Question

How do ecology, pollution, environment and other terms impact on business environment

Answer 1

AO2 You need to be able to: Demonstrate application and analysis of knowledge and understanding Command Terms:These terms require students to use their knowledge and skills to break down ideas into simpler parts and to see how the parts relate: Analyse, Apply, Comment, Demonstrate, Distinguish, Explain, Interpret, Suggest

AO3 You need to be able to: Demonstrate synthesis and evaluation. Command terms these terms require you to rearrange component ideas into a new whole and make judgments based on evidence or a set of criteria. Compare, Compare and contrast, Contrast, Discuss, Evaluate, Examine, Justify, Recommend, To what extent

AO4 You need to be able to Demonstrate a variety of appropriate skills. Command Terms These terms require you to demonstrate the selection and use of subject-specific skills and techniques: Annotate, Calculate, Complete, Construct, Determine, Draw, Identify, Label, Plot, Prepare

Environment issues

A key area of corporate social responsibility is the impact that a firm has on the environment and this may attract significant media coverage.

There is a tendency to assume that this impact is mostly negative. However, business may have positive impacts on the local environment and national environment. For example, firms fund improvements in the local infrastructure and provide community facilities. They may improve the environment by taking derelict sites and redeveloping these to provide local amenities.

However, much of the focus on this aspect of the external environment will always be on pollution and other negative effects of production. These are called 'negative externalities'. and include:

Congestion caused on the use of local services - roads etc.

Noise - noise is also a form of pollution and many forms of business activity are noisy

Air and water pollution - a side effect of many production processes is pollution of some form, though there are often options to minimise these side effects.

Use of non-renewable resources - many processes use fossil fuels or other non-renewable resources. These are by their very nature un-replaceable and so will have a serious impact on future economic activity.