and accessories for women fashion but also for children and men. More so, Zara Company had provided and established a unique environment for shopping by altering the manner others companies such as Gap and H&M store appear. The company changes its layouts often to incorporate artwork. Zara has realized how to expand and make a profit due to its capability to face the apparel challenges in the market. This paper aims to discuss the businesses model and key elements of disruptive busi ness, identify distinctive competencies of disruptive companies and discuss the competitive advantages of disruptive companies. Disruptive business model Disruptive innovation is a creation that aids establish a new market and value network, and it usually goes on to disrupt the existing market and value network by replacing or displacing an earlier technology. Disruptive model is used by a company to improve a product in a manner that the market does not expect by designing for a different segment of consumers in the new market and afterward by lowering the prices in the current or existing market. Businesses that adapt and applies disruptive model usually have a competitive advantage over its competitors in the market (Wikipedia, n.d). For instance, companies such as Dell and Zara have this model in order to remain in front of their competitors. Dell has survived the bust and now looks better for it since, in one of the worst PC industry history, Dell has gained enough share to be come the leading PC seller in the world.  

The Role of Nationalism in Castros Regime in Cuba Essay

The Role of Nationalism in Castros Regime in Cuba - Essay Example In this regard, nationalism is better understood as the identification of people to a nation. It is the notion that people from the same nation share similar interests and values particular only to themselves. It is however of important to note that people use nationalism in different ways and have different ideologies regarding the whole subject. Castro arose to power in 1959 after leading a nationalist revolution that overthrew the previous government. He attempted to manifest nationalism through two ways i.e. socialism and communism. From the analysis and review of various literatures, I therefore argue that nationalism in Cuba was a repression to support Castro’s government. Role of nationalism in Castro’s reign Before he came into power, Castro was viewed as a nationalist and this saw him lead a revolution that brought him into power through support from various nationalists. This move was however not supported by the U.S because they did not want a charismatic nationalist like Castro to lead Cuba. In any case, the United States had a lot of vested interest in the country and needed a leader they could manipulate, certainly not Castro . Castro came up with an ideology of getting people to work for the benefit of all and not just individuals. During his reign, he valued national land and he did positive work for the people. This was seen when he bought back foreign owned land that was Cuban. He allowed Cuba to be run by its people. Through this, he garnered a lot of support from the masses. However, he later changed and became a communist when he integrated with the Soviet Union which put this imposition on him. This changed the notion of nationalism and it is from this perspective he used the nationalist ideology as a way of suppressing people. However he continued gaining much support from the people even as his regime became more despotic. Nationalism was one of the core elements in Castro’s platform. His core punch line was ‘with Fidel everything, against Fidel Nothing’2. In this case, those who opposed him were viewed as enemies of the state and had no place in Cuba. This propelled people to be in support of him even if his ideologies were unfavorable. No one among his elites questioned his role as a demonstration of nationalism. He used a manifestation of culture in nationalism by announcing to upper and middle classes that he shared their cultural and ideological prejudices. This was a form of communism whereby this people were to continue enjoying their employment as well as other benefits if they were in support of him. He moved to nationalize Cuba schools, industries and hospitals. This was a way of imposing communist tendencies into the country. This in essence was to have control over this institutions keeping in mind that these people could support him and not oppose him in order for their institutions to succeed. However, many people faced many challenges such as the scarcity of jobs in the country. Because of the great economic hardships, the workers were less likely to oppose him. This therefore justifies that nationalism was a form of repression. He used nat ionalism to counter policies that were against his regime. An example of such policy was the economic Embargo from the United States which wanted to see him out of power but he got support out of nationalism because of the notion that a sovereign society was not to get interference from other states. Because the United States had opposed him as a result of his communist ties, they did not get support from the people hence he continued to reign. He used unfriendly policies from the U.S in order to stir up nationalism hence convincing a lot of Cubans. This again was a repression on the ideology of nationalism. H

Research paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Research paper - Assignment Example The industrial revolution of the 19th century that took place in Europe and America saw people experience pollution of air, soil and water systems to levels that threatened the extinction of some flora and fauna species. Governments the world over responded to the deteriorating environment in the last few decades of the 20th century through imposition of laws aimed at limiting environmental pollution of pollution (Ocean Service, 2008). There is no doubt that the menace of pollution is today affecting every nation of the world. The burning of fossil fuels for instance is a major cause of air pollution. Daily consumption of fuel through cars releases a lot of CO2 into the atmosphere with result of that that air we are inhaling is not clean and as such poses significant health risks. Nations especially in the developed world are trying to regulate air pollution through the passage of tough laws to govern corporations thought to hold most of the responsibility when it comes to environmental pollution (Gulf Daily News, 2009). The sole aim is to force these companies to behave responsibly in terms of release of chemicals in the atmosphere. Failure on the part of corporations to adhere to environmental laws attracts stiff penalties and increased taxes. This is because pollution affects the environmental adversely and thus bringing about major human health issues with the ultimate rise in the cost of medicine to individua ls. Bad air for instance has caused an increase in conditions such as allergies and asthma (Abdi, Ferrera, 205). In the Kyoto protocol for instance, most of industrialised and developing nations of the world committing to the reduction of CO2 emissions by an average of 5% till the year 2012 basing their 1990 emission levels. Unfortunately some major industrial powers of the world such as the US declined to ratify the protocol thus dealing a blow to the efforts.

Energy efficient refurbishment of industrial buildings Literature review

Energy efficient refurbishment of industrial buildings - Literature review Example This fact has important implications for energy usage as well as carbon dioxide emissions globally. An estimated 30% to 40% of all primary energy usage stems from building operation along with a large potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions (Colmenar-Santos et al., 2013, p.66). In a similar manner, other research on the matter shows that buildings tend to consume 40% of the total energy being consumed globally along with 25% of the water and another 40% of other resources. Consequently, buildings are deemed responsible for about one third of all green house gas (GHG) emissions too (Katunsky et al., 2013, p.3). The rapid pace of industrialisation and the requirement for increased industrial buildings also tends to support the idea that building energy usage efficiency is a top priority issue. Projections on urbanisation depict that by 2050; around 67% of the global population will live in urban centres such that nations with the largest urban centres will display urbanisation rat es of up to 86%. It would then be reasonable to expect that industrial buildings and their demand for energy would only rise steeply with time (Adriaenssens et al., 2013, p.1945). The operation of buildings entails significant carbon dioxide emissions on account of inefficient insulation, heating and cooling mechanism as well as lighting applications and the use of appliances. It is estimated that more energy efficient buildings have the potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 3.7 giga tonnes every single year where the cost of one tonne of carbon dioxide emissions is an estimated 40 Euros (McKinsey, 2007, p.4). Other research also supports the idea that reduced heating demands, greater emphasis on renewable energy sources and bolstered efficiency of supply chain mechanisms allows for a reduction in the energy demands to operate buildings (Colmenar-Santos et al., 2013, p.66). Building heating requirements reappear repeatedly as a major consumer of energy and thus can be seen as impacting building energy usage significantly. In addition, building energy usage and its efficiency can be seen as dependant on other physical, climatic and human factors (Katunsky et al., 2013, p.3). While one perspective of looking at the problem tends to define energy usage efficiency as a key problem, other research suggests that the use of energy to cool and heat building interiors is unjustified. The use of mechanical heating and cooling measures for thermal comfort are being questioned as valid means to maintain human thermal comfort levels in buildings (Susanti et al., 2011, p.211). This does not imply that energy usage in buildings is unjustified outright, especially for regions with severe heat or cold climates, but rather that energy usage is unjustified for places where the climate can support a lack of heating and cooling requirements. It must also be noted that greener buildings are beginning to create greater commercial value, especially in terms of rent. Researc h indicates that commercial buildings with lower energy loads tend to command more rent than comparable commercial buildings with higher energy demands (Eicholtz et al., 2009, p.1). This literature review will look into already conducted research to find out the major uses for energy in industrial buildings, the various methods to reduce the consumption of energy in industrial buildings and to discover any research gaps in existing literature. Dissecting Energy Usage in Industrial Buildings In order to allow

Law(freedom of religion) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Law(freedom of religion) - Essay Example But unfortunately, the Forest Service decided not to adopt this recommendation, and it prepared a final environmental impact statement for construction of the road. Therefore a trial was set up and finally the District Court issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the Forest Service from constructing the Chimney Rock section of the G-O road or putting the timber harvesting management plan into effect. But after a long discussion about the case, the court concluded that both projects would breach the Governments trust responsibilities to protect water and fishing rights reserved for Native Americans of Hoopa Valley. The Forest Service appealed the decision. All of the hard decisions made by the judge were mostly based on two important terms namely establishment and free exercise The term establishment means united states congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. Because they need to be fair to all religions and cannot provide support for any religion. Free exercise on the other hand means congress does not have the right to prohibit the free exercise hence People can freely exercise their religions and the government doesn’t have the right to control it. These terms play a significant role in helping the judges to conclude this case. There is an interesting case which came to my attention and the case was about whether a government school in France had the right to dismiss a Muslim girl because she refuse to remove her veil in class. The girl at the center of this highly sensitive controversy was sacked when she refused to remove her veil in class because it was against her religious believes and also violates her right as a French citizen to practice her choice of religion with no interference from any authorities as the European human rights law say. Reacting to her dismissal the girl’s father took the school authorities to a European human rights court to

Energy efficient refurbishment of industrial buildings Literature review

Energy efficient refurbishment of industrial buildings - Literature review Example This fact has important implications for energy usage as well as carbon dioxide emissions globally. An estimated 30% to 40% of all primary energy usage stems from building operation along with a large potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions (Colmenar-Santos et al., 2013, p.66). In a similar manner, other research on the matter shows that buildings tend to consume 40% of the total energy being consumed globally along with 25% of the water and another 40% of other resources. Consequently, buildings are deemed responsible for about one third of all green house gas (GHG) emissions too (Katunsky et al., 2013, p.3). The rapid pace of industrialisation and the requirement for increased industrial buildings also tends to support the idea that building energy usage efficiency is a top priority issue. Projections on urbanisation depict that by 2050; around 67% of the global population will live in urban centres such that nations with the largest urban centres will display urbanisation rat es of up to 86%. It would then be reasonable to expect that industrial buildings and their demand for energy would only rise steeply with time (Adriaenssens et al., 2013, p.1945). The operation of buildings entails significant carbon dioxide emissions on account of inefficient insulation, heating and cooling mechanism as well as lighting applications and the use of appliances. It is estimated that more energy efficient buildings have the potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 3.7 giga tonnes every single year where the cost of one tonne of carbon dioxide emissions is an estimated 40 Euros (McKinsey, 2007, p.4). Other research also supports the idea that reduced heating demands, greater emphasis on renewable energy sources and bolstered efficiency of supply chain mechanisms allows for a reduction in the energy demands to operate buildings (Colmenar-Santos et al., 2013, p.66). Building heating requirements reappear repeatedly as a major consumer of energy and thus can be seen as impacting building energy usage significantly. In addition, building energy usage and its efficiency can be seen as dependant on other physical, climatic and human factors (Katunsky et al., 2013, p.3). While one perspective of looking at the problem tends to define energy usage efficiency as a key problem, other research suggests that the use of energy to cool and heat building interiors is unjustified. The use of mechanical heating and cooling measures for thermal comfort are being questioned as valid means to maintain human thermal comfort levels in buildings (Susanti et al., 2011, p.211). This does not imply that energy usage in buildings is unjustified outright, especially for regions with severe heat or cold climates, but rather that energy usage is unjustified for places where the climate can support a lack of heating and cooling requirements. It must also be noted that greener buildings are beginning to create greater commercial value, especially in terms of rent. Researc h indicates that commercial buildings with lower energy loads tend to command more rent than comparable commercial buildings with higher energy demands (Eicholtz et al., 2009, p.1). This literature review will look into already conducted research to find out the major uses for energy in industrial buildings, the various methods to reduce the consumption of energy in industrial buildings and to discover any research gaps in existing literature. Dissecting Energy Usage in Industrial Buildings In order to allow

Communication and organizational Performance Essay

Communication and organizational Performance - Essay Example As a result, they have been forced to adopt strategies and behaviors that can help them improve their performance and profitability and therefore remain relevant. Over the years, communication has proved to be one of the most central factors to individual and organizational performance (Abugre, 2007, p. 42). Effective communication has the potential of significantly improving individual and organizational performance. On the other hand poor communicant can considerably compromise individual and organizational performance. Communication is indeed any organization’s lifeblood. Communication directly influences employee trust, productivity, and morale (Ng et al, 2006, p. 474). Studies have shown that effective communications can maximize efficiency, company operations, increase organization’s overall success, and accelerate the corporate strategy execution. Most managers have realized the essence of communication in organizational performance and are extensively using corp orate communication to achieve organizational goals and objectives (May and Mumby, 2005, p. 29). This paper will critically evaluate the extent to which managers use corporate communication to manipulate understanding and encourage compliance with management direction. Corporate communication enables corporate organization to relay information to its employees, shareholders, stakeholders, agencies, media, and the general public. It is important that an organization communicate the same message to its publics and especially its employees in ethical, credible, and coherent manner. According to Robson, Skarmeas and Spyropoulou (2006, p. 585), corporate communication enables employees of an organization to coordinate tasks, learn from each other and help them to create and maintain viable relationships. Several studies have shown that corporate communication is linked to improved performance in the sense that it enhances employees’ commitment in the workplace, provides opportunit y for learning, and is critical in enhancing employee satisfaction (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010, p. 70). While corporate communication in itself is central to individual and organizational performance, it is not enough for an organization to have corporate communication as part of its strategies. Corporate communication of any organization should be designed in such a way that it achieves its objectives and significantly contributes to the achievement of overall organizational goals and objectives. It should be packaged in such a way that it has huge and positive managerial impacts; in other words it should be a channel to flow of information, policies, and even resources (Cornelissen, 2011, p. 18). Corporate communication is a managerial tool that is often expected to coordinate activities, share information, policies, and resources with employees, reduce unnecessary managerial rules and burdens, and eventually improve organizational performance (Robson, Skarmeas and Spyropoulou, 2006, p. 589). In the absence of corporate communication, organized activities of organizations would cease to exist and organization would have many uncoordinated activities which in return would lead to poor organizational performance (Abugre, 2007, p. 45). It is in the light of this fact that managers use corporate communi

Feminism is for Everybody Essay Example for Free

Feminism is for Everybody Essay Feminism is a social, cultural, moral and political advocacy encompassed on gender issues such as inequality. In this regard there are several writings that concerns the principles of feminism. The contents of literary works about feminism vary, some writers intend to advocate for the very cause of feminism blindingly, some authors, conversely, intend to provide information about feminism in a non-political or non-equalitarian manner. One such notable content can be found in Bell Hooks publication, Feminism is for Everybody. Hooks book gives the reader a whole different perspective on the radical feminist theory. The primary intention of her book is to bring the feminist point-of-view to non-believers, apathetics and unfamiliar. Hooks also counters the popular notion regarding feminism as she feels that these notions should be given proper attention and correction. In this manner, the common misconception on the ideas of feminism will be clear to society. In the book, Feminism is for everybody, the author rejects the usual beliefs connected to feminism and considers such belief as nothing more than a myth. Hooks puts the arguments and advocacies of feminism in a summarized manner in order to provide a simpler context to readers as well as well as a new concept of what feminism should be. Hooks new concept of feminism suggests a fight against stiff sexism in a benevolent society, thereby ultimately advocating for an inclusive movement. In Feminism is for Everybody, Hooks traces the roots of the feminist movement and gives detail on what it has achieved so far. an advocacy minus the associations of anti-sexism (Hooks, 2000). The historical background of feminism is given in order to put emphasis on the misconstrusion that happened along the way and to give way to the new concept of the movement. Hooks raises the question is feminist a philosophical belief or a political cause, given that the author tackles the arguments of the radical feminists. The debate whether feminism is a philosophical belief or a political cause can also be caused by one of the books chapters tackling gender oppression. The basis may be seen on the idea typecasting male as the enemy, the categorization of man as the oppressor and woman is the oppressed is the primary reason behind feminisms second wave, however, Hooks also does not take away the fact that females are also responsible for such opression given that it took time for the supposed oppresed to spearhead for change (Hooks, 2007). Hooks furthers this by giving the past mistakes of feminism and the misleading beliefs that feminists associated themselves with. This is on the account that most feminists focus on the problem and not on the solution. In a personal account, I am taken to a different world as far as feminism is concerned, primarily because Bell Hooks gives a different appraoch in discussing the cause of feminism. It is also notable that the author diminished the complexities of the feminist thought but still detailed enough to get me educated. The book caused me to reconsider my prior beliefs regarding the arguments presented by feminists. The non-traditional manner of Hooks presentation eliminated my angst towards feminists and made me realize that it is time for change, Hooks compelled me to believe that it is time to dispose of the misleading conventional feminist beliefs of the past and focus on the current issues, moreover, Hooks made me believe that feminism is indeed for everybody. References Hooks, B. (2000). Feminism is for Everybody. Cambridge: South End Press.

Successful Asian Businesses

Successful Asian Businesses 1. Introduction The aim of this report was to show the association of the global business strategy in the C.P. Group industry between of Thailand firm strategy and Multinational firm strategy. The C.P. Group is the one of Asia leading successfully businesses and affiliates within the agriculture business retail, real estate and telecommunication industries. Most of well-know food products to an Asia and European countries (Asian Institute of Technology 2009). This information is also linked in to the business overview of C.P. group industries, goal of business and through effective global company strategies. Moreover, this report has showed some most significant relevant of functional of the global business strategy has come into effect in the C.P. group industry system. 2. Company Background The C.P. group industry is now become to the one of the top of the fast growing industry in Asia (Best Industry Group 2009). There are selling farm products, agriculture products, operating retail supermarkets (TESCO Lotus, Seven-Eleven), international trading, telecommunications (True corporation), plastics, pet foods, automotive, industrial products, real estates and land development (Charoen Pokphand Group 2009). The C.P. Group was founded in 1921 by the two Chearavanont brothers named Ek Chor and Chorncharoen in the heart centre of Bangkoks China town in Thailand. The two brothers began by importing seed and vegetables from China and exporting pigs and eggs to Hong Kong. In 1951, they were ready to expand into other related line of businesses, reasoning quite rightly that the seeds they were selling to the farmers would produce to the raw material crops for animal feed and more importantly. China tailers would become their customers. In 1954, the Charoen Pokphand Feed mill was se t up for the C.P. Group later. The development was lead expansion along vertical integration line, beginning with poultry, followed by swine. Moreover, in 1990 the C.P. Group has become totally feed mill corporations in Thailand and region it has become to the list of the fifth largest trade mill producer in the world (C.P food worldwide 2009). Nowadays, while retaining strong links to its native country the group also trades and invests internationally with more than 100,000 employees worldwide. Applying to The Cultural Iceberg model (2004), (see in appendix 1) the C.P. Group has parts as organizational cultural thus; Surface Culture : the C.P. Group corporation is a well know as high profile food industries and other related line of businesses in Asia Hidden Culture: The CP Groups organization structure is vertical structure. In term of financial investment the CP Group investing at least THB 123.6 billion (à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2.5 billion) between 2008 to 2013, in a wide range of businesses including telecoms, property, banking and retail (Business Trade in Asia 2009) 3. Situation Analysis 3.1 Business Environment Macro Environment Analysis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is very significant for CP Group industry to analyse Macro environment. Macro environment consist of Political, Economic, Social-cultural and technology factor. It will affect for CP Group business in Thailand. Political Thailand has unstable political environment effect from the political problem people are divided in two groups, one group support to the previous government another group support to the present government. Moreover, the 2009 group protests are also happening in Thailand. Thailand has a parliamentary democracy. Thai legal is follow by civil law concepts, which accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservation. Thailand enjoys international trade and investment, which has signed free trade agreements with several countries, including Thailand (FTA) and also a member of organizations such as WTO (Economist 2009). Economic In terms of its economy Thailand has low GDP rate (see appendix 3) effect from political problem. Thais economy is dominated by the agriculture product and travels (Thai Export Products 2009). Thais economy is expected to slow down in 2009 due to the political problem, global financial market issues and decrease in domestic demand. Moreover, the consumer price inflation seems to be a big problem. However, in term of trading it is still one of the great economic countries in South East Asia (Popline 2009) Socio-Culture Thailand is an unstable society that effect from political problem. Buddhist has become to the main religion follow by Islamic and Christian. There are around 64 million people are living in Thailand in 2009. The official national language is Thai. In term of developing countries, Thai people have a normal quality of physical environment, lifestyle and education (Thailand board of investment 2009). Technology Technology and infrastructure play a vital role in the Thailand economy. Its infrastructure is very good but the pollution problem seem to be the big issues in Thailand because lack of technology to control the pollution such as the water pollution from industrial areas. However, Thailand is the one of leader in term of communication and IT services. 4. Core Source of strategy Nowadays, Charoen Pokphand Group is the biggest food company in Thailand which has invested and managed in numerous industries in both domestic and international. Agribusiness is mainly rooted of company to penetrate directly to international market. There are three benefit philosophy of company to do business including benefit to the Country, People and Company. ( CP company 2009) The company believes in six guiding principle as they make the company different from competitor and they also useful for company to corporate in culture. The guiding principles consist of Professionalism, Product innovation, Customer satisfaction, Versatility and adaptability, Quality products at lowest prices and Dedication and loyalty of the workforce. The mission of company is to energize the body and mind of communities to which we serve. Energizing the body consist of cultivating and processing crop products for animal feed, production and further processing of livestock and aquaculture products , providing channel of food consumption thought food service and retail outlets. Energizing the mind comprise of providing integrated communication and content service through fixed, wireless and cable networks. ( CP company 2009) 4.1 Global Strategy CP has promoted as the first truly Thai global company which is planning to expand business slowly but confidently. (Bangkok Post 2003) CP focus to do RD to analysis the target market before doing business in particular countries. (Umesh 2006) In addition, the company has more focus on logistic and distribution to be an important component for future growth. (Bangkok Post 2003) The company has granted franchise of 7-11 Inc in US to operate in Thailand. Nowadays, CP 7-11 network is the forth largest retails business in the worlds which there are more than 4,000 retails in Thailand. Moreover, the company has expanded their 7-11 networks to China and has the plan to get the license to set up 7-Eleven in Vietnam and Cambodia. (Jitpleecheep 2002) In terms of Tesco Lotus, it is a jointventure between CP Company and Tesco from the UK, it was the hypermarket of CP Company in both Thailand and China. Since 2003, CP Company had sold the share of Tesco Lotus in Thailand to Tesco because the Com pany want to focus on 7-11. However, the company has kept the share of Tesco Lotus in China by operating under Lotus trademark. (CP company 2003) The Company also is planning to be a sponsor in Premier League team which can represent CP brand in the global market and create brand awareness before its competitors. (About CP company 2009) The company is planning to expand 7-11 convenience storage and Lotus in particular country as it can help company to develop in logistics sector and also help the company to distribute their products. (Bangkok Post 2003) The company expects to expand 7-Eleven convenience stores by setting up more than 1000 outlets at PTT service station which is the largest fuel product retailer in Thailand. (Jitpleecheep 2002) Moreover, the company has used the strategic to make the difference in the retails by offering a new service to customers. In addition, CP have managed 500 shops of CP Fresh Mart shops worldwide and planning to expand to 700 shops within 2011.( (Bangkok Post 2002) In terms of CPs food industry, the company has integrated as a agro-business operator which provides production technology, aquaculture practices and also have product traceability system. (Charoen 2005) The company has promoted CPs food safety standard to increase consumers confident and to complete in global market. CP expects to increase fresh eggs export business to support raising demand of consumers in Hong Kong, Africa and the Middle East.(Bangkok Post 2009) CP also expects to increase rice export from Thailand to many destinations. Thus, the company has to expand their rices supplier (millers) as the company does not mill rice by itself, the Company buys the rice and repack under Royal Umbrella brand.(Walailak 2008) 4.2 CPs strategy in China Since 1979, CP had established in China which received the first business registration certificate from Chinese government to set up the shop in specific economic zone located in Shenzhen. (CP company 2009) The company used Agribusiness as a concept to expand their business and to increase living standard. Moreover, CP Company also provided motorcycles, telecommunication, beer brewing, petrochemical and retail in China which employed more than 15,000 peoples. The company had the strategy to make a joint ventures with local company and farmer in every province to expand their business. In terms of, motorcycles sector, the company owned 70 percent of EK Chor China Motorcycle and was the first company in China on Wall Street since 1993.(Louise 1996) In 1994, the company produced more than 900,000 motorcycles. Moreover, CP had opened the first lotus Super centers in 1996 and also had the bank in Shanghai to cooperate with 4,000 SME which supplied the goods for Lotus. Nowadays, the company has more confident to increase an investment since China had joint with WTO. CP Company has invested in China more than 30 years which more than 40 percent of revenue came from China market.(Bangkok Post 2009) The Company has invested to increase the retails and its property development especially in Shanghai (Pudong), the company built up Super Brand Mall which is the biggest Asia entertainment 0complex to support high purchasing power of 160,000 shoppers.(Walailak 2007) Moreover, CP company is expected to raise in sale volume in both Lotus and Shopping mall about 13 percent within 2009. (Bangkok Post 2009) In terms of motorcycles sectors, the company focus to increase their market in Chinas provinces in stead of focusing in big city such as Beijig and Shanghai that motorcycles are not permitted to drive inner the city. As high competitive of manufacture in this sector, CP Company decided to reduce to price from 10,000 to 4,500 yuan per unit to stay in the mark et. (Thapanachai 2002) 4.3 CPs SWOT analysis Strengths High product quality The Charoen Pokphand Group (CP) has high reputation in marketplace in Thailand by using Agribusiness to be a concept for business. CP products have high quality and reliable which are be classified in high class products and they are acceptable in market. Strong policies to maintain organization growing The company focuses on theirs human resource management to maintain their company standard by promoting staff aged between 20-30 years and to give the chance for them to create idea and to run departments. The company also has job evaluations from psychometric testing and training program. Moreover, the company had set the long-term goal to be a guild line for employee to prepare themselves to achieve to objective.( (Bangkok Post 2003) Understanding the need of major market to raise living standard Thailand is land of agriculture which farmer is a majority occupation in the country. Company focuses on agriculture to be the core business by offering the seeds to farmer and provides retailer to buy the crop after harvesting. The company has integrated industrial farming. the six major steps carried out by CP were seed production, animal husbandry, animal production, food processing and marketing. All activities make the company to monopolies the agriculture market. Diversity of CP business CP has diversified the business to more than one business area that can help the company to reduce the risk. The company is not only to deal business in food industry but also to manage in telecommunications industry and to provide the retail such as 7-Eleven and Lotus to expand their food products.(Charoen 2006) Competitive price The company has used mass products to reduce the cost and to expand the market for the products. (Umseh 2007) Weaknesses Low profitability In the recent years, CPF profitability has been decreased against the increasing of revenues to over 7.9% in 2006 to 2007. Moreover, both operating profit margin and the net profit margin declined from 3.9% to 2.9% and 2% to 0.9% from 2006 to 2007 respectively. Profitability decreasing represent that the company lack of control over an operating and it can make the company to realize its growth plans. (Business Source Complete 2008) Over dependence on Thailand market More than 86% of CP products had been sold in Thailand in the recently year, it represents that the company have more concern with Thais economy. Therefore, the fluctuation in Thailand might bring negative to companys revenues.(Walailak 2007) Opportunities Increasing exports of value added meat products After the spread of Bird Flu, some countries such as Europe and Japan have banned the import of uncooked meat from Thailand thus CP company has improved theirs uncooked meat products by adding value to be cooked meat products including egg boiled in herbs, grilled chicken, duck and sauced duck. On 2006, the cooked meat export worldwide had raised by 20-30% and the demand is expected to increase globally.(Charoen 2006) Free Trade Agreement between Thailand, Australia and New Zealand The Agreement have changed the company to be more competitive in Australian and New Zealand market. It brings the great benefit for company to improve the assessment to agriculture product such as mangosteen, longan, lychee and coconut.(Walailak 2007) Threats Increasing of vegetarianism trend. The increasing health awareness of consumers drive the increasing demand to consume low carbohydrate and low calorie foods which affect to the increasing demand of vegetarian foods worldwide. The vegetarian food market worldwide is estimated to growth around $1,700 million within 2010 and Asia people are changing to become vegetarian. The vegetarianism trend might effect the sale volume of poultry and meat. ((Business Source Complete 2008) Bird and swine flu Flues become the important factor that affect the sale volume of company in both domestic and global market. In Thailand, Bird flue has hit domestic sales of chicken which chickens price went down 31 percent to approximately 24 baht per kg. In terms of global market, both European and Japan had ban the import of fresh meat from Thailand.(Charoen 2005) 5. Issues 5.1 Global Financial Crisis The financial and economic crisis in the US impacts other export markets, especially Europe and Japan. Thailand mainly export to the US, Europe and Japan. Overall Thailands exports are expected to drop at least 10 percent. This situation also impact on Thailands food exports. Thus, CP would invest in new market such as Africa, the Middle East, India and Eastern Europe, especially Russia and Ukraine. However, CP would face difficulty in expanding their business (Thai News Service, 2008). 5.2 EU quota changes CP will face pressure because EU wants to modify tariff quota for processed poultry in 2009. Currently, EU had given Thailand a export quota allocation of 252,643 tonnes. It consists of 160,033 tonnes for processed chicken and 92,610 tonnes for salted poultry. Under the quota, the tariff is 8% of the price per tonne. For chicken exported above the quota, the tariff is 53% (Thai News Service, 2009). CP was closely monitoring this problem because it might impact the companys poultry export. For this situation, Thai government is talking with the EU for maintaining or increasing the countrys export quota of processed poultry. CP will offer other trade benefits in exchange. Nevertheless, if Thai government cannot achieve the positive result in the negotiation, CPs current sales will not be affected much but it may reduce CPs chance to increase export volumes to the EU in the long term (Bangkok Post, 2009). 5.3 Bird flu After the bird flu outbreak, many countries, especially Europe and Japan, have banned the uncooked meat from Thailand. It impacts on the CPs uncooked meat exports. However, the growing global concerns the bird flu will increase the focus on cooked food and seafood products. CP is expected to sell these products 200 billion baht in 2010. Currently, cooked food, especially Thai ready-to-eat meals, gain a good response from consumers in the US, Europe and Australia. Moreover, CP will increase its fish and shrimp products in the domestic and international markets. Due to many consumers have more awareness of quality and food safety. Thus, CP should increase branding campaigns and consumer education in order to emphasize the firms food safety standards (Kittikanya, 2005). 5.4 Lack of managerial staff in China CP launched the first Lotus Supercenter in China in 1998. Now, CP has 79 Lotus outlets in China. Currently, CP stops expanding of Lotus because of a lack of managerial staff. Moreover, CP changes strategy to improve the operational efficiency. CP plans to allow local staff to make the product that is suitable for customer in each province because China is huge (Keeratipipatpong, 2007). 6. Conclusion Charoen Pokphand Group (CP) expands their business worldwide. Especially in China, CP is the largest food foreign company and also provides many kinds of product. Moreover, the development was lead expansion along vertical lines such as agriculture products, retail supermarkets (7-11 and Lotus), telecommunication, real -estate development and automotive products. CP expands their business slowly and confidently by using logistics and distribution as a key for hypermarket, it usually makes a joint venture with a local company to do the business in particular countries. CP also uses RD to analysis the target market. In addition, the company focuses on logistics and distribution. Nowadays, China is big international market for CPs products because there is high consumption from future increasing of Chinese population. Thus, this is an opportunity for CP company to increase the sale volume, brand awareness and this is a significant challenge for the next step of companys growing. Bibliographies About Charoen Pokphand Group 2009, Charoen Pokphand Group, viewed 12 September 2009, http://www.cpthailand.com/ Charoen, K 2005, CPF shifts to cooked and seafood produce, eyes higher sales, Bangkok Post(Thailand), 10 Nov, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCO host, AN2W60773310804, viewed 3 Sep 2009. Charoen, K 2006, CPF to tap rising Russian demand, Bangkok Post(Thailand), 7 July, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCO host, AN2W62W6736640724, viewed 3 Sep 2009. Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited 2008, Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited SWOT Analysis, p1-8,8p, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, AN34307048, viewed 1 Sep 2009. Charoen Pokphand Group 2009, About CP, viewed 1 Sep 2009, http://www.cpthailand.com/AboutCP/tabid/216/Default.aspx Charoen Pokphand Group 2009, Charoen Pokphand in China viewed 12 September 2009, http://www.cpthailand.com/CorporateCommunications/pageNewsroom/tabid/107/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/163/Default.aspx CP food worldwide 2009, Inside CP Group, viewed 12 September 2009, http://www.cpfworldwide.com/ CP revamps Lotus network in China 2009, Bangkok Post, 25 July, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCO host, AN2W6519933027, viewed 4 Sep 2009. Economist 2009, Thailands political crisis: Dousing the flames, view 12 September 2009, http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13496330 Food safety allows CP to expand egg enterise 2009, Bangkok Post(Thailand), 18 Nov, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCO host, AN2W62W63112895133, viewed 3 Sep 2009. Head of Thai Agri-Product Maker Aims to Go Fully Global, 2003, Bangkok Post(Thailand), 21 Jan, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCO host, AN 2W63013363186, viewed 3 Sep 2009. Jitpleecheep, S 2002, Thai Group Seeks Licences to Open 7-Eleven Stores in Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangkok Post(Thailand), 28 Sep, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCO host, AN2W61784931632, viewed 3 Sep 2009. Keeratipipatpong, W 2007, CP to list mall on Shanghai bourse: IPO proceeds to fund expansion in China, Bangkok Post (Thailand), Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCOhost, AN 2W64141647244, viewed 16 September 2009. Kittikanya, C 2005, CPF shifts to cooked and seafood produce, eyes higher sales, Bangkok Post (Thailand), Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCOhost, AN 2W60773310804, viewed 11 September 2009. Louise, L 1996, Thai company putting more chihens on Chinas tables, Chinatown News, issued 10, p20, 2p, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, AN9606155618, viewed 5 Sep 2009. Popline organization 2009, Country watch: Thailand, view 11 September 2009, http://www.popline.org/docs/1346/148699.html Poultry firms eye EU quota changes 2009, Bangkok Post, 10 August, Factiva, Document BKPOST0020090809e58a000k9, viewed 10 September 2009. Thai Food Company Announces New China Strategy, 2002, Bangkok Post(Thailand), 23 May, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCO host, AN 2W60495805783, viewed 3 Sep 2009. Thailand board of investment 2009, Social and Culture inside Thailand, view 12 September 2009, http://www.boi.go.th/english/how/social_and_culture.asp Thailand: Charoen Pokphand executive predicts economic downturn to last at least 2 years 2008, Thai News Service, 1 October, Factiva, Document THAINS0020081001e4a10005q, viewed 16 September 2009. Thailands Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF): Updates on 2 key issues 2009, Thai News Service, 12 August, Factiva, Document THAINS0020090811e58c000ad, viewed 10 September 2009. Thailands CP Group Investment 2009, Business Trends Asia, viewed 12 September 2009, http://www.cpfworldwide.com/cpd/en/page/ir/financial_information.aspx Thapanachai, S 2002, Thai Motorcycle Output to Rise Six-Fold, Bangkok Post(Thailand), 16 July, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCO host, AN 2W62415351361, viewed 4Sep 2009. The top of the fast growing industry in Asia 2007, Best Industry Group Co.,Ltd, view 10 September 2009, http://www.best-industry.com/ Umesh, P 2006, CP leads the way overseas, Bangkok Post(Thailand), 18 Nov, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCO host, AN 2W62W62277444032, viewed 3 Sep 2009. Umesh, P 2007, CP executive says risky move to China nearly 30 years ago has paid off, Bangkok Post(Thailand), 20 Jan, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCO host, AN2W61968696986, viewed 3 Sep 2009. Visit of CP Group 2009, Asian Institute of Technology, viewed 10 September 2009, http://www.careercenter.ait.ac.th/ Walailak, K 2007, CP to list mall on Shanghai bourse: IPO proceeds to fund expansion in China, 29 Oct, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCO host, AN2W64141647244, viewed 4 Sep 2009. Walailak, K 2007, CP unit taps demand overseas: hybrid corn projects in China also Bangkok Post(Thailand), 5 Mar, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCO host, AN2W61899741503, viewed 3 Sep 2009. Walailak, K 2008, CP Intertrade rushes rice-processing plant Bangkok Post(Thailand), 21 April, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCO host, AN2W6343344675, viewed 1 Sep 2009.

W and R toilet makes are thinking of expanding by becoming PRIVATE :: Business and Management Studies

W and R toilet makes are thinking of expanding by becoming PRIVATE LIMITED CO (LTD) evaluate this decision. I think that W and R should become a PLC because there are a lot of advantages to them there must be at least two shareholders and there MUST be at least one director while this is good that their only has to at least two people shares cannot just be transferred freely, their must be some kind of agreement with the other shareholders so if you have the majority rule it wont work her as everyone must agree. They are easy to set up they mainly have the flexibility of a sole trader and a partnership but without the risks of unlimited liability. Small private companies if successful can raise capital more easily the liability makes people want to invest in the company more and its easier for it to borrow money as sole traders and partnerships often find this very hard. One of the key advantages is that the business will not come seize if one of the partners (owners) decide to pull out as the owners can choose who they want to sell their products to (shareholders). But there are a few disadvantages but compared to a sole partnership or trader much less, people might be unwilling to buy shares, there is more control over how the business is run and it can sometimes be very hard for shareholders to get their money back when they want but its much less risky. Ed wood ltd needs to raise a very large amount of capital to build a new factory. It is thinking of becoming a PLC. Analyze this decision. Public companies must start out with at least 50,000 pounds there must be at least 7 shareholders but only 2 are needed to sign a Memorandum of Association and shares are sold to the public. Anyone can come and inspect the shares, but at the same time shareholders who want their money back can simply just sell their shares back to the stock market. This makes people more willing to invest, large amounts of capital can be gathered from just one organization large companies can be formed but there is also a lot of competition. Nevertheless you are also able to benefit from other companies from and from their economies of sale. Banks are also willing to give loans to companies who have a large share capital. Shareholders might not have very much power of have very little influence and public companies are controlled by the law but in a public company you can check up on your stock and the

Sustainable Production Practices and Determinant Factors of Green Supply Chain Management of Chinese Companies

Business Strategy and the Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) Published online 16 February 2011 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary. com) DOI: 10. 1002/bse. 705 Sustainable Production: Practices and Determinant Factors of Green Supply Chain Management of Chinese Companies Xianbing Liu,1* Jie Yang,2 Sixiao Qu,2 Leina Wang,2 Tomohiro Shishime1 and Cunkuan Bao2 1 Kansai Research Centre, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Japan 2 College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, ChinaABSTRACT This paper explores the green supply chain management (GSCM) of companies based in the Yangtze River Delta, China. The companies’ overall GSCM practice level (LGSCM) is measured by using the data from 165 valid respondents in a questionnaire survey conducted during April and May 2009. The relationships between LGSCM and the classi? ed determinant factors are analyzed. It is indicated that Chinese companies are still at a preliminar y stage of GSCM practices. Their environmental management in cooperation with external members of the supply chain is very marginal.A company’s LGSCM is signi? cantly and positively associated with the external pressures from regulatory, domestic clients and business competitors. As an internal factor, a company’s learning capacity greatly determines LGSCM. We also con? rm that the internal factors function as intermediate variables of external pressures in in? uencing a company’s GSCM. A company’s environmental management capacities will be strongly enhanced by frequent internal training of employees to increase its involvement in GSCM practices.Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. Received 5 July 2010; revised 14 December 2010; accepted 16 December 2010 Keywords: sustainable production; green supply chain management; practices; determinant factors; China Introduction environment, in the forms of pollutant generation, ecosystem disruption and depletion of resources (Fiksel, 1996). The pressures and drivers from abroad accompanying globalization have pushed manufacturers in developing economies like China to improve their environmental performance (Zhu and Sarkis, 2006).Environmental concerns gradually become part of the overall business culture and, in turn, help re? engineer the development strategies of corporations (Madu et al. , 2002). Corporate environmental management (CEM) has been moving from traditional pollution control and risk management towards product life? cycle * Correspondence to: Xianbing Liu, Kansai Research Centre, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Hitomirai Building 4F, 1? 5? 2, Wakinohama Kaigan Dori, Chuo? ku, Hyogo, 651? 0073, Japan. E? mail: [email  protected] or. jp Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment OUT OF ALL BUSINESS OPERATIONS, MANUFACTURING PROCESSES ARE VIEWED TO HAVE THE HIGHEST IMPACTS ON THE 2 Xianbing Liu et al. manageme nt and industrial ecology. Recently, CEM has extended to certain boundary? spanning activities like green procurement, product stewardship, reverse logistics and so on (Zsidisin and Siferd, 2001; Snir, 2001; Prahinski and Kocabasoglu, 2006). These practices are related to supply chain management, which requires various interactions between the core manufacturer and the other entities along the supply chain, either the upstream suppliers or downstream distributors and customers.The concept of supply chain management for environmental protection was ? rst put forward by Drumwright (1994), which identi? ed the characteristics of those companies introducing new manufacturing ideas. Later, green supply chain management (GSCM) was de? ned as a new term by the Manufacturing Research Association at Michigan State University, USA (Hand? eld, 1996). The fast economic growth of China has greatly relied on the extensive expansion of manufacturing industries which produce resource? intensive but cheap goods for foreign markets.The regulatory requirements in developed economies, such as the familiar European Union (EU) Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive and the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive, have forced electronics manufacturers in China to actively practice certain GSCM activities. The relatively high position of Chinese manufacturers in the global supply chain offers the possibility, and an ideal setting, to explore their actual GSCM involvements. Zhu et al. (2008) studied the emerging GSCM practices at company level in a Chinese context, and con? med that GSCM is still a new concept for most Chinese companies as they change their environmental management from internal efforts to the whole supply chain. In terms of determinant factors for GSCM practices, this previous study mainly focused on a company’s internal issues, such as the importance of the company’s learning? oriented programs and support of top manage rs. The pressures from externally related stakeholders bear further study due to their importance to a company’s environmental behavior (Zhu et al. , 2008).Subsequent studies employing both external pressures and internal factors would provide a more comprehensive understanding of the relationships between GSCM practices and the determinant factors. In addition, Zhu et al. (2008) conducted their survey in the northern cities of China. Surveys of companies based in the other geographical areas of China would be necessary and meaningful. In order to close the research gap described above, this paper identi? es the external pressures which determine the level of a company’s GSCM practices while using internal factors as the intermediate variables.The Yangtze River Delta, including Shanghai and surrounding regions, is selected as the study area mainly due to its relatively developed economy compared with other regions of China. The improved background of CEM provides us wi th the possibility of monitoring a company’s GSCM practices there. Considering the complexity of GSCM practices, which may be attributed to the wide scope of environmental activities at different phases of the supply chain, this paper classi? es four categories of typical GSCM activities by referring to the existing literatures (e. g.Sarkis, 2005). Two topics are mainly discussed in this paper: (1) the current status of GSCM practices of the companies in the study area; and (b) determinant factors, external and internal, predicting the level of a company’s involvement in GSCM practices. Literature Review Although there is no uniform de? nition for GSCM so far, basic and common understandings have been formed theoretically and in practice. GSCM emphasizes the concerns for the environment along the whole supply chain and requires long? term and strategic collaborations between the supply chain members.GSCM covers the management of the life cycle of a product, from its ma nufacture and consumption until the end? of? life (Nagel, 2000). GSCM practices may be separated according to the stages of production, distribution and utilization, and thus can be categorized into internally green manufacturing activities, green procurement, eco? design, green retailing and green consumption by individuals (Walton et al. , 1998; Zsidisin and Hendrick, 1998; Carter et al. , 2000). Research on GSCM has been building gradually, but still remains sparse (Vachon and Klassen, 2008).GSCM studies were previously conducted by addressing the following aspects: general and basic issues like designing the framework for GSCM (Geoffrey et al. , 2002); implementation of GSCM strategies (Sarkis, 2003); environmental assessment of GSCM practices (Vijay et al. , 2003); relationship between a company’s performance and GSCM practices (Klassen and Mclaughin, 1996); and speci? c GSCM activities like green purchasing (Min and Galle, 1997), Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, L td and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bseGreen Supply Chain Management in China 3 total quality and environmental management (Sarkis, 1999), green marketing (Karna and Heiskanen, 1998), and environmental performance evaluation of suppliers (Hines and Johns, 2001). Cooperation among the companies on the supply chain is the key to drive them to improve the environmental compatibility of their businesses (Ken et al. , 2000). Generally, the bene? ts of collaborative practices with upstream suppliers are much broader. In contrast, collaboration with downstream customers yields mixed outcomes Vachon and Klassen, 2008). By exploring the operational performances due to green partnership along the supply chain, Vachon and Klassen (2006) indicated that partnership with customers was positively related to product quality and ? exibility, whereas partnership with suppliers was associated with better delivery operations. Thun and Muller (2010) interviewed m anagers from the automotive supply industry in Germany and con? rmed the need for GSCM on the one hand but corresponding problems in terms of required resource on the other.Case studies of the British and Japanese food retail sector and the British aerospace industry showed that it would be easier to adopt GSCM if certain suppliers could play a leading role in a group of similar suppliers (Jeremy, 2000). While large companies can mandate their supplies to comply with certain environmental initiatives, cooperative approaches are likely to be more fruitful. Sharfman et al. (2009) suggested that inter rm trust, uncertainty and proactive environmental management most directly affect the extent of a company’s engagement in GSCM.Jeppesen and Hansen (2004) examined the conditions for environmental upgrading of Third World companies led by foreign companies. They argued that environmental upgrading on the value chain must be understood partly as a result of external industry and mark et forces, and partly as a result of the internal resources and competitive strategies of the companies involved. Two typical models are found for better application of GSCM strategies. One is to develop more environmentally friendly goods through cooperation like joint research.The other is to request that the suppliers satisfy higher environmental standards, for example achieving ISO14001 certi? cation, and the limitation of speci? ed materials in products. The construction of cooperative strategies and the evaluation of suppliers help improve the compatibilities of supply chain to the environment (Lamming, 1996). The extent of GSCM practices adopted by Chinese companies was examined by a survey of companies in several industrial sectors such as power generation, petrochemicals, electric and electronics and automobiles (Zhu and Geng, 2006).It was hard for the surveyed companies to integrate environmental issues into their business operations with suppliers and customers. Some lead ing companies have made efforts in internally proactive CEM practices like pursuing ISO14001 certi? cation, but most have just started to consider external GSCM activities. In China, environmental pressures are stronger for large companies than for small and medium? sized ones (Zhu and Geng, 2001). Automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have been required by the automobile assemblers to operate in an environmental manner since Chinese entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001.Chinese electronic enterprises are found to be performing better in GSCM practices (Zhu and Sarkis, 2006). Development of an Analytical Framework and Research Hypotheses As mentioned earlier, this study tries to expand the determinant factors of GSCM practices in China from a company’s internal explanatory variables, which have been explored in previous studies (e. g. Zhu et al. , 2008), to the external pressures. Different alternative theoretical viewpoints, such as stakeholder t heory, institutional theory and the resource? based view, have been used to look at GSCM practices.As typical inter? organizational collaborations, the stakeholder theory with broad acceptance would be appropriate for discussing GSCM issues rather than intra? organizational management activities. In practice, stakeholder theory and institutional theory are rather similar in grouping a company’s external ‘others’, including the input and output environment of the company (suppliers and product consumers), its competitive environment (companies producing similar services or products) and its regulatory environment (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983; Delmas and Toffel, 2004).In this study, we identi? ed the determinant factors of GSCM practices by referring to existing literature and developed an overall analytical framework as shown in Figure 1. The relationships between the determinant factors and a company’s GSCM activities and research hypotheses are explained as follows. Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse 4 Xianbing Liu et al. Figure 1. Overall analytical framework of this studyHypothesis a (Ha): External Pressures The importance of external factors lies in the complementary nature of the factors behind Chinese companies’ adoption of GSCM practices at the early stage of environmental policy transformation. Besides the requirements of governmental regulations, domestic and foreign clients, competitors and neighboring communities may exert pressures on the companies (Hall, 2000). These external pressures have jointly prompted companies to become more aware of environmental problems and to practice certain GSCM activities (Sarkis, 1998; Hervani et al. 2005). Customer expectations have become the most important external pressure (Doonan et al. , 2005). To achieve sustainable solutions and business goals, the environmental properties of products and ser vices have to satisfy customer demands (Zhu and Sarkis, 2006). ‘Communities’ refer to those who are not necessarily involved in the business partnership directly but have knowledge of local companies (Nelson et al. , 1999). The community perspectives shoul be adequately represented as they may in? uence a company’s decision? aking process (Kearney, 2004). It has been indicated that communities have the ability to in? uence the social reputation of a company (Henriques and Sadorsky, 1996). According to Zhu and Sarkis (2006), Hall (2000) and Sarkis (1998), external pressures are believed to be important factors affecting a company’s GSCM practices. This generates the ? rst integrative hypothesis of this study as: Ha: companies that face higher pressures from external stakeholders are more likely to adopt GSCM practices.Hypothesis b (Hb): Internal Factors Business strategy is not only in? uenced by external stakeholders since companies subject to the same lev el of external pressure may perform differently (Prakash, 2000; Gunningham et al. , 2003). It is argued that companies also adopt different environmental practices due to their individual interpretations of the objective pressures from the outside. The difference between ‘objective’ and ‘perceived’ pressures would lead to diverse responses from companies.Therefore, our analytical model adds two internal organizational factors, namely support by top managers and a company’s learning capacity, to jointly explain a company’s GSCM practices. Management support by top managers is critical for the introduction and implementation of innovations in a company, especially environmental management systems (EMSs) (Daily and Huang, 2001). Top management support can affect the success of new initiatives by facilitating employee involvement or by promoting a cultural shift in the company, for example. Previous research suggests that cross? unctional programs need support from senior management, and indicates that top management support is associated with the success of environmentally preferable purchasing (Carter et al. , 1998). As GSCM is a broad? based organizational endeavor, Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse Green Supply Chain Management in China 5 it has the potential to bene? t from top management support. Meanwhile, a company’s learning capacity is viewed as especially important in a resource? ased view. GSCM practices are amenable to the bene? ts derived from learning since they are human resource? intensive and greatly rely on tacit skill development by employee involvement, team work and shared expertise (Hart, 1995). The capacity for implementing innovative environmental approaches is usually enhanced by employee self? learning, professional education and on? the? job training. The education level of employees and the frequency of internal environmental training are often used as proxies of a company’s learning capacity.The above discussions suggest two sub? hypotheses on internal factors which may be expressed as Hb1 and Hb2: Hb1: a company’s level of GSCM practices is positively associated with the support of top managers. Hb2: a company’s level of GSCM practices is positively associated with the company’s learning capacity. Hypothesis c (Hc): the Linkage of External and Internal Factors As discussed above, the addition of internal factors reasonably complements the pressures from external stakeholders in explaining the practice of GSCM.A company’s internal factors may be viewed as intermediate variables to adjust the in? uences of external pressures. A company will be unlikely to implement GSCM activities if it does not have the necessary capacity, no matter what pressures it faces. This generates one more hypothesis on the relationship of external pressures and internal factors in determining a company’s GSCM practices in this study, which may be documented as: Hc: the relationships between a company’s external pressures and adoption of GSCM are mediated by internal factors. MethodsSamples and Data Collection The data for this study were collected by a questionnaire survey conducted in the region of the Yangtze River Delta during April and May 2009. Two small areas in the delta were selected for the survey implementation. One was Taichang, a county? level city in Jiangsu Province. Another was Kangqiao Industrial Park based in Shanghai. Developed from traditional environmental policies, local environmental agencies have tried some innovative measures for improving CEM by encouraging the public’s involvement against industrial pollution.With aims to reduce the compliance cost and maintain ? nancial value, the companies there have adopted some proactive environmental practices. The better background of CEM in the study area compar ed with other regions of China provides the possibility for us to monitor companies’ GSCM activities in this study. According to the literature overview and preliminary understandings about the contextual background of the study area, a questionnaire was developed to measure companies’ GSCM practices, determinant factors and organizational performance.The questionnaire format consisted of four major components: general information on the companies; GSCM activities such as environmentally preferable procurement; the degree of external pressures felt by the companies; and the evaluation of environmental and economic performances. The environmental managers were chosen as focal points in the survey to answer the questions concerning GSCM issues in their companies. Due to the large scope for GSCM activities, the environmental manager discussed matters with the purchasing manager and production manager as necessary.Over a period of approximately 2 months, the survey was con ducted in two phases. In the ? rst stage, local government of? cials and seven companies were contacted in order to test the validation and feasibility of answering the survey document. The questions are listed in a concise but accurate manner to avoid misunderstanding by the respondents. The ? nalized format was sent to 210 enterprises on a name list provided by the local environmental protection bureaus Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse 6 Xianbing Liu et al. EPBs). A total of 165 respondents were con? rmed to be useful for the analysis, meaning a relatively high (78. 6%) valid response rate due to the coordination of local EPBs. The distribution of usable responses by industrial sectors is listed in Table 1. As expected, the samples from the sectors of machinery manufacturing, chemicals and textile and dyeing account for nearly half of the total, which are the representative industries in the st udy area. Operationalization of the Variables Dependent Variable The dependent variable in this study is LGSCM, a company’s overall GSCM practice level.LGSCM may be represented by a series of practical activities since it is dif? cult to directly measure the degree of GSCM involvement. Twelve items of GSCM activities were identi? ed to estimate a company’s overall level of GSCM practices in the current Chinese context, as listed in panel A of Table 2 and abbreviated as GA1 to GA12. This study addresses the GSCM practices as a company’s proactive environmental efforts in the manufacturing phase by excluding the end? of? pipe pollution control measurements and reverse logistic management of used products.Four categories of GSCM practices, represented by C1 to C4, respectively, are included: internally proactive environmental activities (C1); environmentally preferable procurement (C2); environmentally conscious design (C3); and supplier managed inventories and ser vices (C4) (Walton et al. , 1998; Carter et al. , 2000; Zsidisin and Hendrick, 1998). Achieving ISO14001 certi? cation, implementation of cleaner production auditing and reutilization of byproducts and other waste are chosen as internal proactive environmental activities of the companies.A company’s procurement strategies have strong impacts on the upstream producers in the supply chain, e. g. by buying non? toxic materials (Sarkis, 2003). In this study, four types of activities are de? ned as environmentally preferable procurement by the companies: requiring suppliers to offer cleaner products, evaluating suppliers’ environmental performances, providing education and technical assistance to suppliers, and providing education for internal procurement staff.Environmentally conscious design primarily focuses on technological improvements of products and processes to mitigate environmental impacts. Three items of activities, namely working closely with suppliers in produc t design, reducing waste in cooperation with suppliers and providing product? related environmental information for customers, are selected to assess the environmentally conscious design practices of companies. The last type of GSCM practice is supplier managed inventories and services which are found in chemical industries.Certain chemical companies commissioned their inventory management to the providers of raw materials due to the higher potential risks and the management experiences of the suppliers (PPRC, 2002). Since many chemical companies are located in the study area, two items are included to represent a company’s GSCM activities in this aspect. One is to entrust suppliers to manage company inventories. Another is to offer inventory management services for clients. Sector Paper Textile and dyeing Chemicals Plastics and rubber Metals Machinery and equipment manufacturing Electronics Automobile Printing Construction Others In totalNumber of samples 5 19 24 7 5 35 6 13 3 5 43 165 Percentage 3. 0 11. 5 14. 6 4. 3 3. 0 21. 2 3. 6 7. 9 1. 8 3. 0 26. 1 100. 0 Table 1. Distribution of the usable respondents by industrial sectors Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse Green Supply Chain Management in China Variable Description of the proxy 0 A: GSCM activities Internal proactive Achieving ISO14001 certification (GA1) environmental Cleaner production uditing (GA2) management (C1) Reutilization of byproducts and other wastes (GA3) Require suppliers to offer cleaner products (GA4) Environmentally Evaluate environmental performances of suppliers (GA5) preferable procurement (C2) Provide education and technical assistance for suppliers (GA6) Environmental education for internal purchasing staff (GA7) Work closely with suppliers in product design (GA8) Environmentally Work with suppliers on waste minimization (GA9) conscious Provide environmental information for products (GA10) design (C3) Supplier managed Entrust suppliers to manage some of the inventories (GA11) inventories (C4) Offer inventory management services for clients (GA12) 1 Valuation 2 3 4 5 7 LGSCMB: Determinant factors REGULATORY DCLIENT COMPETITOR COMMUNITY FCLIENT TSUPPORT EDUCATION TRAINING Pressure of environmental regulations Importance of domestic client’s environmental expectation Importance of competitors’ green strategies Pressure of complaints from neighboring communities Pressure of foreign customer’s environmental expectation Degree of support from company’s top managers Education level of the employees Frequency of internal environmental training External pressures Internal factors C: Control variables Characteristics of the companies Company’s size (LSIZ) Industrial sector belongings (SECTOR) Natural log of turnover Table 2. Definition and valuation of GSCM activities, the determinant factors and the controls The companies were requested to p resent a ? ve? oint Likert scale for each item of the 12 activities. The scales are de? ned as: 1 = not considering the activity at all; 2 = planning to consider; 3 = considering currently; 4 = partially implementing; and 5 = implementing successfully. The average score for all 12 items was used to represent the company’s LGSCM. In a similar way, the average score for the items of each GSCM category was used as the level of practice of that category. Independent Variables Recalling the section on ‘Development of Analytical Framework and Research Hypotheses’, the determinant factors behind companies’ adoption of GSCM activities include external pressures and internal factors. As listed in panel B of Table 2, ? e external pressures and three internal factors are classi? ed. In a similar way, a ? ve? point Likert scale was used to measure the importance, strength or degree of each factor: 1 = not at all; 2 = to some degree; 3 = moderate; 4 = relatively high; 5 = very high. The score for each factor was used to estimate its relationship with LGSCM. The only exception is for FCLIENT (pressure from foreign customers). The company’s export ratios were used as the proxy for this variable. It is assumed that the higher a company’s export ratio was, the higher the Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse 8 Xianbing Liu et al. ressure from foreign markets that would be felt by the company. The export ratios were classi? ed into four levels in the questionnaire format with consideration of easier responses from the surveyed companies. Control Variables Two more variables are introduced into the analytical framework as the controls. One is company size and another is the industrial sector to which it belongs. The existing literature suggests that larger companies are more likely to be under public scrutiny and are expected to have a higher propensity to be involved in innovative environmental practices (Hettige et al. , 1996). Larger companies are also likely to have superior resources for environmental activities.Companies with higher environmental sensitivity are more willing to improve their environmental performances. Panel C of Table 2 lists the methods for evaluating control variables. A natural log of the turnover in 2008 was used to represent a company’s size. A company’s industrial sector af? liation is classi? ed into two types, with ‘1’ referring to environmentally sensitive industries (ESI) and ‘0’ being non? ESIs. ESIs in China include mining, thermal power, construction materials, pulp and paper products, metallurgy, petroleum, brewing, fermentation, textiles, pharmacy, tanning and chemical industries (SEPA, 2003). The others are classi? ed as non? ESI.Results and Discussions Result for GSCM Practices of the Companies SPSS was used for the statistical analysis in this study. Cro nbach’s ? was calculated in order to test the consistency reliability of the values given to the items of GSCM activities. The estimated ? for all 12 items is 0. 912, which is higher than the 0. 9 that would imply a high validity of the dataset constructed. An exploratory factor analysis was performed on the 12 GSCM items to ? nd if there are different dimensions of these activities. Two factors were extracted. However, the ? rst factor accounts for 49. 9% of the variance in total and the second only accounts for 11. 6%.The rotated component matrix of the factor analysis is listed in Table 3. All the items relating to external GSCM practices (GA4 to GA12) are highly associated with factor 1. The results for internally proactive environmental activities (GA1, GA2 and GA3) are not clear since they have nearly equal loadings on both factors. The factor analysis result proves the rationality of using the average score of all the classi? ed GSCM items (LGSCM) as the dependent vari able for the regression analysis in this study. Table 4 gives a statistical summary of the scores of the de? ned GSCM activities. LGSCM of the respondents achieved an average score of 3. 9, indicating that Chinese companies are still at a very preliminary stage in their GSCM items 1 GA11 GA12 GA10 GA5 GA9 GA6 GA7 GA8 GA4 GA1 GA2 GA3 0. 814 0. 803 0. 779 0. 767 0. 749 0. 747 0. 730 0. 725 0. 691 0. 578 0. 490 0. 500 Component 2 ? 0. 119 ? 0. 107 – 0. 273 ? 0. 271 – 0. 321 ? 0. 303 0. 207 0. 492 0. 622 0. 583 Table 3. Rotated component matrix of factor analysis of GSCM items Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse Green Supply Chain Management in China 9 GSCM practices. The surveyed companies have started to implement internally proactive CEM activities to some degree (averaged at 3. 41–3. 93).Most of them plan to think about or are considering the environmental activities which would be jointly practiced with external actors in the supply chain. As examples, GA6 (provide education and technical assistance for suppliers) and GA8 (work closely with suppliers in product design) only obtained average scores of less than 3. 00. Nevertheless, slight improvement was observed in this study compared with the previous survey conducted in north China by Zhu and Sarkis (2006). This change may be attributed to the different location of the study areas. As described earlier, the region for this study has a relatively developed economy, and the companies there may be performing better on the environment than those in other areas. The surveyed companies react differently to the classi? d GSCM activities. Figure 2 provides details of the score distribution of GCSM activities practiced by the respondents. Many companies are implementing certain proactive Categories and items of GSCM activities Internal proactive environmental activities (C1) GA1 GA2 GA3 Environmentally preferabl e procurement (C2) GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7 Environmentally conscious design (C3) GA8 GA9 GA10 Supplier? managed inventories and services (C4) GA11 GA12 Overall level of GSCM practices (LGSCM) Obs. 158 159 160 160 159 160 159 160 162 153 159 159 156 157 158 158 148 Mean 3. 60 3. 41 3. 51 3. 93 3. 38 3. 84 3. 47 2. 76 3. 48 3. 32 2. 93 3. 45 3. 54 3. 11 3. 10 3. 2 3. 39 SD 1. 07 1. 49 1. 35 1. 14 1. 01 1. 16 1. 19 1. 27 1. 27 1. 04 1. 30 1. 22 1. 27 1. 23 1. 24 1. 33 0. 91 Min. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Max. 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Table 4. Statistical summary of GSCM activities of the surveyed companies One 100% 90% 80% Two Three Four Five Ratio of the score 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% GA1 GA2 GA3 GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7 GA8 GA9 GA10 GA11 GA12 Items of GSCM activities Figure 2. Distribution of the scores of company’s GSCM activities Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse 10 Xianbing Liu et a l. internal CEM practices.Nearly 70% of the surveyed companies are reusing byproducts and other generated waste to some degree. Around half of them are making efforts to achieve ISO14001 certi? cation and are pursuing a cleaner production audit. The companies are selective about those GSCM activities requiring cooperation with external actors on the supply chain. About 70% of the respondents are asking their upstream suppliers to provide cleaner materials or products to avoid possible environmental risks. The number of companies which arrange internally environmental education for their procurement staff and work closely with their suppliers for waste minimization is also around 50%.Another item of GSCM activity practiced relatively better by the companies is to provide product? related environmental information for their clients. However, most of the companies do not supply technical assistance to their suppliers. About 65% of the companies have not taken any action concerning envi ronmentally conscious design with their suppliers. In summary, the surveyed companies’ GSCM activities are obviously due to individual business needs and bene? ts from their own perspectives. GSCM is still a new concept for most Chinese companies. More time is needed for them to recognize the importance of strategic cooperation with other members of the supply chain. In? epth GSCM practices within a wider scope would be adopted if companies could unite as a group with a shared strategy on business and environmental issues. Descriptive Statistics of the Other Variables Table 5 summarizes the variables describing the determinant factors of GSCM activities. Companies gave higher scores to the pressures from external stakeholders. Among the external pressures, the regulative requirements and domestic client’s environmental expectations are viewed as highly important, achieving an average score of 4. 41 and 4. 29, respectively. Keeping up with competitors in the same sector is also regarded as an important factor (averaging 4. 08). The sampled companies usually carry out internal environmental training two or three times a year.The education level of employees is relatively low, probably because most of the companies are from traditionally labor? intensive industries. An average score of 2. 87 is presented for top managers’ support, which implies that company managers do not care much about GSCM efforts. This ? nding shows for a fact that the managers of Chinese companies do not seriously considering environmental activities other than basic compliance. Regarding the control variables indicating company characteristics, most of the samples are small and medium? sized. Large companies, with an annual turnover of more than 300 million Chinese yuan (CNY), only account for 7. 4% of the total.Small enterprises, which have fewer than 300 employees or yearly sales of less than CNY 30 million, account for 64. 2%. The remaining 28. 4% are medium? sized companies. According to the classi? cation criteria of the Chinese national environmental authority, half of the samples are categorized as ESI (49. 1%). The other half is non? ESI. Most of the respondents (71. 4%) process raw materials or produce components for downstream manufacturers. Result of the Relationship Between LGSCM and the Determinant Factors Pearson rank correlation was used to give a preliminary observation of the relationships between the overall level of GSCM practices and the determinant factors identi? ed earlier. The correlation matrix is shown in Table 6. ThisVariables and abbreviations REGULATORY DCLIENT COMPETITOR COMMUNITY FCLIENT TSUPPORT EDUCATION TRAINING Obs. 156 156 152 162 150 159 160 159 Mean 4. 41 4. 29 4. 08 3. 88 2. 46 2. 87 3. 30 4. 15 SD 0. 75 0. 86 0. 85 1. 73 1. 27 1. 35 1. 03 0. 75 Min. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Max. 5 5 5 5 4 5 5 5 External pressures Internal factors Table 5. Statistical summary of the determinant factors Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse Green Supply Chain Management in China LGSCM LGSCM REGULATORY DCLIENT COMPETITOR COMMUNITY FCLIENT TSUPPORT EDUCATION TRAINING 1 b 0. 195 a 0. 361 a 0. 391 ? 0. 083 0. 022 0. 113 a 0. 441 a 0. 559 REG.DCLIENT COMP. COMM. FCLIENT TSUP. EDU. 11 TRAINING 1 a 0. 395 a 0. 506 0. 035 0. 041 b ? 0. 176 b 0. 197 a 0. 477 1 a 0. 538 0. 008 0. 064 ? 0. 105 b 0. 354 a 0. 447 1 a 0. 038 0. 055 ? 0. 085 a 0. 238 a 0. 395 1 ? 0. 015 a ? 0. 471 0. 037 0. 150 1 ? 0. 086 0. 073 0. 139 1 ? 0. 041 ? 0. 073 1 a 0. 421 1 Table 6. Correlation coefficients of LGSCM and the determinant factors a Correlation is signi? cant at the 0. 01 level, two? tailed. b Correlation is signi? cant at the 0. 05 level, one? tailed. indicates that LGSCM is signi? cantly correlated with the external pressure variables DCLIENT and COMPETITOR, and internal factors like EDUCATION and TRAINING.Standard multiple regressions were performed wi th LGSCM as the dependent variable and each of the determinant factors and controls as independent variables. The results are listed in Table 7. The level of multi? collinearity between the variables was tested by an inspection of the condition index and variance proportions in the SPSS collinearity diagnostics table. According to the criteria given by Tabachnick and Fidell (2001), multi? collinearity is not a problem in this analysis since each condition index is less than 30 and the variance proportions are much less than 50. The regression result in Table 7 indicates that Ha is supported in general.Among the external pressures, DCLIENT and COMPETITOR are signi? cantly and positively associated with LGSCM at P = 0. 000. This implies that domestic clients’ environmental preferences and competitors’ green strategies for differentiation are major external drivers for companies to adopt GSCM activities. One more external factor which has a slightly positive correlation w ith LGSCM, signi? cant at P < 0. 01, is REGULATORY. Government regulations were believed to be dominant forces for CEM in the past since a company’s environmental strategies are imposed coercively via environmental sanctions (Delmas, 2002). However, this study classi? ed GSCM practices as those beyond basic environmental compliances.The governmental requirements may become a relatively minor factor for the adoption of GSCM practices. No signi? cant associations are found between the other two external pressures, COMMUNITY and FCLIENT, and LGSCM. The surveyed companies greatly valued the pressure from their neighboring communities. However, community pressure cannot account for a company’s GSCM efforts, probably because the communities mainly complain about the environmentally illegal activities of companies rather than lobby for proactive efforts such as GSCM practices. The pressure from foreign clients is not strongly felt by manufacturers in the current phase. Regard ing the internal factors, Hb1 is not supported. The support of top managers is not found to be signi? antly associated with a company’s LGSCM in this survey, which is in contrast to the result of Carter et al. (1998). Nevertheless, Hb2 is fully con? rmed. The two variables representing a company’s learning capacity, education level of employees (EDUCATION) and frequency of internal environmental training (TRAINING), are signi? cantly and positively associated with LGSCM at P = 0. 000. This result is identical to that of Zhu et al. (2008), which con? rms the hypothesis that the extent of GSCM practice engaged in by Chinese companies is positively related to the level of organizational learning capacity. Result of the Mediating Function of Internal Factors The egression result of LGSCM and the determinant factors in the previous section con? rm the causal chains existing between each of the three external pressures (REGULATORY, DCLIENT and COMPETITOR) and two internal fa ctors (EDUCATION and TRAINING) with LGSCM. Signi? cant relationships are found between each of the three external pressures and each of the two internal factors, as shown in Table 8. The t? statistic of all the regressions is greater than 2. 00. Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse 12 Variables entered (a) REGULATORY ? 0 REGULATORY LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) (c) COMPETITOR ? COMPETITOR LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) (e) FCLIENT ? 0 FCLIENT LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) (g) EDUCATION ? 0 EDUCATION LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) 0. 708 0. 374 0. 151 0. 178 1. 846 5. 721 4. 592 1. 299 18. 884 0. 294 0. 067 0. 000 0. 000 0. 196 1. 804 0. 033 0. 156 0. 253 4. 026 0. 544 3. 959 1. 573 5. 281 0. 097 0. 000 0. 588 0. 000 0. 118 0. 409 0. 356 0. 155 0. 258 0. 859 4. 224 4. 457 1. 772 13. 382 0. 226 0. 392 0. 000 0. 000 0. 079 0. 497 0. 266 0. 176 0. 293 0. 851 2. 760 4. 856 1. 960 9. 673 0. 169 0. 397 0. 007 0. 000 0. 052 Coef? cient t? statistic P? value Variables entered (b) DCLIENT ? 0 DCLIENT LSIZ SECTOR F? alue R2 (adjusted) (d) COMMUNITY ? 0 COMMUNITY LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) (f) TSUPPORT ? 0 TSUPPORT LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) (h) TRAINING ? 0 TRAINING LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) ? 0. 310 0. 597 0. 128 0. 126 1. 803 ? 0. 021 0. 167 0. 278 1. 507 0. 041 0. 177 0. 260 0. 439 0. 342 0. 147 0. 322 Coef? cient Xianbing Liu et al. t? statistic P? value 0. 896 3. 890 4. 172 2. 210 12. 583 0. 214 0. 372 0. 000 0. 000 0. 029 3. 117 0. 840 4. 452 1. 680 7. 112 0. 123 0. 002 0. 402 0. 000 0. 095 4. 695 ? 0. 341 4. 018 1. 765 6. 188 0. 109 0. 000 0. 734 0. 000 0. 080 ?0. 726 7. 001 4. 031 0. 955 26. 249 0. 370 0. 469 0. 000 0. 000 0. 342 Table 7.Regression results for LGSCM and each of the determinant factors According to Baron and Kenny (1986), a third condition has to be met in order to con? rm the mediating function of internal factors as hypo thesized in this study. The signi? cant relations between the external pressures and LGSCM shall be strongly reduced if the internal factors are controlled. We tested Hc by repeating the OLS regressions in three steps. In step 1, LGSCM is individually regressed against each of the three external pressures which have signi? cant relations with LGSCM. In step 2, each of the three pressures and EDUCATION, as an internal factor, jointly enter into the regressions as independent variables.In a similar way, step 3 is carried out by substituting the variable of EDUCATION by TRAINING. The regression results are listed in Table 9. The robustness of the result was checked by doing the regressions with the control variables added for each case. The corresponding regression results are described in Table 10. There are no obvious changes in the signi? cances of the regression results listed in Tables 9 and 10. The mediation function of internal factors does occur and Hc is supported. In the case of introducing the internal factors into regressions, the signi? cances of external pressures to LGSCM are all reduced signi? cantly or even removed completely.This implies that the low level of GSCM involvement of Chinese companies could be fundamentally attributed to a lack of the necessary internal capacities for GSCM practices. The strong pressures Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse Green Supply Chain Management in China Variables entered Coef? cient t? statistic P? value Coef? cient t? statistic 13 P? value (a) EDUCATION as dependent variable ? 0 REGULATORY F? value R2 (adjusted) ? 0 DCLIENT F? value R2 (adjusted) ? 0 COMPETITOR F? value R2 (adjusted) 2. 131 0. 268 4. 409 2. 479 6. 145 0. 033 3. 806 4. 671 21. 819 . 0120 5. 280 2. 982 8. 894 0. 050 0. 000 0. 014 (b) TRAINING as dependent variable 2. 014 0. 83 6. 196 6. 667 44. 445 0. 222 8. 689 6. 144 37. 748 0. 195 9. 751 5. 216 27. 211 0. 1 50 0. 000 0. 000 1. 503 0. 421 0. 000 0. 000 2. 451 0. 396 0. 000 0. 000 2. 125 0. 288 0. 000 0. 003 2. 727 0. 350 0. 000 0. 000 Table 8. Regression results of internal factors and external pressures with significances to LGSCM Variable entered Coef? cient Step 1 t? statistic P? value Coef? cient Step 2 t? statistic P? value Coef? cient Step 3 t? statistic P? value (a) REGULATORY as the independent variable ? 0 REGULATORY EDUCATION TRAINING F? value R2 (adjusted) 2. 331 0. 241 5. 126 2. 367 0. 000 0. 019 1. 502 0. 146 0. 375 3. 358 1. 540 5. 338 17. 416 0. 89 0. 001 0. 126 0. 000 0. 747 –8. 783E? 02 0. 728 5. 601 0. 031 1. 699 ? 0. 895 7. 580 32. 931 0. 312 0. 092 0. 372 0. 000 (b) DCLIENT as the independent variable ? 0 DCLIENT EDUCATION TRAINING F? value R2 (adjusted) 1. 637 0. 407 4. 237 4. 619 0. 000 0. 000 1. 077 0. 286 0325 2. 813 3. 319 4. 634 22. 731 0. 236 0. 006 0. 001 0. 000 9. 139E? 02 0. 174 0. 612 21. 331 0. 124 0. 220 2. 206 6. 622 35. 351 0. 328 0. 826 0. 045 0. 000 (c) COMPETITOR as the independent variable ? 0 COMPETITOR EDUCATION TRAINING F? value R2 (adjusted) 1. 675 0. 423 4. 776 5. 031 0. 000 0. 000 0. 978 0. 319 0. 338 2. 787 4. 010 5. 101 27. 949 0. 279 0. 006 0. 000 0. 00 0. 100 0. 226 0. 570 25. 314 0. 147 0. 251 2. 811 6. 342 36. 265 0. 337 0. 802 0. 006 0. 000 Table 9. Regression results of LGSCM for mediating function test Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse 14 Variable entered Coef? cient Step 1 t? statistic P? value Coef? cient Step 2 t? statistic P? value Coef? cient Xianbing Liu et al. Step 3 t? statistic P? value (a) REGULATORY as the independent variable ? 0 REGULATORY EDUCATION TRAINING LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) 0. 497 0. 266 0. 851 2. 760 0. 397 0. 007 ? 0. 197 0. 194 0. 357 0. 162 0. 190 ? 0. 355 2. 177 5. 270 4. 99 1. 375 15. 139 0. 310 0. 723 0. 031 0. 000 0. 000 0. 172 ? 0. 220 ? 0. 029 0. 611 0. 125 0. 128 ? 0. 419 ? 0. 294 6. 159 3. 811 0. 944 19. 319 0. 368 0. 676 0. 769 0. 000 0. 000 0. 347 0. 176 0. 293 4. 856 1. 960 9. 673 0. 169 0. 000 0. 052 (b) DCLIENT as the independent variable ? 0 DCLIENT EDUCATION TRAINING LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) 0. 439 0. 342 0. 896 3. 890 0. 372 0. 000 0. 008 0. 212 0. 322 0. 144 0. 214 0. 018 2. 453 4. 573 4. 373 1. 552 15. 598 0. 317 0. 986 0. 016 0. 000 0. 000 0. 123 ? 0. 638 0. 137 0. 540 0. 124 0. 153 ? 1. 343 1. 592 5. 842 3. 883 1. 139 20. 317 0. 380 0. 182 0. 114 0. 000 0. 000 0. 257 0. 147 0. 322 4. 72 2. 210 12. 583 0. 214 0. 000 0. 029 (c) COMPETITOR as the independent variable ? 0 COMPETITOR EDUCATION TRAINING LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) 0. 409 0. 356 0. 859 4. 224 0. 392 0. 000 ? 0. 237 0. 275 0. 329 0. 148 0. 168 ? 0. 511 3. 472 4. 911 4. 592 1. 236 17. 453 0. 345 0. 610 0. 001 0. 000 0. 000 0. 219 ? 0. 742 0. 183 0. 524 0. 127 0. 124 ? 1. 589 2. 268 5. 753 3. 994 0. 928 21. 233 0. 393 0. 115 0. 025 0. 000 0. 000 0. 355 0. 155 0. 258 4 . 457 1. 772 13. 382 0. 226 0. 000 0. 079 Table 10. Regression results for robustness test of the mediating function from external stakeholders do not necessarily lead to GSCM in reality. More speci? ally, REGULATORY is completely mediated by the two internal factors, while DCLIENT and COMPETITOR are only partially mediated. This indicates that the adoption of GSCM practices of Chinese companies is probably more responsive to non? coercive and competitive factors such as pressures from the domestic clients and leading companies in the same sector. This interesting ? nding also con? rms that governmental regulations in China do not play an active role in encouraging industrial practices in GSCM. In addition, the greater reduction of signi? cances in step 3 than in step 2 demonstrates that the variable of TRAINING is indeed potent as an intermediate variable.The internal environmental training of related employees may strongly enhance a company’s capacity to deal with external pressures by being proactive in environmental management such as GSCM practices. Conclusions This paper explores the current status and determinant factors of GSCM practices adopted by companies located in the Yangtze River Delta of China. The surveyed companies perform slightly better than the companies sampled in a Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10. 1002/bse Green Supply Chain Management in China 15 previous survey in North China (Zhu et al. , 2008). However, the overall level of GSCM practices does not differ dramatically. This con? ms that Chinese companies are still at a preliminary stage of GSCM practices. In particular, the companies’ environmental management in cooperation with external members of the supply chain is very marginal. Among a larger range of determinant factors classi? ed in this study, external pressures from domestic clients and competitors are signi? cantly and positively ass ociated with LGSCM while the regulatory pressure shows slightly positive in? uence. Learning capacity of the company signi? cantly determines LGSCM as an internal factor. Differing from the result of Zhu et al. (2008), the support of top managers has less in? uence on GSCM activities.These results are consistent with those of Jeppesen and Hansen (2004), which attributed the environmental improvement of Third World companies on the value chain to external market forces and the internal resources of the companies. Another meaningful ? nding of our analysis is that the internal factors are greatly mediating the in? uences of external pressures. Our analysis may provide essential policy implications for promoting the GSCM practices of companies in China. Many more concerns about a company’s environmental performance from its external stakeholders will be facilitated, which may generate pressures for the company’s efforts in GSCM practices. It is very necessary to educate c ompanies to better understand the advantages and approaches of GSCM as an innovative strategy for sustainable production.The diffusion of successful cases would be an effective method, as it helps increase a company’s capacity to actually adopt GSCM practices. As an empirical study of GSCM in China, this paper develops a comprehensive analytical framework and conducts an integrative analysis. Nevertheless, a few questions remain for subsequent studies. As examples, the working mechanism of determinant factors identi? ed for GSCM practices needs to be observed in more detail. 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