Asia’s foothold in Europe, Turkey, is modernizing rapidly and due to its secular and Western nature, boasts a vigorous free-enterprise economy. Turkey is the 17th largest economy in the world and the 6th largest in Europe. Turkish M&A deal volumes increased by almost 33% in 2010 to 240 transactions and total deal value was up by an incredible 523% to $26 billion. 23% of all deals by volume and 59% by value were from the energy and power sector. This very sector has traditionally led deal flow in Turkey and comes as no surprise with the country being gifted in energy and mineral resources. I recently attended a seminar to discuss this topic and the future of its growth.

Does “going green” from a technological perspective imply additional costs and possibly a negative operational benefit? Not according to a recent Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) white paper. In fact, going green can lead to significant cost savings while streamlining business operations. Adoption of the right technology has been found to typically result in three significant winning propositions for your company — cost savings, improved operational efficiencies and environmental benefits.

EMA defines green IT as “products, services and practices designed to improve the efficiency of computing resources in such a way as to reduce the environmental impact of their utilization”. So, greening a company’s operations involves changing processes in order to reduce their impact on the environment.

This is the next in a series of guest blog posts by IntraLinks’ collaborators, partners, and vendors. Horwath MAK offers clients expertise in auditing and accountancy, risk consultancy, management consultancy and structured business support services throughout the UAE, Oman, Azerbaijan and India.

Ancient Egyptians invented paper some 3,000 years ago, from beaten strips of papyrus plants. The immediate predecessor to modern paper is believed to have originated in China in approximately the 2nd century AD. Since its invention, paper has been widely used around the globe for generations to transfer acquired knowledge. It has been a resilient platform for recording and storing information, and has been a solid contributor to the rise of our modern human society.

The Effect of E-Waste on the Environment in China

It is no secret that many businesses around the world are a source of environmental degradation and greenhouse gas emissions — and that an equal number of corporations are working to change that. Historically speaking, the US has been the largest greenhouse gas emitter, but today China’s environmental problems seem to be increasing at pace with the country’s economic growth. Currently, 16 out of the 20 most polluted cities the world are located in China according to the United Nations Development Program.

The city of Guiyu, China is a prime example of this environmental degradation. This small city’s economy centers on electronic waste (e-waste), which is trash that contains electrically powered products with both valuable and hazardous components. Despite the fact that e-waste imports have been illegal in China since 1996 and the Basel Agreement banned the shipment of electronic waste from the developed to the developing world, over 5,500 businesses in Guiyu are devoted to dismantling e-waste, 80% of which arrives from overseas.

An advantage of not always being the first to do things is the learning opportunity afforded by watching how other people's decisions and investments work out. Recent examples include the trend for biofuels which has sent food prices soaring and has caused forests to be cleared to make space to grow biofuel crops. However, it appears that processing these crops into biofuels may generate more carbon dioxide than burning fossil fuels would have done anyway. Even “green” hybrid vehicles are being questioned because of the size of the carbon footprint associated with the production and transportation of the nickel metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries they use.