Vertical coordination via contract farming

Bibliographical footnotes.

Coordination in humanitarian logistics through clusters

Purpose – In the field of humanitarianism, cluster thinking has been suggested as a solution to the lack of coordinated disaster response. Clusters for diverse functions, including sheltering, logistics and water and sanitation, can be viewed as an effort to achieve functional coordination. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a greater understanding of the potential of cluster concepts using supply chain coordination and inter‐cluster coordination. The focus is on the conceptual level rather than on specific means of coordination. Design/methodology/approach – The cluster concept in humanitarian relief, along with some key empirical issues, is based on a case study. The concept is then compared to the literature on clusters and coordination in order to develop a theoretical framework with propositions on the tradeoffs between different types of coordination. Findings – The results provide important reflections on one of the major trends in contemporary development of humanitarian logistics. This paper shows that there is a tradeoff between different types of coordination, with horizontal coordination inside cluster drawing attention away from important issues of the supply chain as well as the need to coordinate among the clusters. Research limitations/implications – There is a need for more in‐depth case studies of experiences with clusters in various operations. Various perspectives should be taken into account, including the field, responding agencies, beneficiaries, donors, military and commercial service providers, both during and between disasters. Practical implications – The paper presents the tradeoffs between different types of coordination, in which basic aims such as standardisation through functional coordination, must be balanced with cross‐functional and vertical coordination in order to more successfully serve the users' composite needs. Originality/value – The focus on possible trade‐offs between different types of coordination is an important complement to the literature, which often assumes simultaneous high degrees of horizontal and vertical coordination.

El rol de los contratos en viticulturas

[ES] A pesar de que los economistas han dedicado enorme esfuerzo a examinar la racionalidad de los contratos en agricultura, pocos estudios se han llevado a cabo en viticultura. Sin embargo, se observan diferencias contractuales en la producción de uva y vino. En el presente trabajo se analizan las estructuras contractuales actualmente utilizadas en varias regiones vitivinícolas. Independientemente de las características inherentes en los contratos, se obtiene que estos mecanismos permiten a las bodegas articular sus requisitos con respecto a la calidad de las uvas producidas por los agricultores.

Análisis del tratamiento del medio físico en el planeamiento territorial de la Comunidad Autómoma del País Vasco (1940-2006).

851 p. : il.

De la cooperativa agroalimentaria a la "learning netchain". Hacia un planteamiento teorico interorganizativo e interpersonal

Se propone un planteamiento teórico/conceptual para determinar si las relaciones interorganizativas e interpersonales de la netchain de las cooperativas agroalimentarias evolucionan hacia una learning netchain. Las propuestas del trabajo muestran que el mayor grado de asociacionismo y la mayor cooperación/colaboración vertical a lo largo de la cadena están positivamente relacionados con la posición horizontal de la empresa focal más cercana del consumidor final. Esto requiere una planificación y una resolución de problemas de manera conjunta, lo que está positivamente relacionado con el mayor flujo y diversidad de la información/conocimiento obtenido y diseminado a lo largo de la netchain. Al mismo tiempo se necesita desarrollar un contexto social en el que fluya la información/conocimiento y las nuevas ideas de manera informal y esto se logra con redes personales y, principalmente, profesionales y con redes internas y, principalmente, externas. Todo esto permitirá una mayor satisfacción de los socios de la cooperativa agroalimentaria y de sus distribuidores y una mayor intensidad en I+D, convirtiéndose la netchain de la cooperativa agroalimentaria, así, en una learning netchain.

Instrumentos de advocacy federativa no Brasil: o Dilema dos estados na questão fiscal

Esta tese teve o intuito de analisar como os estados se organizaram para o enfrentamento dos problemas fiscais decorrentes da guerra fiscal que atinge seu principal imposto, o Imposto sobre Operações Relativas à Circulação de Mercadorias e sobre Prestações de Serviços de Transporte Interestadual, Intermunicipal e de Comunicação (ICMS), e da redução da receita do Fundo de Participação dos Estados (FPE). Além disso, procurou-se identificar os instrumentos utilizados pelos estados para fazerem a advocacy federativa de seus interesses junto à União. Buscou-se, ainda, analisar os modelos de coalisão estabelecidos, a trajetória e o comportamento das instituições para compreender a dinâmica das relações intergovernamentais, o grau de cooperação obtido diante de um quadro de heterogeneidade socioeconômica dos governos subnacionais e o impacto no processo de coordenação vertical. Partiu-se da hipótese de que a heterogeneidade dos governos estaduais dificulta a evolução do processo de cooperação e coordenação federativa, reduzindo o poder dos governos subnacionais de estabelecerem a advocacy de seus interesses com a União, além da construção de soluções para os problemas fiscais de forma coletiva. Visando entender a dinâmica federativa, o estudo analisou as tentativas fracassadas de reforma tributária do ICMS - principalmente para a eliminação da guerra fiscal - e a aprovação, em 2013, da nova lei que rege as transferências do FPE, a partir da atuação do Conselho Nacional de Política Fazendária (CONFAZ) e do Congresso Nacional. Essas são arenas selecionadas por serem estratégicos no conjunto da estrutura governamental, sendo o primeiro o órgão criado com o objetivo de harmonização do ICMS diante de um quadro de competitividade entre os estados e de confronto e pouca coordenação do Governo Federal; e o segundo, responsável, principalmente, pela aprovação de leis e pela fiscalização do Estado brasileiro. De forma a iluminar o caso brasileiro e identificar algumas soluções inovadoras foram apresentadas, também, experiências internacionais dos países Estados Unidos da América (EUA), Canadá e Austrália, que já avançaram na instituição de arranjos interestaduais, por meio de Conselhos de Governadores - chefes dos Poderes Executivos estaduais - que promovem políticas de atuação e decisões coletivas para a defesa de seus interesses junto aos governos centrais. Concluiu-se que, em que pesem as tentativas de reforma do ICMS e a reforma do FPE, cuja mudança representativa se dará aproximadamente em 400 anos, as estratégias, as formas de atuação adotadas pelos estados precisam ser revistas e o governo federal precisa resgatar o seu papel de coordenador de politica pública. Além disso o fortalecimento das instituições de advocacy federativa, presentes nas experiências internacionais, podem de forma incremental mudar o caso brasileiro contribuindo para a construção de um federalismo cooperativo e para a melhoria das relações intergovernamentais.

Instrumentos de advocacy federativa no Brasil: o dilema dos estados na questão fiscal

Esta tese teve o intuito de analisar como os estados se organizaram para o enfrentamento dos problemas fiscais decorrentes da guerra fiscal que atinge seu principal imposto, o Imposto sobre Operações Relativas à Circulação de Mercadorias e sobre Prestações de Serviços de Transporte Interestadual, Intermunicipal e de Comunicação (ICMS), e da redução da receita do Fundo de Participação dos Estados (FPE). Além disso, procurou-se identificar os instrumentos utilizados pelos estados para fazerem a advocacy federativa de seus interesses junto à União. Buscou-se, ainda, analisar os modelos de coalisão estabelecidos, a trajetória e o comportamento das instituições para compreender a dinâmica das relações intergovernamentais, o grau de cooperação obtido diante de um quadro de heterogeneidade socioeconômica dos governos subnacionais e o impacto no processo de coordenação vertical. Partiu-se da hipótese de que a heterogeneidade dos governos estaduais dificulta a evolução do processo de cooperação e coordenação federativa, reduzindo o poder dos governos subnacionais de estabelecerem a advocacy de seus interesses com a União, além da construção de soluções para os problemas fiscais de forma coletiva. Visando entender a dinâmica federativa, o estudo analisou as tentativas fracassadas de reforma tributária do ICMS - principalmente para a eliminação da guerra fiscal - e a aprovação, em 2013, da nova lei que rege as transferências do FPE, a partir da atuação do Conselho Nacional de Política Fazendária (CONFAZ) e do Congresso Nacional. Essas são arenas selecionadas por serem estratégicos no conjunto da estrutura governamental, sendo o primeiro o órgão criado com o objetivo de harmonização do ICMS diante de um quadro de competitividade entre os estados e de confronto e pouca coordenação do Governo Federal; e o segundo, responsável, principalmente, pela aprovação de leis e pela fiscalização do Estado brasileiro. De forma a iluminar o caso brasileiro e identificar algumas soluções inovadoras foram apresentadas, também, experiências internacionais dos países Estados Unidos da América (EUA), Canadá e Austrália, que já avançaram na instituição de arranjos interestaduais, por meio de Conselhos de Governadores - chefes dos Poderes Executivos estaduais - que promovem políticas de atuação e decisões coletivas para a defesa de seus interesses junto aos governos centrais. Concluiu-se que, em que pesem as tentativas de reforma do ICMS e a reforma do FPE, cuja mudança representativa se dará aproximadamente em 400 anos, as estratégias, as formas de atuação adotadas pelos estados precisam ser revistas e o governo federal precisa resgatar o seu papel de coordenador de politica pública. Além disso o fortalecimento das instituições de advocacy federativa, presentes nas experiências internacionais, podem de forma incremental mudar o caso brasileiro contribuindo para a construção de um federalismo cooperativo e para a melhoria das relações intergovernamentais.

Perfil do consumidor de frutas em cidades do interior do estado de São Paulo - SP

Estudos relacionados ao perfil do consumidor colocam-se como importante subsídio à participação competitiva dos diferentes segmentos nas cadeias agroalimentares e para a própria organização da mesma. O objetivo do presente trabalho foi o de identificar o perfil dos consumidores de frutas em cidades do interior do Estado de São Paulo. A amostra foi constituída de 404 consumidores em pontos de venda previamente selecionados nas cidades de Botucatu, Avaré, Jaboticabal, Ilha Solteira e Tupã. Os resultados sobre o perfil do consumidor de frutas nas cidades pesquisadas sinalizam uma preocupação com as características do produto (saudáveis e saborosos), com o preço e com facilidades de acesso na compra. Os resultados apontam também para a necessidade de maiores estudos sobre a importância da informação relacionada aos aspectos mais valorizados (características do produto e preço) na estrutura de consumo.

The evolution and performance of river basin management in the Murray-Darling Basin

We explore bioregional management in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) in Australia through the institutional design characteristics of the MDB River Basin Organization (RBO), the actors and organizations who supported and resisted the establishment of the RBO, and the effectiveness of the RBO. During the last 25 years, there has been a major structural reform in the MDB RBO, which has changed from an interstate coordinating body to an Australian government agency. Responsibility for basin management has been centralized under the leadership of the Australian government, and a comprehensive integrated Basin plan has been adopted. The driving forces for this centralization include national policy to restore river basins to sustainable levels of extraction, state government difficulties in reversing overallocation of water entitlements, the millennium drought and its effects, political expediency on the part of the Australian government and state governments, and a major injection of Australian government funding. The increasing hierarchy and centralization of the MDB RBO does not follow a general trend toward multilevel participative governance of RBOs, but decentralization should not be overstated because of the special circumstances at the time of the centralization and the continuing existence of some decentralized elements, such as catchment water plans, land use planning, and water quality. Further swings in the centralization–decentralization pendulum could occur. The MDB reform has succeeded in rebalancing Basin water allocations, including an allocation for the environment and reduced diversion limits. There are some longer term risks to the implementation of reform, including lack of cooperation by state governments, vertical coordination difficulties, and perceived reductions in the accountability and legitimacy of reform at the local level. If implementation of the Basin plan is diverted or delayed, a new institution, the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, can play a major role in securing and coordinating environmental water supplies.

Effective coordination of vertical IS standardisation initiatives

This paper investigates vertical IS standardisation initiatives from an Actor Network Theory (ANT) perspective. It describes the standardisation process as a series of translations of interests. The ANT lens provides an insight into how participating organisations attempt to align the interests of other organisations. The contributions of this paper are: (i) a deeper understanding of the vertical IS standardisation process; (ii) actions participating organisations can take to effectively coordinate vertical IS standardisation initiatives.

Effects of different instructional constraints on task performance and emergence of coordination in children

The objectives of this study were to determine the impact of different instructional constraints on standing board jump (sbj) performance in children and understand the underlying changes in emergent movement patterns. Two groups of novice participants were provided with either externally or internally focused attentional instructions during an intervention phase. Pre- and post-test sessions were undertaken to determine changes to performance and movement patterns. Thirty-six primary fourth-grade male students were recruited for this study and randomly assigned to either an external, internal focus or control group. Different instructional constraints with either an external focus (image of the achievement) or an internal focus (image of the act) were provided to the participants. Performance scores (jump distances), and data from key kinematic (joint range of motion, ROM) and kinetic variables (jump impulses) were collected. Instructional constraints with an emphasis on an external focus of attention were generally more effective in assisting learners to improve jump distances. Intra-individual analyses highlighted how enhanced jump distances for successful participants may be concomitant with specific changes to kinematic and kinetic variables. Larger joint ROM and adjustment to a comparatively larger horizontal impulse to a vertical impulse were observed for more successful participants at post-test performance. From a constraints-led perspective, the inclusion of instructional constraints encouraging self-adjustments in the control of movements (i.e., image of achievement) had a beneficial effect on individuals performing the standing broad jump task. However, the advantage of using an external focus of attentional instructions could be task- and individual-specific.

Bimanual coordination: constraints imposed by the relative timing of homologous muscle activation

It has often been supposed that patterns of rhythmic bimanual coordination in which homologous muscles are engaged simultaneously, are performed in a more stable manner than those in which the same muscles are activated in an alternating fashion. In order to assess the efficacy of this constraint, the present study investigated the effect of forearm posture (prone or supine) on bimanual abduction-adduction movements of the wrist in isodirectional and non-isodirectional modes of coordination. Irrespective of forearm posture, non-isodirectional coordination was observed to be more stable than isodirectional coordination. In the latter condition, there was a more severe deterioration of coordination accuracy/stability as a function of cycling frequency than in the former condition. With elevations in cycling frequency, the performers recruited extra mechanical degrees of freedom, principally via flexion-extension of the wrist, which gave rise to increasing motion in the vertical plane. The increases in movement amplitude in the vertical plane were accompanied by decreasing amplitude in the horizontal plane. In agreement with previous studies, the present findings confirm that the relative timing of homologous muscle activation acts as a principal constraint upon the stability of interlimb coordination. Furthermore, it is argued that the use of manipulations of limb posture to investigate the role of other classes of constraint (e.g. perceptual) should be approached with caution because such manipulations affect the mapping between muscle activation patterns, movement dynamics and kinematics.

Grip and load force coordination in cyclical isometric manipulation task is not affected by the feedback type

Background: The relationship between normal and tangential force components (grip force - GF and load force - LF, respectively) acting on the digits-object interface during object manipulation reveals neural mechanisms involved in movement control. Here, we examined whether the feedback type provided to the participants during exertion of LF would influence GF-LF coordination and task performance. Methods. Sixteen young (24.7 ±3.8 years-old) volunteers isometrically exerted continuously sinusoidal FZ (vertical component of LF) by pulling a fixed instrumented handle up and relaxing under two feedback conditions: targeting and tracking. In targeting condition, FZ exertion range was determined by horizontal lines representing the upper (10 N) and lower (1 N) targets, with frequency (0.77 or 1.53 Hz) dictated by a metronome. In tracking condition, a sinusoidal template set at similar frequencies and range was presented and should be superposed by the participants' exerted FZ. Task performance was assessed by absolute errors at peaks (AEPeak) and valleys (AEValley) and GF-LF coordination by GF-LF ratios, maximum cross-correlation coefficients (r max), and time lags. Results: The results revealed no effect of feedback and no feedback by frequency interaction on any variable. AE Peak and GF-LF ratio were higher and rmax lower at 1.53 Hz than at 0.77 Hz. Conclusion: These findings indicate that the type of feedback does not influence task performance and GF-LF coordination. Therefore, we recommend the use of tracking tasks when assessing GF-LF coordination during isometric LF exertion in externally fixed instrumented handles because they are easier to understand and provide additional indices (e.g., RMSE) of voluntary force control. © 2013 Pedão et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Análise cinemática e cinética do salto vertical de crianças com transtorno do desenvolvimento da coordenação (TDC)

Due to motor difficulties, children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) doesn't feel motivated to do physical activities, sometimes resulting in a decline of their physical fitness, but it isn't really known for sure the reasons that induct children with DCD to low performances in physical fitness tests, because a lot of tasks that are part of the battery of tests of physical performance are complex in the coordination and/or motor control point of view, like the vertical jump for example. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the factors that induct children with DCD to low performances in physical fitness tests, especially in the vertical jump task. For that, cinematic (duration of the eccentrical phase, duration of the concentrical phase, shift of the mass center and velocity of the mass center), kinetic (potency peak and force peak) and vertical jump performance analysis in two conditions (with the use of arms and without it) were realized in a force platform. The results indicated that children with DCD show a lower performance compared to their peers with typical development (TD), due to a lower potency production