A presente tese busca corroborar a hipótese inicial, segundo a qual, no México e no Brasil, o processo de introdução das relações capitalistas na agricultura foi configurado por uma modernização agrícola crescente e de uma tendência ao monopólio. A conjunção desses processos deu consequência à agroindústria que, em um sentido amplo, se tornou a nova forma dominante da estrutura agrícola capitalista, em substituição às antigas formas pré-capitalistas, herdeiras do colonialismo moderno no México e no Brasil, respectivamente, as haciendas e as plantations. Nesses países, a modernização agrícola, que se iniciou ainda no século XIX, se intensificou após 1930, culminando nas décadas de 1960 e de 1970, quando convergiram para a mesma direção, as empresas transnacionais de grande aporte de capital estrangeiro e a acentuação dos processos de inovação tecnológica. Para ilustrar essa relação plena entre modernização agrícola, organização da agroindústria, tendência ao monopólio e transnacionalização, foi escolhida a abordagem, em particular, da Cargill, conhecida empresa do ramo alimentar e de comércio e beneficiamento de grãos, entre outros / The present thesis targets the confirmation of the initial hypothesis, in which, in Mexico and in Brazil, the process of capitalistic relations into agriculture was configured by an improved agriculture modernization and a tendency to monopoly. The conjunction of these processes resulted in agroindustry that in a comprehensive sense became the new dominant way to the capitalistic agriculture structure, in substitution of the former pre-capitalistic models, the Mexican and Brazilian modern colonialism heirs, respectively, the haciendas and the plantations. In these countries, the agriculture modernization, which began in the 19th century, intensified after 1930, culminating in the decades of 1960 and 1970, when converged to the same direction, the transnational enterprises with large capital support and an increment of the technological innovation process. Illustrating this complete relation of agriculture modernization, agroindustry organization, tendency to monopoly and transnational change, was chosen the approach, in particular, of Cargill, acquainted enterprise of alimentary sector and of grain merchandising and processing, among others

Este trabalho tem o objetivo de elucidar algumas das transformações ocorridas no campo do Brasil e da Argentina a partir da década de 1970, por meio da análise do estabelecimento do que chamamos regime alimentar corporativo, mais especificamente no que se refere ao segmento de grãos e óleos, e seus impactos no desenvolvimento geográfico desigual do capitalismo em ambos países. Fizemos isso focandonas estratégias de territorialização da Cargill, empresa com forte presença em ambos os países, e buscamos ver o que elas nos revelam acerca da estruturação do regime alimentar corporativo e suas possíveis relações com o advento de uma economia financeirizada. A hipótese geral averiguada foi a de que com o advento do neoliberalismo houve, por um lado, a consolidação e aprofundamento da hegemonia das corporações do setor agroalimentar. Por outro, a forte expansão da soja como um importante determinante das configurações espaciais do campo e, por último, a financeirização da agricultura capitalista, expressa tanto na importância de adquire o mercado de commodities, como nos mecanismos de financiamento de safras. Essas três expressões da consolidação do regime alimentar corporativo se aprofundam a partir da década de 2000, particularmente mais o que diz respeito à financeirização. Analisar essas três expressões e como cada uma se relaciona com o estabelecimento do regime alimentar corporativo, por meio do estudo de caso da atuação de uma empresa pôde nos fornecer importantes contribuições para o desvendamento de como os conglomerados desenvolvem suas estratégias de acumulação e quais as expressões geográficas disso. / Este trabajo tiene el objetivo de traer a la luz algunas de las transformaciones ocurridas en el agro de Brasil y Argentina a partir de la decada del 1970, através del análisis del establecimiento de lo que llamamos regimen alimentar corporativo, más especificamente en lo que se refiere al sector de granos y aceites, y sus impactos en el desarroso geográfico desigual del capitalismo en los dos países. Eso fue hecho con foco en las estratégias de territorialización de la Cargill, empresa con fuerte presencia en las dos naciones y buscamos ver lo que ellas nos muestran con relación al advento de una economia financierizada. La hipotesis general averiguada fue de que con el neoliberalismo hubo, por un lado, la consolidación y profundización de la hegemonia de las corporaciones del sector agroalimentar. Por otro lado, hubo la fuerte expansion de la soja como un importante determinante de las configuraciones espaciales del campo y, por fin, la financerización de la agricultura capitalista, expresa tanto en la importancia que adquiere el mercado de commodities y de sus derivativos, como en los mecanismos que financian las safras. Estas tres expresiones de la consolidacion del regimen alimentar corporativo se profundizan en la decada del 2000, particularmente más en lo que dice respecto a la financerizacion. Analisar esas tres expresiones y como cada una se relaciona con el establecimiento de del regimen alimentar corporativo por medio del estudio de caso de la actuación de una empresa puede fornecernos importantes constribuiciones para entender como los conglomerados desarrollan sus estratégias de acumulación y quales son las estratégias geográficas de eso.

A presente tese busca corroborar a hipótese inicial, segundo a qual, no México e no Brasil, o processo de introdução das relações capitalistas na agricultura foi configurado por uma modernização agrícola crescente e de uma tendência ao monopólio. A conjunção desses processos deu consequência à agroindústria que, em um sentido amplo, se tornou a nova forma dominante da estrutura agrícola capitalista, em substituição às antigas formas pré-capitalistas, herdeiras do colonialismo moderno no México e no Brasil, respectivamente, as haciendas e as plantations. Nesses países, a modernização agrícola, que se iniciou ainda no século XIX, se intensificou após 1930, culminando nas décadas de 1960 e de 1970, quando convergiram para a mesma direção, as empresas transnacionais de grande aporte de capital estrangeiro e a acentuação dos processos de inovação tecnológica. Para ilustrar essa relação plena entre modernização agrícola, organização da agroindústria, tendência ao monopólio e transnacionalização, foi escolhida a abordagem, em particular, da Cargill, conhecida empresa do ramo alimentar e de comércio e beneficiamento de grãos, entre outros / The present thesis targets the confirmation of the initial hypothesis, in which, in Mexico and in Brazil, the process of capitalistic relations into agriculture was configured by an improved agriculture modernization and a tendency to monopoly. The conjunction of these processes resulted in agroindustry that in a comprehensive sense became the new dominant way to the capitalistic agriculture structure, in substitution of the former pre-capitalistic models, the Mexican and Brazilian modern colonialism heirs, respectively, the haciendas and the plantations. In these countries, the agriculture modernization, which began in the 19th century, intensified after 1930, culminating in the decades of 1960 and 1970, when converged to the same direction, the transnational enterprises with large capital support and an increment of the technological innovation process. Illustrating this complete relation of agriculture modernization, agroindustry organization, tendency to monopoly and transnational change, was chosen the approach, in particular, of Cargill, acquainted enterprise of alimentary sector and of grain merchandising and processing, among others

Este trabalho tem o objetivo de elucidar algumas das transformações ocorridas no campo do Brasil e da Argentina a partir da década de 1970, por meio da análise do estabelecimento do que chamamos regime alimentar corporativo, mais especificamente no que se refere ao segmento de grãos e óleos, e seus impactos no desenvolvimento geográfico desigual do capitalismo em ambos países. Fizemos isso focandonas estratégias de territorialização da Cargill, empresa com forte presença em ambos os países, e buscamos ver o que elas nos revelam acerca da estruturação do regime alimentar corporativo e suas possíveis relações com o advento de uma economia financeirizada. A hipótese geral averiguada foi a de que com o advento do neoliberalismo houve, por um lado, a consolidação e aprofundamento da hegemonia das corporações do setor agroalimentar. Por outro, a forte expansão da soja como um importante determinante das configurações espaciais do campo e, por último, a financeirização da agricultura capitalista, expressa tanto na importância de adquire o mercado de commodities, como nos mecanismos de financiamento de safras. Essas três expressões da consolidação do regime alimentar corporativo se aprofundam a partir da década de 2000, particularmente mais o que diz respeito à financeirização. Analisar essas três expressões e como cada uma se relaciona com o estabelecimento do regime alimentar corporativo, por meio do estudo de caso da atuação de uma empresa pôde nos fornecer importantes contribuições para o desvendamento de como os conglomerados desenvolvem suas estratégias de acumulação e quais as expressões geográficas disso. / Este trabajo tiene el objetivo de traer a la luz algunas de las transformaciones ocurridas en el agro de Brasil y Argentina a partir de la decada del 1970, através del análisis del establecimiento de lo que llamamos regimen alimentar corporativo, más especificamente en lo que se refiere al sector de granos y aceites, y sus impactos en el desarroso geográfico desigual del capitalismo en los dos países. Eso fue hecho con foco en las estratégias de territorialización de la Cargill, empresa con fuerte presencia en las dos naciones y buscamos ver lo que ellas nos muestran con relación al advento de una economia financierizada. La hipotesis general averiguada fue de que con el neoliberalismo hubo, por un lado, la consolidación y profundización de la hegemonia de las corporaciones del sector agroalimentar. Por otro lado, hubo la fuerte expansion de la soja como un importante determinante de las configuraciones espaciales del campo y, por fin, la financerización de la agricultura capitalista, expresa tanto en la importancia que adquiere el mercado de commodities y de sus derivativos, como en los mecanismos que financian las safras. Estas tres expresiones de la consolidacion del regimen alimentar corporativo se profundizan en la decada del 2000, particularmente más en lo que dice respecto a la financerizacion. Analisar esas tres expresiones y como cada una se relaciona con el establecimiento de del regimen alimentar corporativo por medio del estudio de caso de la actuación de una empresa puede fornecernos importantes constribuiciones para entender como los conglomerados desarrollan sus estratégias de acumulación y quales son las estratégias geográficas de eso.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Vincent Amanor-Boadu / Cargill Animal Nutrition is a global manufacturer and distributor of animal nutrition products. They operate in the United States through 6 separately managed regions that control a number of facilities throughout the entire United States. Cargill Animal Nutrition Southeast Region manages a network of eleven plants and two warehouses in the southeast part of the United States. The purpose of this thesis is to explain the current supply chain design including the relationships that exists between facilities, analyze the costs associated with the current design and relationships, and assess the feasibility of alternative designs of supply chain strategies available. A brief description of each facility along with production characteristics specific to each facility is given. Due to certain production characteristics, dependent relationships exist between certain plants. These relationships create restrictions to which our supply chain is subject. Other relationships are not as rigid and thus can be manipulated in pursuit of lowering overall supply chain costs. The model resulting from this thesis will facilitate the assessment of the feasibility of these changes. There are many costs associated with the supply chain; however, costs included in this analysis are limited to the costs that could vary when changing suppliers. The price of the product, transportation costs, and certain warehouse fees deemed relevant to this research are applied to the expected annual sales tons to reach a total cost of supply chain considering the assumptions made. The base scenario was defined according to known facts regarding the current design of our supply chain, which included identification of suppliers, supplier prices, transportation costs, and associated handling/warehouse fees, as well as determining the quantity of product that would need to flow throughout our supply chain. Then the total cost associated with the current supply chain design was assessed according to our analytical model. Once the total cost of the base scenario was determined, comparison to alternative scenarios could take place. Changing the relationships between locations of the supply chain results in alternative scenarios to which the analytical model and decision rule developed can be applied to determine feasibility of the alternative supply chain designs. Operating within the confines of the research, the total cost of the current supply chain design was determined to be $15,697,426. That total cost then serves as a base figure which can be used in comparison with the overall cost of alternative scenario #1. Scenario #1 resulted in a total cost of $15,447,597 – an annual savings of $249,828. Scenarios #2 through #4 were evaluated against the total cost of scenario #1. The total cost of scenario #2 is $15,421,364 which results in annual savings of $26,234. Scenario #3 results in a total supply chain cost of $15,347,888 which equates to annual savings of $9,710 in comparison to scenario #1. The final scenario in this study results in a total cost of $15,443,547. The annual savings generated by scenario #4 in comparison to scenario #1 are $4,050. The results indicate that there are alternative configurations of Cargill Animal Nutrition’s Southeast supply chain that can be developed to increase the competitiveness of operations and improve operational excellence through cost savings. These results are used to inform management in the implementation of the new goals that have been established for the organization. Further utilization of the tool developed will result in increased knowledge of the costs associated with supply chain design. This will allow the company to be able to understand the cost of their supply chain so they can benefit from decreased supply chain costs by reacting to changing market factors.

This research builds on Implicit Leadership Theory, which suggests that a leader's performance is likely to be higher when there is congruence between a follower's prototype of what a leader should be and his or her perception of the leader's behaviour. The essence of effective leadership, according to this theory, is being seen as a leader by others. Data were collected from 196 leaders and 1,738 followers from 23 countries within Cargill Incorporated, a US food and agricultural multinational. The research was conducted in two phases. During the first phase data were collected on followers' desired leadership values and their perception of their leader's behaviour on the same dimensions. These data were used to compute a congruence score based on a weighted sum of absolute differences. The congruence score data formed the heart of an individualised Leadership Fit Report written for each leader in the study showing the extent of congruence across 21 leadership characteristics (see Appendix A). The second phase of the study focused on a subset of 933 followers from five countries testing the two hypotheses. The two hypotheses in Phase Two were partially supported. The first was that congruence between desired leadership values and perceived behaviour leads to high performance of a leader and incongruence leads to lower performance. The second was that the relationship between congruence and leader performance varied by nationality. The cross-cultural test of Implicit Leadership Theory captured in Hypothesis 2 was particularly important to Cargill because it revealed unique and important differences between the five countries included in the second data set. This study found that the nature of the relationship between congruence and leader performance varies significantly between all five countries. More specifically the data suggests that congruence does not always lead to high performance. This study, albeit exploratory, makes theoretical, methodological and practical contributions in the following ways. i. A cross cultural test of Implicit Leadership Theory in a multinational organisation with a significant sample size. ii. An existing desired leadership values questionnaire was used and developed further to measure leadership values and leader perception. iii. All 196 leaders received a personalised feedback report showing the level of congruence (or degree of fit) for 21 leadership characteristics. iv. A methodological contribution was made by using Polynomial Regression Equations and Response Surface Methodology to measure the nature of the relationship between desired leadership values, perceived behaviour and leaders' performance. Implicit Leadership Theory was shown to be complex yet very relevant to management practice. The research undertaken was exploratory yet it has created the basis for on going discussion.

This research builds on Implicit Leadership Theory, which suggests that a leader's performance is likely to be higher when there is congruence between a follower's prototype of what a leader should be and his or her perception of the leader's behaviour. The essence of effective leadership, according to this theory, is being seen as a leader by others. Data were collected from 196 leaders and 1,738 followers from 23 countries within Cargill Incorporated, a US food and agricultural multinational. The research was conducted in two phases. During the first phase data were collected on followers' desired leadership values and their perception of their leader's behaviour on the same dimensions. These data were used to compute a congruence score based on a weighted sum of absolute differences. The congruence score data formed the heart of an individualised Leadership Fit Report written for each leader in the study showing the extent of congruence across 21 leadership characteristics (see Appendix A). The second phase of the study focused on a subset of 933 followers from five countries testing the two hypotheses. The two hypotheses in Phase Two were partially supported. The first was that congruence between desired leadership values and perceived behaviour leads to high performance of a leader and incongruence leads to lower performance. The second was that the relationship between congruence and leader performance varied by nationality. The cross-cultural test of Implicit Leadership Theory captured in Hypothesis 2 was particularly important to Cargill because it revealed unique and important differences between the five countries included in the second data set. This study found that the nature of the relationship between congruence and leader performance varies significantly between all five countries. More specifically the data suggests that congruence does not always lead to high performance. This study, albeit exploratory, makes theoretical, methodological and practical contributions in the following ways. i. A cross cultural test of Implicit Leadership Theory in a multinational organisation with a significant sample size. ii. An existing desired leadership values questionnaire was used and developed further to measure leadership values and leader perception. iii. All 196 leaders received a personalised feedback report showing the level of congruence (or degree of fit) for 21 leadership characteristics. iv. A methodological contribution was made by using Polynomial Regression Equations and Response Surface Methodology to measure the nature of the relationship between desired leadership values, perceived behaviour and leaders' performance. Implicit Leadership Theory was shown to be complex yet very relevant to management practice. The research undertaken was exploratory yet it has created the basis for on going discussion.

In this thesis I present new insights into aspects of Peter Guthrie Tait's life and work, derived principally from largely-unexplored primary source material: Tait's scrapbook, the Tait–Maxwell school-book and Tait's pocket notebook. By way of associated historical insights, I also come to discuss the innovative and far-reaching mathematics of the elusive Frenchman, C.-V. Mourey. P. G. Tait (1831–1901) F.R.S.E., Professor of Mathematics at the Queen's College, Belfast (1854–1860) and of Natural Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh (1860–1901), was one of the leading physicists and mathematicians in Europe in the nineteenth century. His expertise encompassed the breadth of physical science and mathematics. However, since the nineteenth century he has been unfortunately overlooked—overshadowed, perhaps, by the brilliance of his personal friends, James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879), Sir William Rowan Hamilton (1805–1865) and William Thomson (1824–1907), later Lord Kelvin. Here I present the results of extensive research into the Tait family history. I explore the spiritual aspect of Tait's life in connection with The Unseen Universe (1875) which Tait co-authored with Balfour Stewart (1828–1887). I also reveal Tait's surprising involvement in statistics and give an account of his introduction to complex numbers, as a schoolboy at the Edinburgh Academy. A highlight of the thesis is a re-evaluation of C.-V. Mourey's 1828 work, La Vraie Théorie des quantités négatives et des quantités prétendues imaginaires, which I consider from the perspective of algebraic reform. The thesis also contains: (i) a transcription of an unpublished paper by Hamilton on the fundamental theorem of algebra which was inspired by Mourey and (ii) new biographical information on Mourey.