The sustainable enterprise from the automation field.

Izvercianu, Monica ; Lobontiu, Mircea ; Draghici, Anca 等

Abstract: The enterprise, as a system, complies with the sustainable development concept, because the development with durable character answers the requests of any existent system to work continuous in an undefined future and without exhausting the key resources. For these reasons, within the sustainable enterprise from the automation field, the technology must become itself a resource with a specific management, namely the technology management.

Key words: enterprise from automation field, sustainability, innovation, technological responsibility.

1. INTRODUCTION

1) Problem statement: The integration of the enterprise from the automation field in the sustainability concept, as a technology producer and supplier.

2) The sustainability concept is a relatively recent concept. In 1987 WCED launches the sustainability concept, which was adopted in 182 states.

In March 2000, the European Council of Lisbon, had established a strategic goal for the European Union, for instance, to be the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy, to be able to guarantee a sustainable economical growth, with more and better jobs and a bigger social cohesion.

3) A research on a panel of 32 enterprises, randomly chosen, with different levels of technological rigging. (Forcrest, 2003)

4) A model of creating responsibility: economical, social, environmental, technological--integrated in managerial responsibility, as well as a technological management and sustainability specific principles approach, globally and transversally, in a systemic managerial conception.

5) The responsibility model extension to other type of enterprises and the determination of a sustainability measuring system.

2. THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT

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In 1987, WCED, World Commission on Environment and Development, lead by Gro Harlem Brundtland, had published the "Our common Future" report which launches the sustainable development concept.

The durable development complies with the present's requests without compromising the next generations' possibilities of satisfying their own needs. (The UN Commission for Environment and Development). This concept has as central point the economical development achievement, to which we add the technological development, under the conditions of environment preservation for the present and future societies, even if it shows a contradiction in the framework of durable development between the growing needs of people, needs which demand a maximal use of natural resources and environmental quality.

The essence of the development sample, according to many authors, can be found at the crossroad of three domains: economical, environmental and social, under the name of the "3P" (i.e the three responsibilities of sustainability) PROFIT--PEOPLE--PLANET. (fig.1.)

3. THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT FOR ENTERPRISES FROM THE AUTOMATION FIELD

The sustainable enterprises and implicitly the enterprises from the automation field, will be characterized through this very capability of making their own balance on long term, between the production capacity (the product in generic sense) and their own resources or environmental resources. Moreover, this enterprise has to get involved in supporting the local and regional durable development and to integrate itself in the economical environment development, both horizontally and vertically.

Beside the three above mentioned responsibilities this paper proposes, for the sustainable enterprises from the automation field, a fourth dimension of responsibility--the technological responsibility. All of these re-join in the integrating "managerial responsibility", (fig.1.), creating The Four Responsibilities Model.

We have introduced the concept of "technological responsibility" because in the sustainable enterprises from the automation field all these four domains must be incorporated for a durable development and thus, the sustainable enterprises management becomes an integrator management of quadruplicate line.

The mentality of executive directors and managers must change. It is also necessary to have a mature approach of responsible practices through which the company to understand that the sustainability problems are long-drawn, can't be solved with minimal efforts and in company's management and operations the good practices must be learnt. (Izvercianu & Lobontiu, 2007)

4. THE TECHNOLOGICAL MANAGEMENT AND THE SUSTAINABLE ENTERPRISE FROM THE AUTOMATION FIELD

One of the directions in which the sustainable enterprise from the automation field should fundamentally orientate is the technological management. The durable sustainability, with all its attributes, should be based on technology and especially on management (which is not at all simple and responsible) of multiple approaching forms of technology in enterprises. (Izvercianu, 2006)

In general lines, the technological management is defined as the technology's involvement and engagement in an united, simultaneous action of all firm functions. (Chanaron & Dominique., 1999). Once this concept has been accepted we have to accept it too. We have to accept the fact that the technology is an important resource, a variable with a high level of impact on all management functions, no matter what the market actors' position is: "producer", "client" or "user". The approach becomes more acute in the durable development context. The technological management means that on the one hand any other managerial function will use the technology, and on the other hand the technology must be considered as a resource, as an input form, in the strategic visions and in the operational methods and procedures.

Considering the biggest impact of technology for the businesses development, that one which basically uses the technology, I intend to introduce a change in the business' resource list--the technological resource, which will be both an active support for the other resources and an individual, intrinsic input which gives a value full of content and elegance to a business. (fig.2.),

In the sustainable enterprise from the automation field the technology must become a resource, both from the internal zone and attracted from its external zone. Also, by analogy, all the highly technologized based companies, which use the technology as resource, will integrate their self in the specific structures of the sustainable enterprise from automation field. Once the technology has became a resource it can become an object of the business and of the durable development. If it is modern it will consume only few resources.

In the sustainable enterprise from the automation field, the kit of managerial objectives in the technology field must be oriented to:

a) Technology coordination as activity from the technology producers' point of view, mainly highly technologized based companies.

b) Technology coordination as a resource from the technical development point of view, independently from the organisation's technological level.

Therefore, all enterprises' managers and directors who integrate themselves or long to integrate themselves in the sustainability concept, who create or consume technology in their organisation, are assigned for technological management. Top managers should be also aware of the technology's impact in the organisation, of the future repercussions of the evolution of the human resource value, of organisation's culture and, why not, of the future fundaments on which the strategy will be based.

Any high, medium or low level organisation worries from this point of view.

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As a global and transversal discipline (fig.3.), the technological management has yet a specific target: to approach the managerial functions as an analysis unit, and to study the technology use and impact on the management's functions. Similarly, the sustainability's specific principles should be approached globally and transversally, orienting the managerial approach to an approach based on systemic thinking (holistic or ecological approach) on all the managerial functions. (fig.3.) This way, the sustainable enterprise in the automation field has the possibility to become an integrated integer.

5. CONCLUSIONS

The authors of this paper propose: (1) the creation of the Four Responsibilities Model for the sustainable enterprise in the automation field (fig.1.), integrated in "managerial responsibility"; (2) for the sustainable enterprises from the automation field, where the technology is an important element, this will become resource and, implicitly an object of the business and the durable development (fig.2.); (3) the integration of specific principles of sustainability alongside the technological management in a transversal vision, orienting the managerial approach to a systemic one, so that the enterprise from the automation field to become sustainable.

6. REFERENCES

Izvercianu, M. (2006). Sustenabilitate--Marketing, Eurobit, ISBN (10)973-620-254-2, ISBN (13)978-973-620-254-4, Timisoara, Romania

Izvercianu, M.; Lobontiu, M. (2007). Sustenabilitate, communication, Academic Days, Timisoara, 24 May 2007.

Project "Forcrest" No ES/03/B/F/PP-149101, Leonardo da Vinci Program.

Chanaron, J-J.; Dominique, J. (1999). "Technological Management: Expanding the Perspective of Management of Technology". Management Decision, vol.37, no8, p.613-620