LEO 212 Final
Please identify and explain the two transforming metabolisms according to McDonough and Braungart. Please provide at least one example to each of the two.
*Biological metabolism*- things are designed to be put back into the Earth Ex- a banana peel because it can be tossed in the forest and will be absorbed *Technological metabolism*- things are designed to be reassembled and reused. Temporary use and then traded in Ex-
Please explain the expressions "cradle to grave" and "cradle to cradle" as they apply to manufactured products according to McDonough and Braungart. Please give one example of each.
*Cradle to grave*- from creation to disposal, a company's responsibility for dealing with hazardous waste and product performance -Full life cycle -Reversed logistics: several issues to be considered -Recycling, reusing, reprocessing, upcycling *Cradle to cradle*- the product never dies, it can be disassembled and continue to be reused -Designing things to be used and reused -Comes from the earth and can go back to it
Please list and describe (i.e. define) the two broad types of political and economic institutions that Acemoglu and Robinson introduce in the reading.
*Extractive:* -Extract wealth from one subset of society to benefit another -Political institutions which use mechanism of coercion (absolutism) -Creative destruction: whenever there is progress there are winners and losers -Power is often centralized *Inclusive:* -Anyone can make a profit by starting a business because of a free market -Encourage participation of people in economic activities that make best use of their talents and skills and enable individuals to make the choices they wish -Individuals are free to choose -Unbiased rule of law, private property, level playing field, equal opportunity -Advanced by technology and education
List and explain each of the four category responses to CSR a company may have according to Carroll.
*Obstructionist:* -Company does as little as possible to address social or environmental problems -Cross legal or ethical line, and deny it *Defensive:* -Willing to do everything required by law, but nothing more -Tobacco companies -Unsympathetic to social responsibility *Accommodative:* -Meet legal and ethical requirements, and go beyond in some interest based cases -Will take opportunities if theres something in it for them -This is what most companies are now *Proactive:* -Exhibit highest level of social responsibility (Patagonia and Toms) -Proactively seek opportunities to give back -Sustainability Vision
Please name any one of the three measures of sustainability described in the second section of Chapter 4 and describe (explain) its components (or how it is calculated).
-*Human Development Index:* statistic composite index of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators, which are used to rank countries into four tiers of human development -Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare -Well-Being Index
Please define the concepts of "product of consumption" and "product of service" according to McDonough and Braungart. Please give an example of each.
-*Product on consumption*: toss what remains because it will be absorbed -Biological metabolism is a product of consumption -*Product of service*: Use temporarily and then take back for product to be disassembled and reused -Something you use temporarily
Please list and explain (you can provide an example or describe) the three cognitive features that play an essential role in how humans evaluate outcomes and are common to many automatic processes of perception, judgement and emotion.
-*Reference point*: Outcomes that are better than the reference point are perceived as gains, the ones that are worse are perceived as losses. -*Loss aversion*: For us humans, losing something hurts more than gaining it -*Diminishing sensitivity*: when I give you chocolate mousse for dessert, the first spoonful of chocolate mousse tastes much better than the fifth spoonful, the fifth spoonful better than the sixth, and so on... This means that our sensitivity to things becomes smaller and smaller.
Please list at least four social indicators which are found to be linked to inequality in developed societies.
-Crime -Teen Pregnancy -Education Rates -Obesity -Health
List and explain each of the four CSR identified by Archie Carroll naming the two that in his view are required, one expected, one desired.
-Economic: Required to make money -Legal: Required to obey law -Ethical: Expected for you to be ethical -Discretionary/Philanthropic: Desired to give back to people
Please give two conceptual examples (mentioned in CH 5) in which economizing on costs goes too far (from society's point of view) i.e., please characterize two ways of economizing on costs that cause damage to general well-being. Please explain.
-Externalizing costs: when a business maximizes its profits by off-loading indirect costs and forcing negative effects to a third party -Saving on the wrong resources
Please provide two examples of countries fitting each of the two categories and explain why each of the countries fits the respective category.
-Extractive: Congo, North Korea, Colonial Latin America -Inclusive: US, Western Europe
Please name and describe what you found to be the two most important topics or items mentioned in Chapter 3. Please explain why.
-Marxism: labor is being exploited because they have no bargaining power so give power to proletariat -Catholic Church: Rerum Novarum (private property make money through your work) -Think about globalization, colonialism, and industrialization and how they have negative effects
Please list two different ways in which you might go about measuring inequality in a group or in a population (these two may be existing metrics or suggestions you may come up with).
-Robin Hood index: income based -Gini index: development based
Why did Peter Drucker call corporations "special purpose institutions"? What did he understand as being their purpose and why might this notion be considered a double edged sword?
-The purpose of business is to make a profit and it often focuses on specific things -When you're single minded you start stepping on other people's toes
Please describe in your words the Tragedy of the Commons as laid out by Hardin in his seminal 1968 paper.
-We can't all do the same bad thing and think nothing bad will happen ("My waste will be purified") -Commons: Resources that all members of a community use, w/out payment -Commons can be destroyed by uncontrolled use -Multiple individuals acting in own self interest will lead to depletion of resources
What is the endowment effect?
-We place a greater value on the things that we own Ex- A man had a bottle of wine and wouldn't sell it for anything less than $100 even though it was worth less
Provide a definition for a stakeholder.
Anybody that is effected by or effects the operations of the corporation
What was your favorite reading from this semester?
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way we Make Things -cradle to cradle: a model that feeds itself, without generating waste nor contamination -calls for the transformation of human industry through "eco-effective" design -products that can be used to produce something new, once they have ceased to be useful
Please list any three of the five dimensions of Ray Anderson's representation of the two paradigms described in section 7.1 (old industrial revolution and new industrial revolution paradigms) and explain how each of the three dimensions you pick is reflected/represented in each of the two paradigms
Foundations (Systems and complexity, morality and ethics, environment, humans) -> Society (historical perspective, social -> Companies/Organizations -> Possible individual actions
What is the most widely accepted definition of sustainable development (or sustainability)? It was enunciated by the U.N.'s 1987 Bruntland Commission
Meeting today's needs without compromising the needs of the future generations
Please draw chart characterizing each of the three features in graphic form. Please remember to name the axes and explicitly identify the elements in the graph that represents each feature.
X axis- money gain/loss Y axis- reward/pain