Small farmer market knowledge and specialty coffee commodity chains in Western Highlands Guatemala

For producers motivated by their new status as self-employed, landowning, capitalist coffee growers, specialty coffee presents an opportunity to proactively change the way they participate in the international market. Now responsible for determining their own path, many producers have jumped at the chance to enhance the value of their product and participate in the new "fair trade" market. But recent trends in the international coffee price have led many producers to wonder why their efforts to produce a certified Fair Trade and organic product are not generating the price advantage they had anticipated. My study incorporates data collected in eighteen months of fieldwork, including more than 45 interviews with coffee producers and fair trade roasters, 90 surveys of coffee growers, and ongoing participant observation to understand how fair trade certification, as both a market system and development program, meets the expectations of the coffee growers. By comparing three coffee cooperatives that have engaged the Fair Trade system to disparate ends, the results of this investigation are three case studies that demonstrate how global processes of certification, commodity trade, market interaction, and development aid effect social and cultural change within communities. This study frames several lessons learned in terms of (1) socioeconomic impacts of fair trade, (2) characteristics associated with positive development encounters, and (3) potential for commodity producers to capture value further along their global value chain. Commodity chain comparisons indicate the Fair Trade certified cooperative receives the highest per-pound price, though these findings are complicated by costs associate with certification and producers' perceptions of an "unjust" system. Fair trade-supported projects are demonstrated as more "successful" in the eyes of recipients, though their attention to detail can just as easily result in "failure". Finally, survey results reveal just how limited is the market knowledge of producers in each cooperative, though fair trade does, in fact, provide a rare opportunity for producers to learn about consumer demand for coffee quality. Though bittersweet, the fair trade experiences described here present a learning opportunity for a wide range of audiences, from the certified to the certifiers to the concerned public and conscientious consumer.

Managing International Hospitality, Part II

The Spring 1992 issue of Hospitality Review featured Part I of this series on the impetus to internationalization of the hospitality industry, as well as the modes of overseas expansion by American firms. In Part 11, the author concludes with a look at the organization of overseas activities in their evolutionary stages and considers, as well, who some of the major international competitors to North American firms are in the international market and in North America. The article concludes with a brief consideration of opportunities for employment overseas.

Civilizing the tropics: The highlanders' failed attempt to transform the Colombian Amazon, 1850--1930

The subject of this dissertation is the nature of the environmental transformations, both symbolic and physical, that took place in Colombia between 1850 and 1930. This period begins with the attempt by the Colombian elite to leave behind colonial ties, overcome economic disorganization, and link Colombia to the international market. These efforts were part of a general project to “civilize” this tropical country. The period closes with the transition toward an industrialization and urbanization process led by the Colombian state during the 1930s. ^ Frequently, environmental studies as an academic field are dominated by biological concerns. However, most environmental thinking accepts their interdisciplinary nature. Under this framework not only spatial but also symbolic concerns are key elements in understanding environmental transformations. ^ This study finds that despite several attempts to transform the Colombian landscape physically, most of the substantive changes were localized and circumscribed to the Andean region. Other changes were mainly symbolic. This dissertation thus uses the Amazon as one of several regions that did not experience significant changes in the forest canopy. While highlanders originally dreamed of the Amazon as an untapped El Dorado, their failed attempts to exploit the region caused them to imagine it as a nightmarish “green hell”. ^ This dissertation concentrates on three pairs of concepts: tropicality/civilization, landscape/territory, and symbolic/material changes. It presents both a general vision of Colombia and case studies of three regions: Cundinamarca, and Cauca Valley are used to compare with the Amazon region that is developed at length. Whereas mainstream Colombian histories have either fixated on the Andean highlands or, in a relegated second place, on the Caribbean region, this dissertation attempts to significantly contribute to the historiography of Colombia by focusing on the largely neglected Amazonian region. ^ To understand imageries about Colombia's landscape, the dissertation relies on travel writings, chorographic descriptions and maps. It also makes uses legal documents and other published primary sources, including literary pieces and memoirs. ^

Effects of invasive Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera scutellata) on native stingless bee populations (Meliponinae) and traditional Mayan beekeeping in central Quintana Roo, Mexico

The Maya of the Yucatan region have a long history of keeping the native stingless bees (subfamily Meliponinae). However, market forces in the last few decades have driven the Maya to favor the use of invasive Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera scutellata) for producing large quantities of high quality honey that has an international market. Furthermore, the native bees traditionally used by the Maya are now disappearing, along with the practice of keeping them. ^ An interdisciplinary approach was taken in order to determine the social factors behind the decrease in stingless beekeeping and the ecological driving forces behind their disappearance from the wild. Social research methods included participant observation with stingless beekeepers, Apis beekeepers, and marketing intermediaries. Ecological research methods included point observations of commonly known melliferous and polliniferous plants along transects in three communities with different degrees of human induced ecosystem disturbance. ^ The stingless bee species most important to the Maya, Melipona beecheii, has become extremely rare, and this has caused a breakdown of stingless beekeeping tradition, compounded with the pressure of the market economy, which fuels Apis beekeeping and has lessened the influence of traditional practices. The community with the heaviest amount of human induced ecosystem disturbance also had the highest degree of dominance of Apis mellifera, while the area with the most intact ecosystem had the highest diversity of stingless bees, though Apis mellifera was still the dominant species. Aggressive competitive behavior involving physical attacks by Apis mellifera against stingless bees was observed on several occasions, and this is a new observation previously unreported by science. ^

An Analysis of Stock Market Performance:The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Three Top Performing Lodging Firma: 1982-1988

In their dialogue - An Analysis of Stock Market Performance: The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Three Top Performing Lodging Firms 1982 – 1988 - by N. H. Ringstrom, Professor and Elisa S. Moncarz, Associate Professor, School of Hospitality Management at Florida International University, Professors Ringstrom and Moncarz state at the outset: “An interesting comparison can be made between the Dow Jones lndustrial Average and the three top performing, publicly held lodging firms which had $100 million or more in annual lodging revenues. The authors provide that analytical comparison with Prime Motor Inns Inc., the Marriott Corporation, and Hilton Hotels Corporation.” “Based on a criterion of size, only those with $100 million in annual lodging revenues or more resulted in the inclusion of the following six major hotel firms: Prime Motor Inns, Inc., Marriott Corporation, Hilton Hotels Corporation, Ramada Inc., Holiday Corporation and La Quinta Motor Inns, Inc.,” say Professors Ringstrom and Moncarz in framing this discussion with its underpinnings in the years 1982 to 1988. The article looks at each company’s fiscal and Dow Jones performance for the years in question, and presents a detailed analysis of said performance. Graphic analysis is included. It helps to have a fairly vigorous knowledge of stock market and fiscal examination criteria to digest this material. The Ringstrom and Moncarz analysis of Prime Motor Inns Incorporated occupies the first 7 pages of this article in and of itself. Marriot Corporation also occupies a prominent position in this discussion. “Marriott, a giant in the hospitality industry, is huge and continuing to grow. Its 1987 sales were more than $6.5 billion, and its employees numbered over 200,000 individuals, which place Marriott among the 10 largest private employers in the country,” Ringstrom and Moncarz parse Marriott’s influence as a significant financial player. “The firm has a fantastic history of growth over the past 60 years, starting in May 1927 with a nine-seat A & W Root Beer stand in Washington, D.C.,” offer the authors in initialing Marriot’s portion of the discussion with a brief history lesson. The Marriot firm was officially incorporated as Hot Shoppes Inc. in 1929. As the thesis statement for the discussion suggests the performance of these huge, hospitality giants is compared and contrasted directly to the Dow Jones Industrial Average performance. Reasons and empirical data are offered by the authors to explain the distinctions. It would be difficult to explain those distinctions without delving deeply into corporate financial history and the authors willingly do so in an effort to help you understand the growth, as well as some of the setbacks of these hospitality based juggernauts. Ringstrom and Moncarz conclude the article with an extensive overview and analysis of the Hilton Hotels Corporation performance for the period outlined. It may well be the most fiscally dynamic of the firms presented for your perusal. “It is interesting to note that Hilton Hotels Corporation maintained a very strong financial position with relatively little debt during the years 1982-1988…the highest among all companies in the study,” the authors paint.

Growth of U.S. Ecotourism and Its Future in the 1990s

Ecotourism, a new term for low-impact nature travel, is receiving increasing attention. The author has researched the development of the U.S. ecotourism market from 1980-1989 in order to obtain data on the growth of this market segment. Factors involved in the growth of the U.S. ecotourism market are then examined in order to project the growth of this maeket during the 1990's.

An empirical analysis of the global audit market: International Financial Reporting Standards-related changes and differences within the Big 4 global networks

Ongoing debates within the professional and academic communities have raised a number of questions specific to the international audit market. This dissertation consists of three related essays that address such issues. First, I examine whether the propensity to switch between auditors of different sizes (i.e., Big 4 versus non-Big 4) changes as adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) becomes a more common phenomenon, arguing that smaller auditors have an opportunity to invest in necessary skills and training needed to enter this market. Findings suggest that clients are relatively less (more) likely to switch to (away from) a Big 4 auditor if the client's adoption of IFRS occurs in more recent years. ^ In the second essay, I draw on these inferences and test whether the change in audit fees in the year of IFRS adoption changes over time. As the market becomes less concentrated, larger auditors becomes less able to demand a premium for their services. Consistent with my arguments, results suggest that the change in audit service fees declines over time, although this effect seems concentrated among the Big 4. I also find that this effect is partially attributable to a differential effect of the auditors' experience in pricing audit services related to IFRS based on the period in which adoption occurs. The results of these two essays offer important implications to policy debates on the costs and benefits of IFRS adoption. ^ In the third essay, I differentiate Big 4 auditors into three classifications—Parent firms, Brand Name affiliates, and Local affiliates—and test for differences in audit fee premiums (relative to non-Big 4 auditors) and audit quality. Results suggest that there is significant heterogeneity between the three classifications based on both of these characteristics, which is an important consideration for future research. Overall, this dissertation provides additional insights into a variety of aspects of the global audit market.^

International tourism : can it contribute to Nigeria's economic growth as other industrial sectors?

The growth of international tourism and the attendant economic benefits to the world nations, has been phenominal since the end of the second world war. It is considered that the industry's upsurge will continue even in the phase of various constraints exemplified in high fuel cost, constant increase in fares and the threatening world-wide recessions. Developed as well as developing countries have gained substantially from the industry. A recent development shows increasing tourist traffic towards developing countries, while developed countries still hold their fort in stable growth of tourist receipts. The strategic beneficial effects of international tourist industry are often quantified in terms of foreign exchange earnings, employments offered, and the Real Estate super-structures; but in general,the industry has innumerable direct and indirect benefits to any nation engaging in the trade. The objective of this thesis is to demonstrate by comparative analysis and proven parameters that the international tourist industry which is given low priority in development in Nigeria, can equally contribute to the nation's economic growth as other industrial sectors which receive high priority and patronage in development. The data for this paper are gathered from primary sources which are i) responses by the Federal and State Governments' tourism-related offices; ii) government publications e.a. the Third National Development Plan of Federal Republic of Nigeria; and iii) Books and collections. The secondary sources include reports,periodicals and hospitality industry publications. To formally establish the international tourist industry in Nigeria, all the governments (Federal, State and Local) and the private sector in the country, should commence the development of the industry with research and feasibility studies, to be followed by proper planning at all levels and based on the result of the research and feasibility studies.