Literature and Language Essay

The word explication takes its form from the verb explicate, meaning to â€Å"unfold† the meaning of an ideas as to make clear the significance of it. Literary criticism also makes use of explication, which is termed as explication de texte. The meaning of a certain text (whether a poem, novel or play) is unfolded by line-by-line or chapter-by-chapter commentary of the text. This thorough interpretation of the text makes the understanding of it as subjective as possible. Analysis, on the other hand, is the process of fragmenting an intricate idea into smaller more cognizant parts to gain a better understanding of the idea. The difference between analysis and explication is on where the probe of the idea starts. In explication, the parts are studied to gain an understanding of the entirety of the idea; whereas in analysis, the whole of the idea is probed and divided into more understandable parts. In writing about a poem, it is best to use explication de texte because the meaning of the totality of the text lies in the interpretation of each line of the poem. Only then if each one of the line is scrutinized will the meaning of the poem will be understood. Contrariwise, in writing about a short story, it is better to utilize analysis. There is a certain unfolding of events that happen within the text and would only culminate towards the ending. Therefore, the entirety of the text should be first read, only then could the small details of the story could be further scrutinized to gain a fresher and more detailed understanding of the story as a whole. It is important to know which type of literary tool should be used to explore a certain text. A different interpretation may be concluded depending on whether explication or analysis is used. Work Cited: Franklin, P. (2006). Conjectures on Explication. US: Chicago Press.

Economic Issues Simulation Paper Essay

The Financing of Health Care Economic Issues Simulation Paper Health care system has evolved tremendously in the last few years, with many changes with the health care laws including but not limited to Universal Health Care, many individuals have choices when it comes to their coverage. According to healthcare. gov, in January of 2015, an employer with 50 or more full time employees will have to make an Employer Shared Responsibility Payment if a full time employee gets a lower health coverage premium cost if insurance is purchase in a marketplace. However, employers are not subject to this law if the numbers of employees are lesser than 50 but are still expected to offer coverage for their employees. (healthcare. gov) Employers must make sure that when choosing coverage for their employees, these should be within their needs; within health care requirements as well as inexpensive keeping in mind that lower cost may not necessarily mean better. With many varieties in health care plans such as Preferred Provider (PPO), Point of Service (POS), and Exclusive Provider Organization (EPO); the Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) is the most preferred and utilized group health insurance plan. As a HMO representative of Castor Insurance, health care coverage will be built, including the potential utilization of the services by different enrollees. Castor Collins Health Plan Castro Collins Health Plan is a regional HMO that was founded in 1999. As a HMO, they provide health care services as well as health insurance to individuals in its statewide network of physicians and hospitals utilizing a capitation model to compensate their network of providers. Currently, there are 100,000 enrollees and these numbers are increasing. The responsibility of a Vice President in Strategy and Financial Planning is to interact with new clients and formulating health plans that will suit their needs. With the help of colleagues such as the Chief Financial Officer Helen Fouerman, the Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Wikes, and the Executive Vice President of Planning and Development, Adam Hunter, a plan will be put together that will include pricing and setting insurance premiums. In January of 2006, Castro Collins was approached and met with two groups of people for health insurance coverage. These groups are Constructit and E-editors, neither of them have group employer’s insurance. Constructit have 1000 people and they are willing to pay a maximum of $4000 per person as an annual premium, meanwhile E-editors will pay a maximum annual premium of $4500 per person with 1,600 people. Castor Collins offers three types of health plans: Castor Standard, Castor Enhanced, and the customized plan called Castor Enhanced Minor. The standard plan does not cover pre-existing medical conditions, the enhanced plan, however, cover pre-existing medical conditions and offers more services. Castor Enhanced Minor is a customized plan that is almost equivalent to Castor Enhanced with somewhat lesser services that requires high utilization. Demographics  and Health Care Risk Factors There are 550 men and 450 women employees in Constructit with ages 26 to 45 and 60 percent from this age group ranging from 26 to 42 are married. This means, spouses and children need to be considered in getting health plan. Also, great physical activities are involve within thirty- two percent of the people at Constructit, while 25 percent of the people has moderate physical activity. The remainder which is 43 percent of the people involves activities that are sedentary. There are no major health risks out of the thirty-eight percent an equivalent of 170 men and 210 women in the workforce. Injuries, respiratory system diseases, digestive disorders, migraine and allergic conditions are the major causes of absenteeism in Constructit. Obesity related diseases such as hyperlipidemia, high blood pressure, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases are moderately high for this workforce that consists of 36 percent of men and 43 percent of women. In E-editors, there are 750 men and 840 women with ages 35 to 54 and most of them are married. For the past ten years, ninety-five percent in the workforce have largely been sedentary; their job involves sitting in front of the computer for long periods of time. Only five percent are required moderate activity. Stress related injury (SRI) and problems with vision were acquired by at least 95 people who had this job for a while. There are no major medical health risks for the 170 men and 182 women (22%) from this group. Respiratory disorder is the 26 percent of the group problem because they are heavy smokers. There are 720 people who are obese in this group because of the heavy sedentary lifestyles, eating habits, and lack of exercise. This also means that there are increased risk of diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and cardiovascular diseases. Plan Analysis Based on the plans, I would recommend Castor Standard to Constructit and not to provide insurance to E-editors. Since Castor Standard does not cover pre-existing conditions, the risks of providing this plan are low. The premium that Constructit will be responsible annually is $3,428, with Castor Collins Health Plan earning $3. 43 million. Given the health profile and the expected utilization of services for E-editors, I think that not providing insurance is the right decision. There is a high risk of insuring this group and whatever Castor Collins earns from this group are inadequate to cover those risks. The goal is to maximize earnings. If E-editors are willing to pay a different premium they will be considered by providing an appropriate plan that minimized risks and increased earnings. Risk-averse consumers buy health insurance to avoid losing income or wealth when they are unwell. In other words, consumers pay insurance premium to transfer their risks of medical expenses to the insurance company. The premium that Castor Collins receives is a source of revenue. It is compensation for bearing risk and for bearing expenses such as payment to health care providers. If Castor Collins know that a particular group of enrollees is more susceptible to a particular disorder, its risk for providing coverage for that disorder is higher. However, if, as in the case of Constructit and E-editors, a group of individuals is not willing to pay a higher premium to cover greater risks, Castor Collins may not be able to provide coverage for greater risks. Therefore, while selecting a plan and the services to provide under that plan, Castor Collins has to weigh various considerations – the premiums that enrollees are willing to pay, the risks of providing a particular plan or service, the expected utilization and hence, the costs, of providing various  services in the plan, and the premium Castor Collins needs to charge to maintain profitability.

Marrige vs Cohabitation

Marriage vs. Cohabitation There are many people that say that getting married before living together is the best way to go. They have many negative things to say about living together also called cohabitation. Linda J Waite is one of this people, she has many negative things to say about cohabitation. She wrote an article called â€Å"The Negative effects of Cohabitation† where she states many down sides of cohabitation which I disagree upon. The three main things that I disagree upon are domestic violence, emotional wellbeing, and wealth.When it comes to hitting, shoving and throwing things, â€Å"cohabiting couples are more than three times more likely than the married to say things get that far out of hand she says in her article. Which I disagree it doesn’t matter if your married or not your partner will still hit you. ‘According to the American association for marriage and family therapy (AAMFT)† in almost 20% of all marriage, couples slap, shove, hit, or otherwise assault each other. Emotional abuse verbal threats, humiliation, or degrading remarks, and controlling behavior are more common.Once you’re married you have to obey your husband’s rules and if we don’t there will be consequences. Married couples are more likely to be in domestic violence in my opinion because they expect more from there couples. Since there married they have to listen and do more to keep the husband happy. â€Å"Marriage is, by design and agreement for the long run. Married people, thus see their relationships as much more stable as cohabiting couples do. † I also disagree with this saying that Linda j. Waite states in her article. The reason why I disagree is because there are many divorce rates now and days.If it was true what she says then there won’t be so many divorce rates. She says states that married couples are happier than cohabitating couples. She also states that children who are in cohabitating couples ar e less likely to succeed and this is a big lie in my opinion. For example, what about if we get married and then we live together, then we realize that the person who we once dated isn’t the person we actually married. Then we realize that we don’t want to be with leading to divorce. In the other hand cohabitation helps you learn the good and bad things about your partner before we ask the question.This can lead to a healthier lovable relationship prior to the one where we get married first then get to learn the good and bad things about our partner. As prior to her statement about the children, I disagree because I have many friends that live with cohabitating families their parents are married. They still go to school and they are being successful. We can’t blame cohabitation to someone being unsuccessful. In fact many children with married families become unsuccessful do to their parent’s divorce. Married couples link their fates-including their financ es. Linda j .Waite states that married couples benefit more in income if there married which I disagree. In fact, cohabitation offers similar benefits to marriage without the potential pain of divorce. â€Å"If you're just living together and if one of you decides they want to leave†¦ † said one participant, â€Å"you can leave and it will just be OK †¦ whereas if you're married you've got to go through lawyers and attorneys, and depending on the type of situation it is it can be an ugly divorce. † So no if were married we do benefit more in wealth it will be the same benefit because couples actually decide to do cohabitation to share expenses . ttp://www. theatlantic. com/health/archive/2012/02/the-marriage-problem-why-many-are-choosing-cohabitation-instead/252505/ People get married because they’re afraid of being lonely for the rest of their lives. There not realizing that by rushing into marriage that they can end up having a divorced life. When yo u live in cohabitation you have the liberty to leave when you want no broken vows. So do we rather want to have a divorced life or be happy that’s the question to ask ourselves before getting married? http://www. gwu. edu/~ccps/rcq/rcq_negativeeffects_waite. html

Entifying Information Assets, Threats, and Vulnerabilities in Top Assignment

Entifying Information Assets, Threats, and Vulnerabilities in Top Information Security Breaches of the Decade - Assignment Example If is not resolved, it can lead to very serious information security. The electronic or the physical security systems are not the organization’s weakest security link; human are the one with the weakest links. It is always assumed that the insider threats originate from rogue workers or planted ‘moles’, IT administrators and managers who are privileged to the access of sensitive information, controls and resources poses the greatest risk. They can start and stop a system, make changes that are critical such as giving the rights to access and untraceably deleting security logs. This threat is devoted to describing the mechanisms used for compromising organizational intellectual property from within (Gupta, et al. 2012). A lot of security incidents are caused by insider misuse i.e. accidental or malicious. A lot of misuse occurs within the boundaries of trust necessary to perform duties. Preventing the misuse is difficult as the only way to stay secure is to grant a ccess rights only to those with business need and to keep an eye on their activities. The problem is that the majority of organizations have very limited capabilities to trace specific IT events to specific users, with any certainty. A small fraction of IT teams are aware of what is going on in their infrastructure in a particular time and some organizations look manually through files so as to get answers. Unauthorized access by insiders; by accessing the organization’s secured areas physically, or materials that have data which is sensitive make it very easy for a crime to be committed by malicious insiders. The physical security measures of an organization are as important as the technical security controls. This threat is emerging as a great risk to corporate data. The vulnerability that led to this attacks are; unauthorized access even when credentials are missing, lack of managing the threat of shared password, failing to ensure

Blood and cardivascular Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Blood and cardivascular - Assignment Example Leucocytes use proteases, oxidants and moieties to protect the host. If any foreign microorganism enters the body, leucocytes identifies it and generate a chemical compounds that reacts with the microorganism. The immune system is dependant on the leucocytes. Immunity is a constant protection against any foreign antibody. Lack of leucocytes may lead to devastating infections (Hematology.org, 2014). Platelets are binding agents in the blood stream. These cells remain inactive until a person gets an injury. When a person gets an injury in shape of external cut even a small one, the platelets in blood make a temporary bond at that place to stop the blood loss (Day, 2014). Haemostasis refers to the body’s mechanism to immediately response to an injury. It represents coordination between the platelets and clotting proteins to cease the blood loss in case of any blood vessel injury. When one gets an injuring that cause bleeding, the haemostasis activates and binds the exposed part of the tissue with the factor seven coagulation protein. The factor even protein flows with the blood as its constant constituent. The binding of the exposed tissue and the protein develops a strong clot and stop the bleeding (Novonordisk.com, 2014). Blood groups are determined due to presence of certain type of proteins present in the blood. These proteins are called antigens and antibodies. The surface of the red blood cells has antigens where as the blood plasma has the antibodies. Different blood groups are due to the different combination of antigens and antibodies. Mostly, a person has a similar blood group as one or either of the parents. However, sometimes, a person may a different blood group as that of the parents. The persons with Blood group ‘O’ have red blood cells without any ‘A’ or ‘B’ antigens but blood plasma has both ‘A’ and ‘B’ antibodies. ‘O’ represent a zero (null) in this

Social Responsibility Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Social Responsibility - Research Paper Example Organizations that follow CSR policies recognize their responsibility towards the society in which they operate. Although they operate with profit motives, their sole objective behind running the business is not maximizing profit. A company cannot run without the support of the community and it can only grow when it takes such steps that would improvise the status of the society as a whole. Every organization feels an obligation towards fulfilling the demands and well being of its customers, welfare of its employees, profit of shareholders and the interests of the whole community (Hassan & Harahap, 2010). Besides, the company also has a responsibility towards the environment. They have to make ecological considerations in all their operations. It is a big responsibility for socially responsible organizations to reduce their ecological footprints and make more environmentally friendly activities. Managers that develop their business policies by synchronizing their objectives with prin ciples related to these aspects, finds success in making socially responsible moves. Social responsibility of corporate organizations Concern towards CSR is rising fast among the companies operating in the gulf countries. A number of ways have been devised to make the socially concerned organizations operate in socially responsible way. Research shows that organizations in UAE base their CSR activities on the four pillars strategic governance, human capital, shareholder capital and environment (Hancock, 2005). The companies dedicate a portion of their profit for the funding of art and culture in different countries, for providing academic scholarship to less advantaged students belonging to the grass root level in the society and for supporting any type of community-building initiative (Du, 2013). The theory of CSR links closely with the concept of Sustainable Development (Shahwan & Hassan, 2013). According to this concept, enterprises are supposed to make their decisions on the bas is of short term financial factors as well as long term factors that have deep environmental consequences. It is strongly believed that while short term profits or dividends allow the company to occupy good market position in the short run, in the long run, companies can become successful by making holistic moves towards the development of the entire society in which it is operating (Hassan, 2009). For achieving this end, organizations have to look after the environmental cost of their activities. Four important arenas that companies should look after while making socially responsible action, besides presentation of environment are human rights, labor rights and anti corruption. CSR practices in UAE Organizations based in UAE are actively thinking about their CSR initiatives. These are aimed at a number of purposes. Some of the most important objectives of practicing CSR activities by the companies are building community relationships, enhancing living standards of the population of the country and also helping the people of the country defend themselves against natural calamities. Various companies in the Emirates take socially responsible actions in the form of â€Å"social marketing projects† (Flynn, 2012). Corporate managers in the country demonstrate high level of responsibility towards the society.

Human nature as a struggle between reason and desire Essay

Human nature as a struggle between reason and desire - Essay Example Pictures and images are suitable to those only who lack more sophisticated expressions (Falzon 3). Plato has stated in Plato's Cave that when inside the cave, shadows on the wall are taken as real by persons not enlightened but the truth is that one need to come out in the sunlight to see reality.This prejudice against visual images is further enhanced in cinema. Since there also we sit in the dark hall and see images moving in front of us. Le Doeuff (1989 as cited in Falzon 4) stated that images are illustrative which enter deep and help form our thoughts.. Still some may argue that let films be just films. Why distort or bend these to fit into some philosophical definitions The answer to this may be, using films to interpret philosophy is just one more perspective to looking at these. One may argue that films are prejudiced in having the maker's view and thus may influence our interpretations. Certainly, but you can use the film as a base to think of presenting the story in differe nt way or find what the maker has left out. We remember longer what we have seen and that continuously constructs our thinking till our reasons satisfy the outcome. In the movie Cape Fear (Scorsese 1991), Max Cady is a vicious redneck who has just served a 14-year prison sentence for a hideout incident of rape and battery. Now, he's arrived to seek vengeance on Sam Bowden, the lawyer who defended him but was so repulsed by his client's crime that he buried a crucial piece of evidence. The latter could have reduced severity of Cady's punishment. Scorsese and De Niro are taking the sort of brutish, menacing, perversely unreasonable criminal as a phantom. If there, truly, is such a character in our life then this absolutely self-destructive person presents conflict between passion and reason. Cady begins to practice a sleek form of cat-and-mouse terrorism, and without really stepping outside the law harasses Bowdens. What's more, He feels strongly that Sam, by failing to defend him to the best of his abilities and also stepping outside the law, took it into his own hands. Cady emphasises that, now, he no longer has the right to expect that same law to protect him. Cady seems to have a good reason for his act. He is also trying to save Bowdens' from their sins by punishing them. How does philosophy explain the conduct of Cady and Sam The latter has scores of infidelities as well and thus shows weaknesses in his personality. Was Sam right in deciding that Cady's crime is too repulsive to be allowed any respite And was Cady right in being obsessed with the revenge against Sam's whole family Our reasons, feelings, thought and behaviour are controlled by different parts of minds. Both Freud and Kant consider mind as divided entity rather than a single unit. While hiding the report that could have reduced Cady's punishment, Sam was in conflict between reason and passion (to do lawyers duty well for his client), finally the reason yielded to passion that a criminal of Cady's level should be given severe punishment. It is also possible that during the course of our life, we develop many unconscious thoughts and wishes that keep on influencing our conscious decisions (Critchley et al 169). Similarly the overemphasised view of the fault of Sam, by Cady is due both to breach of trust as well as the conflicts of passion and reason. When the latter two were in harmony, he succeeded in creating fear in Bowdens family. But when these two were in conflict, he lost his own life.

How Roche Diagnostics Develops Global Managers Essay

How Roche Diagnostics Develops Global Managers - Essay Example To become a global manager a person must have a combination of experience, education, and exposure to foreign locations. Being bilingual or speaking several languages is a great skill to have for a global manager. The responsibility for producing global managers lies in the human resource department of a corporation. The HR department has to recruit global managers and it must also develop in-house talent to become the future leaders of an organization. Developing talent internally has tremendous benefits for a company because it helps improve the employee retention rate of the firm. The participation of the executive management team is necessary to design an effective global management training program. The CEO must be involved in the process because he is a person that can influence the aspirations of a young talented businessperson to become a global leader. My career choice is business administration. Global leaders are needed in business organizations due to the fact that intern ational expansion has become a strategy that is used more than ever before by business organizations. In the United States many companies have started out small. For instance Starbucks started as a single coffeehouse that bought the Starbucks brand along with six stores. Today the firm has over 16,000 outlets worldwide. This massive international growth would not have been possible would the presence of global leaders. A lack of global leadership can be detrimental to a business organization. The managers of businesses must have basic knowledge about global affairs. For instance foreign exchange monetary fluctuation should be monitored by managers making purchasing decisions. If the currency of a country goes up by 30% in a month, this type of information would be important to know to stay away from buying goods from such a place that is facing inflationary forces. A lack of global leadership can also inhibit the ability of a manager to make decisions on how to market a company glob ally through the use of e-commerce. Most companies in today’s marketplace cannot rely solely on the domestic marketplace. The current affairs and policy changes of countries must be understood by global managers. If a country makes a product illegal a firm that does not keep up with changes in international laws could get into legal troubles if it does remove its product from a country that banned its use. The United States government must get more involved in the development of global leaders. There are numerous ways in which the government can contribute towards the cause. For instance the government could develop an incentive program that would pay companies 50% of the travel expenses associated with training and development programs for global management. Another way the government could help is by offering more grants and scholarships for graduate students studying international business. The Federal government will let students borrow up to $138,500 to complete a gradua te degree (Studentaid, 2011). This type of access to financing helps, but a lot of adults are not willing to absorb so much extra debt when they have to pay a mortgage, other debt payments, bills, and living expenses for themselves and their families. At the undergraduate level the government has an excellent scholarship program called Pell Grant. The government could create a similar grant program for business graduate students

Ethical Guidelines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Ethical Guidelines - Essay Example The American Statistical Association on their part should ensure that everybody using statistical practices is well informed on the Ethical guidelines for statistical practices. The importance of statistical analyses in our current society cannot go unnoticed. Statistical practices are employed in various sectors in the economy such as health sector, education, environment, agriculture, industry and many other sectors. Therefore, an ethical decision-making in statistics practices in inevitable. Before making any statistical decision, proper professionalism must be adhered to. The decision maker has to ensure relevance before making the final statistical decision. For instance, before making any policies that may arise from statistical results, statisticians have to take into consideration the long-term effects that the policy will have on the general public. The ethical guidelines require that the researcher should ensure that adequate statistical and subject-matter expertise in both applied to any planned study. Therefore it is unethical for somebody who is experienced on agriculture to undertaken research on a medical field where he/she has no expertise. In terms of responsibility, the guidelines clearly states that a person should maintain personal responsibility for all the work bearing his/her name. This will ensure that plagiarism is avoided at all cost. The field of statistics is characterized by many stakeholders. This is because many people have personal or public interests in the results of the statistical practices. The most likely stakeholders in statistical studies are funders, clients and employers. Funders are those who sponsor the entire study and are mostly interested on the positive results from the study. They may use the results to make policies that may serve their interest or the general public’s. In most cases NGOs and

Ethical issue in Costa Coffee Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethical issue in Costa Coffee - Research Paper Example Costa Coffee, one such profitable venture by Whitbread (PRATLEY, 2011).To understand the ethical issue affecting Costa Coffee, it is first imperative to look into detail into the ethical issues that affect the coffee industry in general. The coffee retailing industry is haunted by what is known as the coffee paradox. Coffee production for the larger part takes place in developing countries. According to statistics, 90 percent of the world’s coffee production takes place in developing countries, the leading coffee producers being Vietnam, Brazil and Columbia (BUSINESS INSIDER). However, the world’s greatest coffee consumption takes place in industrialized and developed countries like the United States of America and the United Kingdom. This gives rise to a situation what Benoit Daviron and Stefano Ponte call the coffee paradox. The coffee paradox refers to the existence of a coffee crisis in the countries that produce it, and a coffee boom in the countries that consume i t (DAVIRON, 2005). Low wages, poor living standards and poor infrastructure is a regular feature of countries that supply the world with a commodity with a high demand. The producers get low prices, while the same coffee is sold at a substantially higher price. To offset the negative impact of the coffee crisis, coffee retailing firms consider it a part of their business ethics to employ measures that ensures prosperity for the producers of coffee in the developing countries as well. According to Geoff Riley, it is fair-trade that has helped in reducing the widening gap between the producer and consumer prices in the coffee industry (RILEY). Coffee production in the international market is increasingly pressurized by social activists to abide by fair-trade regulations. Fair-trade refers to the social movement whereby producers in developing countries are encouraged to trade their produce at terms that favor their own economy. Another feature of fair-trade is encouraging sustainabili ty in order to conserve resources for the generations to come. In the field of coffee productions, fair-trade coffee refers to coffee selling companies that comply with the standards of sustainable coffee production and distribution. Companies certified as fair-trade coffee retailers may charge a slightly higher price than those coffee retailers who do not comply with fair-trade regulations. According to the ethical consumer’s guide, Costa Coffee has been rated at 9.5 on a scale of 20, while Starbucks, its direct competitor has been rated at 6.5. The ratings give an insight of the top (SHOPPING GUIDE TO COFFEE SHOPS). (2)Produce a report about how that company could improve the ethics of its operations while meeting its objectives and making sure there are good employer/employee relations Costa Coffee does not abide by the fair-trade standards, however, the company can look into alternative ways of fulfilling its objectives as well as improving the ethics of their business op eration. The issue of Costa Coffee’s commitment to its business ethics however is not as simple as whether the company chooses to abide by the laws of fair-trade coffee. While consumers all over the world recognize the fair-trade logo as synonymous to ethical business operation, Costa Coffee has adopted a different, yet less known approach to responsible and sustainable coffee distribution (WELCH, 2011). Costa coffee reportedly joined the Rainforest Alliance in 2008, an ethical trading body

Relationship between poverty and environment Term Paper

Relationship between poverty and environment - Term Paper Example A market for recycling of materials is shown to be a market opportunity because of bilateral trade agreements between US and Mexico. A conclusion is arrived saying that Mexico has to upgrade existing facilities to meet increasing demands of the population for safe waste and efficient disposal infrastructures. Your name here Subject Professor’s name Date submitted How does Mexico treat its hazardous wastes? Introduction Hazardous waste is a by-product of industrialization and the lifestyle changes of the people and higher standards of living. The lifestyle changes have changed the quality of life and it also means that we are creating more wastes than ever before. Wastes and how to correctly dispose of it has become both a big problem to the country. On the other hand, it has also opened a market of an income opportunity for recycling and disposal. Waste disposal has been the subject of interests and studies of international organizations, governments and professionals from uni versities on how to account for management of hazardous elements. Mexico, as a developing country is not exempted from the problem of hazardous waste disposal, and for purposes of this study, an insight of the waste management practices of Mexico will be reviewed. An exploratory research design will be applied in the study and the collection of data will be done through secondary sources that are published in the internet websites, books and literatures about the matter. Review of literature What is hazardous waste? The term refers to a substance, â€Å"solid, liquid, or gaseous waste materials, which if not improperly managed or disposed of, may pose substantial hazards to human health and the environment. According to the definition of economii.com., â€Å"a waste is considered hazardous if it exhibits one or more of the following characteristics: ignitability, corrosiveness, reactivity and toxicity†. Under certain conditions, wastes become hazardous because substances lik e liquids, solvents and friction sensitive substances easily ignite and create fires. Corrosive wastes such as tanks, containers, drums and barrels are acidic and capable of corroding metal. Reactive wastes are not stable under normal conditions and can create explosions, toxic fumes, gases, or vapors when mixed with water. The US Environment Protection Agency defines hazardous waste as â€Å"any of a number of solids, liquids, or contained gases generated by many modern industrial process† Examples of common hazardous wastes are spent auto batteries, spent solvents and sludges from industrial wastewater treatment units. Waste management practices Universally accepted procedure of waste management includes source reduction, recycling, treatment and disposal. Taken from economii, following processes are defined: Recycling is the use or reuse of hazardous waste as an effective substitute for a commercial product or an ingredient or feedstock in an industrial process. Treatment is any method, technique or process that changes the physical, chemical, or biological character of any hazardous waste so as to neutralize such waste; to recover energy or material resources from the

Ratio Analysis to Determine Corporate Health Essay Example for Free

Ratio Analysis to Determine Corporate Health Essay One must consider many factors before deciding whether or not to invest in a company. The following is an analysis and comparison of the health of two well known companies, Exxon and Wal-Mart. Some of the factors that were analyzed include current ration, inventory turnover, accounts receivable turnover, and days’ sales in inventory. Most of the values used for the calculations were obtained from Yahoo Finance. Current ratio evaluates a company’s ability to pay its short-term obligations (Wild, 2008). Exxon’s current ratio of 1. Â  indicates that it should not have any issues paying its short-term obligations. In contrast, Wal-Mart’s current ratio of 0. 88, indicates that the company’s current liabilities exceed current assets and thus investors should be doubtful of its ability to pay short-term obligations. Inventory turnover is another indicator of a company’s ability to pay short-term debt. Specifically, it is the number of times a company’s average inventory is sold during a period (Wild, 2008). Wal-Mart’s inventory turnover of 9. Â  indicates that it may be holding more inventory than it needs, and thus it may be using its assets in efficiently. Exxon’s inventory turnover of 28. 31 is more preferable, as long as inventory adequately meets demand (Wild, 2008). These numbers show that Wal-Mart may be having difficulties paying its short-term debt and thus caution should be warranted. Accounts receivable turnover measure the quality and liquidity of accounts receivable. Thus it indicates how often receivable are received and collected during the period (Wild, 2008). Exxon’s accounts receivable turnover is 15. Â  while Walmart’s is 107. 3. Exxon’s low turnover suggests management should consider stricter credit terms and more aggressive collection efforts to avoid its resources being tied up in accounts receivables. On the other hand, Wal-Mart’s high turnover implies the opposite; management should consider using more liberal credit terms. While accounts receivable turnover measures the liquidity of accounts receivables, days’ sales in inventory is useful in evaluating liquidity of inventory (Wild, 2008). Exxon’s days’ sales in inventory is 13. 2 and Wal-Mart’s is 38. Â  Exxon’s lower days’ sales in inventory value indicates that the company uses its resources more efficiently. Conclusion All things considered, Exxon appears to be a more solid company in which a first time stock-buyer should invest. While both are major companies, which appear to have solid numbers, Exxon seems to be the more stable and reliable company. Specifically Exxon seems to manage its assets better and seems more likely to be able to pay its short term debt. Nonetheless, one should invest in stock that he or she feels better represents his or her goals.

Challenges for SMEs in Vietnam and Korea

Challenges for SMEs in Vietnam and Korea Recommendations for the government/policy makers Properly aware and assess the roles of SMEs and start-up firms in the national economy system The Korean government soon realized the roles of SMEs, especially start-up firms in economic reform after the financial crisis is 1997. They published some Law and Regulations on SMEs support since the end of the Korean War, some of which are the SMEs Bank Law (July 1961) and the SMEs Cooperation Law (December 1961). In addition, the governmental institutions and banks to support SMEs were born really soon, they were able to merge into a comprehensive and trustworthy â€Å"system† to maintain the health of SMEs. This reflects the early awareness of the Korean government in the roles of SMEs. In Vietnam, the roles of new enterprises need to be further considered. Besides the measures to enhance the performance of state-owned enterprises, we need to have intensive measures to support SMEs, especially start-up firms because they are the strategic instrument in economic growth. Obviously, when joining WTO – an international playground, SMEs in Vietnam in its current state w ill find it hard to compete.. To fully aware of the condition as well as roles of these enterprises, we need to conduct surveys and researches to find out at which proportion SMEs have contributed to the country’s GDP and other growth indexes. Further, we based on these indexes to evaluate the potential and at what extent the establishment of new firms can reinforce the growth rate of the economy as a whole. Create a suitable environment for SMEs and start-up firms Since the very beginning state of economic reform, regulations concerning SMEs and start-ups activities were clearly and specifically declared. They were also improved through times to adapt to the economic and social conditions of each time phase. Besides the synchronized legal environment, they also own a set of solutions for SMEs: since they start the business till dismissal. The Korean government always tries to create favorable business environment for the growth of start-up firms and SMEs. To minimize the gap between chaebol firms and start-up firms, the government established many institutions and associations to support start-ups firms, namely SMBA, SMBC, KOTEC†¦ as well as provide guarantee for these firms to receive funds from commercial banks with preferential interest rates. When SMEs encounter hardship during operation, the government also comes up with business incubators to help them overcome problems by legal consulting, opening fairs, malls to increase the chanc e of trading and finding business partners. For any nation in the world, favorable business environment is the basic factor, not only for SMEs, but also for big corporations to grow. Vietnam is no exception. Nowadays in Vietnam, the business environment is thriving more than ever before. Business law, finance law, credit monetary trading, labor situation have been improved a lot with the foundation, adjustment, supplement of the Business Code 2005, Investment Code 2005, State Bank Code and Credit Institutions Code 2003†¦ These Codes basically have no discrimination among different business sectors. Moreover, we also have other regulations concerning the operation of SMEs, namely Official Letter No. 681/CP-KTN on June, 26th 1998 by the Government Office on strategies orientation and SMEs development policies, Decree No. 90/2001/ND-CP on November, 23rd 2001 on support SMEs. These regulations only emphasize on the most basic matters and have yet compete or consistent. Also, the management level is still not flexible in apply ing those regulations, leading to redundancy in procedures and confusion in dealing with the legal system. Discrimination between big corporations and SMEs is another factor with negative impact on the business environment. Although the policies of the government clearly state that all business sectors needed to be equally treated, there still exists discrimination from some government officials in bank loans, access to preferential policies, land use, information access on exporting market, staff training Moreover, the social environment also has trong impact on business operation of highly sensitive firms like start-ups and SMEs. That is because there still exists some obsolete prejudice on these firms such as counterfeited goods, smuggling or commercial fraud. Support start-up firms in terms of financing It is safe to say that funds is the most severe problem for entrepreneurs when starting their own business. There are already countless enterprises each year failing to come alive or going bankrupt since the very beginning of operation due to lack of capital. Therefore, support from the government is highly essential for SMEs, especially start-up firms. These support can be implemented by a number of ways, suggested as below: Develop finance investment firms and establish credit guarantee funds It is clear that we soon need to establish credit guarantee funds for SMEs and start-up firms, for them to access to finance when they do not have enough resources for mortgage, pledge, or lend from banks and credit unions as raised in Decree 90/2001. The credit guarantee funds like KCGF, KOTEC and SMBC in Korea are able to guarantee start-up firms for short-term, mid-term and long-term loans for the feasible ideas and business projects. At the same time, they share risks with credit institutions in case of default risk from SMEs The lessons from Korea and other developed countries like America, Taiwan show that credit guarantee is considered one of the most effective measures to improve the capital of an enterprise, and Vietnamese enterprises are no exception Loosen the lending requirements Our government should adjust policies on mortgages for loans. Currently, most start-up firms find it hard to access to commercial bank funds because they own no or little assets. In addition, the requirements on mortgage is too high to meet. One example is most commercial banks use land use right as mortgage, which is quite impossible to afford for these types of firms. The recommendation for this is, in some specific cases, banks can assess the potential and value of feasible business projects to minimize their risks. Banks in Vietnam can learn from KOTEC in Korea, where they have a set of technical and commercial criteria to rate a firm before providing funds. Firms guaranteed by KOTEC also have higher chance to survive in the long run, which means their assessment is highly effective and we can learn a lot from their system. Besides, venture investment funds should be encouraged to grow, especially foreign investment funds. Expand forms of financial lease Expanding forms of financial lease is a useful solution for firms to overcome their own problems on financing for technology. Financial lease is an intermediate form of long-term credit, where those demanding funds do not receive cash to purchase equipment and asset but directly receive the demanded asset. The leasee periodically pays fee and buys the whole asset after a specific amount of time. However, in Vietnam, both the government and enterprises have yet aware the strength of this form, so it has not been fully developed. According to the studies â€Å"SMEs development process† of the Development Loan Program for SMEs in Vietnam, there currently exists many obstacles in developing financial lease: (i) lack of legal procedures, regulations and policies for this matter. The funds of the leasors are also very limited due to the strict regulations of the State Bank of Vietnam, (ii) the enterprises are still short in full knowledge and awareness of this practice’s adva ntages, (iii) lack of complete agreement between the leasors and the government as the base to develop policies on this. Towards the current state as mentioned above, the government needs to look into and adjust the regulations to ensure a competitive yet favorable business environment for the financial lease corporations, which can solve the financing problem for SMEs. Develop other financial services Commercialize the debt market: Currently, corporations have increasingly appropriate funds of others, making lots of SMEs fall into the â€Å"artificial funds shortage† situation. Sometimes, commercial banks have to hold loans but cannot receive principal before maturity date. Commercializing debts will help SMEs escape from the pressure of variable capital, for instance, through discounting financial instruments like negotiable certificate of deposit. In many other countries in the world, this practice is quite popular but it is fairly new for enterprises in Vietnam Boost the performance of financial institutions: we can do this by increasing the equity of credit institutions, creating capacity to improve performance and adapt to risks. Simultaneously, they can completely handle overdue debts by developing mortgage handling enterprises and buying back mortgages, collateral from commercial banks. This research applies a remote-monitored system towards the financial markets on the basis of international standards. Encourage the growth of financial consulting services, accounting, auditing and related services for financial problems of SMEs Preferential tax, charges policy The government can also establish more preferential policies for SMEs on credit, tax in a simple way. We should also avoid excessive yet inefficient tax policies, which leads to difficulties in manage and implement those policies. Recommendations for start-up firms/SMEs Build their own finance capabilities Besides the government policies and support on finance, start-up firms also need to take advantage of this opportunity or else it will go to waste. Currently, the roles of SMEs and start-up firms are gradually realized by the government and the society. The social development strategy nowadays also pays special attention to SMEs. Therefore, those firms need to take good advantage of these chances. In the meantime, start-up firms can have easy access to the credit funds from banks, financial institutions, financial lease firms The enterprises can also increase their funds by seizing investment opportunities from other sources. Through the foundation of feasible and persuasive business plans, firms can entirely raise funds from venture investment funds or crowd-funding. By cooperating with other firms, SMEs can enhance their manufacturing process by solving the obstacles together with each other, best exploiting their capacity and cooperation, developing the domestic and foreign business network, as well as jointly combating the competitive pressure from big corporations. Raise their management capacity SMEs need to have their own business strategies to enhance the human resources and management capacity in a global economic context. One of the weaknesses of SMEs in Vietnam is the human resources problems. They lack properly trained labor to meet the requirements of technology application, foreign language, business knowledge, Internet access†¦ The business management system is pretty obsolete and incomprehensive. Therefore, business owner and the management level need to apply modern management system, focusing on knowledge on market, the legal system, technology application and building their own business culture and ethics: honest about the products, fair competition, compliance with the law, responsible for the customers and the society, and build trust with the customers. For the labor force, we need to have scheme to train them properly with the most update techniques and information possible. The enterprises also need plans to attract highly-trained employees by their salary, bonus, allowance, promotion†¦ policies. Besides, strong business culture is also necessary to establish and develop. Actively access technology Firms on their own should actively seek new opportunities to get access to new technology and equipment. Then, they can flexibly apply technology transfer to create more added value. Also, focusing on developing technology infrastructure to apply e-commerce business is popular in the recent years. On material, one way to exploit this is to make full use of the global sources of material, another is to consider using existing materials, which means diversity and stability sources of materials for manufacturing. On technology, SMEs need to go in full swing and use their existing dynamic spirit to grasp and seize rare opportunities on technology. One huge obstacle for enterprises in this matter is limited capital, however, as mentioned, SMEs have many ways out. They can use the government support, cooperate with other larger firms, transfer from foreign enterprises, participate in science fairs†¦ In specific, SMEs need to construct and develop their own information infrastructure to push information technology application and apply e-commerce. Investing in these is proved to cost reasonably but bring high efficiency. It can saves energy and cost for an enterprise, which lifts the management efficiency but at the same time, it can quickly grasp and exploit the market’s information, helping the business activities more professional and flexible. Focus on market research, export promotion, brand and image building Focusing in market research Start-up firms and SMEs need to vigorously improve on market research after Vietnam has joined WTO. Only thorough and detailed market research brings a well-rounded business plan. In the context where resources and capabilities is limited, they need to cooperate with the authority and government in pushing e-commerce, searching for market information through the Internet, as well as joining in knowledge sharing in different prestigious association. Enhance brand investment Almost SMEs in Vietnam are not fully aware of the importance of brand building and protection. In the next few year, when we penetrate more into the global economy, this can be a huge risks as there will certainly be many more conflict and disputes on brand. Therefore, SMEs need to have their own strategy for brand right now. Those enterprises need to have well-rounded knowledge about brand. Training for staff to aware of the importance of brand and reputation is vital. In the global context as it is today, when the brand of SMEs in Vietnam have yet owned a strong position in the domestic and international market, support from the government and other large corporations in brand building in of great importance. Ignoring this stage in the business plan means they actively put themselves in difficult situation later. Their competitors may use this to destroy the company. Actively apply international standards in business activities As analyzed, one of the biggest challenges for SMEs in Vietnam to penetrate into the international market is the international trade standards. Every countries and trade organizations in the world have their own set of regulations concerning the products’ standards. During the integration process, it is compulsory that start-up firms and SMEs in Vietnam should compel with these regulations. The lessons from Korea shows that, applying international standards in manufacturing and trading helps raise the export volume of SMEs in this countries. Therefore, it is essential for enterprises to actively apply these standards in their business activities. Depending on the requirements, the selected countries’ rules and the firm’s capacity, the firms can freely choose the standards like TQM, ISO 9000, HACCP, GMP, ISO 14000, SA 8000†¦ Besides, we need to understand and adapt to standards in hygiene, safety, rules on packing and marking†¦ These international standards can be an obstacle for SMEs in Vietnam in the short run but they will definitely bring practical value for them, helping them to strongly thrive in this most stable way.

Trilateral Cooperation in Africa, Germany and China

Trilateral Cooperation in Africa, Germany and China A Model towards Poverty Reduction in Africa 1 Genesis of Trilateral Development Cooperations 1.1 Introduction: The roots of current Trilateral Cooperations The shift towards multilateral cooperations and, more specifically, Trilateral Cooperations (TC) is more visible today than ever before. Many traditional aid recipient countries have recently become donors of development aid as well (Altenburg Weikert 2007: 1). In particular are todays emerging powers such as China, India, Brazil and South Africa. These countries are increasingly providing aid programs for needier developing countries. This thesis deals with this entry level into the donor role. In the case of the country China, which has already provided development aid in the past and holds an important position among the New Donors. In addition the study attempts to find an answer to the question: Is there a common ground, together on which the Peoples Republic of China and the Federal Republic of Germany might engage in a Poverty Reduction Project in Africa? Finally a tentative model shall be introduced, which suggests how Trilateral Cooperation between China, Germany and Africa might look like. Taking a closer look further back in history one will find that development co-operations in general became more significant in the late 1940s, in the aftermath of World War II, following the initiation of the famous Marshall Plan to rebuild the economy of the European countries (Hjertholm White 2000: 59). This successful implementation led to the belief that development aid projects have the ability to be effective. As a result of this realization, the notion of development aid received an enormous boost. From the late 1940s until the early 1960s Development Cooperations have been exceptionally in the form of bilateral agreements (Mehta Nanda 2005: 1). Among the existing development aid given to reconstruct Europe, the United States of America was the outstanding donor establishing Development Cooperations in many developing countries (Mehta Nanda 2005: 1). The period from the early 1960s to the mid 1970s saw a considerable progress in multilateral development assistance (source). While in 1960, the original membership of the Development Assistance Group, the predecessor of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), did cover most of the significant aid donors of the day the list of member states comprised Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Commission of the European Economic Community, joined almost immediately by first Japan and then the Netherlands. But even by then, the Russians had famously replaced the US and the World Bank as sponsors of the Aswan Dam, and indeed India and other Asian Commonwealth countries had been providing technical assistance under the Colombo Plan (source) since 1950. In 1961, Kuwait established the first of the Middle East funds: Hence their has been a great dislike of most of the well-established and professional Middle Eastern donor agencies o f being referred to as â€Å"emerging donors† aka â€Å"non-DAC donors†. (source) In addition, China undertook some significant and high-profile interventions, most notably the Tan-Zam railway, which was probably the biggest construction project undertaken anywhere in Africa in the 1960s and 1970s, and where at a time when DAC donors almost never covered any local costs China took a much more generous attitude even if they raised the local currency largely by sales of Chinese consumer goods (source). Mehta and Nanda (2005:2) name four major multilateral institutions as being responsible for providing development assistance during this period: International Development Association (IDA) attached to the World Bank; the Fund for Special Operations of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); the cooperation fund of the European Economic Community; and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), organized in 1965 through the merger of several United Nations (UN) financial facilities. Meanwhile, the idea of South-South Cooperations was born at the Bandung Conference[1] in 1955 when the leaders of 29 so-called developing countries came together to recognize the promotion of collective self-reliance as a political imperative. This event was followed by the establishment of a Working Group on Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC) by the UN General Assembly in 1972. In 1978, many more such leaders gathered at Buenos Aires to formulate a Plan of Action (BAPA), a conceptual framework and programmatic goals, all endorsed by the UN General Assembly a few months later. The Bandung conference was celebrating its golden jubilee in 2005, at which point practical ways to put forth the South-South cooperation agenda was examined. In 1999, the High-level Committee called the Special Unit on the Review of TCDC[2] and resolved that the South-South cooperation should be viewed as a complement and not as a substitute for the North-South cooperation. This effectively meant that the committee was of the view that a North-South-South cooperation was needed. Thus, the recognition for the importance of Triangular Development Cooperation came about.[3] However, on a practical level, Trilateral Cooperation already received a major boost in 1993 at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD). It has since become known as the TICAD process in which Japanese resources are used to promote exchanges between Asian and African countries (Mehta Nanda 2004). In May 2004, an international conference on poverty reduction in Shanghai, China adopted the Shanghai Agenda for Poverty Reduction. Commonly known as the ‘Shanghai Consensus, it opposed the central theme of the Washington Consensus by proclaiming that state intervention is necessary for development and that everything cannot be left to the markets (Metha Nanda 2005:2). The agenda shows that stronger cooperation between all development partners including South-South cooperation can facilitate an increase of poverty reduction efforts through exchange of ideas, the transfer of resources and the strengthening of capacity. In this effort, it also reinforced the issue of partnership between all stakeholders to leverage and scale up a countrys development efforts. Today, more than five decades after the beginning of development aid, many principles are still being implemented for Development Cooperation Projects. To mention in particular is the need to correct the discrepancy between providing assistance on one hand and montary discipline and trade liberalisation on the other hand. The, so called ‚New Donors (Altenburg Weikert 2007) present willingness to accept responsibility for international development. The evolving relationship between China and Africa could be one of the most important developments in the international relations in the post-Cold-War era (Ampiah Naidu 2009). Germany is known as a traditional donor and has a long history of development assistance within both geographic entities, China and Africa[4]. The thesis at hand discusses opportunities and limits of Trilateral Development Cooperation between the traditional donor Germany and the emerging country China in a third African developing country. Emerging countries are aspiring economical and political powers, which cannot be ignored in order to solve present and future world order issues (Stamm 2004: 20). Starting with this Introduction, part 1 leads from an historical perspective to the more nuanced assessment of the current plateau of relations of Trilateral Cooperations. The Development of TCs will be discussed in part 2, including Egon Bahrs approach implementing Germanys first Trilateral Cooperation and its failures. Furthermore it will show the specific Establishment of Trilateral Cooperations within the German Development Cooperation for Sustainable Development (GTZ). Part 2 provides a contextual understanding of Trilateral Cooperations by (1) giving definitions, (2) considering preconditions as well as (3) alluding to benefits of Trilateral Cooperations. Two case studies concluding the chapter evaluating German Trilateral Cooperations by contrasting the two geopolitic areas discussed in this work: Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. By tackling the crucial question of the role of governance within Trilateral Cooperations concerning ideological differences between the western and the southern world, part 3 starts with an identification of the ‘term of negotiation, followed by a summary of approaches given by diverse institutions and international organisations engaging within the governance debate. It further contrasts governance as a common term of negotiating with the emerging conflicts arising from clashing perceptions of governance particularly between China and Western Countries. This part also examines perspectives on Chinas alternative governance model. Covering all the geo-strategic positions, part 4 examines the cross-currents of Germanys and Chinas relation to Africa. In opposition to the common myths that often describe Chinas role as that of a ‚yellow peril and Western powers as ‚knights in shining amour part 4 rather focuses on common engagement within the field of poverty reduction. Furthermore does part 4 present a model, showing what a Trilateral Cooperation between China and Germany in Africa will look like. Delineating the triangular relationship, a case study is used as a model suggesting the Congo Basin Forest Partnership as a possible development project with promissing success for all participating actors. The final substantive part provides a collection of lessons learned from engaging in Trilateral Cooperations in general and warns for possible dangers and finally concludes with an analysis of the possiblitities of the developing partnership between Germany, China and the continent of Africa. 1.2 Research to date There are numerous publications on Trilateral Cooperations in general. A more globalized world tends to be open for more cooperation. For this reason many of the former bilateral cooperations are now extended to Trilateral Cooperations. Multilateral Cooperations in general are a common way of working together to solve common conflicts. Trilateral Development Cooperations between traditional donors, non-DAC countries and developing countries however are rather rarely researched (Harmer Cotterrell 2005: 4). More specifically, Trilateral Cooperations with China in Africa have only been researched in recent years by institutions such as the European Union (Commission of the European Communities 2008), Deutsche Institut fà ¼r Entwicklungspolitik (Altenburg Weikert 2006) and Department for International Development (Mehta Nanda 2005). Most of the research compiled for this thesis is therefore based on documents of these institutions. 1.3 Methodology The research for the thesis at hand was compiled during the course of an internship at the German Cooperation for Sustainable Development (GTZ)[5] in Beijing, China. The research was considered as part of the Sino-German Poverty Monitoring Evaluation Project, which was established to introduce a participative Poverty Monitoring and Evaluation System (from local to national level) to the Province Jiangxi. The project has recently been expanded to include the topic of â€Å"Trilateral Cooperations: Germany China in Africa†. The mandate of the intern entailed an analysis of the possibilities for Engagement in a Trilateral Cooperation between Germany and China to the benefit of a third African nation in the field of poverty reduction. For this purpose GTZ experts, project partners such as International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC) and the State Council Development-Oriented Poverty Alleviation Leading Group (LGOP) as well as consultants of the organisations broad network supported and advised the research. As a result, the thesis is mainly based on qualitative analysis, case studies and comparative analysis. In addition, the qualitative methods comprises literature review, policy and legal analysis. Historical as well as recent case studies are analysed for the purpose of presening lessons learned as an aid to future performance. Furthermore, the presented study reposes on one-on-one conversations with the GTZ (China, Indonesia, Germany), IPRCC experts, the German Embassy in South Africa and the China Agricultural University. There has been correspondance with the Bundesministerium fà ¼r wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung[6] (BMZ) as well as with the Deutsche Institut fà ¼r Entwicklungspo litik[7] (DIE). In addition various documents and relevant sources of information, as from the European Union, for example, have been evaluated. During the process of identifying relevant cooperation corridors for strategy-building and the development of new instruments for cooperation, the usage of sources has been a challenge. Some interview partners, exclusivly Chinese contributers, wish not to be cited and some studies, relevant for this thesis, are either not published or they are being kept confidental. The salient information which is free to be used can partly be found in the final chapter as well as in the use of ideas and data, the sources, of which must remain anonymously cited. 2 Trilateral Cooperations in Context 2.1 Defining Trilateral Cooperations Generally speaking, a Trilateral Cooperation is a three-sided joint operation for mutual benefit. In the context of this thesis, the term, ‘Trilateral Cooperations refers to a certain set-up of participants: one traditional donor, one new donor and one developing country. Among the different types of trilateral cooperations this analysis focuses on ‘Trilateral Development Cooperations.[8] According to DIE (Altenburg Weikert 2007), Trilateral Development Cooperations are considered as â€Å"cooperation projects which are jointly planned, financed and carried out by an established donor country which is already a member of the OECD[9]-DAC together with a cooperation country which, although itself a recipient of development cooperation and not (yet) a member of the DAC, is emerging as a new donor, and a third country as the recipient.† The DIE definition is of great importance for the Trilateral Cooperation Model, I will present in part 4 of this study as it points out the special composition of the trilateral cooperation. In this case Germany is the traditional donor, while China acts as the new doner and non-OECD and DAC-member and an African country as recipient. Another imporant aspect of a trilateral cooperation is given by the German Development Cooperation. It states that a Trilateral Cooperation is an innovative form of cooperation: â€Å"A mutual passin g on of lessons learned to technically and institutionally less advantaged third countries.[10]† There are, however, two essential features of Trilateral Cooperations: (1) the importance of South-South relations and (2) the type of capital transfer. (1) In contrast to traditional aid assistance governments of emerging countries are now asked to change their way of thinking. Trilateral Cooperations challenge them to change positions from having been an aid receiver in the past towards becoming a new donor. In other words, money from industrialized countries is transferred on an institutional level to the developing country, where it will be implemented through technical assistance. Therefore South-South relations are of great importance in this matter. (2) Trilateral development cooperation offers new means of funding, as the established donor and the cooperation country organize the know-how-transfer to the third country jointly. 2.2 Preconditions for Trilateral Cooperations To maximize the opportunities for the success of Trilateral Cooperations, it is necessary to set up specific preconditions and ensure that they are met in order to prove that an effective or cooperative work is feasible. Altenburg Weikert (2007) note that common interests are not yet a sufficient condition for Trilateral Development Cooperation and give four elementary requirements, which, from their point of view, need to be fulfilled before entering the triangular cooperation: Increasing alignment with good donor practices, co-financing by the cooperation country, efficiency, and donor coordination. Although the aforementioned requirements can be seen as some sort of core preconditions, there are still other crucial factors that need to be considered. (Altenburg Weikert 2007: 3) Firstly, the right timing, for a successful undertaking is imperative.[11] For all participating actors of the TC, the necessity to enter the cooperation needs to be apparent. The right timing needs to be considered in this context also because there might be countries willing to enter the tripartite operation but are, time wise, either not ready or simply not able to be part of a certain project. Political strategy plays a major role in finding the right timing to engage in a Trilateral Development Cooperation. Secondly, readiness of actors is indispensable for a trilateral dialogue and a cooperation implementation. There are two major considerations concerning this precondition, which might even seem too obvious. (1) The actors need to be ready to engage in both trilateral dialogue and cooperation. Within the past years there has been much discussion between potential cooperation countries but not one single trilateral dialogue has let to the commencement of a sound trilateral cooperation. Thus, the readiness for dialogue but not for the actual cooperation, has been given. This observation has only been made in reference to TC with the anchor country China. (2) The motive one participant holds behind the decision to enter the trilateral dialogue[12] and cooperation is of no greater importance as long as the motives will not interfere with the implementation of the Cooperation. The motives need to be dynamic and resilient. However, the motives of all three parties may but do not have to be identical (Grimm 2008). Thirdly, there is a necessity of one common denominator even if it might be the smallest one. The interface of interest among the three participant countries is a central condition for a successful TC. Furthermore, it would be beneficial to identify potentials of the tripartite dialogue and determine possible limitations. It will be of great advantage to harmonize diverse efforts of implementation into forming a Trilateral Development Cooperation.[13] Fourthly, the importance of political support needs to be verified . Trilateral Development Projects are dependent on the support on the respective governments. Yet, not only policy-makers need to be involved in the cooperation process, but necessary committees and panels have to be considered in the process as well. Agreements, such as the Paris Declaration[14] should also be discussed and applied. Fifthly, transparency should be practised, so that communication is made easy, corruption can be avoided and fair play is guaranteed. 2.3 Potentials and Limits of Trilateral Cooperations â€Å"Trilateral cooperation can be an effective way of bringing appropriate intermediate technology and ‘appropriate policy to developing countries.†[15] The link between proper know-how and adquate policy constitutes the cooperative advantage that Trilateral Cooperations offer as opposed to previous bilateral assistance programs. In the past, consulting services put forth by established donors have, as seen in many cases, not used the suitable type of technical assistance or the services offered may have not been appropriate to the recipient countrys needs. Moreover, donor countries coming to a ‘developing country with their own type of technical expertise can create problems for the recipient country as there can be confusion and duplicity. As a result, the efficiency of the aid put in place remains questionable. These problems can be avoided by implementing a Trilateral Cooperation, by which an emerging country has been in the position of the recipient country itself and will be most likely be able to assist in a proper way. (Altenburg Weikert 2006: 3) Another advantage is that aid is tied to the donor countrys provision of goods and services. On an average, a developing country expert costs one-third of the cost of developed country experts at prevalent international rates.[16] However, if the expertise is carried out by anchor countries as well as by developed countries, the costs will be shared and generally less money will be invested. In this case Trilateral Development Cooperation can be a cost-effective way of promoting development cooperation. Another issue related to tied aid, as argued in Mehta Nanda (2005), is that when the donors tie up with local (donors home country) technical assistance providers, there is a possibility that monitoring by the donors may get relaxed as they are likely to develop alliances. A third country provider of technical assistance is far less likely to develop such a relationship with a donor and hence monitoring is likely to be more rigorous. Hence, triangular cooperations may bring more accountability in the implementation of development programs. With the involvement of a third country technical assistance provider, it is likely that more information will be made public and will thereby increase overall transparency in aid administration thereby creating a positive impact on global Governance. With a transparent aid administration system, the impact of politics on aid would be far less †¦.(source!) Limits of Trilateral Cooperations Trilateralisation of development cooperations may dilute previous political support base and thus lessen the interest of the domestic constituency in overseas aid. They might also question the accountability in the aid administration when the stakeholders from the donor country are not involved. This would lead to a decrease of commitment in donor countries for development cooperation. However, this can be countered by a type of Trilateral Development Cooperation, in which Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from developing countries with high credibility can be involved in developed countries in appraising the stakeholders there about the utility of the aid that they are providing to the developing countries (Metha Nanda 2005: 2) It may also not always be easy for one developing country to accept technical assistance for capacity building from another developing country. There are political problems even among several developing countries that might thwart the process. Another risk factor Mehta and Nanda state in 2005 is that there may be an unwillingness in sections of policy makers and other important stakeholders to accept ‘intermediate technology or ‘intermediate policy who may be in favour of leap-frogging The lure of trips to rich countries among sections of bureaucracy and the political establishment may also sabotage the process of trilateral development cooperation. LDCs very often do not find the idea of visiting another developing country for training or experience-sharing exciting enough. Even the fringe benefits of visiting a rich country are much higher for them. 2.4 The Beginning of Trilateral Cooperations within German Development Aid Germanys Development Aid Institutions are not singularly structured as they are in other European countries. Several Institutions such as KfW, DED, InWEnt and GTZ all function as German representatives in the field of development politics and provide assistance in developing countries. This might lead to different perceptions on what constitutes German Development assistance and which one represents the leading Development Aid institution.[17] According to Tomecko (2008), GTZ[18] stated a prospective turnover of a little over â‚ ¬1.1 billion per annum and operate through 92 offices that serve 120 countries with about 12,000 employees working in 2,700 projects in the year 2008. About 25% of the mentioned turnover is currently in Asia. A wide geographic presence, access to development cooperation officials and the diversity GTZ projects, the organization is able to provide an infrastructure for Trilateral Cooperations. On a global scale 14 operational trilateral projects are in place, so Temecko (2008); partners are namely (1) South Africa with Ethiopia, D.R. Congo, Lesotho, India on governance and technology, (2) Brazil with 10 countries in Latin America and Africa mainly in the area of AIDS, (3) Mexico with Guatemala, Ecuador and Dom. Republic on issues related to the environment, (4) Chile with several Latin American countries where we have a special fund for trilateral, (5) Indonesia with Timor Leste on national parks development, (6) China, with Chile, Vietnam and India mainly in the area of economic policy dialogue. There are four major issues Trilateral Cooperations established through GTZ projects revolving around: Joint missions, the combined use and exchanges of experts, job training as well as education and fellowships and study visits development, micro-finance, SME promotion and health. Financed are all projects by the parent ministry, the German Federal Ministry for Development and Economic Cooperation (BMZ) by providing additional budgets for activities like enhancing trilateral cooperation projects. 2.5 Lessons learned: Germanys previous Trilateral Cooperations The topic of Trilateral Cooperations is not new, the idea of Joint Development Initiatives in Germany dates back to 1974. (Souce) The demonstrated form of Cooperation has been implemented within Germanys Development Cooperation with different levels of success. Within this study the first Trilateral Development Cooperation, under Egon Bahr, will be discussed intensively as it is the first Trilateral Cooperations in Germany and provides a range of lessons learned for further triangular engagement. In addition, two further Trilateral cooperation attempts are discussed to give a broader insight on what Cooperations have been put into practice and what can we learn from previous experiences. 2.5.1 The Failure of Germanys First Trilateral Cooperation under Egon Bahr „Im à ¶ffentlichen Bewußtsein lag Entwicklungshilfe, sobald davon à ¼berhaupt Notiz genommen wurde, ziemlich nah bei der christlichen Pflicht des Wohlhabenden, mitleidige Menschen in Not zu unterstà ¼tzen. [] Unser Interesse mußte stà ¤rker betont werden, das Interesse an kà ¼nftigen Mà ¤rkten, an Prà ¤vention sozialer Spannungen. Es nà ¼tzt uns, wenn andere etwas kaufen kà ¶nnen, sichert sogar Arbeitsplà ¤tze.â€Å"[19] (Bahr, 1996: 467) The political course of the German Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschanlands (SPD)-politician Egon Bahr was considered as pragmatic in nature.[20] His famous speech in front of the Evangelical Academy Tutzingen in 1963 holds the title „Wandel durch Annà ¤herungâ€Å" Change through convergence[21]. It soon became not only his motto but also the program for West German foreign policy[22]. His concept of „change through convergenceâ€Å" was closely connected to the concept of „peaceful coexistanceâ€Å" and soon led him to, in his eyes, beneficial ideas of establishing trilateral cooperations. Bahrs idea was to bring together the oil money surplusses of the Arab States and the know-how of the industialized countries to engage together in development investments in developing countries.[23] In that, he saw two main advantages: (1) On a global scale the cooperation was supposed to put forth a release of the currency situation and (2) on a national scale the model was alleged to help ease the national finances of the Federal Republic of Germany.[24] The following calculation serves as an explanation for establishing a Trilateral Cooperation. According to UN criteria for the second period of development aid (1971-1980) 0,7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) should be used for Official Development Assistance (ODA). In 1974 the Federal Republic of Germany had already established 0,36%. Due to the oil price taxation the oil-producing developing countries received additional money in form of yields which were financed by the Federal Republic of Germany through their oil purchases. Therefore the West German GDP increased by 1,7 %.[25] In recognizing an interplay between economic and development politics, Bahr tried with his model of Trilateral Cooperation to use the surplus of the oil countries to finance development aid in third nations which are non-oil-development countries. As an outcome for Germany he expected to add new jobs, which would lead to an increase in income as well as in demand. For the developing country he expected that the infusion of know-how and technical assistance would result in a catch-up industrialization with an escalating number of employees. This would have a positive influence on the economic status and would also result in an increase in demand. Brisk trade relationships and the surmounting of the economic crisis were supposed to be the outcomes of his model of trilateral cooperations. However, Nuscheler (2005) argues that some of Bahrs assumptions are weak and would thererfore hinder the Trilateral Cooperation model to succeed. First of all, Nuscheler states the assumption that all developing countries would undergo similar development as would industrialized countries, also known as the catch-up industrialization.[26] Due to geomorphological and climatic preconditions, which are completely different than in western countries, a catch-up industrialization would be rather unlikely. Bahr saw the agricultural sector as the most important one for a country, because it has been of great importance for Germany. Conversely, for most developing countries, the agricultural sector was not the key, since the population rate by far outweighs the provision of food, even if all available fields would be in use. Secondly, Nuscheler questions the assumption that better integration of the developing countries into the world market would stimulate a demand in developing countries as seen in industrialized countries. With the exception of the raw material sector, such demand would not come about in the development countries, Nuscheler (2005) points out. His explanation is that the developing countries have different structures of supply and demand, which is set according to their respective needs. The third and last assumption of Bahrs Trilateral Cooperation Model, Nuscheler critisizes, is that economic growth will have a positive effect on all parts of the population of a developing country. All three arguments, Nuscheler states, can be seen as reason for failure of Bahrs model of the Trilateral Cooperation and can be summarized as errors of the concept „development through growthâ€Å" (Nuscheler 2005: 78). In his Trilateral Cooperation model, Bahr also used elements of the „basic need strategyâ€Å", which maintains that life is a fundamental need and therefore that development politics should take into consideration that education as well as health-care etc. should be provided for all parts of the population. (Bahr 96: 479). That might be one of the reasons why Bahr drew attention of German development politics to the poorest countries of Africa. Egon Bahr tested his Trilateral Cooperation model for the first time in 1975 in South Sudan. German companies were supposed to build with money from Saudi Arabian streets and habours in the largest Afrian country, but Bahrs ambitions were undermined by the Arabs. The Arabs demanded as a countermove from Germany that they will be part of the boycott against Israel and that Germany will exclude those firms from the Sudan-trade, who are in any trade relationship with Tel Aviv.[27] This and German Development Politics under Egon Bahr with the tendency to „more selfishness, less charityâ€Å" has been one of several diffuculties leading to the breakdown of Bah Trilateral Cooperation in Africa, Germany and China Trilateral Cooperation in Africa, Germany and China A Model towards Poverty Reduction in Africa 1 Genesis of Trilateral Development Cooperations 1.1 Introduction: The roots of current Trilateral Cooperations The shift towards multilateral cooperations and, more specifically, Trilateral Cooperations (TC) is more visible today than ever before. Many traditional aid recipient countries have recently become donors of development aid as well (Altenburg Weikert 2007: 1). In particular are todays emerging powers such as China, India, Brazil and South Africa. These countries are increasingly providing aid programs for needier developing countries. This thesis deals with this entry level into the donor role. In the case of the country China, which has already provided development aid in the past and holds an important position among the New Donors. In addition the study attempts to find an answer to the question: Is there a common ground, together on which the Peoples Republic of China and the Federal Republic of Germany might engage in a Poverty Reduction Project in Africa? Finally a tentative model shall be introduced, which suggests how Trilateral Cooperation between China, Germany and Africa might look like. Taking a closer look further back in history one will find that development co-operations in general became more significant in the late 1940s, in the aftermath of World War II, following the initiation of the famous Marshall Plan to rebuild the economy of the European countries (Hjertholm White 2000: 59). This successful implementation led to the belief that development aid projects have the ability to be effective. As a result of this realization, the notion of development aid received an enormous boost. From the late 1940s until the early 1960s Development Cooperations have been exceptionally in the form of bilateral agreements (Mehta Nanda 2005: 1). Among the existing development aid given to reconstruct Europe, the United States of America was the outstanding donor establishing Development Cooperations in many developing countries (Mehta Nanda 2005: 1). The period from the early 1960s to the mid 1970s saw a considerable progress in multilateral development assistance (source). While in 1960, the original membership of the Development Assistance Group, the predecessor of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), did cover most of the significant aid donors of the day the list of member states comprised Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Commission of the European Economic Community, joined almost immediately by first Japan and then the Netherlands. But even by then, the Russians had famously replaced the US and the World Bank as sponsors of the Aswan Dam, and indeed India and other Asian Commonwealth countries had been providing technical assistance under the Colombo Plan (source) since 1950. In 1961, Kuwait established the first of the Middle East funds: Hence their has been a great dislike of most of the well-established and professional Middle Eastern donor agencies o f being referred to as â€Å"emerging donors† aka â€Å"non-DAC donors†. (source) In addition, China undertook some significant and high-profile interventions, most notably the Tan-Zam railway, which was probably the biggest construction project undertaken anywhere in Africa in the 1960s and 1970s, and where at a time when DAC donors almost never covered any local costs China took a much more generous attitude even if they raised the local currency largely by sales of Chinese consumer goods (source). Mehta and Nanda (2005:2) name four major multilateral institutions as being responsible for providing development assistance during this period: International Development Association (IDA) attached to the World Bank; the Fund for Special Operations of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); the cooperation fund of the European Economic Community; and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), organized in 1965 through the merger of several United Nations (UN) financial facilities. Meanwhile, the idea of South-South Cooperations was born at the Bandung Conference[1] in 1955 when the leaders of 29 so-called developing countries came together to recognize the promotion of collective self-reliance as a political imperative. This event was followed by the establishment of a Working Group on Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC) by the UN General Assembly in 1972. In 1978, many more such leaders gathered at Buenos Aires to formulate a Plan of Action (BAPA), a conceptual framework and programmatic goals, all endorsed by the UN General Assembly a few months later. The Bandung conference was celebrating its golden jubilee in 2005, at which point practical ways to put forth the South-South cooperation agenda was examined. In 1999, the High-level Committee called the Special Unit on the Review of TCDC[2] and resolved that the South-South cooperation should be viewed as a complement and not as a substitute for the North-South cooperation. This effectively meant that the committee was of the view that a North-South-South cooperation was needed. Thus, the recognition for the importance of Triangular Development Cooperation came about.[3] However, on a practical level, Trilateral Cooperation already received a major boost in 1993 at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD). It has since become known as the TICAD process in which Japanese resources are used to promote exchanges between Asian and African countries (Mehta Nanda 2004). In May 2004, an international conference on poverty reduction in Shanghai, China adopted the Shanghai Agenda for Poverty Reduction. Commonly known as the ‘Shanghai Consensus, it opposed the central theme of the Washington Consensus by proclaiming that state intervention is necessary for development and that everything cannot be left to the markets (Metha Nanda 2005:2). The agenda shows that stronger cooperation between all development partners including South-South cooperation can facilitate an increase of poverty reduction efforts through exchange of ideas, the transfer of resources and the strengthening of capacity. In this effort, it also reinforced the issue of partnership between all stakeholders to leverage and scale up a countrys development efforts. Today, more than five decades after the beginning of development aid, many principles are still being implemented for Development Cooperation Projects. To mention in particular is the need to correct the discrepancy between providing assistance on one hand and montary discipline and trade liberalisation on the other hand. The, so called ‚New Donors (Altenburg Weikert 2007) present willingness to accept responsibility for international development. The evolving relationship between China and Africa could be one of the most important developments in the international relations in the post-Cold-War era (Ampiah Naidu 2009). Germany is known as a traditional donor and has a long history of development assistance within both geographic entities, China and Africa[4]. The thesis at hand discusses opportunities and limits of Trilateral Development Cooperation between the traditional donor Germany and the emerging country China in a third African developing country. Emerging countries are aspiring economical and political powers, which cannot be ignored in order to solve present and future world order issues (Stamm 2004: 20). Starting with this Introduction, part 1 leads from an historical perspective to the more nuanced assessment of the current plateau of relations of Trilateral Cooperations. The Development of TCs will be discussed in part 2, including Egon Bahrs approach implementing Germanys first Trilateral Cooperation and its failures. Furthermore it will show the specific Establishment of Trilateral Cooperations within the German Development Cooperation for Sustainable Development (GTZ). Part 2 provides a contextual understanding of Trilateral Cooperations by (1) giving definitions, (2) considering preconditions as well as (3) alluding to benefits of Trilateral Cooperations. Two case studies concluding the chapter evaluating German Trilateral Cooperations by contrasting the two geopolitic areas discussed in this work: Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. By tackling the crucial question of the role of governance within Trilateral Cooperations concerning ideological differences between the western and the southern world, part 3 starts with an identification of the ‘term of negotiation, followed by a summary of approaches given by diverse institutions and international organisations engaging within the governance debate. It further contrasts governance as a common term of negotiating with the emerging conflicts arising from clashing perceptions of governance particularly between China and Western Countries. This part also examines perspectives on Chinas alternative governance model. Covering all the geo-strategic positions, part 4 examines the cross-currents of Germanys and Chinas relation to Africa. In opposition to the common myths that often describe Chinas role as that of a ‚yellow peril and Western powers as ‚knights in shining amour part 4 rather focuses on common engagement within the field of poverty reduction. Furthermore does part 4 present a model, showing what a Trilateral Cooperation between China and Germany in Africa will look like. Delineating the triangular relationship, a case study is used as a model suggesting the Congo Basin Forest Partnership as a possible development project with promissing success for all participating actors. The final substantive part provides a collection of lessons learned from engaging in Trilateral Cooperations in general and warns for possible dangers and finally concludes with an analysis of the possiblitities of the developing partnership between Germany, China and the continent of Africa. 1.2 Research to date There are numerous publications on Trilateral Cooperations in general. A more globalized world tends to be open for more cooperation. For this reason many of the former bilateral cooperations are now extended to Trilateral Cooperations. Multilateral Cooperations in general are a common way of working together to solve common conflicts. Trilateral Development Cooperations between traditional donors, non-DAC countries and developing countries however are rather rarely researched (Harmer Cotterrell 2005: 4). More specifically, Trilateral Cooperations with China in Africa have only been researched in recent years by institutions such as the European Union (Commission of the European Communities 2008), Deutsche Institut fà ¼r Entwicklungspolitik (Altenburg Weikert 2006) and Department for International Development (Mehta Nanda 2005). Most of the research compiled for this thesis is therefore based on documents of these institutions. 1.3 Methodology The research for the thesis at hand was compiled during the course of an internship at the German Cooperation for Sustainable Development (GTZ)[5] in Beijing, China. The research was considered as part of the Sino-German Poverty Monitoring Evaluation Project, which was established to introduce a participative Poverty Monitoring and Evaluation System (from local to national level) to the Province Jiangxi. The project has recently been expanded to include the topic of â€Å"Trilateral Cooperations: Germany China in Africa†. The mandate of the intern entailed an analysis of the possibilities for Engagement in a Trilateral Cooperation between Germany and China to the benefit of a third African nation in the field of poverty reduction. For this purpose GTZ experts, project partners such as International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC) and the State Council Development-Oriented Poverty Alleviation Leading Group (LGOP) as well as consultants of the organisations broad network supported and advised the research. As a result, the thesis is mainly based on qualitative analysis, case studies and comparative analysis. In addition, the qualitative methods comprises literature review, policy and legal analysis. Historical as well as recent case studies are analysed for the purpose of presening lessons learned as an aid to future performance. Furthermore, the presented study reposes on one-on-one conversations with the GTZ (China, Indonesia, Germany), IPRCC experts, the German Embassy in South Africa and the China Agricultural University. There has been correspondance with the Bundesministerium fà ¼r wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung[6] (BMZ) as well as with the Deutsche Institut fà ¼r Entwicklungspo litik[7] (DIE). In addition various documents and relevant sources of information, as from the European Union, for example, have been evaluated. During the process of identifying relevant cooperation corridors for strategy-building and the development of new instruments for cooperation, the usage of sources has been a challenge. Some interview partners, exclusivly Chinese contributers, wish not to be cited and some studies, relevant for this thesis, are either not published or they are being kept confidental. The salient information which is free to be used can partly be found in the final chapter as well as in the use of ideas and data, the sources, of which must remain anonymously cited. 2 Trilateral Cooperations in Context 2.1 Defining Trilateral Cooperations Generally speaking, a Trilateral Cooperation is a three-sided joint operation for mutual benefit. In the context of this thesis, the term, ‘Trilateral Cooperations refers to a certain set-up of participants: one traditional donor, one new donor and one developing country. Among the different types of trilateral cooperations this analysis focuses on ‘Trilateral Development Cooperations.[8] According to DIE (Altenburg Weikert 2007), Trilateral Development Cooperations are considered as â€Å"cooperation projects which are jointly planned, financed and carried out by an established donor country which is already a member of the OECD[9]-DAC together with a cooperation country which, although itself a recipient of development cooperation and not (yet) a member of the DAC, is emerging as a new donor, and a third country as the recipient.† The DIE definition is of great importance for the Trilateral Cooperation Model, I will present in part 4 of this study as it points out the special composition of the trilateral cooperation. In this case Germany is the traditional donor, while China acts as the new doner and non-OECD and DAC-member and an African country as recipient. Another imporant aspect of a trilateral cooperation is given by the German Development Cooperation. It states that a Trilateral Cooperation is an innovative form of cooperation: â€Å"A mutual passin g on of lessons learned to technically and institutionally less advantaged third countries.[10]† There are, however, two essential features of Trilateral Cooperations: (1) the importance of South-South relations and (2) the type of capital transfer. (1) In contrast to traditional aid assistance governments of emerging countries are now asked to change their way of thinking. Trilateral Cooperations challenge them to change positions from having been an aid receiver in the past towards becoming a new donor. In other words, money from industrialized countries is transferred on an institutional level to the developing country, where it will be implemented through technical assistance. Therefore South-South relations are of great importance in this matter. (2) Trilateral development cooperation offers new means of funding, as the established donor and the cooperation country organize the know-how-transfer to the third country jointly. 2.2 Preconditions for Trilateral Cooperations To maximize the opportunities for the success of Trilateral Cooperations, it is necessary to set up specific preconditions and ensure that they are met in order to prove that an effective or cooperative work is feasible. Altenburg Weikert (2007) note that common interests are not yet a sufficient condition for Trilateral Development Cooperation and give four elementary requirements, which, from their point of view, need to be fulfilled before entering the triangular cooperation: Increasing alignment with good donor practices, co-financing by the cooperation country, efficiency, and donor coordination. Although the aforementioned requirements can be seen as some sort of core preconditions, there are still other crucial factors that need to be considered. (Altenburg Weikert 2007: 3) Firstly, the right timing, for a successful undertaking is imperative.[11] For all participating actors of the TC, the necessity to enter the cooperation needs to be apparent. The right timing needs to be considered in this context also because there might be countries willing to enter the tripartite operation but are, time wise, either not ready or simply not able to be part of a certain project. Political strategy plays a major role in finding the right timing to engage in a Trilateral Development Cooperation. Secondly, readiness of actors is indispensable for a trilateral dialogue and a cooperation implementation. There are two major considerations concerning this precondition, which might even seem too obvious. (1) The actors need to be ready to engage in both trilateral dialogue and cooperation. Within the past years there has been much discussion between potential cooperation countries but not one single trilateral dialogue has let to the commencement of a sound trilateral cooperation. Thus, the readiness for dialogue but not for the actual cooperation, has been given. This observation has only been made in reference to TC with the anchor country China. (2) The motive one participant holds behind the decision to enter the trilateral dialogue[12] and cooperation is of no greater importance as long as the motives will not interfere with the implementation of the Cooperation. The motives need to be dynamic and resilient. However, the motives of all three parties may but do not have to be identical (Grimm 2008). Thirdly, there is a necessity of one common denominator even if it might be the smallest one. The interface of interest among the three participant countries is a central condition for a successful TC. Furthermore, it would be beneficial to identify potentials of the tripartite dialogue and determine possible limitations. It will be of great advantage to harmonize diverse efforts of implementation into forming a Trilateral Development Cooperation.[13] Fourthly, the importance of political support needs to be verified . Trilateral Development Projects are dependent on the support on the respective governments. Yet, not only policy-makers need to be involved in the cooperation process, but necessary committees and panels have to be considered in the process as well. Agreements, such as the Paris Declaration[14] should also be discussed and applied. Fifthly, transparency should be practised, so that communication is made easy, corruption can be avoided and fair play is guaranteed. 2.3 Potentials and Limits of Trilateral Cooperations â€Å"Trilateral cooperation can be an effective way of bringing appropriate intermediate technology and ‘appropriate policy to developing countries.†[15] The link between proper know-how and adquate policy constitutes the cooperative advantage that Trilateral Cooperations offer as opposed to previous bilateral assistance programs. In the past, consulting services put forth by established donors have, as seen in many cases, not used the suitable type of technical assistance or the services offered may have not been appropriate to the recipient countrys needs. Moreover, donor countries coming to a ‘developing country with their own type of technical expertise can create problems for the recipient country as there can be confusion and duplicity. As a result, the efficiency of the aid put in place remains questionable. These problems can be avoided by implementing a Trilateral Cooperation, by which an emerging country has been in the position of the recipient country itself and will be most likely be able to assist in a proper way. (Altenburg Weikert 2006: 3) Another advantage is that aid is tied to the donor countrys provision of goods and services. On an average, a developing country expert costs one-third of the cost of developed country experts at prevalent international rates.[16] However, if the expertise is carried out by anchor countries as well as by developed countries, the costs will be shared and generally less money will be invested. In this case Trilateral Development Cooperation can be a cost-effective way of promoting development cooperation. Another issue related to tied aid, as argued in Mehta Nanda (2005), is that when the donors tie up with local (donors home country) technical assistance providers, there is a possibility that monitoring by the donors may get relaxed as they are likely to develop alliances. A third country provider of technical assistance is far less likely to develop such a relationship with a donor and hence monitoring is likely to be more rigorous. Hence, triangular cooperations may bring more accountability in the implementation of development programs. With the involvement of a third country technical assistance provider, it is likely that more information will be made public and will thereby increase overall transparency in aid administration thereby creating a positive impact on global Governance. With a transparent aid administration system, the impact of politics on aid would be far less †¦.(source!) Limits of Trilateral Cooperations Trilateralisation of development cooperations may dilute previous political support base and thus lessen the interest of the domestic constituency in overseas aid. They might also question the accountability in the aid administration when the stakeholders from the donor country are not involved. This would lead to a decrease of commitment in donor countries for development cooperation. However, this can be countered by a type of Trilateral Development Cooperation, in which Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from developing countries with high credibility can be involved in developed countries in appraising the stakeholders there about the utility of the aid that they are providing to the developing countries (Metha Nanda 2005: 2) It may also not always be easy for one developing country to accept technical assistance for capacity building from another developing country. There are political problems even among several developing countries that might thwart the process. Another risk factor Mehta and Nanda state in 2005 is that there may be an unwillingness in sections of policy makers and other important stakeholders to accept ‘intermediate technology or ‘intermediate policy who may be in favour of leap-frogging The lure of trips to rich countries among sections of bureaucracy and the political establishment may also sabotage the process of trilateral development cooperation. LDCs very often do not find the idea of visiting another developing country for training or experience-sharing exciting enough. Even the fringe benefits of visiting a rich country are much higher for them. 2.4 The Beginning of Trilateral Cooperations within German Development Aid Germanys Development Aid Institutions are not singularly structured as they are in other European countries. Several Institutions such as KfW, DED, InWEnt and GTZ all function as German representatives in the field of development politics and provide assistance in developing countries. This might lead to different perceptions on what constitutes German Development assistance and which one represents the leading Development Aid institution.[17] According to Tomecko (2008), GTZ[18] stated a prospective turnover of a little over â‚ ¬1.1 billion per annum and operate through 92 offices that serve 120 countries with about 12,000 employees working in 2,700 projects in the year 2008. About 25% of the mentioned turnover is currently in Asia. A wide geographic presence, access to development cooperation officials and the diversity GTZ projects, the organization is able to provide an infrastructure for Trilateral Cooperations. On a global scale 14 operational trilateral projects are in place, so Temecko (2008); partners are namely (1) South Africa with Ethiopia, D.R. Congo, Lesotho, India on governance and technology, (2) Brazil with 10 countries in Latin America and Africa mainly in the area of AIDS, (3) Mexico with Guatemala, Ecuador and Dom. Republic on issues related to the environment, (4) Chile with several Latin American countries where we have a special fund for trilateral, (5) Indonesia with Timor Leste on national parks development, (6) China, with Chile, Vietnam and India mainly in the area of economic policy dialogue. There are four major issues Trilateral Cooperations established through GTZ projects revolving around: Joint missions, the combined use and exchanges of experts, job training as well as education and fellowships and study visits development, micro-finance, SME promotion and health. Financed are all projects by the parent ministry, the German Federal Ministry for Development and Economic Cooperation (BMZ) by providing additional budgets for activities like enhancing trilateral cooperation projects. 2.5 Lessons learned: Germanys previous Trilateral Cooperations The topic of Trilateral Cooperations is not new, the idea of Joint Development Initiatives in Germany dates back to 1974. (Souce) The demonstrated form of Cooperation has been implemented within Germanys Development Cooperation with different levels of success. Within this study the first Trilateral Development Cooperation, under Egon Bahr, will be discussed intensively as it is the first Trilateral Cooperations in Germany and provides a range of lessons learned for further triangular engagement. In addition, two further Trilateral cooperation attempts are discussed to give a broader insight on what Cooperations have been put into practice and what can we learn from previous experiences. 2.5.1 The Failure of Germanys First Trilateral Cooperation under Egon Bahr „Im à ¶ffentlichen Bewußtsein lag Entwicklungshilfe, sobald davon à ¼berhaupt Notiz genommen wurde, ziemlich nah bei der christlichen Pflicht des Wohlhabenden, mitleidige Menschen in Not zu unterstà ¼tzen. [] Unser Interesse mußte stà ¤rker betont werden, das Interesse an kà ¼nftigen Mà ¤rkten, an Prà ¤vention sozialer Spannungen. Es nà ¼tzt uns, wenn andere etwas kaufen kà ¶nnen, sichert sogar Arbeitsplà ¤tze.â€Å"[19] (Bahr, 1996: 467) The political course of the German Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschanlands (SPD)-politician Egon Bahr was considered as pragmatic in nature.[20] His famous speech in front of the Evangelical Academy Tutzingen in 1963 holds the title „Wandel durch Annà ¤herungâ€Å" Change through convergence[21]. It soon became not only his motto but also the program for West German foreign policy[22]. His concept of „change through convergenceâ€Å" was closely connected to the concept of „peaceful coexistanceâ€Å" and soon led him to, in his eyes, beneficial ideas of establishing trilateral cooperations. Bahrs idea was to bring together the oil money surplusses of the Arab States and the know-how of the industialized countries to engage together in development investments in developing countries.[23] In that, he saw two main advantages: (1) On a global scale the cooperation was supposed to put forth a release of the currency situation and (2) on a national scale the model was alleged to help ease the national finances of the Federal Republic of Germany.[24] The following calculation serves as an explanation for establishing a Trilateral Cooperation. According to UN criteria for the second period of development aid (1971-1980) 0,7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) should be used for Official Development Assistance (ODA). In 1974 the Federal Republic of Germany had already established 0,36%. Due to the oil price taxation the oil-producing developing countries received additional money in form of yields which were financed by the Federal Republic of Germany through their oil purchases. Therefore the West German GDP increased by 1,7 %.[25] In recognizing an interplay between economic and development politics, Bahr tried with his model of Trilateral Cooperation to use the surplus of the oil countries to finance development aid in third nations which are non-oil-development countries. As an outcome for Germany he expected to add new jobs, which would lead to an increase in income as well as in demand. For the developing country he expected that the infusion of know-how and technical assistance would result in a catch-up industrialization with an escalating number of employees. This would have a positive influence on the economic status and would also result in an increase in demand. Brisk trade relationships and the surmounting of the economic crisis were supposed to be the outcomes of his model of trilateral cooperations. However, Nuscheler (2005) argues that some of Bahrs assumptions are weak and would thererfore hinder the Trilateral Cooperation model to succeed. First of all, Nuscheler states the assumption that all developing countries would undergo similar development as would industrialized countries, also known as the catch-up industrialization.[26] Due to geomorphological and climatic preconditions, which are completely different than in western countries, a catch-up industrialization would be rather unlikely. Bahr saw the agricultural sector as the most important one for a country, because it has been of great importance for Germany. Conversely, for most developing countries, the agricultural sector was not the key, since the population rate by far outweighs the provision of food, even if all available fields would be in use. Secondly, Nuscheler questions the assumption that better integration of the developing countries into the world market would stimulate a demand in developing countries as seen in industrialized countries. With the exception of the raw material sector, such demand would not come about in the development countries, Nuscheler (2005) points out. His explanation is that the developing countries have different structures of supply and demand, which is set according to their respective needs. The third and last assumption of Bahrs Trilateral Cooperation Model, Nuscheler critisizes, is that economic growth will have a positive effect on all parts of the population of a developing country. All three arguments, Nuscheler states, can be seen as reason for failure of Bahrs model of the Trilateral Cooperation and can be summarized as errors of the concept „development through growthâ€Å" (Nuscheler 2005: 78). In his Trilateral Cooperation model, Bahr also used elements of the „basic need strategyâ€Å", which maintains that life is a fundamental need and therefore that development politics should take into consideration that education as well as health-care etc. should be provided for all parts of the population. (Bahr 96: 479). That might be one of the reasons why Bahr drew attention of German development politics to the poorest countries of Africa. Egon Bahr tested his Trilateral Cooperation model for the first time in 1975 in South Sudan. German companies were supposed to build with money from Saudi Arabian streets and habours in the largest Afrian country, but Bahrs ambitions were undermined by the Arabs. The Arabs demanded as a countermove from Germany that they will be part of the boycott against Israel and that Germany will exclude those firms from the Sudan-trade, who are in any trade relationship with Tel Aviv.[27] This and German Development Politics under Egon Bahr with the tendency to „more selfishness, less charityâ€Å" has been one of several diffuculties leading to the breakdown of Bah