Amcor Limited Company is an international company that deals with packaging solutions by using rigid and flexible plastics. The products that it manufactures are used in various sectors in storing and offering protection to beverage, food, personal, household, medical and pharmaceutical goods as well as industrial applications (Cowan and Deegan, p. 409). It is one of the leading company in the packaging manufacturing industry worldwide. It offers its customers highest quality services in dealing with their packaging solutions. It is built on reliability, innovative, sustainable and excellence in providing goods and services of high quality to all its customers. Due to the globalization process, it has brought its services to the doorstep of their customers in every corner of the world. Rules that govern a certain country with the conventions, treaties and policies, are important consideration of a company (Crane and Matten, p. 54). These rules determine success or failure of a company and therefore, they need to be followed to the latter. This paper therefore, discusses the Amcor Limited company with its headquarters and the workforce, the regulatory frameworks affecting its operations, the treaties and conventions the government are involved in with they do affect their operations (Bond, Bugeja and Czernkowski, p. 21).
Globally the Amcor Limited has about 28, 000 employees while in the year 2016 it had 31, 761 employees in Australia. It operates in 43 countries globally. Its headquarter is in Hawthorn, Victoria in Australia. It makes over $9.5 billion sales annually. The Managing Director and Chief Executive of Amcor Limited is Mr. Ron Delia while the Non-Executive Chairman is Mr. Graeme Liebelt.
It has various divisions such as Amcor Rigid Plastics which produces rigid plastic containers. These products are used for storing various liquids such as juices, water, milk, soft drinks, alcohol and for personal use. Worldwide it is one of the largest manufacturer in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) containers (Cortese, p. 36). It supplies to various organization internationally. Their products can package both cold and hot drinks and food thereby providing a range wide of variety hence accommodating many customers.
It also deals with Amcor Flexibles Europe and Americans and Asia Pacific. It is thereby supplies to various organizations that deals with beverage, healthcare and food markets. It offers packaging for fresh foods like bread, meat, fish and dairy products. Also, for processed products such as snack foods, confectionary, pharmaceutical, medical and hospital supplies (Hamilton et al., p. 83).
Amcor Tobacco Packaging also focusses on packaging for tobacco boxes in a very special kind of folding cartons. Lastly the AMVIG division in which the Amcor Limited holds about 47.6% of the china-based AMVIG company that deals with tobacco packaging (McGraw and Dabski, p. 402). Amcor whoever does not own the AMVIG Company wholly but a mutual benefit exists between the two.
To be a multinational company Amcor is today, it has come a very long way. Its history starts in the late 1860s when Samuel Ramsden arrived in Australia from Yorkshire. He then established the very first paper mill in Victoria on the Yarra River banks in the city of Melbourne. In the early years the company was known as Australian Paper Manufacturers (APM), and it used to offer packaging services to many Australians (Soosay Fearne and Dent, p. 64). It was the first company in Australia to collect recycling paper from various parts of Australia using carts and horse. In the year 1986, APM changed its name to Amcor Limited so as to accommodate its diverse range of packaging interests. Since then, Amcor has grown tremendously over the years to become one of the most renown multinational company. It has been forming partnerships with other companies and thereby making various organizations. In the year 1995 for instance, it acquired Rentsch Folding Cartons in Switzerland while in 1996 it acquired the European Flexibles Business (UCB). In 2000, it got the Injepet USA, Stevens Flexible Packaging USA and Smutfitt Tobacco Europe. In 2001, the Brazilian PET acquisition, it expanded the Amcor Asia- the China Flexibles, Amcor Rentsch-Poly Laupen and Sunclipse in USA (Mutton, p. 469). Recently, Amcor Limited has acquired Sonoco Blow Molding, Hebei Qite Packaging, Nampak Flexibls and Packaging India Private Limited.
Since Amcor Limited is involved in production of packaging products, a number of organizations are involved. Many commercial and private businesses consume their products while their impact is felt by the environment and the public at large in Australia. Therefore, the issue of regulatory policies comes in since the government has to ensure they operate their businesses in an ethical and lawful manner (Martin and Rice, p. 66). These regulatory policies do have an impact to both the company, consumers and the taxpayers. Recycling of packaging products has risen tremendously since the year 2003. Regulatory failure however, may prevent proper functioning of packaging companies and therefore, proper regulatory mechanisms are required (Young and Thyil, p. 12). If regulatory mechanisms hinder the operations of a company, some packaging may not be recycled even though they would have a positive impact to the society and the environment. Therefore, the result will be a higher rate of litter than it would occur if regulations were fair. Regulatory fragmentation on the other hand, has a negative impact on companies operating at a multinational level such as Amcor Limited. It imposes costs on the products manufactured and thereby placing an upward pressure on the commodities prices thereby making one to lose market. So as to avoid these impacts, the Council of Australian Government (COAG) reforms comes in so as to reduce regulatory differences and duplication thereby cutting on compliance costs (Cowan and Deegan, p. 412).
State or territory governments and the Commonwealth has ensured the Australians’ international packaging obligations are met. Through initiatives such as Product Stewardship Act 2011, National Waste Policy, Associated Australian Packaging Covenant (APC) and National Environment Protection Measure (NEPM), they have ensured the packaging companies conform to the standards (Ross and Dovers, p. 247) Various frameworks in Australia has ensured the recycling industries dealing with packaging such as Amcor Limited. They are specifically concerned with the production of refillable beverage containers so as to reduce wastage.
Various National Packaging Covenant have been launched in Australia with the main aim of achieving a sustainable performance in terms of operations of packaging companies. The Covenant and supporting regulatory safety net termed as the NEPM is a key component of co-regulatory arrangement that ensures the environmental issues involved by the packaging companies are put into consideration. It is involved in ensuring environmental impact arising from these companies such as disposal of already used packaging materials are minimized (Taylor, p. 843). These covenants ensures the companies adhere to the regulations set aside on environmental conservation, re-use and recycling of materials.
Amcor is also adhering to the regulations set aside by the Australian Paper Plantations (APP). It has to follow strictly the Code of Forest Practices. It has to safeguard the biodiversity and natural resources in line with ensuring sustainable environmental management. Amcor Limited however, has shown considerable efforts in complying with the regulations given by the Australian government. Internationally also, the company has been noted as a keen observer of any regulations of the country they are situated. For instance, Amcor Twinpak’s plastic packaging plant, which is located in Virginia, in United States, was nominated for an award in the City of Newport News Industry for beautification and Recycling award. Amcor Pet Packaging located in Canada on the other hand has been instrumental in recycling of packaging wastes and its commitment to environmental friendly approach in its operations. Amcor Europe is also known for its tremendous works in reducing solvent odors from the company’s plants (Franzen, A. and Meyer, p. 221).
The Amcor Limited nevertheless, has been affected by some governmental regulations. The Amcor Fiber Packaging located in New South Wales dealing with Botany plant, once breached the environmental obligations where one pump malfunctioned thereby causing wastewater to flow into the bay. There was also a discharge of wastewater that went above the license limit. The company had to act immediately so as to avoid any fines from the Environment Protection Authority.
Amcor Limited usually gives tax credits and grants to its various branches to ensure smooth performance. All firms are also required to comply with anti-fraud law. All branches of Amcor Limited are not exempted from the Sarbanes-Oxley law. Therefore, the smaller organizations usually feel the huge weight of this law which they say they affect negatively their operations due to the high costs of compliance (Davis and Herat, p. 1033).
The high corporate tax rate is a big challenge that affects the operations of Amcor especially in the international market. The managing director of Amcor Limited blames the high tax rate put by the government as the reason why Amcor cannot compete so well globally as it should be. He argues that, if the government could reduce the corporate tax to 25%, it would do the company a big favor hence giving it a competitive advantage over other companies globally.
Amcor Limited was once involved in a case whereby one of its employees had breached the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Act. He had involved in anticompetitive conduct while handling the Australasian corrugated box business. The ACC had to investigate the matter which caused the Amcor company major. Many investors moved out of the company thereby lowering the Amcor shares by 10%. Any corporation that breaches the anti-competitive law, it is usually fined up to about $ 10 million per each breach.
The National Packaging Covenant is one of the covenants in Australia that determines how packaging operations by the involved companies. It was first launched in August 1999 but reviewed in the year 2004 but became effective in July 2005. The covenant is concerned with consumer packaging as well as paper products involving the packaging supply chain, the collectors, consumers, processors and the government. The covenant was aimed at achieving performance goals and target in recycling of packaging materials. These materials include those that are consumed far from home or workplaces, commercial as well as industrial premises. The involved signatories’ addresses issues related to litter, consumer awareness, market development for the recycled materials and distribution and the in-house packaging. This covenant touches directly on the Amcor products since its target was overarching recycling rate of products such as paper and cardboard, plastics, steel, glass, aluminum as well as other products (Verghese, Horne and Carre, p. 641).
National competition policy also was an agreement reached by the Australian government. This involved the Conduct of Code Agreement and the Competition Principles Agreement, which safeguards against unfair competition.
Other government legislations that affect the operations of packaging companies are specially involved in container deposits, recycling rates, packaging levies, as well as bans of certain packaging procedures.
Conclusion
Businesses have become competitive now days and for any kind of organization to go global, it has to be considerate of some factors. Efficiency in business operations is key in ensuring success of a company. The workforce in place should be swift in their operations. Creativity and innovation is also key in success of a company and in it quench to go international. The packaging materials used are also important to be put into consideration. Lighter weight materials as compared to materials that are heavy would be more suitable in this age. Due to technological advancements also higher and faster performing packaging materials has been developed. The structural design also plays a key role in product manufacture and it determines the amount of sales one can make. Some customers go for design and the design you go for as a company will ensure the success of your organization. Pre-portioned, pre-cut, smaller and ready to consume materials are the products which are on high demand now days. Some of the new trends in the market are microwave packs, contoured shapes, blister packs, zippered pouches and carry handles. Increasing machinery is also important since it reduces the labor costs and cuts on some costs. Having in mind the regulatory policies of a country the organization is situated is also essential in ensuring its success.
References
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