The Commoditization Debate PDF Download

Author: Norman Long
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural laborers
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Author: Andrew Holmes
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1317163753
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
Organizations and those who work within them are under attack from the increasingly pervasive impacts of commoditization. With little to distinguish one company's products and services from another or one person's skills and capabilities from the next, organizations and workers alike are finding themselves trapped in the me-too hell of commoditization. For many this means the survival of the cheapest, as price becomes the principal basis for decision making. For others it requires them to think creatively to avoid the trap of commoditization, even though this may only provide a temporary respite. In this groundbreaking book, Andrew Holmes sets out why commoditization represents such a clear and present danger to every corporation and all white-collar workers. Starting with the nature of the commodities we are familiar with such as coal and cotton, Holmes moves on to describe how commoditization is affecting entire industries and is increasingly touching the work of the professional classes. The evidence is both fascinating and compelling and it is clear that the impacts of commoditization are far reaching. The author also outlines the impact of commoditization on an organization's strategy towards brand, supply chain, value chain, innovation, pricing and competition. He explores the implications for skills, attitudes and behaviours in the workplace before describing a series of strategies for avoiding the risk and exploiting the opportunities offered by a new commoditized world, such as outsourcing, innovation, offshoring, mergers and acquisitions, divestments and first mover advantage. Holmes offers organizations and white-collar workers a range of strategic responses which can be used to combat its worst impacts. And as commoditization continues to make inroads into the corporate and working worlds, this book will be an invaluable companion to addressing the challenges which it presents.

Author: Richard Munton
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351882384
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 563

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Book Description
The rural has long been regarded as an important site of geographical inquiry even if our understanding of it has not always been treated as conceptually different from the urban. That said, rural research has pursued a number of distinct empirical agendas ranging from the operation and impacts of agribusiness, to local resistance to global food supply chains, to differing representations of the rural. In doing so, rural geographers have critically examined the relevance and significance of ideas drawn from numerous traditions including political economy, ecological modernization and cultural theory, amending them as appropriate, in their search to understand the nature and trajectory of rural areas. Up until the 1980s, attention remained largely focused upon agriculture as the primary land-use but increasingly new forms of rural consumption - housing, recreation, nature conservation - have taken centre stage as the primacy of local agricultures has been undermined by reduced state protection and 'new' rural populations which have migrated out from the city. More recently, research has been dominated by the 'cultural turn' with particular emphases upon society-nature relations, interpretations of landscape, marginalised others, and analyses of the relations between representation and practice. In the last decade, a more holistic view of the rural, bringing together different aspects of the two previous themes, has emerged through more politically-oriented studies of rural governance concerned with the functioning of interest groups, participation, protest and the allocation and management of resources. The volume is thus structured into three sections concerned with agriculture and food, the rural, and rural governance. The great majority of the selected papers combine both empirical material - often highly informative case studies - and important conceptual arguments about change in the rural condition that can be linked to ideas being employed elsewhere in Geography and the Social Sciences more generally. These critical reflections have been drawn very largely from research conducted in advanced economies which at least provide some commonality of experience allowing the transfer of ideas between what otherwise might be seen as very differing geographical contexts.

Author: Karl Benediktsson
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 9780472068005
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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An examination of the global-local tension evident in much work on development issues through the example of fresh food markets in Papua New Guinea

Author: Amy J. Connolly
Publisher: Informing Science
ISBN: 1681100002
Category : Artificial intelligence
Languages : en
Pages : 375

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Book Description
The purpose of this book is to highlight major debates in Information Technology (“IT”) that might be of interest to fledgling MIS students to help them get a sense of the big ideas in their field. This book is intended for graduate and undergraduate audiences but is easily accessible to practitioners and students alike. Each big idea is presented as a resolution for discussion, one per chapter, and each chapter opens with a broad overview of the resolution, followed by pro and con discussions weighing the merits of the issue. These informative chapters should help students quickly get up to speed on the facts of the issue in order to stimulate more fruitful class discussion. Chapters were authored and reviewed entirely by graduate students as part of an online class project spanning two semesters from 2013 to 2014. Over 80 students contributed to writing it. Faculty editorship enhanced the chapters’ consistency and where necessary, smoothed the writing style. As a whole, this work embodies an important achievement for which these students should be commended. It shows (once again) just how capable students really are.

Author: Lauren Baker
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442206519
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
This compelling book exploresthe intimate connections between people and plants, agriculture and cooking, and the practical work of building local food networks and transnational social movements. Lauren E. Baker uses corn and maize to consider central debates about food security and food sovereignty, biodiversity and biotechnology, culture and nature, as well as globalization and local responses, in Mexico and beyond. For the author, corn symbolizes the commoditization of agriculture and the cultural, spiritual, ecological and economic separation of people from growing, cooking, and sharing food. Conversely, maize represents emerging food movements that address contemporary health, environmental, and economic imperatives while rooted in agricultural and culinary traditions. The meeting of corn and maize reveals the challenge of, and possibilities for, reclaiming food from its commodity status in the global context of financial turmoil, food crises, and climate change.

Author: Madeline Kochen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107728878
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
This book offers a new theory of property and distributive justice derived from Talmudic law, illustrated by a case study involving the sale of organs for transplant. Although organ donation did not exist in late antiquity, this book posits a new way, drawn from the Talmud, to conceive of this modern means of giving to others. Our common understanding of organ transfers as either a gift or sale is trapped in a dichotomy that is conceptually and philosophically limiting. Drawing on Maussian gift theory, this book suggests a different legal and cultural meaning for this property transfer. It introduces the concept of the 'divine lien', an obligation to others in need built into the definition of all property ownership. Rather than a gift or sale, organ transfer is shown to exemplify an owner's voluntary recognition and fulfilment of this latent property obligation.

Author: Bob Franklin
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317392752
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 519

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Book Description
The Future of Journalism: Developments and Debates analyses the radical shifts in journalism which are changing every aspect of the gathering, reporting and reception of news. The drivers of these changes include the rapid innovations in communication technologies, the competitive and fragmenting markets for audiences and advertising revenues, and the collapse of traditional business models for financing media organisations, as well as changing audience requirements for news, the ways in which it is presented and the expansive number of (increasingly mobile) devices on which it is produced and consumed. Each of these trends has significant implications for journalists - for their jobs, workplaces, products and perceptions of their professional roles, ethical judgements and day-to-day practice. They also pose significant challenges for the future funding of a sustainable, critical and high ‘quality’ democratic journalism. The Future of Journalism: Developments and Debates comprises the research-based responses of distinguished academic specialists and professional journalists to the challenging issues involved in assessing the future of journalism. It is essential reading for everyone interested in the changing role of journalism in the economic, democratic and cultural life of communities locally, nationally and globally. This book was originally published as two special issues of Journalism Studies and Journalism Practice.

Author: Hilde Bj›rkhaug
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1487522479
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
In this volume, an interdisciplinary and internationally- situated group of experts consider the ways in which culture creates and transforms discourses and practices in decisions on agricultural land.

Author: Georgina Waylen
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199751455
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 887

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Book Description
The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics brings to political science an accessible and comprehensive overview of the key contributions of gender scholars to the study of politics, and it shows how these contributions produce a richer understanding of polities and societies.