Investment Decision Making Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Investment Decision Making - Article Example In Canada, the market for SRI is over $50 billion in institutional and mutual fund assets,(1) representing approximately 4% of total assets professionally managed and 50 funds. The SRI asset base is growing at 40% per year, compared to the non-SRI growth rate of less than 15% per year. Though growing rapidly, the Canadian SRI asset base is substantially below SRI activity in the United States, which represents over US$2.2 trillion in SRI assets (13% of total assets)/and the 300 funds in Europe utilizing SRI strategies. Numerous studies and surveys have dearly shown that investor interest in environmental social and governance issues has increased dramatically in the past five years. In addition, it has become clear that investor sophistication has evolved beyond the relatively simple process of excluding companies that are engaged in certain "nonethical" businesses. Furthermore, the investment performance of typical negative-screened SRI funds has been inconsistent over the past ten years, causing many investors to seek more rigorous and quantitative investment strategies, such as sustainable development investing, that provide both top performance and social responsibility. Corporate Sustainable DevelopmentThe term sustainable development was originally proposed by the United Nations in the 1987 publication Our Common Future. 3 From a corporate perspective, sustainable development refers to companies that are committed to minimizing the environmental footprint of their operations, while simultaneously contributing to the economic and social advancement of communities in which they operate. To act upon this commitment, companies engage hundreds of sustainable development initiatives. From an environmental perspective, these may include energy conservation measures, waste reduction programs and pollution prevention initiatives. From a social perspective companies may schedule community outreach meetings, create the position of "ethics officer," reduce noise and odor pollution, and provide support for school lunch and recreation programs: Economic commitment often includes local procurement and hiring mandates, providing scholarships, for higher education and transferable skills training, and community infrastructure improvement. Worldwide, companies representing all, industry sectors practice sustainable development. Examples of notable Canadian sustainable development Companies include Abitibi-Consolidated Inc., Dofasco Inc., Falconbridge Ltd., Noranda Inc., Nortel Networks Corporation, Royal Bank of Canada, Suncor Energy Inc., Telus Corporation, TransAlta Corporation and Westcoast Energy Inc. These companies embrace sustainable development for essentially one reason--to have a positive impact on share price. Good BusinessBut how specifically does sustainable development benefit a company' A summary of categories of key causal factors as to why sustainable development is "good business" follows.

The Concepts of Communities of Practice, Practice Based Networks, Open Essay

The Concepts of Communities of Practice, Practice Based Networks, Open Innovation and Social Capital - Essay Example Today, the terms of organizational development have been differentiated. Innovation and learning have become key elements of organizational performance. In the past, innovation and learning were promoted using standardized policies, such as research and development, training programs and so on. Currently, the development of innovation and learning within organizations is mostly based on social networking. At the same time, concepts like communities of practice and social capital have been used for reflecting the key role of social networks in enabling organizations to learn and innovate. The above two concepts, the ‘communities of practice’ and the ‘social capital’ are compared in this paper. Their similarities and differences are presented and evaluated, using relevant literature. Moreover, the challenges that an organization is likely to face when participating in social networks are analytically discussed. It is revealed that social networking in critical for organizational success under the terms that it is aligned with the organizational ethics and culture. 2. â€Å"Communities of practice† versus â€Å"social capital† Communities of practice can be used along with other concepts, such as the ‘social capital’ concept, for highlighting the importance of social networking in promoting innovation and learning within organizations. However, the two concepts may be differentiated, as of their requirements or their priorities. This fact is made clearer by comparing the elements of ‘communities of practice’, as described above, with the elements of ‘social capital’. The first of the above concepts, the ‘communities of practice’ is based on the view that ‘learning starts with engagement in social practice and that this practice is the fundamental construct by which individuals learn’ (Wenger 1998, in Langer 2005, p.77). In the context of the above framework, th e achievement of organization’s goals is based on the initiatives of teams that have ‘a shared way of pursuing interest’ (Langer 2005, p.77). On the other hand, the term ‘social capital’ is used for reflecting two different functions: the promotion of specific social structures and ‘the facilitation of certain actions of the actors’ (Coleman, 1988, p.98). The term ‘actors’, as used above, implies both individuals and organizations (Coleman 1988). From another point of view, social capital can be characterized as ‘an asset that emanates from participation in social relations’ (Nielsen 2003, p.2). In other words, social capital can be a quite wide concept, reflecting all activities of individuals, as members of a particular organization. However, in the context of social capital individuals, as actors, are not necessarily members of a team, as in the case of the communities of practice, a fact that offers them a h igher flexibility in acting as they wish. Moreover, in accordance with Al-Ali (2003), employees tend ‘to form informal communities or networks all the time’ (Al-Ali 2003, p.91). These networks are used for the development of various organizational tasks, more or less important. This means that the control of organization over the rules and the form of communities of practice may be difficult, especially if they are used for supporting temporary organizational needs (Al-Ali 2003). Such problem does not appear in the