Sunday, 20 September 2009

First Business Article

1) Source
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090920/wl_asia_afp/chinaenvironmentwaterenergy

2) Summary
China is rapidly moving ahead with the development of renewable energy sources as they are expected to nearly double their hydro-power capacity to 300,000 megawatts by 2020. This expectation would give a more important role in China's strategy for energy security in the future. Moreover, just last year, 2008, this nation has installed the largest hydro-power of 172,000 megawatts in the world Ultimately, China hopes to reduce the use of the dependent highly-polluting coal as it is used for 70 percent of its energy in China. Although there would be a huge expenses involved in doubling their hydro-power capacity to 300,000 megawatts, China believes that the development of renewable sources such as wind and hydro-power in a bid to improve the environment and to secure future supply.

3) Identify Topics
1.3 Organizational Objectives
2.1 Human Resources Planning
3.2 Investment Appraisal
5.5 Location
5.8 Project Management

4) Business tool / Theory/ Technique
1.3 Organizational Objectives

One of the main ideas in this article is that China aims or expects to nearly double their hydro-power capacity to 300,000 megawatts by 2020. This idea is tightly related to one of the business theory "aim or objective". China expects to double their hydro-power capacity in the next 11 years is considered as a long-term objective. This requires the government to use a lot of different strategies in order for them to achieve this goal. Furthermore, setting this objective gives China a sense of direction and be more united. Additionally, This article can also be related to ethical objective and corporate social responsibility. The fact that China aims to reduce their use of coal, which is a non-renewable and a serious polluting source of energy, shows that they care for their people and hope to improve the country's air quality, providing a better place for their citizens to live in. In this same time, the fact that China aims to reduce pollution shows corporate social responsibilities. The pollution is a serious matter that affects the citizens in China. However, China, having this expectation of using renewable energy sources and reducing the use of coal to reduce pollution illustrates a sense of initiative. This will not only create a positive image for China but also gives this nation more advantages in the world stage.

5 comments:

  1. Hey Angues,

    I agree with you that China's development of hydropower facilities is a good long-term investment in sustainable development. However, I would like to raise the point that there are many short-term costs to consider, case in point being the Three Gorges Dam. Apparently, tens of thousands of people have been forcibly relocated to made room for this dam. Although it's unequivocally true that the long-term benefits of this dam will likely outweigh the short-run costs, one must still take this into consideration when evaluating the feasibility of this plan.

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  3. Hey Angues,

    Cool Article.
    I agree that China's development of hydropower is indeed demonstrating ethical objectives and corporate social responsibility. However as Valerie said, there are many disadvantages to consider. Short term costs are one factor. For one, the objective of China's development of hydropower is to develop environmental awareness and extermate the harmful consequnces of neglect for the natural environment. However, is this the reality?
    1) safety of the dams
    safety of the dams is crucial as it can affect lives of millions of people

    2) effect on environment
    though hydroelectric power plants do not require fuel it does have detrimental effects on the environment. The construction on the activity of the dam will damage the biological environment When the course of the water is changed the surrounded areas may get flooded disturbing the coral and floral area. The large quantities of water collected also emits greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.

    There are also limitations of ethical behavior that should also be kept in mind.

    3) Very high cost or capital investment
    This refers to the potentially high costs of acting ethically. It takes a long time to construct a hydroelectric power plant and a lot of testing and designing is needed. Constructions of dams also require lots of metal, steel and iron which results in higher expenses.

    4) High quality construction
    Another compliance cost of ethical behavior is lower profits as construction materials used need to be of high quality. Any breakage in the dam could cause large scale destruction in the lives of human, animals and plants.

    Again, ethical behavior is subjective, and there are always two sides to the situation. I agree with you on the fact that China's image will be positively increased but the back draws to the situation mentioned above must also be kept in mind

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  4. Hey Anguessss!

    Interesting article! Like what the others have said, there are lots of factors that China will have to consider.

    However, I would like to point out that building this dam will not only improve the environment and to secure future supply, it will also increase employments which is very important especially these few years (you know, the economic crisis and all that).

    Hm... but, by creating this dam, the marine life will be affected. As you may have known, right below the dam, there used to be a river, now that the dam is created, it may affect the environment negatively in the long-term. This will actually be very expensive for the government to deal with this problem.

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  5. Hi Angues. What impact do you think this decision will have on businesses operating in China? Also, it is always a good idea to consider the source of these types of articles. It may reveal some bias.

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