Hello! My name is Lila Henderson and I am from Brunswick, Maine. Visiting Greece has been lots of fun so far but I have also learned a lot. Some things have brought me out of my comfort zone, such as talking to Greek-speaking taxi drivers and figuring out how to get around Athens. I have used metros before but reading the locations in Greek was challenging, so it took a little time to get used to. Today in class we learned about ethical and unethical decision-making in businesses. We all looked at specific companies and how they have been viewed as unethical in the past. My partner and I’s company was Exxon, one of the world’s largest fossil fuel producers. They have been accused of lying to investors about their effects on climate change and downplaying the science of climate change. They had researched their impact on the environment and chose to deceive the public about the “lack” of danger in order to make their company seem more appealing to invest in. This was viewed as an unethical decision made by the company.

Of our readings today, the paper on Industrial Symbiosis in practice stood out to me as the most interesting. When imagining industrial symbiosis I think of perfectly in-tune factories, each creating exactly what the others need to function. Obviously, the reality presented in this article is much more nuanced. We often think of minimizing the waste we create, instead this article made me consider how we might maximize certain kinds of waste to limit resource extraction from the natural environment. The largest issue I see with industrial symbiosis is the need for central planning and/or agreements between corporations spanning different industries. There could be inefficiencies that develop because one market behaves differently from another and the symbiotic relationship may break down. These pitfalls were more specifically analyzed in the paper focusing on industrial symbiosis in Greece.

Today we toured the south of the peninsula of Attica. We spent most of our time at the ruins of the temple of Poseidon and the surrounding landscape. I appreciated that it was less crowded and we had more time to ourselves compared to the tour of the Acropolis. Overall, it was relaxing and beautiful.

I was most interested in the article entitled “Industrial symbiosis in Greece: A study of spatial allocation patterns.” I found the idea of industrial symbiosis as a whole intriguing and it was fascinating to see the application of the research in areas that we have explored. I did not know that Greece was at the lower end of sustainability measures in the European Union. From what I have seen thus far, I would have attributed their sustainability to be fairly adequate compared to some of the measures in the United States. Looking at industrial symbiosis through the spatial scale allowed a deeper understanding of how companies in Greece can expand industrial symbiosis and where some limiting factors are. The use of economic, environmental, and social factors affecting the spatial allocation follows closely with the concepts we have discussed in class.

In addition, the tour today was a great excursion. Although we have seen two other similar looking archaeological sites, each one was unique in their own way which made the tours worthwhile. With the Temple of Poseidon today, I was interested particularly in the location of the site. The location of each temple aligns with the purpose of it. I also thought the anecdote about the island adjacent to the temple being a place for exile was very disheartening but I am glad to know more about the history.  

In the weeks since I have arrived in Greece, many things have put me outside of my comfort zone. The one that stands out the most is having to use so many modes of transportation to get around town and between islands. Not knowing the language has complicated this, as well as not usually enjoying being in planes, ferries, buses, or public transportation to begin with. 

Today I looked at ethical dilemmas that Walmart has faced in recent years. The one that stood out most to me was a class action lawsuit filed against the company for not providing cashiers who requested one a seat while they were working. Instead of purchasing 100,000 seats for about $1 from any one of their suppliers, Walmart underwent a 9 year lawsuit and had to pay over $65 million by the end. This certainly was not the only issue Walmart has encountered, but it goes to show how not resolving issues at an early step can snowball into a much bigger and damaging problem.

Hi, my name is Cannon Yarborough. I’m studying Marketing at College of Charleston. One thing that brought me out of my comfort zone on this trip was flying and traveling alone. Especially in a foreign country, I was worried that I would go to the wrong place or lose my luggage. While none of those things happened it was still out of my comfort zone. One thing I learned about Firestone and their ethical issues was that their negligence cost over 200 of their customers lives.

My experience with talking to a local was a little difficult. When asking her about sustainability, she did not really know what I meant. After explaining it to her, she told me that all recycling gets shipped to Athens and they take care of it. I then thought it was funny because after we took a picture, she asked me to retake it because she thought she looked bad.

On yesterday’s excursion to Hydra, we had the opportunity to ride donkeys. That was one of the highlights of this trip for me, even though the guys taking us talked about us the entire time. We were able to see parts of the island that I would not have gotten to see otherwise.

The company I researched today was Quest, a sustainability company in Greece. I learned that their sustainability statement is “focused on the strategic planning of its growth and development, with its people at the core and with emphasis on sustainable development, good corporate governance as well as medium and long term ESG strategy and objectives.” They have a low power distance because they give all employees equal opportunities. They are also a collectivism company because they think goals and people’s well-being is what are important and they focus on teamwork. Their main level of ethical responsibility is the do good section. Some characteristics of this level include the development of leadership skills, technical and vocational training, support youth-led and start-up businesses, support high quality education, combat against poverty, hunger, and social inequalities, make donations to education, and have voluntary blood donations.

I found it interesting that climate change has a greater impact on Greece because of its island nature. Greece benefits from solar, wind, and tidal energy. This was the first time I have heard of tidal energy and it comes from the ocean. I was also surprised to see Greece ranks lower with a score of 75 than the average EU which has a score that averages at 100 for their energy use.
Yesterday, we toured the Temple of Poseidon. The temple served as a place where the people hoped to appease the god of the sea. Only part is remaining because the rest was destroyed by the Persians during the war in 480 B.C.

One thing that brought me out of my comfort zone on this trip was that when I arrived in Greece, my luggage did not arrive with me. The first person I talked to about it spoke no English. The next person I talked to was able to help but I still did not receive my luggage for another 3 days. I had to borrow clothes from people I had just met since I had no time to go shopping.

The company that I researched yesterday was uber. I learned that they were involved in many confidentiality issues. An employee was accused of transferring information to his personal computer. That same employee accused Uber of wiretapping his phone. This information led to other information about an employee who recorded a meeting and released it to the media. In response, Uber denounced its intelligence team.

Acropolis ’22

Welcome to Greece 22 School of Business Study Abroad!!!

Below, our students will post their exciting experiences and what we have learned/done here!