No topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 7

No topic - Essay Example This significantly affected the course of history of China as will be highlighted hereunder. The Qing Dynasty was the last powerful empire to rule China. As earlier stated, although it began very well in its bid to transform China into a powerful state, the dynasty encountered various internal and external challenges that impacted negatively on the course of China. Firstly, the dynasty was faced with internal wrangles that created political instability. This made it difficult for China to create a stable government to fulfill Chinas development agendas. Some of the notable internal wrangles that changed the course of Chinese history include the Nian rebellion of 1853-1868; the Mao rebellion of 1850-1872; the Red Turban rebellion of 1854-1857; and the Yunnan rebellion of 1855-1863. Secondly, the Qing Dynasty was characterized by high level of corruption thereby curtailing the developments that had begun to be realized in China. The dynasty also faced the problem of lack of an able Manchu leadership. Lack of strong leadership made it extremely difficult for the dynasty to pro mote the development of China. Apart from the internal issues, the course of Chinese history was also greatly affected by external factors. Firstly, the defeat of Qing government in the 19th century by foreign powers resulted in the imposition of unequal treaties on China, which greatly impacted negatively on China. For instance, the imposition of the unequal treaties, politically infringed on the national rights of China, thereby resulting in a downfall. Secondly, the imperialism of the foreign economies worsened the social suffering in China. For instance, the increased importation of cheap textile goods from foreign countries by the Qing government resulted in the collapse of most Chinese industries. The Qing dynasty also destroyed the economy of China by promoting unfavorable balance of trade, thereby resulting in the decline of the

Corporate Social Responsibility and Climatic Change Essay

Corporate Social Responsibility and Climatic Change - Essay Example The effects of climate change are disrupting business operations and transportation, for example, in the UK; high-sided vehicles are increasingly at risk of accidents from floods and gale force winds. Such disruptions have the effect of reducing customer demand and purchasing power (Dudek and Wiener 1996, Romm 1999), as products and services become less available due to erratic supply. These disruptions also restrict the ability of the business to grow, as the sales revenues will be insufficient to generate profit for investment purposes. Climate change therefore poses a risk to businesses, and the onus is on re-evaluating corporate social responsibility in a bid to gain efficiencies, and to reduce the businesses contribution to the climate change problem. Climate change is commonly associated with industrial factories churning out smoke from cooling towers, however, non-industrial organisations contribute to climate change through their carbon and greenhouse emissions generated by their operations and product/service lifecycle (Grubb 1989, Cantwell 1995, ICTSD 2005). Whilst this represents an element of change and uncertainty, climate change-focused corporate actions can have benefits for the organisation in the way of new products and new markets (Mendelsohn 2000, Richards 2001, Lawrence 2002, Jochem and Madlener 2003). Climate change strategies are also perceived as risky due to the large scale, renewable energy investments that are associated with reducing the carbon footprint (McCarthy et al 2001, Egenhofer et al 2004). For instance, if fossil fuels ran out, Shell, BP and other large fuel providers would have to invest large amounts in alternatives, which BP has started doing with its Autogas even though it is not widely availabl e. The transport industry also contributes to climate change and global warming through vehicle emissions and businesses in this sector are beginning to take notice, and accepting responsibility for the part they play. For instance, in September 2006, Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group donated three billion dollars over ten years from his organisation to fund the development of low carbon energy sources such as wind turbines, cleaner aviation fuel and ethanol (BSR 2006). This demonstrates the levels of commitment expected from businesses, and Virgin have acknowledged their role especially as they run train services and flights that contribute to global warming. Corporate social responsibility in United States is now recognised as the fifth largest venture capital investment category after biotechnology, software, medical and telecommunications (CSM 2001, Raynard and Forstater 2002). The market for clean technology is set to expand and is already worth an estimated $40 billion (Raynard and Forstater 2002). This is not surprising considering that the United States is responsible for a significant proportion of global emissions. This is also representative of the increasing market and customer awareness of their environment, and businesses in this region are already capitalising on this. This also demonstrates that businesses are adopting strategies that are action and adaptation oriented to focus on the energy efficiency aspects and renewable energy sourcing (Burton 1996, Adger 2003, Hertin et al 2003, Berkhout et al