1. Dave Lonergan

2. INTRODUCTION AMD have been making processors for a long time and with each new generation the company improves on product performance and efficiency. These are hardware changes but there have also been environmental changes. In this presentation, I will be looking at the commercial environment and the green environment and how the company moves towards a more ethical environment. I will also cover how these environmental interactions affect the price of the product.

3. Commercial Influences  Due to the benefits of offshoring and globalisation, AMD built production facilities in China and India.  Call centres and technical support are also located in India as it has a high percentage of English speaking graduates.  If you are in a medium or high wage economy, there will always be someone, somewhere, who can make it cheaper. This means that the price can be less.

4. Commercial Influences  The rising price of fuel, the credit crunch and changing interest rates and exchange rates have all lead to a price increase.  However, these have been mostly counteracted by reductions in production costs, effects of globalisation and a need to compete with Intel on price, as AMD Phenom processors run at lower speeds.

5. Commercial Influences AMD publish information about the companies economic environment. http://www.amd.com/us-en/0,,3715_14217_15043,00.html

6. Green Influences  AMD say that they care about the environment. This is what they have in the green section of their website.  Products: Designing processors and chipsets that use less power and generate less heat for a smaller environmental footprint, yet provide stellar performance per watt.  Operations: Designing and operating our global facilities as environmental steward, such as through our efforts to achieve LEED Gold certification for our new Austin, Texas (USA) campus and powering AMD Dresden (Germany) with ultra- efficient tri-generation plants.  Employees: Maintaining a safe and healthful work environment that promotes employee well-being.

7. Green Influences  AMD also have this to say:  "Global climate change presents a range of complex risks to the global community and our common vision of a prosperous future. AMD recognizes our responsibility as a global citizen to reduce our direct impacts on the environment and to inspire and enable others to do the same. We do this through the development of energy efficient technology and the responsible design and operation of our facilities. Our commitment, strategy, and progress are reviewed annually at the executive level of the corporation." (http://www.amd.com/us- en/0,,3715_14217_14202_15834,00.html)

8. Green Influences  There are three main reasons why businesses respond to green issues by taking on environmentally friendly policies. Because of belief, to attract a niche market or because they are required to do so by regulation.  AMD seem to have responded an a way to all three of these. Competition with Intel has forced AMD to reduce the environmental footprint of their processors and as a result, people who want a green processor choose a low-power Phenom. Legislation states that AMD as a company needs to have a low impact on the environment both through production and the running of the product.

9. Green Influences  AMD’s Cool and Quiet technology reduces the power consumption of the processor when its idle. This technology costs money to develop and therefore puts the price of a processor up. However, savings can be made on the amount of electricity used.  Environmentally friendly production costs more because other companies need to be hired to remove waste and dispose of it greenly. However, improving efficiency of production can lower carbon footprint and save money.

10. Green Influences AMD publish information about their companies impact on the environment. http://www.amd.com/us-en/0,,3715_14217_15042,00.html

11. Ethical Influences  These days, people are very wary about companies that build factories in low wage economies. Is the pay fair? Are children employed? Is the work safe for the staff?  For AMD staff the minimum pay is competitive and safety measures are in place according to the AMD ethics sheet.  Keeping up these standards is expensive. To be competitive, AMD had split its business and formed “The Foundry Company”  This was followed by 500 employees getting laid off from AMD.  By keeping up ethical standards, AMD had to break other ethics by firing staff.

12. Ethical Influences http://www.trustedreviews.com/images/article/inline/9216-amdsharesspan.jpg

13. Ethical Influences AMD releases performance indicators on its website to show social trends in the company. These can be used to monitor ethics. http://www.amd.com/us-en/0,,3715_14217_15042,00.html

14. Conclusion  All of the issues discussed here have an affect on the price of the product.  AMD puts a lot of money into being a green company.  AMD spends money on being an ethical company.  The commercial environment has big effects on the price of the Phenom Processor.

15. Bibliography  Open Learn (2008). Environmental Factors in Organisations. Retrieved (10/11/2008) from The Open University: http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=161869 Info Tech (2008). Intel and AMD Take Chip Fight to China. Retrieved (10/11/2008) from Business Week: http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2007/gb20070326_495216.htm?campaign_id=tbw%22  Trends in Offshore R&D (2008). AMD expands its R&D in India. Retrieved (12/11/2008) from Global Innovation: http://blog.global-innovation.net/2008/01/amd-expands-its-r-in-india.html  AMD (2008). AMD Green. Retrieved (12/11/2008) from AMD: http://www.amd.com/us-en/0,,3715_14217_14202,00.html AMD (2008). Climate Protection and Energy Efficiency. Retrieved (22/11/2008) from AMD: http://www.amd.com/us-en/0,,3715_14217_14202_15834,00.html  Google Finance (2008). Advanced Micro Devices. Retrieved (22/11/2008) from Google: http://finance.google.com/finance?fstype=bi&q=NYSE:AMD  Geek.com(2008). ZDnet bashes AMD on Ethics Standards (22/11/2008) from Geek.com: http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/zdnet-bashes-amd-on-ethics-standards-2007075/  AMD (2008). AMD Code of Ethics. Retrieved (22/11/2008) from AMD: http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/DownloadableAssets/Code_of_Ethics.pdf  CIO (2008). U.S. Congressman Calls Out Tech Firms on China Ethics. Retrieved (22/11/2008) from CIO: http://www.cio.com/article/28731/U.S._Congressman_Calls_Out_Tech_Firms_on_China_Ethics  Trusted Reviews (2008). AMD Confirms & Details Split. Retrieved (23/11/2008) from Trusted Reviews: http://www.trustedreviews.com/cpu-memory/news/2008/10/07/AMD-Confirms---Details-Split/p1  Trusted Reviews (2008). AMD Cutting Staff. Retrieved (23/11/2008) from Trusted Reviews: http://www.trustedreviews.com/cpu-memory/news/2008/11/06/AMD-Cutting-Staff/p1  Trusted Reviews (2008). AMD Share Span. Retrieved (23/11/2008) from Trusted Reviews: http://www.trustedreviews.com/images/article/inline/9216-amdsharesspan.jpg  AMD (2008). Performance Indicators. Retrieved (30/11/2008) from AMD http://www.amd.com/us-en/0,,3715_14217_15040,00.html