The global economic crisis and the impact on children in Sri Lanka

By the 1970s, Sri Lanka had already achieved a high level of mass well-being, literacy and labour force skills, making it possible to mount a massive investment programme in the late 1970s. Measures taken in 1977 to open the economy emphasized foreign investment and expansion of production, export promotion and employment. Because structures and levels of outlays on essential social welfare were maintained and external resource flows increased, Sri Lanka's economic and health indicators over the 1970s show on balance an improvement in living conditions although pockets of disadvantaged households exist.     

Palm oil in search of a lobby

Once an ornamental plant, oil palm is now a great asset in the world edible oil scene. Of the dozen major edible oils of vegetable origin, two (soyabean and palm oil) constitute nearly 50% of total world production. They have also grown at over twice the rate of oils and fats in general. Oil palm could be an ideal solution to the growing and acute edible oil shortage in India, estimated at about 1 million tons. Oil palm cultivation on a large scale was suggested some 20 years ago by the then chairman of Hindustan Lever to avert edible oil famine in the 1970s and 1980s. But alas, the plans remained on paper. Apart from the southern belt of India, Andaman and Nicobararo are ideally suited for oil palm cultivation.     

A general dynamic model of 19th century U.S. population change

"The pattern of rural population growth in 23 northern states during the period 1790 to 1900 is examined using a general dynamic approach. The relationship between fertility, migration and population growth is analysed within a single settlement model and a control solution is produced which demonstrates that fertility and migration behaviour reacted to changes in land availability, eventually leading to population stability in rural areas."     

Doing more with less: smart stockroom management equals great service.

As manufacturers compete for a larger share of a shrinking market, cries for a better way of doing business can be heard resounding throughout the business community. Many companies are now looking toward these principles for help: working smarter, doing more with less, and supplying superior service. One area in which they can be applied successfully is stockroom management. Their implementation can result in positive, cost-effective changes. This article describes how a materiel control organization was able to meet the call for change and in the process increase accuracy, reduce cycle time, and enhance its commitment to providing "great service" to both internal and external customers.     

The ethics of leveraged management buyouts revisited

Although previous ethical analyses of management buyouts have presented useful insights, they have been flawed in three major ways. First, they define the transaction too narrowly, emphasizing the going private aspect and ignoring the leveraged aspect. Leveraging alters the nature of the transaction substantially and warrants additional ethical analysis. Second, these previous analyses ignore the impact of buyouts on non-stockholder constituents of the firm, an omission which renders their implicit utilitarian approach incomplete. Third, these analyses do not include Rawlsian, libertarian, or Kantian perspectives on ethics. This paper addresses these shortcomings and finds the ethical status of leveraged management buyouts to be highly suspect. Thomas M. Jones is a Professor of Organization and Environment in the School of Business Administration at the University of Washington in Seattle. He has written on such subjects as business ethics, corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, boards of directors, shareholder litigation, and business and society paradigms. His work has appeared in the Academy of Management Review, California Management Review, Boston University Law Review and the Hastings Law Journal.Reed O. Hunt, III is currently working for the Seattle Office of Peterson Consulting Limited Partnership, a national business dispute resolution consulting firm.