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Obesity defined

Every part of the world is reeling under the weight of particular problems. Of course there is no uniformity in the problems that particular parts of the world are suffering from. This is because the occurrence of some problems is dependent on geographic location, racial composition population etc. This definitely explains the variations in the steps taken by particular groups of people or even the legislative structures that have been put in place to curb particular problems.

However, if there is one problem that has been cross cutting all those divisions of race, age, geographical location, creed and religion etc, then it has to be obesity. Quite a large number of people may be surprised to have this as a problem. In fact many people even when they have it have been in denial. One of the most affected groups of people is the youth and especially those in colleges. This may be attributed to the free lifestyle that characterizes these institutions. While many people would look at obesity as a disease, it is important to acknowledge that it actually is a lifestyle disorder. That could explain its prevalence in the institutions.

Obesity defined

Obesity, also referred to as being overweight is the excessive or abnormal accumulation of fat in an individual thereby putting his or her health at risk. This condition is measured using BMI or Body Mass Index. BMI expresses an individual’s weight (expressed in kilograms) per his or her height squared. The height is in meters. An individual whose BMI I is equal to or more than 30, he or she would generally be considered obese. In addition, individuals whose BMI is 25 or more would be considered overweight. While obesity may not be considered quite a serious condition, it is actually on e of the key risk factors as far as several chronic diseases are concerned. These include cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

Who does it affect?

Although this problem was at one time considered to be a problem affecting only the high income individuals, there has been a shift in this tendency with low as well as middle income individuals becoming victims if they could be called so. This is especially in urban setting, which explains why college students are some of the highly affected.

How widespread and for how long has it been in existence?

Initially, obesity was not considered much of a problem. After all, it was not so widespread and therefore even its being a risk factor had not been recognized as such. However, as early as 1961, fears had been raised as to the dangers of leading particular lifestyles especially on sweets, alcoholic beverages and no exercises schedules.

Currently, studies show that about 50%of all the Americans are beyond the ideal weight. In most cases, this excess weight does not come in form of muscle mass but rather body fat.

What is its cause in the college?

There are numerous reasons why obese cases in college have been on the rise in the recent times. These include the following.

Consumption of vast amounts of calories- recent times have seen an increase in the amounts of foods that individuals eat. Testament to this is the number of fast food canteens sprouting up everywhere all of which make quite a good kill. With our lives getting busier every day, making healthy meals has become a bit of a herculean task and therefore fast foods become the only alternative. They definitely happen to be quite tasty and therefore every time we have some few coins we end up going for them. Eventually, the calories intake exceeds the amounts needed by the body in the long term. The excess energy would be stored in our body cells in form of sugar and fat which outwardly comes as being overweight or obese.

Not having enough sleep- this is quite common for many college students. With all the assignments and the busy lives for those who work part time, sleep becomes more of a luxury rather than a necessity. Research has shown a link between obesity and sleep deprivation. This is due to the increased appetite that results from hormonal changes. When an individual does not have enough sleep, he or she would produce a hormone called Ghrelin which stimulates appetite. In addition, less Leptin would be produced. Leptin is a hormone known to suppress appetite.

Leading inactive lifestyles- while we all appreciate the technological advancement made in various fields, we must admit that it has changed our lifestyles in ways that are less than desirable. With remote controls, dish washers, washing machines, computers and televisions, most people even in colleges have become inactive. Simple activities like walking to the shops, classes and even home from school have become alien. Many of us would rather take a lift to a class in second floor rather than take the stairs. We definitely prefer to drive to school and the shopping malls even when they are a half a mile away rather than walk down there. The less activity the fewer the amounts of calories burnt. In addition, physical activity has a bearing in the functioning of the hormones which in themselves have a bearing on how food is dealt with in the body.

Previous efforts made to contain the problem

On acknowledging that overweight and obesity were interfering with the lives of many students, quite a large number of efforts were made to contain the problem. The most significant ones included

Counseling and raising awareness on the lifestyle changes that we need to incorporate in order to contain the problem

Equipping our health care centers with medications for helping the affected individuals to lose weight.

These two are definitely well meant efforts. However, even the well structured strategies can flop and these were no different. While it is arguable whether they were effective, the gradually rising cases of obesity prove that more efforts need to be made with better strategies being devised.

Counseling on life changes that individuals need to take would only be effective if active measures are taken to enforce these changes. In this case, the counseling and raising awareness efforts ended up like any other class work material.

As for provision of medication, you will acknowledge that the approach is quite simplistic. This would have been enough to endear it o the people. However, it was understood that some of the medications are habit forming. In addition they have undesirable side effects not to mention the high probability of regaining the weight one lost.

Suggested solutions

While there may not be any solution per se that may effectively address the problem, it is worth noting that adoption a holistic approach would be quite imperative. In my opinion, three solutions would be effective in dealing with the problem. These are explained below

Offering food combinations containing vegetables at reduced prices in order to enhance affordability- vegetables have been found to be very effective in enhancing sliming. Some like cabbages contain valuable chemicals known as tartaric acid that inhibits conversion of carbohydrates and sugars into fat. The essence of lowering the cost of foods that contain veggies is to give an incentive to the students to eat more of these and preferably substitute the fat ridden fast foods. Given the need to save an extra coin, the students will be enticed to take more veggies.

Minimize the fast food stores in the campus to discourage students from buying junk food- in most cases, the students do not get into the fast food stores because they really need to eat there. It is due to the convenience of these stores which always entices the students into buying there. By reducing their numbers in the university, it will definitely be less convenient for the students to go to the fast food stores. In any case, even if they do o there, chances are that they will have to queue for long which may discourage many from frequenting these places.

The university should regulate PE classes making it mandatory for individuals to attend them as a condition to graduating from college- one of the main causes of obesity is the sedentary lifestyles that most of us are leading whether due to pretty arguable reasons or not. That notwithstanding, physical activities have been found to be quite effective not only in helping burn calories in our bodies but also in the production of hormones that control how food is dealt with once ingested. Incorporating the PE lessons as part of the “curriculum” means that you are increasing the opportunities for them to expend the excess fat or sugars that would have accumulated in the body.

Basis of the solutions

As stated earlier, no single treatment would be sufficient to address obesity as an issue. The problem would only be addressed by comprehensive strategy that looks into the various aspects of the problem. This is especially as to the causes of the problem. This is what the three combined solutions attempts to do. It is important to acknowledge that the three solutions should be looked at as one and not in isolation. Decreasing the number of fast food stores reduces the incentive or temptation of the students to go seeking them. In case they actually do, they may end up queuing for long (which is an exercise on itself).

Even if the number of fast food store is reduced, the students will still need to eat. This is where the lowered prices of food combinations offering veggies comes in. It would fill the vacuum left by the reduced fast foods. This strategy discourages students from taking fast foods while encouraging them to take foods that combine veggies. It is a diet substitutions strategy.

There are definitely instances when the students will succeed in eating more calories than they eat. While this may not be prevented, it will be taken care of by the physical activities made mandatory where the students will burn excess fat.

As you may acknowledge, the three strategies provide a holistic solution addressing all the aspects with each solution covering the loopholes of the other solution.

Expected opposition

These solutions draw opposition in the fact that the students would still get the fast foods if they so wanted from outside sources. True as this may be, the idea here is to minimize the incentive or the temptation to go to them since they will be fewer.

As for lowering the prices of food combinations that have veggies, there are arguments that absolutely no one will be forced to take the food. However, with the reduced chances of going for fast foods and the lowered prices of foods with veggies, students being rational consumers will eventually go the Veggies’ way thereby yielding success for the program.

Making mandatory the engagement in PE may seem to be a herculean task. However, it I still enforceable when the students know that they will not graduate if they do not participate in the PE.

Conclusion

Obesity, while quite a big problem is a lifestyle disorder. Studies have shown that the most effective ways of addressing it are through lifestyle changes. In most cases, we as a people may not take that first step and therefore we need positive reinforcement (incentive) as well as have active measures taken to combat the problem.

References

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/obesity/http://hassam.hubpages.com/hub/ObesityCauses-Effects-And-Treatment – Obesity:Causes,Effects And Treatment

http://www.home-remedies-for-you.com/remedy/Obesity.html – Obesityhttp://www.healthscout.com/ency/68/179/main.htmlHYPERLINK “http://win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/prescription.htm”http://win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/prescription.htm

Selected Theory Rational Choice Theory

Ethical Dilemmas in the Provision of Mental Health Services For People with Disabilities in Australia

Students Name

University

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Professors Name

Date

Hello everyone and welcome to my presentation about the Ethical Dilemmas in the Provision of Mental Health Services for People with Disabilities in Australia

Research Question: How do the ethical dilemmas encountered by social service practitioners affect the ability of people living with disabilities in rural areas to meet their mental health needs?

Research Aims

An ethical dilemma, also known as an ethical paradox or a moral dilemma, is an issue that arises in the process of decision-making when there are two feasible solutions, both of which are not totally appropriate from an objective standpoint. Many people with intellectual disabilities living in rural areas face challenges when seeking care and assistance from local social workers and other health practitioners. According to Roberts, Battaglia, and Epstein (1999), rural caregivers encounter serious ethical dilemmas on a daily basis. In rural areas, resources are isolated and clinicians give care with minimal support, services, and safeguard for the patients. Rampant ethical issues in the provision of mental health services includes use of therapies and approaches that are not fully tested to fit the population in rural areas. Additionally, personal decision making on the part of mental health providers is often used as opposed to use of best practices founded on research. For such ethical issues, health care providers face a dilemma in choosing to pursue the said actions or waiting for the acceptable practices that would take years.

The aim of the study is to first identify the key ethical dilemmas in the provision of mental health services for people with disabilities in rural Australia. Secondly, the study aims to identify the extent of ethical dilemmas and their effect on patients. In addition, it will determine how ethical dilemmas affect access to mental health services for people with disabilities in rural Australia.

Selected Theory: Rational Choice Theory

Social work practice is the backbone of mental health. The audience for the current study, individuals with disabilities, is a group that requires more attention than the conventional health care receivers. As such, the complexity of social work becomes relevant and requires nuanced decision making based on the unique and complex needs of clients. Here, the rational choice theory is useful in an attempt to understand whether and how social workers can balance the factors including their expertise, rationality, and retail ethical practices in their decision making. Understanding the rational choice theory would inform the practices within social work to influence the decision-making processes in order to make the best, most effective, and ethical choices.

Rational choice theory is an important tool for aiding social workers in understanding the motives of the people they serve via the profession of social work. Using rational choice theory, social workers may learn why their clients engage in specific behaviors and end themselves in difficult circumstances. A social worker’s knowledge of rational choice theory may be useful in the process of developing treatments and therapies. Social workers may influence their interactions with and recommendations for their clients by understanding their clients’ decision-making processes, which are driven by what is in their clients’ best interests. Social workers in rural Australia may apply the rational choice theory to investigate more effective approaches to tackle client difficulties.

Positioning of the Research from a Review of Relevant Social Work and Literature

According to Bipeta (2019), the moral and ethical sanctity of confidentiality binds the patient-physician relationship, particularly in mental health. The caregiver is tasked with ensuring that the patient-physician relationship is established and retained on these grounds. However, some patients with mental health issues want the physicians to disclose information to third parties regardless of such information being restricted through signed consent forms(ref). Mostly, the third party in this is the caregiver. As a result, the presence of written consent may derail social work practice and care for patients.

Ellem et al. (2008) points out that there is a need to uphold ethical considerations when conducting life story on people with intellectual disability. The author categorically lists beneficence, respect for people, justice and integrity are aspects of consideration and should guide a research when conducting life story research on intellectual disability. Considering these aspects is vital as it can assist the researcher respond to difficulties during the research process. Ellen et al. (2008) goes further to point out that researchers need a good understanding of principles and concepts of social justice and should be motivated and committed to put the established principles into practice. Moreover, Ellen et al. (2008) calls for the need of the researchers to look into power dynamics when interacting with their participants.

Toquero (2021) conducted research with the aim of examining how Covid-19 interfered with the delivery of care to mental health patients living with disabilities in the Philippines. The main outcome of the research was that mental health patients living with disabilities experience increased systemic, social and scientific barriers in their quest to access healthcare. The situation was worse during the Covid-19 pandemic. For this reason, Toquero (2021) argues that people with disabilities should be offered healthcare support and accessible health services to help improve their living conditions in the post-Covid-19 world.

According to Darby & Weinstock (2018), psychiatry exists as a specialty of medicine that involves immense moral questions. The conditions treated threaten the vital elements that define human beings as autonomous, developing, accountable and contented individuals. In addition, these conditions are defined by extreme disability, suffering, and stigma (Morisse et al., 2013). It remains important to ensure that such patients receive quality and ethical care to ensure they establish and retain tremendous adaption and strength to overcome challenges.

Informed consent empowers the patient to assume control in making health-care-related decisions. Darby & Weinstock (2018) claim that healthcare-related decisions must reflect the true desires of the patients build on a unique set of personal values. Physicians are required by the law to ensure they operate under ethical practices as guided by informed consent. The law is selective and requires them to offer information in certain cases while withholding information in others. Thus, it remains important that physicians are aware of the legal perspectives of ethical practices, particularly confidentiality. However, it becomes a challenge for practitioners when certain events have compelling, competing ethical reasons that limit obtaining fully informed consent. Practitioners may avoid obtaining fully informed consent in cases they define as high-risk and could cause harm to the patient or third parties. Such decisions are complex and lack straightforwardness.

The introduction of tele-health for patients in rural or remote areas presents benefits and challenges. According to Moghbeli et al. (2017), advancements in technology have seen increased utilization of information technology and telemedicine in rehabilitating and treating diseases. Consequently, the importance of ethical issues has increased. It remains important for healthcare practitioners to keep patient information confidential and secure. Authorized access to patient information provides another challenge since not all employees in the clinical settings have the authority to access full patient health records.

The issue of confidentiality is critical to mental health for people with disabilities. According to Evans et al. (2012) people with disabilities are more vulnerable to mental disorders such as anxiety, sadness and grief, sleep disturbances, irritability, apprehensions, and withdrawal compared to non-disabled peers with mental health issues. People with disability have challenges accessing mental healthcare. Such issues vary in degree from one individual to the other as determined by various demographic factors such as age. Individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities need assistance in comprehending the existing and consequent disruptions that affect their routine lives. Thus, it becomes important that health care practitioners observe confidentiality to minimize impacts such as anxiety, irritability, and withdrawal from social life and mental health care.

Methodology: Systematic Literature Review

A systematic literature review is a kind of review that gathers and synthesizes the results of several research papers in order to address a specific research question. The key activities required in doing a systematic review are the identification of relevant research, careful assessment of research reports, synthesis of findings, and understanding of study conclusions. The approach is a reproducible methodology that includes established eligibility rules for included research as well as a systematic search strategy to locate all studies that match the standards. The method was devised to identify all studies that met the qualifying criteria. Systematic reviews may be trusted as a reliable source of information, particularly when they are of high quality, encompass all relevant studies, and thereby reduce bias. The use of a systematic technique to choose the papers for the review decreases the possibility of bias. The review becomes more replicable by making the search strategy and technique more apparent.

The systematic literature review (SLR) will enable the researcher to synthesize the existing scientific evidence to answer the question guiding the study. The question will be approached in a transparent and reproducible approach while including already published evidence on the topic. SLR has become a major methodology commonly used in disciplines such as public policy research and health sciences. For analysis, the thematic approach (Hastings and Cohn, 2013) will help identify the major themes such as fidelity, confidentiality, and client-social worker relationships and their impact on limiting care. It is possible to apply the qualitative research method known as thematic analysis to many different philosophies and fields of study. This adaptability is what makes this study method so useful. It is a method for discovering and revealing the underlying patterns inside a dataset. Applying careful topic analysis may help the study get credible and illuminating results. Because of the theoretical latitude it provides, thematic analysis is an adaptable research strategy that may be used in a broad range of exploratory work relating to social work and the research objectives. Thus, it provides an explanation of the facts that is both detailed and intricate.

Significance, Strength, and Limitations of Research

Significance

Both the theoretical and practical contributions made by the study will add to the corpus of previous research that has been done in the field of providing care for persons with intellectual impairments. There is a lack of awareness of the restrictions that come with the presence of ethical conundrums in the provision of care for individuals with intellectual impairments who live in rural locations. The theoretical contribution investigates how the rational choice theory affects decision-making in individuals who have a disability. When ethical concerns that were previously agreed upon are disregarded by caregivers and clinical settings, it may be difficult for people who have impairments to continue coming to their scheduled sessions and treatments.

Data will be provided by the theme analysis, which may then be used to investigate the research subject and offer a response to the research question. The hypothesis that has been expressed will be assisted in being proven correct by the data that has been gathered. The SLR approach will be able to assist in providing substantial information that will provide insights that will add to the current body of study.

The results of the study will have an effect, both in theory and in reality, on clinical procedures and the way persons with intellectual impairments are cared for. In the first place, the study will assist in the development of an evidence-based strategy to care for persons with intellectual impairments who live in rural regions. This will be accomplished by overcoming limits caused by the breach of fidelity and confidentiality. In addition, the material will increase awareness assisting patients to overcome ethical limits.

Strength

Quantitative and qualitative approaches to research design are used in this study to varying degrees. The research provides an insightful view of the topic under study. As a consequence of this, the amount of detail obtained from the theme analysis becomes incredibly important, in particular when the data is acquired in a qualitative manner. Through the use of thematic analysis, it will be possible to investigate the issue in more depth and assess the extent to which ethical conundrums impede the provision of care to disabled individuals in rural locations.

Limitations

It is largely agreed by research that knowledge that mental illnesses manifest differently depending on a person’s age, color, and gender (Ellem et al., 2008). There is additional data suggesting these characteristics influence how persons are portrayed in studies of mental health (Bipeta, 2019). One of the trickiest parts of doing research with persons who are disabled or have mental health issues, according to Hayes et al. (2011), is gathering information from a population that is particularly vulnerable. Existing research has limitations, including difficulties in contacting undocumented cases of mental illness due to factors like social workers’ lack of trust and fear of repercussions, the potential for stress reactions among data providers, and the bureaucratic procedures involved in getting studies approved.

Project Issues and Problems Faced

I also encountered many problems in researching and searching the literature. As there are many synonyms for mental healthcare, rural and ethical dilemmas, and although there is a wide range of research on the ethical conflicts of providing mental care to disabled people, the literature on social service practitioners providing services to disabled people in rural areas could not be searched and collated effectively at first, but this difficulty was well improved by completing a table of synonyms and trying out different search strategies. Also selecting the right methodology was another problem faced. By conducting a large number of searches and comparing the methods used for different research questions, an effective method suitable for this research question was finally identified. At the same time, some challenges were confronted in the construction of the framework of the dissertation. For example, the language was not concise enough and the logic and content were not specific enough, including how to make the research logical and cohesive as a whole.

Preliminary Findings

Intellectual impairment is widespread in Australia. 400,000 Australians have an intellectual disability in 2009, according to Trollor (2014). 57% of these people also had mental problems. Increased numbers, especially during the H1N1 pandemic, suggest more people require mental health help. Intellectually disabled patients, especially those in remote places, have trouble getting medical treatment. Remoteness and poverty make it hard for residents to access proper health care. According to ABS (2022) “People with disabilities (7%) were more likely than those without impairments to report having trouble paying bills on time in the last three months. This was 12% for individuals with disabilities and 7% for those without.” 31% of people with intellectual disabilities reported facing this difficulty.

Due to frequent social connections between client and caregiver in mental health treatment settings, confidentiality is a moral problem. This is true in rural and smaller areas (Allen et al., 2020). Allen et al. Since privacy is unattainable, this is difficult. Mental health professionals must always protect patient privacy. More than two-fifths of 16-to-85-year-old Australians endure mental health concerns at some point. 43.7% of the population. In Australia, anxiety disorders affect 16.8% of the population (Australia Government, 2022). Anxiety disorders cause unease, discomfort, and tension. Women with disabilities are more anxious than men with the same limitations. 31.5% of 16-24-year-olds experienced long-term anxiety symptoms (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2022). According to the study, Australians with impairments are more likely to experience mental health concerns than their age-matched peers (Australia Government, 2022). According to the study, people with disabilities are four times more likely to develop psychological distress. 76% of Australians with psychological impairments will feel psychological discomfort, 60% with intellectual disabilities, and 55% with brain damage, stroke, or head injury. These numbers are based on Australians with disabilities (Australia Government, 2022). The number of people with impairments grows with age, according to the report. 1.8% of men ages 15 to 24 have a sensory impairment, compared to 4.2% of boys ages 0 to 14. (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2022). 5.8% of 0-14-year-old boys had intellectual impairment, against 4.9% of 15-24-year-old males. The ABS Girls are less likely than boys their age to suffer brain or sensory impairments. Risk diminishes between 0 and 14 years old.

Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria

Table 1: Study Results Table

Table 2: Study Characteristics Table

Table 3: Important elements of quality assessment for health care intervention studies

Table 4: Common types of study designs

Presentation of Data Extraction Tables

Author and Year Collaborative Research Model Sample and Sample Size Design and Data Collection Experiential Research Approach Student Benefit

Atmewarddoyo (2018) Mixed approaches are appropriate 38 participants from rural Australia Research methods in TEFL studies Surveys looking at the features of the participants including their mental health issues and the concerns they have while seeking health services The study will help identify mental health patterns. Mixed approaches are appropriate because they offer insight into the Australian population.

Australian Government (2022) Mental health issues in rural areas in Australia require attention Individuals with mental health issues in rural Australia aged above 21 years People with disabilities in Australia Primary data collected on mental health statistics, demographic data, geographic data, and unmet needs relating to intellectual disabilities. The government data provided in this article will be appropriate in creating solutions based on patterns and issues highlighted.

Bipeta (2019) Legal and ethical aspects of mental health care necessitate more research 108 young adults Mental health issues in recent times Definition of mental health issues and the ethical concerns from a legal point of view amongst participants Ethical issues must be addressed from a research-based point of view, enabling specially-tailored recommendations to mental health issues.

Chan et al. (2004) Services for adults with intellectual disabilities and mental illnesses need to be updated 35 adults in mental health institutions and records Intellectual disabilities in rural populations is significantly high Recording the definition of ethical issues from surveys issues to adults with mental health issues Intellectual disabilities and mental health issues must be addressed in terms of ethical direction and issues affecting different population.

Further Steps that need to be conducted

Further steps include conducting thorough thematic analysis of secondary research to supplement what the research has already gathered. Consequently, the researcher will identify the main themes and experiences from the information collected. In addition, the information will facilitate the completion of the findings and discussion sections.

Thank you for your time.

References

Atmowardoyo, H. (2018). Research Methods in TEFL Studies: Descriptive Research, Case Study, Error Analysis, and R & D. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 9(1), 197. https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0901.25Australia Government (2022). Australia Institute of Health and Welfare. People with disability in Australia. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/disability/people-with-disability-in-australia/contents/health/health-statusBipeta, R. (2019). Legal and ethical aspects of mental health care. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 41(2), 108. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijpsym.ijpsym_59_19Chan, J., Hudson, C., & Vulic, C. (2004). Services for adults with intellectual disability and mental illness: are we getting it right?. Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health, 3(1), 24-29. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.5172/jamh.3.1.24?casa_token=Ln49Xfuz5u4AAAAA:HjevyrUzhsa2k4Wx8HsvTzZoR90ubOaqMYqtILe7ZVoOYPxVjc8UU-uWfRyeX-NcT_9tqbhUi00Darby, W. C., & Weinstock, R. (2018). The Limits of Confidentiality: Informed Consent and Psychotherapy. FOCUS, 16(4), 395–401. HYPERLINK “https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20180020” https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20180020

Ellem, K., Wilson, J., Chui, W. H., & Knox, M. (2008). Ethical challenges of life story research with ex‐prisoners with intellectual disability. Disability & Society, 23(5), 497-509. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09687590802177064Evans, E., Howlett, S., Kremser, T., Simpson, J., Kayess, R., & Trollor, J. (2012). Service development for intellectual disability mental health: a human rights approach. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 56(11), 1098–1109. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2788.2012.01636.x https://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=07bbdc64-ee16-4d30-9d13-e39da01f4319%40redisEvans, E., Howlett, S., Kremser, T., Simpson, J., Kayess, R., & Trollor, J. (2012). Service development for intellectual disability mental health: a human rights approach. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 56(11), 1098-1109.

Hastings, S.L. and Cohn, T.J. (2013). Challenges and opportunities associated with rural mental health practice. Journal of Rural Mental Health, 37(1), pp.37–49. doi:10.1037/rmh0000002.

Hayes, S., McGuire, B., O’neill, M., Oliver, C., & Morrison, T. (2011). Low mood and challenging behaviour in people with severe and profound intellectual disabilities. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 55(2), 182-189. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2788.2010.01355.x?casa_token=-u6Oh7zEMzoAAAAA:cQ_jzIw4wwOLqH8r6dx4yTlHiBcqhTJerrbpITosbL7U9xFr73Asfr5rIl9AgLmzlwrJiQn92srYlwhttps://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=d4178efc-4f7e-4d11-aaf5-416e2b4c7ca2%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPXNoaWImc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=edsdoj.42f90213c13448eb9d743cc3436ef2a5&db=edsdojhttps://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=f3d25634-08e6-43c5-b79d-94b817867824%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPXNoaWImc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=29284905&db=mnhhttps://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=36&sid=87ff5bf7-d720-4c0e-867b-4daf9e9852f0%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPXNoaWImc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=edspsy.appi.focus.20180020&db=edspsyhttps://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=07bbdc64-ee16-4d30-9d13-e39da01f4319%40redishttps://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=f4c33288-08bb-4477-baf9-7b613e0a8355%40redisMoghbeli, F., Langarizadeh, M., & Ali, A. (2017). Application of Ethics for Providing Telemedicine Services and Information Technology. Medical Archives, 71(5), 351. https://doi.org/10.5455/medarh.2017.71.351-355Morisse, F., Vandemaele, E., Claes, C., Claes, L., & Vandevelde, S. (2013). Quality of Life in Persons with Intellectual Disabilities and Mental Health Problems: An Explorative Study. The Scientific World Journal, 2013, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/491918Roberts, L.W., Battaglia, J. and Epstein, R.S. (1999). Frontier Ethics: Mental Health Care Needs

and Ethical Dilemmas in Rural Communities. Psychiatric Services, 50(4), pp.497–503. doi:10.1176/ps.50.4.497.

Toquero, C. M. D. (2021). Provision of mental health services for people with disabilities in the Philippines amid coronavirus outbreak. Disability & Society, 36(6), 1026-1032. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09687599.2021.1916885

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Essay Outline

CORP 2550

Business and Sustainability

P2616315

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The attainment of Sustainable Development Goals is one of the key aims in every company in different countries. However, this is not the case for a variety of companies as some of them consider SDGs a long list of wishes rather than goals that in one way or another pose a difficult challenge to attain. Sustainable Development Goals, commonly abbreviated as SDGs, represent a collection of 17 global goals that are designed by 193 member states of the United Nations to act as blueprints in the achievement of a better and more sustainable tomorrow for every individual (Hák et al. 565). In addition, the SGDs act new set of goals which embody the United Nations member state’s political policies and national agendas until 2030. Developed with the pledge to leave no country and its people behind, the SDGs are designed with the common purpose of improving the lives of individuals by bringing to an end hunger, AIDS, poverty, the discrimination of girls and women around the world (Bule and Cristina 119). With sustainable development goals being the key to achieving a hunger free, AIDS free, poverty free, and discrimination of girls and women free environment around the world, it is therefore the responsibility of every company to adopt roles such invention and innovation and implement actions such as investing in government that will contribute towards the achievement of these Millennium development goals. In this paper, the role that Walmart plays in enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of SDGs is explored. Like every other green company with an agenda to bring about positive changes in the world, Walmart’s role continues to be shaped in a way that also works towards better outcomes for people through bringing an end to poverty, ensuring no hunger, overall wellbeing and good health, gender equality, quality education, sanitization goals, and other human related agendas embodied in the SDG objectives.

The role of companies in ensuring that global goals and objectives are met cannot be underestimated because of the power they hold in an economy. For example, companies like Walmart have the power to bring about positive changes in their direct environments. In the current COVID-19 pandemic, Walmart has shown this power by changing how people do shopping and ensuring that older citizens and disabled people continue to have uninterrupted supply of food and healthcare, thus bringing people welfare (Walmart n.p.). As the world continues to go through changes and adapt to these, companies cannot sit by and watch as people are affected. Recent research ideas suggest that it is imperative that companies should be first in line towards embracing sustainable development goals as a useful reporting framework for their sustainability development efforts (Hák et al. 567). With flourishing societies comes flourishing business successes, a concept that will be used to measure the welfare of societies against the contributing companies in the near future. The achievement of sustainable development goals creates an environment of thriving stakeholders or societies in which organizations providing goods and services depend for their success and survival. As a result, it therefore the responsibility of companies to embrace and adopt various actions and roles that contribute towards sustainable development goals (Bule and Cristina 119). Therefore, the role of companies in ensuring that global goals and objectives, such as SDGs, are met remains imperative and a critical determinant of success in the future.

For Walmart, sustainable development and supporting sustainable development goals means the adoption of business strategies as well as activities that are intended at meeting enterprise needs as well as the welfare of the stakeholders, particularly the society in which the organization operates. Therefore, activities such as protecting, enhancing and sustaining the natural and human resources that are all important for the future are all important. From the way Walmart handles its interaction with the SDGs and different means to attain it, it is clear that an engagement with these global goals represents a crucial opportunity for new investments, partnerships, and markets. Therefore, businesses that engage in different activities and policies in support of SDGs create opportunities for their own future, including better relationships, more networking with potential partners, and a possibility of scoring better with the consumers. Walmart, aware of this fact, has spearheaded several campaigns that aim at ensuring the SDGs are met through its supply chain management and other critical activity processes. If Walmart is successful in helping to attain these SDG objectives, then the environmental performance would improve and the risks for businesses in the near future would be reduced. For example, by ensuring reduced use and the consequent elimination of single-use plastics, Walmart would significantly reduce risks relating to biodiversity loss, including a possible ban of use of plastics in packaging or even stricter rules relating to how they produce plastics. Such a move would enable the fir to not only improve the future for other people but also ensure that it opens up opportunities for better market performance in the future. If the government decides to impose taxes on plastics in the near future, then all businesses would suffer. Therefore, participating in SDG attainment could help to make it better for the business environment in the future.

Companies have roles that contribute towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. Invention and innovation is one of the major roles that companies should embrace towards the SDGs (Rashed and Afzal 9). Invention and innovation of new technologies which are crucial for economic growth and development leads to increases in productivity, creation of wealth as well as the economic well-being. In this front, companies such as Microsoft have led the way in ensuring that communities in the developing world have access to water and good sanitation. Additionally, invention and innovations also promotes transformation of economies creating jobs that help reduce cases of poverty and hunger. Walmart has also played a vital role in ensuring that communities are better off, in terms of innovative ideas and creative solutions. For example, by using sustainability innovations in the production process, Walmart has been a critical part of green innovations to ensure that there is considerable elimination of emissions and waste, sourcing responsibly, restoring nature, and selling sustainable products. While these can be interpreted as marketing goals, they are also important in meeting the SDG objectives of making a better world through reduced pollution. It is also evident that the invention and innovation role of companies helps toward SDGs by reducing climate change through creation of technologies that are environmental friendly.

Investing in governments through payment of taxes is one of the major actions taken by companies to contribute in the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (Bule and Cristina 119). Investments play a significant role in raising standards of living especially through creation of jobs, development of skills and technology, and distribution of wealth. Therefore, through investments, companies are able to provide opportunities such as jobs that help avoid case of hunger and poverty thus contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. However, irresponsible business activities that are carried out illegally without payment of taxes erode both investment and business environments. As a result, this leads to environmental degradation, economic loss, injuries, deaths, and poor labor conditions all of which result to increased poverty and hunger. Responsible business practices such as payment of taxes result to government investment in various sectors which in one way or another contribute to the achievement of SDGs (Bule and Cristina 119). By investing in the mandate to pay taxes, businesses such as Walmart effectively trigger a trickledown effect where better management of resources can be achieved through the available funds. It would be easier for governments to focus on ensuring that the SDGs are met if all companies paid taxes on time and as required. Therefore, investing in society and governments through payment of taxes is one of the major actions taken by companies to contribute in the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals

Lobbying for actions that contribute towards the achievement of SDGs is another major action that companies can adopt to contribute towards the attainment of these goals (Hák et al. 565). The power held by companies in terms of the decisions made by a society through governments cannot be underestimated. They hold a lot of power because of how they support economies and wellbeing of many people. Business entities around the world have significance influence on government policies, politicians, and political processes. With such amount of influence, it is advisable for companies to adopt lobbying as one of the major actions in addressing SDGs. For instance, a company can lobby for various policies and strategies that accelerate towards the transition into a low carbon economy. Walmart can use its position to influence local governance and trough initiating programs that would be taken up by other institutions relating to better implementation and follow up of matters relating to the attainment of SDGs. Additionally, Walmart, through its large size and influence, can provide support in the election of politicians and individuals with platforms that contribute to the achievement of SDGs for instance, the Green New Deal which supports all Sustainable Development Goals (Bule and Cristina 119). By lobbying for low carbon economy, companies are able to protect the environment against pollution thus reducing cases of drought and hunger brought about by climate change.

Investing in SDGs friendly companies is another major action that a company should take in order to contribute in the achievement of these Millennium development goals (Schramade 90).Big financial companies such as State Street, Vanguard, and Blackrock manage billions of dollars of investment in companies. Pension fund companies invest in member contributions while organizations such as banks invest in depositors’ money. By investing such amount of money in Sustainable Development Goals friendly companies, these companies will able to provide a boost in SDG progress. By ensuring proactive sustainable finances in support of SDG-friendly companies, this will lead to a low carbon emission and an SDG compliant economy (Bule and Cristina 119). Therefore, Walmart can partner ad invest in SDGs friendly companies as a way of indirectly contributing to the welfare of others in different societies.

Purpose driven impactful business models provide companies with an opportunity to create social and environmental values through their products, services, and restorative operational business practices that aid others contribute towards the achievement of SDGs (Hák et al. 567). For instance, they may manufacture and install affordable solar panels which help organizations and societies at large reduce their carbon emission footprint in support of achieving SDGs through the clean and affordable energy. In addition, a company can also support SDGs by reducing poverty through the use of fair trade supply chains which provide an opportunity for decent work for the underserved populations. On the other hand, companies such as banks can provide preferential rates to borrowers who work and commit to the Sustainable Development Goals. It is therefore imperative for a company to adopt the SDGs impactful business models as one of the actions in addressing these global goals (Bule and Cristina 119). With an efficient and effective business model, the positive effects that a company will have in the society would directly contribute towards better attainment and implementation of SDGs through better salaries, affordable living, reduced poverty, and other critical elements.

Despite the different roles that companies globally are expected to perform in regard to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals, there are various companies that are already performing different roles towards attainment of SDGs. For instance, companies such as KPMG believe that by using their corporate citizenship programs they are able to focus on both education and lifelong learning of individuals and thereby contributing to the attainment of SDGs. Bearing this in mind, it therefore clear that there are various companies that believe in performing various roles in regard to attainment of SDGs. Additionally, this also indicates the actions taken by KPMG as a company on its own in addressing and contributing towards attainment of SDGs which in this case is inclusive, equitable, and quality education for individuals. Other companies such as Walmart have been working with other organizations in providing a positive and suitable impact across worldwide supply chains. Walmart’s sustainability efforts is based on prioritizing the planet and its inhabitants by seeking to source responsibility, eradicate emission and wastes by selling sustainable products that not only protect but restore nature. In so doing, Walmart is able to contribute to the attainment of SDGs by protecting the environment (climate), life on land, and below water by reducing cases of pollution (Walmart).

In conclusion, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are global goals that call for a universal plan of action to bring to an end hunger and poverty while also providing protection to the planet. Bearing this in mind, it is therefore the role of companies to come up with different strategies such as invention and innovation that aid in reducing these challenges and help achieve SGDs in every context. Additionally, companies also have the responsibility to take various actions that address and contribute towards the SDGs. These actions include, investing in government through payment of taxes, lobbying for action on the Sustainable Development Goals, and the provision of investments to companies that are SDG friendly. Therefore, it is only through these roles and actions that companies can contribute towards the SDGs which are designed to bring the world to a safety and more habitable place.

Works Cited

Bule, Tihana, and Cristina Tebar Less. “Promoting sustainable development through responsible

business conduct.” (2016): 119-136.

Hák, Tomáš, Svatava Janoušková, and Bedřich Moldan. “Sustainable Development Goals: A

need for relevant indicators.” Ecological indicators 60 (2016): 565-573.

Rashed, Abdulkarim Hasan, and Afzal Shah. “The role of private sector in the implementation of

sustainable development goals.” Environment, Development and Sustainability (2020): 1-18.

Schramade, Willem. “Investing in the UN sustainable development goals: opportunities for

companies and investors.” Journal of Applied Corporate Finance 29.2 (2017): 87-99.

Walmart Inc. “Sustainability: Using Our Strengths to Help People Live Better and Preserve the

Planet.” (2021). Retrieved from https://corporate.walmart.com/global-responsibility/sustainability/

Vapiano Franchise in Barcelona

Essay about Vapiano Franchise in Barcelona

Vapiano is a privately held company which was launched in 2002 in Hamburg, Germany by Kent Hahn who was the first McDonald’s restaurants franchisee in Germany and learned how to service customers best and what they disliked about traditional fast food. Hahne’s experience in owning and managing eighteen restaurants and nightclubs in Hamburg taught him that employee training and inventory management are critical in managing successful restaurants. Vapiano was launched to appeal to a set of customers that want healthy ingredients which are prepare into fresh meals in a casual yet sophisticated environment (“Vapiano”).

Today, Vapiano has restaurants in twenty-seven countries on five continents and continues to be one of the fastest growing franchises in the world.

Marketing Objectives

“Chi va piano, va sano e va lontano” is the Italian saying from which the franchise name was created. This phrase means: those who take it easy live healthier and live longer (“Vapiano”). The name of the franchise is also the philosophy by which the restaurants are created and operated. Vapiano does not set out to target a certain age group, gender, ethnic group or income bracket. Instead, the appeal is made universally to customers of all ages, color, creed, nationality, and wealth level based on the lifestyle that they prefer. The target customer’s lifestyle is one of living well by making good food choices in order to live a longer, healthier life. By establishing this target customer base, Vapiano casts a broad net that has universal appeal. This is verified by their operation in twenty-seven countries and growing.

The average Vapiano customer is eighteen to thirty-four years of age and spends twenty-five dollars per visit. In 2013, leisure consultants at Deloitte found that this age group boosted their eating and drinking out to an average of 32 times per month, up from 25 times a year ago (Thompson).

Barcelona is, therefore, an appealing location for a Vapiano franchise due to its business friendliness; its cosmopolitan spirit; and the fact that eighteen percent of its residents are foreigners. In 2011, Barcelona was ranked as one of the six best European cities for business. Barcelona has maintained this position in the top six during the 2001-2011 period. Additionally, Barcelona holds the top spot as the city with the best quality of life for workers and ranks second in terms of best European city to promote itself as a business center.

The majority of the residents of Barcelona aged fifteen to sixty-four are exactly in the zone of the target market for the Vapiano franchise. Moreover, the residents live a long life, hence proving that they care about living well and, therefore, living longer, which is another match with the philosophy for Vapiano. Barcelona also has very few Pizza restaurants. More importantly, Vapiano’s fast casual concept is unique and is hardly competitive with chains such as Dominoes which have two locations in Barcelona.

Dominoes’ philosophy is radically different than Vapiano’s. Domino’s specializes in hot, cheap food delivered to a customer’s home. They do not provide an inviting atmosphere for dining, nor do they have healthy ingredients prepared into a fresh meal as a priority. The map (“Pizza Restaurants in Barcelona”) outlines the current Pizza restaurants in Barcelona. There seems to be a tremendous opportunity for adding a Vapiano in several Barcelona neighborhoods where competition will be minimal. Of interest, most of the existing Pizza restaurants are co-located with transportation stops – a true clue that they are about speed, versus freshly prepared.

According to Trip Advisor, there are one hundred and thirty-one restaurants in Barcelona that offer Pizza on the menu. This list includes restaurants that specialize in Mediterranean cuisine, and offer Pizza, as a result of that. The list also includes fine Italian restaurants that happen to have Pizza on their menu, but not as the featured item.

Placing Vapiano in Barcelona will require a neighborhood where a need exists for casual, fast dining, but where it is not already saturated with adjacent competitors such as fine dining Italian restaurants or quick and cheap Pizza delivery places such as Dominoes.

Ideally, the neighborhood where the franchise is located has many businesses in order to capitalize on the lunch crowd. Also, located in a place where young, urban professionals can conveniently visit after work, as a Tapas, or early later evening meal alternative. L’Exiample and Gràcia are two such neighborhoods where young professionals work and reside and where cafes, tapas bars and nightclubs abound. The challenge in finding the right address for the Barcelona Vapiano is the size of the space that is required and, therefore, the price of the monthly rental which could be exorbitant if not impractical. Or it may simply not be available. In these two neighborhoods, where the target market segment is ideal, the space may need to be purchased outright from a selling business owner, and this could be very costly, particularly for a start-up business. If the desire is to be in one of these two ideal neighborhoods, the trade-off may have to be the time spent waiting for available space. Restaurants often fail because they are not in the proper neighborhood, and waiting for the right location could be a wise investment longer term.

Financial Objectives

According to the Vapiano Franchisor website, the start-up costs for a single franchise are between $1.2 and $2.0M. Additionally, there is a franchise fee of $45,000 that is due when the franchise agreement is signed by the franchisee. Vapiano also requires monthly royalties so that the franchisor can operate the business as a Vapiano franchise. This ongoing royalty fee is 12% of the top line revenue intake. There are no additional monthly franchise fees, which is excellent, since most franchises usually also require an additional 3-4% monthly fee for marketing and advertising. The good news is that the artwork and copy of the franchise prescribed materials can be used per the terms of the franchise agreement. The bad news, especially for an unknown brand, which is what Vapiano in Barcelona would be at, first, is that the burden of brand establishment and restaurant promotion is a direct and often hefty expense for the franchisee.

To keep the estimated initial investment low, it has been assumed that there will be only four employees at the beginning of the business. As the business grows and as revenues accumulate, the franchise will expand. The initial focus will be to keep costs as low as possible in order to achieve the break-even level as quickly as possible. The minimal staff will also mean that there will not be enough salary for a manager, and, therefore, the franchise will initially be maintained by my partners and me. The four of us will be investing in the franchise as equal partners, each of us contributing $350,000 in order to pay the start-up costs. Further, we will each dedicate our full time to working and managing the restaurant. The only special-skill employees that we will need to hire is the cooks. Vapiano is based on an interactive relationship between the cook and the customer, and as such, special diligence will be expended in order to find the right people for these roles.

The combined rent/construction/equipment total is $950,000 and is the majority of the start-up expense. This is because Vapiano has a minimum square foot requirement of three thousand and the restaurant must be capable of seating a minimum of 140 customers. A brick oven, which is another capital intensive purchase, is also required. The ambiance created by Vapiano is based on using real would, granite, organic accessories, such as real olive trees and fresh herbs with décor and furniture in earth tones. Genuine wood or genuine leather is recommended for all furnishings, which is another item of significant expense.

Rent is another variable which could make the start-up costs higher. As previously described, it may not be possible to rent a 3000-4000 square foot commercial space in a desirable Barcelona neighborhood. The tradeoff will be money versus time and could amount to a possible purchase versus a lease as originally envisioned.

As with all franchises, the menu pricing is prescribed by the franchisor with very little variation. This is a competitive advantage because it assures that the restaurant will be launched based on prices that have already been tested and verified in other, similar markets in order to establish a realistic willingness to pay.

For example the sample menu from a Vapiano in Australia. However, based on research for this business case, it has been confirmed that the menus all have prescribed prices – only the currency is adjusted accordingly. The menus, however, do not show the alcoholic beverages that are served on premise, which could significantly contribute to both revenues and profit. The advantage of having a cool vibe lounge with an attractive bar area and relaxing music provided through a sound system and music tracks that are prescribed by Vapiano is that customers will linger and spend more on desserts and drinks.

The average ticket per customer is $25, as noted earlier. Some customers may spend a lot more, and others, such as kids may only contribute less than $10 overall. Twenty-five dollars per ticket is a big number when compared with other fast casual restaurants such as Chipotle – a chain that revolutionized the organic, fresh, fast casual dining experience in the United States. In most Chipotle restaurants, only beer and wine are served where licensing for alcohol is permitted. Chipotle does not have a full service bar, nor do they offer dessert. Their décor is minimal, and hence, this is reflected in their average price per ticket. To that end, the upfront investment will pay off over time because the price per ticket will be much higher than other fast casual restaurants.

Competitive Advantage

Vapiano is a truly unique franchise, and because of this uniqueness, it offers a competitive advantage on many levels. One of the greatest advantages is the customer dining experience, and the way that the food preparers interact with the customers. The customer experience begins with a friendly smile and greeting upon entering. Once inside, the customer chooses the food items of interest and orders them. After the order is placed, the customer has the opportunity to have a friendly chat with the person preparing their meal, and special requests are always honored. They are given the opportunity to witness the fresh ingredients used in a unique way, based on what they have selected. Everything is fresh. The pasta is made at the restaurant daily, as is the sauce for the pasta and pizza. Fresh herbs adorn the restaurant (“Vapiano”) and are duly used to season the food that the customer orders.

The ambiance of the restaurant is also unique and amplifies the experience of eating in a healthy way. Soothing earth tones are used throughout with natural wood and natural stone to promote the organic experience. When compared with another successful fast casual restaurant such as Chipotle that markets its brand as organic and fresh, Vapiano’s ambiance is incomparable. The Chipotle ambiance (“Kwatsa”) is reminiscent of warehouse style eating, where Vapiano is akin to a chic, upscale restaurant.

Hence, when compared with even the most successful fast casual restaurant that also uses fresh, organic ingredients to prepare their meals to order, it is clear that Vapiano offers a much nicer environment that contributes significantly to the overall customer experience. A fast casual restaurant is a true competitor for Vapiano where ambiance is concerned, and it has a real competitive advantage.

When compared with a fast and cheap pizza restaurant, the difference will be in the taste of the food and the level of customer service that is offered. Dominoes, for example, offers typical “fast food” ingredients that have been previously frozen and shipped from the restaurant’s warehouse to prepare their pizza, pasta and salads. This is good for Dominoes cost control, but not good for customers that are seeking healthy ingredients that will allow them to live longer. Pepperoni, greasy sausage and dried out, over-fried chicken wings doused in a mediocre orange colored sauce is hardly the way to eat in order to live longer. It is a recipe for a heart attack. The only advantage that Dominoes may have over Vapiano is that Dominoes delivers. This may need to be explored further, specifically for Barcelona where the Vapiano brand is not yet known.

The other competitive threat to Vapiano is a fine dining Italian restaurant, where the price per ticket will likely be two or three times that at Vapiano. The ingredients may or may not be fresh at a fine dining restaurant. Each restaurant maintains its own level of inventory and although must adhere to standards of hygiene for the city to maintain their license, unless they are reported by a customer, or there is a random inspection, there is no way to know how fresh and/or non-frozen their ingredients can be. The ambiance provided by Vapiano is as good as, if not better than older fine dining restaurants where the furniture and décor may be dated. Which leaves service as the only unknown variable. Plenty of expensive restaurants have lousy service. Vapiano strives to exceed the service expectations with every visit. In fact, the cook to customer exchange and interaction ensures that a customized service experience adds to the pleasure of the meal.

For Barcelona specifically, or in any other location in Spain, some competition may come from traditional and especially non-traditional Tapas restaurants that are similar in style and function. The difference is, not every Tapas restaurant will advertise itself as a fresh, wholesome and organic dining experience.

Quite the contrary, rich, fried foods could dominate the menu, and in later evening hours, sometimes this is not a preferred food choice. Hence, for Barcelona, Vapiano may offer a fresh alternative to an established, traditional routine — and taking share from local Tapas eateries may be one way to establish the business quickly.

Promotion and Advertising

There are five key market segments that Vapiano in Barcelona will need to cater to, each being in the age group of 18-34. It is strongly encouraged that this integrated promotion and advertising plan include delivery to both homes, as well as hotels in Barcelona, in order to create the brand, and make it better known. With that in mind, the following are the market segments of interest:

The Lunch Crowd

The Later Evening Socializers

The Dinner Diners

Delivery Diners

Tourists and other out of town visitors

After identifying Vapiano’s five market segments of interest, the next step is to develop marketing communications content and tools that would appeal to all these segments. Primary marketing communications strategies should include “word of mouth” marketing and public relations (PR). Not only do these strategies effectively target a large market or consumer population but these are also less expensive than more structured marketing communications strategies or content such as print, digital, or social media marketing platforms.

The primary goal of developing marketing communications through “word of mouth” and PR would be to create buzz about Vapiano and attract attention to the establishment to draw more guests or customers, particularly from the five market segments. The most crucial component of the PR campaign is the target partnership with media outlets such as the local newspaper. The local media will play an important role in capturing the public’s interest and publishing a series of advertisements or stories that feature the establishment’s history, structure, location, ambiance and detail expected customer experience that Vapiano will deliver for their guests. Because this will be the first Vapiano in Spain, no doubt the newspaper El Pais will want to cover this as a national event. Also, a couple of local Catalonian newspapers, such as Ara and Avui may have significant interest in a European franchise coming to Barcelona. The goal is to reach out to as many newspapers as possible and to target the most meaningful ones that ideally have a paper distribution, as well as an online media address. Different newspapers will want to cover different strategies and ideas based on what they value. The challenge will be to get their attention with something that might be of interest to them, so that they believe that these articles will increase readership. The franchisee and the newspapers have the same goal: the more people that read, the higher the revenues, for both sides of the equation.

The City Administration, or other local public agencies, may co-sponsor a story line of interest or take advantage of the opportunity to create jobs for locals and consequently bolster the local economy, as a result of this International franchise coming to Barcelona. The City Administration’s sponsorship of the establishment would create much needed interest around Vapiano as the local government’s involvement attaches value to the image of the restaurant. Moreover, the local government’s involvement would make a feature of Vapiano interesting and newsworthy. Examples of articles that may be published about Vapiano include the following:

Published six to eight months before Vapiano’s opening: The title of the article may be “New and Fresh Franchise coming to Barcelona Soon”. To inform the readers more about Vapiano, the article may then feature the restaurant’s location. Moreover, the article may be used to establish or boost Vapiano’s reputation if it features the new franchisees and their relevant management experience, and explore the potential socio-economic advantages and contributions of Vapiano to the local community in Barcelona.

One quarter before opening: “Vapiano selects Location for New Restaurant”. In this article, the potential address would be shared and details about why this amazing City and this neighborhood were chosen. The intended audience for this article are walk-in customers that would come in for lunch or as a Tapas alternative, later in the evening.

Thirty days before opening: “Vapiano creates jobs and hires locals to deliver superior customer experience…and Freshness!” The article will describe the kind of employees hired by Vapiano of Barcelona (if any to date) to establish the restaurant’s values, particularly in human relations and servicing. The article may also be used to feature the uniqueness of Vapiano by introducing the concept of “fresh food” delivery to the residents of the city, promote the consumption of organic ingredients, and the restaurant’s commitment to offering convenience for customers through its flawless delivery. The purpose of the article is not only limited to the promotion or marketing of Vapiano but also to the encouragement of local residents to apply for jobs at the restaurant since the restaurant needs skilled cooks.

Seven days before opening: “Join the Grand Opening Event of Vapiano of Barcelona”. Publishing this article will significantly help the restaurants establish relationships with locals and hopefully engage and attract patrons. This article represents a tremendous opportunity to recruit new patrons. Similarly, this article will be used to promote the Grand Opening event as an invitation does, so that anyone that is interested in this restaurant can come and try it. The article would describe the Grand Opening as a festive event where customers may sample free food offered by the restaurant. Ideally, and with enough notice, Vapiano will invite city government officials and other influential people in the event, which will also be mentioned in the article to motivate other people to join the said event. Free samples and other teasers are always a good idea for the Grand Opening event – they whet the appetite and create future interest to return for a larger portion.

Opening Day: “Vapiano of Barcelona is Officially Open”. This article copy should read like a promotional ad. The challenge is to convince a journalist to write it this way. It can be done and if it is done this way, will be a great way to spread the word widely without having to spend any money. Photos that were taken from the Grand Opening event will also be featured in the article to focus attention on one key competitive differentiator: the incredible ambiance that awaits the future Vapiano diners. The photographs that will be included in the article should be interesting and encouraging for the audience, which means that these photos will be carefully selected as they are expected to show happy guests enjoying themselves while eating Vapiano’s good food. If possible and the journalist agrees, consider including a sidebar about the potential delivery service and how this offers good fresh food fast. Vapiano should also take a photo of one of its confident delivery drivers while holding a sack of food. The restaurant signage must be seen in this picture. The more the signage is shown, the faster brand creation can occur.

After the publication of the fifth article, it may also be used as content for Vapiano’s brochure that will be given out to locals to promote the business. This is an inexpensive way to re-use the collateral that Vapiano created and printing costs are low when compared with starting a brand new brochure. The brochure is a significant part of marketing Vapiano as using this material is akin to “leave behind” marketing brochure. If local businesses display the brochure on their front desks, then more people would see it. Consequently, these businesses loyal customers would then become Vapiano’s own loyal customers.

Vapiano may also leave the reprinted brochure with the hotel front desk staff and concierges (where available) at local hotels. Tourists and business travelers are always in search of good local restaurant that offers fresh food. To discover these places, they rely on attendants at the front desk. Hence, front desk officers’ knowledge and awareness of Vapiano and the presence of “leave behind” brochures at hotel front desks will enable them to introduce the restaurant tourists and business travelers. If Vapiano is located near hotels, it would also be advantageous for the restaurant as they may offer free delivery service for tourists and business travelers staying in these hotels. A nice and radical departure from room service!

The newspaper article component of the overall PR campaign is an example of how FREE messaging is possible when the right media outlet participates. With any PR campaign, all five target market segments should be reached. The challenge in creating an effective PR campaign is the ability to find the right newspapers or magazines that are willing to work with a start-up business. Once Vapiano achieves this, the goal is to focus on the content of the article as this is crucial in ascertaining that features are specific and aimed at the target market segments.

Social Media has now become the easiest and fastest way to advertise or promote an up-and-coming business. To take advantage of social media marketing and promotions, Vapiano of Barcelona should create different social media accounts such as a page on social networking site Facebook and an account on the microblogging site Twitter. Vapiano may take advantage of its social media accounts to inform its fans or followers online about current or upcoming promotions, deals, or special discounts and offers. Moreover, the establishment’s social media accounts may be used to inform and update the public about its plans and programs, current location, and other forms of contact information. New customers may use the information from Vapiano’s page to locate the restaurant. Aside from descriptions and information, Vapiano should also use social media to post pictures. To entice customers, Vapiano may post pictures of their dishes, the restaurant interior and exterior, and its happy guests upon their permission. Another way to use social media is to offer promotional codes or special offers to fans or followers in exchange for sharing Vapiano’s page to their friends and followers. Vapiano should also inform its customers that they are on social media by posting them in the interior and exterior of the restaurant. In this way, customers can “like” or follow Vapiano on Facebook and Twitter and leave reviews and comments about their experiences as customers. Also, suggest that a customer may have a free glass of wine on the next trip for providing a review.

Yelp and Trip Advisor are also another good way to advertise a business. These sites are a double-edged sword, so careful monitoring of these sites is required to ensure that reviews posted are appropriate and accurate. Plus, it’s always crucial to communicate directly with customers if they had unpleasant experiences in the restaurant and address their concerns or demands. One of the ways that Vapiano can appease disgruntled customers is to offer the latter complimentary meals and other specials or exclusives as a means to offer sincere apology and communicate its commitment to excellent customer service. Doing so would bring about higher ratings for the restaurant, especially if Vapiano is consistent in pleasing its customers.

Aside from Facebook and Twitter, Vapiano may also use audio-visual content to promote the business. YouTube, for instance, is a platform that allows people, groups and organizations to create and share audio-visual content. To involve online users, Vapiano can post a short video of the Grand Opening event to show the food that was served, the interior of the restaurant, and the guests that attended the event. After posting the video, Vapiano may then share it to its Facebook or Twitter users so their fans and followers can share it with their family, friends, and followers.

In using social media to promote and advertise the business, Vapiano must make sure that its social media pages and networks are frequently updated. Social media is not simply for updating followers and fans about the business but also using it as a tool to directly interact or communicate with customers. Hence, managing social media must be constant because customers would post comments and ask questions frequently, and Vapiano’s social media staff should immediately respond to these requests or queries. Moreover, managing social media is important because the business may generate a significant percentage of its reviews online. By ensuring that Vapiano’s online social media accounts are updated with reviews, especially good reviews, the restaurant would be able to draw attention from tourists and business travelers from out of town that would be looking for good places to eat in Barcelona.

Furthermore, social media may be used to establish Vapiano of Barcelona’s brand identity. One way to do so is to create a consistent look for its social media pages. For instance, Vapiano can use the shades of the restaurant’s interior, exterior, and logo for the background photos of its social media pages. Aside from using aesthetics in social media marketing to establish brand identity, Vapiano may also do so to appeal to its target market segments. Of interest will be the artwork and copy material from the Vapiano franchise that has already been previously used for a “first of” franchise in a new country or territory.

One of the challenges of advertising is the cost. Hence, it is highly important that businesses or establishments such as Vapiano carefully develop marketing communications strategies and tools to directly appeal to its target market segments. To ensure that the restaurant would not waste capital on advertising, Vapiano may conduct trial advertising. An example of trial advertising is mailer campaign, which involves direct mails, online and offline, to target market segments. Customers targeted for this campaign will then be asked to bring the mailers with them when they decide to dine at Vapiano. In this way, the restaurant may know the number of customers that responded well to the mailer campaign and if it is an effective means of promoting the restaurant. To save on cost of production and printing, Vapiano may also use the mailers as flyers. For trial testing, Vapiano will float the flyers among its employees who will then distribute them to family, friends, and other people. It is important that employees do so during rush hour when there are many people milling about, such as during lunch time, dinner, or after

Brand promotion will be a crucial component to the successful launch of Vapiano in Barcelona. Brand promotion is an important, ongoing process. There is a need to continue to reinforce the significant attributes and differentiators that Vapiano offers customers. The brand establishment campaign should be very intensive during the first year of operation, with significant support from the Franchisor.

See ad from Domino’s (“bahamaslocal.com”). This is a good way to engage with lunch and delivery diners. Typically, the franchise will provide a copy and it would simply need to be customized to be made location specific. This ad is a great Facebook status or a tweet on Twitter.

It is critical that if this type of ad is used that it conforms to the franchise brand requirements and the copy given. Dilution of the brand is expensive. The look and feel of this type of ad should be the same look and feel at the restaurant. The Domino ad signals fast and cheap. The Vapiano ad should tout chic and customized.

Hotel delivered Pizza has been around for a long time. Recently, hotels have been implementing the

“Pizza button” on their hotel room phones because the front desk staff has been inundated with questions about where to order pizza from, the phone number, the location, and so forth. To make this as simple as

possible, and to eliminate the middle man: the hotel staff, phones have been modified so that a pizza button direct dials the pizza delivery establishment.

Implementation Milestones

There are some factors that could cause a delay such as the time for the Architect’s design to be completed and the time necessary for the building permits. The process of finding and contracting the right location is a daunting task, and much planning is necessary in order to ensure that the preferred location is the one chosen. Sometimes, Realtors might push for their “favorite” location. Therefore, a great deal of research should be done in advance in order to avoid this pitfall. Much research will be undertaken so that an opinion is expressed clearly to the Realtor long before the search begins, hence ensuring an optimal outcome to the most important decision of all the milestones.

One area where it may advantageous to be a franchisee is the architecture design and blueprint. Since this is a franchise, the Franchisor should have many existing blueprints that would ideally be used in Barcelona. If this is the case, then there could be substantial time and money savings as a result. With that in mind, once again, the decision for location becomes the most important decision because if a site is selected that matches almost exactly an existing blueprint for a similar size restaurant, then it can be reused with minimal effort. In this scenario, there

Kant’s Definition of Virtue

Essay 2

Name

Institution Affiliation

Kant’s Definition of Virtue

In Kant’s defense, in whatever case, lying remains to be lying, which in the end is morally wrong. All humans are born with what Kant considers “intrinsic value” or like he puts it, human dignity (Formosa, 2014). The genesis of this dignity is people’s ability to rationally react as well as the capability to make decisions freely. So, because lying automatically corrupts the moral aptitude of a person, it does not change this effect when the lie is made for a purpose that is considered beneficial. By lying, the people affected by the lie are hindered from acting rationally and independently. In the story of the inquiring murderer, the lie is made to avoid harming the friend whose whereabouts was lied about (Timmermann, 2013). However, humanity in general suffers in the essence that the formal duty of man (telling the truth) is violated, making futile the foundation of law.

Sticking to the foundation of morality is the formal duty of man and not maximizing happiness or any form of outcome considered ideal by moralists. Morality is about holding up human dignity without ulterior motives, without anticipating consequences and only being confined by the pure respect for ethics. The objective of being moral should be necessary for itself without any affiliation to a further end. The motive to be moral should be for the sake of itself. It should not be inspired by an expected outcome or used to tailor a particular outcome because, in the end, the sincerity and the rationality that human beings possess to act morally is violated.

However, with Kant’s supreme principle of morality, the current society will not exist. Every individual should only act in a manner that conforms to the rules they wish should be adopted to govern the universe. Because it is our moral obligation to take care of the welfare of those around us, then it should be permissible to lie when this outcome is sought. Morality takes the second base to saving the life of an individual or avoiding to devastate a child that is not doing well in sports and still has the potential to do better despite the current form. The situations that require individuals to lie for the sake of a desirable outcome, such as saving a life does not come around often. When compared to the amount of time spent on telling the truth, then the effect becomes negligible.

In the current world, there is no other moral obligation that supersedes, increasing the pleasure and happiness for the people around us. As much as an individual would wish to reason with Kant and consider his theory, its applicable to the society makes it rather impossible. Only Kant can explain why a person should not lie to a murderer to save the life of even a stranger leave alone a close friend.

Distributive Justice

Distributive justice is an idea of how a society dispenses the ownership of resources among its members (Jasso, Törnblom, & Sabbagh, 2016). With distributive justice, fairness is highly assumed during the distribution of a society’s resources. For instance, an equal amount of work should mean every individual receives a fair amount of goods or the same ability to acquire these goods. That said, John Rawls ‘ theory of justice begins with what he calls the original position where every individual is motivated by personal gain. There is no better way to define distributive justice than to look at it from the perspective of John Rawls in that a law or a principle can only be considered just if every rational person finds it suitable for their individual needs.

Self-interested rational people will not find a law that puts them in a generation that is less privileged just and would demand the equal sharing of resources among all the generations. According to John Rawl, no ignorant self-interested person would like to be handicapped in a society where the disabled are treated in a manner that is not desirable (Buchanan, 2017). In the same way, no rational person with self-interest will be comfortable with being in a race, gender, or generation that is allocated an amount of resources that is below the average. That said, such an individual will only endorse a principle or a law that allows for every generation to have roughly an equal amount of resources.

Because distributive justice maximizes fairness in the distribution of resources in a society, John Rawl’s Principle of Equal Liberty is very applicable. Every individual should be allowed access to the extensive liberties harmonious with such freedoms afforded to everyone else. In case a society is not achieving distributive justice, then the difference principle can rectify the imbalance. John Rawl states that social and economic discrepancies should be organized in a way that they are more beneficial to those affected by inequality and committed to offices and positions dedicated to equality of opportunity (Follesdal, 2015).

Aristotle and the Idea of Telos

It is possible to define an item, an existing system, an institution, or a social practice for what it is using its characteristics or features without delving into what it does. However, doing so would distance it from the most important thing about it, which is it the reason for existing, what Aristotle calls telos (Bazac, 2016). Although a chair is pieces of wood put together with four pieces connected to a single more extensive piece to hold that piece in position then laced with wood varnish, it would be meaningless not to consider the purpose for constructing the chair which is sitting on it.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is a section of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that was created by President John W. Bush after the terrorist bombing on September 11, 2001, famously known as the 911. Typically, USCIS was created to better monitor immigration into the country on the primary basis of preventing acts of terrorism. It is an institution whose ultimate end is streamlining immigration by handling security risks promptly and ensuring immigrants use the right channels (telos). However, in the wake of Trump’s administration and its approach to the immigration issue involving Central Americans, the USCIS is not moving from an imperfect state to a perfect one, but rather it is going in the reverse direction. The essence of the formation of this institution, as initially defined by President Bush after 2001, is lost. According to Aristotle, the essence of something is found when it potential has been actualized in a manner that was desired (Harfeld, 2013). The violation of human rights, including the separation of families at the border and holding them in camps defined by misery, is clearly not the potential expected of USCIS.

To conclude, distributive justice is but an illusion that cannot be entirely fulfilled. It is a model of a perfect society but not a mirror image of what the current community is. Also, various forces cannot allow for the existence of distributive justice.

References

Bazac, A. (2016). The philosophy of the raison d’être: Aristotle’s telos and Kant’s categorical imperative. Biocosmology–neo-Aristotelism, 6(2).Buchanan, A. (2017). A critical introduction to Rawls’ theory of justice. In Distributive Justice (pp. 175-211). Routledge.Follesdal, A. (2015). John Rawls’ Theory of Justice as Fairness. In Philosophy of Justice (pp. 311-328). Springer, Dordrecht.Formosa, P. (2014). The role of vulnerability in Kantian ethics. Vulnerability: new essays in ethics and feminist philosophy. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 88-109.

Harfeld, J. L. (2013). Telos and the ethics of animal farming. Journal of agricultural and environmental ethics, 26(3), 691-709.Jasso, G., Törnblom, K. Y., & Sabbagh, C. (2016). Distributive justice. In Handbook of social justice theory and research (pp. 201-218). Springer, New York, NY.Timmermann, J. (2013). Kantian dilemmas? Moral conflict in Kant’s ethical theory.

Senior Management,

Erica Powell

CoverLetter

Global Proposal/

04/08/2019

Senior Management,

As an accomplished professional with many years in this industry, the signs are pointing to making

more moves toward growth. Chick-fil-a has grown over the past 5 years, and developed a major respect

from the consumer. In my eyes the company is at a great position to go global. This proposal will go

over the advantages, and the research to stand behind those advantages.

Chick-fil-a has the original chicken sandwich. Chick-fil-a is not only known for the chicken sandwich,

but the customer service. With reaching out to the northern states, so many other states are wishing to

be gifted with a Chick-fil-a. Going global could give other countries, the opportunity to experience the

delicious food and customer service. The organization has a strong culture background. Closing on

Sundays, and other cultures will be highly respected by other culture’s. The proposal will include:

How the organization’s missions and values will be shown.

How the global change will happen and how.

Why the change should happen

Thanks for taking the time to review my proposal on taking Chick-fil-a to the next level, globally.

Sincerely,

Erica Powell

Bibliography

Chick-fil-a. (2019). Who We Are. Retrieved April 8, 2019, from https://www.chick-fil-a.com/About/Who-We-Are

Thesis Statement on Environmental Issues

Environmental issue

Student’s name

Institution Affiliation

Course Tittle

Professor’s Name

Date

Thesis Statement on Environmental Issues

My Thesis: Climate change, global warming, and pollution are environmental issues that need to be addressed since they affect the community and many nations, resulting in environmental degradation and resource depletion.

My thesis statement focuses on the concern that environmental issues result from several factors such as pollution, global warming, and climate change. All these need to be addressed to avoid further problems and challenges resulting from environmental issues. In my thesis, I can ask several questions that concern environmental issues. To begin with, a question I would ask is, what are the different types of environmental pollution? What is global warming, and how does it occur? I would also want to know how human beings contribute to pollution and climate change cases and the relationship between global warming and pollution. The feedback that I would give myself to help refine this thesis statement is that I need to know how the environmental issues contribute to the culture, politics, and social aspects of a country, the specific types of pollution, and how each of them affects different nations.

Links

https://union.discover.flvc.org/permalink.jsp?45S1319562X2030588X&ISSN=1319562X

https://union.discover.flvc.org/permalink.jsp?45MD002203405

https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/pdf/doi/10.1257/aer.109.6.1991

https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/pdf/doi/10.1257/aer.109.6.1991

theory is a set of concepts

Family Theories

Student’s name

Institutional affiliation

A theory is a set of concepts used to explain, describe and predict how different parts of societies are connected and relate to each other. Family theories place their main focus n the dynamic interactions that exist between family members and describes the changes in the patterns of child-parent relationships and the characteristics of the interactions between families that disrupt development. Looking at the family unit, one realizes that in the social context, it has evolved to support human development. Research reveals that in the 1950s and 1970s families with special needs had different ways of adapting and dealing with the situation (Hamon, & Smith, 2016). Family members were devastated by childhood disability. Children found with disabilities were often termed as defective implying that they suffered severe and immutable deficiencies which brought distress to the family system. This paper is a critical analysis of the use and application of family theories. It is a comparison between the conflict, family systems, and functionalism theory including strengths and weaknesses of each and the relevance to social work practice with families that have special needs and situations.

Family Systems Theory

To understand the family entity, the theory of family systems has been proven to be very powerful. The theory is part of the Functional Theory umbrella hence it shares the same approach of considering the functions and dysfunctions of complex organizations and groups. The family systems theory maintains that the family can best be understood as a conceptualizing because it is a dynamic and complex, and changing collection of subsystems, parts, and family members. Researchers’ interactions with family members are to diagnose where and how the systems of family members work and where they require any interventions or repair. Further, the theory addresses boundaries issues. Boundaries are psychological, emotional, and physical separateness between roles, subsystems, and individuals within the family institutions. It is important to note that boundaries are vital for healthy family functioning. When it comes to treating family members with special needs such as disability, family therapy has proved to be a powerful tool in ensuring a healthier family system. It is important to note that this has both positive and negative effects. Therapy is incredibly helpful as it helps members of the family participate and examine their reactions and actions towards one another and more so the individual with the disability. The family members come together and find a way to support the person who is suffering and needs help. The disadvantage is that helping the individual becomes a challenge especially if some embers are not willing to participate and cooperate in the process or if there are issues with self-reflection.

Conflict Theory

Conflict theorists maintain that families are private entities where family matters are left only to those within the family. The unintended consequence is that many people end up not subscribing to government aid. Many citizens in the United States end up being resistant to government interventions. This is because many parents do not want to involve the government in how they raise their children or get involved in their domestic issues. The conflict theory notes that power plays a key role within the family. It contends that family is not heaven; it is an arena involving power struggles. Power is exercised in how family members perform their status roles. In this theory, researchers found that people with the most access to resources hold more power (White, Martin, & Adamsons, 2018). As such, men had more power because they used to work in paid labor outside the home. Today, although the family unit is becoming more fluid, conflict theorists maintain that disputes occur over issues such as division of labor in the household, a common cause of discord. Since household labor does not have any wages, women end up without power. Studies have revealed that marriages that experience reduced conflict are where men do more housework. In essence, conflict theorists studied the institution of marriage and life that involved inequalities in authority and power as a reflection of the larger structure. One of the strengths of this theory is that when it became popular a few decades ago, it was adopted in analyzing social problems. Although it has proved crucial in understanding politics, private corporate interests have been winning over the public interests. Politics is about finding compromises and competing interests. It is hard to understand the body of politics without the conflict theory, as a shift that has proved detrimental in many ways.

Functionalism

Functionalists maintain that families are an important aspect of social institutions as they play a critical role in society. Families help in stabilizing society. Family members have different status roles within families and marriage. Notably, family and family members play specific functions that facilitate the development and prosperity of society. George Murdok, a sociologist surveyed 250 societies and found that the family performs four universal and residual functions including educational, economic, sexual, and reproductive roles (Waisbord, 2020). In Murdok’s view, the family has the role of regulating sexual relations between people. Murdok acknowledges the existence of extramarital and premarital sex but also alludes that family provides a legitimate sexual outlet for grownups. The outlet is a way for reproduction which is crucial in ensuring the survival of society. When children are born, the family becomes crucial in training and preparing them for adult life. As an agent of enculturation and socialization, the family teaches children how to behave and think through following social-cultural values, norms, beliefs, and attitudes. In some families, parents teach children civility and manners. Parents also teach children gender roles as they are an important facet of the economic function of the family. In each family, each person participates in division of labor that consists of expressive and instrumental roles. Men assume roles outside the home to provide financial support to their families and establish their family status. Women, on the other hand, take up the expressive roles that typically entail work inside the family including providing physical and emotional support for the children. One of the weaknesses of the functionalist theory is that it does not consider how the functions will be performed by other institutions such as the education system rather than the family alone. On the other hand, the functionalism theory explains how society uses social control and socialization to minimize conflict and how various parts of the society carry out different functions to uphold the whole society. Further, it shows how society adapts itself to overcome economic changes and other changes.

Conclusion

Family theories place their main focus n the dynamic interactions that exist between family members and describes the changes in the patterns of child-parent relationships and the characteristics of the interactions between families that disrupt development. The family systems theory maintains that the family can best be understood as a conceptualizing because it is a dynamic and complex, and changing collection of subsystems, parts, and family members. Functionalists maintain that families are an important aspect of social institutions as they play a critical role in stabilizing society. The conflict theory notes that power plays a key role within the family and that it is exercised in how family members perform their status roles.

References

Hamon, R., & Smith, S. (2016). Exploring family theories. Oxford University Press.

Waisbord, S. (2020). Family tree of theories, methodologies, and strategies in development communication. Handbook of communication for development and social change, 93-132.

White, J. M., Martin, T. F., & Adamsons, K. (2018). Family theories: An introduction. Sage Publications.

Manufacturing firms require raw materials in order to make their end products

FACTORS INFLUENCING SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT PRACTICES AMONG MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN CHINA

Student’s name

Course and Code

Instructor’s Name

Submission Date

Contents

TOC o “1-3” h z u 1. Introduction PAGEREF _Toc85457947 h 41.1 Background PAGEREF _Toc85457948 h 41.2 Rationale of the research PAGEREF _Toc85457949 h 71.3 Research aim PAGEREF _Toc85457950 h 71.4 Research objectives PAGEREF _Toc85457951 h 71.5 Scope of the research PAGEREF _Toc85457952 h 81.6 Structure of the report PAGEREF _Toc85457953 h 82.0 Literature Review Introduction PAGEREF _Toc85457954 h 92.1 Sustainable Procurement PAGEREF _Toc85457955 h 92.2 Factors Influencing Sustainable Procurement in Supply Chains PAGEREF _Toc85457956 h 102.3 Adapting to Greener Manufacturing and Procurement Practices PAGEREF _Toc85457957 h 112.4 A Shift in Manufacturing Practices PAGEREF _Toc85457958 h 122.5 Procurement Practices in Chinese Manufacturing Firms PAGEREF _Toc85457959 h 132.6 Understanding the Difference between Green and Sustainable Practices PAGEREF _Toc85457960 h 142.7 Future of Procurement for Manufacturing Companies PAGEREF _Toc85457961 h 152.8 Theoretical Framework of the Research PAGEREF _Toc85457962 h 173. Material and Methods PAGEREF _Toc85457963 h 193.1 Process Flow PAGEREF _Toc85457964 h 193.2 Research Design PAGEREF _Toc85457965 h 203.3 Questionnaire PAGEREF _Toc85457966 h 204. Data Analysis and Results PAGEREF _Toc85457967 h 224.1 Chapter Introduction PAGEREF _Toc85457968 h 224.2 Multiple Linear Regression PAGEREF _Toc85457969 h 224.3 Results Interpretation PAGEREF _Toc85457970 h 245. Discussion PAGEREF _Toc85457971 h 265.1 Discussion of Results PAGEREF _Toc85457972 h 265.2 Implications PAGEREF _Toc85457973 h 265.2.1 Manufacturing Industry in China PAGEREF _Toc85457974 h 275.2.2 Sustainable Procurement in the Global Manufacturing Firms PAGEREF _Toc85457975 h 295.2.3 Promotion of Sustainable Procurement PAGEREF _Toc85457976 h 316. Conclusion and Recommendations PAGEREF _Toc85457977 h 346.1 Chapter Introduction PAGEREF _Toc85457978 h 346.1.1 Restatement of Purpose PAGEREF _Toc85457979 h 346.1.2 Summary PAGEREF _Toc85457980 h 346.2 Recommendations PAGEREF _Toc85457981 h 356.3 Future Research PAGEREF _Toc85457982 h 36References PAGEREF _Toc85457983 h 37

1. Introduction1.1 BackgroundManufacturing firms require raw materials in order to make their end products. Therefore, they have to procure these materials from suppliers. As such, procurement is one of the most important supply chain processes for manufacturing firms. As opined by Wallace et al. (2014), effective procurement helps manufacturers manage their supplier engagement across product life cycles, better. In addition, effective procurement enables firms to become the customer of choice to suppliers. In turn, this helps the manufacturers drive innovation and introduce products to the market faster and with higher margins (Tate, 2014). Effective procurement practices have also been noted by Jin & Price (2019) as a way through which manufacturing businesses can maximize profits. This is done by balancing supplier quality, cost reduction, assurance of supply, as well as, increasingly unlocking supplier innovation. Thus, as the manufacturing environment grows more complex, the procurement function is also growing more strategic in manufacturing firms that need to find new ways through which to optimize the supply chain (Van der Valk, 2008). However, following traditional standard procurement practices alone in the current competitive manufacturing environment alone, may not lead to business success. As noted by Gounden (2016), the current trend for achieving business success is through an all-inclusive corporate responsibility idea of sustainability. In a manufacturing organization, sustainability is supported by sustainable procurement.

According to Tiwari et al. (2019), sustainable procurement is also referred to as an environment-friendly purchasing practice, which aims at reducing the sources of waste. It also promotes the reclamation of purchased materials and their recycling, without negatively affecting their performance requirement. Sustainable procurement is different from standard procurement good practices in that it seeks to verify the eco claims of suppliers and maximize consolidate orders in order to minimize unnecessary environmental impact (Tiwari et al., 2019). The concept of sustainable procurement has gain considerable consideration over the past decade in the scholarly world, owing to the call by environmentalists, especially to businesses, to engage in sustainable process as a way or preserving the natural resources that are getting depleted. As such, businesses operating in various industries are now required to play their role in minimizing their negative impacts on the environment. Therefore, the achievement of sustainability, especially in businesses operating in the manufacturing industry is only possible by ensuring that all the elements of the supply chain are sustainable (Venkatesh & Luthra, 2016). As noted by Islam et al., (2017), sustainable procurement practices are not only beneficial to the environment and the public, but also to the organizations that implement them. To the community and the environment, sustainable procurement practices help in cutting waste, lowering fuel and energy consumption, reducing carbon waste, improving health outcomes, and delivering opportunities for small businesses. To the organizations that implement sustainable procurement, the practice can earn them a sustainable reputation. This is important in a business environment characterized by sustainability-conscious consumers. Therefore, in order to realize these benefits, such firms must deal with obstacles such as the lack of coherent systems, procedures, and approaches, which hinder the successful implementation of sustainable procurement.

Owing to the exigency of sustainable practices in organizations, there has been a growth in the number of studies focusing on sustainable practices. Gounden (2016) established a difference between the factors that affect sustainable procurement within the South African private and public sectors. Wu et al. (2018) also explored the influencing factors of sustainable supply chain management in Beijing China. The researchers admitted that China has an outstanding environmental problem, which needs to be addressed through sustainability practices. Nevertheless, the researchers broadly focused on all elements of the supply chain without singling out procurement. While exploring what makes a sustainable procurement system more effective, Stock & Seliger (2016) noted that transparency, accountability, and establishment of standards are the key factors to a better and more sustainable procurement system. In a more related study, Tiwari et al. (2019) looked into the factors influencing sustainable procurement practices in a Malaysian manufacturing firm. Regulatory and customer pressure were found to be the main elements that encourage sustainable procurement practices in the firm, while regulatory pressure was found to have the highest level of impact on sustainable procurement practices. While these studies underline the significance of sustainable procurement in today’s business environment, they also point to the unavailability of adequate research on the matter, especially in Chinese manufacturing firms. This is the motivation behind this research that aims at exploring the factors that influence sustainable procurement practices among Chinese manufacturing firms.

The reason for focusing on manufacturing firms is because they are one of the industries that mainly rely on procurement. Practically, no manufacturing activities can go on without the procurement of raw materials. In addition, the manufacturing industry is important and successful in China’s economy since production efficiency is extremely high. Also as noted by Li (2018), the manufacturing industry is one China’s most beneficial sectors; the country sells more manufactured goods than any other country in the world. At the same time, the manufacturing industry is a major contributor to the environmental degradation in China. This is because of the number of wastes and toxic materials released into the atmosphere during the manufacturing process. Therefore, by focusing on the factors influencing sustainable procurement practices in Chinese manufacturing firms, this research can shed light on what could be done to boost the implementation of sustainable procurement practices as a way of eliminating the environmental problems that plague China. In addition, the research offers a significant contribution to the world of academia, as well as, to industries. Its findings could become the benchmark of the few empirical studies conducted in the context of Chinese manufacturing industries. In addition, researchers can use the research findings as a reference in their studies on sustainable procurement practices among Chinese manufacturing firms. Besides, the research adds value to the limited literatures in sustainable procurement practices in Chinese manufacturing firms.

1.2 Rationale of the researchThe limited number of studies on sustainable procurement practices especially in China’s manufacturing industry is one the reasons for conducting this study. As noted by Wu et al. (2018), China still has an outstanding environmental problem. Therefore, there is the need to create more awareness about sustainable procurement and its benefits as a way of boosting its implementation, especially in manufacturing firms. Besides, the awareness of the benefits of sustainable procurement to firms could be a trigger for their implementation of the practices to garner these advantages and achieve a competitive advantage over competitors.

1.3 Research aimThe aim of the research is to investigate the factors influencing sustainable procurement practices among manufacturing firms in China.

1.4 Research objectivesThe objectives of the research are:

To establish the factors that influence sustainable procurement practices among manufacturing firms in China

To determine the factor that has the highest impact on sustainable procurement practices among manufacturing firms in China

To recommend ways through which to boost the implementation of sustainable procurement practices among manufacturing firms in China

1.5 Scope of the researchThe research only focuses on procurement practices, which are an element of the supply chain process. Therefore, other supply chain practices are not considered in the research scope. In addition, the research focuses on domestic manufacturing firms in China alone. Thus, other manufacturing firms, including the foreign-owned ones, are not considered. This is because the goal is to shed light on the factors influencing sustainable procurement practices in Chinese-owned manufacturing firms.

1.6 Structure of the Thesis

This thesis is structured in five chapters, as follows: the first part of the study introduces the topic. It discusses the general problem, introduces the research topic, provides the relevance of the topic, explains the objectives and sub-objectives, defines the tasks related to the objectives, and provides the research questions. The second chapter provides a technical review of literature relating to the topic and issues surrounding the same. The third chapter focuses on materials and methods used to collect data. The next chapter focuses on results and discussion of findings, including a proper analysis of the selected topic, independent and analytical presentation of results. Finally, the report closes with conclusions and recommendations and provides direction for future research.

2. Review of the literature

2.0 Literature Review IntroductionIn this section, topic-related references are processed and analysed. The section focuses on what extant literature says about the topic, including but not limited to current issues relating to sustainable procurement for Chinese manufacturing firms.

2.1 Sustainable Procurement

According to the United Kingdom government-commissioned Sustainable Procurement Taskforce, sustainable procurement is the act whereby organizations meet their needs for goods, services, works and utilities in a way that achieves value for money on a whole life basis in terms of generating benefits not only to the organization, but also to society and the economy, whilst minimizing damage to the environment (DEFRA, 2006). This definition shows the great depth to which sustainability takes in the interaction of acquisition process of industries’ raw materials, the manufacturing process, the community, the economy in the area and the environment. From the description above, manufacturing process involves a interdependence process capable of causing effects to every part of the system. The procurement process is in direct interaction with the community and the economy of the country involved. All these aspects are then directly connected to the manufacturing industry which interacts directly with the environment. Dubey and Bag (2018) discuss the paradigm shift of policies towards green economy is forcing the companies to consider the green initiatives seriously. There is a need for the companies especially manufacturing companies to take a proactive approach rather than reactive approach in this aspect. In their research Dubey and Bag (2018) reveal the beneficial expectation for the general shift of the manufacturing industries to the green sources of power and other resources. They go far to analyse the possible outcomes, when this is not considered and the effect it would have to the environment. Among the beneficial points attained on green sources of power is attaining of a more sustaining manufacturing model within the industry. The benefits of a sustaining model of manufacturing is prevalent in the future support of the industry growth where the resources are used with necessity satisfaction rather than surplus wastage.

2.2 Factors Influencing Sustainable Procurement in Supply ChainsStudies by Lee (2008), Meehan and Bryde (2015), and Sajjad, Eweje, & Tappin (2015) introduced the factors influencing sustainable procurement practices in the world of manufacturing to include supplier collaboration, pressure from customers, government-led regulations, competitive advantage, and top managerial involvement and support. Wu et al. (2018) reveal in their investigation paper the current situation of the manufacturing industry and the effects it has caused to the surrounding environment. They further explain that the problematic results from operation of the China’s manufacturing industry is a cause of the implementation of the traditional social and economic development mode which lacked the essence and need of including sustainability in their structure. This explanation refers the neglect nature of many manufacturing industries to the environment. The research goes further to unearth the lack of empirical data to understand the factors that influences the sustainable supply chain in China. From the few sources available however, a structural equation model was used to analyse the questionnaire data of 167 enterprises in Beijing, China. The results show that internal management cognition and government participation has a direct effect on the sustainable supply chain management practice, and internal management cognition has a strong positive influence too (Wu et al., 2018). Involvement of government in terms of policy regulation leads as the most positive and effective way in ensuring all the parties involved are adhering to the set standards and core values in the dynamic relationships between the industries, the economy and the community in general. Basically, this relationship is the unit operation of sustainable structure where one entity is conscious of all the other factors in the system.

2.3 Adapting to Greener Manufacturing and Procurement PracticesWith existing research studies showing the urge of adapting to the green methods of public procurement, Liu et al. (2019) run an investigation of the Chinese local government on this matter using the life-cycle model to develop a comparative research framework on the local government and the green public procurement program. After data processing, the results show that, for local governments at green public procurement introduction stage, their adoption of green public procurement is positively associated with officials’ full awareness of green public procurement regulations and official documents, officials’ full awareness of green public procurement guidelines and procurement lists, and wide coverage of green public procurement subsidy policy (Liu et al., 2019). Therefore, from the investigation we can deduce that the lack of knowledge and proper understanding of the green public procurement, the officials and leaders lack the ability to effectively implement the strategy which is hazardous to the environment. To lead a successful implementation of the green public procurement strategy, according to the investigation, requires a deep and wide knowledge and understanding of the strategy in order to take the necessary steps in order for a well-directed and effective transfer to the green public procurement. From Liu et al. (2019) perspective, for local governments at green public procurement growth stage, improving green public procurement performance is positively associated with officials’ full awareness of guidelines and lists, and wide coverage of green public procurement subsidy policy, while it is negatively associated with low administrative level. The argument of the researchers in this paper insists on the strong determinant, that is profound knowledge on the topic, in ensuring green developments strategies are understood from the root of their importance and adopted effectively into the prevailing manufacturing systems and resource acquisition procedures.

Inspired by the work of Brammer and Walker (2011), Delmonico et al. (2018) carried out a research meant to reveal a number of barriers that stand in the way of implementation of the sustainability procurement. This research activity applies the theory of ecological modernisation to test the hypothesis and unravel the barriers working against effective application of the sustainable procurement methods. According to Brammer and Walker (2011), from the results obtained after the survey of programme managers, the researchers categorized all the results obtained into five distinctive categories which represented the five barriers realized in survey. These five barriers include; organisational culture, motivation, economic uncertainty, market, and operations. Considering the results obtained, that is, the five barriers of sustainable procurement, organisational culture comes out as the most prevalent barrier to sustainable public procurement. A study by Brammer and Walker (2011) shows the depth of organisational culture in working against the basic adoption and implementation of the sustainable public procurement strategies. This behaviour from the organisational culture is promoted by the tendency of the organisation employees becoming reluctant in accepting and implementing a new method of performing duties and activities. Instead, they appear deeply rooted to their earlier methods and refrain from adapting any other method in their operation. The survey reveals cost and budget variables to be least factors influencing the implementation of sustainable public procurement initiatives, rather the survey focuses on the cultural change management as the main recommendation to give an effective development of the sustainability management initiatives.

2.4 A Shift in Manufacturing PracticesA survey carried out among a sample of one hundred and fifty industrial senior administrative officials carried out by Bag, Gupta, and Foropon (2019) showed the role of dynamic remanufacturing capability on supply chain resilience in circular economy. A circular economy in general represents a self-sustaining economy in which the natural resources are reused and recycled within the system ensuring very little is lost as waste. The paper presented, aimed to bring out the effect of sustainable manufacturing methods in influencing the supply chain resilience. This survey was carried out under the moderating effect of control orientation and flexible orientation to help arrive to a more reasonable result. The paper reveals the situation of resources in the current world, whereby Bag et al, (2019), argue an increased pressure on the world’s available resources and due to the strain in resource acquisition firms are adapting to the application of remanufacturing principles and other sustainable manufacturing processes. The survey paper goes further to present the findings and results from the survey. From the results obtained the researchers presented three factors that positively influenced the dynamic remanufacturing capabilities which included the market factors, technical factors and the management factors. Market factors were seen to strongly affect the dynamic remanufacturing capability whereas both technical and management factors seemed to weakly influence the capability of dynamic remanufacturing.

2.5 Procurement Practices in Chinese Manufacturing FirmsLi et al. (2019) presents an investigation paper that uses China-based industries to create and test a theoretical model to determine the driving factors of the green development behaviour and performance in the industrial enterprises. By using the industrial enterprises of China as the research object, Li et al. (2019) conduct investigative interviews on 52 employees in the industrial enterprises for further information gathering. With the information collected from the interviews the researchers build the theoretical models by use of the grounded theory method. By including a total of forty initial concepts, ten initial categories, four main categories and three core categories in the model the researchers were able three major conclusions. These three outcomes draw the importance of the theoretical model in integrating the theoretical concepts with the realist experiences to draw a well-structured illustration of the reality that is bound by realistic principles denoted by the model in lower scale. The conclusions made in the paper included; the existence of green development in an industrial enterprise as observed behaviour expressions, such as clean production behaviour and green supply chain management practice, Li et al, (2019). The second conclusion indicated the existence of green development in an industrial enterprise led to the occurrence of green development behaviour and the third outcome showed that the occurrence of industrial enterprise green development behaviour has led to the consequence of green development of industrial enterprises.

2.6 Understanding the Difference between Green and Sustainable PracticesPrevious research activities have been developed to clarify the complexity relationship between green supply chain management (GSCM) and supply chain quality integration (SCQI). Yubing et al. (2019) describes an investigation model, in their research paper, set to investigate and reveal the relationship between the GSCM and SCQI and their effect on green purchasing and customer green cooperation. The researchers rely on empirical testing of the model using data obtained from a sample of 308 manufacturing companies in China. The results obtained reveals, a positive effect on the supplier and customer quality integration and green purchasing and customer green cooperation. Yubing et al. (2019) results go further to reveal the effect of general environmental improvement in performance as a long-fetch result of supplier and customer quality integration. Yu (2017) explains with an example, that a good customer relationship with the manufacturer and general closeness of the customer and manufacturer helps the manufacturer realize and better understand the requirements and preferences of the customer on green management. This knowledge is useful for the manufacturer to design better green purchasing processes.

From the research, sustainable and green practices all point to preserving of the natural resources and environmental awareness. Green strictly deals with the health of the environment. On the other hand, sustainability is somewhat all-rounded to include economic vitality, social benefits, and the health of the environment. Therefore, as used today, going green would mean every aspect of creating or pursuing environmental-friendly practices. Sustainability in the procurement scene would refer to the practice of ensuring that resources should not be depleted for the benefit of the environment and for future generations.

Considering research carried out earlier in an idealistic move to reveal the factors affecting the implementation of sustainability in procurement. Tiwari et al. (2019) used questionnaire approach in data acquisition from 170 manufacturing industries. The data obtained was analysed using the SPSS platform for sorting and interpretation. The findings portrayed the tendency of the manufacturing industries to follow the sustainable route of organizational operation and acquisition processes. Tiwari et al. (2019) explained the results from their research concluding a general tendency of the manufacturing industries in the area to lack awareness of the green development strategies. Tiwari et al. (2019) pointed out that the unsupervised expectations of the industrial manager to keep strategies and responsibilities, to ensure sustainability in their operations was absent. A lack of motivator mediation presence was met by cold repellent behaviour regarding environmental protection. Tiwari et al. (2019) goes further to explain the ineffectiveness of internal factors of the manufacturing industries. The research work shows the assumption of low profits when sustainability is incorporated into the industries management by the industrial managers. However, for effectiveness in ensuring the manufacturing units adhere to the set rules Tiwari et al. (2019) suggest the incorporation of motivators such as; regulatory pressure and general customer pressure towards the industries. Regulatory pressure however, came out as the most effective of enforcing the sustainability role to all the industry management. The report is concluded by the statement of urge and emphasis to all the relevant personnel, to assume the role of green development within their institutions without the need of motivators since the effect to the environment is felt by us.

2.7 Future of Procurement for Manufacturing Companies

Carvalho et al. (2018) describe a conceptual industrial systemic change during the 4th industrial revolution within Europe as one of the systems that in itself, had the best setting and systemic flow to act in the green development within manufacturing industries. Carvalho et al, (2018), in their research work, explains the basic makeup of the industrial system in the 4th era of industrial change and its integration with advanced technology for proper approximations and measurement reducing waste. The main idea presented in this paper is the formation of an industrial system such that it increases the efficiency of operation in the way that minimizes pollution and waste of resources.

Carvalho et al, (2018), argues that the traditional methods of manufacturing brought about an unsustainable model of production mainly caused by the overall disregard for the environmental issues rather, focus on maximizing profits. Carvalho et al, (2018), paper describes the industrial 4.0 in relation to the sustainability by incorporation of scientific work that supports the sustainability of the system involved. The researcher’s lists a number of advantages of the system of industrial 4.0. Among the advantages presented in this paper, includes the improvement of product life cycle and the integration of the manufacturing process with scientific cyber-physical strategies such as decentralization, virtualization and interoperability. These methods, according to Carvalho et al, (2018), argument, gave the manufacturing process more adaptability to natural resources availability and the extent of environmental cost.

The industrial 4.0 system also incorporates an advanced communication strategy that smooths the lines of communication within the industry and the external factors influencing the industry including the customers, other manufacturers, companies, suppliers and the logistic service providers. The paper is concluded with the benefits that are attached to this system. Carvalho et al, (2018), explains how the system of industry 4.0 uses smaller batches of resources it requires and utilizes its efficiency to ensure the small batch used produces more accurate response to the demand curve of the industry cutting down the production waste. This design is highly dependent of the scientific principles that are incorporated in the idea for efficiency. Interoperability of the machine describes the tendency of a machine used to be able to work long hours and longer life time of service. This principle prevents multiple changes of machinery due to breakdown leading to internal waste, Carvalho et al, (2018). Decentralization ensures promotes time management with ability of decentralized decision making without the need of longer communication to foreign areas on local issues. Virtualization helps in proper tracking of the production process with the aim of avoiding waste that may accrue in the process of lowly monitored system. Real-time capabilities enables the system of the industrial 4.0 model enables faster reaction to a real time hiccup noted in the system. Modularity enables flexibility in the system due to the ability to add components in the system or remove components without distraction. Finally, the principle of service orientation according to Carvalho et al, (2018), enables re-usage and recycling advantages in the system.

2.8 Theoretical Framework of the ResearchBy employing previous studies relating to sustainable procurement practices in manufacturing, the theoretical framework for this study was developed. The aim of the theoretical framework is to create a wholesome view on external as well as internal factors influencing the implementation of sustainable procurement practices for Chinese manufacturing firms. The following hypotheses are proposed on the basis of the theoretical framework:

H1. Supplier collaboration has a significant and positive relationship with implementation of sustainable procurement practice.

H2. Customer pressure has a significant and positive relationship with the implementation of sustainable procurement practice

H3. Regulatory pressure has a significant and positive relationship with implementation of sustainable procurement practice

H4. Competitive advantage has a significant and positive relationship with implementation of sustainable procurement practice

H5. Top managerial support has a significant and positive relationship with implementation of sustainable procurement practice

Image 1: Theoretical Framework of the Research Study (Source: Adapted from (Lee, 2008) and (Meehan and Bryde, 2015)

3. Material and MethodsThe research techniques and strategies that are adopted to facilitate the realization of the study’s objectives are described and justified in this research chapter. They include the techniques relied upon for sampling of respondents, collecting data, and analysing it.

3.1 Process Flow

Figure 1 shows the structure and process used for the methodology. The process identifies motivators of sustainable procurement in manufacturing. The literature review was conducted to identify the current trends in sustainable procurement and the relationship this has with man