The Pros and Cons of Agribusines Essay -- Agribusines

I. Introduction Agriculture has long been a topic of interest and will continue due to the necessity of farming to supply a basic fundamental need – food. Farming is considered a stable economic activity as it provides products, jobs, and supplies to the local community as well as supporting the global infrastructure. The recent global economic conditions have caused an array of structural changes within the global infrastructure. These structure changes have directly impacted banking institutions, housing, lending processes, farming sectors, and privatization. The declining housing market, corrupt banking/financial institutions, and decline in stable investments have increased the need to find economically viable ways to invest. Investors look at markets for sustainability and lucrative return on investments (ROI) while attempting to minimize risks. Naturally – food and water have become commodities but investors are still interested in returns and farming losses are often offset by federal subsidies and crop insurance (Lynch & Bjerga, 2013). Corporate investment, government regulations, and privatization become issues while trying to improve ROI. The recent water wars are evidence of control issues and an attempt to purchase natural resources. Investors are now looking at ways to promote diversity and sustainability to their clients while countries are grappling to ensure food security. Farmland investments involving large-scale acquisitions are lucrative for investors. Large-scale acquisitions of farmland in Africa, Latin America, Central Asia and Southeast Asia are now being sought by international investors and have garnered global attention (Cotula, Vermeulen, Leonard, & Keely, 2009). Farming, agriculture,... ...ences (continued) Laxman, L. & Abdul, A. H. (2011). GMOs, safety concerns and international trade: developing countries’ perspective. Journal of International Trade Law and Policy, 10 (3), 281-307. doi: 10.1108/1477002111116553L Lynch, D. J. & Bjerga, A. (2013, September 9). Taxpayers turn U.S. farmers into fat cats with subsidies. Bloomberg. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-09/farmers-boost- revenue-sowing-subsidies-for-crop-insurance.html Lynch, D. J. (2013, September 11). Fraud stealing $100 million shows flaws in U.S. crop insurance. Bloomberg. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-11/fraud-stealing-100- million-shows-flaws-in-u-s-crop-insurance.html Sherrick, B. J., Mallory, M. L. & Hopper, T. (2013). What’s the ticker symbol for farmland? Agricultural Finance Review, 73(1), 6-31. doi: 10.1108/00021461311321285

“My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning Essay

The speaker is notably a snobbish, childish, and indifferent Duke. He does not seem to have any remorse for his murder of his â€Å"Duchess† and remains arrogantly steadfast to his justification that his murder was for the cause of her (the Duchess’s) â€Å"too soon made glad† by other men, and her smiles to everyone who passed. He describes her as if she was just another distant thing in the past, and disregards the painting of her as just another piece of artwork. The poem begins with the Duke of Ferrara introducing the painting to an audience (probably another duke). He begins with how the painting was made, and then moves on to how her â€Å"heart [was] too easily impressed†. As the poem develops, the Duke becomes more and more spiteful about his â€Å"last Duchess† and feels that she regarded his gifts as â€Å"anybody’s gift†. He resents her smiles to him because she smiles to all who passed, and resolved to give commands to stop all the smiles together. Finally, he moves on to show his other artworks in his collection, referring to his Neptune taming a sea-horse sculpture. The poem has rhyming lines, but the rhyme is usually in the middle of an idea or sentence, giving the poem a thrusting movement forward. The mainly iambic pentameter unifies the poem, with occasional trochaic, dactylic, and anapestic words to offset certain ideas, such as â€Å"countenance†, â€Å"busily†, â€Å"easily†, â€Å"broke in†, and â€Å"all smiles†. Certain denotative words such as â€Å"countenance† and â€Å"earnest† also offset certain ideas, as well as give subliminal messages revealing the Duke’s murderous intents. #2The Duke of Ferrara craves attention, and would kill those who do not pay special attention to him. The poem starting in the middle of some Duke’s guide through his art collection, with no reference to things directly before or after, other than a few allusions to the past, leaves the reader slightly bewildered, and forces the reader to thread together the ideas into a complete, comprehensive picture. The reader must pay close attention in order to understand the meaning of the poem; similarly, the Duke of Ferrara wants people to pay dedicated attention to him to understand his character. From the beginning of the poem, it is obvious that the Duke regards his â€Å"last Duchess† as merely a â€Å"wonder†, a replaceable piece of artwork, with her memory just another thing of the past. He recalls the painter of his Duchess’s portrait, Fra Pandolf, and his ability to capture the depth and passion of the Duchess’s â€Å"countenance† in an â€Å"earnest glance†. He boasts of the glance as â€Å"her husband’s presence only†, but from there he remembers the way in which his Duchess blushed at the painter’s flattering remarks. From there, the Duke digresses and lapses into arrogant and childish jealousy. â€Å"She had a heart †¦ how shall I say? †¦ too soon made glad† was his initial criticism. As the poem develops, the Duke becomes increasingly critical of his Duchess’s â€Å"smiles† and attention to everyone, with no singular attention to him. He transgresses from his reminiscing by concluding that he â€Å"gave commands; /Then all smiles stopped together.† The Duke then moves on to other artworks such as his â€Å"Neptune [†¦] taming a sea-horse† and comments that it is a â€Å"rarity†, further demeaning the importance of his â€Å"last duchess†. The poem has rhyming lines, but the rhyme is usually in the middle of an idea or sentence, giving the poem a thrusting movement forward while maintaining certain continuity for the reader. The reader must pay close attention to not skimming the poem because of the thrusts at the end of lines, again reinforcing the theme of attention-craving. The mainly iambic pentameter unifies the poem, with occasional trochaic, dactylic, and anapestic words to offset certain ideas, such as â€Å"countenance† (for diction), â€Å"busily† (emphasize jealousy), â€Å"easily† (emphasize Duchess’s â€Å"too easily impressed†), and â€Å"all smiles† (emphasizing again the â€Å"too soon made glad†). Certain denotative words such as â€Å"countenance† (appearance or a look of encouragement) and â€Å"earnest† (meaning either sincere or grave/serious) also offset certain ideas, as well as give subliminal messages revealing the Duke’s mur derous intents.

Case Study: Jollibee Foods Corporation Essay

Problem Statement: The newly appointed head of International division Mr Manolo .P. Tingzon is pondering into three key opportunities that the firm Jollibee Food Corporation facing whether to enter the small PNG(Papua New Guinea) market where it will be a first mover, to expand into Hong Kong where is an existing base but the local people doesn’t like Jollibee’s Philippines-based fast food model, and a proposal to share the huge benefit in U.S. market by establishing an operation in California. Objectives: 1. Keep the original business model: franchising 2. Maintaining Marketing investment in building image (symbolization) 3. Local market penetration with strong local brands 4. Highly customer responsiveness 5. Maintain customer value and loyalty 6. Establishing the commercial spots in foreign countries Alternatives: 1. Market entry strategies such as Franchising, Alliances, Joint ventures, Wholly owned subsidiaries 2. Substantive growth strategies: Horizontal and vertical integration strategies 3. Limited growth strategies: Do nothing, Market penetration strategies 4. Retrenchment strategies: Retrenchment, Turnaround strategies Consequences of Alternatives: When analyzing the case study it is clear that Jollibee Inc. has higher pressure to respond to local wishes in Philippines due to the entry of global giants like McDonalds. This is due to the fact that Jollibee had a strong presence in Philippines but at the same it should tackle the adaptation pressure from McDonalds. This is also supported by the fact that Jollibee was franchising their brand to foreign countries on very strict terms which do not allow any changes to the menu. And we can use the goals including Keep the original business model: franchising, Maintaining Marketing investment in building image (symbolization), Local market penetration with strong local brands, Highly customer responsiveness, Maintain customer value and loyalty and Establishing the commercial spots in foreign countries with the four strategy (Market entry strategies, Substantive growth strategies, Limited growth strategies and Retrenchment strategies to established the table 1. Tradeoffs/ Analysis of Alternatives: Tingzon’s decision can based on the table 2 shows below, it can be seen clearly that the Substantive growth strategies (Horizontal and vertical integration strategies) has the highly scores. Because Jollibee entering the markets without any clear cut idea, since Mr. Kitchner strongly believe in gaining the first mover advantage, Jollibee is expanding into the markets where the competitors little are no presence, to â€Å"plant the flag† without any long term perspectives. The company’s strategy can be more identified with the international strategy where the locus of power lies with the parent company in the Philippines. With much of happening in the international arena too. After Kitchners got hired, he encouraged localization by separating international business completely from the domestic ones. Recommendations: Papua New Guinea As evident from the data given in the case, it is quite evident that the company is having immense opportunities in Papua New Guinea. As the market there is untapped and the only competitor there is an unorganized and unprofessional local company, Jollibee can literally get a first mover advantage, therefore JFC must choose the Horizontal and vertical integration strategy. Hong Kong Currently all the three stores established in Hong Kong are facing lot of management issues as mentioned in the problem statement hence it is required that first this management issues must be sorted out rather than putting additional resources in expansion plans California The company has to start with focusing on both the Filipinos as well as local people and design the menu that would help maintaining the brand identity along with catering to the local interests. To put it simple and straight, Company needs to adapt a trans-national strategy.

Impact of Foreign Banks on Banking in Emerging Economies Essay

Increased technology and innovation International banking in emerging–market have some advantages from the technology and innovation. The advanced technology and innovation system could even surpass the conventional technology and innovation. For example, they could improve productivity, increase in market and increase the competition and so on . Innovations in customer experience and superior customer service delivery, network integration. (Infosys 2000). For example, the internet and computer system have a useful communication system to connect the consumer and bank. In daily life, customer often use the mobile phone, computer transfer the money. At the same time, innovation and technology is a lower cost of the banking system in the emerging market. The increased technology and innovation in emerging market may help the banking system make a clear communication for their employee, shareholder and consumer. As a result, banks in emerging markets are leapfrogging their rich-world rivals in efficiency, technolog y and innovation (special report international banking 2011). Increased liquidity and solvency Comparing with the local banking system, the foreign banks on banking in emerging market have different kind of comparative advantage. The reason is emerging market allow foreign bank entry to local market. This is lead to the higher liquidity and solvency. Foreign direct investment is a useful fund source for local market. At the same time, the foreign banks also have important roles which represent a borrower. For example, foreign banks have an enough capital base and asset. Foreign banks have played a major role in financing emerging market (EMEs) in recent year. Increased liquidity and solvency has helped emerging markets to develop their economies and allocate capital and financial know-how efficiently across countries (Agustà ­n Villar ) Disadvantage Complex global policies and challenges international banking There are some negative factors occur in global banks in emerging economies. One of the important factors is complex global policies. For example, the foreign banks are an extension of parent bank which sent to managers to overseas. Different banking system has different policies. Meanwhile, the government also comes up with stricter policies. As a result, foreign banks should face a lot of complicated policies in emerging market. The collapse of Barings was a demonstration of how different countries’ supervisors are failing to communicate with each other.( the economist 1997). This opinion shows that the international banking in emerging market should have a closer supervisor.

Drug Testing Welfare Recipients Essay

Many people are constantly discussing the issue of welfare recipients abusing the system and spending their money on drugs while receiving government assistance. This issue has brought forward a possible solution of states passing legislation that will require welfare applicants to submit to a drug test before receiving any sort of government assistance. Drug testing welfare applicants before allowing them to receive assistance is a positive idea because most employers require drug tests to be taken by applicants pre-employment. This will help make sure that the government funding is being put toward the family and the needs of the household, and also because in the future it will benefit the children growing up in the home. All welfare applicants should be drug tested prior to receiving funds. Most employers today require pre-employment drug screens and some employers also drug test their employees randomly throughout their time of employment. They do this to ensure that they are hiring a responsible employee that will not show up to their place of employment while under the influence of illegal substances. As everyone knows, illegal substances that employees test for are typically mind altering medications that prevent people from functioning normally and doing their job to their full potential. Working while under the influence of illegal drugs also poses a safety risk to the employee and surrounding employees. If to earn an income at most jobs people are required to pass a pre-employment drug screen, there is no reason that to earn an income provided by the state should be any different. Some employers also require their employees to submit to random drug tests while employed with their company or business so that no one can â€Å"cheat the system. † This helps employers make sure that their employees are drug free at all times. When a welfare applicant is granted assistance, the state assumes that all of their means of income are being used to buy items that are needed by the family and by the household. However that is not always the case. In some welfare cases the recipients are abusing drugs. By drug testing the recipients before granting their request for assistance and then randomly drug testing them throughout the time frame that assistance is required, this will significantly lower the amount of recipients that abuse drugs. Arizona representative and member of the Committee on Health and Human services, Kimberly Yee states that, â€Å"Arizona established a program in 2009 to test welfare recipients for drug abuse when there’s a reasonable suspicion of drug use. This program confronts addicts with their drug abuse problems so they may quickly receive treatment and become productive members of society again. † If welfare recipients confront their problem and become productive members of society it will ensure that any possible income will be going toward things that the family and children need such as food and clothing. Children who are raised by sober parents start off with a chance at a brighter future than children who are raised under the care of a drug addict. Parents who work regular jobs and are required to pass a pre-employment drug screen are able to provide more for their children. Instead of spending their money on drugs or alcohol, they use it to buy items for their children. Sober parents have more money to buy food to make sure that their children are well nourished. Sober parents also have more money to buy items like books, coloring books, crayons, markers, or arts and crafts supplies which will all be assets to a child’s learning and development. Children of sober parents are more likely to be able to join groups or teams in schools also which will help them socialize. All in all, growing up with sober parents benefits children and can seriously affect their future positively. Growing up with parents who use illegal drugs could create a pattern throughout their children, and they could end up using drugs as well when they grow up. The Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, Children’s Bureau, ICF International states that, â€Å"Children who experience either prenatal or postnatal drug exposure are at risk for a range of emotional, academic, and developmental problems. For example, they are more likely to: experience symptoms of depression and anxiety, suffer from psychiatric disorders, exhibit behavior problems, score lower on school achievement tests, and demonstrate difficulties in school† (â€Å"Protecting Children†). If we can lessen the amount of children that are forced to grow up with â€Å"high† parents, we can brighten the future for everybody. Drug testing welfare applicants before allowing them to receive government assistance will be beneficial because most employers require drug tests to be taken by applicants pre-employment, it will help make sure that the government funding is being put toward the needs of the household, and also because in the future it will benefit the children growing up in the home. If to go out into the public and get a job you are required to pass a pre-employment drug screen, then there is no reason that to earn income from the government should be treated any differently. Drug testing welfare recipients will increase the number of children raised by sober parents instead of parents that are under the influence of illegal substances. States passing legislation to require welfare applicants to submit to a drug test before they are granted assistance will only benefit people positively. Works Cited â€Å"Protecting Children in Families Affected by Substance Use Disorders. † Child Welfare Information Gateway. U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2009. Web. 18 Sept. 2013. Yee, Kimberly. â€Å"Opposing view: No drug test, no welfare. † USA Today News. Ed. Brent Jones. USA Today, 18 Mar. 2012. Web. 18 Sept. 2013.

Abuse in the Novel Beloved

Many of the characters from the novel Beloved suffered extreme abuse. Sethe, an independent mother, was no exception to the abuse. Sethe survived through many different accounts of mistreatment. The school teacher’s nephews made Sethe suffer the cruelest oppression. They held her down against her will, while she was pregnant, and brutally stole the milk that her body was producing for her child. This is the worst pain for Sethe because, besides the obvious obtrusions, she feared she would not be able to provide for her baby after it was born. A mother’s worst fear is being unable to provide for her children and this is the fear they instilled in her. This was not the end of the violence toward Sethe from these[insert a word that means a group of abusers here]. When the school teacher founds out that Sethe tells of the mistreatment she suffered because of his nephews he orders them to whip her. Sethe is brutally beaten by this group of young men. The result of the merciless beaten is a form of large scars that shape a tree on Sethe’s back. The tree may be a symbol of a family tree, and in Sethe’s case an incomplete family tree. Sethe’s family tree is incomplete because she killed her daughter, Beloved. The ghost of Sethe’s murdered daughter, Beloved, haunts the house where Sethe and the rest of her family live. The ghost torments them enough to drives away Sethe’s two sons, Howard and Buglar. Sethe undergoes torment from almost every possible angle but she refuses to run away any more.

How tea party could drive GOP to disaster Article

How tea party could drive GOP to disaster - Article Example On the other hand, Romney could get nominated and he could lose the election which would trigger the tea party Republicans to push for a more conservative candidate in the 2016 election. This in turn would trigger a massive party debacle in itself. Another possibility is that a tea party Republican would get nominated but would lose the election. This would mean that the Republican Party would lose an election merely to get the â€Å"tea party† out of its system. In itself this would represent a large loss to the Republicans. The last possibility could be that a tea party Republican is nominated and he wins the election which though remote but could still be possible. The weak state of the economy and support for Rick Perry, Governor of Texas would produce a candidate and motive for voting. If a tea party Republican does come to the front, there is an overwhelming possibility that American will suffer from their conservative and unrealistic agenda. The tea party government may trigger both a political and an economic crisis if elected. The greatest chance is for possibility three while possibility one would be a good choice that no one is really looking for