Motivations for implementing voluntary environmental actions in Argentine forest companies

Several motivations play an important role in the design and implementation of voluntary environmental actions in forestry, which include systems and procedures of production that minimize environmental impacts and satisfy eco-demanding customers. The aim of this study was to explore what motivations inspire forest managers from large landholding companies in the Northeast of Argentina to implement voluntary actions and how these motivations are perceived outside the companies. To achieve the objective we compared the opinion of private foresters and companies’ external consultants who scored motivations based on their importance as driving forces for environmental initiatives. The findings were also compared with motivations described for North American foresters. Multiple factors motivated the companies to participate in voluntary environmental actions following a four driver model with five motivational mechanisms defined as Learning, Signaling, Economic, Legal and Moral. Results showed that of the thirteen analyzed motivations, only two: effective resource management and corporate social responsibility differed significantly between Argentine foresters and consultants and were higher ranked by foresters. Both corresponded to the motivational mechanism Signaling. Our findings confirm that market pressure (via forest production certification) or the enrichment of the company image (through corporate social responsibility) were major motivations but not the only ones. In coincidence with foresters in USA, legal followed by moral motivations were major drivers and were more valued than financial gains. In Argentina bottom up mechanisms influenced by the individual concern for the environment of the decision makers and other workers seemed to be distinctive. Discrepancies between Argentine foresters and consultants highlighted the need to address some improvement in management and communication beyond the company.     

Stature growth in industrializing Argentina: The Buenos Aires industrial belt 1916-1950

A sustained long-term increase in average stature accompanied the process of import-substituting industrialization in the main suburban area of Argentina, the Buenos Aires Conurbano. This gain in net nutrition was attained before the rise to power of a re-distributionist political party: the Peronists. The article also provides evidence of a decline in average heights during the period 1939-1945, which challenges us to revise the traditional wisdom about the impact of World War II and Peronist social policies and its implications for the nutrition and health of children. The new evidence on heights shows also persistent social and regional differences over time that had not been documented before.     

Looking through Outdoor Advertising Images for Beauty in Argentina,Chile, Hungary,and Romania

This investigation expands scholarship on beauty and cross-cultural communication through the unique perspective of outdoor advertising. With a content analysis method 1,700 portrayals of men and women in outdoor advertisements, from four different cultures, including Argentina, Chile, Hungary, and Romania, were examined through a framework of advertising and consumer culture, globalization, and theories of beauty. The findings reveal differences across cultures and that beauty ideals are culture specific. Implications are important for practitioners in marketing communications to better understand subtle cultural variations in order to develop effective promotional programs required in the globalized economy.     

The impact of market liberalization on vertical scope: the case of Argentina

This paper analyzes the impact of market liberalization on the vertical scope of firms. Using the case of Argentina, it is shown how the opening of the economy can improve contracting abilities and heighten competition, increasing the ability and incentive of firms to outsource. Survey findings support the main hypothesis as well as the specific importance of reforms relating to inflation, import costs, and heightened demand standards in increasing the use of outsourcing. A case study of the steel producer Siderar, highlights that while firms may reduce their presence in peripheral activities, they may also increase their presence in core areas so as to increase their value proposition. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

阿根廷经济危机与全球化遭遇挫折

拉丁美洲最先卷入了全球化进程，阿根廷是西方媒体称赞的全球化楷模，但近来阿根廷却爆发了严重经济危机，导致拉美出现了反全球化的新浪潮。     

The organisation of British textile exports to the River Plate and Chile: Merchant houses in operation,c. 1810–59

During c. 1810–59 over 260 British merchant houses operated in the River Plate or Chile, and many more in the rest of Latin America. These were times when Anglo-Latin American economic relations remained largely commercial, since the region was an important commercial partner of Britain. British investment was unimportant during this period in the region. The main economic activity of these mercantile houses was the import of textiles in exchange for bullion, specie, bills of exchange and local produce. Yet the textile trade has received little attention, despite the importance of the region as a market for British manufacturers. This paper describes in detail the relations between textile manufacturers and/or merchants in Britain and merchants on the spot, in particular for the marketing oftextiles, the backbone of the business of British merchants operating in Latin America. This paper focuses on the particular case of the Southern Cone during c. 1810–59.     

The Costs of Financial Crises: Resource Misallocation,Productivity, and Welfare in the 2001 Argentine Crisis

Financial crises in emerging market countries appear to be very costly: both output and a host of partial welfare indicators decline dramatically. The magnitude of these costs is puzzling both from an accounting perspective – factor usage does not decline as much as output, resulting in large falls in measured productivity – and from a theoretical perspective. With the aim of resolving this puzzle, we present a framework that allows us to do the following. First, we account for changes in a country's measured productivity during a financial crisis as the result of changes in the underlying technology of the economy, the efficiency with which resources are allocated across sectors, and the efficiency of the resource allocation within sectors, driven both by reallocation amongst existing plants and by entry and exit. Second, we measure the change in the country's welfare resulting from changes in productivity, government spending, the terms of trade, and a country's international investment position. We apply this framework to the Argentine crisis of 2001 using a unique establishment level dataset and we find that more than half of the, roughly, 10 percent decline in measured total factor productivity can be accounted for by deteriorations in the allocation of resources both across and within sectors. We measure the decline in welfare to be of the order of one‐quarter of one year's gross domestic product.     

Multinational Corporations,Property Rights,and Legitimization Strategies: US Investors in the Argentine and Peruvian Oil Industries in the Twentieth Century

Multinational corporations in the extractive sector have historically faced challenges to their property rights, particularly in oil. International business scholars argue that firms can decrease these challenges by approaching domestic legitimating actors or seeking home government support. Through a study of the operations of Standard Oil of New Jersey in Peru and Argentina in the twentieth century, we find that these legitimating strategies can backfire due to two main elements: first, the multinational might approach actors with a different agenda from those defining, delineating, and enforcing property rights. Second, host countries can use home government support to multinationals to delegitimise foreign firms' operations.