Sustainable Development at Alcoa
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Case Details:
Case Code : BECG034
Case Length : 23 Pages
Period : 2003 - 2004
Pub. Date : 2004
Teaching Note :Not Available
Organization : Alcoa Inc.
Industry : Aluminum
Countries : USA
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BECG034) click on the button below, and select the case from the list of available cases:
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Please note:
This case study was compiled from published sources, and is intended to be used as a basis for class discussion. It is not intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. Nor is it a primary information source.
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Excerpts
Alcoa - Background Note
Alcoa's origins can be traced back to 1886 when Charles Martin Hall (Hall) discovered a high-volume, low-cost smelting process for producing aluminum. He persuaded a group of six industrialists to finance his discovery and established the Pittsburg Reduction Company.
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In 1888, Hall, in association with Arthur Vining Davis (Davis), produced aluminum for commercial use for the first time. However, there was no ready market for this product since manufacturers refused to make products using an unfamiliar metal. Davis began to sell the idea of manufacturing aluminum household products by making a few products himself such as a tea kettle and cooking utensils. Meanwhile, Hall kept improving the aluminum manufacturing process and developed new alloys. As a result of the continuous development process, Hall managed to reduce the price of aluminum to 78 cents/pound by 1893 from $4.86/pound in 1888. The versatility of aluminum and the low costs soon began attracting manufacturers...
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Sustainable Development - The Alcoa Way
Alcoa had begun implementing SD initiatives as early as the 1950s, much before the term was even accepted in the corporate world. The company had established the Alcoa Foundation, a not for profit organization, in 1952.
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This foundation actively provided monetary assistance in the form of community and global grants to improve the quality of life of people in more than 29 countries where it had operations then. The Foundation focused on these areas: Global Education in Business, Science, Engineering and Technology; Skills Today for Tomorrow; Business and Community Partnerships; Safe and Healthy Children and Families; and Conservation and Sustainability (Refer Exhibit IV for a description of each area). Alcoa also invested in many environmental projects as it realized the need to restore natural resources at the same rate at which they were being exploited by its mining activities. It also did this to establish itself as a good socially responsible company... |
Excerpts Contd... >>
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