Essay 2: CSR in Agility Logistics

Introduction

Logistic is very important not only for business companies, but also for government and ministry of defense. In this report, I am going to discuss about the information, significant events, goal and mission, evaluation of the goal and mission, and my reasons to desire working in Agility logistics.

COMPANY INFORMATION

“Agility Logistics was established in Kuwait in 1979” (About us, 2011). In 2004, Agility grew to be the largest logistics providers in the Middle East, and roughly emerge internationally to acquire more than 550 offices in 100 countries (About us, 2011). Their line of business consists of two parts which are global integrated logistics (GIL) and portfolio businesses. Global integrated logistics consists of supply chain solution, freight forwarding, warehousing, distribution, project logistics, fair and events, fuels, and chemicals (About us, 2011). On the other hand, portfolio businesses consist of defense and government services, and infrastructure. Defense and government services provide logistics to government, ministries of defense, and international organization. “Agility infrastructure group of companies manages commercial and industrial real estate, offer solutions in customs optimization and clearance, waste manage and recycling, aviation services, remote infrastructure, and life support” (About us, 2011).

Significant Events

Agility Events:

·         2 December 2007: Agility Awarded Contract for Disposal of DoD Unserviceable Equipment (Investor Events, 2011)

·         22 September 2008: Agility Wins Contract To Provide Kuwait National Petroleum Company With 4PL Services (Investor Events, 2011)

·         7 October 2008: Agility Wins $19 Million Contract with CNTPO (Investor Events, 2011)

·         16 August 2011: Clarification from Agility (Investor Events, 2011)

Agility CSR Events:

·         2008: Recycling Globally in Agility offices, Elementary School Renovation in Indonesia (Our Work, 2011).

·         2009: Manila floods in Philippines, Agility Hong Kong participates in the International Coastal Cleanup Challenge (Our Work, 2011).

·         2010: Pakistan floods, Haiti earthquake, Chile earthquake, running for cancer research (Our Work, 2011).

Goal and Mission

The Agility goal: “to be a new type of logistics leader meeting the challenges of global trade” (About us, 2011).

The Agility mission: “to facilitate trade through innovative supply chain solutions” (About us, 2011).

According to Mariam Al-Foudery, Vice President, Communications & Corporate Social Responsibility of Agility Logistics “Giving back is core to our culture. Employees at all levels take participation in our global social responsibility agenda seriously and personally.", giving others and volunteering in events shows commitment and dedication to the society, environment, and country.

Evaluation of Goal and Mission

Analysis of the goal: the company desire to distinct themselves from other logistics companies. To be so, they need to recruit high-qualified employees, who hunger for success, can think outside the box to innovate and create new ideas, and can handle working under pressure to achieve the company’s goals. Also, they must provide high-quality equipment. However, they need to think on the amount of salary they are going to spend on those employees and tools to be a unique company. Moreover, they want to bravely face the challenges and eliminate them and to do so, they need to hire a great manager who is able to overcome the difficulties his team will face in their work. Furthermore, the company is looking to expand after they excel in their region; however they need to consider the culture and economy of the country they are going to bring their business to. Also, they need to consider whether they are going to face a competitor and how aggressive they need to be.

Analysis of mission: the company aims to ease and simplify the logistics process to both employees and customers. To do so, the company needs to hire smart and skillful employee who are able create a new routine that simplify their colleague’s work.

Questions

1.      What do you think of Agility’s approach to CSR? Is it alright to spend investors’ money on humanitarian efforts?

In my opinion, I believe that agility approach to CSR is very important and shows how they care about humanities. Agility has establish a very clear strategy were it has three main priorities which are disaster relief, sustainability and community volunteerism. As the company expand and grow bigger, the company thought of how they can use their power and energy to the greater good for humanity. So, they provide a humanitarian disaster relief for those who suffer from natural hazards, such as Pakistan floods in 2010. Also, the company tries to improve sustainability in their work operation to avail energy to the next generations. Furthermore, Agility likes to participate in volunteer work, such as vocational rehabilitation for paralyzed veterans. And, I believe it is alright to spend the investors’ money in humanitarian efforts as it will raise the company reputation worldwide. It is going to be known to the world as hero that is a help seeker for those who need to be supported. Also, it will increase their business among companies and countries due to the ethical view.

2.      Visit agility’s website, www.agilitylogistics.com, and go over the CSR section. Does the company do a good job in reflecting its CSR activities? What most catches your attention on this website?

Agility has exceled their organization for their corporate social responsibility activities. They have prioritize and organized their activities and wasn’t just a random work. Their main priorities were “provide humanitarian disaster relief, support employee-led community programs, and improve sustainability of their own and customers’ operations”  (Social Responsibility, 2011). And what catches my attention wasn’t just keeping records of the enormous effort they have done to the society, but also their planning to benefit society in the future and their ingoing work progress, for example, Agility did not just only make all of their offices go green and save energy, but also encourage customers, employees, industry partners and NGOs to save energy. Because the energy resources will not last forever and we need to save energy for the next generations.

3.      Also from the above website, download Agility’s Code of Ethics and Conduct. What is the company’s policy regarding gifts? Can employees accept small monetary gifts from outsiders? How about non-monetary gifts? Do you agree with such policies? Explain.

“The Agility code of ethics regarding gift is to not encourage or solicit gift either on their own behalf or on behalf of members of their family or friends, any gift, gratuity, or other personal benefit or favor of any kind from a current or anticipated supplier, vendor, jobber, agent, consultant, customer or competitor of Agility” (Agility Code of Business Ethics and Conduct, 2011). “Any gift that has values, such as money, merchandise and products, and also discounts on personal services and purchases are strictly prohibited for employees to accept it” (Agility Code of Business Ethics and Conduct, 2011). However, unwanted non-monetary gifts are accepted only “when they are items of insignificant value and do not go beyond common courtesy and accepted business practice” (Agility Code of Business Ethics and Conduct, 2011). In my opinion, I encourage such strict in the part of gift, because it eliminates any conflict and problem that can be caused due to personal interest. Also, it could eliminate skepticism or suspicion between employees when a certain employee receives a gift from a client. Furthermore, the principle of integrity will be representing the company among clients and other companies.

Summary

In my opinion, I would like to work with Agility Logistics Company because their work environment will improve my personality. I would love to work with colleagues who are always getting the job done no matter the circumstances. Also, I would like to witness how Agility employees work under pressure as it is my weakest point. Furthermore, I would love to participate in the company’s corporate social responsibility events to improve my social skills and encourage myself to participate more in the volunteer work.

Conclusion and Recommendations

In conclusion, this report discussed about the information, significant events, goal and mission, evaluation of the goal and mission, and my reasons to desire working with Agility logistics. If anyone is looking to work in a challenging place and loves to participate in volunteer work, I recommend that person to join the Agility Logistics Company.

References

Agility Code of Business Ethics and Conduct. (n.d.).  Agility - A New Logistics Leader. Retrieved November 9, 2011, from stage.agilitylogistics.com/pdf/codeofEthics.pdf

About us. (n.d.). Agility - A New Logistics Leader. Retrieved November 9, 2011, from http://www.agilitylogistics.com/EN/Pages/Agility_About_Us.aspx

Investor Events. (n.d.). Agility - A New Logistics Leader. Retrieved November 9, 2011, from http://www.agilitylogistics.com/EN/Pages/Agility_IR_News_and_Events.aspx

Our Work. (n.d.). Agility - A New Logistics Leader. Retrieved November 13, 2011, from http://www.agilitylogistics.com/EN/Pages/Agility_CSR_OurWork.aspx

Social Responsibility. (n.d.). Agility - A New Logistics Leader. Retrieved November 9, 2011, from http://www.agilitylogistics.com/EN/Pages/Agility_Corporate_Social_Responsibility.aspx

Summary of "A Bright Idea within Reach "

Reserves organic fuels in UAE are difficult because it will eventually run out and scientists have found a renewable energy source that can be an alternate to the fuel reduction. Dealers were mainly exporting the solar panel because these products had a small market in the UAE. Also, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority did not have a policy on the use of solar panels which was another factor for the small market of solar power equipment. Solar power can have a great effect in the country’s economy, and environment other than being a great alternative for the reduction of fossil fuel. As the population expands, the need of renewable and sustainable source of energy should rise because fossil fuel cannot last forever.

Reference:

Shalini John (January, 2005). A bright idea within reach. Gulf News.

My Reflection to the Course

               After having around three months in academic writing and reading 1, I have learned many things that improved my learning skills through this semester. I have learned how to find and highlight main ideas in an article, make notes to the important information, and summarize an article. Without acquiring the previous skill, I would not be able to write an essay that requires reading articles to get information needed to support my topic. Also, I learned that plagiarizing meant claiming other people’s information to be you. Plagiarism can lead to legal suit and in HCT student case plagiarism can lead to expulsion. To avoid plagiarism I learn that I could rewrite other people ideas but in my own words after understanding the ideas and highlighting the main points. Also, I was able to take the information that I cannot change and use it as quotation. Moreover, I learned how to use in-line citation and how it can make the appearance of my essay be a bit professional. Before, I did not know how to reference the information that I get, but now I learned how to reference any kind of information, for instance, books, magazine, newspapers, websites, and databases.  I learned how to use useful websites, such as bibme that had eased my work during this semester. Also, I learned how to find useful information from credible sources, for example, HCT library databases. In conclusion, the academic writing and reading course was very useful to me because it taught very useful learning skills that I can use them in my life.

Word count: 261

Essay 1: Water Filtration/Purification

Even though our planet contains a large portion of water, which is around 71%, the percentage of drinkable water doesn’t reach 3%.  With the huge daily consumption of water, and lack of responsibility and awareness, the fact of losing all drinkable water is inevitable. From the concept of “necessity is the mother of invention”, people started to look out for the ideas of making sea water drinkable. Water purification is a process that takes more than one phase to convert the sea water to drinkable water. In this essay, I will write about the early history of water purification, development of water purification and present of water purification.

In 2000 B.C., ancient Greek and Sanskrit (Indian) writings illustrated purifying water by heating. The main purpose of water purification is to have better water taste for the reason that people could not differ between pure water and foul water. Also, people did not know if the water were free of contamination.  (Enzler, S, 2011). “Centuries later, Hippocrates also believed good taste in water meant cleanliness and purity of that water” (The History of Water Filters. 2011). Hippocrates used his own crude water filter which was a cloth bag. He used the cloth bag to pour water after it has been boiled. This process will trap sediments that cause the bad taste and smell. 

With centuries pass on, people created and developed methods for water filtration. In the 1800’s, the method of sand filtration was prompted to purify water. . At first, Scottish scientist brought the method of slow sand filtration to United Kingdom. The main disadvantage of slow sand filtration was requiring frequent cleaning. Due to the increasing desire of having pure water, “scientists in the United States designed a rapid sand filter in the late nineteenth century” (The History of Water Filters, 2011). “The rapid sand filter was cleaned by powerful jet streams of water, greatly increasing the efficiency and capacity of the water filter” (The History of Water Filters, 2011).  The sand filtration was created to remove pollutants from storm water runoff, control from storm water quality, and provide limited storm water flow rate (Storm Water Technology Fact Sheet Sand Filters, 2011). It consists of three chambers. The first chamber removes floatable and heavy sediment. The second chamber filters the runoff pollutants through the sand bag. The third chamber discharges either direct to the surface or through the drainage system.

Nowadays, people are still developing and creating methods for the water purification process. In 2007, Abu Hussam created the Sono arsenic filter which helped to purify the ground water from the arsenic element. People earlier did not know that ground water contained arsenic which affected their health and shortened their lives. Also, desalination method removes salt from either seawater or ground water. The process required heating salted water and forcing it through membranes to remove unwanted salts (Eckhardt, G, 2011). Moreover, there is a major concern that the water provided from the municipal were contaminated with Iron due to the way it transported. This concern was aiming to eliminate any probabilities of contaminate drinkable water and may lead to ‘change the plumbing system.

In my opinion, the water purification process is a very essential to the humanity, and the life itself can change dramatically without it. This essay discussed about the early history, development and present development of water purification. People should be grateful for the enormous efforts of finding ways to provide drinkable water. Furthermore, scientists are still looking for new method to convert undrinkable water to the best drinkable condition.

References

Eckhardt, G. (n.d.). Desalination. The Edwards Aquifer Website. Retrieved November 8, 2011, from http://www.edwardsaquifer.net/desalination.html

Enzler, S. (n.d.).  History of water treatment.  Water Treatment and Purification - Lenntech. Retrieved October 30, 2011, from http://www.lenntech.com/history-water-treatment.htm

Future of Water Purification - Water Purification Methods - Waterfiltering.com. (n.d.). Water Filtering - Water Filter Products. Retrieved November 8, 2011, from http://www.waterfiltering.com/purification-methods/future-water-purification.html

Storm Water Technology Fact Sheet Sand Filters. (n.d.). Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved November 7, 2011, from www.epa.gov/owm/mtb/sandfltr.pdf

The History of Water Filters. (n.d.). The History of Water Filters. Retrieved October 22, 2011, from http://www.historyofwaterfilters.com/ 

Summary of Riches Await as Earth's Icy North Melts

            Businesses are waiting for the countdown of the results of global warming in the North Artic. Even though global warming has a negative effect on environment, wildlife, and ancient culture which is preserved with ice; countries are competing to gain the valuable materials from the ice melting. Melting of Arctic ice will provide with oil, gas, mineral, fish. Also, it made other shipping paths that can ease and accelerate their shipping's time. Countries around the arctic ice are sending warships to those ice islands to make others feel their existence and tried to solve any conflict peacefully. In the last ten years, countries started to notice the great economic effect of the ice melting and started to initiate their work towards the beneficial effect of global warming. United States, Canada, Russia, Denmark, and Norway are the main countries who are trying to get the best profit of the ice melting in North Arctic.

References     

Mellgren, D. (n.d.). Riches await as Earth's icy north melts - USATODAY.com. News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com. Retrieved October 16, 2011, from http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-25-melting-north_N.htm

Summary of Desert Survival

Bedouins try to survive in the desert by finding water and shelter. They are using wells to navigate and find the direction of water. They evolved the ability of tracing clues to predict the location of water. Even though the process of digging a well takes time and effort, mostly they find water. Bedouins use sheepskin to purify the sea water. In worst scenario, Bedouins take water from camels and goats or use the milk of those mammals to survive. Losing even a little dehydrated portion can load to death, so Bedouins have to adjust to the heat of the desert to avoid losing their life.

Summary of Pupils Find the Internet "a Poor Learning Tool"

Students believe that learning from traditional methods is better than using the internet. This goes against making information technology the core of learning. Even though using technology is enjoyable, it very poorly serves in learning. Students believe that anyone can write anything on the internet, and it may have very simple or complex material for learning. Nowadays, computer and the internet are used daily and almost in every subject. But, students are complaining about the kind of behaviors that rise when there is a group work related to technology. The Ministry of Education disagrees and believes that computers are helpful for learning.