Millennialism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennialism

Millennialism (from millennium, Latin for "a thousand years") or chiliasm (from the Greek equivalent) is a belief advanced by some religious denominations that a Golden Age or Paradise will occur on Earth prior to the final judgment and future eternal state of the "World to Come".

Christianity and Judaism have both produced messianic movements which featured millennialist teachings—such as the notion that an earthly kingdom of God was at hand. These millenarian movements often led to considerable social unrest.

Similarities to millennialism appear in Zoroastrianism, which identified successive thousand-year periods, each of which will end in a cataclysm of heresy and destruction, until the final destruction of evil and of the spirit of evil by a triumphant king of peace at the end of the final millennial age. "Then Saoshyant makes the creatures again pure, and the resurrection and future existence occur" (Zand-i Vohuman Yasht 3:62).

Scholars have also linked various other social and political movements, both religious and secular, to millennialist metaphors.

Baha'i Faith

See also: Progressive revelation (Baha'i)

Bahá'u'lláh mentioned in the Kitáb-i-Íqán that God will renew the "City of God" about every thousand years, and specifically mentioned that a new Manifestation of God would not appear within 1,000 years (1852–2852 CE) of Bahá'u'lláh's Dispensation, but that the authority of Bahá'u'lláh's message could last up to 500,000 years.

Christianity

Most Christian millennialist thinking is based upon the Book of Revelation, specifically Revelation 20, which describes the vision of an angel who descended from heaven with a large chain and a key to a bottomless pit, and captured Satan, imprisoning him for a thousand years:

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the pit and locked and sealed it over him, so that he would deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be let out for a little while.

— Revelation 20:2-3

The Book of Revelation then describes a series of judges who are seated on thrones, as well as John's vision of the souls of those who were beheaded for their testimony in favor of Jesus and their rejection of the mark of the beast. These souls:

came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him a thousand years

— Revelation 20:4-6

Early church

Premillennialism

During the first centuries after Christ, various forms of chiliasm (millennialism) were to be found in the Church, both East and West. Premillennialism held by the Early Church is called "historic premillennialism", and it was supported by in the early church by Papias, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Polycarp, Pseudo-Barnabas, Methodius, Lactantius, Commodianus, Theophilus, Melito, Hippolytus of Rome, Victorinus of Pettau, Nepos, Julius Africanus, Commodianus, Tatian and Montanus. However, the premillennial views of Montanus probably affected the later rejection of premillennialism in the Church, as Montanism was seen as a heresy.

Amillennialism

In the 2nd century, the Alogi (those who rejected all of John's writings) were amillennial, as was Caius in the first quarter of the 3rd century. With the influence of Platonism, Clement of Alexandria and Origen denied premillennialism. Likewise, Dionysius of Alexandria (died 264) argued that Revelation was not written by John and could not be interpreted literally; he was amillennial.

Justin Martyr (died 165), who had chiliastic tendencies in his theology, mentions differing views in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, chapter 80:

"I and many others are of this opinion [premillennialism], and [believe] that such will take place, as you assuredly are aware; but, on the other hand, I signified to you that many who belong to the pure and pious faith, and are true Christians, think otherwise."

Augustine in his early days affirmed premillennialism, but later changed to amillennialism, causing the view to become popularized together with Pope Gregory the Great.

The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that the 2nd century proponents of various Gnostic beliefs (themselves considered heresies) also rejected millenarianism.

Reformation and beyond

Comparison of Christian millennial interpretations

Christian views on the future order of events diversified after the Protestant reformation (c.1517). In particular, new emphasis was placed on the passages in the Book of Revelation which seemed to say that as Christ would return to judge the living and the dead, Satan would be locked away for 1000 years, but then released on the world to instigate a final battle against God and his Saints. Previous Catholic and Orthodox theologians had no clear or consensus view on what this actually meant (only the concept of the end of the world coming unexpectedly, "like a thief in a night", and the concept of "the antichrist" were almost universally held). Millennialist theories try to explain what this "1000 years of Satan bound in chains" would be like.

Various types of millennialism exist with regard to Christian eschatology, especially within Protestantism, such as Premillennialism, Postmillennialism, and Amillennialism. The first two refer to different views of the relationship between the "millennial Kingdom" and Christ's second coming.

Premillennialism sees Christ's second advent as preceding the millennium, thereby separating the second coming from the final judgment. In this view, "Christ's reign" will be physically on the earth.

Postmillennialism sees Christ's second coming as subsequent to the millennium and concurrent with the final judgment. In this view "Christ's reign" (during the millennium) will be spiritual in and through the church.

Amillennialism sees the 1000 year kingdom as being metaphorically described in Rev. 20:1–6 in which "Christ's reign" is current in and through the church. Thus, while this view does not hold to a future millennial reign, it does hold that the New Heavens and New Earth will appear upon the return of Christ.

The Catholic Church strongly condemns millennialism as the following shows:

The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the "intrinsically perverse" political form of a secular messianism.

— Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1995

19th and 20th centuries

Bible Student movement

The Bible Student movement is a millennialist movement based on views expressed in "The Divine Plan of the Ages," in 1886, in Volume One of the Studies in the Scriptures series, by Pastor Charles Taze Russell. (This series is still being published, since 1927, by the Dawn Bible Students Association.) Bible Students believe that there will be a universal opportunity for every person, past and present, not previously recipients of a heavenly calling, to gain everlasting life on Earth during the Millennium.

Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Christ will rule from heaven for 1,000 years as king over the earth, assisted by the 144,000 ascended humans.

The Church of Almighty God

Also known as Eastern Lightning, The Church of Almighty God mentions in its teachings the Age of Millennial Kingdom, which will follow the catastrophes prophesied in the Book of Revelation.

Judaism

Millennialist thinking first emerged in Jewish apocryphal literature of the tumultuous Second Temple period.

Gerschom Scholem profiles medieval and early modern Jewish millennialist teachings in his book Sabbatai Sevi, the mystical messiah, which focuses on the 17th-century movement centered on the self-proclaimed messiahship (1648) of Sabbatai Zevi (1626–1676).

Theosophy

The Theosophist Alice Bailey taught that Christ (in her books she refers to the powerful spiritual being best known by Theosophists as Maitreya as The Christ or The World Teacher, not as Maitreya) would return “sometime after AD 2025”, and that this would be the New Age equivalent of the Christian concept of the Second Coming of Christ.

Social movements

Millennial social movements, a specific form of millenarianism, have as their basis some concept of a cycle of one-thousand years. Sometimes the two terms are used as synonyms, but purists regard this as not entirely accurate. Millennial social movements need not have a religious foundation, but they must have a vision of an apocalypse that can be utopian or dystopian. Those associated with millennial social movements are "prone to be violent", with certain types of millennialism connected to violence. In progressive millennialism, the "transformation of the social order is gradual and humans play a role in fostering that transformation". Catastrophic millennialism "deems the current social order as irrevocably corrupt, and total destruction of this order is necessary as the precursor to the building of a new, godly order". However the link between millennialism and violence may be problematic, as new religious movements may stray from the catastrophic view as time progresses.

Nazism

See also: Tausendjähriges Reich

The most controversial interpretation of the Three Ages philosophy and of millennialism in general involves Adolf Hitler's "Third Reich" ("Drittes Reich"), which in his vision would last for a thousand years to come ("Tausendjähriges Reich") but ultimately lasted for only 12 years (1933–1945).

The German thinker Arthur Moeller van den Bruck coined the phrase "Third Reich" and in 1923 published a book titled Das Dritte Reich. Looking back at German history, he distinguished two separate periods, and identified them with the ages of the 12th-century Italian theologian Joachim of Fiore:

• the Holy Roman Empire (beginning with Charlemagne in AD 800): the "First Reich", The Age of the Father and
• the German Empire, under the Hohenzollern dynasty (1871–1918): the "Second Reich", The Age of the Son.

After the interval of the Weimar Republic (1918 onwards), during which constitutionalism, parliamentarianism and even pacifism dominated, these were then to be followed by:

• the "Third Reich", The Age of the Holy Spirit.

Although van den Bruck was unimpressed by Hitler when he met him in 1922 and did not join the Nazi Party, nevertheless the Nazis adopted the term "Third Reich" to label the totalitarian state they wanted to set up when they gained power, which they succeeded in doing in 1933. Later, however, the Nazi authorities banned the informal use of "Third Reich" throughout the German press in the summer of 1939, instructing it to use more official terms such as "German Reich", "Greater German Reich", and "National Socialist Germany" exclusively.

During the early part of the Third Reich many Germans also referred to Hitler as being the German Messiah, especially when he conducted the Nuremberg Rallies, which came to be held annually (1933-1938) at a date somewhat before the Autumn Equinox in Nuremberg, Germany.

In a speech held on 27 November 1937, Hitler commented on his plans to have major parts of Berlin torn down and rebuilt:

[...] einem tausendjährigen Volk mit tausendjähriger geschichtlicher und kultureller Vergangenheit für die vor ihm liegende unabsehbare Zukunft eine ebenbürtige tausendjährige Stadt zu bauen [...].

[...] to build a millennial city adequate [in splendour] to a thousand-year-old people with a thousand-year-old historical and cultural past, for its never-ending [glorious] future [...]

After Adolf Hitler's unsuccessful attempt to implement a thousand-year-reign, the Vatican issued an official statement that millennial claims could not be safely taught and that the related scriptures in Revelation (also called the Apocalypse) should be understood spiritually. Catholic author Bernard LeFrois wrote:

Millenium [sic]: [...] Since the Holy Office decreed (July 21, 1944) that it cannot be safely taught that Christ at His Second Coming will reign visibly with only some of His saints (risen from the dead) for a period of time before the final and universal judgment, a spiritual millenium is to be seen in Apoc. 20:4–6. St. John gives a recapitulation of the activity of Satan, and the spiritual reign of the saints with Christ in heaven and in His Church on earth.

Utopianism

See also: Three Eras

The early Christian concepts of millennialism had ramifications far beyond strictly religious concerns during the centuries to come, as various theorists blended and enhanced them with ideas of utopia.

In the wake of early millennial thinking, the Three Ages philosophy developed. The Italian monk and theologian Joachim of Fiore (died 1202) saw all of human history as a succession of three ages:

1. the Age of the Father (the Old Testament)
2. the Age of the Son (the New Testament)
3. the Age of the Holy Spirit (the age begun when Christ ascended into heaven, leaving the Paraclete, the third person of the Holy Trinity, to guide the faithful)

It was believed that the Age of the Holy Spirit would begin at around 1260, and that from then on all believers would live as monks, mystically transfigured and full of praise for God, for a thousand years until Judgment Day would put an end to the history of our planet.

Joachim of Fiore's divisions of historical time also highly influenced the New Age movement, which transformed the Three Ages philosophy into astrological terminology, relating the Northern-hemisphere vernal equinox to different constellations of the zodiac. In this scenario the Age of the Father was recast as the Age of Aries, the Age of the Son became the Age of Pisces, and the Age of the Holy Spirit was called the Aquarian New Age. The current so-called "Age of Aquarius" will supposedly witness the development of a number of great changes for humankind, reflecting the typical features of some manifestations of millennialism.

Golden Age

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Golden Age by Pietro da Cortona (Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy).

 

Part of a series on
Utopias

The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the Works and Days of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages, Gold being the first and the one during which the Golden Race of humanity (Greek: χρύσεον γένος chrýseon génos) lived. After the end of the first age was the Silver, then the Bronze, after this the Heroic age, with the fifth and current age being Iron.

By extension, "Golden Age" denotes a period of primordial peace, harmony, stability, and prosperity. During this age, peace and harmony prevailed in that people did not have to work to feed themselves for the earth provided food in abundance. They lived to a very old age with a youthful appearance, eventually dying peacefully, with spirits living on as "guardians". Plato in Cratylus (397 e) recounts the golden race of humans who came first. He clarifies that Hesiod did not mean literally made of gold, but good and noble.

In classical Greek mythology, the Golden Age was presided over by the leading Titan Cronus. In some versions of the myth Astraea also ruled. She lived with men until the end of the Silver Age. But in the Bronze Age, when men became violent and greedy, she fled to the stars, where she appears as the constellation Virgo, holding the scales of Justice, or Libra.

European pastoral literary tradition often depicted nymphs and shepherds as living a life of rustic innocence and peace, set in Arcadia, a region of Greece that was the abode and center of worship of their tutelary deity, goat-footed Pan, who dwelt among them.

The Golden Age in Europe: Greece

The earliest attested reference to the European myth of the Ages of Man 500 BCE–350 BCE appears in the late 6th century BCE works of the Greek poet Hesiod's Works and Days (109–126). Hesiod, a deteriorationist, identifies the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, the Heroic Age, and the Iron Age. With the exception of the Heroic Age, each succeeding age was worse than the one that went before. Hesiod maintains that during the Golden Age, before the invention of the arts, the earth produced food in such abundance that there was no need for agriculture:

[Men] lived like gods without sorrow of heart, remote and free from toil and grief: miserable age rested not on them; but with legs and arms never failing they made merry with feasting beyond the reach of all devils. When they died, it was as though they were overcome with sleep, and they had all good things; for the fruitful earth unforced bare them fruit abundantly and without stint. They dwelt in ease and peace.

Plato in his Cratylus referred to an age of golden men and also at some length on Ages of Man from Hesiod's Works and Days. The Roman poet Ovid simplified the concept by reducing the number of Ages to four: Gold, Bronze, Silver, and Iron. Ovid's poetry was likely a prime source for the transmission of the myth of the Golden Age during the period when Western Europe had lost direct contact with Greek literature.

The Golden Age (c. 1530) by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

In Hesiod's version, the Golden Age ended when the Titan Prometheus conferred on mankind the gift of fire and all the other arts. For this, Zeus punished Prometheus by chaining him to a rock in the Caucasus, where an eagle eternally ate at his liver. The gods sent the beautiful maiden Pandora to Prometheus's brother Epimetheus. The gods had entrusted Pandora with a box that she was forbidden to open; however, her uncontrollable curiosity got the better of her and she opened the box, thereby unleashing all manner of evil into the world.

Robert Willemsz de Baudous: Golden Age, etching, cca 1598.

The Orphic school, a mystery cult that originated in Thrace and spread to Greece in the 5th century BCE, held similar beliefs about the early days of man, likewise denominating the ages with metals. In common with the many other mystery cults prevalent in the Graeco-Roman world (and their Indo-European religious antecedents), the world view of Orphism was cyclical. Initiation into its secret rites, together with ascetic practices, was supposed to guarantee the individual's soul eventual release from the grievous circle of mortality and also communion with the gods. Orphics sometimes identified the Golden Age with the era of the god Phanes, who was regent over the Olympus before Cronus. In classical mythology however, the Golden Age was associated with the reign of Saturn. In the 5th century BCE, the philosopher Empedocles, like Hesiod before him, emphasized the idea of primordial innocence and harmony in all of nature, including human society, from which he maintained there had been a steady deterioration until the present.

Arcadia

A tradition arose in Greece that the site of the original Golden Age had been Arcadia, an impoverished rural area of Greece where the herdsmen still lived on acorns and where the goat-footed god Pan had his home among the poplars on Mount Maenalus. However, in the 3rd century BCE, the Greek poet, Theocritus, writing in Alexandria, set his pastoral poetry on the lushly fertile island of Sicily, where he had been born. The protagonist of Theocritus's first Idyll, the goat herder, Daphnis, is taught to play the Syrinx (panpipes) by Pan himself.

Sculpture of Pan teaching Daphnis to play the pipes; c. 100 BCE Found in Pompeii.

The Golden Age in Rome: Virgil and Ovid

Writing in Latin during the turbulent period of revolutionary change at the end of the Roman Republic (roughly between 44 and 38 BCE), the poet Virgil moved the setting for his pastoral imitations of Theocritus back to an idealized Arcadia in Greece, thus initiating a rich and resonant tradition in subsequent European literature.

Virgil, moreover, introduced into his poetry the element of political allegory, which had been largely absent in Theocritus, even intimating in his fourth Eclogue that a new Golden Age of peace and justice was about to return:

Ultima Cumaei venit iam carminis aetas;
magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo:
iam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna;
iam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto.

Translation:
Now the last age by Cumae's Sibyl sung
Has come and gone, and the majestic roll
Of circling centuries begins anew:
Astraea returns,
Returns old Saturn's reign,
With a new breed of men sent down from heaven.

Somewhat later, shortly before he wrote his epic poem the Aeneid, which dealt with the establishment of Roman Imperial rule, Virgil composed his Georgics (29 BCE), modeled directly on Hesiod's Works and Days and similar Greek works. Ostensibly about agriculture, the Georgics are in fact a complex allegory about how man's alterations of nature (through works) are related to good and bad government. Although Virgil does not mention the Golden Age by name in the Georgics, he does refer in them to a time of primitive communism before the reign of Jupiter, when:

Fields knew no taming hand of husbandmen
To mark the plain or mete with boundary-line.
Even this was impious; for the common stock
They gathered, and the earth of her own will
All things more freely, no man bidding, bore.

ante Iouem nulli subigebant arua coloni
ne signare quidem aut partiri limite campum
fas erat; in medium quaerebant, ipsaque tellus
omnia liberius nullo poscente ferebat. (Georgics, Book 1: 125–28)

This view, which identifies a State of Nature with the celestial harmony of which man's nature is (or should be, if properly regulated) a microcosm, reflects the Hellenistic cosmology that prevailed among literate classes of Virgil's era. It is seen again in Ovid's Metamorphoses (7 CE), in which the lost Golden Age is depicted as a place and time when, because nature and reason were harmoniously aligned, men were naturally good:

The Golden Age was first; when Man, yet new,
No rule but uncorrupted Reason knew:
And, with a native bent, did good pursue.
Unforc'd by punishment, un-aw'd by fear.
His words were simple, and his soul sincere;
Needless was written law, where none opprest:
The law of Man was written in his breast.

The Graeco-Roman concept of the "natural man" delineated by Ovid and many other classical writers, was especially popular during the Deistically inclined 18th century. It is often erroneously attributed to Rousseau, who did not share it.

"Soft" and "hard" primitivism in Arcadia

In his famous essay, "Et in Arcadia ego: Poussin and the Elegiac Tradition", Erwin Panofsky remarks how in ancient times, "that particular not overly opulent, region of central Greece, Arcady, came to be universally accepted as an ideal realm of perfect bliss and beauty, a dream incarnate of ineffable happiness, surrounded nevertheless with a halo of 'sweetly sad' melancholy":

There had been, from the beginning of classical speculation, two contrasting opinions about the natural state of man, each of them, of course, a "Gegen-Konstruktion" to the conditions under which it was formed. One view, termed "soft" primitivism in an illuminating book by Lovejoy and Boas conceives of primitive life as a golden age of plenty, innocence, and happiness – in other words, as civilized life purged of its vices. The other, "hard" form of primitivism conceives of primitive life as an almost subhuman existence full of terrible hardships and devoid of all comforts – in other words, as civilized life stripped of its virtues.

Arcady, as we encounter it in all modern literature, and as we refer to it in our daily speech, falls under the heading of “soft" or golden-age primitivism. To be sure, this real Arcady was the domain of Pan, who could be heard playing the syrinx on Mount Maenalus; and its inhabitants were famous for their musical accomplishments as well as for their ancient lineage, rugged virtue, and rustic hospitality.

Other Golden Ages

There are analogous concepts in the religious and philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. For example, the Vedic or ancient Hindu culture saw history as cyclical, each cycle composed of four yugas (ages) – Satya Yuga (Golden Age), Treta Yuga (Silver Age), Dvapara Yuga (Bronze Age) and Kali Yuga (Iron Age) – correspond to the four Greek ages. Similar beliefs occur in the ancient Middle East and throughout the ancient world, as well.

Christianity

There is a reference to a succession of kingdoms in Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel 2, in decreasing order identified as gold, silver, bronze, iron and finally mixed iron and clay.

31 "Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue – an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth."

— Daniel 2: 31–35

The interpretation of the dream follows in verses 36–45.

Hinduism

Main article: Satya Yuga

The Indian teachings differentiate the four world ages (yugas) not according to metals, but according to dharmic qualities (virtues), where the first age starts with the most and the last age ends with the least. The end is followed by a new cycle (Yuga Cycle) of the same four ages: Satya Yuga (golden age), Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga (dark age), of which we are currently in Kali Yuga.

In Satya Yuga, knowledge, meditation, and communion with spirit hold special importance. Most people engage only in good, sublime deeds and mankind lives in harmony with the Earth. Ashrams become devoid of wickedness and deceit. Natyam (such as Bharatanatyam), according to Natya Shastra, did not exist in the Satya Yuga "because it was the time when all people were happy".

Satya Yuga (a.k.a. Krita Yuga) according to Mahabharata:

Men neither bought nor sold; there were no poor and no rich; there was no need to labour, because all that men required was obtained by the power of will; the chief virtue was the abandonment of all worldly desires. The Krita Yuga was without disease; there was no lessening with the years; there was no hatred or vanity, or evil thought whatsoever; no sorrow, no fear. All mankind could attain to supreme blessedness.

Islam

Main article: Islamic Golden Age

The Islamic Golden Age (Arabic: العصر الذهبي للإسلام‎, romanized: al-'asr al-dhahabi lil-islam), was a period of cultural, economic, and scientific flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 14th century. This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (786 to 809) with the inauguration of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, the world's largest city by then, where Islamic scholars and polymaths from various parts of the world with different cultural backgrounds were mandated to gather and translate all of the known world's classical knowledge into Syriac and Arabic.

Germanic

Old Norse: Gullaldr ("Age of Gold") is used in Gylfaginning to describe the period after the creation of the world, and before the arrival of three women out of Jötunheimr, who have been proposed to be the Norns.

A second ideal period is Fróði's Peace, a semi-legendary time during the rule of a Danish king in which peace and prosperity was seen throughout Northern Europe.

Popular culture

Fantasy

In modern fantasy worlds, whose background and setting sometimes draw heavily on real-world myths, similar or compatible concepts of a Golden Age exist in the said world's prehistory; when deities or elf-like creatures existed, before the coming of humans.

For example, in The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien, a Golden Age exists in Middle-earth legendarium. Arda (the part of the world where The Lord of the Rings is set), was designed to be symmetrical and perfect. After the wars of the Gods, Arda lost its perfect shape (known as Arda Unmarred) and was called Arda Marred. Another kind of 'Golden Age' follows later, after the Elves awoke; the Eldar stay on Valinor, live with the Valar and advance in arts and knowledge, until the rebellion and the fall of the Noldor, reminiscent of the Fall of Man. Eventually, after the end of the world, the Silmarilli will be recovered and the light of the Two Trees of Valinor rekindled. Arda will be remade again as Arda Healed.

In The Wheel of Time universe, the "Age of Legends" is the name given to the previous Age: In this society, channelers were common and Aes Sedai – trained channelers – were extremely powerful, able to make angreal, sa'angreal, and ter'angreal, and holding important civic positions. The Age of Legends is seen as a utopian society without war or crime, and devoted to culture and learning. Aes Sedai were frequently devoted to academic endeavours, one of which inadvertently resulted in a hole – The Bore – being drilled in the Dark One's prison. The immediate effects were not realised, but the Dark One gradually asserted power over humanity, swaying many to become his followers. This resulted in the War of Power and eventually the Breaking of the World.

Another example is in the background of the Lands of Lore classic computer game, where the history of the Lands is divided in Ages. One of them is also called the Golden Age, a time when the Lands were ruled by the 'Ancients', and there were no wars. This age ended with the 'War of the Heretics'.

The Golden Age may also refer to a state of early childhood. Herbert Spencer argued that young children progress through the cognitive stages of evolution of the human species and of human civilization, thereby linking pre-civilization and infancy. Kenneth Grahame called his evocation of early childhood 'The Golden Age' and J. M. Barrie's fictional character Peter Pan, who first appeared in 'The Little White Bird' was named after Pan, a Greek god from the Golden Age. Barrie's further works about Peter Pan depict early childhood as a time of pre-civilised naturalness and happiness, which is destroyed by the subsequent process of education.

Present-day usage

See also: Golden age (metaphor)

The term "Golden Age" is at present frequently used in the context of a specific time in the history of a particular country – such as the "Spanish Golden Age", "Dutch Golden Age", "Danish Golden Age", "Golden Age of Flanders" – or the history of a specific field – "Golden age of alpinism", "Golden Age of American animation", "Golden Age of Comics", "Golden Age of Science Fiction", "Golden Age of Television", "Golden Age of Hollywood", "Golden age of arcade video games", "Golden Age of Radio", "Golden Age of Hip Hop" "Golden Age of Kamishibai Theater" (in Japan) and even "Golden Age of Piracy" or "Golden Age of Porn". Usually, the term "Golden Age" is bestowed retroactively, when the period in question has ended and is compared with what followed in the specific field discussed. The term has also been used prospectively. For example, on July 27, 2020, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, published a post on Twitter promising a future "golden age" once the country recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. The term Gilded Age, which refers to a period in the history of the United States, is a parody of this usage of "golden age" (suggesting that the period has the outward appearance of a golden age, but is in actuality much less desirable).

United Nations Global Compact

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

UN Global Compact

Formation	26 July 2000
Type	Framework and Mechanism
Legal status	Active
Head	Sanda Ojiambo, CEO & Executive Director
Website	unglobalcompact.org

The United Nations Global Compact is a non-binding United Nations pact to encourage businesses and firms worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, and to report on their implementation. The UN Global Compact is a principle-based framework for businesses, stating ten principles in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption. Under the Global Compact, companies are brought together with UN agencies, labor groups and civil society. Cities can join the Global Compact through the Cities Programme.

The UN Global Compact is the world's largest corporate sustainability (a.k.a. corporate social responsibility) initiative with 13000 corporate participants and other stakeholders over 170 countries with two objectives: "Mainstream the ten principles in business activities around the world" and "Catalyse actions in support of broader UN goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)". Moving forward, the UN Global Compact and its signatories are deeply invested and enthusiastic about supporting work towards the SDGs.

The UN Global Compact was announced by then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in an address to the World Economic Forum on 31 January 1999, and was officially launched at UN Headquarters in New York City on 26 July 2000. The Global Compact Office works on the basis of a mandate set out by the UN General Assembly as an organization that "promotes responsible business practices and UN values among the global business community and the UN System." The UN Global Compact is a founding member of the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative along with the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI), and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The Ten Principles

The UN Global Compact was initially launched with nine Principles. On 24 June 2004, during the first Global Compact Leaders Summit, Kofi Annan announced the addition of the tenth principle against corruption in accordance with the United Nations Convention Against Corruption adopted in 2003.

Human Rights

• 1 Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and
• 2 Make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.

Labour

• 3 Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
• 4 The elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;
• 5 The effective abolition of child labour; and
• 6 The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

Environment

• 7 Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;
• 8 Undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and
• 9 Encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.

Anti-Corruption

• 10 Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

Facilitation

The UN Global Compact is not a regulatory instrument, but rather a forum for discussion and a network for communication including governments, companies and labour organisations, whose actions it seeks to influence, and civil society organisations, representing its stakeholders. The UN Global Compact says that once companies declared their support for the principles "This does not mean that the Global Compact recognizes or certifies that these companies have fulfilled the Compact’s principles." Instead, as mentioned in a 2015 interview with Executive Director, Lise Kingo, "we are the guide dogs, not the watchdogs", with the organization seeking to prioritize providing resources and support instead of attempting to enforce discipline.

The UN Global Compact's goals are intentionally flexible and vague, but it distinguishes the following channels through which it provides facilitation and encourages dialogue: policy dialogues, learning, local networks and projects. Given recent climate talks and summits, the UN Global Compact stands to play a critical role in helping signatories and governments work in part to achieve the SDGs. Recent studies indicate that businesses are more open than ever to private sector interventions, such as carbon pricing and other mechanics to help curb climate effects within the scope of business solutions. The Global Compact also will periodically create resources and guides that business and non profit organizations may use in their efforts to support the Compact's overall mission. One such example is the SDG Compass, developed in collaboration with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBSCD), which is a collection of resources (analysis of the goals, indicators for businesses, tools for stakeholders) that companies can utilize in finding out their role in helping to achieve the SDGs. The Sustainable Ocean Business Action Platform of the UN Global Compact has been actively supporting the launch in June 2020 of the Seaweed Manifesto, the result of a collaborative work of seaweed supporters from private sector, research institutions, UN agencies and civil society, initiated by the Lloyd's Register Foundation. Building on the Manifesto's recommendations, the UN Global Compact, in partnership with the Lloyd’s Register Foundation and the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CRNS), launched the Safe Seaweed Coalition in March 2021, a global coalition to support a safe, sustainable and scalable seaweed industry.

History

The first Global Compact Leaders Summit, chaired by the then Secretary-General Kofi Annan, was held in UN Headquarters in New York on 24 June 2004, to bring "intensified international focus and increased momentum" to the UN Global Compact. The second Global Compact Leaders Summit, chaired by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, was held on 5–6 July 2007 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. It adopted the Geneva Declaration on corporate responsibility. Marking the 10th anniversary of the Global Compact's launch, the Global Compact Leaders Summit 2010 took place on 24–25 June 2010 in New York. On the occasion, the Blueprint for Corporate Sustainability Leadership  identifying leadership criteria linked to implementation of the ten principles, efforts to support development objectives, and engagement in the Global Compact was released. In 2009 Rotary International partnered with the UN Global Compact. This was a very friendly partnership since Rotary International played a role in the chartering of the United Nations. Since its creation in 2000 the Global Compact has been primarily focused on helping support and achieve the Millennium Development Goals, however, after those expired in 2015, their top priority has been updated to the pursuit and progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and the SDG's accompanying 2030 deadlines.

UN Global Compact – Cities Programme

Circles of Sustainability image (assessment - Melbourne 2011)

In 2001, the City of Melbourne proposed that cities as well as corporations should be allowed to join the UN Global Compact, arguing that this would provide a clear statement of a city's commitment to positive change, as well as motivating participation in international dialogue. The proposal was accepted, and the UN Global Compact - Cities Programme was launched in 2002. It was formed as an urban-focused component of the Global Compact with its International Secretariat initially located in Melbourne, Australia. The aim of the programme is to improve urban life in cities throughout the world.

Melbourne became the first city to engage the Global Compact in June 2001.

In April 2003, under the directorship of David Teller, a framework called the Melbourne Model was developed that went beyond the Ten Principles. It begins by drawing the resources of government, business and civil society into a cross-sector partnership in order to develop a practical project that addresses a seemingly intractable urban issue. In 2007, the then Director, Paul James (2007–2014) and his colleagues Dr. Andy Scerri and Dr. Liam Magee, took this methodology further by integrating the partnership model with a four-domain sustainability framework called 'Circles of Sustainability'.

In 2007, the Secretariat moved from the Committee For Melbourne to the Global Cities Institute at RMIT University, itself affiliated with UN-HABITAT. There, projects associated with city-based responses to global climate change and globalization became increasingly important. The Melbourne Model was further elaborated, with a sustainability indicators program developed as a way of assessing and monitoring progress. In 2012, the Circles of Sustainability method was elaborated to guide a city or urban region through a rigorous assessment process. As one of the outcomes it provides a figurative image of the overall sustainability of that city to illustrate its strengths and weaknesses.

In 2015, RMIT Professor Ralph Horne became the third director of the UN Global Compact Cities Programme and in February 2016 an Urban Thinkers Campus was organised at RMIT Melbourne in collaboration with World Vision International as part of the buildup to UN Habitat III. The theme of the Urban Thinkers Campus was Ethical Cities: Locking in Liveability. This was followed by the organisation of an Urban Innovation Forum on Ethical Cities in July 2016 in Barcelona, Spain as a collaboration between the UN Global Compact - Cities Programme, RMIT Europe and UN-Habitat.

As of August 2020 there are 120 participants in the City Network, 85 of them in Latin America and the Caribbean. Milwaukee and San Francisco are the only U.S. member cities. The Cities Programme ended in 2021. 

Local networks

Local networks of the Global Compact advance the initiative and its ten principles at a country level. Currently there are approximately 85 Local Networks in total. These networks help companies and non profit organizations understand what responsible business means within diverse national, cultural, and linguistic contexts. Additionally, there are related programs for particular topics of interest, such as the Business for Peace initiative, that bring awareness to businesses and other organizations about instability and conflict, such that organizations can help to address these concerns from their own perspective and with the assistance of their local networks. Local connections to supplement the international connections made by the Global Compact at large can help to broaden the engagement and impact of members. Local Networks are independent, self-governed and self managed entities, and work closely with the UN Global Compact's New York headquarters, and coordinate as points of contact for UN Global Compact signatories in their respective countries. The Local Networks of the Global Compact are showcased, but not limited to the interactions chronicled below:

Australia

• The Global Compact Local Network in Australia was established in 2009 by a steering committee drawn from the Australian business community and stakeholder groups. It was formally incorporated in 2011. as the Global Compact Network Australia Limited, and elections were held for the inaugural board of directors. In 2011 it established two business-led leadership groups dealing with human rights and anti-corruption. The GCNA draws its funding directly from members and member-based activities, in contrast to many networks who rely in part on government funding.

Bulgaria

• The Global Compact Local Network in Bulgaria was founded in January 2003, under the auspices of President Georgi Parvanov. The voluntary initiative unites 120 Bulgarian companies, non-governmental organizations and academia into a unique network. All members are united around the idea to apply the ten principles of the UN Global Compact in their daily practices and to be responsible corporate citizens. In 2006, to strengthen and enhance the role of the initiative, a management structure was introduced consisting of Advisory Board and a Secretariat. For the period 2006-2010 the network activities were supported by the United Nations Development Program Bulgaria. With the active participation and financial contribution of its members Global Compact Bulgaria organized numerous initiatives related to environment, health, education and youth. Among them are the projects: "Unleashing Entrepreneurship"; "Love Bridge"; "Sharing Best Practices in Corporate Social Responsibility".
• With the end of the support from UNDP Bulgaria, the Global Compact Local Network in Bulgaria had to identify and formulate a new strategy for sustainability. So, between 2009 and 2010 the members signed an institutional framework for future organizational development. As a result, on 10 September 2010 a new independent organization was founded – Association Global Compact Network Bulgaria. Its members are 20 leading companies and organizations in Bulgaria, members the UN Global Compact as well. The Association is managed by a steering committee and control committee. Their main goals are to learn from each other, to communicate, to generate an advocacy impact and initiate dialogue or partnerships with other actors such as the government, local authorities, labour organisations and civil society organizations.

France

• The Global Compact Network France was established in 2004. It is the second largest local network of the UN Global Compact after Spain, with more than 1,100 participants in 2017. The main aim of the Global Compact Network France is to add personalized value to the French participants of the Global Compact, in order to help them to make progress in their CSR approach and enlarge the Global Compact network. The local network is entirely financed by its members.

Germany

• The GCN Germany was created in the year 2000 on the initiative of German companies as one of the first national platforms. Its tasks and obligations as an official local Network are defined in a Memorandum of Understanding with the UN Global Compact; it may only bear the name of the Global Compact Network Germany as long as it carries out these tasks and fulfils these obligations.
• The GCN Germany brings together all German signatories of the UN Global Compact. The network comprises more than 780 German companies and organizations from civil society, science, and the public sector and serves to provide information on issues of corporate responsibility, exchange ideas, and develop joint practical solutions. (https://www.globalcompact.de/en/about-us/global-compact-network-germany)

India

• The Global Compact Network (GCN) India was formed by organizations from India who participate in the Global Compact. It was registered on 24 November 2003, with Registrar of Societies, NCT, Delhi, as a non-profit body. The main objective of the Network is to provide a forum to various Indian Companies/ Organizations to exchange experiences, network and work together on activities related to CSR. This is expected to promote sustainable growth besides encouraging good corporate citizenship. The Network, acts as an Apex level nodal agency representing various Indian Corporate bodies/ Institutions/ NGOs/ SMEs, who are committed to the UN Global Compact principles.
• The Global Compact Network India has been one of the pioneering local initiatives of the Global Compact. It is one of the first local networks to be set up as a legal entity. Over the last nine years the network has seen modest growth and has been able to create a niche for itself within efforts by the business community directed towards realising the vision of sustainable development in India. At present Dinesh Kumar Sarraf, CMD, ONGC, is the President of the Global Compact Network India for the term 2015-17 and is managed by a Governing Council.

Mexico

• The Global Compact Network in Mexico in December 2014 endorsed the commitment of the private sector towards improving gender equality. Echoing the sentiments of initiatives such as the "HeforShe", and the large support of individuals in the region for promoting gender equality and empowering women. Much of this progress is being achieved by practical guidelines for how private entities can make a more diverse, inclusive workplace that create codes of global business.

Spain

• The Global Compact Network Spain is the largest local network of signatories to the UN Global Compact. As an independent legal entity launched in 2004, it is managed by a steering committee with a chairman, deputy chairman, secretary, treasurer and 16 directors elected by the network’s general assembly. The steering committee includes representatives from large companies, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the public sector, educational entities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In order to abide by the rules of Spanish legislature, the general assembly holds a vote each year on budgetary issues and resolutions and nominates the steering committee. The Global Compact Network Spain has been successful in involving SMEs, developing interactive resources and reporting tools and emphasizing human rights through the commitment of the local companies.

Syria

• The Syria initiative aims at enhancing civic engagement and corporate social responsibility of private sector by promoting the ten principles of the UN Global Compact as well as forging partnerships between private sector organizations, public sector institutions and civil society. This initiative is a partnership between the Syrian Government represented by the State Planning Commission and the UNDP Country Office in Syria. It was launched under the patronage of the Head of State Planning Commission and in the presence of the Deputy Chairperson of the UN Global Compact in July 2008. The Syrian Global Compact Local Network has 26 businesses, five NGOs, and five federations of commerce and industry. It was displayed among 10 selected ones from around the world in the Global Compact Sixth Annual Local Networks Forum. The Syria story was called a "leadership case" and the Syria Network growth ratio was ranked first among the global top ten in 2008.^[29] The UNGC National Advisory Council has been formulated and held its founders’ meeting on 15 October 2008, with the participation of leaders from the Syrian private sector, international corporate representatives, local and international civil society organizations, UNDP, the Syrian Government, media and education sectors.

Criticism

Some critics believe that without any effective monitoring and enforcement provisions, the Global Compact fails to hold corporations accountable. Moreover, these critics argue that companies could potentially misuse the Global Compact as a public relations instrument for "bluewash". Bluewashing refers to the alleged practice of companies claiming their membership or participation in philanthropic and charity based activity as an excuse, and perhaps as an entry door to increase corporate influence upon international organizations. An informal network previously known as Global Compact Critics leveled a variety of criticisms at the Global Compact, citing a lack of mechanisms for sanctioning non compliance or lack of progress. The Global Compact critics formally disbanded in February 2015, recommending that interested parties consult the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) website. Similarly, the Alliance for a Corporate-Free UN, which also no longer exists, was a campaigning organization of several international NGOs, led by Corpwatch, which highlighted weaknesses in the principles underlying the Global Compact. The Global Compact was criticized by Maude Barlow, senior adviser on water issues to the President of the United Nations General Assembly in December 2008, accused the Global Compact of bluewashing. David Andrews, senior adviser on Food Policy and Sustainable Development, and Peter Utting, deputy director of UNRISD. Leaders of the tribe Ayoreo Indians in Paraguay wrote to the UN Global Compact saying they are "concerned and frustrated" by the inclusion in it of a controversial Brazilian ranching company. The company, Yaguarete Porá, was charged and fined for illegally clearing the Ayoreo's forests, and concealing evidence of uncontacted Ayoreo living there. The Ayoreo asked that it be expelled from the Global Compact.

Support

The Global Compact provides a list of its 20,000+ participant organizations, composed of roughly 16,000 businesses and 4,000 non-business entities on its website. The site provides a brief overview of each participant, and a link to their Letter of Commitment (if new), Financial Overview and Contributions (if applicable), and Communication on Progress (COP). Notable companies who have signed on the Global Compact include, but are not limited to, Starbucks, L'Oreal, Bayer AG, Coca-Cola, 3M, Deloitte, and Zurn. In addition to its signatories, the Global compact has been repeatedly supported by the UN General Assembly, honoring its 15th anniversary in June 2015 alongside the Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, himself who claims that "Business can be a global force for good" and that "advocacy and example can drive action to achieve a life of dignity for all people".

Global supply chain management

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In commerce, global supply-chain management is defined as the distribution of goods and services throughout a trans-national companies' global network to maximize profit and minimize waste. Essentially, global supply chain-management is the same as supply-chain management, but it focuses on companies and organizations that are trans-national.

Global supply-chain management has six main areas of concentration: logistics management, competitor orientation, customer orientation, supply-chain coordination, supply management, and operations management. These six areas of concentration can be divided into four main areas: marketing, logistics, supply management, and operations management. Successful management of a global supply chain also requires complying with various international regulations set by a variety of non-governmental organizations (e.g. The United Nations).

Global supply-chain management can be impacted by several factors who impose policies that regulate certain aspects of supply chains. Governmental and non-governmental organizations play a key role in the field as they create and enforce laws or regulations which companies must abide by. These regulatory policies often regulate social issues that pertain to the implementation and operation of a global supply chain (e.g. labour, environmental, etc.). These regulatory policies force companies to obey the regulations set in place which often impact a company's profit.

Operating and managing a global supply chain comes with several risks. These risks can be divided into two main categories: supply-side risk and demand side risk. Supply-side risk is a category that includes risks accompanied by the availability of raw materials which effects the ability of the company to satisfy customer demands. Demand-side risk is a category that includes risks that pertain to the availability of the finished product. Depending on the supply chain, a manager may choose to minimize or take on these risks.

Successful global supply-chain management occurs after implementing the appropriate framework of concentration, complying with international regulations set by governments and non-governmental organizations, and recognizing and appropriately handling the risks involved while maximizing profit and minimizing waste.

Areas of concentration

Marketing

Marketing should be emphasized by global supply chain managers to create customer value, satisfaction, and loyalty. Customer value, satisfaction, and loyalty lead to improved profit margins, which in turn leads to overall corporate growth. Managers need to think about their strategies and the implication of the strategy on the entire supply chain. One market strategy that is commonly used among businesses with global supply chains is the customer perspective strategy.

Taking a customer perspective towards marketing strategy means focusing mainly on customers. This perspective focuses on understanding the complexity of customer values. This perspective involves understanding and how a customer defines and develops their values. By understanding how a customer sets their values, a company is able to make changes to appeal to the customer base's values which in turn leads to greater profit.

There are four common and critical challenges that managers face when attempting to design and implement a marketing strategy that best relates to customer values. The first issue that managers face is the challenge of understanding exactly what customers value in a global supply chain. Understanding customer values in a global supply chain focuses on the task of identifying what supply streams customers value most.

The second challenge is having to understand the constant changes in customer values throughout global supply chains. Since customers are constantly changing what they value, staying ahead of the trend and attempting to predict changing values is increasingly difficult. The third challenge is having to deliver values in a new environment that has never seen this level of marketplace. The global market is becoming increasingly prevalent which companies are taking advantage of, therefore the challenge of attempting to deliver values in a country/region that has never been exposed to a marketplace such as this before arises.

The final challenge is creating and staying committed to the solutions designed to address these issues. Solutions to these challenges are implemented and it is a challenge within itself to stick to these solutions especially as businesses have increased emphasis on cost reduction efforts.

Logistics

When managing a global supply chain, it is important to place emphasis on logistics performance as there has been an increase in business-to-business international marketing. Logistics is inherently difficult and complex for a global supply chain as it deals with trade regulations, shipping distances, and cross-currency issues. Companies and/or organizations who place an emphasis on logistics management can find themselves with a serious competitive advantage as it has a clear visible impact on customers.

Focusing on customer preferences when implementing and managing a companies logistic services has proven to provide the organization with several benefits. One of the major benefits is cost reduction. Costs can be reduced if the company identifies all the necessary logistic segments and then eliminates unnecessary and redundant. Customizing logistics not only reduces cost, but it also increases revenue by appealing to the customer base which in turn stays loyal to the business.

To stay competitive, organizations need to develop global logistic strategies that appropriately and effectively appeal to the customer's needs. By doing this, companies are able to take advantage of the increasingly profitable global market.

Supply management

Supply management deals with the development and management of the critical business and supplier relationship. Some companies will use supply chain management software to help manage the flow of products and information. Notable companies that provide supply management services include Oracle, Epicor, Infor, and IBM. As the market becomes progressively global, the strategy of outsourcing suppliers is increasingly used. Outsourcing suppliers has several benefits for a business if they can effectively develop the relationship. In 2020 the global supply chain management market was valued at $18.7 million and was projected to reach $52.6 million by 2030.

Management theories

The 21st-century logistics framework

Closs and Mollenkopf's "21st-century logistics framework" is a global supply-chain management theory that was developed at Michigan State University and was introduced to the business world in 1999. The framework identifies six business competencies that are necessary to operate a global supply chain, with multiple underlying capabilities for each competency which influence management decisions. The six competencies are:

• customer integration,
• internal integration
• material/service supplier integration
• technology and planning integration
• measurement integration, and
• relationship integration.

The capabilities that are attached the competency of customer integration are: segmental focus, relevancy, responsiveness, and flexibility. Segmental focus refers to the ability to develop customer aimed programs that are specifically designed to achieve maximum customer success. Relevancy refers to the ability to maintain and modify customer focuses to reflect the constant changing expectations. Responsiveness refers to the ability to accommodate unique and unforeseen customer requests/requirements. Flexibility refers to the ability to appropriately adapt to any unexpected circumstance.

Cross-functional unification, standardization, simplification, and compliance are the underlying capabilities that are associated with the internal integration competency. Cross-functional unification refers to the ability to put potential co-operative activities into manageable operational processes. Standardization refers to the ability to implement policies/procedures that address any concurrent operations. Simplification refers to the ability to identify, adopt, implement, and improve the best possible business practices. Compliance refers to the ability to follow any established policies.

The capabilities that are related to material/service supplier integration are: strategic alignment, operational fusion, financial linkage, and supplier management. The ability to develop a corporate culture or common vision that create a shared responsibility is defined as strategic alignment. The ability to fuse systems together to reduce redundancy is defined as operational fusion. Financial linkage refers to ability to join financial ventures with suppliers to achieve common goals. Supplier management refers to the ability to extend management to include the hierarchical structure of suppliers.

Information management, internal communication, connectivity, and collaborative forecasting and planning are the capabilities that encompassed by technology and planning integration. The ability to use seamless transactions across the entire chain to allocate resources throughout the chain is called information management. Internal communication refers to the ability to communicate within the business in appropriate manner. The ability to communicate and exchange information between the business and the external supply chain partner is called connectivity. Collaborative forecasting and planning refers to the ability to collaborate with customers to identify and develop shared visions.

The capabilities that underlie measurement integration are: functional assessment, comprehensive metrics, and financial impact. Functional assessment refers to the ability to develop and implement an appropriate performance measurement tool. Comprehensive metrics refers to the ability to implement cross-business performance standards. Financial impact refers to the direct link between overall supply chain performance and the results of the financial measurement.

The capabilities that underlie relationship integration are: role specificity, guidelines, information sharing, and gain/risk sharing. Role specificity refers to the ability to clearly define leadership and establish a set of shared and individual responsibilities. Guidelines refers to the ability to create and implement policies/rules that govern everyday interactions. Information sharing refers to the willingness to share important information (often including financial, technical, or strategic information) throughout the supply chain. Gain/risk sharing refers to the appropriately divide and allocate rewards/penalties.

The 21st-century logistics framework allows managers to identify and implement the most important underlying capabilities that are encompassed in the six business competencies. The framework gives managers the freedom to decide what they believe to be the most important capabilities that need to be implemented to run a successful global supply chain.

Human collaboration theory

The human collaboration theory suggests that there is strong evidence to prove that investment in supply-chain management have the largest impacts when they focus on enabling supply chain collaboration. This management theory focuses on the manager's ability to invest in and promote human collaboration between employees throughout the global supply chain.

Human collaboration is defined as the use of skills through harmonization of individuals, teams and organizations to achieve greater things not achievable by an individual person. The human collaboration theory/framework lays out four key components. The first component deals with the forces that drive change, the second focuses on people-technology-process assets that create network collaboration, the third deals with resisting forces which encourage people to resist collaboration, and the fourth component looks at the desired collaboration performance. The theory states that to implement and operate a successful global supply chain, a manager must understand and use these components.

The theory states that to implement and operate the best collaboration system, a manager must build trust between the different players of the chain (supplier and manufacturer), establish a culture which supports decision making and work, implement a proper reward system, and use synergistic activities.

According to the theory's creators, a manager must follow four steps to transform their network into a more collaborative network. The first step is to recognize that to be competitive the company will require innovations which can be proposed by people outside the corporate boundary and therefore to access these people they need to be more collaborative with external partners. They then must alter their views of achieving collaboration by acknowledging the different types of collaboration (transactional, co-operative, coordinated, synchronized). Next, a manager must develop a collaborative plan that achieve the goals he/she sets out to achieve. Finally a manager must develop the right controls to ensure the goals/mission can be met. If a manager follows the recommendations made by this theory, then they will have implemented a proper global supply chain that focuses on human collaboration which in turn will yield better results.

International regulations

Role of government

Governments can play a large role in regulating certain aspects of a global supply chains. Governments have a wide range of policy instruments that they can use to implement regulations. These instruments include but are not limited to: taxation, financial incentives, regulation, liberalization, infrastructure, land use planning, and advice and exhortation. However, before designing and implementing a regulation, it is important for governments to properly analyze any second-order effects that might occur. Second order effects are defined as the offsetting effects that happen elsewhere because of the implementation of a policy.

Recently, there has been a steady incline of governments creating and implementing regulations to promote green supply chains.

To design and implement the appropriate government's need to take into account the five aspects of sustainable logistics. The first is reducing freight transport intensity as it is becoming necessary for governments to introduce explicit policies to encourage companies to reduce the amount of freight movement within their system. The second aspect is freight modal split, which the author describes as shifting freight to greener transport modes. Governments can promote this by using policy instruments (usually taxation, financial incentives, regulation, and infrastructural measures).

The third aspect is vehicle use which governments must attempt to promote companies to improve their use of road freight. This can be done through taxation, regulation, liberalization, and advice committees. The fourth aspect is increasing energy efficiency which often is seen with the introduction of general efficiency programs. Governments can raise fuel duty, subsidize driver training schemes, reduce and enforce speed limits, impose fuel economy standards, incentivize scrappage of old vehicles and give advice to promote a higher standard of energy efficiency. The fifth and final aspect is cutting emissions relative to energy use which needs to be addressed through a policy.

Role of the United Nations

The United Nations plays a big role in designing and implementing international regulations that have huge impacts on the operation and management of global supply chains. The United Nations created the UN Global Compact which is an organization that aims to mobilize a global movement of sustainable companies and stakeholders.

The UN Global Compact attempts to mobilize a global movement by supporting companies to be responsible and to advance societal goals. The organization has created a set of ten principles which they expect companies to abide by. The ten principles fall under the broader categories of human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption.

With regards to human rights the organization encourages businesses to support and respect human rights, and make sure they are not abusing any established human rights laws. The labour principles deal with the recognition of collective bargaining, elimination of forced labour, abolition of child labour, and elimination of discrimination. The environment principles focus on being cautious to environmental challenges, promoting greater environmental responsibility, and encouraging the development of environmentally friendly technologies. The anti-corruption principle states that businesses should work against corruption. They have published two guides which illustrate how businesses can implement the ten principles throughout their supply chains and integrate sustainability. These guides state that companies can achieve supply-chain sustainability by taking certain steps which include: committing, defining, implementing, assessing, measuring, and communicating to effectively become sustainable.

Risks of operation

Supply-side risk

Supply-side risk is a category that includes risks accompanied by the availability of raw materials which affects the ability of the company to satisfy customer demands. Several issues can arise from operating a global supply chain. Common supply side risks include the fact that it takes a long time to receive products from around the world, and that suppliers may not necessarily operate to the same quality standards.

Outsourcing suppliers may provide a business several benefits but a lot of risk comes attached to it. One major risk is the fact that global currencies are constantly changing, a small change in foreign currency could have a large impact on the overall profit a business receives. Supplier order processing time variability is another supply-side risk that comes increasingly risky when outsourcing suppliers. This risk is defined by the fact that the time it takes a supplier to fulfill an order can change for every order. Businesses are not exactly sure how the supplier is going to deal with the order and whether they will be able to deliver products on time.

Demand-side risk

Demand-side risk is a category that includes risks that pertain to the availability of the finished product. Demand-side risks mainly occur when companies are unable to deal with the demands of the customer base. This can happen when customer demand is higher than supply, and the company does not have enough stock to appropriately deal with the customer demand. Since customer demand changes so frequently it is tough for managers to forecast what is needed for the next month which creates the risk of running out of stock.