Skills Analysis for International Supply Management - Research Proposal Example

Research Skills Assignment Background The extent and impact of global climate change has become a big issue to policy makers and implementers across the world. As a result of man-made green house gas emissions, high levels of climate change have caused a dramatic change in the global economy. Carbon emissions are the largest sources of green house gases. It is produced by the combustion of fossil fuels which are significant sources of energy across the world. Combustion of fossil fuels usually occurs in combustion engines, industries and utility boilers. Carbon emission reduction policies therefore focus on the restriction of these activities. However, these efforts of carbon emission reduction may result in certain costs on economies. Gaskins and Weyant (1993) suggests that it is necessary to determine the costs associated with the control of carbon emissions. The research gap that arises from this is that researchers need to identify the most appropriate implementation strategies to be taken in order to ensure that the policies of carbon gas emissions are effective in reducing its impact on climate change. Carbon emission reduction policies and including carbon tax and other strategies have a significant impact on issues of climate change. Research also shows that the reduction of carbon emissions may have an impact on economies. For example, Oates (1995) suggests that even though carbon taxes increase government revenue, there are social welfare costs that may be incurred by other people in the economy. The existing tax system of countries concerning carbon emissions may be damaging in terms of equity and efficiency. Therefore, research needs to be done to understand how carbon emission reduction policies can be implemented effectively to reduce its equity and efficiency costs in the economy. According to Dinwoodie et al (2013), carbon emission reduction policies lead to the reduction of oil shipments. This agrees with the perspective of past research and theories about carbon gas emissions. The Pigouvian taxes provided a good way of reducing the impact externalities in the economy. However, it ignored the issue of tax revenue. Oates (1995) argues that carbon taxes create double dividend such that the carbon taxes increase social welfare by reducing carbon gas emissions to desirable levels and increase revenue. The author concludes that pollution taxes create an improved tax system and enhance environmental quality. Jamieson (1992) uses an ethical perspective to explain the issue of global warming. The author argues that the problem of climate change is influenced by how people live and relate to each other and the rest of nature. Public policy and ethics should therefore be part of the solutions to climate change and carbon gas reduction. International climate policy is currently concerned with the reduction of green house gas emissions through energy efficiency, renewable sources of energy, and other strategies that encourage low-carbon emissions (Jamieson 1992). However, the carbon reduction strategies are not the only solutions to the problem of climate change. Efforts have been made towards the adoption of fast-action regulatory measures that aim at producing climate response within decades. One of the fast-action measures is to phase down the consumption of hydrofluorocarbons and chlorofluorocarbons (Molina 2009). Winkler and Marquard (2011) further provide the implication of an alternative carbon reduction policy – carbon tax. The authors argue from a theoretical perspective that the principle of equity requires households to be shielded from unnecessary burden caused by externalities. The tax package and incentives given to the poor to shield them from burdens need to provide benefits to them rather than adding more burdens to them. It is therefore necessary to study more about how carbon reduction policies can be implemented in order to ensure that people can benefit from the policies rather than incurring additional costs. 2. Research Question and Objective The research question of the research is “How are carbon emissions policies including carbon taxes implemented to effectively reduce its costs in the maritime shipping industry?” Its accompanying research objective is – to determine how carbon emission policies including carbon taxes may be implemented to effectively reduce its costs in the maritime shipping industry. The question and the objective of the research were formulated based on the idea that control and reduction of carbon gas emissions may cause some costs in the economy rather than solving the issue of climate change. After a keen look on the past research, it is clear that most researchers agree on the fact that green house gas emissions cause climate change. Reduction of such emissions may therefore reduce the impact of climate change. However, such efforts may also lead to certain socio-economic costs. For example, Dinwoodie et al (2013) argue that the policies of carbon emission reduction reduce oil shipments significantly. This means that the policies cause costs that affect economic efficiency negatively. There should be a way that these policies should be implemented to enhance the effectiveness of their outcomes. This creates a gap for further research which raises the question above. The objective of the research is also based on the same premise. This objective is pursued because it provides a good direction towards the reduction of costs associated with carbon gas emission reduction policies. It is important to achieve this objective because it forms a platform upon which environmental policy makers can achieve environmental sustainability while at the same time reducing welfare and economic costs associated with carbon emission reduction policies (Teeter & Cleary 2014). This objective was derived from the research question that seeks to fill the research gap that exists in terms of carbon gas emission, whereby research has found the ways of increasing the benefits of the policy but has failed to find ways of addressing its associated costs. 3. Secondary Sources of Data Obtaining this data will be influenced by ethical rules, controls and policy regarding the use of data. a. Ethical Rules, Controls and Policy The main secondary source of data for this research will be obtained from the Lloyd’s List. The data will include reports, news, market statistics and regulations of the shipping industry of the Maritime. The use of data is guided by various rules, controls and policies. Ethics is important in obtaining data from secondary sources. It determines what is right or wrong in obtaining data that has been used by other people. The control of how people obtain information from secondary sources ensures that researchers are accountable to various stakeholders (Elofsson 2010). For instance, data sharing policies, confidentiality rules and policies on research misconduct should be taken into consideration when obtaining secondary information. An ethical way of obtaining data helps to promote the aims of the research by enhancing independent and objectivity of the research. Data obtained from secondary sources should be used only as a source of information to guide the research and not as the basis of final outcome of the research (Yliskylä-Peuralahti & Gritsenko 2014). The use of secondary research to write one’s own work amounts to plagiarism which is both an academic dishonesty and unethical research practice. Data obtained from secondary sources should only be used as a source of information needed by the researcher for analysis. Universities, governments, and professional associations have developed codes, policies and rules that encourage research ethics. One of the ethical principles of research ethics related to data collection is honesty. Researchers are required to report data from secondary sources honestly. When collecting data, researchers should not fabricate, misinterpret or falsify the data. Another principle is objectivity (Yliskylä-Peuralahti & Gritsenko 2014). In this case, the researcher should avoid bias in terms of data analysis and interpretation. Integrity is also an important ethical principle of research. It ensures that the researcher is sincere and consistent in data collection. b. Usefulness of Lloyd’s List as a Source of Data This source of data is an important source of data in quite a number of ways. One of the ways is to study the regulations of the Maritime shipping industry and how it is used to enhance carbon reduction in the shipping industry. The research may start by providing an overview of the regulations concerning carbon gas emissions as contained in the secondary source. The study then compares the regulations with its outcome. As the carbon emission policies are put in place, its effects are studied in terms of their level of impact (Robertson et al 2014). Trends of change in the amount of carbon gases emitted in the shipping industry are obtained from the selected source. This will indicate whether the policies have any impact on the amount of gases being emitted. In order to show the impact of such policies on the costs of shipping, the data on the number of Maritime shipping and news on the impact of such policies will be studied in the website. The news and reports concerning the impact of carbon gas reduction policies on the costs of Maritime shipping industry. From this source, data on shipping operations will be used to determine the effect of carbon emission policies on costs of shipping. This will indicate how the policies can be implemented in order to improve the operations. Opinions and views of shippers will also be extracted and analyzed to show the impact of carbon emission policies on their shipping operations. For example, one of an environment minister opinionated in the website that ignorance is not bliss for shipping (Lloyd’s List 2012). This suggests that all shippers need to be educated in order to reduce the costs of emission policies on shipping operations. 4. Conceptual Model The figure above demonstrates the conceptual framework of how carbon reduction policies can be implemented. From the figure, four factors are key aspects of implementing the policies: collaboration among stakeholders, education and training, fast-action regulatory measures, and integration of departments in the shipping business. Carbon emission policies have already proven to be successful in the reduction of carbon emissions. However, their effect on welfare and overall costs of ships can only be achieved only if all these items are included in the implementation of carbon emission policies (Parsons et al 2011). The implementation of carbon reduction policies especially carbon tax policy requires the collaboration of different stakeholders including businesses, customers, government and the community in general (LaBelle 2012). In this case, the government should include all stakeholders in the determination of the carbon tax that will ensure that the tax burden is not only directed towards the emission of carbon emissions but only ensures that businesses do not incur unnecessary costs in terms of carbon gas emission reduction. Businesses understand their gas emission levels and if they are involved in the implementation process they may become a significant source of noble ideas that will enhance reduced costs of carbon emission reduction policies. Various shippers, merchants and business people involved in industrial businesses should be trained about how to implement various carbon emission reduction policies in order to avoid its resultant costs (Lloyd’s List 2012). Ignorance about the carbon gas emission reduction policies causes lack of knowledge about the efficient utilization of resources; hence causing cost increase in terms of shipping and other related businesses (Hildreth & Torbitt 2010). Training is also needed to ensure that all stakeholders involved understand the impact of the tax policies on business, consumption and other socio-economic aspects of the community. It is also clear that the integration of various departments in various businesses and concerned environmental institutions makes the implementation of carbon gas reduction policies to be effective in the reduction of gas emissions as well as prevention of economic and social costs associated with the policies (Rubin et al 1992). When various departments are integrated, collaboration among stakeholders will be more effective and communication among various implementation teams will be easier; hence achieving the cost objectives of the implementation (Garrett 2014). Carbon reduction policies should be implemented at every level of the shipping organisation starting from the top level to the bottom level. Members should communicate these policies across departments through collaboration and lateral communication to ensure that there is sharing of ideas concerning the reduction of carbon gases. Lastly, carbon emission reduction policies can be successfully implemented by using fast-action regulatory measures. These measures should target maritime shipping companies for short periods within a decade, e.g. 2-3 or 5-10 years. This includes phasing down certain hydrofluorocarbon and chlorofluorocarbon within that period. This target ensures that the organisations involved work within a specified period of time in order to utilize resources effectively to achieve that milestone (Teeter & Cleary 2014). As a result, costs of shipping operations are minimized. References List Dinwoodie, J., Tuck, S. and Rigot-Muller, P. 2013. “Maritime Oil freight flows to 20150: Delphi Perceptions of Maritime Specialists”, Energy Policy, Vol. 63, pp. 553-561. Elofsson, K. 2010. “The Costs of Meeting the Environmental Objectives for the Baltic Sea: A Review of the Literature”, Ambio: a Journal of the Human Environment, Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 49-58. Garrett, M.E. (2014). Encyclopedia of transportation: Social science and policy. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc. Gaskins, Jr. D.W. and Weyant, J.P. 1993. Model Comparisons of the Costs of Reducing CO2 Emissions”, The American Economic Review, Vol. 83, No. 2, pp. 318-323. Hildreth, R., & Torbitt, A. 2010. “International Treaties and U.S. Laws as Tools to Regulate the Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ships and Ports”, The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 347-376. Jamieson, D. 1992. “Ethics, Public Policy, and Global Warming”, Science, Technology, & Human Values, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 139-153 LaBelle, M., 2012. “Constructing post-carbon institutions: assessing EU carbon reduction efforts through an institutional risk governance approach”, Energy Policy, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp. 390–403. Lloyd’s List. 2012. Ignorance is not bliss for shipping. Accessed December 13, 2014 from http://www.lloydslist.com/ll/sector/regulation/article390925.ece. Molina, M. 2009. “Fast-Action Strategies complement CO2 emissions reduction”, Black Carbon e-Bulletin, vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 1-4. Oates, W.E. 1995. “Green Taxes: Can We Protect the Environment and Improve the Tax System at the Same Time?” Southern Economic Journal, Vol. 61, No. 4, pp. 915-922 Parsons, J., Dinwoodie, J., Roe, M. 2011. “Northern opportunities: astrategic review of Canadas Arctic icebreaking services”, Marine Policy, Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 549–556. Robertson, K., Garnham, M., & Symes, W. 2014. “Life cycle carbon footprint of the packaging and transport of New Zealand kiwifruit”, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Vol. 19, No. 10, pp. 1693-1704. Rodrigues, S.M., Glegg, G.A., Pereira, M.E. & Duarte, A.C. 2009. “Pollution Problems in the Northeast Atlantic: Lessons Learned for Emerging Pollutants such as the Platinum Group Elements”, Ambio: a Journal of the Human Environment, Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 17-23. Rubin, E.S., Cooper, R.N., Frosch, R.A., Lee, T.H., Marland, G., Rosenfeld, A.H. and Stine, D.D. 1992. “Realistic Mitigation Options for Global Warming”, Science, New Series, Vol.257, No. 5067, pp.148-149+261-266. Teeter, J.L., & Cleary, S.A. 2014. “Decentralized oceans: Sail-solar shipping for sustainable development in SIDS”, Natural Resources Forum, Vol. 38, No. 3, PP. 182-192. Winkler, H. and Marquard, A. 2011. “Analysis of the Economic Implications of a Carbon Tax”, Journal of Energy in Southern Africa, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 55-68. Yliskylä-Peuralahti, J., & Gritsenko, D. 2014. “Binding rules or voluntary actions? A conceptual framework for CSR in shipping”, WMU Journal of Maritime Affairs: the International Journal for Professionals in Maritime Administration, Industry and Education, 13, 2, 251-268. Read More