The thesis focuses on the progress of the oil economies in MENA since 90's. Due to the outbreak of unrest in the Arab world, the thesis deals with the political area and causes leading to the Arab Spring. The importance of oil in the world economy and it's discovery in the Middle East and North Africa increased strategic importance of this region. Arab countries have for the past three decades undergone significant social, economic and political transformation and their oil wealth played a major role in this transformation. The first chapter focuses on economic theory dealing with raw materials and their impact on economic growth of countries. The next chapter focuses on presentation of the MENA region. The third chapter deals with the development of four selected countries - Algeria, Egypt, Syria and Libya since 90's, the impact of the global financial crisis on Arab countries and the Arab Spring.

The work is written and solved in the context of ongoing crisis in Ukraine, which is a major transit country for Russian gas and oil to the EU. The subject of this diploma thesis is to analyze three possible scenarios of EU energy policy in the field of oil and gas with respect to the situation in Ukraine. The aim of this work is to answer the question what direction should the energy policy of EU have in case of oil and gas and to what extent it is influenced by the Ukrainian crisis, based on an analysis of the facts and the current energy situation of the EU. The work is divided into two parts, where the first is characterization of the major players -- the European Union, Russia and Ukraine. In the second part, three possible scenarios for the EU energy policy are analyzed. The proposed possible solutions for energy situation based on the analysis of the facts assessed in the thesis, is the change of the EU attitude towards the shale and unconventional petroleum and natural gas.

The topic of the final thesis is the impact of oil on economic and political stability of petro-states. The first chapter summarizes basic data about oil, its reserves, production and consumption, as well as about oil trade and oil prices. Basic information about OPEC is included in this chapter.The second chapter includes different theories about effects of oil wealth on economic, political and social development in petro-states. The third chapter is an attempt to apply theories from chapter two on OPEC countries. The aim of the thesis is to present impacts of oil on OPEC countries.

In the early 20th century, coal was replaced with petroleum, which turned into new source of world energy, and suddenly became a strategic resource with considerable influence at the international level. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is the major oil and gas actor in the world and its decisions about raw materials have a worldwide influence. It is the fifth-largest exporter and eighth oil producer in the world. Venezuela owns the largest hydrocarbon reserves in the Western Hemisphere, specifically 172 trillion barrels of oil and 5.1 trillion meters cubic of natural gas. Hugo Chavez's government has used the situation and the issue of depletion of world oil reserves and through ownership of high oil reserves established diplomatic relations with a wide range of countries. Among those who were not in alliances should be mentioned countries such as China and Cuba or members of OPEC. He also used the oil to support the integration of Latin American and Caribbean States and created the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our America. The structure of the thesis is designed to provide analysis of the foreign policy of Venezuela, and point to the importance of oil in international trade.

This master thesis deals with a number of international processes in terms of geoeconomics. The main goal of this work is to research the position of dollar, ruble and petroleum in geoeconomic processes. At first goes the analysis of the current condition of the United States dollar, the assessment of exposure level of the system to other countries to establish the real role of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Then goes the analysis of the current status of Russian ruble and the Central Bank of Russian Federation. A large part of the work is devoted to petroleum as a basic raw material at present and its relations to U.S. dollar. At the end is the assessment of the U.S. dollar prospects in the 21 century and possible solutions, which will probably help to eliminate the negative consequences in case of using dollar as the dominant financial system in the world.

This thesis assesses and describes two main current trends appearing at the crude oil market, specifically re-entry of Iran back to the crude oil market after termination of economic sanctions and current oil glut. First part of this thesis is devoted to the crude oil as resource, it focuses mainly on the history, formation and mining of crude oil. Second part of this thesis focuses on the international trade with crude oil. It analyses data regarding reserves, production, consumption, export and import of crude oil, as well as it describes the OPEC organization. Third part is devoted to the organization of the market with crude oil and describes three main motives of entering to the crude oil market. There are analyzed current trends on the crude oil market in the last part of this thesis.

Building relations with China is a topic of broad and current interest, when it comes to establishing and deepening new economic cooperation between Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions. This thesis analyses current economic cooperation between these two regions with the prevailing emphasis on the African partner. The thesis is formally divided into five chapters. The first two chapters focus on selected theoretical and factual starting points related to the main topic of the thesis, which create a foundation stone for the other chapters. In the third chapter of the thesis, selected statistical data about current trade and investment cooperation between both partners are introduced. The main goal of the following fourth chapter is to analyze real impact of mutual cooperation on the selected country of Sub-Saharan region. The last chapter of the thesis analyses a relatively problematic and widely discussed issue: the classification and allocation of financial flows from China in the Sub-Saharan Africa.

Conflict in Libya was the most serious of a series of uprising at the beginning of the year 2011 in the Middle East and North Africa. Following the current situation of world production and consumption of oil, the work focuses on the reaction of oil markets to the conflict and estimates the future development of the oil industry. The aim is to analyze how much the Libyan Civil War influences the development of oil prices on world markets. The second main point of this work is to determine to what extent the current situation in the country could damage the Libyan economy. Much of the information comes from documents and statistics of the U. S. Energy Information Administration, the International Energy Agency and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

El presente trabajo de tesis, tiene como principal objetivo, demostrar la oportunidad de éxito de un negocio existente en el mercado, así como la factibilidad de su inversión y puesta en marcha del proyecto, obteniendo principalmente una rentabilidad sostenible en el tiempo; este proyecto muestra un horizonte de 5 años, para la empresa a la cual he denominado: “Alma de Prenda”, una empresa especializada en la fabricación y venta por catálogo de lencería fina Unisex y kits de lencería que incluyen elementos adicionales como vino, chocolates y rosas. El Mercado Objetivo seleccionado: son principalmente los segmentos socioculturales pertenecientes a los grupos de: Sofisticados y Modernas, del Perú para la ciudad de Lima y para las personas cuyas edades se encuentren en el rango de 25 a 54 años de edad. La cartera de productos, está conformada por: ropa interior para adulto, tanto para damas como caballeros (truzas, brasieres, pijamas y babydols para damas y bóxer, calzoncillos, biviris, y pijamas para caballeros), además de los productos que se añaden a los kits (vinos, chocolates y rosas), se plantean 2 marcas, una para cada género, la marca para dama se denomina “I Here”, y la que corresponde a caballeros es “I In”. Los diseños son modernos, así como sus empaques, se ha establecido un canales de atención de pedidos como: servicio delivery, venta por catálogo y una tienda de fábrica. Previo a la elaboración de la presente tesis, se realizó un sondeo del mercado mediante una encuesta a 384 personas, pertenecientes al mercado objetivo, encontrando un 83.33% de nivel de insatisfacción sobre la oferta del mercado. La estrategia principal del negocio es la Diferenciación de productos, orientándolos hacia sectores más exigentes y con mayor poder adquisitivo como A y B, donde actualmente solo 4 marcas lideran el mercado objetivo como son: Leonisa, Kayser, Calvin Clain y Boston. El cálculo de la Inversión inicial es de S/. 56,186.00 soles, proyectando un crecimiento promedio sobre las ventas de 38% anual después del segundo año en un escenario pesimista, obtenemos un VAN de S/.76,640 soles con una TIR 39.31%, y un plazo de recuperación de la inversión de 4.03 años. / The main objective of this thesis is to demonstrate the success of an existing business in the market, as well as the feasibility of its investment and start-up of the project, obtaining mainly a sustainable profitability over time; This project shows a horizon of 5 years, for the company which I have named: "Alma de Prenda", a company specialized in the manufacture and sale by catalog of Unisex fine lingerie and lingerie kits that include additional items such as wine, chocolates and roses. The Target Market selected: these are mainly the sociocultural segments belonging to the groups of: Sophisticated and Modern, of Peru for the city of Lima and for people whose ages are in the range of 25 to 54 years of age. The portfolio of products, consists of: underwear for adults, both for ladies and gentlemen (tricks, bras, pajamas and babydolls for ladies and boxers, underpants, biviris, and pajamas for men), in addition to the products that are added to the kits (wines, chocolates and roses), 2 brands are raised, one for each gender, the brand for women is called "I Here", and the one that corresponds to gentlemen is "I In". The designs are modern, as well as their packaging, has established an order service channels such as: delivery service, sale by catalog and a factory shop. Prior to the elaboration of this thesis, a market analysis was carried out through a survey of 384 people, belonging to the target market, finding an 83.33% level of dissatisfaction with the market supply. The main strategy of the business is the differentiation of products, orienting them towards more demanding sectors and with greater purchasing power such as A and B, where currently only 4 brands lead the target market such as: Leonisa, Kayser, Calvin Clain and Boston. The calculation of the initial investment is S /. 56,186.00 soles, projecting an average growth on sales of 38% per annum after the second year in a pessimistic scenario, we obtain a VAN of S / .76,640 soles with a TIR of 39.31%, and an investment recovery term of 4.03 years. / Tesis

Contracorriente es un proyecto de la construcción de una marca de moda que tiene como enfoque los calcetines y que está orientada a jóvenes y adultos de perfil sofisticado en los sectores A y B. En este documento se estudia la respuesta del público objetivo al producto y la viabilidad del modelo de negocio propuesto. A través de experimentos se pudo identificar la importancia que le dan los consumidores a la vestimenta y la vinculación que hacen entre ella y la personalidad o estatus. Asimismo, se pudo determinar que el público objetivo no brinda mucho tiempo a la planeación y decisión de compra de calcetines y que en su mayoría aún no lo han reconocido como un producto con capacidad de entregar valor. Para evaluar la viabilidad del proyecto se llevó a cabo un análisis del entorno y la industria, que nos permitió identificar una oportunidad en la falta de oferta de diseños en el mercado local, los altos precios en la mayoría de los potenciales competidores extranjeros, así como su poca penetración en términos de puntos de venta. El equipo ha desarrollado un plan operativo en el que se presupuestan los costos de poner en marcha el proyecto y un plan financiero en el que se estima el desempeño de la empresa para en los tres primeros años. Contracorriente es un emprendimiento que requiere una inversión inicial de S/.21,000 y tiene un periodo de recupero de 1 año y 1 mes. / Contracorriente is a project that looks at clothing brand building focused on socks aimed at young adults and adults with a sophisticated profile that belong to A and B socioeconomic groups. This paper studies consumer response to our product and viability of its business model. Through interviews it was possible to establish that customers give importance to clothing and link it to their personality and status. Likewise, we established that our target audience does not take much time planning, researching or making decisions when buying socks and many of them have yet to realise its potential to offer value. To evaluate the viability of this project an analysis of the external factors, industry and competitors was carried out and it allowed us to identify an opportunity in the lack of diversity in sock designs in the local market, high prices from foreign competitors and low market penetration in terms of points of sale. Our team has developed an operative plan to budget costs of running this business and a financial plan in which we estimate the company performance for its first three years. Contracorriente requires an initial investment of S/.21,000 and it’s expected to recover that investment over a period of a year and a month. / Trabajo de investigación