Holcims Romanian Unique Venture Yields Positive Results for all Essay

Holcims Romanian Unique Venture Yields Positive Results for all Stakeholders - Essay Example The plants needed only refurbishment and improvement. Secondly, operating in the country offers opportunities to widen the company's market share as the country can serve as a gateway to other countries of Eastern Europe. Furthermore, Romania is relatively politically stable and has a friendly business atmosphere. Romanians were also known for their enterprising character. One of the concerns usually arising from cement production is that the process uses large amounts of fossil fuel and involved large amounts of CO2 emissions. What Holcim did was to use contaminated and expired pet foods as a fuel substitute. 13,000 tons were gathered from the country's groceries and manufacturers. This endeavor was undertaken with all the environmental and safety regulations inspected and audited by a third party. Holcim discovered that each ton of pet food replaced 1.2 tons of traditional fossil fuel. Along with the use of fly ash instead of clinkers, the use of the pet food reduced C02 emissions by 74%. It also helped the country tackle with its toxic waste disposal problem. Believing that people are the foundation of value creation, Holcim offered wages that were 7% higher than the cement industry average and 15% higher than Romania's general industry. The work force was also represented by an independent trade union.