Los flujos de Inversión Extranjera Directa (IED) mundiales presentan un crecimiento espectacular durante la década de los 90 del pasado siglo XX, con tasas anuales acumulativas del orden del 35%-45%. Los países en desarrollo, por su parte, han venido captando alrededor de un 30% del total de estos flujos, mientras, en su seno, los denominados países emergentes, países más dinámicos de Latinoamérica y el Sudeste Asiático, acumulan alrededor del 90% de dichas entradas. En este contexto, la ampliación del conocimiento de los factores que están impulsando el crecimiento de los flujos de IED entre países desarrollados y países en desarrollo es el objetivo general de la presente Tesis Doctoral. No son muchas las investigaciones disponibles a este respecto, ya que la mayoría de estudios sobre factores determinantes de la IED mundial se centran en analizar los factores asociados a los flujos entre los propios países desarrollados, no obstante ha existido un relativo auge de la literatura sobre IED norte-sur en los últimos años. Además, dicha literatura ha venido a resaltar, primordialmente, la relevancia que en este proceso han jugado los factores característicos de los propios países receptores de la inversión como factores de atracción de la IED de los países desarollados.Con este objetivo definido, la presente Tesis Doctoral se estructura, por tanto, en dos cuerpos de investigación. En el primero de ellos se presenta evidencia acerca de los factores determinantes de la IED entre los países de la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económico (OCDE) y Argentina durante los años 90. En el segundo cuerpo de la investigación se identifica, siguiendo ahora un enfoque sectorial, las estrategias de la IED procedente de los dos inversores mayoritarios de la OCDE en el mercado argentino, la Unión Europea (USA) y los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica (USA), analizando, asimismo, los efectos que dichas entradas de capital exterior poseen sobre los flujos de comercio del país receptor, Argentina.La primera parte de la investigación se dirige a identificar factores determinantes de los flujos de IED OCDE-Argentina (países desarollados-países en desarrollo) más allá de las propias características de los países receptores de la inversión. En este sentido, la modelización desarrollada permite identificar la relevancia que en este proceso de aceleración de los flujos de IED norte-sur han vendido jugando las propias características de los países emisores de la inversión. Esta parte de la investigación permite, pues, subrayar la relevancia que en este proceso inversor han poseído las ventajas de propiedad ligadas a las empresas y países de la OCDE como un factor clave de la actual oleada de IED mundial, ampliando, asimismo, los resultados de estudios anteriores centrados primordialmente en el estudio de las ventajas de localización de los países receptores de esta IED.En su segunda parte, la Tesis Doctoral profundiza en el conocimiento de los determinantes de los flujos de IED OCDE-Argentina, explorando, a su vez, el papel que dichas entradas de IED han podido jugar en la evolución reciente del comercio exterior argentino. Esta segunda parte permite identificar, por tanto, las diferentes estrategias asociadas a las empresas multinacionales de los inversores mayoritarios de IED en el mercado argentino durante los años 90, la UE y USA. Los resultados de esta parte de la investigación permiten estimar la presencia de una estrategia mayoritaria, en la IED de la UE hacia el mercado argentino buscadora de mercados, que se desarrolla mediante la de transferencia de activos matriz-filiales. El ejercicio permite estimar, igualmente, la existencia de una relación de complementariedad por la vía de las importaciones entre los flujos de IED y Comercio entre la UE y Argentina. Por su parte, el caso norteamericano nos lleva a estimar la presencia de una estrategia mayoritaria buscadora de eficiencia y de recursos naturales en los flujos de IED USA-Argentina. Así, el ejercicio permite estimar la existencia de una relación de complementariedad, pero ahora por la vía de las exportaciones, entre los flujos de IED y Comercio USA-Argentina. / Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows at an international level had grown at a significant path in the past two decades. Developing countries, although its minority position as providers and receivers of this flows, has been experiencing an increase in its participation, specially as a destination of direct capital flows during the 90s. In this context, the present dissertation (Ph.D) directs its research efforts to identify the main variables underlying the process, as a contribution that allows to widen the research paradigm build to study North-South economic relationships. The dissertation focuses on Argentina-OECD relationships in the 90s, being this country one of the most salient nations in the Latin-American region along these years.The firs part of the research identifies the relevance that ownership advantages have been playing in the acceleration of the FDI flows along the 90s. These type of advantages are then responsible, as the dissertation demonstrates, of growing flows coming from the provider countries. More specifically, developing increasing advantages in the north economies permits its global exploitation by producing in the external markets through the location of foreign affiliates or FDI in them.The second part of the research analyses the role that foreign direct investments are playing in the reconfiguration of the destination country trade flows, Argentina in our case. Growing importance of intra-firm trade flows among international trade currents, more than 35% of total flows at the end of the XX th century, is demanding to investigate this international variables and its relationships in a more detailed way. This is what we have done in this second part of the dissertation. Applying a sectoral approach, that allow us to capture richer economic links and information that in a traditional macro analysis, we investigate the effects that OECD FDI flows seem to have had on Argentinean trade during the 90s. Once these relationships have been identified, we infer then the strategy underlying every FDI flows coming from European Union countries as well as for the USA economy.

Title: International Services Marketing – A case study of Gammaknife surgery in Argentina Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration Author: Michael Eriksson Supervisor: Akmal Hyder Date: 2013 – May Aim: The aim of this study is to describe the internationalization process of services by looking at a Swedish healthcare service. The study has been performed before in different countries with distant cultures. By examining the service in Argentina it will be the first study of Gammaknife within a Latin-American context.   Method: The author wanted to get a deeper understanding of a contemporary phenomenon with no control over events. Therefore a qualitative case study was conducted. This was believed to be the only way to capture all nuances and get respondents viewpoint of the phenomenon. Result & Conclusions: The case shows how Elekta has successfully overcome many of the obstacles associated with internationalization of services by working together with INVAP. With that Elekta get access to INVAP’s extensive network and their high credibility in the local market generates trust for Elekta as well. Another main factor for Gammaknife surgery in Argentina is time. The first Gammaknife was installed in 1983 and the treatment is therefore well known by the public.   Suggestions for future research: Similar studies have been conducted of Gammaknife centers throughout the world. Next step in the research process is to compare the results from the different studies. Another topic for future research is a comparison of using a distributor or expand over borders with establishment of an own division Contribution of the thesis: This study provides insights in the internationalization process of services. It contributes with empirical findings on how issues related to intangibility and heterogeneity in marketing services internationally can be overcome.

The Argentine Pampa is a global producer of maize (Zea mays L.) and soybean [Glycine max L. (Merr.), however agricultural practices have caused severe soil degradation and amplified greenhouse gas (GHG) production rates. This study presents the effects of maize-legume intercrops compared with maize and soybean sole crops on GHG production rates and soil physical properties over two field seasons. It also presents the results from a laboratory study in which GHGs were quantified from soils amended with maize and soybean crop residues. In the field study, soil organic carbon (SOC) concentrations were significantly greater (p<0.05) in the maize sole crop and intercrops, whereas soil bulk density was significantly lower in the intercrops and as a consequence soil infiltration was higher. Soil total nitrogen (TN) concentrations were not significantly different between treatments. Soil CO2 production rates were significantly greater in the maize sole crop but did not differ significantly for N2O. However, over the two field seasons both trace gases showed a general trend of greater production rates in the maize sole crop followed by the soybean sole crop. Linear regression between soil GHGs and soil temperature or volumetric soil moisture accounted for up to 51% of the variability in soil CO2 production rates and 60% of the soil N2O production rates. In the laboratory study, soil GHG production rates varied between treatments and between residue addition for both CO2 and N2O but varied only narrowly between treatments and experiments for CH4. Results from this study provided further insight into the effect of agroecosystem management practices on GHG production rates and soil physical and chemical characteristics, and contributed to improving our understanding of optimal agroecosystem design.

This study investigates the perception of vowel lengthening in the tonada cordobesa, a feature of the Spanish spoken in Córdoba, Argentina. Unlike other dialects of Argentine Spanish, lengthening occurs in the pre-tonic syllable (Fontanella de Weinberg 1971; Yorio 1973; Lang 2010) and is believed to be accompanied by a pitch peak (Fontanella de Weinberg 1971). The goals of this dissertation are to determine if duration alone (i.e., without intonational changes) is significant in identifying a speaker’s Cordoba provenance, and to discover what listener features affect perception. A matched-guise methodology presents speech tokens with natural and manipulated pre-tonic vowel durations to Argentine listeners in a dialect identification task. Results show a main effect of speaker region and token type (natural versus manipulated). Shorter durations made Córdoba speakers difficult to identify, reducing accuracy from 59% for natural tokens to 28% for manipulated tokens with shortened pre-tonic syllables. Buenos Aires speakers received the highest identification accuracy for natural tokens (80%) and Tucumán speakers the lowest (43%). Longer pre-tonic vowel durations are associated with a Córdoba identity, regardless of speaker origin and other linguistic cues. Control tokens produced by speakers from Buenos Aires and Tucumán confirmed this effect: these tokens, when manipulated to have a longer pre-tonic vowel, induced the perception of a Córdoba identity. Listener experience is also shown to improve accuracy of dialect identification: listeners of more geographically distant provinces, relative to the speaker’s province of origin, present significantly reduced identification rates. Acoustical analyses of the Cordoba samples confirm pre-tonic lengthening as well as an early peak rise within the stressed syllable, and valley alignment before the onset of this syllable. Pre-tonic, tonic and post-tonic syllable durations are lengthened, resulting in a segmentally unbalanced intonational phrase for which prominence is disproportionately concentrated in these final segments. The durational, intonational, and rhythmic properties make the Cordoba dialect unique among regional lects within Argentina and across the Spanish-speaking world. This research contributes experimental evidence for the prosodic features marking this dialect and supports its saliency and social significance within Argentina. / text

Alarmed by contamination provoked by a terrible flood, residents from the river delta city of Tigre, Argentina formed an environmental asamblea--a horizontally organized neighborhood action group to address environmental stress from water contamination and unchecked development. The decision to form an asamblea reflects a larger trend in political participation underway since Argentina's 2001 crisis. In 2001, widespread discontent with neoliberalism provoked many to participate in asambleas, since asambleas use direct democracy to collectively make decisions. This format reflected the peoples' disillusionment with representative democracy, authoritarian politics, and traditional channels of participation. Years later in Tigre, the asamblea has been an effective means to formulate a new vision of participatory democracy, and a citizenship that includes the environment as a right and responsibility. The actions and ideas of the asamblea have challenged neoliberal hegemony in the community, demonstrating the promise of grassroots alternatives in weakening dominant paradigms.

This dissertation examines memory discourses about the most recent military dictatorships in Brazil and Argentina produced in two photography exhibitions (the Brazilian government sponsored A ditadura no Brasil 1964-1985 and Marcelo Brodsky's Los compañeros) and two novels (Beatriz Bracher's Não falei and Sergio Chejfec's Los planetas). My research focuses on the capacity of postdictatorial cultural production to explore the negotiated spaces of meaning in both individual memories and collective discourses about the past. Drawing from interdisciplinary theoretical considerations on such themes as memory, representation, discourse, and subjectivity, I argue that cultural production that accentuates the impossibility to fully represent the past creates the conditions of possibility for spaces of dynamic memory about the military dictatorships in Brazil and Argentina. These cultural spaces of representation offer the opportunity to destabilize the discursive logic that typically guides postdictatorial memory narratives through the reiteration of the same (counter)hegemonic political ideologies that dominated these eras of dictatorship. While I critique the A ditadura no Brasil photography exhibit for its presentation of an idealized counter-narrative about this time period, I contend that the memory discourses offered by Brodsky, Bracher, and Chejfec create spaces for a more meaningful engagement with the dictatorial past, particularly for those who did not directly experience the authoritarian governments in Brazil and Argentina. I maintain that instead of attempting to articulate a narrative "truth" about dictatorship, these works lay bare the negotiated processes of memory and meaning for the readers and spectators, which offers an opportunity to activate memory for new uses within different socio-political contexts in the present. Through this dissertation project, I seek to contribute to recent critical work calling for a new language to articulate the memory of dictatorship and innovative ways to engage traumatic experiences of the past through both literary and visual culture expressions. The continued consideration of memory discourses produced in postdictatorial cultural production is an essential component within the ongoing debates on the transmission of social memory about dictatorship in Brazil and Argentina, and for other populations attempting to engage the violence of an authoritarian past and its residual effects on the present.

This dissertation studies China’s energy policy since the “Go Out” strategy became the PRC’s “overarching national strategy”, having been put forward for the first time in the 5th Plenum of the 15th CPC Central Committee in October 2000 –despite having been de facto implemented since 1993. It focuses on the evolution of the PRC’s petroleum and biofuels policy from 2000 to 2010 and on the impact it has had on Brazilian and Argentine energy policy and exports of energy resources to China. The study adopts an asymmetrical interdependent perspective within a South-South Cooperation analytical framework to argue that the role these countries have played as suppliers of fossil energy resources (petroleum) to the PRC throughout the observed period –role that can be defined as having been relatively modest in spite of having ranked as China’s top South American oil suppliers for most of it– has considerable potential to become significantly more relevant in the future, through the diversification of their energy exports to China based on the combination of fossil fuels and renewable energy resources (biofuels). As regards the former, the study highlights the game-changing discovery of enormous ultra deep-water off-shore reserves in Brazil in 2007 and 2010 (Tupi-Lula and Libra, respectively, which are already turning Brazil into a major oil exporter) and of the gigantic shale energy formation of Vaca Muerta in Argentina in 2010. Regarding the latter, both Brazil and Argentina are leading producers and exporters of biofuels (sugar cane- based ethanol and soybean-based biodiesel, respectively). The remarkable progress that the PRC has made in the energy sectors of the analyzed countries –and in Latin America in general, showing the “asymmetry of attention” paid by China and the USA to the region is emphasized. The research highlights the increasing importance that renewable energy resources are having in Chinese energy policy, due to both energy security and environmental concerns. It argues that the addition of clean energy resources to their exports to the PRC would benefit Brazil and Argentina by allowing them to diversify not only their export baskets (by adding more products to their exports to China, with the plus that these would have value added) and export destinations (adding the growing Chinese market while simultaneously reducing these countries’ dependence on traditional biofuel destinations such as the EU and the USA), but would also have positive effects for China’s fuel supply mix, contributing to make China’s transition to a low-carbon economy (or, at least, lower-carbon) shorter – as well as positive spillovers in their industrial structures.

The Argentine Pampa is a global producer of maize (Zea mays L.) and soybean [Glycine max L. (Merr.), however agricultural practices have caused severe soil degradation and amplified greenhouse gas (GHG) production rates. This study presents the effects of maize-legume intercrops compared with maize and soybean sole crops on GHG production rates and soil physical properties over two field seasons. It also presents the results from a laboratory study in which GHGs were quantified from soils amended with maize and soybean crop residues. In the field study, soil organic carbon (SOC) concentrations were significantly greater (p<0.05) in the maize sole crop and intercrops, whereas soil bulk density was significantly lower in the intercrops and as a consequence soil infiltration was higher. Soil total nitrogen (TN) concentrations were not significantly different between treatments. Soil CO2 production rates were significantly greater in the maize sole crop but did not differ significantly for N2O. However, over the two field seasons both trace gases showed a general trend of greater production rates in the maize sole crop followed by the soybean sole crop. Linear regression between soil GHGs and soil temperature or volumetric soil moisture accounted for up to 51% of the variability in soil CO2 production rates and 60% of the soil N2O production rates. In the laboratory study, soil GHG production rates varied between treatments and between residue addition for both CO2 and N2O but varied only narrowly between treatments and experiments for CH4. Results from this study provided further insight into the effect of agroecosystem management practices on GHG production rates and soil physical and chemical characteristics, and contributed to improving our understanding of optimal agroecosystem design.

No description available.

No description available.