Interviews with sustainable organizations

Contents

Economic College BuzauDescription and history………………………………………..page 3Criteria for sustainable organization - Table ………………….page 4

S.C. Euroins S.A.

Products and resources……………………………………….page 9Initiatives for workers well being…………………………….page 9Economic Dynamism…………………………………………page 10

S.C. Kaufland S.C.S

Description and history………………………………………..page 12Criteria for sustainable organization - Table ………………….page 13

Raiffeisen Bank S.A.

Description ……………………………………………………page 17

Criteria for sustainable organization - Table ………………….page 18

S.C. Ursus Breweries S.A.

Description ……………………………………………………page 22Criteria for sustainable organization - Table ………………….page 23

S.C. AGRICOVER.SRL

Criteria for sustainable organization - Table ………………….page 26

Economic College Buzau

Description and history The history of our school begins with the Commercial High School for boys established in 1922. It

is important to mention its progressive evolution: from 311 pupils in 1938 to 552 pupils in 1954 when it was dissolved. In the scholar year 1966-1967, The Economic High School - Buzau came into being again. After 1989, the Economic High School developed a lot having 1350 pupils, in specialized classes of high-school, vocational school and after high-school studies. In 2000, our school was named Economic College having 1584 students and at present it has 1425 students. The aims of our educational tasks are given by the future jobs of those who attend our classes: for the high-school (the branch of services): technician for financial and commercial activities, technician for public administration, technician for tourism and public foodstuff; for the vocational school: shop-assistant, barman, waiter, cook, and confectioner.

In 1995, our school was included in the programme 9405 PHARE-VET RO as a demonstrative school, which led to a professional training of students at a high level, in accordance with the evolution of the labour market in Romania. In 2001 we applied for another 3 year project – PHARE (we could equip laboratories for Informatics, Economic subjects) The two buildings of the school were modernized.

Starting with 1991 the students and teachers of the school have been taking part in many national and international projects and educational competitions – Junior Achievement program, Educatia 2000+, Socrates - Comenius, Leonardo, Youth. There are more than 200 students that participated in different projects in Austria, Belgium, Italy, Spain, England, Germany, Sweden and Poland (“Comparison between youth culture in Europe”, “For greater chances of employability on the labour market in Romania”, “Intercultural understanding”, “Support for the economic growth through infrastructure development and ICT training courses for teachers“, “Environment On-line”, "ETLCLS - Enhancement in Teaching and Learning Computer and Language Skills", “Global Teenager Project”, “International Fair for Training Firms”, “ Global E-business”, etc.).

The constancy that we have had in developing European Programs made many teachers of different subjects took the opportunity given by Socrates programs - Comenius, Arion, Grundtvig- to participate in training courses in France, Denmark, Greece, Turkey, Russia, Ireland, Italy, Austria – improving their way of teaching, getting closer to the European dimension of education, becoming aware that all the students need the same education for being prepared for the future Europe. Every year we celebrate the European events, Comenius week, 9th May - Day of Europe, Spring Day, Francophonie for keeping alive the European spirit. Our students participate in the competition “Public Speaking” organized by Rotary Club, they constantly meet European personalities either on-line organized by European Schoolnet or directly in the school club for European integration “We and Europe”. The students participating in the Club are responsible for

the issuing of the school magazine “We and Europe” that reached its 14-th issue, getting the first prize at the school magazine competition.For our efforts in providing the students a European education the Romanian Ministry of

Education together with the European Commission awarded our school – the only one of the whole district – the distinction “European School”, in 2004 and 2007m the distinction European Label in 2003 and 2006.

We are interested in taking part in as many programmes and partnerships as possible, at a local, national, European level, so that our students should have the advantage of being educated according to the European standards, in order to improve their knowledge in the economic branch and comply with the economic demand on the European labour market.

Criteria for sustainable organization - Table

Nr CRITERIA YES NO OBSERVATIONSRESOURCES X

1 ENERGY SAVING X The institution saves electricity. Light is used only in the evening (after 5 or 7 pm, depending on the time of the year) and in the morning (between 6 and 8 A.M., depending on the time of the year) and in rainy periods when natural light is not enough. Computers are closed during breaks and they are in stand by during class if they are not used at that time.

2 WATER SAVING X Public drinking water reservoir is running in manual mode when using. Water used for cleaning the institution is also saved.Water used for hygiene (in the institution bathrooms) is used responsibly -taps are turned off after use.

3 WASTE RECYCLING X Each hall of the school is equipped with recycling bins (for metal, plastic and paper).

4 MATERIAL REUSE X The school participates in environmental programs (in the programs suggested by the education ministry that proposed the development of the civic education, and the optional ones), programs where waste are compacted and then

send to special institutions. These recyclable materials are turned into materials such as synthetic fibers.

5 ECO-FRIENDLY

PRODUCTS

X Most products are eco friendly, even most electronics.

6 ECO-FRIENDLY PACKAGING

X Most are not biodegradable packaging (such as plastic bags).

Active measures for the avoidance of waste

X There are always activities, meetings (often) that try to aware students (even teachers) of these kinds of things.Even some obligatory curriculum activities for the students (like simulated firms) purposes and sustain this kind of measures.

Do they support any environmental or social organization actively, or have even founded one?

X School support many organizations and programs ecologically. One of these programs in the school is involved is LET'S DO IT ROMANIA.The school support environmental policy and educates in this direction.

Have they received awards for special commitment

X “The Drops of Life” (World Environmental Day 2007) - as a world premiere in the country for the efforts on environmental protection.

Is the office/ workplace easy to reach with public transportation?

X There is at least one buss station (for the city buss) and at least one buss station (for the other localities or out of the city) on less than 100 m form the school.

Do workers/ staff come by public transport, bike, car pool and are they encouraged to - or do all arrive in individual cars?

X Most come by car.There are some employees who bring bicycles but no specially designated spaces that encourage this.

PEOPLE/WORKERSINITIATIVES FOR WORKERS WELLBEING

7 NURSERY SCHOOLS FOR KIDS

X Yes, it is one right by the school (less than 50-30 m).

8 HOLIDAYS (NUMBER OF DAYS IN A YEAR)

X 1) Christmas holiday –> 24 December 2011- 13 January 2012

2) The Holiday between semesters

3) Easter holiday – 7 April 2012- 22 April 2012

4) Work Day -01 May 2012

9 GIFTS/INCENTIVES X Yes, diplomas or public news, teachers are usually supporting even if the material base is weak.

10 SPECIAL BONUSES X11 RELAX FACILITIES X The school has park benches.12 CANTEEN/CAFETERIA X There is only a school store.

13 SPECIAL RECOGNITION/REWARD (NON MATERIAL)

X Allays the good initiatives are reworded by the students and the teachers, and even the local media, with gratitude.

Is the working environment pleasant and healthy (good chairs; green plants; no smoking..)?

X There are usually good chairs and green plants in most classrooms, but not enough.

14 OTHERSECONOMIC DYNAMISM

15 SALES/PROFITS - -16 ADVERTISING X Promoting videos, flyers, school magazine.17 WAYS OF SELLING

PRODUCTS (DOOR TO DOOR, BY POST, TV,INTERNET)

- -

18 CONTRIBUTION TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT (JOBS, LOCAL PRODUCTS, SPONSORSHIP OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES, ETC.)

X There are activities that includes students and teachers that help the community ( for example: charity work, found raising, restoring local monument) and that supports students to get a job.

If they produce something, do they pay attention to the suppliers' environmental consciousness?

- -

Do they outsource, or produce in the country?

- -

Do they make sure their materials were not made by children, or under very bad working conditions?

- -

S.C. Euroins S.A.

Products and resources 1. Type of products they sell: services of assurance

2. Eco friendly products: The firm of assurance doesn’t affects the environment and her products and services are friendly with it(with the environment).

3. Energy saving in the firm: The firm receives energy from the organizations specialized on delivering energy.

4. Water saving: Specialized organizations are delivering to the “Euroins” company, the residual water the company needs.

5. Reusing materials: The company “Euroins” concluded a contract with “RER Buzău” which collects the reusable wastes from the company and ,then, they are recycling this wastes.

6. Waste: The same answer as the question 5.

7. Packaging: The firm works only with services; it doesn’t exists products and, therefore, it doesn’t exists packages.

8. Suppliers:-working conditions: The society has a very close and payable cooperation relationship with her suppliers.-avoiding children labour: The firm has only matures and weather beaten employees; we can talk about a cooperation with lyceum students/students when they have periods of practice in the society.

Initiatives for workers well being9. Nursery school for kids?: The society doesn’t have the obligation to ensure to it’s employees a place on a kinder garden for theirs kid/kids.

10. Holidays (days in a year): 3-14 days for the employees which do a nice job for the company. Apart from the days of holiday, the employees can get a promotion.

11.Gifts-incentives: Gifts offered at the legal holidays.

12. Special bonuses: Special bonuses are applied to the best employees.

13. Relax facilities: The firm of assurance doesn’t offer relaxation treatments; the firm offers only paid holidays of repose.

14. Canteen-cafetaria: The firm of assurance doesn’t have in it’s composition a canteen.

15. Work place-healthy?: Yes.

16. Managers-subordinated relations: The firm has some managers and between them and the employees exists subordinated relations.

17. Organisation and hierarchy levels: The society has a organizational structure and five hierarchy levels.

18. Job location easy to reach?: Yes, it is very easy.

19. How do workers go to work? Transportation? The employees use the service car to go to work.

S.C. Kaufland S.C.S

Description and history Kaufland is a German hypermarket chain part of the same group as Lidl and Handelshof. It opened

its first store in 1984 in Neckarsulm and quickly expanded to become a leader in what was formerly East Germany. The chain operates over 1,000 stores in Germany, Slovakia, Bulgaria,Croatia and Romania.

In Romania, Kaufland has 17 hypermarkets operating and few others waiting to be opened.Kaufland is present in Romania since 2005, and in 2009 was 872 million euro business locally, is

the second largest chain of hypermarkets as Carrefour, after sales value.Average number of employees of hypermarket Kaufland is 150.In august 2010 Kaufland have opened 53 hypermakets.

In Buzau is open one hypermarket Kaufland, but in October 2012 will open another one in the city.In Buzau, Kaufland offers to its clients a big parking, quality products, a department of fresh meat

and the guarantee of the best price. The policy of the company is to pay clients for waiting to much time at the pay desk and accepting the return of the products with no additional questions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Germany

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Germany

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neckarsulm

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Handelshof&action=edit&redlink=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidl

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany


Nr CRITERIA YES NO OBSERVATIONSRESOURCES

1 ENERGY SAVING Yes

2 WATER SAVING Yes

3 WASTE RECYCLING Yes At Kaufland, they collect as many materials as well use cardboard, paper, wood, polystyrene, organic waste and scrap which they then recycle.

4 MATERIAL REUSE No

5 ECO-FRIENDLY

PRODUCTS

Yes


yes


Yes

Do they support any environmental or social organization actively, or have even founded one?

No



Yes

Do workers/ staff come by public transport, bike, car pool and are they encouraged to - or do all arrive in individual cars?

Yes The workers come by public transport.



No


Yes - They have a few days for Christmas, Easter

9 GIFTS/INCENTIVES Yes

10 SPECIAL BONUSES yes11 RELAX FACILITIES No12 CANTEEN/CAFETERIA yes - Employees have a special

place to dine and drink coffee


No


Yes


15 SALES/PROFITS Yes -around 100 000 €/week16 ADVERTISING Yes - kaufland advertised by leaflet

newspaper that they share weekley home.

17 WAYS OF SELLING PRODUCTS (DOOR TO DOOR, BY POST, TV,INTERNET)

No


No


Yes


Yes

Do they make sure their materials were not made by

Yes

children, or under very bad working conditions?

Raiffeisen Bank S.A.

Description Raiffeisen Bank S.A. is a top universal bank on the Romanian market. The Bank provides a

complete range of high quality products and services to private individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large companies.Raiffeisen Bank is a major player on the cards market - it launched the first co-branded card, the first multifunctional chip credit card and offers a complete range of debit and credit cards, for companies and individuals, in local or foreign currency, for international or national use, type Visa or Mastercard.

On the corporate side, Raiffeisen Bank services companies with an annual turnover exceeding EUR 5 million, public entities and financial institutions. The corporate customers are also serviced through dedicated regional centers established in major cities, this way the customers receiving consultancy services and tailor-made products from their dedicated banking specialists throughout the entire country.


n° criterias Roumanie firm's name Raiffeisen Bank

n° criterias Roumanie PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 1 Type of products they sell

2

Eco friendly products :

- Long lasting?

- Recyclable?

- High quality?

No

No

No

3

energy saving in the firm :

- producing

- delivering

- obtaining resources

No

No

Understanding the impact of energy efficiency on profitability is an important question in its own right given the high costs often involved in the adoption of energy saving techniques by firms.

4

Water saving :

- producing,

- in the company facilities

No

Yes

5 Reusing Materials

6

Waste :

- avoiding

- recycling

Yes

Yes

7

Packaging :

- as little as possible

- recyclable

No

No

The Bank has partnerships with local local paper recyclable firms.

8 Suppliers

- working conditions- avoiding children labour

The proper environmental workplaceYes

n° criterias Roumanie

n° criterias Roumanie nom de l'entreprise - firm's name Raiffeisen Bank initiatives for workers well being 11 nursery school for kids ? No12 holidays (days in a year) 2813 gifts - incentives No

14 special bonuses Bonus 50 RON for every child (1st. of June)

15 relax facilities The proper environmental workplace.16 canteen - cafeteria No 17 Workplace - healthy? The proper environmental workplace.

18 managers - subordinated relations Relations of subordination and cooperation

19 organization and hierarchy levels

20 Job location easy to reach? The branch is situated near to the center of the city in a crowded place.

21 How do workers go to work? Transportation? By walk and with public transport.

n° criterias Romania nom de l'entreprise - firm's name Raiffeisen Bank ECONOMIC DYNAMISM

30 sales evolution

The expenses increased by 3% as a result of higher contributions to the Deposit Guarantee Fund and the VAT hike. The cost / income however has improved, reaching 63.1%, compared to 64.5% in 2010, primarily due to increased revenues.

31 profit evolution Bank has obtained a net profit of 96

n° criterias Romaniamillion euros in 2012, up 16% compared to 2011, when it was 83 million.

32 ways of selling products

The Raiffeisen Bank experts give you specialized consulting, whether it is a new home, refurbishing the existing one, purchasing of a land or obtaining a personal loan.

33 contribution to local development

Raiffeisen group is set to invest in the development of some projects with a sale value of at least 20 million euros, and funds for Romania are unlimited.

34 relocation ? The bank has opened several branches in Buzau.

35 sustainability awards received

Raiffeisen Communities Grant Program has obtained first prize at category "sustainable business practices" In 2012;"Bank of the Year 2011" "Financial Market" and "Business Arena Store");"The most dynamic bank in 2011" "The greenest bank in Romania in 2011""The largest number of new clients enrolled in internet banking in 2010"The credit card sold in 2010" product Raiffeisen credit card MasterCard Standard "The most successful programs in 2010 co-branded" credit card co-branded Raiffeisen Bank "The best dynamics of lending in 2010”

36 willingness to share information

Raiffeisen Bank has a network of 540 outlets throughout the country, that service approximately 2 million customers, aut of which almost 100,000 SMEs and 6,800 large and medium-sized companies.They proved that they have the necessary willingness in sharing the information to costumers.

S.C. Ursus Breweries S.A.

DescriptionUrsus Breweriesis part of SABMiler PLC Group, one of the world's leading brewers, operating

across six continents. Ursus Breweries is one of leading brewers in the Romanian market as well, this is why I chose to visit it..

First I was impressed by the size of the building and the activity in the courtyard. Then, as I was visiting the building, I realized that it was not a safe place for someone coming there unaccompanied; we always had to pay attention to the forklifts that were passing by with speed. I have to say that I was a little bit scared even if I wasn’t by myself there.

The people I talked to were very polite and the man who showed me the whole company was very patient. He took me to see all the equipments and he explained me the purpose of each machine, how it should work and the process of production.

What I liked the most was to see the bottling process. Unfortunately, that day only one line of production was working, the plastic bottles one (pets). It’s interesting to see all the stages of this process, starting from an empty small plastic bottle to big bottles of beer wrapped in pallets. The difference from what goes in and what goes out is significant, a 5 inch bottle becomes a 15 inch bottle full of beer.

The production process is automated. I was surprised to see that only a few people were working in the entire building. There were only 5 or 6 people at the working line and they were actually supervising. Then I found out that the whole company had a number of only ~300 employees.

Ursus is a big company which sponsored in the past the national football team and which is currently sponsoring the national rugby team.

Visiting this company was something I wanted to do since I was a child. I was impressed by it and I liked what I saw. I can say that I would like to visit it again when all the lines will be functional and, why not, I would like to work in a company like this in the future.


n° criterias Roumanie firm's name Ursus Breweries PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES

1 Type of products they sell Foodstuff, alcoholic drink

2

Eco friendly products :

- long lasting ?

- recyclable ?

- high quality ?

No

Yes

Yes

3

energy saving in the firm :

- producing

- delivering

- obtaining resources

Yes

No

Yes and No

4

Water saving :

- producing,

- in the company facilities

Yes (Wastewater treatment plant)Yes

5 Reusing Materials Yes

6

Waste :

- avoiding

- recycling

Yes

Yes

7

Packaging :

- as little as possible

- recyclable

-

Yes 8 Suppliers - working conditions Very good

n° criterias Roumanie

- avoiding children labour Yes

n° criterias Roumanie nom de l'entreprise - firm's name Ursus Breweries initiatives for workers well being 11 nursery school for kids ? No12 holidays (days in a year) The national ones13 gifts - incentives Yes14 special bonuses Yes15 relax facilities No16 canteen - cafeteria Yes 17 work place - healthy ? Yes, very healthy 18 managers - subordinated relations - 19 organisation and hierarchy levels - 20 job location easy to reach ? Yes

21 how do workers go to work ? transportation ?

The company ensures transportation to a small number of employees.The firm also offers service cars and settles subscriptions.

n° criterias Roumanie nom de l'entreprise - firm's name Ursus Breweries ECONOMIC DYNAMISM 30 sales evolution Down from last year31 profit evolution Down from last year32 ways of selling products Directly and through distributors33 contribution to local development ~ Yes

n° criterias Roumanie34 relocation ? No35 sustainability awards received Yes at the quality of taste

36 willingness to share information Yes and no. It depends on who request the information

S.C. AGRICOVER.SRL


NAME OF COMPANY: AGRICOVER.SRLNr CRITERIA YES NO OBSERVATIONS

RESOURCES

1 ENERGY SAVING X

2 WATER SAVING X

3 WASTE RECYCLING X

4 MATERIAL REUSE X

5 ECO-FRIENDLY

PRODUCTS

X


X


X

Do they support any environmental or social organisation actively, or have even founded one?

X


X


X

Do workers/ staff come by public transport, bike, car

PUBLIC TRANSPORT AND SOME WITH

pool and are they encouraged to - or do all arrive in individual cars?

PERSONAL CARS



X


X 21/YEAR

9 GIFTS/INCENTIVES X

10 SPECIAL BONUSES X11 RELAX FACILITIES X12 CANTEEN/CAFETERIA X


X


X


15 SALES/PROFITS X16 ADVERTISING X17 WAYS OF SELLING

PRODUCTS (DOOR TO DOOR, BY POST, TV,INTERNET)

X BY PHONE AND INTERNET


X


X


BOTH

Do they make sure their materials were not made by children, or under very bad working conditions?

X

Authors

Students :

Ispas Elena Nicolae Elena Titor AndreiPîrvu Ana MariaStoica DianaUrjan TeodoraIoan Alexandra

Teacher :

Catalina Poştovei

Documents

Interviews with sustainable organizations