Global Terrorist Organizations Essay example - 4168 Words

ETA stands for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna in Euskara, or in English, Basque Fatherland and Freedom. It grew out of the EKIN in Spain in 1959 and formed as a radical Basque separatist group. Discontented with the moderate nationalism of the main Basque party, the ETA is dedicated to a separate nation-state for the Basque people, an ethnic group inhabiting areas of northern Spain and southwestern France. Currently there are about 300 members . Current leaders include Juan Cruz Maiztegui Bengoa and Josà © Luis Eciolaza Galà ¡n, however very little is known about the ETA power hierarchy. They are extremely secretive about their leadership structure. However in 1992, ETAs three top leaders — military leader Francisco Mujika Garmendia,†¦show more content†¦The group has attempted several cease-fires, including a 14-month one that lasted until December 1999. While there have been a number of ETA attacks since 2000, the group has claimed fewer victims. The strings of bombings in September 2004, December 2005, and early 2006 were generally preceded by warnings and did not result in any deaths. Also the Spanish government has been cracking down, and there are more than one hundred suspected ETA members in Spanish prisons today . In March 2006, ETA declared a permanent cease-fire, but broke this deal in December with the placement of a car bomb. Since then they have appeared relatively weak, especially with the arrest of Jurdan Martitegi, the fourth consecutive ETA military chief to be arrested by the police . However, violence resurged in the summer of 2009, leading to the death of three individuals and injuring dozens more. The ETA may simply be biding its time before commencing another string of attacks. FARC FARC stands for Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The group grew out of the Colombian Communist Party in 1964 with the aim of overthrowing the current democratic government of Colombia and replacing it with a Communist government. There are currently around 12,000 FARC members . Manuel Marulanda andShow MoreRelatedTerrorism in the City of Boston Essay1228 Words   |  5 Pagesimportant for a terrorists to plot an attack, such an attack would devastate and scare not only people around the Boston area but nationwide. Two brothers by the name of Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev were affiliated with a foreign terrorist organization that has roots in Chechnya, had planted two bombs near the finish line at the marathon. Upon detonation of the two bombs, three people were killed as well as many others that were injured. This was one of the first successful terrorist attacks on URead More Why Terrorism Should Be a Global Concern Essay13 80 Words   |  6 Pagesclaim that terrorists are using to attract more people over to their side, as well as create solidarity among the Muslims. As a result, the imagery and the reality of terrorism differ overwhelmingly. There are various terror occurrences around the globe that are similar and can be classified as terrorism. Otherwise, terrorism has been a means to carry on a conflict without the antagonist realizing the nature of the threat, mistaking terrorism for criminal activity. Terrorism should be a global concernRead MoreThe Current State and Future of Al Qaeda Essay examples1454 Words   |  6 Pagesof Osama bin Laden is certainly a major blow to the Al Qaeda terrorist network causing many of its leaders to go underground. Yet, the threat of Al Qaeda still exists and many intelligence officials believe it has only grown. Since September 11, 2001 the terrorist network expanded into a global terrorist organization with thousands of followers. And when examined criticall y, the death of Osama bin Laden disrupted the Al Qaeda terrorist network yet, Al Qaeda still poses a significant threat to WesternRead MoreThe Attack On The United States976 Words   |  4 Pagesnumbers of countries and continents to eradicate the threat of a terrorist attack. Yet the terrorist groups survived and the United States were left with a large debt acquired by expensive counterterrorism effort. After more than a decade, we are still facing the same enemy with no concrete plan to end the conflict. As long as the United States remains as a world powerhouse and a key player in global stage, it will be a target of a terrorist attack, so there must be an effective plan to finally end theRead MoreHow Terrorism End By Audrey Cronin Summary1702 Words   |  7 PagesDecline and Demise of Terrorist Campaigns†, written in 2011 at the height of Al-Qaeda, the most well-known international terrorist group of our time. The author of this work, Audrey Cronin, at the time of prin t, served as a professor of strategy at the United States National War College in Washington D.C., and a senior associate at Oxford University’s Changing Character of War Program. Both positions allowed her to impact strategic policy making in the execution of the Global War on Terror by allowingRead MoreTerrorism And Areas Of Global Terrorism1391 Words   |  6 Pagesfollowing paper will investigate terrorism and areas of global strategy impacted by terrorism. The paper will also investigate efforts to curb terrorist threats against globalization. Introduction Terrorism and global business have both been in existence long before they were noted as openly affecting one another in 2001. There is a general consensus among researchers and policy makers that terrorism is a growing concern in global business, and global strategy for that matter (Czinkota Ronkainen, 2009)Read MoreEvolution of ICT1384 Words   |  6 Pagessuch capabilities has made them easily available to adversaries and criminal organizations. The concept of state security now hinges upon the acquisition of modern weapons to maintain deterrence and balance of power. Alongside physical military capabilities, the information revolution has changed the dimensions of modern warfare. ICTs application in communication, weapons and intelligence gathering has transformed the global information environment into a battle space which can be used for propagandaRead MoreTerrorist Organizations Essay951 Words   |  4 Pagesmore effectively combat terrorist financing, governmental entities, individual donors, and charities themselves must work together, do their due diligence when associating or donating to a particular charity, and conduct risk assessments to determine susceptibility to terrorist influence. The following are recommendations for (1) governmental entities, (2) individual donors, and (3) charities to adopt in order to more effectively combat the financing of terrorist organizations. a. Recommendation forRead MoreTerrorists and Terrorism: The 9/11 Terror Attacks922 Words   |  4 PagesTerrorists and Terrorism: The 9/11 terror attacks is one of the historical and fatal events that changed the United States of America forever, especially in relation to terrorists and terrorism. While these concepts were on the minds of very few people in Americas population before the attacks, the 9/11 incident made terrorism to become one of the major concerns for the whole nation. This is despite of the fact that they were carried out in New York City, Washington, and parts of PennsylvaniaRead MoreThe Power of Nightmares: Reaction Essay On Terrorism1486 Words   |  6 Pages Over the course of the twentieth century, numerous governments across the globe established organizations and agencies with aims of combating international terrorism. However, these agencies did not establish vast public attention or immense government spending until the fall of 2001. The terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001 marked the transformation of not only the American economy, but also a shift in public perceptions of terrorism, both at home and abroad. The

The Bullying Crisis in America Essays - 1949 Words

Schools do not talk about it, parents do not know how to stop it from happening, but so many suffer from it, bullying. Bullying has become the biggest growing issue in the world. So many people go through the day in silence while struggling to not let bullying affect them, but it does. Bullying happens in so many different ways, but no one ever talks about it. Everyday 160,000 people suffer from being bullied at school and half of those people will try to commit suicide because of it (Karmazin). Imagine yourself walking on campus, and all of a sudden another student starts calling you names. This is what so many students fear every day. One in every four students is a victim of some kind of bullying. Why does this happen? Bullying has†¦show more content†¦Physical bullies are what they’re called physical, because they are known to kick, hit, push, trip, or cause any physical harem to another kid. Verbal bullies are the bullies that use their words to belittle their vi ctim. They resort to name-calling, racial slurs, cruel comments about a person, or comments about their victim’s physical look. This type of bullying is the most common type of bullying and is reported the most. Relational bullies are the bullies that make it hard for their victim to be accepted by anyone. The bullies will single out the victim for all peer groups. This type of bullying is done mainly by a bullying spreading detrimental rumors and using extreme verbal threats pertaining to their victim (California Department of Education). Finally, the last type of bullying is cyber bullying. This is done by the bullies using the different social media sites to bully their victim. Cyber bullying is the use of electronics, phone, computer, etc. to post cruel and hurtful comments, pictures, and rumors about someone on the internet or on instant messages. There has been a high increase of teen suicide due to cyber bullying. Bullying is a major problem and needs to stop because i t affects a person in so many ways. Suicide is the biggest affect due to bullying, but there is many other ways it affects someone. When a person is bullied they start becoming depressed, angry, antisocial, andShow MoreRelated Bullying Essay567 Words   |  3 PagesBullying Bullying has been a growing problem in the world but more prominently has this become an issue in America. In Ann Hulberts article â€Å"Elephant in the Room† of Slate Magazine, she takes a position regarding anti-bullying programs that are being made to reduce this crisis. The way parents, teachers and victims have dealt with bullies has generally been a step in the wrong direction. We have always been told to ignore people that do not respect you, when really the problem is that theseRead MoreCauses of Homophobic Bullying1551 Words   |  6 Pagescouncilman from Fort Worth, Texas. During an otherwise ordinary city council meeting, Burns took the opportunity to raise an issue that has been tormenting kids and adults around the world: bullying. Yet Burns is not referring to any bullying. What Burns addresses in his speech, called It Gets Better, is bullying people who are gay, lesbian, or just different, (Joel Burns Tells Gay Teens It Gets Better.). The speech was powerfu l enough, and with just enough personal experience interjected, thatRead MoreCyber Bullying: A Study of Long Term Effects on Adolescent Cyber Bullying1561 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction: Cyber bullying is a topic that has been researched many times. As technology changes, it is important that research is kept up to date on how victimization can affect present and future psychosocial adjustment issues. Cyber bullying is defined as victimization that intends to harm another through electronic means, where individuals can harm without physical interaction. (Tokunaga, 2010). Cyber bullying requires little planning and there is little chance of being caught. It is importantRead MoreCyber-Bullying Today999 Words   |  4 Pagesform of technology and a common medium for cyber bullying† (Cyberbullying Research Center, 2010). The World Wide Web and social media have opens up a black hole to psychological and emotional stress for some young adults. Cyber bullying is defined as a form of teen violence, torment and harassing via the use of technology to bully another person. One out of five young adults has experienced cyber bullying to the extreme (Hackett, 2013). Cyb er bullying may not seem like it is a problem in the youngRead MoreThe Millennial Generation Must End Islam Phobia1259 Words   |  6 Pagesonly failed to stand up against the bigotry, but have fueled it† (Kumar 1). The Millennial Generation has every right to protect Muslims in America; it is a time for a change. Today, in the context of a global depression that seems to have no end in sight, this is a crucial lesson. Islam phobia has to be exposed as the scapegoating tactic of a system in crisis, but this has to be part of a broader vision that puts on offer both a political and an economic alternative to neoliberals and war (KumarRead MoreEssay on Bullying and Violence in Public Schools1365 Words   |  6 PagesBullying and Violence in Public Schools Although bullying has always been a problem in schools, it has more recently become a bigger crisis with vicious consequences. â€Å"However it is defined, bullying is not just child’s play, but a terrifying experience many schoolchildren face everyday. It can be as direct as teasing, hitting or threatening, or as indirect as exclusions, rumors or manipulation† (Garrett 2). Most kids do not think certain actions are classified as bullying, yet theyRead MoreObesity : A Controversial And Big Medical Issue Within Today s Society991 Words   |  4 Pagesconcerning obesity. For my first point I will tell you how big of crisis obesity has become in America. My second point explains what some of the major causes of obesity are and my third point is about the major risk factors of being obese. (MAIN POINT 1): America has a crisis of obesity. Pediatrician believes that being obese or over weight is reported to be the most common prevalent nutritional disorder in the United States. America leads all the country with just over 30% of people being categorizeRead MoreOrganizations and Awareness towards LGBT Rights, Equality and Acceptance1298 Words   |  6 PagesAmerica is the country of freedom, where all men and women are treated equal. Sadly, this principle is not true when it comes to one’s sexual orientation. According to the gay bullying statistics from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, â€Å"About one fourth of all students from elementary age through high school are the victims of bullying and harassment while on school property because of their race, ethnicity, gender, disability, religion, or sexual orientation.† Being setRead MoreGay Bullying1158 Words   |  5 PagesKrystina Leadbetter Prof. Nielson English 102 WP#2-First Draft Titile Introduction To whom this concerns. Actually this concerns everyone. We are in a state of crisis. This crisis is not in the form of a war, unemployment, or the lack of health care but it comes in the form of teenage suicide. Over the past month more than a handful of young people have taken their own lives because they were being bullied at school. These young kids were not bullied because they dressed differentlyRead MoreThe Importance Of Same Sex Love And Homosexual Activity1484 Words   |  6 Pageswhole education. However, what we don t learn is that activists Frank Kameny and Barbara Gittings led the first gay rights demonstration taking place in Philadelphia and Washington, DC during this time. According to the article, The homosexual in America: A subjective approach, â€Å"The turning point for gay liberation came on June 28, 1969, when patrons of the popular Stonewall Inn in New York s Greenwich Village fought back against ongoing police raids of their neighborhood bar,† (Co ry, D. W. ). Incidents

Evaluation and Analysis on Sustainability Reporting

Question: Discuss about the Evaluation and Analysis on Sustainability Reporting. Answer: Introduction The following report aims to present the explanation and evaluation on the concept of management decision in terms of processes that are associated with the efficient allocation of business resources. The report includes the discussion on sustainability reporting framework along with the evaluation on Global Reporting Initiative considering the given organization Bega Cheese. The following study covers the description of key features of the organization along with an overview on the positive and negative impacts in terms of environmental social factors. The report also contains analysis on the probable alteration of the companys information in the annual report and other sources including corporate website through the application of gap analysis. Considering the compliance of Global Reporting Initiative guidelines, the study incorporates the evaluation on the benefits to the potential investors, shareholders as well as other stakeholders. Background of the company Bega cheese is a manufacturing company in Australia, one of the largest cheese manufacturing companies in Australia. The company exports its products across the globe while distributes the products in Australia in most of the general stores as well as in supermarkets. As the current financial information, the company incurred revenue amounted to $119.63 million while the amount of profit has been $29.202 million. It has been noted that the company serves the dairy products to around 9.3 billion consumers while the quality management system ensured to design the organizational inputs and business activities through supply chain methods (Begacheese.com.au, 2017). Key Features of Bega Cheese Considering the present report of the company, Bega Cheese thrives to maintain achievements in business activities and finances for delivering products at low commodity prices and significant competition within the Australian region. During the year, financial performance of the company has been stable over the years while adding more values to the organizations manufactured dairy products. It has been noted that the company always managed o consider the best business approach to create business values along with the appropriate risk management by applying the experience, knowledge and skill along with the updated and innovative business ideas. During the recent years, companys revenue reflected increased value by around 131.9% along with the improvement in overall performance margin by 32.6%. The statement of financial position of the organization reflected net debt balance amounted to $53.1 million during the year 2016, which was reduced by $5.6 million in comparison to that of the year 2015 (Begacheese.com.au, 2017). Overview of the environmental and social impact of the organizational operations Sustainability reporting is a report that is prepared and disclosed by the management of the organization presenting the accountability towards the internal as well as external stakeholders. The report considers organizational performance overview along with the reporting on economic, social as well as environmental impact that involves positive and negative factors (Ioannou Serafeim, 2014). Considering the current years sustainability report of Bega Cheese, it has been noted that the organizations total dairy farms consists of more than 400 while 94% of the milk suppliers engaged in the firms sustainability assessment. Further, engagement of direct milk suppliers along with the sustainability and growth consists of around 93%. Environmental factor for the organizational operations reflected reduction of 7% in the intensity of production energy over the period of five years. Similarly, social impact reflected 11% reduction in the Lost Time Injuries number during the financial year 2 015, whereas the company managed to increase the financial support for the local community including benefit fund for the employees (Asx.com.au, 2017). In view of the companys reported sustainability report, the management considered the environmental impact reflecting improvement in the dairying community. The company has been able to influence the aspects related to environment in terms of milk supply base with respect to animal welfare and improvement in the production programs. Positive impact of the environmental issues includes several programs based on the Bega Environmental Management System to provide long- term benefit on production sustainability (Begacheese.com.au, 2017). The program has been considered to incorporate nutrient management, protection and improvement in the farm safety along with the development in professional service. Considering the positive environment impact, the organizational management emphasizes on reducing the greenhouse gas that affects the environmental hygiene. Apart from that, the organization considered protection with respect to animal health, managing and reducing the waste products in far m as well as savings in energy and water supply. Considering the positive social impact of the organization, the company adopted emerging pool for the young leaders in terms of capacity, energy and passion for managing business activities. It has been noted that the organization considers its employees and society as an important required to achieve the business targets and aspirations in future years. Positive impact of the social diversity includes development of business structure, greater accountability and improves the management skill with respect to the improvement in business operations and sustainability (Fernandez-Feijoo, Romero Ruiz, 2014). The organization also considers the regulatory compliance on women employment and management hence, management group of the company involves around 22% women members as per the current report. Social impact of the company involves safe workplace to the employees and workers that adds to the core values of the organizational operations and performance. It has been observed that the or ganization focused to implement the framework on comprehensive as well as safety management that aims to promote the hygiene and safe environment for the employees (Begacheese.com.au, 2017). Other than the positive impacts on environmental and social factors, there are certain negative impacts as well representing several challenges to the business operations of the company. The organization focuses to develop the operational program with respect to prevention of pollution and environmental performance recognizing the sustainability risks for better performance of the business activities. However, the organization experience challenges with respect to the energy and water due to change in climate (Benn, Dunphy Griffiths, 2014). It has been observed that the probable impact of changes in the climate affect the quality of milk product along with the product volume resulting in affecting the farming cost for the organization. Apart from that, challenges with respect to air emissions has been environmental risk for the organization since several sites of the company operates generating harmful steam from the sawdust and other timber mill wastes. Negative social impact on th e organizational operations includes contribution of tax payment, relationship among the organization and its stakeholders along with the human resource management. Moreover, the organization considers certain schemes for the benefit of employees as well for the society, challenges in terms of release of water and solid waste, product storage as well as product transport that affect the environment hygiene (Begacheese.com.au, 2017). Analysis of application of GRI guidelines along with the application of gap analysis Gap analysis is a procedure that the organization considers to determine the steps for comparing the actual performance of the company with that of potential performance. It is conducted by the organization to identify the gap between the allocation of operational resources and its integration in accordance with the present level of allocation (Hahn Khnen, 2013). Further, development of sustainability reporting framework by the Global Reporting Initiative, which is a non- profit organization provided mandatory practice to present sustainability reporting for all the organizations. The primary reason for such initiative was to make the companies of Australia more active and to maintain the sustainable growth parallel to the business activities of international companies. Currently, the annual report of Bega Cheese presents its responsibility of the employers and partners for the business operations while the reporting guidelines by GRI provides presentation of principles for comparab ility, accuracy and balance. Second part of the sustainability reporting guidelines include standard disclosures required to present by the company in the suitability reporting with respect to the strategy and business profile, approach of management and indicators of performance. Considering the current sustainability reporting, annual report and corporate website of Bega Cheese it can be said that the company presented the business operation process, supply chain procedure along with the operational performance covering the financial aspects, environmental aspects and social aspects (Begacheese.com.au, 2017). However, if the proposed sustainability guideline is followed then the company is required to include performance strategy for business operation along with the steps taken by the company to develop the particular business activity (Sacks Pikas, 2013). In terms of economic, environmental or social factors, the organization presented positive impact as well as certain challenges that affects the safety an d hygiene to the workplace and consequently affects the business performance. Application of GRI guidelines for reporting different aspects of business operations would alter the present sources of reporting in terms of inputs of business operations, strategies implemented to develop the business activities and performance and presentation of self-evaluation. Benefit to the potential investors, shareholders and other stakeholders due to compliance of GRI guidelines Global Reporting Initiative provided certain guidelines to present the sustainability reporting for the purpose of stating the business performance in balanced way including positive impacts and negative impacts. It includes the guidelines for the organizations to report the business operation strategy, approach of management and other factors for assessing the performance benchmark for the benefit of stakeholders, shareholders and other potential investors (Globalreporting.org, 2017). The purpose of GRI guidelines include demonstration of organizational operations involved in sustainable development of the company along with the presentation of performance comparability with other organizations of the same industry. Presentation of the information on business performance, strategies along with the comparative details would assist the investors and stakeholders to analyze the companys performance other than the financial information (Ramos et al., 2013). Sustainability reporting is prepared and presented by the organizations to provide the performance information other than the financial activities, which is reported in the financial report during the accounting year. On the contrary, sustainability reporting relates to the performance evaluation with respect to production activities, economic activities, environmental activities and social aspects including human resource management (Bhaduri Selarka, 2016). Therefore, if Bega Cheese follows the guidelines to represent its sustainability reporting, it would benefit the potential investors to analyze the overall performance of the company. In addition, compliance of GRI guidelines requires the company to present sustainability practices by reporting on supply chain analysis, environmental protection along with the presentation of risk management. Accordingly, such information would provide the potential investors, shareholders and other stakeholders. Compliance of sustainability reporting guidelines provided by GRI assists the company, Bega Cheese in building trust with the potential investors and other users of the companys report. Presentation of non- financial factors in a transparent manner assists the company to eliminate the potential risk on business reputation while demonstrating the leadership quality for business accountability (Bellantuono, Pontrandolfo Scozzi, 2016). Compliance of GRI guidelines for presenting sustainability reporting would improve the business systems and internal management processes required for making appropriate business decisions. Bega Cheese would present the comparable reduced cost factors along with the sources of measuring and monitoring the energy consumption issues, use of materials for producing dairy products along with the consideration of waste materials (Begacheese.com.au, 2017). Compliance of GRI guidelines for sustainability reporting by Bega Cheese would provide benefit to the users in terms of business progressing strategy by analyzing the comprehensive information on the companys strength and weakness. Presentation of internal control analysis and organizational visions including the information on protection program for farms and milk suppliers would present detailed information to the potential investors that are essential to evaluate the companys business strategy (Shannon, Chao Ramos, 2015). For providing benefit to the shareholders and other stakeholders, analysis on compliance costs for using the resources to produce dairy products would assist in measuring performance along with the analysis on regulatory requirements. The benefit to the investors would include the analysis on competitive advantage along with the analysis on Bega Cheeses bargaining power for the purpose of providing investment opportunities and other economic benefits (Begacheese .com.au, 2017). Conclusion Financial reporting of the company is important to evaluate the financial performance during the reporting year, which does not provide the overall performance analysis to the shareholders, stakeholders and potential investors. Accordingly, companies prepare and present sustainability reporting to provide evaluation on non- financial factors with respect to the economy, environmental and social factors incorporating positive and negative impacts on the business operations. Therefore, the study demonstrates the essential features of the selected organization Bega Cheese along with the overview on environmental and social impact with respect to sustainable milk supply by the farm services, supply chain and product growth for the business services. It has been observed that the organization provides code of practice for animal welfare and several programs for improvement environment protection and social values. The report also demonstrates the analysis on application of Global Reportin g Initiative guidelines for presenting sustainability reporting that would alter several non- financial information of Bega Cheese in terms of management approach and business strategy. The report presents the difference in standard disclosures for monitoring the internal control and management activities of the organization that provides benefit to the shareholders and other stakeholders. It can be concluded that the compliance of sustainability reporting guidelines as developed by GRI would benefit potential investors, shareholders and other stakeholders. Compliance of sustainability reporting framework would assist Bega Cheese in building trust with the consumers as well as with other stakeholders because of the presentation of non- financial information by maintaining transparency and accountability. Apart from that compliance of GRI guidelines for preparation of sustainability reporting provides benefit with respect to improved business processes and business strategy along with the information on reduction of compliance cost to provide competitive advantage. Reference List: Alonso?Almeida, M., Llach, J., Marimon, F. (2014). A closer look at the Global Reporting Initiativesustainability reporting as a tool to implement environmental and social policies: A worldwide sector analysis.Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management,21(6), 318-335. Amran, A., Lee, S. P., Devi, S. S. (2014). The influence of governance structure and strategic corporate social responsibility toward sustainability reporting quality.Business Strategy and the Environment,23(4), 217-235. Asx.com.au. (2017). Home - Australian Securities Exchange - ASX. Retrieved 5 January 2017, from https://www.asx.com.au/ Begacheese.com.au. (2017). Bega Cheese | Bega. Real Town. Real Cheese. Retrieved 7 January 2017, from https://www.begacheese.com.au/ Bellantuono, N., Pontrandolfo, P., Scozzi, B. (2016). Capturing the Stakeholders View in Sustainability Reporting: A Novel Approach.Sustainability,8(4), 379. Benn, S., Dunphy, D., Griffiths, A. (2014).Organizational change for corporate sustainability. Routledge. Bhaduri, S. N., Selarka, E. (2016). Corporate Social ResponsibilityGuidelines and Best Practices. InCorporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility of Indian Companies(pp. 33-42). Springer Singapore. Fernandez-Feijoo, B., Romero, S., Ruiz, S. (2014). Effect of stakeholders pressure on transparency of sustainability reports within the GRI framework.Journal of Business Ethics,122(1), 53-63. Globalreporting.org. (2017). Global Reporting Initiative. Retrieved 4 January 2017, from https://www.globalreporting.org Hahn, R., Khnen, M. (2013). Determinants of sustainability reporting: a review of results, trends, theory, and opportunities in an expanding field of research.Journal of Cleaner Production,59, 5-21. Ioannou, I., Serafeim, G. (2014). The consequences of mandatory corporate sustainability reporting: evidence from four countries.Harvard Business School Research Working Paper, (11-100). Junior, R. M., Best, P. J., Cotter, J. (2014). Sustainability reporting and assurance: a historical analysis on a world-wide phenomenon.Journal of Business Ethics,120(1), 1-11. Maubane, P., Prinsloo, A., Van Rooyen, N. (2014). Sustainability reporting patterns of companies listed on the Johannesburg securities exchange.Public Relations Review,40(2), 153-160. Ramos, T. B., Ceclio, T., Douglas, C. H., Caeiro, S. (2013). Corporate sustainability reporting and the relations with evaluation and management frameworks: the Portuguese case.Journal of Cleaner Production,52, 317-328. Sacks, R., Pikas, E. (2013). Building information modeling education for construction engineering and management. I: Industry requirements, state of the art, and gap analysis.Journal of Construction Engineering and Management,139(11), 04013016. Santini, L., Di Marco, M., Boitani, L., Maiorano, L., Rondinini, C. (2014). Incorporating spatial population structure in gap analysis reveals inequitable assessments of species protection.Diversity and distributions,20(6), 698-707. Shannon, C., Chao, M., Ramos, D. E. (2015). A Gap Analysis of Effective Interventions for Postpartum Weight Loss in Obese New Mothers [163].Obstetrics Gynecology,125, 56S. Toppinen, A., Korhonen?Kurki, K. (2013). Global Reporting Initiative and social impact in managing corporate responsibility: a case study of three multinationals in the forest industry.Business ethics: A European review,22(2), 202-217.

Rapid Advances in Information and Communication Technology

Question: Describe about the Rapid advances in Information and Communication Technology. Answer: Research background The development of applications including e-learning, e-government, e-commerce and e-health has been facilitated with the rapid advancement of information and communication technology. The initiation of e-government was in early 1990s and at that time, the ICT technologies were used for improving the public organizations activities. The United Nations approved the establishment of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in 2001. It influenced the establishment of comprehensive, sustainable and forward looking national strategies as an integral part of national development plans and poverty reduction strategies including the sector and ICT strategies (ITU, 2010b). It has been reported that within 161 countries in ITU, 84% countries already have ICT strategies, thus meeting the WSIS target of national ICT strategies (ITU, 2010b). For public sectors, the e-government innovation has become the key focus and the national and local government throughout the world is trying to enhanc e awareness of ICT usage for increasing the efficiency of accessing information and for the provision of electronic public services. E-government is becoming the most investigated ICT applications in recent future and it is attracting major focus of research and development (Pudjianto and Hangjung, 2009). In the previous literatures, the benefits offered by e-government to the business, citizen as well as government has been highlighted. In addition, many researchers have been attempting to investigate the e-government application adoption along with its implementation strategies in public organizations. This is because e-government promises to reduce paper work, to provide governmental services and corruption alleviation (Ndou, 2004). Within the mixed research related to e-government, one key domain is dealing with goals and value setting which should be achieved by implementing e-government applications and initiatives including accountability, efficiency, transparency, democratic responsiveness and free access to information (Ndou, 2004). In this context, Riley (2001) claimed that in general, the values of e-government tools are limited, but after applying the specific goals and objectives, the values of e-government applications enhances. Another domain deals with the factors which are promoting or interfering with the e-government tools adoption (Nour et al., 2008; Kumar et al., 2007). These factors and their effects upon the implementation of e-government is explained by the use of some models combining these factors, thereby helping the organizations, local and national government to understand the adoption processes. Therefore, this research is justified for analyzing the adoption processes which is a criti cal issue in developing countries. Previous literature revealed that the successful completion of e-government has not been reported in developing countries. The failure of 60-80% government projects has been reported for not achieving desired goals (Heeks, 2003; UN, 2008a). Researchers reported that some crucial aspects should be taken into account during the initiatives of e-government projects; these include political, cultural, economic and technological infrastructure related conditions. The argument was that, the values which are being adopted should match the settings where the e-government is carried out. It has been also revealed that failure happens due to the incompatibility within the targeted values, goals and the context of implementation. An insufficient settings-based framework was established for improved adoption of e-government and for recognizing the crucial issues and factors influencing adoption process, in a developing country. In this research, Libya is the focused context where the government has undertaken the initiative of ICT strategy implementation in 1990s. ICT is an extremely efficient tool for improving the efficiency of the government services. The actual achievements commenced through the establishment of the modern digitalized national telecommunication network. In 2004, the National Information Centre (NIC) had been established by the government in 2004 as the formal body for coordinating e-government in Libya. In 2001, the formulation of the national Strategy for ICT was its foundation. As the e-government has recently come into sight in developing countries including Libya, there are many remaining issues. Characterizing these issues is necessary for overwhelming these in-built challenges. Statement of the Problem In spite of the wide recognition of e-government in public sector, there are a number of issues remaining in the adoption and diffusion procedures. There are two main sources from where the research problems are identified: For developing the research background of e-government, analyzing the issues faced by the developed countries and characterizing the literature gap is important. The initial study would be carried out in Libya. In this context, interviews with key executives for understanding the influence from the country in adopting e-government would be conducted. Additionally, the interfering issues and the influencing factors for adoption process would also be discussed. The key findings from previous literatures along with the primary data collected from the study would highlight different issues which would help to identify the issues discussed below: The e-government is not only a technological project, rather is a process of reengineering that can affect business, economy, organization, human and politics. Thus, the change would include the basic factors including political, cultural and social factors. These factors Inspite of having wider impact upon developing countries such as the African and Arabic countries, gained least attention in strategic agenda settings. In Libya, it has been reported that these factors play a major role in guiding the decision making processes and shaping peoples lifestyle. Thus, through effective efforts and making right choices and actions, better adoption of this process can be achieved. According to Heeks and Bailur (2007), there were fewer studies related to the success and failure of e-government in Africa. Therefore, initially, the broader literature related to failure or success of ICT projects in developed countries can be analyzed through different models. The issue related to the use of previously existing models in the current context of developing countries is that these models might not be suitable for developing countries as the requirements of developing countries may be different in a different context. Thus, a crucial requirement of development of a conceptual framework is there which can map out and increase the transparency of specific requirements of developing countries. Research Aim The aim of this research is to establish a framework for adoption of e-government for identifying the crucial factors that affects the e-government adoption in Libya. It would give a direction to the policy makers for making the right decision for e-government adoption in Libyas public sectors. Research Questions What critical success factors (CSFs) help in implementing e-government initiative in Libya? How these identified Critical Success factors can be useful in formulating comprehensive structure of e-government in Libya state? Research Scope The research would investigate the adoption of e-government in Libyas public sectors. However, the research focus would be government-to-government domain instead of government to citizen domain. Research Objectives To achieve the expected goal of the research, the following research objectives would be investigated: To form the state of art in e-government along with the characterization of the e-government concepts through different perspectives. To recognize the barriers, challenges and scopes for hindering or supporting e-government adoption in Arabic and African countries. To investigate the models and framework that would be used for e-government adoption in the context of developing countries. To characterize the critical success factors promoting e-government adoption in Libyas public sector. To establish an adoption framework for e-government that would direct the policy makers to use effective decision making processes through the use of initiative from Libyas public organization. Significance of the Research The research study is conducted for investigating the adoption of e-government applications in developed countries. As the developing countries have been shown to have low level of diffusion and adoption, this research is important for politicians, researchers, policy and decision makers and professionals. The study findings would be guiding the policy makers to take correct decisions at both organizational and national levels for improving the environments and to make the public sector suitable for sustaining the change process. Through the following points the research significance can be analyzed: 1.7.1 Add to research in contextual factors Most of the previous literatures related to e-government application has been focused upon the technical factors including assessment surveys and training programs (Chowdhury et al., 2006; Edington and Shin, 2006; AL-Shehry et al., 2006; Esteves and Joseph, 2008). Thus, this research is providing a holistic view through the consideration of contextual issues in both non-technical and technical terms contributing in the adoption of e-government. 1.7.2 Add to research in Africa and the Arab World Governments in Africa and Arabian countries are implementing the digital knowledge. Nevertheless, the research related to e-government is relatively low. More investigation, assessment and improvement are needed for sustaining the adoption of e-government in these countries. 1.7.3 Add to research in Libya This research study would raise the necessity of adopting e-government in Libya as a crucial aspect for professionals and academics. In Libya, e-government is at a preliminary stage, as there is very little research done on it. This research would help to characterize the challenges and opportunities for adaptation of the process of change. In addition, the finding and analysis of the research would give significant information and guidance for correct decision making regarding e-government adoption on Libya. 1.7.4 Contextualize in the trends in Libya Libya has become the fastest growing state in Africa after the recent development of telecommunication and related economic growth along with the initiation of oil production in 1990s. Libyas government allowed new legislation and investments which depicts that the country is growing towards liberalization, structural change and privatization. This investment is promoting the country to be associated with global network. Contribution to knowledge The current research would involve significant knowledge and practice related to the e-government in Arabian and African countries by reflecting on organizational, technical and environmental factors. The assessment of previous literature related to e-government throughout the world has revealed that understanding both the promoters as well as the hindrance to the adoption of e-government in Libya is quite difficult. This current study is highlighting an e-government adoption framework to assist Libya and other developing countries having similar context to make appropriate decisions to enhance the effectiveness of e-government plan implementation. Therefore, in conclusion, the research is significant enough and has new things to be identified in this domain along with knowledge contribution in: Identifying critical success factors for adopting e-government in Libyas public sectors. Establishing an e-government adoption framework suitable for developing countries and public sectors.