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There are many initiatives that can be taken by businesses in managing or addressing sustainability issues and they are discussed in this paper. Among them re energy efficiency & lower carbon footprint, water management, air emission reduction, chemical management, waste management, biodiversity conservation, land-use & adaptation, human rights and reporting & assurance. The recommended corporate citizenship approach by Newsiest will include biodiversity, land management and chemical management initiatives.
Malaysia’s rainforest’s is known to be one of the most bio diverse systems in the world and therefore it is suggested that Newsiest adopts a biodiversity initiative to preserve and conserve the flora and fauna. Since Newsiest Australia already practices site taxation action plans that incorporate measurement, monitoring and reporting, the management by having proper chemical management policies. We conclude this paper with a summary of the approach that should be taken by Newsiest responsibilities in Australia and in Malaysia with Justifications and a summary of the key rationale of the choice. 2.
Introduction Newsiest Mining Limited (Newsiest) is evaluating the prospects of expanding its gold mining operations into Malaysia. The sustainability team had, on 20 April 2013, submitted to Senior Management, a country briefing paper (Appendix 1) regarding sustainability issues in both countries. The paper highlighted key economic indicators, the political and regulatory framework, socio-cultural characteristics and key sustainability challenges; and concluded that legal initiatives and standards on sustainability issues in Malaysia are not as advanced as in Australia, although there is a rising public concern in this matter.
Based on those initial findings, the team recommended that the current practices, standards and technology used in the Australian operations be adopted in Malaysia should Newsiest decide to expand into that market. This report provides additional information and attempt to design a framework and make recommendations to address the sustainability challenges that Newsiest may face in Malaysia. 3.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CARS) CARS is concerned with how corporations make and use their profits, their philanthropic and compliance activities, management of the economic, social and environmental implications, and stakeholders’ relationship (Harvard 2008; Appendix 2). It is the ethical and discretionary/philanthropic obligations/responsibilities placed on corporations by stakeholders and society that extend beyond their economic and gal responsibilities (Carroll and Shebang 2010).
Corporations are increasingly under pressure to be socially responsible, not Just to their shareholders but also to other stakeholders. Businesses can benefit when they undertake CARS activities (Appendix 3). Like its definition, the theoretical aspects of CARS are Just as complex, unclear and controversial. There are many CARS theories, and current approaches are focused on ‘meeting objectives that produce long-term profits, using business power in a responsible way, integrating social demands, and contributing to a good society by doing what is ethically correct’ (Garcia and Melee 2004, p. 5).
In this report, 3 theoretical CARS perspectives are presented (Appendix 4): * Classical – focus on meeting shareholders needs. Corporate citizenship – businesses have a social role to administer individual citizenship rights and recognizes their social, economic and environmental responsibilities. Newsiest is recommended to adopt the corporate citizenship perspective. Maintaining positive relationship with stakeholders is critical to Newscaster’s vision to be the ‘miner of choice’ and continuous operations. Underpinning stakeholders’ relationship is 2 core values: working together and caring about people.
Newsiest invests long-term into the community, focusing on education, health and agriculture, to create a better environment for business in all countries where Newsiest operates, (Newsiest 2012). Furthermore, Malaysia is making progress in CARS, with government initiatives like the “The Silver Book” for government-linked companies and CARS framework for public-listed corporations that describe CARS actions beyond philanthropic or compliance activities (Norway 2012). There is rising CARS awareness among the community (Appendix 1). It is also important to consider the approach to be undertaken to implement.