Marketing Videoblog

I thought that it was not necessary to put it in the IMSD blog but… anyway.. here you have my marketing blog! I really want to share with you what I have done in my life! enjoy it

Pinche aquí para ver el vídeo

Comments Off on Marketing Videoblog / 14 Dec 2011 por Carlos Cerdan Infantes
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Márketing: Mi marca favorita proviene de mi infancia

No soy de España por lo que –hasta ahora– no he desarrollado ningún tipo de preferencia por alguna marca de este país. Tampoco soy de las chicas que tiende comprar (por pura vanidad) ropa, zapatos o cualquier otro utensilio de marca de moda o que cuando se pronuncia tenga un sonido glamoroso. Mientras el objeto en cuestión lo pueda utilizar con frecuencia, me quede bien y, en definitiva, me dure más de un año, pues lo compro sin problemas y sin darle demasiada importancia a la marca que esconde debajo de la suela.

Sin embargo, existe una marca por la que sí guardo afecto y cada vez que pienso en ella me remito a los años felices de mi infancia. Se trata de ‘Lego’, la marca de juguetes que, en mi opinión, es de uso obligatorio para cualquier niño o niña que empieza a comprender el mundo.

Tenía ocho años cuando me regalaron una caja repleta de Lego’s. Recuerdo que me puse a llorar porque en ese momento quería una muñeca, pero luego descubrí que gracias a aquellas piezas coloridas y sólidas podía tener un pequeño mundo en mis manos, que tenía libertad de armar y desarmar a mi manera. Con los ladrillos Lego podía construir una casa de muñecas, un camión o hasta un dragón de cinco patas, ya que esa era la imagen que yo tenía de los dragones a los ocho años.

Debido a la marca Lego me dejaron de importar las muñecas que lloraban o hacían ruidos extraños cuando se les ponía baterías. Y hasta bien entrada mi adolescencia no paré de jugar con los Lego. Mientras mis amiguitas preferían jugar al papá y la mamá o la pega, yo prefería seguir levantando una ciudad en miniatura toda hecha de piezas Lego (allí había zoológicos, edificios, parques de diversiones y otras atracciones). Estoy segura que mi creatividad se desarrolló por sobre todo durante los años en que solo jugaba con Lego’s.

De allí que la única marca por la que guardo mucha lealtad sea Lego. Si bien ya no voy a las jugueterías a buscar la última colección de Lego para armar el rascacielos que dejé a medias, espero tener un hijo algún día para regarle todos los Lego que sean necesarios, y que él o ella se encargue de rearmar la ciudadela de juguete y el rascacielos que tuve que destruir a los 15 años, porque dejé de ser una niña.

Ya no tengo idea de cuánto cuestan los nuevos packs de juguetes Lego, pero creo que el valor que ejerció esta marca sobre mi personalidad y mi forma de ver la realidad tiene un precio que, por sobre todas las cosas, trasciende lo monetario.

Comments Off on Márketing: Mi marca favorita proviene de mi infancia / 14 Dec 2011 por Iana Malaga Newton
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Sustainable tourism Development – DP

Actually the travel and tourism industry is mainly controlled by the private sector and its main purpose is gaining profit. And thus the travel industry is managed as traditional businesses, where the aim is to sell more. As for example Mc. Donald’s wins more money as they sell more hamburgers, hotels and airlines get richer as they move more people. Tourists are becoming a tradable good, and the industry leaders are ignoring the fact that tourism operates in a completely different way. If the industry keeps growing as it is forecasted, soon we will have 1 billion people crossing frontiers each year and if the tourism continues to be managed the way it is right now, achieving sustainability for the sector will be impossible.

The World Tourism Organization´s (UNWTO) definition of sustainable tourism states that if sustainable tourism development ever occurs, there should be a balance between social and economic improvement, ecological conservation and cultural maintenance. It also establishes that tourism should last until the future, but for how long? It depends on what the world future means for each person and here I find an enormous ambiguity. Even though it sounds beautiful, for me it is too idealistic. In an industry that depends on lots of businesses and activities around, who is going to coordinate work in order to achieve sustainable tourism development?

The objective then is to find a balance between money, society and environment; the problem seems to be that human beings don´t know how to find this balance and that we are moving towards uncontrolled development. Then I ask myself why can´t the strategy become improving the quality of tourists instead of multiplying the number? If each tourist spends more, the economic factor wouldn´t be altered but other type of impacts will definitely be lower.

One of the big issues is that the way in which tourism is managed comes from the top. Governments look for investors all around the world, show them all the attributes of the destinations until they decide to invest. But, investors don´t fall in love with the destinations or with its communities, but with the financial return that a project can produce. Government promotes remarkable investment incentives and policies. But when it comes to providing a framework to balance the use of resources and to protect the communities around, there is are no efficient methods. If government is looking for sustainable tourism development it should control how projects are planned and implemented. It must guarantee participation of local communities and measurement of short and long-term social impacts. Participation should be guaranteed not only before the project, but as it goes on, assuring communities fit in the new way of life that usually this projects cause. All projects should promote poverty eradication and social progress, otherwise they are not adding value to the society and therefore should not be run. No permits should be granted if the project is going to cause huge environmental impact and quality and environmental certifications should be mandatory, not voluntary as they currently are.

A common mistake is assuming that sustainable tourism is the same as eco or green tourism. Although they have a deep relation and tourism depends on nature in a big scale, it is not the same. The travel and tourism industry actually generates 5% of the world carbon footprint production. Simple mathematics say that the bigger the group of people, the bigger the environmental impact. We are consuming our environment at a higher rate that we should and the changes in the environment are irreversible. Tourist use water, energy, transportation, they produce waste and have constant contact with nature. Industry players must then understand that environmental protection is not just asking people if they want to wash their towels every day. It goes beyond this and it includes actions such as: sustainable waste management, energy and water reduction, education for employees and communities, involving green suppliers, adequate food waste management and balancing the use of natural resources in coordination with other members of the tourist chain. Private companies are responsible of promoting research and innovation that lead to efficient environmental management. For companies that are only interested in money this will not be a priority and therefore it will not be easy to achieve. So, the question that has to be solved is if sustainable tourism only possible in a small scale?

Finally I want to state that achieving sustainable tourism also depends on potential travellers. They should be trained on how to use resources and how to have contact with communities. In the measure that everybody understands that cause the direct impact and the measures that they can take to overcome them, we will become high quality tourists and the world will then can support more travellers. This is a shared responsibility between countries that send and receive tourist, the industry players that have direct contact with visitors and individuals that should understand that resources are common, no matter where they are located. For having tourism for the future, everybody should compel with taking care of resources.

As Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General of the UNWTO said: ”Ecological crisis does not mean is that we have to stop traveling. The challenge is how to do that in the most conscious way possible”. The most important thing is government´s, industry players´ and tourists awareness. We might not change the tourism industry, but I invite you to visit the following link and try to become a responsible and conscious traveller: http://www.sustainabletourism.net/carbon.html. Remember that big changes start with our small actions.

Sources
1. Berno, Tracy. Sustainable Tourism Development: The Long Road from Theory to Practice. Tourism Studies Program. University of the South Pacific http://www.spaef.com/file.php?id=1061

2. Quebrando los huevos de oro. http://blip.tv/pac/quebrando-los-huevos-de-oro-3663735

3. Rifal, Taleb, Secretary-General of the UNWTO. Tourism, challenges and opportunities in a changing world. http://www.eoi.es/mediateca/video/1053.

4. www.sustainabletourism.net

Comments Off on Sustainable tourism Development – DP / 14 Dec 2011 por Laura Rubio
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Environmental Economics: An old case study

Imagine a factory located upstream that pollutes a river. It produces steel for the automotive industry. Downstream, local fishermen find they catch less fishes due to the pollution. Both are flourishing businesses that produce wealth and prosperity for the community.

I will suggest a multicriteria analysis. If we take a look at this case, the river is a public good and has a direct use value. The fabric has the right to use it and the fisherman has the right to use it as well. This good is required for both parties to develop economic activities, which will benefit the community (yes, even the factory because it might be a source of employment for the habitants)

I think there’s no need to a survey because the river has a high use value for all the people, and both parties has the right to use the river. Taxes for instance, won’t be either a solution.

Because of the situation, setting a cap or limit for the contamination will be the best option in this case. The cap is important, because if there is no limit of pollution or the extraction of aluminum turns into a bigger scale, then this community will run out of environmental services.

The land management could also be a good solution. If the community creates a regulatory plan, for organizing the community’s activities, it’s possible to create less pollution from the fabric to the river.

Comments Off on Environmental Economics: An old case study / 14 Dec 2011 por Natalia Diaz Zamora
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Environmental Economics and Accounting

AN OLD CASE-STUDY

Imagine a factory located upstream that pollutes a river. It produces steel for the automotive industry. Downstream, local fishermen find they catch less fishes due to the pollution.

Both are flourishing businesses that produce wealth and prosperity for the community. But there is a problem environmental economists must deal with:

1. Can you suggest any criteria that could be used to decide on who has the right to use the river? The factory, the fishermen, both?

2. Can you propose any instrument or agreement to solve the problem?

Two distinct scenarios, two ways to face the future

Scenario 1. If decision makers are based on a short-term vision of reality, which only takes in to account monetary approach, it is obvious that the automotive industry can generate for the study case community very profitable incomes in -at least- the next 10 years. With such excess of dividends, fishermen and the rest of the families that life in the community could invest in the building of schools, hospitals or even local business. Indeed, they would ensure their social welfare for a while.

Industry by the river

Scenario 2. If decision makers consider the different approaches for environmental economics and how to value natural resources, they could project into the future and realize that in the long term vision fisher activities would be much beneficial for the welfare of the town and humankind in general. Instead of restrict themselves in the present, it is important to give value to other factors like time and thermodynamics, as defenders of the Ecological Party propose.

In that sense, they must consider that fishes that habit the river will be in a not too distant future more essential (they are at the based on the food chain) than steel to fabric cars. And who knows if in 50 years, people will continue driving cars…. As time passes, we can feel that disproportional human activities (based only in monetary terms) have delivered us into a climate change phenomenon and a current food crisis that every year makes millions of people die.

However, I firmly agree that every environmental valuation must consider economic factors (as Pigouvian Party and Coasian Party propose) when it’s time to make decisions, such as prioritize fisher activities or automotive industry in a community. That´s the only way to convince leaders and politicians (who have a more capitalism vision of reality) they need to invest money in the environment care for the benefit of future generations and the creation of more eco-efficient companies. After all, decision makers always demand accountability.

I don’t think the river belongs to the residents or workers in the factory of steel. Both are entitled to use it. But I think that the local government could lead a Cost Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) study case where they take in to account the benefits and disadvantages for moving out from a situation where the river is contaminated by car industry, to a scenario where it is prioritize fishing for the long term use. That could foster a community with less pollution where tourism attractions are based on biodiversity and species that feed from the fishes of the river. Obviously, it might be also interesting to study the benefits for economic growth the fact of having a more healthy community where there is no presence of chronic diseases caused by water pollution.

Comments Off on Environmental Economics and Accounting / 14 Dec 2011 por Iana Malaga Newton
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DP Blog1: The Future of Farming

The history of our civilization is intrinsically connected with the development of agriculture production. Farming is at least 10.000 years old topic, however if we look today on what we consider to be the evolution of farming practice, is fair to say that, since hunter gathering, farming system is in the direction of environmental degeneration, socio inequity and economic harm.

Farming is a controversial topic, because the dogmas of productivity have been encapsulated in our world economic system in order to drive down cost of industrial inputs and at same time supplying accessible and low food price for urban dwellers.

One of the reasons why I am so interested in this topic is because I was born in a country that is considered “a world barn”, this country is Brazil one the biggest agriculture producer of the planet, accountable to feed many other countries.

However in Brazil I have grown witnessing the struggle of small producers to keep doing what is closer to their heart, an scale of environmental damage that is now not repairable and many other socio economic externalities as result of lack of sustainable rural development policies and practices.

After studying Rostow theory of modernization, a pertinent question comes to my mind “What will be the Future of Farming”. This is because if a country passes through 5 stages in its development path, leaving agriculture production and trade as one of the first stages to be surpassed and replaced for higher value added industrial sectors, this means that even countries like Brazil, Australia, USA and many other agriculture producer leaders will eventually decrease its agriculture sector or mechanized large industrial farming will take over. In any of these cases happens, what will be then the future of farming, since we have to produce more to meet our future consumption demands.

Based on this point, and on the lessons learned in the development perspective course, the following blogs will examine the contrast between small scale producers versus large scale producer’s and search for alternatives surrounding farming production in relation to social, economic and environmental challenges

As for the reader the blog will also seek ways on how to revert relationship between consumption the environment and the farmer, since food can be considered affected “to and by” everyone of us.

But for now I am suggesting to watch this video in order to have an idea about the history of agriculture since hunter gathering.

I am 10.000 years old and where Agriculture knowledge has lead and will lead me.

The History of Agriculture

Pinche aquí para ver el vídeo

Comments Off on DP Blog1: The Future of Farming / 13 Dec 2011 por Patricia Perez Costa
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Environmental Economics and Accounting – Case “steel company x fisherman”

1. Can you suggest any criteria that could be used to decide on who has the right to use the river? The factory, the fishermen, both?

All people must have equal access to natural resources, so if the steel company is polluting the river and impacting on the fisherman activity, there are two basic ways to fix this. The first one, which in my opinion is the most efficient and correct, is to force the steel company to undertake measures in order to avoid the river pollution at levels it can not afford, regarding its capacity to maintain its ecosystem balanced.

The other possibility would be to pay compensation fee to the fisherman. But it would not be the best one, since we have to take into account that probably not only the fisherman is being affected by the river pollution, but also the whole environment balance in the region.

2. Can you propose any instrument or agreement to solve the problem?

Therefore, the instruments I would suggest is to pay for the environmental services provided by the river through a cap and trade system, but if the pollution is beyond the “cap”, a legal instrument should be applied by an enforcement institution. This “cap” has to be settled based on scientific data, proving that up to a certain level of pollution, the ecosystem of the river keeps balanced. I wound’t use taxes because it would not assure that the pollution would be below the “cap”, which is crucial for the river ecosystem.

Comments Off on Environmental Economics and Accounting – Case “steel company x fisherman” / 13 Dec 2011 por Fabio Pinto Almeida
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Environmental Economics and Accounting

1. Can you suggest any criteria that could be used to decide on who has the right to use the river? The factory, the fishermen, both?

2. Can you propose any instrument or agreement to solve the problem?

It is obvious that the fishermen do not have any kind of guilt. They are receiving the consequences of the bad environmental management of the steel producer. First of all I would like to say that any kind of criteria used to solve the problem is not the proper solution. From my point of view this fact should have never existed. The steel producer should have done an environmental study before starting the production. In terms of rights both have the same rights to use the river however this does not mean that you could do whatever you want with it.

The company has all the liabilities; they are who has polluted the river. So the solution to the problem should be the following one; make a research to not pollute the river in a way that the ecosystem could not be affected again and do it taking charge all the economics issues related with the environment reconstruction. At the same time the company should negotiate with the fishermen to pay them back the entire looses related with the amount of fishes that they could not fish due to the pollution of the river. This could be manage doing a research of the average amount of fishes that the fishermen were fishing before the river pollution, set an average price and make the steel producer pay the looses.

Comments Off on Environmental Economics and Accounting / 13 Dec 2011 por Antonio Calixto Moreno Zarco
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MKTG: Desde tu casa, reserva la temporal!!!

Para viajar, es necesaria la planificación, y dependiendo de las necesidades personales o del grupo que viaja contigo, mucha serie de consideraciones tienen que evaluarse para tomar la decisión que convenga, ya que puede ser personal o grupal.

Hostelbookers es una página que da información múltiple a la hora de hacer un viaje: Precios, tipo de habitaciones, número de camas, formas de pago, ubicación dentro de la ciudad buscada, y adicionalmente brinda la posibilidad de conocer de quienes ya han vivido la experiencia del sitio, sus propias opiniones. El enfoque de quienes se venden a través de la página (hoteles y hostales) y el que brindan los propios usuarios permite sacar conclusiones más acertadas y aterrizadas.

La manera en que conocí la página fue inmediata, al poner en google “cheap hostels” fue la página que salió de primero, y si bien lo primero no es siempre lo mejor, toda la información que buscada se encontraba al alcance. Adicionalmente, la página me permitía reservar directamente. La manera centralizada, práctica e inmediata que la información se te presenta, y mis experiencias particulares luego de haberla usado, me hace pensar que es un servicio bien pensado y bastante confiable. Ya no es necesario irte a la agencia, el viaje comienza desde cualquier sitio donde haya internet, “Great Hostels. Free booking. No worries”:

http://es.hostelbookers.com/

Comments Off on MKTG: Desde tu casa, reserva la temporal!!! / 12 Dec 2011 por Rodrigo Capriles Mazzei
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SABER HACER

Si dividimos las áreas del conocimiento en tres (Ser, Saber y Saber Hacer), los contenidos de la materia de Habilidades Directivas se enmarcan claramente dentro del último área, el de SABER HACER.

Esto significa que más allá del contenido teórico de los diferentes módulos que forman parte de la asignatura, lo principal es entenderlos y hacerlos “propios” para usarlos en la medida en que sean necesarios. Como señalan alumnos que cursan el Master, al final son las situaciones las que demandan la necesidad de tener que utilizar las técnicas que se ven en el aula. De ahí, que sea el principio de un camino que uno ya no abandona y que confiemos esté lleno de más éxitos que fracasos y de más alegrías que tristezas.

Lógicamente, el módulo que más uso tiene a corto plazo es el de Presentaciones Eficaces, porque el propio Master está lleno de momentos en los que el alumno debe hablar en público para defender su trabajo, exponer su proyecto, etc.

A este módulo se añaden los demás, como son Liderazgo, Toma de Decisiones, Negociación y Gestión del Tiempo para configurar un amplio abanico de recursos y herramientas, que se suman al del resto de materias para ir “llenando” la mochila del alumno y que esté bien preparado para el desembarco en la vida profesional. Y a partir de ahí, la mochila se irá llenando también de experiencias y emociones, que irán configurando la trayectoria profesional de cada uno.

Un aspecto destacado de esta materia, es el apartado de la metodología. En todos los módulos, se trabajarán casos prácticos para clarificar las herramientas y su puesta en escena. Igualmente, se potenciará el trabajo en equipo como forma de resolver dichos casos. Al final, todos aprendemos de todo y de todos de una manera u otra.

Por último, me gustaría terminar con una imagen que refleja el proceso por el que pasamos las personas ante situaciones nuevas, desconocidas o que nos generan estrés. Está claro que la escalera hay que subirla. Habilidades Directivas persigue contribuir a que esta escalada se haga de la manera más rápida y con el menor número de tropezones posible.