Putting the Canal on the map: Panamanian agenda-setting and the 1973 Security Council meetings

In the early 1970s, Panama’s negotiations with the United States over the status of the Panama Canal ground to a standstill. General Omar Torrijos had rejected treaties left unratified by previous governments only to receive a less generous offer from the Nixon administration. Realizing that the talks were being ignored in Washington, the Panamanian government worked to internationalize the previously bilateral issue, creating and exploiting a high-profile forum: Extraordinary meetings of the UN Security Council in March 1973 held in Panama City. In those meetings, Panama isolated the United States in order to raise the issue’s profile and amplify the costs of leaving the matter unsettled. Using underutilized Panamanian sources, this article examines that meeting, the succeeding progress, and the effect of this early stage on the final negotiations several years later. The case also illustrates how, during the unsettled international environment of the 1970s, a small state utilized international organizations to obtain attention and support for its most important cause.

Primary immunodeficiency diseases in Latin America: Proceedings of the Second Latin American Society for Immunodeficiencies (LASID) Advisory Board

Early diagnosis and appropriate therapy are essential for the best prognosis and quality of life in patients with primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDDs). Experts from several Latin American countries have been meeting on a regular basis as part of an ongoing effort to improve the diagnosis and treatment of PIDD in this region. Three programmes are in development that will expand education and training and improve access to testing facilities throughout Latin America. These programmes are: an educational outreach programme (The L-Project); an immunology fellowship programme; and the establishment of a laboratory network to expand access to testing facilities. This report provides the status of these programmes based on the most recent discussions and describes the next steps toward full implementation of these programmes. (C) 2010 SEICAP. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L. All rights reserved.

Perceptions of Sustainability and Functional Aspects on Liquid Carton Board Packaging Materials versus Competing Materials for Juice Applications in Sweden

This research explores the downstream perceptions of liquid carton board versus competing materials in packaging applications for juice. The methodology used is focus groups. The context is sustainability and functional performance, and related potential implications for the beverage industry value chain. The purpose is to get a deeper insight and understanding of functionality in relation to juice beverage packaging. The results confirm that there is no optimal packaging for every juice product, but a multitude, depending on the distribution channel, retail outlet, customer preferences, and context of consumption. There are some general packaging preferences, but the main deciding criteria for purchase seem to be the product characteristics in terms of quality, taste, brand, price and shelf life. For marketing reasons, packaging has to be adopted to the product and its positioning, liquid carton board packaging seem to have some functional advantages in distribution and is considered as sustainable and functional among many consumers. Major drawbacks seem to be shape limitations, lack of transparency, and lack of a “premium look”. To improve packaging performance and avoid sub-optimization, actors in the beverage industry value chain need to be integrated in development processes.

Planning Board Article Part Two

In 1961, Voorhees Technical Institute considered moving its campus to Tarrytown, New York. This sparked a controversy in the town, which is documented by the article included here. The move was never effected.

Planning Board Article Part One

In 1961, Voorhees Technical Institute considered moving its campus to Tarrytown, New York. This sparked a controversy in the town, which is documented by the article included here. The move was never effected.

February 2000: Advisory Board; Archives and Special Collections

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March 2004: Film Festival Honors Brown v. Board of Education

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Integração de políticas sociais: um estudo de caso sobre o Bolsa Família

O presente trabalho propõe-se a analisar o processo de integração das diversas ações de transferência de renda no âmbito do governo federal, durante a primeira gestão do presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, entre os anos de 2003 e 2006, que resultou na criação do Programa Bolsa Família. A análise proposta busca contribuir para ampliar o conhecimento sobre o governo e a administração pública, gerando informações sobre a formação da agenda governamental de um governo comprometido, programaticamente, com a redução da pobreza e da desigualdade social. Quanto ao caminho metodológico percorrido, na elaboração desta dissertação, partiu-se da seguinte pergunta-chave: por que e como se deu o processo de integração do Programa Bolsa Família? A metodologia de pesquisa aplicada consistiu na identificação das razões para a entrada deste tema na agenda governamental do primeiro governo do presidente Lula. Para tanto, foi realizado um estudo de caso, objetivando identificar quais atores participaram da discussão sobre a unificação dos programas de transferência de renda e quais foram os conceitos que os orientaram. Como instrumento de pesquisa, optou-se pela aplicação de entrevistas semi-estruturadas com alguns participantes do Grupo de Trabalho de Unificação dos Programas de Transferência de Renda. Além das entrevistas, as outras fontes utilizadas foram: os relatórios e/ou atas das reuniões do Grupo de Trabalho, da Câmara de Política Social do governo; as legislações dos programas anteriores; a legislação do Programa Bolsa Família; os discursos realizados pelo presidente eleito Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva entre janeiro e outubro de 2003. Por meio da análise, de toda a documentação elencada, é possível verificar o esforço governamental no sentido de implementar mudanças nos programas de transferência de renda. Dessas reuniões foram produzidos relatórios pelos Grupos Técnicos, abordando as políticas sociais para a redução das desigualdades, construindo o Programa Bolsa Família levando se em conta a importância do legado histórico das ações existentes. Como resultado da pesquisa, identificou-se que o presidente Lula, a Câmara de Política Social e o seu grupo de especialistas técnicos souberam aproveitar a janela de oportunidades de um governo que estava iniciando com forte apelo para desenvolver políticas públicas de combate à fome e a pobreza. Após percorrer o caminho de reconstrução histórica para a elaboração dessa dissertação, buscou-se destacar algumas contribuições que tem por objetivo servir de incentivo para novos estudos sobre o processo decisório na esfera pública de governo.

Board of directors and top management team: a study on CEO relative power and financial return

Best corporate governance practices published in the primers of Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission and the Brazilian Corporate Governance Institute promote board independence as much as possible, as a way to increase the effectiveness of governance mechanism (Sanzovo, 2010). Therefore, this paper aims at understanding if what the managerial literature portraits as being self-evident - stricter governance, better performance - can be observed in actual evidence. The question answered is: do companies with a stricter control and monitoring system perform better than others? The method applied in this paper consists on comparing 116 companies in respect to the their independence level between top management team and board directors– being that measured by four parameters, namely, the percentage of independent outsiders in the board, the separation of CEO and chairman, the adoption of contingent compensation and the percentage of institutional investors in the ownership structure – and their financial return measured in terms return on assets (ROA) from the latest Quarterly Earnings release of 2012. From the 534 companies listed in the Stock Exchange of Sao Paulo – Bovespa – 116 were selected due to their level of corporate governance. The title “Novo Mercado” refers to the superior level of governance level within companies listed in Bovespa, as they have to follow specific criteria to assure shareholders ´protection (BM&F, 2011). Regression analyses were conducted in order to reveal the correlation level between two selected variables. The results from the regression analysis were the following: the correlation between each parameter and ROA was 10.26%; the second regression analysis conducted measured the correlation between the independence level of top management team vis-à-vis board directors – namely, CEO relative power - and ROA, leading to a multiple R of 5.45%. Understanding that the scale is a simplification of the reality, the second part of the analysis transforms all the four parameters into dummy variables, excluding what could be called as an arbitrary scale. The ultimate result from this paper led to a multiple R of 28.44%, which implies that the combination of the variables are still not enough to translate the complex reality of organizations. Nonetheless, an important finding can be taken from this paper: two variables (percentage of outside directors and percentage of institutional investor ownership) are significant in the regression, with p-value lower than 10% and with negative coefficients. In other words, counter affirming what the literature very often portraits as being self-evident – stricter governance leads to higher performance – this paper has provided evidences to believe that the increase in the formal governance structure trough outside directors in the board and ownership by institutional investor might actually lead to worse performance. The section limitations and suggestions for future researches presents some reasons explaining why, although supported by strong theoretical background, this paper faced some challenging methodological assumptions, precluding categorical statements about the level of governance – measured by four selected parameters – and the financial return in terms of financial on assets.

The relationship between board of director's nationality diversity and financial performance

Companies are moving to a more international structure; going into new markets and having an increased competition in all fronts. Therefore, the practices that lead companies to a more efficient and competitive position are praised. The management of the workforce comes as one of the main concerns of companies, aiming at performance enhancing and at creating better environments that both attract and maintain the professional talents. In an increasingly international environment, companies tend to look for the specialists and best professionals, regardless of their nationality. This new structure with several different nationalities working together poses new challenges for companies. Understanding if and how a more diverse has a relationship with financial performance is the starting point for better managing this new corporate structure.

Two heads may not be better than one : corporate board structure, managerial self-dealing,and common agency

This paper compares the effects on corporate performance and managerial self-dealing in a situation in which the CEO reports to a single Board that is responsible for both monitoring management and establishing performance targets to an alternative in which the CEO reports to two Boards, each responsible for a different task. The equilibrium set of the common agency game induced by the dual board structure is fully characterized. Compared to a single board, a dual board demands less aggressive performance targets from the CEO, but exerts more monitoring. A consequence of the first feature is that the CEO always exerts less effort toward production with a dual board. The effect of a dual board on CEO self-dealing is ambiguous: there are equilibria in which, in spite of the higher monitoring, self-dealing is higher in a dual system. The model indicates that the strategic interdependence generated by the assignment of different tasks to different boards may yield results that are far from the desired ones.