Brazil Will Eventually Become Economic Powerhouse Essay Example for Free

Brazil Will Eventually Become Economic Powerhouse Essay Currently, Brazil with its population hitting 186. 6 million has the ninth largest economy in the world (Jaeger, p. 2). Since the beginning of the 21st century the country has been enjoying a well-established economic stability, low inflation, high productivity rates and developing macro-economic infrastructure. Currently, Brazilian economic indexes are gradually improving in their dynamics, though some of them still remain on the average level for Latin American region. In particular, GDP growth in 2006 was hardly over 3% (Estevao). Since the middle of the last century Brazil was expected to develop shortly into â€Å"the world’s next economic power. † However due to two-decade long economic stagnation and financial crises in the mid-1980s Brazil has lost its positions and fell short of expectations regarding its economic development, especially in comparison with rapidly progressing economies of the countries in Asian region, such as China, Taiwan or South Korea, etc. (Adrogue, Cerisola Gelos, p. 3). Nevertheless, in the 1990s a series of well-planned governmental policies were implemented and Brazilian economy went through a number of structural economic changes, which allowed achieving certain stability, especially on macro-economic level. Therefore, country’s inflation was taken under control, external debt was considerably decreased, and numerous measures directed on reformation of financial infrastructure, liberalization of trade, achieving price stability and stimulating general economic growth were undertaken (Jaeger, p. 5-6). This way the country managed to improve its international image and gain a reputation of â€Å"trustworthy† nation again. As a result, since recent times Brazil has been receiving a lot of private investments. Foreign investors are attracted by high return of their funds and relatively low risks. Such significant factors, as good demographic situation in the country, high interest rates, stable political situation and prudent governmental policies regarding overseas trade, created absolutely favorable environment for foreign businessmen, who intend to invest their funds and start their businesses in Brazil. Good investment climate and economic stability are not the only factors determining future rise of Brazilian economy. In addition to that, Brazil is very rich with various natural resources. Those are, first of all, huge territories of arable lands available for cultivation of a great variety of crops. Moreover, there are large mineral and plant resources including iron, copper and even gold, which have not been even properly explored yet. That is why there are great opportunities for different industrial and agricultural companies in Brazil. Undoubtedly, there are some problems which require immediate attention and solution in order to fasten economic development and achieve high levels of social wellbeing. Those include corrupted educational system and problems with human capital, insufficient financial and fiscal systems, poverty and income disparities, etc. Certainly, such reforms are hard to implement within some short period of time, therefore, positive transformations are expected to become effective gradually. Nevertheless, modern Brazil can be called the â€Å"country of the future† with its huge national market, cheap working power, abundance of natural resources, and many other factors determining a large long-term economic potential of the country (Jaeger, p. 2). Great economic stability and openness, steady increase in manufacturing and consumption, establishment of new international trade connections and other fundamentals will definitely contribute greatly to future prosperity and economic power of the country. Works Cited: Estevao, Marcello. Brazil Seeks to Unlock Economic Potential. International Monetary Fund. 26 Feb. 2007. 25 Nov. 2007 http://www. imf. org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2007/CAR083A. htm. Jaeger, Marcus. Brazil: Economic scenarios for the next 15 years. Ed. Maria L. Lanzeni. Deutsche Bank Research. Frankfurt Am Main: Deutsche Bank AG, 2006 Adrogue, Richardo, Martin Cerisola and Gaston Gelos. Brazil’s Long-Term Growth Performance -Trying to Explain the Puzzle. International Monetary Fund, unpublished manuscript, December 2006.

The Old Man And The Sea :: essays research papers

This book takes place in the past and is about an old man that loves fishing in the Gulf Stream. The old man was a thin with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck and had scars on his hands from handling the fishing rope. He taught this young boy how to fish and the boy loved him. He even brought him fishing many times. But the past 84 days the old man had not caught one fish. After 40 days of not catching anything the boy left and fished on another boat. The boy still loved him and brought him food and fresh bait to fish. The old man and the boy always talked about baseball because they both enjoyed it. One day, the old man was out on the water fishing. The weather was beautiful, the currents were perfect, and he saw all birds flying over the water. He knew he had to catch a nice fish today. He saw one of his poles have a jerk so he pulled it in and it was a bonita fish, which he was goin to use for a nice piece of bait later in the day. The day progressed and he saw a real big jerk on the pole. He jumped up and held it, but the fish was not hooked yet. A couple more jerks he felt, but the fish was not taking it. Finally the fish did and he could feel that it had to be a fish of enormous size. He could not pull it up because it was so strong. He had to hold onto it until the fish was tired and decided to come up. Then when it would come up, he would take his harpoon and stab it in the heart so it would die. This fish was taking all the strength out of him and it was pulling his skiff farther and farther out. Now he wished that the boy was here with him to help him pull it up. It was 3 days later until he finally got the fish to jump out of the water. When it did he saw that it was the biggest marlin he ever saw. To regain strength and pull the fish in, he had to eat the bonita that he caught. He ate all of it and it helped his hand that was cut from the

Quinn’s Character in Paul Auster’s City of Glass

English 1 Simon Drury Group P 9/27/2012 Tuesday 3:10 Kathleen Samson Paul Auster has said that The New York Trilogy is centrally concerned with â€Å"the question of who is who and whether or not we are who we think we are. † Use this remark as a point of departure for a discussion of the character Quinn –his presentation in the novel and his experience – in City of Glass.In the City of Glass, Auster creates a sense of uncertainty around the identities of the different characters in the book. One does not really grasp who is who in the novel because of the complex and multiple layers of the story Austen creates. The City of Glass asks questions about identity and in this essay I will look at the protagonist (Quinn) and his search to understand himself and to discover his true identity which ultimately leads to his identity being changed with each new character role he takes on to forget his past self.Daniel Quinn is a complicated character and our knowledge of h im is limited because the narrator does not reveal much about him. Where he came from and who he was seem of little importance in the novel we are only told his age, that he was once married but his son and daughter are dead (a past which he seems to be running away from). He is writer of detective stories under the pseudonym of William Wilson (a name Quinn takes on to forget his past). William Wilson’s character mirrors Auster ‘s , the author, own life. Quinn creates his own character Max Work, a private eye narrator.In his stories the protagonist Max becomes very real and moves away from merely being a fictitious character, subsequently causing Quinn himself to take on some of the characteristics of Max, thinking and behaving in a similar manner to him. Eventually Quinn â€Å"stopped thinking on himself as real. †(Auster 10) So already Auster creates this sense of doubt about Quinn and his true identity and eventually Quinn is consumed by the persona of Max Wor k and â€Å"the more Quinn seemed to vanish, the more persistent works presence in that world became. (Auster 10). Quinn runs away from his ‘real’ life because he finds some form of attraction in the world of being a fictitious detective. Quinn finds the role of a detective appealing because it puts him in the role of an observer, analyzing the world much like a reader of a novel, and in essence he forgets himself and his reality by doing so. Max work is essentially an escape from Quinn’s life as a writer (William Wilson) and from his past life as the ‘real Quinn’.By becoming the character he created (Max work) Quinn embarks upon seeking the truth and reality, which in a way is what Quinn is trying to do in terms of discovering an identity. Quinn becomes so consumed in the life of Max Work and the idea of being a detective that when he receives a phone call intended for the private detective Paul Auster, he impersonates him and begins to focus on Pe ter Stillman. Peter is a young man who feels threatened by his father who had been let out of prison.So now Quinn, under the name of Paul Auster, places himself onto another story, another reality through which of he can further delve into the life a ‘real’ detective. Quinn at this point has already taken upon three identities, each of which has served its purpose and been forgotten. The question of who is who now begins to become raveled in layers and doubles so the reader and the character himself is unsure of whom the real protagonist of the story is. Quinn becomes obsessed with Stillman senior and his interest in the man deepens as every day passes, â€Å"he had lived Stillman’s life, walked at his place, seen what he had seen. Quinn becomes Stillman during the case in a way and so another character shift seems to be inevitable. Peter Stillman junior resembles Quinn’s deceased son (whose name was also Peter), Stillman junior had been locked up by his father for nine years in order to test whether ‘God’s language’ would resurface (that is the language uncorrupted by the world, it’s origin during the time of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. ) Roberta Rubenstein argues that Stillman junior is a representation of Quinn’s childhood, isolated from the world with a sense of loneliness.When the two men disappear I creates a sense of anxiety for Quinn, he longs to be ‘non-existent’ as well and eventually he morphs into a mad street walker, homeless and in the end crazy. Auster uses this dilapidation of Quinn to emphasis the conflict within the character and how his ‘self forgetfulness’ leads to his eventual downfall and leaves the question of who he is and who he is meant to be unanswered. Peter Stillman is a character used by Auster the author as a way to further explore the different identities in the book.Stillman junior, after having being isolated from the world has no c lear grasp on his own identity, much like Quinn. In a conversation with Quinn he says, â€Å"I am Peter Stillman. That is not my real name. My real name is Peter Rabbit. † Stillman junior is able to change his name to suit him much like Quinn has done throughout the book, and as seen in the quote Stillman loses the meaning of his name and loses his sense of identity. This quote shows how Auster is very obviously asking the question, who is who and are we who we think we are.Stillman sums it up by saying, â€Å"I cannot say who I will be tomorrow. Each day is new, and each day I can be born again. † The red notebook is the only thing in the book that keeps Quinn’s real name. He writes it in the book during the Stillman case for the first time in over five years and it is the only record or conception of himself that does not change. Quinn recognizes the importance of knowing who he is when he says, â€Å"most important of all: remember who I am supposed to be. à ¢â‚¬  And he later echoes the words of Peter Stillman Junior when he says, â€Å"all I can say is this: my name is Paul Auster.That is not my real name. † This shows that Quinn, like Stillman, is confused about his own identity. Because he is trying to be four people at once he loses the origin of his name and character, his true self. Therefore the question of who is who and whether or not we are who we think we are is not really answered in this book. Auster provides a multi layered and complex understanding of what identity is and how it is used. For Quinn, identity is used as a way of escape, perhaps from the past or from himself (the person he was and whom he grew tired of).Although Quinn is the same person but under different names or aliases, he takes on different identities and makes them a part of his life which eventually leaves no definite answer to who the ‘real’ Quinn is. Works cited Auster, Paul. City of Glass. London: Penguin, 1990 Rubenstein, Rob erta. Doubling, Intertextuality and the Postmodern Uncanny: Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy. LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory, 9 (1998): 245. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. 08. 04. 2006.

Difference Between Offshoring And Offshore Outsourcing Business Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2478 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Compare and contrast essay Did you like this example? The term offshoring and offshore outsourcing has often been misused synonymously in the present context. Despite from general public debate, several literatures around IS/ Information Technology research have mis-defined offshore outsourcing as simply the use of service supplied by another company, whether it is owned by a third-party or not, outside the national borders of the host company. (Pries-Heje, Baskerville Hansen, 2005; Niederman, Kundu Salas, 2006) However, strictly speaking, there is a clear distinction on the ownership of this foreign supplier. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Difference Between Offshoring And Offshore Outsourcing Business Essay" essay for you Create order Company that has an ownership stake in the foreign suppliers (affiliated) would not be considered as offshore outsourcing. Definition from the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) has well covered this element, it defined offshoring as company sourcing services across the border by investing in a foreign affiliate while offshore outsourcing as company acquiring services outside the national border from an outside (unaffiliated) company. Exhibit 1.1 demonstrates the difference between offshoring and offshore outsourcing. Hence, those services acquired by General Electric (GE) in India would be classified as offshore outsourcing while it would only be classified as offshoring for Siemen as the former offshore development centers is owned and performed by a third party, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) but the latter one is owned and performed by Siemen itself. Section 2 Request for bids Description Photo Decorator is an iPhone app that segment for youth especially teenage girls. It allows users to decorate their photos that taken from their iPhone with different cartoon stickers and different colorful text forms and share with friends. This idea is come from the Japanese Photo Sticker Booths, Purikura. Purikua is a shortened form of Purinto Kurabu, it means Print Club in English (J. M. Williams ). Since the mid 1990s, Purikura has become a crazy youth culture in Japan and has quickly spread throughout countries like Taiwan, South Korean and Hong Kong. Today, this culture has begun to expand into the smart phone apps market. Below would be the full bid description for Photo Decorator that posted on the VWorker site: Since a number of iPhone apps exists in the market are similar, we are looking for a new programmer to assist us and to help design cute and more user friendly version of a photo decorator app which will allows users to decorate their own photos with a number of cute stickers or stamps, different colorful text forms and different style of hand drawings. The entire cute stickers source would be provided, moreover, some pictures captured from similar apps would be included below to give the programmer an idea what our desire apps would be looked like, therefore this job should not be too challenging for a seasoned programmer. We would like this app to work on the iPhone 4, and if possible, on the iPod Touch 4G as well. Our timeline for the completion of this app is flexible, with up to 14 days although we would prefer the work to be done within 5 7 days (an extra 10% of the agreed project price would be added as a bonus if the app is 100% done within 5 7 days and with a satisfactory quality plus matching all our requirements). Specifically, we are looking for is a programmer to cut and paste all the cute stamps (up to 50 stamps in total) provided by us into the apps. In addition, design 2 cute text forms, 2 different special and cute hand drawing pen brushes with each consisting of 7 basic colors to allow users to complete the following functions below in a friendly way: Users can upload or select images that want to be decorated by this app from their photos albums in their iPhone 4 or iPod Touch 4G Users can save the decorated photos in their photos albums in their iPhone 4 or iPod Touch 4G Users can add different cute stickers or stamps to the photo Users can add their own text on the photo Users can hand draws on the photo Each sticker, stamp, text and hand drawing can be enlarged, shrunk, resized, rotate and freely movable. Users can redo or undo any process Section 3 Risks 3.1 Country Risk Country risk, can also be re-named as Geo-Political risk, is defined as a group of risk factors such as war, terrorism, border disputes, regulatory requirement and political bureaucracy that may disturb the continuity of the delivery from the service provider. (Aeh 1990; Smith et al. 1996; Carmel 1999) It is a complete new issue and has quickly become aware by corporate since 9/11 and the conflict of India-Pakistan Kashmiri. Today, it even turns into a norm for them, in particular for U.S. corporations, to take analysis on these risks in the vendor selection process for their offshore outsourcing projects. Stephanie Overby, CIO, tries to comment on that: Corporate in America recently has changed their mantras on offshore outsourcing by crying the projects to get done safer, more stable, more secure rather than better, faster and cheaper. Surprisingly, based on a recent reports from The Brown-Wilson Group Inc.s 2009: The Year of Outsourcing Dangerously, several current major loca tions for IT offshore outsourcing like Delhi, Bangalore Mumbai in India, Bangkok in Thailand, Dalian in China and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia were ranked as the top 25 most dangerous cities for offshore outsourcing. On top of that, India was given the name of the worst country for heightening of geo-political issue. Recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India would be a good example showing the unstable geo-political environment in India. Nevertheless, despite these bad ranking, India and China would probably still be the outsourcing venue for Photo Decorator, therefore, it would be better for us to analysis in depth on each of their geo-political risks in below: India: Political climate would be the biggest source of uncertainty for taking India as an outsourcing venue. There is a long history of ongoing tension and dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, in particular, the near war between the two sides in 2002. Currently, this relationship between the two sides still not cools down yet. China: Similar to India, there is a long history of conflict among the control over its neighbor, Taiwan. Joel Plaut, VP Program Management of SendWordNow, comment Political tension between China and Taiwan is probably higher than is realize, due to lack of an actual recent military incident. Strategies for addressing country risk mainly related to multiple location diversity. In essence, it means never putting all your eggs in one basket. It is strongly recommend that corporate, in the process of vendor selection, should either choosing a vendor that have globally working site or separating the entire order into little pieces and placing them with vendors located in different countries to reduce the country risk. 3.2 Currency-Fluctuation Risk Currency risk is defined as the risk of exposure due to volatile exchange rates. It arises whenever the offshore outsourcing transactions involve 2 different currencies. In most of the case, it would be USD to Indian rupee (INR) or Euro to INR, but in our case, it would be GBP to USD. It is suggested that corporate must ensure to take into account the effects of fluctuations on exchange rate as any unanticipated swinging would increase cost and minimize saving. (Kumar and Eickhoff, 2006) However, compared to a decade ago, this issue was not as hot as now. It is an issue used to be largely ignored by corporate who engage in the outsourcing activities. Mark Mayo, partner and president of TPI Global Resources Management tried to comment on that Currency risk has become much more of a focus in the outsourcing industry than it has been in the past because of the fluctuation and volatility of the dollar. To understand how the currency risk between GBP to USD plays out in our case, it would be better for us to consider a homogeneous offshore outsourcing contract as the contract of Photo Decorator but took place in a different period: Start Date: 13Dec 2010 Finish Date: 28Dec 2010 Total Contract Value: USD$140 Payment Method: Pay-for-Deliverables Under such scenario, we would be agreed to pay USD$140 at the end of 28Dec 2010 in exchange for the deliverables of Photo Decorator. In other words, based on the exchange rate between GBP/USD on the day we signed the contract, our total cost would be equivalent to around GBPÂ £88. Since we expected that what we paid in USD on the 13Dec would be the same on the 28Dec, we left our GBP on the table. However, during these 2 weeks time, the dollar did strengthen and moved against our position. By the end, on the 28Dec, the GBP/USD fell from 1.5858 to 1.5366 (-3.10%). Our total cost has risen to around GBPÂ £91 and hence, we exposed to the currency risk. Exhibit 2 shows the exchange rate movement from 13Dec to 28Dec. Strategies for addressing currency risk mainly related to currency hedging or adding a provision in the contract. Currency hedging is a more familiar way for corporate to manage unanticipated swings in currency. It involves the use of derivative instruments like options contract or foreign exchange forward contracts. On the other hand, the concept of adding a provision in a contract is a new and rather innovative strategy. However, it is not commonly used by corporate as it highly depends on the willingness of the vendor on entering such agreement. It is basically an idea of allowing the outsourcing customers an opportunity to renegotiate or terminate the contract when the exchange rate moves against their positions. 3.3 Security Risk Security risk, can also be re-named as Intellectual Property (IP) Protection risk, is a risk associating with physical assets or intellectual properties that belongs to the outsourcing corporate which have being stolen or manipulated by their service providers. (Smith et al. 1996; Carmel 1999) In most of the developed countries such as U.S and U.K, it is a business norm for companies to keep on their customer confidential information, however this does not apply to others especially to those developing countries in Asia. During the past decade, there were plenty of stories involving unethical companies in developing counties illegally obtain data from their clients and threatened for compensation or even marketed them. For example, In October 2003, University of California San Francisco Medical Center (UCSF) was threatened by an outsourcing transcriber in Pakistani on exposing its patients confidential medical records. Based on a research in 2011 done by A T Kearney on the best outsourcing destination, Singapore and Canada remain the leader in business environment in terms of protection on security of intellectual property. While several current major locations for low cost IT offshore outsourcing like India, Thailand and China are on the bottom of the table. Exhibit 3 shows the full table from the report. Recent cyber hacking incident on Google e-mail accounts in China would be a good example showing the problem of data security in China. However, despite these bad reputation, India and China would probably still be the outsourcing venue for Photo Decorator, therefore, it would be better for us to analysis in more detail on each of their development on protecting intellectual property in below: India: Protection on intellectual property in India is remarkable improving. It is one of the most responsible members of World Trade Organization (WTO) and has been continue meeting the WTO standard on laws of intellectual property rights since 2005. Moreover, National Institute for Intellectual Property Management (NIIPM) has been established in 2005 to perform training, policy advices and research on this area. Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corp. said: India is not perfect but the intellectual property protection in India is far, far better than it would be in China. China: Over the past decade, China has signed a number of international protocols related to the protection of intellectual property in international level such as the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects on Intellectual Property Rights. However, it is still often under criticizing. Chris Devonshire-Ellis, a senior partner of Dezan Shira Associates Business Consultants tried to comment: There are too many misconceptions or misunderstandings about the subject and how to cope with intellectual property when it comes to the China issue. Strategies to mitigate this risk mainly related to auditing. The idea is that corporate should verify their service providers security process before, during and even after the project to ensure all the private data are secured. 3.4 Culture Difference Risk Culture difference risk, can also be re-named as Cross-Cultural risk, is a risk derived from the differences in terms of national or corporate cultures between the two sides which influence the offshore outsourcing relationship. (Aeh 1990; Ramarapu et al. 1997; Carmel 1999) Culture is a collective phenomenon. It is learned from people who live around, not innate. (Hofstede 2005) It consists of unwritten rules of the social game. One classical example would be Indian are never comfortable to say No. In India, people used to avoid giving negative responses. They tend to say Yes to everything especially when responding to their clients. Whatever tasks their clients ask them to finish, they would answer with a Yes. However this Yes does not mean that they guarantee to complete all the tasks for you. It does only mean that they would try their best to finish. Therefore, those people who believe on this Yes may be disappointed in the end or at a very late stage. It is often the case t hat the degrees of culture difference vary from place to place. Nearshoring providers tend to have a much closer culture with the customer organization. (Kvedaraviciene 2009) However, since our project, Photo Decorator, would probably be outsourced by providers in far east like India and China, therefore, it would be better for us to analysis in more detail on each of their culture in below: India: Apart from the Yes culture, management style is also different between India and Western countries. In India, managers are required to follow up the projects frequently; otherwise, employees may classify those projects as unimportant and delay the progresses. Beside this, another typical difference would be the right for subordinates to interrupt a conversation in a meeting. In India, sub-ordinates in a team are not allowed to give their contribution or opinions freely until their seniors ask them to do so, otherwise, this would consider as disrespectful to their senior. China: Chin ese culture is difficult for Westerners to follow. One typical difference would be negotiating or bargaining in China is recommended between customer and seller as it is viewed as a part of establishing a good relationship. They argue that money will come back, customer may not. In other words, seller would choose to loss profit rather than a customer. Strategies for addressing culture difference risk mainly related to comprehension. The most ideal case would be personally visiting the offshoring location and experiencing how do these people communicate and work. However, if this is not the case, corporate should alternatively seek advices from either specialists or any employee who has experiences with both of the cultures.