Tag Archives: case study

CASE STUDY: The Trade in Tea

(DISPARITIES IN WEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT: REDUCING DISPARITIES)

Like other raw materials, only small % final P goes to producers
- majority of $ generated by tea industry goes to the post-raw-material states
  - benefits MEDCs, not LEDCs (producing nations)
Dutch Tea Institute report (2006) found:
- ↓ P (bc ↑ compeition in tea market)…↑ costs of production…pressure to ↓ wages…need to ↑ social, economic, ecological and labor conditions throughout tea sector in LEDCs
Global tea market dominated by small no. of companies…v. large market power
Annual export sales of tea (raw material): $3 billion
- Much LOWER than retail value of global tea business
Global trading system prevents tea producers from moving up value chain by processing and packaging the tea they grow
- bc would have to compete w/ v. powerful brands
  - difficult to achieve EOS of global tea companies

CASE STUDY: The Emergence of China as a Major Trading Nation

(DISPARITIES IN WEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT: REDUCING DISPARITIES)

1976 death of Mao Zedong…big change in China’s econ. policy
- Mao’s successor aimed to end China’s “isolation” from the world economy + imitate East Asia’s export-led success
  - 10%↑ econ. growth/year
  - 15%↑ exports/year in 1980s-90s
  - 8x↑ size of Chinese economy
  - 150 million↓ no. of Chinese living on <$1/day between 1990-8
  - strong continued growth in 1st decade of 2000s

Value of China’s int’l trade: $2562 billion (2008) vs $1.13 billion (1950)
Forex reserves >$2000 billion (2008)
China now world’s 3rd largest economy
↑Y/capita due to econ. growth & trade: 22,968 yuan (2008) vs 463 (1980)

1999: CHINA JOINED WTO
Attracted record $92 billion in FDI (2008)
- foreign companies attracted to cheap labour (wages in China <5% wages in US)

EXPORTS:
- 60% world’s bicycles
- >50% world’s shoes
- 20% of world’s garments (predicted to ↑ to 50% in 2010)

NB: China’s share of world trade still only 4%…trade surplus $30 billion

CONDENSED – Case Study: Haiti (Management of a Tectonic Event)

Risk Assessment

Seismically active area + history of destructive earthquakes
No formal risk assessment (authorities)
“Haitian emergency services would not be able to cope” (AUS gov’t)

Prediction

“Fault line – end of seismic cycle + worst-case 7.2” (overseas seismologists, 2007)
“High risk of major seismic activity” (other seismologists)

Preparation

No action + emergency plans (authorities)
Poor country – non-earthquake resistant shanty-type houses + transport + telecommunications infrastructure
People not educated

Short Term

Lack of information –> major confusion
Lack of disaster response (authorities) -> blocked roads + traffic -> international rescue efforts restricted
2000 international rescuers after 1 week
Badly damaged infrastructure
- 50+ hospitals + land/sea transport facilities + telecommunication
- -> Immediate relief & rescue efforts failed
Minimal gov’t management of r & r
- 25% civil servants dead
Roads blocked long time -> no access by disaster relief (food/water/tents/clothing)
1/3 HHs lost all food supply
Lack of ramps -> planes with relief supplies could not unload
Lack of fuel -> planes could not leave
No temporary housing -> streets + self-built shanty towns
1.5M homeless -> relief camps
Poor sanitation -> cholera outbreak
Slow corpse removal -> disease
No security -> stealing
Lack of help -> 600,OOO left area (back to rural)

Long term

Slow response (authorities + foreign NGOs)
6 MONTHS
- Humanitarian situation: still “emergency phase”
- 98% rubble remained -> Port-au-Prince impassable
- 1M still in relief camps
  - Crime
  - Building of new gov’t centre: not begun
1 YEAR
- No major rebuilding
- “Only 15% basic/temporary housing built” (Oxfam)
- 95% rubble remained -> no land for rebuilding
2 YEARS
- 500,000 homeless
- “Only 50% money pledged for reconstruction ($4.5bn) received” (UN)
1/5 jobs lost, not replaced -> ñunemployment
Occasional cholera outbreaks
Some schools/hospitals not rebuilt