GREEN/
SUSTAINABILITY OF AUTOMOTIVE SECTOR
This sector is huge, producing 52 million cars and light vans a
year. The automotive sector is nearly the most competitive industry in the
world. Therefore, experts gave a name to the automotive sector ‘industry of
industries’.
In 2003, over 1.65 million cars and 189,000 commercial vehicles were
produced in the UK alone; this industry is governed by legislation with regards
to safety standards, registration information, design requirements, technical
information and environmental regulations.
There are also many pressures that directly affect the automotive
industry that drive change.
Firstly, the climate change levy has had a massive impact to the
industry, as the transport sector accounted for 24% of UK greenhouse gas
emissions in 2002 (www.defra.gov.uk).
The climate change levy was introduced in April 2001 as a taxation
of the business use of energy as part of the UK’s Climate Change Programmes,
the automotive industry is said to fully recognise the importance of improving
climate change and is committed to the continual enhancement of its products to
help move towards this factor (www.SMMT.co.uk).
This industry is taking the impact of emissions very seriously and
the Government welcomes this action, they also stress that much more has to be
done in the move towards a low carbon economy.
In 1998, European, Japanese and Korean vehicle manufactures entered
into a unique and groundbreaking voluntary agreement with the European
Commission to reduce CO2 emissions from new passenger cars by 25%
from 1995 levels by 2008. This agreement
is expected to contribute to 15% of the total reduction in CO2
emissions agreed by the EU under the Kyoto Agreement.
It is stated by the Environment Agency that around 2million vehicles
reach the end of their life each year in the UK alone. Currently around 74-80% if the vehicle is
currently re-used or recycled.
All these issues will have to be funded by the companies themselves,
therefore creating a huge increase in costs.
A driver of change is therefore created in terms of the recyclability of
the car, the more recyclable the car is the less costs incurred to the company
involved. The start up costs involved in
this project are immense, again these costs have to be fronted by the companies
involved.
MANAGEMENT OF ENVIROMENTAL/GREEN
ISSUES OF TOYOTA
Growth and development strategy of the Toyota which has 50 factories
in 27 countries worldwide, vehicles sold in 170 countries is in the direction
of development of environmental technologies and improving vehicle safety.
Decreasing of reducing CO2 emissions and the maximum developing the
technology of individual’s security is the part of Toyota’s mission. Moreover, the
majority of CO2 emissions are caused by automotive and Toyota is aimed at
creating awareness on this issue by producing technologies to reduce CO2
levels.
Toyota's environmentally friendly productions
Toyota is the brand which has reached zero waste with manufacturing
facilities located in Europe and made the first high volume mass production
with eight certified in accordance with ISO 140 001 production plants.
Toyota is produced by using 'Carbon-Neutral' in-cab equipment 'Carbon-Neutral'
equipment is made from plants. Plants are absorbed CO2 from the air during the
growth and are also
prevented to give CO2 back to the atmosphere by
converting the type. For this reason, the target and goals of Toyota to protect
the nature to produce the vehicles by using recycled materials.
Toyota allocates vast resources for alternative fuel technologies research
and development. Toyota’s objectives are dropping of CO2 emissions level, increasing
air quality, providing continuous new alternative energy sources sustainability.
In addition, as a result of the investigations, alternative fuels can not be
found instead of gasoline and diesel yet.
Some important information about environmentally friendly vehicles
and hybrid technology of Toyota:
·
Toyota develops technologies
that reduce fuel consumption
Toyota has worked in the
direction of increasing transmission and engine efficiency of cars. Models in
the Toyota product line is equipped by new technologies which reduce fuel
consumption according to the previous version. For example, new Yaris has 4.5
percent less CO2 emissions range than the previous model.
Toyota D-Cat either has low CO2 emissions with the principle of
clean diesel or has the distinction of being the only diesel engine which blocks
the formation of NOX and PM in the European market.
·
Bio-ethanol production areas
not enough
Last decades, researches
on bio-ethanol in the world showed this type of fuel not have sufficient
productive resources. As there is no enough production area for sugar cane and
corn obtained from bio-ethanol, nutrition chain can be affected in the world. This
issue and alternative production activities are being investigated by Toyota.
·
The most successful
technologies for a green world: Toyota Hybrid Technology
Toyota Hybrid Technology celebrates the 13th year in 2010. It is
certain that the most successful technology which developed for a green world reduces
CO2 emissions level and reduces consumption operating in compliance with
alternative fuel types like Hydrogen, bio and electricity.
·
Toyota are giving the green
driving training
As producing the technology of automobiles, the use of automobiles
is also very important. Drivers also pay attention that occurring environmental
effects depend on their car use is required. Therefore, Toyota offers educational
information to improve environmentalists driving experience to individuals.
In addition, Toyota Europe received certificates from 3C Company
about no harmful to environment and air by Toyota in 2007.
Carbon-neutral activity is created by Wind Power Plant located 10 km
east of Bandirma for the framework of an agreement Toyota Motor Europe. Plant
provide eco-friendly of realization of the events by providing the absorption
of CO2 in the air as same as opening up the CO2 emissions and produced power.
What is carbon-neutral?
All of the support work which activities to be avoided increasing of
emission of carbon gases into the atmosphere from production stage up to the
stage of consumption and measures to be taken by companies or countries.
PESTEL
ANALYSIS OF TOYOTA GREEN PERFORMANCE
Environmental Influences
in the Automotive Industry
Especially in the Western countries that are prosperous and
educated, there is increasingly interest by the society in environmental responsibilities.
The entrepreneurs who are able to cultivate this trend and create organisations
based on environmental awareness are considered innovators. They challenge
conventions and create new arrangements of people and resources. Some companies
also shifts to more environmental friendly solution to their products. These
companies, that are also called green differentiates, are those who take
advantage green marketing as their sales parameter. Toyota is one of them in
which they promote their cars to contain low dangerous exhaust fumes that are
safer to communities.
Some
rivals works about Green Issue:
There are many stakeholders in the car industry. This range from the individual manufacturers,
to their employees, green pressure groups, customers, suppliers and every other
person on the planet. It is widely
recognised that the automotive industry is a huge contributor to global
emissions and pollution and damage to the environment has consequences for not
only every human on the planet, but also every living animal. It is wrong to assume that all stakeholders
in a business are assumed as equal, some will be affected more than others by
organisations decisions.
·
MERCEDES
Toyota are seen to be acting from the philanthropic level, however
Mercedes Benz are more complex. Their
family sized cars are not going above and beyond what is required by law, but
the Smart car is being produced to be economical and as green as possible. As a result Mercedes can be deemed to be
motivated by both legal factors, in the case of their family models, and by
ethical factors in the production of the Smart car since it is much more
economical. The image of a Mercedes is a fast, powerful, expensive car and this
is a hard image to convey while going green so the brand image has backed
Mercedes Benz into a corner. (Source: www2.mercedes-benz.co.uk/content/unitedkingdom/mpc/mpc_unitedkingdom_website/en/home_mpc/passengercars/home/new_cars/models/c-class/w204/technical_data.html )
·
BMW
BMW are currently developing alternate fuel cars that, the company
claims, release zero emissions. This
sounds like a fantastic breakthrough however, what BMW is not telling the
public is that the emission this car was tested for was Carbon Monoxide not
CO2. This could lead to uninformed consumers purchasing a car that they believe
is not harmful to the environment on the basis of false claims. (Source: http://www.bmw.co.uk/)
·
FORD
Ford implemented green strategies later than other car
manufacturers, the Kyoto Protocol only wanted a drop in emissions of 5% by
2012, and Ford’s targets are much greater than this but they are new. (source: http://www.ford.co.uk).
·
TOYOTA
Toyota is aiming to satisfy as many stakeholders as possible. Customers are kept satisfied as the demand
for the products they want is filled, shareholders are happy as huge profits
are being made, predicted to be £3.8billion in the financial year 2008 – 2009,
(source: www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/06/toyota-profits)
and the environmentalists are happy since Toyota are leading the pack in
development of environmentally friendly motoring solutions. However, Toyota, as well as all the
manufacturers covered in this report, are still developing and selling big
trucks and 4x4 vehicles that are highly inefficient, Toyota’s insistence on
selling big, inefficient trucks is a big departure away from their claims of
eco-friendliness.
This leads to environmental pressure groups being unhappy, since
they feel that Toyota are being hypocritical and using their Prius model as a
smokescreen to shield the more polluting vehicles in their range from
criticism. To satisfy the wants of these stakeholders, Toyota claims to be
aiming to produce a “next generation electric vehicle as early as 2010” while
“accelerating the development of hybrid, plug in hybrid and all electric
vehicles.”
Political and Legal
influences in the motor industry
The Cleaner Vehicles Task Force was set up by the UK Government in
November 1997 to bring together Government and others with an awareness of more
sustainable vehicles, encouraging them to buy and use vehicles which are;
Fuel-efficient
Less polluting
Quieter
Less resource intensive
Economic Influences in the
Automotive Industry
Within the automotive industry there is an increased demand for more
fuel efficient vehicles, are mentioned earlier.
Clearly this has created a pressure for change within the industry,
there are also been other pressures that have impacted upon the car industry
yet there may be little they can change to increase the demand, for example the
number of people using public transport and walking has increased in recent
years, the graph below highlights this fact.
(Taken from www.statistics.gov.uk)
Social Drivers in the
Automotive Industry
The motor industry has become significant contributor to
deteriorated air quality, climate change, human health effects, noise,
congestion, accident deaths and injuries. The industry has responded to this by
producing cleaner, safer and more recyclable vehicles. Environmental legislation affects both the
design and performance of motor vehicles and the ways in which motor vehicles
are manufactured, for example:
The availability of hybrid vehicles has risen rapidly with Toyota
leading the way, and the rest of the industry working to compete.
Technological Influences
in the Automotive Industry
The technology needed for green change is know as Hybrid technology,
this saves fuel by storing energy and adjusting intelligently to each situation.
A high-performance battery stores energy that is ordinarily wasted while
driving or stopping, and then applies the stored energy when starting and to
supplement engine power when accelerating. Since the system recharges itself,
it never needs plugging in. The market
leaders for this are Toyota, but many other companies are following suit. There are many benefits for hybrid
technology, some of which include tax credits, savings in lifetime service
costs, no need for recharging of battery and better performance.
Ethical Influences in the
Automotive Industry
The car industry is keen to ensure that there is commitment to the use
of targets, monitoring and auditing and to public reporting. This is done with regards to such things as
CO2 emissions etc and the continuous effort to reduce them. The responsibility for the policy also lies
at board or developmental level. The car
industry also accepts that there are globally applicable corporate standards. Once again these include reducing CO2 emissions
and safety laws concerning such issues as air bags.
Conclusion
The major players in the automotive industry have recognised that
they are part of the problem. Some
manufacturers have responded better than others to combating the damage that is
being caused to the environment and in creating a solution. Even though a lot of the companies covered in
this report are looking at reducing the emissions of their vehicles and making
them friendlier to the environment, none of these companies are doing as much
as they can. Toyota are the most forward
thinking company when it comes to reducing the emissions of their vehicles, but
even they are not doing enough to combat the problem. Even though Toyota has hybrid technology, it
is still producing huge, petrol trucks that are highly polluting. The hybrid technology that has been developed
is suitable for use in these trucks but so far it has not been
implemented. BMW and Ford are attempting
to solve the problem, but they are not doing enough.
ENVIROMENTAL
DISASTER IN THE GULF OF MEXICO
In the April 20, the world was changed once again. However, this time,
it was not a kind of discovery of technology or an agreement between countries.
We will remember this date by beginning of the end of world because the guests
of the world tried to kill the life in the world again and again.
British Petroleum ( BP ) is one of the biggest oil and petrochemical
company in the world. It has international operations in over 70 countries with
233billion revenues, and 103700 employees. Currently BP owns five recognized
brands world wide which include BP, am/pm, ARCO, Aral and Castrol. Nevertheless,
one day, happened an explosion BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil platforms distance 40
miles to the coast of the U.S. and fire then spilled oil trough the mouth of
the Mississippi River.
At the first time, BP declared to control it quickly but
environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico oil platform revealed much greater
damage than what appears on the sea. Length of 16 km, a 5 km wide and 91
m thick layer of oil was found under the sea. According to experts, it
has many layers at the bottom of the ocean. It proves that how big natural
disaster it is to can not stop oil flowing to the sea during the months. Experts
say that the only way to prevent a leak to be sure to blockage the well
completely.
Ecological system has
crashed
Experts say that one day layer of oil to be cleaned, although
refreshing the ecological system will take longer.
Obviously, time showed us lots of truths. No need to become expert
to know this disaster, just looking 20 years ago to the Gulf War in 1990 in Kuwait.
It was very huge oil spilling and nature life still feels its pain.
Cost of disaster,18
billion dollars
Calculated the first cost is 18 billion dollars. Nevertheless, if
the oil spilling further spread to reach the gulf coasts of other countries,
the cost of environmental re-draw will be astronomical proportions.
The work of natural cover can be launched after the closure of
cracks in the well.
Investing in nature
Regardless of what the cost of the old view of nature to be brought
into the economic sense is always a profitable investment.
For example, 3.5 million Euros has been spent for the reforestation
of a former mining basin in South Africa. Moreover, one million Euros is spent
for care of region each year. However, a year after the project, all expenses
are refunded by increasing in ground water, reduction of deposition in river
and the greening result of the reduction of emissions.
Conversely, it is not certain to be same success as South Africa in
the ecological and economic areas at the Gulf of Mexico. It is impossible to
image what will its costs. Adverse effects on organisms already began to be
seen. Damage to fisheries and tourism industries will find the billions of
dollars.
Disaster bill to the
employees
The first solution of the
problem is accused to the employees for the disaster by BP. British
Petrol which lost it’s prestige at the international platform and lost over
half the value of shares, find the responsible of crisis ‘ engineers ‘.
Basically, it is amazed to get permit the no guarantee security
seabed oil extraction activities. BP never gave the answer of this question how
it could be easy to get permit for offshore oil operations.
BP always needs to have man from high office because they had a
questionable reputation from a security perspective. BP has managed to be close
bureaucrats and politicians in Washington all the time, while it also reflected
a positive image to the public skilfully.
The company had changed its name from British Petroleum to BP to use
this brand in all over the world easily. In addition, provided a greener image
with a new logo which has green and yellow colours, and "Beyond
Petroleum" slogan were designed to seems environmentally company but they
did everything harmful to the nature or not at the background.
BP officials also took part in the states from time to time. As Leon
Panetta (former White House Secretary General, now CIA director), Tom Daschle
(former Senate majority leader) and Christine Todd Whitman (former Chairman of
the Environmental Protection Agency) senior government officials when leaving
the government, started to work in high-salaried advisory board of BP. For
example, an inspector checks the oil platforms that had a job interview with
the owner of the company.
Lake Charles district office manager in Los Angeles of Mineral
Management Corporation (FMC) of Interior Department of the U.S said that
“Consequently, we are all from oil industry. We are at the same region of
the country. Almost all of our inspectors worked on this platforms as
employees of oil companies ...They go on the hunt and fishing together…And is
always like that” in a prepared report by Larry Williamson General Inspectorate
Department.
But this time, BP had to shake hands for damages to pay 20 billion
dollars penalties with Obama’s government. This agreement is understood that BP
tries to cover its failure by money. Due to the failure at the Gulf Mexico, BP
was forced to retreat the projects planned in the North Sea for a long time. So
BP paid a record fine. Moreover, that's not enough to save its reputation.
Meanwhile, BP’s some stations in the United States made discounts 8
to 10 cents per gallon in gasoline prices to keep the customers’ interests or
we can say forced promotion.
Barack Obama Administration, the U.S. Congress, the Interior
Ministry and the federal officials load the responsibility to BP largely.
However, they didn’t improve inadequate monitoring mechanisms and they took
part in healing the deep problems to close ears and eyes for suggestions and
solutions from governments, experts and citizens.
The share of the American Congress can not be denied for Cross-shore
(Offshore) oil operations. Members of congress prefer to believe the company
reports for more than ten years that no danger energy activities. Congress has
a positive approach always attempts to open the oil wells, but has avoided
discussing the necessary inspection and supervision principles. In addition,
between 2002-2008 they approved the reduction of oil controllers in the various
budget decisions. George W. National Energy Policy issued in 2001 under the
Bush Administration to increase their oil resources and efforts in this cause,
"more and unnecessary" removal of control mechanisms have contributed
to today's problems.
Alternative energy
There are lots of lessons removed from the disaster. In place of
short term protests, could contribute to the reduction of oil consumption
should be directed to the action.
Is it possible to fetch into early date to transfer the alternative
energy instead of oil?
Of course, yes. On the other hand, oil reserves in the world seem to
enough less than 40-50 years. Even the big oil companies are investing in
renewable energy instead of oil. The Gulf of Mexico platforms will be dismantled
and a new one will not build more by BP. They were thought to change after
100-150 years. But new energy will be locomotive of these companies in 40-50
years anymore.
This accident will accelerate the changing in the energy
TREATS
OF TOYOTA IN 2010
Toyota’s the biggest problem in 2010 was braking system complaints
at environmental hybrid technology cars. The market lieder of Hybrid
technology, Toyota recalled almost 400.000 cars from all over the world. The best
selling Pirus model was in these recall environmental cars. Some of the broken
models of Toyota like these: Prius,
Prius hybrid, Sai ve HS250h
The total numbers of these cars were around 8.5 million. The
economic cost of this problem was close to 2 billion dollars. Consequently,
Toyota lost not only huge amount of money but also they lost their reliability.
For this reason, they lost serious prestige in this segment. It seems that
Toyota which always gives priority on quality and zero errors principles will
take too many times to get its prestige and reliability.
Moreover, green – environmental car technology of Toyota can affect
this problem seriously. They will feel deep impact of this many years. Especially,
The Pirus model of Toyota was the first generation of environmental car
technology and people loved this model till 2010. However, it is not certain
what will happen after 2010. We can not say anything before to see the new
steps of Toyota to get trust in people.
In addition, other car manufacturers get a change to pass the Toyota
with this braking system crash in the green issue segment.
Finally, Toyota has to work harder than the past to get people trust
again. They always work with the principles ‘zero error – best quality’ till
now. If they really want to catch success as the first of new environmental –
green hybrid technology, they need to invent better and more comfortable cars
again.
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