The Union of Baltic Cities Commission on Business Cooperation

The companies in the city are exposed to a very tight competition and because of this can help manage your business well and submit bankruptcy of government

“Businesses are an integral part of the communities in which they operate. Good executives know that their long-term success is based on continued good relations with a wide range of individuals, groups and institutions. Smart firms know that business can’t succeed in societies that are failing—whether this is due to social or environmental challenges, or governance problems. Moreover, the general public has high expectations of the private sector in terms of responsible behavior. Consumers expect goods and services to reflect socially and environmentally responsible business behavior at competitive prices. Shareholders also are searching for enhanced financial performance that integrates social and environmental

A city contributing to sustainable development invokes a different set of actions according to Satterthwaite (1997), as this compels populations to make tangible changes in consumer behaviour or government structure, which consequentially fosters harmonization between social, economic and environmental goals. This understanding supposedly leaves less room for interpretation, as the city’s actions are to follow a set of

Module: Economics and Business Environment Subject: Business Environment Academic Year: 2011/2012 Semester: 1st Lecturer: Assist. Prof. Mariana Murzova

One of the main themes advanced in the class is the emergence of cities as global leaders, which we have also referred to as “the rise of cities.” Cities are becoming globally competitive and playing a larger role in international relations. Cities are also becoming leaders and finding solutions to problems such as poverty and climate change that nations have either been reluctant to tackle or have failed to make progress on. Atwell provides a few examples of cities participating directly with other nations or global cities in international relations. One of these examples is the City of Chicago working with the City of Mexico to establish a partnership in fields such as trade,

The unprecedented growth in trade, investment and technology over the last 50 years has led to the economic, political and cultural integration of the world that today we recognise as globalisation. The accelerated rate at of this process is having overwhelming consequences in the life of individuals, organisations, countries and the environment. Likewise, these forces are leading to a change in people’s sense of belonging, adding an additional sense of responsibility for mankind and the planet as a whole. Business is no exception.

Many of the world’s largest companies own land and have ties with endless communities, so corporations are the forefront of social and economic change that will determine if our society can become sustainable. Since multinational business run the world, sustainability within business is a way to initiate major change in terms of our society’s opinion and commitment to sustainability. As Richard T. Watson states in his book Information Systems, “organizations are the major force for innovation in most societies, and corporations in particular are major change agents” (Boudreau). This statement supports the theory that a company’s decisions within itself can and will determine the societies in which it is located. Some corporations are taking major steps towards becoming sustainable within themselves, therefore starting the change within our whole society. Understanding that corporations strongly determine our economy which is heavily correlated with our society makes it clear that businesses must be sustainable if we ever want our culture to be sustainable.

Based on the history of the EU it is easy to see how diverse and complicated it can be to effectively do business or deal in politics with the nations of the EU. However, the region has managed to develop a highly synergistic business environment. The ability to create stability in region has been accomplished even with such variations of culture,

Boundaryless Behavior
- Initiatives aimed at strengthening GE individual business, create “integrated diversity”
- Open, anti-parochial environment… sharing ideas… remove the barriers among engineering, manufacturing, marketing, sales etc
- Be as comfortable doing business in Budapest as Louisville, and erase group labels as “salaried”
- Wanted to quickly learn from each other, “integration model,” develop a model guided the actions of managers, realigning the organization and remove blockers

Eastern Europe has never had a stable political atmosphere compared to the Western countries, which can be observed as a major threat to any MNC trying to penetrate this market. Most of these countries were under a communist regime and have gained their independence rather recently (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Macedonia became independent in early 1990’s, by separating from Yugoslavia, and Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus gained their independence in 1991, with the fall of Soviet Union). The influence of communistic philosophy, therefore, can explain the difficulties these countries were facing when they tried to integrate and approach the West.

In relation to evaluating a possible entry to the Belarus market and the consequences of such a move, one must first understand the dynamics of the Belarus business environment and which ones Unibrew would be able to benefit from. To structure

American businesses wield much political powers. This has been there for quite some time. Prior to the Civil War, some Americans worried less about the power of businesses. This was partly due to the fact that firms at this time were relatively small. This restricted the powers of the proprietors to local political arenas. When multinational corporations emerged in the late 19th Century the role played by businesses in the political scenes completely changed.

During the course of this Master’s of Business Administration experience from the University of Charleston, we have had the incredible opportunity to meet with business leaders that operate in world class facilities abroad as well as right here at home in West Virginia. The two facilities that we were able to visit in West Virginia were the Gestamp and NGK organizations. These two organizations are both phenomenal partners with us here in West Virginia and have many things in common, but also many differences. This short essay’s intent is to explore these in some detail.

The rapid growth of the economies of Central and Eastern Europe is largely based on modern technologies and advanced business services. As a byproduct of this success, these industries generate great demand for office space. In Poland, the company not only constructs office facilities, but also roads, bridges, residential developments, conference venues, and cultural and sports facilities, and employs 8000 people. Skanska has long been aware of the investment potential of this market. Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania are responsible for over 50% of the entire Skanska group’s global revenue from the sale of office space. In 2014, Skanska commenced cooperation with JCommerce in the framework of solutions which support the building of office space and monitoring the profitability of investing in this region of Europe.

In the case study, “Harbin: Moving on from central planning,” I will introduce the history of the city, which is the capital of the Heilongjiang in northeastern of China (McKinsey &Company). The city faces significant challenges, including but not limited to shortage of skilled workers with sufficient training, a government-dominated economic system, and decision-making corruption under the state-owned enterprise system. Furthermore, I will present the unethical and immoral challenges the city faces, such as child labor, unethical marketing practices, severe child labor abuses, water pollution, and lack of corporate social responsibility. I will conclude that, in order for Harbin to move from this struggle to a modern city, there should be a corporate and government social responsibility, the city must adopt environmental sustainability laws and develop a free market not dominated by the government. In addition, there should be a corporate social responsibility and disclosure of information should be mandatory. For example, Corporate has a social responsibility to promote social justice and disclose any information concerning the environment, air quality, water quality, the health and the safety of their employees.