Designing competitive international compensation programs

Over the past 25 years, expatriate managers have voiced increased disenchantment with their compensation packages whíle abroad. This paper takes a prescriptive approach, outlíning severa I elements of a successful human resources strategy and stressing key ingredients of effective international compensation programs. Particular ettention is given to the adherence of cultural values and distrlbutive justice when working across nations and cultures.

What can and should be legalized in ecological restoration?

After listing the five key elements of ecological restoration, ecology, economics, social values, cultural values, and politics, I celebrate the fact that in Brazil there is legislation on how to perform ecological restoration of degraded tropical forests, as well as an ongoing dialogue among legislators and scientists about this legislation, and also a lively debate among scientists as the best way forward, referring to articles by Brancalion et al. (2010) and Durigan et al. (2010) in this issue of Revista Árvore. Legislators elsewhere, especially megadiversity countries, should take note. I do not take sides in the debate; I think both groups of authors make very good points. Instead I call on the scientists and legislators concerned with restoration to ponder five strategic tools: A. Start with clear concepts. B. Decide where you want to go and why. C. Negotiate who should benefit & how, and who should pay, how, & why. D. Work out how an honest cost-benefit analysis of restoration would look, regardless of the biome in which you are working. Finally, figure out how to make the restoration immediately attractive for private landowners. Otherwise, they will not cooperate as fully as they could or should, and restoration efforts will not achieve its full potential.

Taking the "cross" out of cross-cultural transfer of management practice

Multi-national enterprises often attempt to replicate successful management practices in "foreign" environments. However, such practices may be ethnocentric because they fit the assumptions, behaviors, expectations, and values of the home cultural environment. Unless the underlying assumptions are shared, transfer to a differing environment may fail. Even if the focus is shifted from cultural differences to implementation, implementation approaches may also be criticized as ethnocentric for the same reasons. In this article, a non-ethnocentric model is expanded and used to test the portability of one management practice, performance appraisal, from the USA to Brazil. This "Test of Portability" may help managers understand which management practices are portable, and, perhaps even more valuable, provide a rationale for adaptation or rejection.

Harvest managements and cultural practices in sugarcane

The presence of trash from the mechanical harvest of green cane on sugarcane plantations promotes changes in the agricultural management, for example, in the mechanical cultural practices of ratoon cane in-between the rows and nitrogen (N) fertilization. The goal of this study was to evaluate the performance of sugarcane in different harvest systems, associated to the mechanical cultural practices in interrows and N rates. The study was carried out on a sugarcane plantation in Sales Oliveira, São Paulo, Brazil, with the sugarcane variety SP81-3250, on soil classified as Acrudox, in a randomized block design with split-split plots and four replications. The main treatments consisted of harvest systems (harvesting green cane or burnt cane), the secondary treatment consisted of the mechanical cultural practices in the interrows and the tertiary treatments were N rates (0, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 160 kg ha-1), using ammonium nitrate (33 % N) as N source. The harvest systems did not differ in sugarcane yield (tons of cane per hectare - TCH), but in burnt cane, the pol percent and total sugar recovery (TSR) were higher. This could be explained by the higher quantity of plant impurities in the harvested raw material in the system without burning, which reduces the processing quality. Mechanical cultural practices in the interrows after harvest had no effect on cane yield and sugar quality, indicating that this operation can be omitted in areas with mechanical harvesting. The application of N fertilizer at rates of 88 and 144 kg ha-1 N, respectively, increased stalk height and TCH quadratically to the highest values for these variables. For the sugar yield per hectare (in pol %), N fertilization induced a linear increase.

Translation into Brazilian Portuguese, cultural adaptation and evaluation of the reliability of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand Questionnaire

The objective of the present study was to translate, adapt and validate a Brazilian Portuguese version of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) Questionnaire. The study was carried out in two steps. The first was to translate the DASH into Portuguese and to perform cultural adaptation and the second involved the determination of the reliability and validity of the DASH for the Brazilian population. For this purpose, 65 rheumatoid arthritis patients of either sex (according to the classification criteria of the American College of Rheumatology), ranging in age from 18 to 60 years and presenting no other diseases involving the upper limbs, were interviewed. The patients were selected consecutively at the rheumatology outpatient clinic of UNIFESP. The following results were obtained: in the first step (translation and cultural adaptation), all patients answered the questions. In the second step, Spearman's correlation coefficients for interobserver evaluation ranged from 0.762 to 0.995, values considered to be highly reliable. In addition, intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.97 to 0.99, also highly reliable values. Spearman's correlation coefficients and the intraclass correlation coefficients obtained during intra-observer evaluation ranged from 0.731 to 0.937 and from 0.90 to 0.96, respectively, being highly reliable values. The Ritchie Index showed a weak correlation with Brazilian DASH scores, while the visual analog scale of pain showed a good correlation with DASH score. We conclude that the Portuguese version of the DASH is a reliable instrument.

A new cultural cleavage in post-modern society

The attitudes towards gender and homosexuality tend to be linked at the micro level (individuals), which explains the political saliency of this newly emerging cleavage. At the macro level (country), the main finding is that the value orientations towards gender and homosexuality are strongly embedded in the basic cultural or civilisation differences among countries. As developing countries modernise and enter post-modernity, they will also experience the gender cleavage, especially when they adhere to an individualistic culture. Cultural cleavages in the post-modern society, whether in rich or developing countries, can only be properly researched by the survey method. It opens up a large area for both micro and macro analyses in the social sciences.

Ética e relações internacionais: elementos de uma agenda político-cultural

As relações internacionais passaram a refletir, em ritmo crescente, a partir dos anos 1990, a exigência de moralização do espaço público. O tema da ética, já presente na agenda política interna, é incorporado no programa de ação dos organismos multilaterais e cobrado cada vez mais intensamente dos agentes políticos. Nos campos interno como externo a agenda ética contemporânea articula-se sobretudo em torno dos direitos humanos, como pauta de valores comportamentais válida de igual forma para indivíduos e coletividades, inclusive as politicamente institucionalizadas. Disso dão exemplo a política interna e externa brasileira, a tendência organizacional dos blocos regionais, como a União Européia, e a "cláusula social" tornada indispensável às relações econômicas, comerciais e financeiras.

China e Índia: emergência e impacto cultural

China e Índia fazem parte do noticiário cotidiano. Dois momentos históricos recentes marcaram aqueles países. O primeiro foi a abertura chinesa para o exterior, na década de 1980. O segundo é a emergência indiana atual. A maioria das análises disponíveis, no entanto, se esgota na expansão das duas economias. O artigo, contudo, busca situar o impacto que a multiculturalidade daquelas civilizações poderá causar em novo ordenamento internacional, distinto do atual, onde prevalece a força militar e o poder econômico. São apresentadas, em linhas gerais, as origens e a espiritualidade dos povos em questão.

A diplomacia cultural no Mercosul

No Mercosul, as questões culturais estão ausentes. Os ricos patrimônios culturais dos Estados-membros permanecem pouco conhecidos, não são utilizados como instrumentos para a construção de vínculos de confiança e de cooperação entre seus povos. Os resultados da atuação da Reunião dos Ministros da Cultura do Mercosul revelam a ausência uma diplomacia cultural dos países e do Bloco, cujas prioridades são as de natureza comercial.

Interests and Values in Obama's foreign Policy: Leading from Behind?

Abstract This study will exam the relative importance of values and interests in Obama's foreign policy, focusing on crucial cases: the military actions related to Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Non-Syria, Al-Qaeda and ISIL. We will argue that his "leading from behind" strategy is not very distant from the foreign and defense strategies of his post-Cold War predecessors, by which democracy is seen as an assurance to security. According to Obama's strategy, Americans will only provide support for the building of democracy in the target countries, while this task should be performed by the locals themselves. Americans will provide military training to the new governments as well so they can be responsible for their own security, including preventing regrouping of terrorists in their soil. If Obama opposes the imposing of democracy by the use of force, empirical data shows that his administration is "not prepared to accept" any option that threats US security or American liberal-democratic values, bringing in this way values and interests very close to each other.

Consultas médicas: oferta, demanda, mudança cultural e o fim das filas

A abordagem convencional do problema da formação de filas para agendar consultas médicas assume, como pressuposto, que a causa primeira está em uma demanda impossível de ser atendida com os recursos disponíveis. Este artigo aponta outras causas, até então desconhecidas, que fundamentaram o desenvolvimento de uma sistemática que fez as filas desaparecerem sem que houvesse aumento no número de médicos ou de consultas/médicos. Essa sistemática é apresentada e analisada em seus aspectos significativos de desenvolvimento e implantação.

Gerenciando a diversidade cultural: experiências de empresas Brasileiras

Apesar do contexto cultural diversificado em que atuam as empresas brasileiras, o tema diversidade cultural é recente em sua agenda. Surge em subsidiárias de empresas americanas, em um primeiro momento, por pressão da matriz e, em seguida, ligado à necessidade de criar vantagens competitivas desenvolvendo competências diversas; não acontece por imposição legal, como ocorre nos EUA e no Canadá. Partindo da elaboração de um referencial conceitual sobre diversidade cultural e seu gerenciamento, este artigo apresenta os resultados obtidos por meio de uma pesquisa realizada com empresas brasileiras e mediante um estudo de caso mais aprofundado.

Proximidade cultural e dinamismo econômico: por que investem as empresas portuguesas no Brasil

Uma das principais características da economia portuguesa durante a segunda metade da década de 1990 foi a internacionalização de um número muito significativo de empresas nacionais, em vários setores de atividade. Na realidade, todos os dados disponíveis sugerem que, a partir de 1995, o processo de internacionalização desenvolvido pelas empresas portuguesas vem assumindo várias formas, tais como exportações, alianças estratégicas e Investimento Direto Estrangeiro. Verifica-se, igualmente, que esses fluxos não se dirigem para um único destino, mas que o stock português de investimento no estrangeiro tem três destinos predominantes: Brasil, Espanha e Holanda, destacando-se individualmente o Brasil, com mais de 40% do total. Neste contexto, procurou-se identificar, recorrendo à aplicação de questionários às empresas portuguesas com investimentos no Brasil, quais tinham sido os fatores determinantes para a escolha do Brasil como destino preferencial de investimento, tentando, também, aferir até que ponto a proximidade cultural existente entre os dois países teria desempenhado um papel relevante na tomada de decisão.