Interdependence, Social and Corporate Responsibility in the Context of Globalization - Term Paper Example

International Management Interdependence is a term in sync with better productivity and full blown achievement. On the global front it is being believed that nations and government organizations alone cannot resolve the globalization war, without the support of corporate world. Due to this want, companies are being asked to modulate programs to help alleviate problems such as inequality between industrialized and developing countries, global warming etc. The intention is to develop a spotlight on social responsibility. Take that first step with humanitarian assistance. It is very well known that, countries with weakest state of health and education are less susceptible in attaining economic growth than countries, which have prodigious access to health services and education. Among poor countries, those with an infant mortality rate between 50 and 100 per 1,000 live births have an average annual economic growth rate of 3.7 %, whereas those with an infant mortality rate greater than 150 have an average annual growth rate of only 0.1%. Needless to say poor health is a significant factor in the hindrance of a nation's economic growth and may have worldwide implications. An estimate has revealed that, each 10% improvement in life expectancy at birth is associated with a rise in economic growth of at least 0.3 to 0.4 percentage points per year, holding other growth factors constant. That brings us to the convention of globalization, which has the capacity in increasing knowledge and information, technologies, productivity mechanisms, and greater social and cultural interchanges. Building health and education programs, which cater all the need, will promote a sustainable and healthier society. Without such initiatives globalizations positive impact would not be realized. It is high time to admit that both private and public sectors have vital role in creating global interdependence that includes populations who are weak, poor and needy. Based on its highly effective health improvement and poverty eradication interventions in Bangladesh and Afghanistan, BRAC commits to implement its holistic programs in African countries, starting with Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya. The initial steps include that of setting up village organizations for poor women for empowerment and initiating self-employment and development in the village and providing micro-loans. It also plans to launch non-formal primary education to post-war southern Sudan. BARC today has emerged as a fundamental organization touching the lives of around 100 million people through a variety of program interventions covering health, education, nutrition, poverty alleviation and environment. Resources are unevenly scattered across the surface of Earth, and no country has all the resources it needs for survival and growth. Thus, it's a pre-requisite for each country to trade with others, and Earth is a world of increasingly global economic interdependence. Economy is largely dependent on the availability of advanced technology and investment capital. Local and world economies are interconnected to create networks, movement patterns, transportation routes, market areas, and hinterlands. Sweeping changes in the global economy pose greater challenges for developing nations such as Bangladesh and Guatemala, where, economic activities tend to be at a more basic level, with a substantial proportion of the population being engaged in the production of food and raw materials. Since, the concept of global interdependence has touched almost all the spheres, subsistence farming exists sometime with commercial agriculture. For instance, in China, a government-regulated farming system provides for structured production and tight economic links of the rural population to nearby cities. In Latin America and Africa, rural people are abandoning land and migrating to cities in search of jobs and economic prosperity. Economic activities are entirely dependent upon capital, labor, information, resources, power supplies and land. Patterns of industrial labor systems over the time has changed significantly. In much of Western Europe, for example, small-scale and spatially dispersed cottage industry was superseded by large-scale and concentrated factory industry after 1760. This change caused rural emigration, growth of cities and changes in gender and age roles. In turn, telecommunications and digital world are minimizing the need for a person's physical presence in an office. Economic, social, and therefore spatial relationships thus, change continuously. Standing on the verge of critical moment in earth's history, we must choose and design our future accordingly. Amidst, the vast cultural and life forms we are one human family and one earth community with a common destiny. Herman Daly is an economist (formerly with the World Bank). In his book "Beyond Growth" (1996, p. 69), he defines sustainable development as "development without growth -- without growth in throughput beyond environmental regenerative and absorptive capacity." Massive extinction of species, depletion of resources and environmental devastation is weaning Earth of its healthy biosphere with all its ecological system, a rich variety of plants and animals, pure water, fertile soil and unpolluted air. Earth's protection and restoring its vitality and diversity should become the common concern of the masses. Thus, at this juncture, it is imperative that we declare our responsibilities to one another. There are huge tasks, which lay ahead in front of us. Its either we form a global partnership to care for earth and its inhabitants or risk the destruction of ourselves. The Choice is simply ours. We have the necessary technology and knowledge to reduce the impact on the ecological system. Global civil society is creating a bigger platform where ample opportunities are given to create democratic and humane world. We are well bonded with environmental, economic, political, social, and spiritual challenges, and together we can build inclusive solutions. What we urgently need is a sense of responsibility to identify ourselves with the whole Earth community as well as our local communities. There is a clarion call to seek for a new beginning, which requires global interdependence and a change of mind and heart. We must think of sustaining life locally, nationally, regionally, and globally. Principles of Earth Charter should be embraced with the right spirit and enthusiasm for a sustainable life, which confirms peace and serenity. PRINCIPLES RESPECT, CARE AND CONCERN FOR THE COMMUNITY OF LIFE 1. Respect Earth and life in all its diversity and vitality. a. Recognize and appreciate that all beings are interdependent and every form of life has value regardless of its worth to human beings. b. Instill faith in the inherent dignity of all human beings and in the intellectual, ethical, artistic and spiritual potential of humanity. 2. Care for the community of life with understanding, affection and love. a. Accept that with the right to own, manage, and use natural resources comes the responsibility to prevent environmental harm and to protect the rights of people. b. Believe that with increased freedom, knowledge, and power comes increased responsibility to promote the common good. 3. Build democratic societies that are just, participatory, sustainable, indulgent and peaceful. a. Ensure that communities at all levels guarantee human rights and fundamental freedoms and provide everyone a chance to realize his or her full potential. b. Promote social and economic justice, ensuring all to achieve a secure and meaningful livelihood that is ecologically responsible. 4. Secure Mother Earth's bounty and beauty for present and future generations. a. Realize that the freedom of action of each generation is qualified by the needs of future generations. b. Transmit to future generations values, traditions, and institutions that support the long-term commitment of flourishing Earth's human and ecological communities. II. ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY AND RESTORATION 5. Protect, save and restore the integrity of Earth's ecological systems, with special concern for biological diversity and the natural processes that sustain life. a. Adopt at all levels sustainable development plans, strategies and regulations that make environmental conservation and rehabilitation integral to all development initiatives. b. Establish and safeguard viable nature and biosphere reserves, sanctuaries including wild lands and marine areas, to protect Earth's life support systems, maintain biodiversity, and preserve our natural heritage. c. Foster the recovery of endangered species and ecosystems. d. Control and obliterate non-native or genetically modified organisms harmful to native species and the environment, and prevent introduction of such harmful organisms. e. Manage the use of renewable resources such as soil, water, forest products and marine life in ways that do not exceed rates of regeneration and which, protect the health of ecosystems. f. Manage the extraction and use of non-renewable resources such as minerals and fossil fuels in ways that minimize depletion and cause no serious environmental hazards. 6. Prevent harm as the best approach of environmental protection and when knowledge is limited, apply a precautionary method. a. Take action to avoid the possibility of serious or irreversible environmental harm even when scientific knowledge with its application is incomplete or inconclusive. b. Place the burden of proof on those who argue that a propound activity will not cause significant harm, and make the responsible parties liable for environmental harm. c. Ensure that decision-making programs address the cumulative, long-term, indirect, long distance, and global consequences of human activities. d. Prevent pollution of any part of the environment and allow no accumulation of radioactive, toxic, or other hazardous substances. e. Avoid military activities, which damage the environment. 7. Ratify patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction that safeguard Earth's regenerative capacities, human rights, and community well-being. a. Reduce, reuse, and recycle the materials used in production and consumption systems, and ensure that residual waste can be absorbed by ecological systems. b. Act with restraint, efficiency and with cautious when using energy and rely increasingly on renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. c. Encourage the development, adoption, and equitable transfer of environmentally sound technologies. d. Internalize the full environmental and social costs of goods and services in the selling price and allow consumers to identify products that meet the highest social and environmental standards. e. Ensure universal access to health care that promotes reproductive health and responsible reproduction. f. Adopt lifestyles that accentuate the quality of life and material sufficiency in a finite world. 8. Increase the study of ecological sustainability and promote the open exchange and wide application of the knowledge acquired. a. Support international scientific and technical cooperation on sustainability, with special attention to the requirements of developing nations. b. Recognize and save the traditional knowledge and spiritual wisdom in all cultures that contribute to environmental protection and human well-being. c. Ensure that information of utmost importance to human health and environmental protection, including genetic information, remains available in the public domain. III. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL JUSTICE 9. Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social, and environmental hindrance. a. Ensure the right to potable water, clean air, food security, uncontaminated soil, shelter, and safe sanitation, allocating the national and international resources needed. b. Strengthen every human being with the education and resources to secure a sustainable livelihood, and provide social security and safety nets for those who are unable to support themselves. c. Recognize the ignored, protect the vulnerable, serve those who suffer, and enable them to develop their capacities and to realize their aspirations. 10. Ensure that economic activities and institutions at all levels proliferate human development in an equitable and sustainable manner. a. Promote the equitable distribution of resources within nations and among nations. b. Enhance the intellectual, financial, technical, and social resources of developing nations, and relieve them of burdensome international debt. c. Ensure that all trade supports sustainable resource utilizes environmental protection and progressive labor standards. d. Require multinational corporations and international financial organizations to act transparently in the public good, and hold them accountable for the consequences of their activities. 11. Affirm gender equality and equity as prerequisites to sustainable upgradation and ensure universal access to education, health care, and economic opportunity. a. Secure the human rights of women and girls and cease all violence against them. b. Promote the active participation of women in all fields of economic, political, civil, social, and cultural life as full and equal partners, decision makers, leaders, and beneficiaries. c. Strengthen families and ensure the safety and loving, affectionate nurture of all family members. 12. Uphold the right of all, without discrimination, to a natural and social environment which, supports human dignity, bodily health, and spiritual well-being, with special attention to the rights of indigenous peoples and minorities. a. Discard discrimination in all its forms based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, language, and national, ethnic or social origin. b. Assert the right of indigenous peoples to their spirituality, knowledge, lands and resources and to their related practice of sustainable livelihoods. c. Honor and support the young people of our communities, encouraging them to fulfill their essential role in creating sustainable societies. d. Protect and restore outstanding places of cultural heritage and spiritual significance. IV. DEMOCRACY, PEACE AND NON-VIOLENCE 13. Empower democratic institutions at all levels, and provide transparency and accountability in governance, inclusive participation in decision making, and access to justice. a. Uphold the right of everyone to receive clear and timely information on environmental matters and all developmental plans and activities, which are likely to affect them, or in which are interested. b. Support local, regional and global civil society and encourage the meaningful participation of all interested individuals and organizations in decision making. c. Save the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, peaceful assembly, association, and dissent. d. Implement effective and efficient access to administrative and independent judicial procedures, including remedies and redress for environmental harm and the threat due to such harm. e. Eliminate corruption and ill practices in all public and private institutions. f. Empower local communities, enabling them to care for their environments, and assign environmental responsibilities to the levels of government where they can be carried out most effectively. 14. Integrate into formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values and skills needed for leading a strong way of life. a. Provide all, especially children and youth, with educational opportunities that enable them to contribute actively to sustainable development. b. Promote the contribution of the arts and humanities as well as the sciences in thorough and complete education. c. Enhance the role of mass media in raising awareness for social and ecological challenges. d. Recognize the importance of moral and spiritual education for healthy living. 15. Treat all living beings with respect, compassion and consideration. a. Prevent cruelty to animals kept in urban societies and protect them from inhuman suffering. b. Protect wild animals from methods of hunting, poaching, trapping, and fishing that cause extreme, prolonged, or avoidable suffering. c. Alleviate or eliminate to the full extent possible the taking or destruction of non-targeted species. 16. Develop a culture of tolerance, nonviolence and peace. a. Encourage and support mutual understanding, solidarity, peace and cooperation among all peoples, within and among nations. b. Implement comprehensive strategies to prevent violent conflict and use collaborative problem solving to manage and resolve environmental disorders and other disputes. c. Demilitarize national security systems to the level of a non-provocative defense posture and convert military resources to peaceful equipments including ecological restoration. d. Discard nuclear, biological, toxic weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. e. Ensure that the use of orbital and outer space supports environmental protection peace and serenity. f. Realize that peace is the wholeness created by right relationships with oneself, other persons, other cultures, other life, Earth, and the larger whole of which all are a part. Let this present time be ours, a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the urge for justice and peace, and the desire for joyful celebration of life. References: Xpeditions, Geography Standards, National Geographic Society, 2001, viewed on December 6 2006, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/standards/11/index.html International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF), Clinton Global Initiative, viewed on December 6 2006, http://www.iblf.org/activities/leadership/clinton.jsp Earth Charter, Benchmark draft II, April 1999, viewed on December 6 2006, http://www.global.greens.org.au/charter/earthcharter.html Advancing Equity on Global Health, Corporate social responsibility (2006), Uplift International, viewed December 5 2006, http://www.upliftinternational.org/ Peter G Peterson, Global Interdependence, a sobering reality, 2003, viewed on December 6 2006, http://64.233.183.104/searchq=cache:m3FvwgU7xw0J:www.conference-board.org/pdf_free/annualessay2003.pdf+global+interdependence+%2B+social+responsibility&hl=en&gl=in&ct=clnk&cd=5 Read More