Degradable Mobile Phones: A New Zealand Business Proposal

This business proposal outlines the development of degradable mobile phones to address the growing e-waste problem in New Zealand. The proposal begins with an introduction highlighting the environmental impact of e-waste and the need for sustainable solutions. A PESTEL analysis examines the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors influencing the business in New Zealand. The document then delves into critical and reflective thinking, exploring the technical challenges and potential solutions for creating degradable mobile phones. Strategic decisions are discussed, including national and local strategies for sustainable development, and ethical issues surrounding environmental responsibility. The proposal emphasizes the importance of aligning business goals with human rights, sustainability, and environmental considerations to create a circular economy model. The proposal also considers the role of government, NGOs, and the international community in supporting sustainable initiatives. The proposal concludes by emphasizing the need for mutual supportive initiatives and policies.

Running head: DEGRADABLE MOBILE PHONES PROPOSAL 1
Business Plan Proposal
Name
Institution

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Introduction
Increasingly, e-waste products are considered to be disposal items which have a
catastrophic effect on the ecosystem. Statistics indicate that New Zealand individual waste
accounts for almost 19 kilograms of e-waste annually. Further, the environment ministry has
indicated that the rate will increase to 26.9kgs by the year 2030. Majority of e-waste products
end up contaminating the environment as a result of toxic materials (Blake, Farrelly & Hannon,
2019). New Zealand continues to struggle in the fight against e-waste with the increase in
number of mobile phones among other electronic gadgets.
For the country to address this solution completely, new approaches should be used to
address the issue. The most viable approach to this problem is the development of degradable
mobile phones because it considers environmental issues as well as encourage sustainability. For
this reason, this business proposal is based on the idea of developing degradable mobile phone
by considering all significant aspects related to human rights, sustainability and environmental
issue.
PESTEL analysis
The following PESTEL analysis aims to provide information regarding how the factors
influence New Zealand.
Political factors
New Zealand is a democratic country that is governed through a parliamentary system.
The country is also considered as a constitutional monarchy. Queen Elizabeth 11 is also the
queen of New Zealand and the head of state. The Governor of the country is a representative to
the queen appointed by the queen after recommendation from the Prime Minster. Various reports
indicate that New Zealand is among the developed countries in the world. According to Asia-
Power Index, the country has economic resources, military capabilities, resilience, cultural and
diplomatic relationship (Denison et al, 2018). The country is politically stable and peaceful based
on the current data. Corruption rate is quite low and there has been one terrorist attack that
occurred in March 2019. The political structure is capable of developing policies that will
support the degradable mobile phones.

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Economic factors
New Zealand is a developed country which will offer the business skilled labor. The
agricultural sector is the largest contributor to the national economy. Other economic activities
include forestry, tourism, fishing, mining, construction and food and beverage industry.
According to World Bank statistics, the GDP for 2018 stood at $205.9 billion. New Zealand
exported $39.8 billion worth of products across the world in 2018. Among the products exported
include dairy products, meat, wood, fish, drinks and machinery.
The country also receives imports from various countries such as Australia, China, Japan
and the United States of America (Chen & Davis-Ngatai, 2017). Among the products that New
Zealand imports include Sweetened milk, sheep meat, butter and wine among other popular
electronic gadgets. New Zealand supports free trade which is responsible for the growth in mixed
economy. The employment rate has been up and down over the years and tax remains to be a
challenging issue in the economy. There is various tax charged on employees based on the
income while corporate tax is a flat rate of 28% (Cruz & Alley, 2017).
Social factors
The total population of the country is estimated to be around 4.7 million people. The
main languages that are spoken in New Zealand include English and Maori. Christianity is the
main religion and there is no official religion in the country. The life expectancy for men is 80
years while women is 88 years.
New Zealand is a culturally diverse nation and majority of its population in the country
attest to the fact that they enjoy a society that comprises people from different races, religion and
cultures. New Zealand is considered as one of the best country to live. The satisfaction of living
in New Zealand is pegged on its performance with respect to employment, social support and
quality of atmosphere (Exeter et al, 2017). Internet penetration in New Zealand is high with more
than half a million people visiting websites on a monthly basis. However, there are other social
challenges that face the country. The country is looking to address issues related to income and
housing. Other challenges include crime, social welfare, youth issues and poverty.
Telecommunication factors

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New Zealand has a more diverse technology sector which is rapidly growing and requires
many people to the industry. There are numerous ICT jobs that can contribute in providing
sufficient labor to produce degradable mobile phones (Locke & Cave, 2018). The country has
experts in software engineering, project management, marketing and application programmers.
Majority of information technology companies have been acknowledged across the globe
for their innovation practices. The technology sector employs approximately 140,000 people
with a large number being women. The country is making efforts to ensure that ICT sector grows
to the second largest economic contributor. This approach requires both local and international
talents although the country is not considered as a hub for recruiting talents in the ICT.
Environmental factors
New Zealand is considered as one of the top holiday destination across the world. It has
numerous attractions such as glacial mountains, lakes, sandy beaches, bungee jumping and
biking among others. The climate of New Zealand supports agriculture as a result of consistent
rainfall and does not experience long drought seasons. However, there is concern regarding the
loss of habitat, decline of species, air pollution, deforestation and soil erosion.
Legal factors
New Zealand is one of the least corrupt nation and accepts foreign direct investment. It is
ranked the first in the world in terms of ease of doing business which will support the degradable
mobile phone business.
Critical and reflective thinking
The main challenge in this concept would have to mimic the human functionality in order
to be able to think about the development of degradable mobile phones. However, flexibility and
self-healing aspects have already been realized and the issue lies on how to tackle the problem of
biodegradability (Rosca, Arnold & Bendul, 2017). This will require developing electronic
devices that can degrade by weak acid. In this respect, semiconductor polymer can be used.
Besides, it will require a conducive plastic to develop a circuit as well as a degradable substrate
from which electronic components will be attached.

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The substrate will play a significant role in supporting the electronic components and
flexing. Therefore, whenever the electronic degradable mobile phones are not significant, they
can decompose to non-toxic components (Zhang et al, 2018). Various scholars have created
amazing technology that can be modeled to the skin or brain although the problem is that these
devices cannot be degradable. In essence, it presents a challenge to develop a robust material that
is good as a conductor and can be decomposed. However, studies indicate that by altering the
chemical structure of the flexible material, the material could easily break apart as a result of
mild stressors. Research suggests that developing an electronic polymer would require altered
cellulose to make it transparent and easily breakable (Laycock et al, 2017). There are numerous
benefits from degradable materials which will form the basis of developing the degradable
mobile phones.
Strategic decisions
Sustainable development in this respect implies development process that meets the
needs of the current state at the same time it should not compromise the capacity of future
generations. However, sustainable development is not only about the environment but also
balancing the economic and social objectives of the society. The principles of sustainable
development to achieve organizational goal is pegged on people-centered, targeted clear
budgetary allocations, aligning national goals with local goals, efficient participation from
various stakeholders and high-level of government commitment (Cancino et al, 2018).
National level strategies
Traditionally, majority of developed countries prepare national development framework
that covers more than five years. This implies that such plans tend to set out long-term goals
which include projects and activities that are supported through recurrent expenditure and
development budgets. Social strategies are also considered in this phase including HIV and acute
diseases. Other strategic objectives that require the commitment of government include transport
projects, agricultural projects, health projects and education strategies.
A country like New Zealand can develop national visions for sustainable initiative that
can be supported and receive funding from United Nations Development Program. A country’s
vision should be able to have an agreement among different stakeholders such as civil society

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and human rights movement (McCormick et al, 2016). Companies need to be involved with
corporate social responsibility which empower the communities around them and contribute in
reducing poverty levels. These programs and polices need to have commitment and support from
the government.
The initiatives should also be developed in a transparent manner supported by
institutions, stakeholders such as human rights, civil societies, development agencies, regional
banks and aligned to the international objectives. Other sub-categories of national strategies
should be strategic planning framework at all lower levels of the government. All local
institutions ought to be provided with the opportunity of structure sustainable development as
well as how they are preparing to implement the projects in the local levels.
The role of the national government should be to provide resources that will play a
critical role in ensuring the success of the projects. In developed countries such as New Zealand,
there is enough experience at lower levels with respect to planning. Such planning roles should
be strategic, participatory and transparent (Bailey, De Propris & Janger, 2015). The villages just
like the national government should have the responsibility of developing plans by identifying
major issues, offering solutions and resources required.
A number of local strategies are developed through mechanism that do not reflect the
goals of national government although they have capacity to enhance sustainable initiatives and
encourage co-ordination. The non-governmental organization can play a significant role in
lobbying the local players to combine both socio-economic development and environmental
conservation both at the national and local level. The international community can also
contribute in assisting the developed nation to meet sustainable initiatives through financial
resources, technology and human resource.
Effective partnership agreement should be implemented if the sustainable initiatives are
to be tackled. This implies that economic, social and environmental objectives of a particular
country must be aligned with the sustainable development initiatives (De Besi, & McCormick,
2015). With respect to strategy formulation, a country and its leadership must be involved in the
development of the strategies. As a result, wide consultations with various bodies should be
encouraged to debate on new ideas in order to address the short-term and long-term goals of a
sustainable development initiative.

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These strategies have to consider the beneficial impacts on the marginalized groups
within society as well as future generations. A government should be able to continue building
on existing strategies and processes as opposed to adding other projects that might not have
funding. Sustainable strategies should take into account the relevant regional issues by having a
comprehensive analysis on the current situation and well as forecasting on future trend and risks
associated (Schaltegger, Lüdeke-Freund, & Hansen, 2016). Mutual supportive initiatives and
policies should be encouraged in order to bring people on board. This is significant in order to
allow other stakeholder to plan other strategies with the consideration of the sustainable
initiatives by the national government. The environment plays a critical role in determining the
growth and poverty reduction. As such, environmental issues need to be integrated into the
planning process that affects other projects.
Ethical issues
Environmental ethics is concerned with the issues of morality with respect to the natural
land, resources and organisms. Moral responsibility in this context implies the capacity,
knowledge, choice and value (Attfield, 2015). Environmental ethics comprises the understanding
of the requirements, the capability of performing the requirements by choosing whether or not to
partake on the job and reflecting on how the performance will influence the welfare and liberty
of other people.
A comprehensive environmental ethics needs to consider the ecosystem because it
generates life, increases selection and allow various species to evolve in their natural habitat.
Environmental ethics provides opportunity for sustainable development and influencing the
growth of ideas. There are standard approaches for addressing ethical issues with respect to
sustainable development that reflect a worldview.
The collective agreement is structured in order to link participatory decision making,
accountability of governing institution and strengthening of a democratic government. Among
these principles include respecting the earth and life in all its diversity. This aspect recognizes
that all beings are independent and forms of life have value (Schlottmann & Sebo, 2018).
Another principle is caring for the community which suggests that every individual has a moral
obligation to take care of the environment.

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Building democratic societies ensures that all stakeholders can guarantee human rights
and basic freedoms. It is also significant to secure the earths beauty by encouraging sustainability
through considering future generations. Social responsibility will deal with perceived conduct
considering the inevitable and impossible. Each and every human has acquired the capabilities
and choices that are new to mankind.
These choices and capabilities had not been imagined before although they have capacity
to change the environment forever. Environmental ethics is a complex issue that involves moral
choices of magnitude significance. Moral responsibility to nature is an area that humans cannot
avoid. The human centered ethics is the typical approach that politics and public society governs
sustainable initiatives (Kolk, 2016).
The ethics of sustainability is classified into three areas which have been challenging for
a long period. The first approach is sustainability as an efficient process of managing recourses.
The second classification relates to sustainability as a preservation of wildness to favor human
respect. The third approach relates to sustainability of land ethic. These three versions of
sustainability forms the basis of ethical considerations. Therefore, environmental ethics is
pegged on human capacity to protect the environment with consideration of numerous factors.
Cultural issues
In order to manage cultural diversity in New Zealand, the company undertaking this
business proposal will ensure that it makes an effort to understand the neighboring communities
and different groups (Deresky & Christopher, 2015). Through identifying the different types of
groups in the local region, it will be significant to investigate their cultural practices and consider
these practices in the development of the degradable mobile phones.
Another strategy may include acknowledging their diversity in terms of celebration and
ensuring that responsible groups are offered the chance to celebrate their important days. The
business will also ensure that policies are structured to support the environment for the local
people and different cultural background. These policies need to set clear boundaries regarding
what is accepted and what should be deemed as discriminatory.
In so doing, the groups in local area will be tasked with the responsibility of holding
individuals accountable based on the cultural diversity policies (Ang & Van Dyne, 2015). These

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policies will be communicated to all the parties involved in order to create awareness and create
opportunity to modify the policies based on the feedback that will be provided by various groups.
The policy should recommend penalties for circumstances in which individuals will fail to
comply with the general accepted regulations.
The business will also strive to ensure that the management sets up management roles
that will act as role model and create a culture that will be followed to address the issue of
diversity in the local area. Besides, both the employees and the communities around will be
offered training on cultural awareness and understanding in order to be conversant with
approaches from various cultural background.
The business will also ensure that it is flexible in its policies to ensure that interests of the
community are addressed. For instance, if the local community has both Christian and Muslims,
it is the role of the business to support both religions as opposed to supporting one losing the
other group in the quest to realize cultural diversity (Rice, 2015).
It will also be significant for the business to ensure that it employs people from different
cultural backgrounds in senior position so as to ensure that they are adequately represented in the
development of policies affecting them. Cultural diversity is a crucial aspect for any business and
without considering these management approach then a business is likely to have numerous
problems that may affect the reputation and performance of the organization.
Management Structure
The management structure that the proposal will adopt is functional organizational
structure. This is one of the most common structures of an organization that is adopted by big
companies. The structure is significant as it creates departments in an organization based on job
functions. For instance, the organization will ensure that marketers work in the same department.
Similarly, the sales representatives will also be required to work from their own department
(Henk, & Fallmyr, 2019).
The functional organization structure is vital as it allows for high degree of specialization
among the employees. Besides, it is easy to expand an organization although it has characteristic
of mechanistic which inhibits the growth of employees. However, the disadvantage with this

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approach is that it has the potential to create barriers between different functions (Paroutis,
2015).
It can also be inefficient in cases where the organization will be targeting different market
segments. These barriers often limit knowledge and communication with other departments.
Three major stakeholders that the organization will need include the Chief Executive Officer,
Marketing Officers and Sales Officers.
The CEO will play a critical role in guiding other key managers in realizing the vision of
the institution. The CEO will also play the role on conflict management, inspiring the employees
and ensure that roles assigned to every level is accomplished. Marketing officers are equally
significant to an organization. Their role will include promoting the degradable mobile phones to
the market. The department will be concerned with the process of designing the product and
communicate this message to the potential buyers. It will also be the responsibility of the
marketing department to handle public relation issues and ensure that the product and the brand
are known to the target market.
Sales as a department is one of the stakeholders that will be crucial for this organization.
The sales department is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the production meets the
demand in the market (Marolin, 2017). It is also the responsibility of the sales department to
ensure that it increases the number of products that will be sold to increase the profitability
position of the company. In order to meet the requirements of these three stakeholders, the
organization will ensure that it structures job description for the three stakeholders. By providing
the job description and outlining the tasks that will be required, it would be easy to hold the
departments accountable with respect to their performance.
Technology
There are several technology that will be used in the mining process of precious metals
that are used in the production of mobile phones (Tsou & Hsu, 2015). Since there are no natural
elements and these degradable elements have to be artificially engineered, the process will use
traditional process of mining precious metals. The mining process will have effect on the natural
environment. As a result, there will be a catastrophic mine waste spills.

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Iron accounts for 20 percent on a smartphone, aluminum accounts for 14 percent and
copper accounts for 7 percent. Significant and enormous volumes of solid and liquid waste will
be produced while extracting these metals thus impacting construction on such a mined land.
Also, the mining of Gold and tin will have ecological impact on the environment. Besides, the
mining of Gold generates cyanide and mercury which are highly toxic substances that can
contaminate water bodies and subsequently lead to serious implications on human health. Tin is
normally used in the development of screens for smartphones with touchscreen capabilities.
Dredging of seabed to extract sand will destroy the ecosystem and lead to decline in the
fish industry as well as leading to economic and social issues (Herzig & Hannington, 2017).
Technologies used in the extraction of rare metals are considered as unhealthy as they involve
the use of toxic acid compounds. Moreover, the valuable metals that are used in the
manufacturing of mobile forms are considered to be finite resources. Therefore, reducing the
environmental impact of technologies used in the production of smartphone will involve
developing new technology that will use easily accessible alternatives to rare metals in order to
produce degradable mobile phones.
Communication strategy
The government in collaboration with global phone maker Samsung have reached and
agreement to set up a plant Aotearoa New Zealand. The new plant will be one of a kind because
it will be the first company to develop degradable mobile phones. This is a great idea because it
will reduce the e-waste volume not only in New Zealand but across the globe. This is based on
sustainable and environmental issues that affect the global society. It is significant that other
companies follow suit in this amazing idea in order to make our environment and society’s safe
not only in the current times but also for future generations to come. There are numerous benefits
that can be realized through this project. For instance, we will change the world to a better place
by adhering to requirements governing sustainability and environmental issues.
The local people will benefit from the project through accessing employment in various
departments. The company will be involved in corporate social responsibilities where it will be
required to offer sponsorship of various nature. The living standards of the people around the
location will be improved and social amenities will be increased to ensure that the communities
have special relationship that will grow the business. Lastly, through this project the government

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will collect revenue in terms of taxes which will contribute to growing the economy of New
Zealand.