Differences between Waste Management and Rubicon Global Corporation - Case Study Example

Waste management/ Rubicon global Affiliation Waste management/ Rubicon Global Section I Waste Management Inc. is a company that deals with waste management, environmental services and comprehensive waste in the United States. The major objective of the organization is to minimize waste while at the same time maximizing efficiencies. This is achieved disposing waste in an environmentally friendly manner that is fundamental to the communities around the company. Besides waste management, the organization is the leading developer, owner and operator of landfill gas to energy facilities and waste to energy in the United States. The corporation falls under the standard for-profit corporation because besides working towards assisting the community in waste management they still make profits out of the business. A standard for Profit Corporation, on the other hand, is a corporation that is owned by its shareholders meaning that stock issued by the organization is subject to securities laws. This means that these corporations are made solely to make profits for their shareholders. In relation to taxes, the standard for profit corporations pays their taxes on the profits of the corporate tax rate. The owners, on the other hand, pay taxes on profits paid to them as salaries, bonuses and dividends. The second organization that will be addressed is the Rubicon Global Corporation. The Corporation is the leading provider in recycling and sustainable waste solutions where it provides comprehensive waste stream solutions that enable the organizations to reduce operating expenses, save money and implement recycling programs through recycling and waste initiatives (Chatterji, Levine, & Toffel, 2009). Rubicon Global is independent in its work where the organization does not own any landfills and asset-light, haulers or even recycling operations. The main objective of the organization is to save money and time when it comes to waste management. Being a Certified B Corporation the organization has led to the growth of the economy because the B corporations strive also to use their power and influence to solve environmental and social problems affecting the society. Therefore, Rubicon Global is a certified benefit corporation because it aligns with the core values of a Benefit Corporation, which requires that a business should be conducted with higher legal accountability standards while ate he same time meeting the transparent and comprehensive environmental and social performance standards. A benefits corporation or a B-corp. is a form of corporation for profit corporate entity that includes positive influence on the environment and society, as well as, profits, which are legally their defined goals. The major difference between B-corps and traditional corporations is in relation to accountability, purpose, and transparency, but not when it comes to taxation. Therefore, the major point of a benefits company is to create public benefit, which is mostly definite as a material affirmative impact on the environment and the society. This essay will examine two corporations one from the B-corporation and the other from the S-corporation and compare and contrast them in relation to social corporate responsibility. To determine how best these two companies can be compared, it is important to come up various attributes that can be used to examine two organizations being that they have different goals and objective even though they are in the same line of business. They include a commitment in the sense that the organizations should be committed to ensuring that they are doing everything in the interest of the community. Secondly, there should be community engagement in decision making because the decisions made in the end will affect them in one way or another. Thirdly, the initiatives done by the corporations to the community should be relevant in the sense that they should not only be done just to show the community that they are trying in ensuring that they achieve corporate social responsibility. The initiative should be of value to the community. Additionally, there should be accountability for the acts of the managers and the board of directors when it comes to the performance of the corporation. This is because it should not only be all about making the profits it should also be about ensuring that the community deserves to have the best (Nevin, Rao & Martin Jr, 2014). There should be appropriate treatment of employees in the sense that the employees of the organization should work in conducive environments , and they should be paid reasonable salaries and wages. The significance of this attribute is to ensure that while the employees are working they should not be thinking of ways of making more money for themselves, but on ways of the making the community environmentally and social responsible and safe. Rubicon Global being a benefit corporation has achieved the attribute of commitment in the sense that the corporations core values are to be passionate about the people , and they are fierce advocates for their customers. This means that their customers come first before anything , and they do everything with the interest of their customers at heart. This indicates their commitment to the environment, as well as, the social nature of their work. Rubicon Global same as Waste Management Inc. is an organization that is dedicated and committed to the American communities in ensuring that they gather waste and reuse or recycle it as energy, which is further used by the community. Such levels of commitment from the two companies can be attributed to the fact that -they are set in creating a new industry in the market that is set in nourishing life. The two organizations are also similar in the sense that, their level of accountability and transparency is high considering that the Waste Management Inc is governed by the securities laws ensuring that the board of directors conform to the basic requirements of ensuring that they do not go ultra vires to the objective of the corporation. The two corporations although they differ they have the same interest when it comes to the community , and that is the reason there is the engagement of the community in decision-making process. In the sense that , even though it is not every individual who can be allowed to share their opinions to the corporations the two organizations have opened a forum where they are willing to learn new ideas that may be beneficial to the society. Thus, by so doing, they ensure that they leave the world in a better place than they found it, which is a very important attribute (Porter & Kramer, 2006). In the case of Waste Management Inc., they made their contributions by donating $35,000 to the Sugarbush preserve. This was one of their philanthropic gesture showing that they cared about the environment , and the Sugarbush should remain undisturbed for the future generations to see. According to Steve Batchelor, he stated, "As environmental services company, Waste Management is committed to contributing to projects that are beneficial to the communities it serves." This gesture indicated that the corporation was willing to do anything for the community as long as it was a form of preserving their natural heritage (Waste Management Inc. 2003). There is also the attribute of relevance in the two organizations because their initiatives are solely based on the growth and development of the community by reducing waste management. For example, Waste Management Inc. as an organization ensures that their works remains relevant in the society by introducing or advancing technology in order to reduce waste, creating safer disposal and treatment options, as well as, developing renewable energy in order to help the community. Additionally, they share the relevant information they have learned on innovation with their clients to help in advancing the community green campaign in relation to waste management (Crowther, Aras & Ebrary Inc., 2010). Rubicon Global on the other have the similar objectives where they ensure that their work in the society remains and is relevant to the best of their ability, especially in areas where they ensure that their major is not to make benefits for themselves, but for the society. For example, they have an initiative that they call the zero waste where they believe that all discarded materials should be designed to become resourceful by recycling, reusing or turning it into energy. Although these are an objective, that is yet to be achieved they are making an initiative of making a reality, and that is the reason they formed the United States Zero Waste Business Council. Lastly, the two organizations have the similar attributes when it comes to treating their employees. By so doing, they ensure accountability and profitability, especially for the standard for profit organization as the employees have the best working conditions and the salaries and wages they make do not require them to find other means t o look for money. The employees can decide that because the employer is not providing the needed services for the term of employment they may use the organization resources to enrich themselves. However, in the case of the two organizations they have done their best to ensure that their employees have health benefits and other benefits that come with working for such organizations. This gives the employees no reason to steal from the employer, which is the community as the waste is gathered from the community. Section II Rubicon Global as seen earlier is an Beneficial corporation whose main aim is to ensure that it meets that standards set by the board in meeting the needs of the communities when it comes to resolving issues of waste management. As an independent corporation, Rubicon Global has the following objectives. First, it aims at continuous performance monitoring and fast communication as well as reduced data management through the use of innovative technology. Secondly, it aims at providing the best leadership that not only serves the community, but the employees who work in the corporation. Additionally, the corporation focuses on The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, which is a rating system that provides standards for reducing adverse environmental impacts of buildings. Thirdly, the organizations aim at providing quality services to their customers where each customer receives a team of advocates who are solely dedicated to their businesses. This is done by providing and employee engagement and education strategy. This implementation strategy allows employee total participation, which is an integral part of ensuring that waste diversion is completed successfully (Idowu & Leal, 2008). Lastly, Rubicon Global works towards helping their clients reach the targeted sustainability goals allowing them to earn a maximum profit using minimal profits. Because managing waste and sustainability data from different sources across one organization can be cumbersome and at time inefficient to do in-house the organization assists its clients in collecting, interpreting and analyzing data allowing them to easily quantify their savings, as well as, measure their sustainability impacts. Although the organization has done a good job in ensuring that the levels of sustainability have been achieved it is correct to state that despite their success in the business they are faced with various constraints. First, being an independent corporation with nowhere else to get their resources they have a burden to ensure that their clients get the best products with the little resources that they can provide. Secondly, unlike the Waste Management Inc. that is a standard for profit organization the Rubicon Global has obligations to its shareholders to ensure that they bring out the best they can and the fact that they are not exempted from any taxation rules makes it harder for the organization to reach its full potential (Perrini & Vurro, 2006). Lastly, the society expects too much from Rubicon Global making it hard for them to make any mistakes while implementing their policies. Waste Management Inc. is governed or is driven by various goals and objectives, which make the organization prosper in all its endeavors. The main objective to ensure that the needs of the client or the customer comes first before their own. This means that before they make any profits for the stakeholders they have to ensure that the needs of the client are first catered for to allow continuity and sustainability of the clients. Secondly, the organizations aims at using the recent technology to collect data and make reports to the clients at their earliest convenience ensuring that they understand their levels of sustainability, as well as, they areas they should improve on in relation to waste management (Munoz, 2010). The corporation aims preserving areas that are of natural heritage , and that can be used to preserve the environment and improve the social standards of the people. Lastly, the organization aims at improving waste and ensuring that all waste is recycled or reused or used in the form of energy. In the case, of Waste Management Inc. few constraints can be seen; however, one that is clear is that they have to make adequate profits to ensure that the shareholders get their equitable share through bonuses and dividends among others. Additionally, they have to ensure that the supply and demand of their products are equal in the sense that it reaches all individuals that are in need of their products. The firm that does best in meeting their objectives and living by their constraints is Rubicon Global. This is because the organization independently strives at ensuring that all their clients needs are meet without having to rely on other sources of income. Additionally, their objectives are well structured to ensure that they do not put too much pressure on the organization not to allow them to meet the standards required by their customers. Additionally, the achievements attained by the organization are great to show that despite the standard in the corporate region they have the ability to be socially and environmentally responsible. References Banerjee, S. B. (2007). Corporate social responsibility: The good, the bad and the ugly. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. Chatterji, A. K., Levine, D. I., & Toffel, M. W. (2009). How well do social ratings actually measure corporate social responsibility?. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 18(1), 125-169. Crowther, D., Aras, G., & Ebrary, Inc. (2010). A handbook of corporate governance and social responsibility. Farnham, Surrey, England: Gower. Idowu, S. O., & Leal, F. W. (2008). Global Practices of Corporate Social Responsibility. Berlin: Springer Berlin. Maignan, I., & Ferrell, O. C. (2004). Corporate social responsibility and marketing: an integrative framework. Journal of the Academy of Marketing science, 32(1), 3-19. McWilliams, A., & Siegel, D. (2001). 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