CARBON EMISSIONS

Carbon Emissions

Carbon Emissions

Introduction

Carbon is a widely distributed element on the Earth. Pure carbon in one form is graphite. It can also take the form of diamonds after undergoing tremendous pressures and heat in volcanic pipes. Carbon is the basic atom in organic chemistry. Because carbon has four electrons, which can be joined to other atoms, it is able to form an enormous number of compounds. Some are simple and some are complex. The ones that matter the most to the issue of global warming are those that become involved in the chemistry of climate change. (Hough, 2007)

The most common carbon compound that is involved in global warming is carbon dioxide (CO2). It is a very common emission from a wide variety of sources. Humans and animals, including birds, all exhale CO2 when they breathe. On the other hand, plants use CO2 as an essential part of the process of photosynthesis. Plants lock up tremendous amounts of carbon in trees, shrubs, grasses, and other plant materials. When these are buried, they can, under the right conditions of heat and pressure, become natural gas, oil, coal, peat, or other carbon remains.

Grocery Supply Chain

Market forces in the present day business dynamic, require that customer service and satisfaction take priority over all other key performance indicators of an organization (Arlbjørn & Halldorsson, 2002). Given the intensity of competition among businesses, improving business performance through higher customer service has become an absolute top priority. Quickly responding to customer needs has provided a new motivation for businesses to improve their processes and design leaner operations (Womack and Jones, 1996).

For retail businesses, specifically grocery businesses, quickly responding to a customer's needs has become a total necessity (Zinn & Liu, 2001). However, this change in business paradigm for grocers has brought out new challenges that require low-to-no inventories and reduction in costs for all trading partners. This research also examines the grocery industry of the service sector in UK markets to analyse the adoption of new philosophies for quickly responding to British customer demands through sound supply chain management (SCM) practices.

Supply chains in food industry offer an interesting challenge (Arlbjørn & Halldorsson, 2002). This challenge revolves around managing demand at the point of sale (POS) and analysing information generated through POS at various retail outlets. Essentially, the problem is one of managing inventories in face of changing customer needs. Contrary to manufacturing businesses, backordering is not a viable option for any grocery business. Hence, smart management of inventory to quickly respond to consumer demand becomes the focal issue in retail business supply chains. It is a challenge that must balance forces of continuous replenishment of products at POS and various costs associated with producing and delivering the product. As noted by Quigley (2000), knee-jerk reactions cannot solve supply chains woes. In fact, for grocery businesses, such reactions will increase inventory costs, an option not acceptable in the highly competitive markets of grocery industry. This complex grocery business environment has led to a rethinking of SCM practices in food ...