GORBEIA CENTRAL PARK

Ondorengo blog honek Gorbeiako Parke Natural magiko eta liluragarriari buruzko informazio zabala eskaintzen du. Paradisu eder honek hainbat ekintza egiteko aukera ematen du eta gure helburua aukera horiek ondo kudeatzea eta jendea erakartzea da parkeari buruzko informazioa emanez.

Blog honetan gure estrategia garatzeko erreferentzia nagusia “Gorbeia Central Park” webgune edo blog ezaguna  izan da. Horretaz gain, esan beharra daukagu blog hau aurrera ateratzeko “Arratia Suzien” taldearen eta “Arratiako Mankomunitatearen” laguntza izan dugula.

Gorbeiako Parke Naturala Bizkaia eta Araba artean kokatzen da. Parke eder hau, Euskadiko parke natural handiena da 26.050 hektarea dituelarik eta bertako gailurrik garaiena Gorbeia mendia dugu 1481m-rekin. Aldamin 1375m eta Lekanda 1303m-rekin, dira beste gailur garrantzitsu batzuk.

Bizkaiko txoko maitagarri hau 1994.  urtean izendatu zuten parke natural bezala ez soilik bere balio naturalarengatik baita bere balio kulturalarengatik bertako herri txikiak kulturaren ondare dira, tradizio eta pentsaera zaharrak ederki mantendu dituzten herritarrez beteak: Bizkaia aldean kokatzen diren herriak Areatza, Zeanuri, Zeberio eta Orozko dira Araban aldiz Zigoitia, Zuia eta Urkabustaiz.

Parke natural honek balore sentimental eta ideologiko handia izateaz aparte aukera bikainak eskaintzen ditu, kirol ezberdinak egiteko aukera adibidez: trekking, eskalada, mountain-bike, espedeologia… herrietako janleku bikainak dastatzeko aukera; Gorostondo, Arratiano, , Axpe Goikoa… uda giroan herrietako jai giroan murgiltzeko aukera, animaliez gozatzeko aukera ….. familiarekin eguna pasatzeko aukera …. .

Lo egiteko leku anitz dituzu edozein herritan baita ingurukoetan ere; Arantza (Igorren),  Hotel Balneario Hesperia… (Areatzan) Hotel Etxegana ( Zeanuri)  eta horretaz gain herri hauek bisitatzeko aukera ederra, herri txikiak izan arren erakargarriak baitira.

Blog honek bere berriak eta ekintza ezberdinak Twitter eta Facebook bezalako sare sozialetan partekatuko ditu jendeak gure berri izan dezan.

 

ERREFERENTZIAK:

Anon, GORBEIA SUZIEN. Available at: http://gorbeiasuzien.blogspot.com.es/.

Anon, ARRATIAKO MANKOMUNIATETA. Available at: http://www.arratia.net/eu-ES/Orrialdeak/default.aspx.

Anon, GORBEIA CENTRAL PARK. Available at: http://www.gorbeiacentralpark.com/es/.

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT as the current key-asset

William R. Tracey, defines Human Resources as: “The people that staff and operate an organization … as contrasted with the financial and material resources of an organization. The organizational function that deals with the people …”. I am going to deal with Human Resources topic in this post because of two reasons: because is one of my favorite subjects and also because I have chosen this Knowledge Area to make my TFG.( Trabajo fin de Grado) in order to complete my degree in Deusto University.

Human Resources have enormously developed in the last three decades; from “personnel as the field beyond paying employees and managing employee benefits” statement. The evolution made verbal the fact that people are an organization’s most important resource. People are an asset that must be hired, satisfied and developed.
Even the long used term itself (Human Resources), relegates humans to the same category as financial and material resources, we can foresee that human resources will be replaced by more people and organization friendly terms in the near future, because they are becoming more and more important in the Company’s performance.

Relayed to human resources, three main fields are typically considered:

1. Demography: the characteristics of the workforce (Population), for example, age, gender, culture, race or social class.

2. Diversity: The variation within the population/workplace. Changes in society now mean that a larger proportion of organizations are made up of “baby-boomers”, women at any level of responsibility or older employees in comparison to thirty years ago.

3. Skills and qualifications: As industries move from manual to more managerial professions the need for more highly skilled graduates arise.

4. Management system: Human resources management method has noticeably changed as we can appreciate in the illustration bellow. The mission/focus has changed from the Control/Alignment to Speed/Customers and the HR’s function is by far different to this that rules nowadays.

Globalization shaped the world for almost three decades starting from the end of the 1970’ technologies have developed remarkably, the world has expanded continuously, the current system require many diverse professions and the need for human resources at all sides has increased : in the quantity and the quality aspects.
Starting from the last quarter of 2008 however the world economy entered a dramatic Crisis Period and Here is where the HR are playing a key role in the Companies, it has turn into an strategic Asset; when precisely the main part of the other assets have decreased swiftly.

Strategic management of Human Resources has an increased interest and this interest has resulted in various organizational functions becoming more concerned with their role in the Strategic Management Process (SMP). Strategic management is “the art and science of formulating, implementing, and evaluating cross-functional decisions that enable organization to achieve its objectives” (David, 2007). Strategic management process has been developed since 1950’s, and this process is still in practice today in the business world especially during uncertain economic environments, like the one we are suffering now.

On top of that, this technique is being so successful that has been designed with the acronym: Strategic human resources management SHRM “is the organizational system designed to achieve sustainable competitive advantage through people. SHRM involves the development of a consistent, aligned collection of practices, programs and policies to facilitate the achievement of the organization’s strategic objectives” (Mello, 2002:100). The main concept of SHRM is that all initiatives which entail how people are managed need to be aligned with and in the employees support.

To conclude, as a consequence of the ever-increasing greedy competition in that Globalized world and the economic plight we are immersed in, competitiveness of the organization is the basic condition for their survival and Human Resources seem to be the key to achieve this state.

1-Ender ASYALI, Yusuf ZORBA, A.Güldem CERIT, O.Kamil SAG,Global economic crisis and the impact on human resources
Strategies for seafers:

Click to access showcontent0007.pdf

2-Human Resources web-page,retrieved 5-12-12:
http://www.humanresources.com/

These are very well-written blong I have inspired on:

3-Elena Méndez Díaz-Villabella, Escrito el 3 mayo 2012 en Mercado laboral, Política de RRHH, Retrieved 4-12-12:: http://humanresources.blogs.ie.edu/

4-Alberto Andreu en el 7 diciembre 2011, Retrieved 4-12-12:
http://humanresources.blogs.ie.edu/2011/12/07/dirigir-con-valor-y-con-valores/#comment-1018

Las empresas españolas y la crisis

De acuerdo con la Real Academia Española (RAE), crisis es, en su sexta acepción, escasez, carestía, y, en su séptima acepción, situación dificultosa o complicada. Ambas tienen en común una connotación económica propia del momento en el que vivimos actualmente y recuerdan a lo que todos los grupos sociales y medios de comunicación hablan y opinan a diario como expertos.

En un marco de crisis económica-financiera mundial, el contexto de España se caracterizaba por una economía sostenida en gran medida en la industria de la construcción. De hecho, en 2005 representaba el  20% del PIB.

Cabe destacar que la Ley del suelo de 1998 supuso un importante cambio, puesto que eliminaba muchas trabas administrativas en la urbanización de terrenos y permitía que la tasación del precio del suelo quedara sujeta a las leyes de oferta y demanda.

Sin embargo, realmente, el hecho que marcó un antes y un después en la economía española fue la llegada de la moneda única europea en el año 2002. Aunque según las teorías de Ricard Vergés, fue la repatriación de capitales evadidos que, según se acercaba la llegada del euro, fueron blanqueados mediante la compra de inmuebles.

Además, los bancos y cajas de ahorro concedían un gran número de créditos, algunos de ellos con mucho riesgo, actividad favorecida por una bajada histórica del tipo de interés. Lo que ocasionó que se introdujeran miles de millones de euros en la economía española procedentes de bancos extranjeros. Dinero que se invirtió fundamentalmente en la construcción de infraestructuras y viviendas. Se produjo una especulación que infló la burbuja inmobiliaria y, finalmente, sufrió un pinchazo.

En esta crisis no solo se ve afectado el sector de la construcción, sino todos y cada uno de todos los demás. Otros de los agravantes de la crisis han sido, entre otros, la baja productividad y competitividad de las empresas españolas con respecto a las de otros países europeos, el elevado gasto público durante varios años y la corrupción política.

Así, en 2008 la economía española entró en recesión, alcanzando su mínimo durante el segundo trimestre de 2009. En ese momento comenzó a recuperarse y en el segundo trimestre de 2010 algunas personas llegaron a aclamar que la economía española estaba saliendo de la crisis, aunque desgraciadamente se ha demostrado que no.

Socialmente, por un lado, otro factor muy característico de esta época es la crisis de confianza que se ha producido. No se refiere únicamente a la desconfianza del inversionista, sino a la de la sociedad en sí.  Esta última juega un papel fundamental en la economía, ya que en una época como la que estamos viviendo se pierde poder adquisitivo y se deja de consumir para poder ahorrar y/o sobrevivir. Por otro lado, han surgido algunos movimientos sociales como el 15M, manifestaciones y/o huelgas en distintos puntos de la geografía española. Todos ellos, además de cuestionar el sistema político, han reivindicado el modelo económico y productivo de este país.

Centrándome en la empresa española, los efectos de la crisis han sido devastadores para ella en términos generales, sobre todo para las pequeñas y medianas empresas (pymes).

La demanda ha disminuido por la crisis de confianza generada y también por medidas del gobierno como las dos subidas del IVA llevadas a cabo en 2010 y 2012. Otra de las medidas adoptadas ha sido el aumento de la recaudación del impuesto de sociedades. Entre otros, el importe mínimo pasa este año y el próximo del 8% al 12% y los créditos fiscales por las pérdidas sufridas en años anteriores se reducen.

Muchas empresas, además, se han encontrado con problemas de financiación y eso, unido a las pérdidas sufridas, las ha llevado a la quiebra. Otras, en cambio, se han visto obligadas a reducir los costes mediante expedientes de regulación de empleo (EREs), a contratar mano de obra más barata o recortar algunos gastos. De cualquier manera, algunas empresas intentan encontrar su oportunidad en esta época haciendo realidad la famosa frase “la necesidad gudiza el ingenio”. Las empresas se han dado cuenta de que es el momento de mover ficha, por ejemplo, en algunos sectores se están aplicando constantes descuentos o se ha absorbido la subida del IVA para intentar aumentar la demanda de sus bienes o servicios.

Sin embargo, hay que destacar que existen grandes empresas como Inditex, que pueden considerarse excepciones. Esta cadena ha ganado 944 millones de euros en el primer semestre de 2012 gracias a su expansión por Asia y América, superando las previsiones.

En mi opinión, la economía española se ha debilitado hasta límites insospechados. Solo hace falta echar la vista atrás para darse cuenta del notable cambio que ha sufrido España en los últimos años, no solo en lo que al sector económico se refiere, sino también en política y sociedad.

Sea como sea, en estos momentos se debate entre si pedir el rescate es lo más acertado o no. Yo creo que España debe pedirlo. España se encuentra económicamente hundida, y da la impresión de estar yendo precipitadamente cuesta abajo y sin frenos. Sin embargo, al aceptar que nos rescaten, nos estamos sometiendo a una serie de restricciones y recortes aun más exigentes. Entonces, la pregunta que me hago es: ¿Merecerá la pena? Sí. Cierto es, que aumentará la deuda que tenemos con los demás países europeos, y seguramente el IVA subirá aún más. Sin embargo, llegados a este punto en el que hay 4.705.279 parados no nos queda otra salida.

Lo que más me ha llamado la atención no solo son las consecuencias económicas de esta crisis, sino ver cómo una sociedad puede cambiar radicalmente a causa de las alteraciones que tenga tal país en su economía. Atrás quedaron las esperanzas de tener un nivel de vida como el de nuestros padres, en el que se tiene una segunda vivienda para veranear y uno o incluso dos coches de alta gama. En conclusión, mi reflexión es: ¿Qué nos depara el futuro? ¿Cómo viviremos dentro de unos años? Son cuestiones que me intrigan e incluso angustian, pero habrá que esperar para darles respuesta.

Referencias

RAE, Real Academia española (2012). Último acceso 14/12/12. Disponible en: http://www.rae.es/rae.html

BOE, Boletín Oficial del Estado (2012). Ministerio de hacienda y administración públicas. Último acceso 14/12/12. Disponible en: http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2012/05/17/pdfs/BOE-A-2012-6499.pdf

ELECONOMISTA (2012), Inditex supera als previsiones. Último acceso 14/12/12. Disponible en: http://www.eleconomista.es/interstitial/volver/acierto/empresas-finanzas/noticias/4258458/09/12/Inditex-gano-944-millojnes-en-su-primer-semestre-el-32-mas-.html

INE (2012). Último acceso 14/12/12. Disponible en: http://www.ine.es/

 

Free topic post: Bankia

In this post, I am going to give some general information about Bankia, the polemic bank which is considered as the main responsible of the economical crisis in Spain. I say general because the crisis is a really deep and complicated topic, and, of course, there are too many different versions of how it was caused. However, in spite of the fact that there are different points of view, it is undeniable that Bankia is one of the main guilty ones, as it is the fourth largest bank entity of Spain.

Bankia was created in December 2010; it is the fusion between seven savings banks: Caja Madrid, Bancaja, Caja de Canarias, Caixa Laietana, Caja de La Rioja, Caja Ávila and Caja Segovia. Its president was Rodrigo Rato, who had formerly been the president of Caja Madrid. Even if it was private at first, now it has been largely nationalized due to the problems that the institution had in the latest years. As we all know, Bankia requested a bailout of 19 billion euros on the 25 of May of 2012, which has been the largest bailout requested by a spanish bank entity in the whole history.

As a start point, I am going to speak about one of the main (and best known) reasons of this crisis we are living, in which Bankia is largely involved: the speculation.

Generally speaking, the main problem of Bankia (and in general) was that in most of the savings banks there were politicians doing the job of the administrators, and, as it has been largely proved, the qualification most politicians have in the field of administration is quite limited (sometimes they don’t have qualification at all), and they started giving credits to local governments and to property companies (which seemed to be in their boom of production and sales) without taking care of the consequences. When the property market started bankrupting, most of the little/medium sized banks were hit by a flood of bad investments and credits which were impossible to charge, and Bankia found itself in the need of a rescue.

People were terrifyingly surprised when Bankia, which was considered as one of the most successful banks in Spain, fell. As I said before, the reason is moderately simple: while Rodrigo Rato was the president of Bankia, 31 798 millions of euros were irresponsibly invested in the construction sector. Now, we can see huge extensions of useless constructions which have cost millions of euros.

In conclusion, I would say that this bank is the result of an illogical decision, and that the government is largely involved. Bankia started from a bank fusion which nobody understood very well, and the government approved it without any doubt. Now, we are paying the consequences of their frivolous decision.

Aitor Seijas Conde

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/economia/2012/05/11/bankia-historia-empezo-mal-acabo-peor/0003_201205G11P4991.htm

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303901504577459072726384432.html

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2012/05/07/economia/1336411669.html

¿Hay alguna solución para la actual situación económica?

Hace años nos asaltaba la preocupación sobre como era posible que España creciera al ritmo que lo hacía a pesar de la balanza comercial y la de cuenta corriente tan negativa. La respuesta estaba en la deuda y su crecimiento. Con las bajadas de tipos de interés que hemos tenido en la última década se ha estimulado el endeudamiento privado a un ritmo endiablado que se he traducido en una “creación” de dinero bancario sin precedentes que ha compensado el déficit de la balanza por cuenta corriente. Técnicamente la hemos compensado con “deuda externa” como marca el equilibrio de la balanza de pagos. Al fin y al cabo esa deuda en el mejor de los casos un dinero que se le debe al BCE y que en esa última instancia el BCE ha creado para prestar a nuestros bancos y estos a nosotros. En en cierto modo una “deuda externa”, un capital que ha fluido hacia España en forma de deuda y ha permitido un crecimiento económico fabuloso.

Pero eso se acabó. Lo tipos de interés han tocado fondo. La burbuja ha pinchado, y en España con más fuerza. Pero además ladeuda no era solo española sino mundial,  con lo que se sumó una crisis de consumo en los países a los  exportamos, desplomándose nuestras exportaciones.

Entre las soluciones más factibles que podemos encontrar para reconducir la economía del país, destacan:

– Una política más austera en gasto público

– Más viviendas de protección oficial

– Eliminar gastos en ministerios superfluos

– Inversión en nuevas energías

– En ningún caso nacionalizar las pérdidas de cajas de ahorro, Bancos o empresas de construcción.

– Priorizar la sanidad y educación respecto al rescate de bancos. 

Podemos empezar a adoptar estas medidas o seguir discutiendo sobre que líder político es más inepto y carece de menor credibilidad, algo en lo que todos estarían bastante parejos.

 

 

Referencias;

Krugman y la crisis española: http://www.relatividad.org/ondas_elliott/crisisespanolakrugman.html

Syria: intervention or non-intervention?

On 17 February 2012, a piece of news written by Kevin Ovenden in The Guardian stated this: ” Calls for aggressive intervention in Syria are growing as the country slides further into sectarian civil war. The shrillest are from the Republican right, joined this week by Israel’s foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman. The same people are campaigning for confrontation with Iran, threatening a major war. Elliot Abrams, a neoconservative architect of the Iraq disaster, spells out the connection: Syria, he says, provides a “proxy opportunity” to heat up the cold war with Tehran”.

As happened in Libya, “the war was purportedly to save lives. In fact, the killing intensified on all sides, including from Nato bombs. Estimates of the number dead reach 30,000. The outcome is not democracy and human rights. Amnesty International is the latest NGO to report the torturing to death of prisoners under the new regime and rival militias”.

The Tribune News, added in March through the reporter Vaishnav Sunil that “what distinguishes Syria from Libya is the nature of existing opposition within the country. Unlike Libya, where much of the coastal core of the population lived under rebel control, the opposition to Syria’s dictatorial president, Bashar al-Assad, has not achieved sustained control of any major population area. This implies that air power alone would probably not be sufficient to blunt the Assad loyalists entrenched in cities, and a heavy ground campaign would probably face stiff and bloody resistance. If a large region broke away from the regime en masse, international humanitarian intervention would become more viable. So although a mass homicide campaign is under way in Syria, there is no way to stop it without loss of unacceptable lives.”

Many political experts claim that militaryintervention in Syria would do more harm than good. Namely, Ed Husain, Senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies, Council on Foreign Relations, gives his view on the motion in “Economist Debates: Syria”. He believes that “military intervention in Syria is ill-conceived, short-sighted, counter-productive, and likely to generate more killings and massacres rather than stop them. Unlike any other Arab nation, Syria is home to varied and numerous assortments of religious sects, tribes, ethnicities and historic rivalries. In contrast to the uprisings in Yemen, Egypt and Libya, we have not witnessed high-level political and military defections inside Syria. And the largest cities in Syria—Damascus and Aleppo—have so far been relatively calm. Whatever the reasons—fear of, or support for, Bashar Assad—the opposition has thus failed to mobilise key constituencies inside Syria that would indicate to us that the regime is losing control”.

Nevertheless, there some few experst that are in favour of intervention. Shadi Hamid,director of research, Brooking Doha Center, states that “military action, in any context, should not be taken lightly. But neither should standing by and proposing measures that have, in Syria, so far failed to work. Opponents of intervention need to explain how staying the current course—hoping that diplomacy might work when it has not for nearly a year—is likely to resolve an increasingly deadly civil war”.

References:

1. Kevin Ovenden, 17-02-12, “Western Intervention in Syria will do more harm than good”. The Guardian. Retrieved: 05-05-12 from www.guardian.co.uk.
2. Vaishnav Sunil, March 2012, “Syria: must the west take action?” The Tribune News. Retrieved: 05-05-12 from www.thenewstribune.com.
3. Ed Husain, 10-02-12, “West must not intervene militarily in Syria”. CNN. Retrieved: 03-05-12 from http://www.edition.cnn.com.
4. Shadi Hamid, 21-02-12, Economist Debates: Syria. The Economist. Retrieved 03-05-12  from www.economist.com.
5. Charles Crawford, 27-03-12, “If it brings freedom, a bloody Syrian civil war may be preferable to slavery”. Syrian Freedom. Retrieved: 05-05-12 from www.syrianfreedomls.tumblr.com.

State capitalism as a viable alternative to liberal capitalism?

As it is plenty suggested in The Economist, state capitalism is gaining a big relevance and significance in nowadays Western world. Since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008 this new manner of working with the liberal capitalism is strengthening; in the following lines, retrieved from Time Business, it is clearly displayed what is the scenario regarding a post beginning-of-the-crisis world; how the state capitalism has so much to do in the new economic juncture:

“In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the debate over the proper role of the state in a modern economy has been reopened. In the U.S., Tea Partiers advocate their own version of “small government” to promote economic recovery, while President Barack Obama promotes more active government policy to create jobs. Others, meanwhile, wonder if Washington needs an “industrial policy” to nurture new sectors, like green energy, to help the U.S. compete with China. In Europe, politicians are grappling with how to regain competitiveness through liberalization while still maintaining the extensive social protection of their welfare states.

In emerging markets, however, a significant state hand in economic development is far less controversial. Many of today’s up-and-coming economies either have had their state-led development period, or are still very much in the midst of that experiment – most of all, China. And it has not gone unnoticed among some analysts in the West that many of these same emerging markets have also generally maintained their growth despite the devastating global downturn. So as the market economies of the West falter, some have asked if “state capitalism,” that mix of market forces and state control, can produce better economic results than the laissez faire economic models favored in the U.S.”

What it is suggested here is exactly what has bring us to discuss. The government has more to do in the free market than what we can expect, because, being honest, nowadays there is no state that can boast of having a real and absolute free market. There is always a minimum control on the economical activities, and it has hugely increased recently. We only have to focus on the banks: the states are breaking their minds to lighten their economical debts (with “theirs” I am referring to “their banks”), asking for more and more money to be transferred from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) or the ECB (European Central Bank), so that they’ll get enough liquid money, in order to make possible the granting of credits.

The model of the so-called state capitalism is China. Retaking what Time Business says about the state capitalism-liberal capitalism debate, this is what adds relating to China:

“Yes, the economy continues to grow at a stellar pace and a big reason why is the role of the government. The country powered through the Great Recession to a great degree because of government stimulus, credit from state banks and investment by state corporations. Over the long term, the support of the state has also aided the country’s rapid advance into global manufacturing.”

Now, state capitalism might seem to be a perfect manner to control the economic crisis and to stabilize social welfare, but this is not entirely true (because, if so, we would have found the perfect new economic system). Too heavy a state hand – through, for example, bureaucratic meddling in the financial system and government control of the value of the Yuan – is creating an economy with serious distortions, including rising levels of debt, excessive investment, even more excessive external surpluses, and a potential banking crisis.[1]

Therefore, the economic crisis is not only that: it is a crisis of a corrupt and worn out system that threatens with its end. The liberal capitalism is naturally cyclic, which tends to decline between certain time periods, but what happened four years ago is a massive abuse of the system, a worldwide collapse of rusty economic gears. Whether the strong introduction of the state in the market will improve the outlook, maybe it will. What it is certain, in my opinion, that any kind of capitalism is drown, and a new and trustful system must be carried out.

References:

• The Economist. State capitalism. This house believes that state capitalism is a viable arternative to liberal capitalism (Debate). Retrieved on the 8 May 2012 from http://www.economist.com/debate/overview/221 

---

[1] Schuman, Michael. State capitalism vs the free market: Which performs better? September 30, 2011. Retrieved the 8 May 2012 from Time Business: http://business.time.com/2011/09/30/state-capitalism-vs-the-free-market-which-performs-better/

The locomotive and the astray carriages

Economic crisis and international reations

Hereby I do not intended to do a paradigmatic paper in the study of the crisis in relation to politics and international diplomacy, as well as I do not trust the plethora of ominous books promising to give the solution to the crisis. Notwithstanding, I would like to arouse the itch for further investigations ad inquerendum. The economic crisis has become a political crisis [1], and I am on the point of making it plain.

Gerry Coutler: Baudrillard’s Marx

Jean Baudrillard was a French philosopher and sociologist, a cultural critic and theorist of postmodernity, who, unfortunetly, died in 2007. He left a huge work composed by many books, articles and essays, and he is common known, among other things, for analyzing critically Marx‘s ideas.

Marx believed that in economics and its dialectical procedure he found fundamental agency, all he found was what haunts it – Baudrillard, 1976

Because of the interest in this philosopher who had wrote about marxism during the Cold War period and the desire to improve Wikipedia in Basque, I have retrieved some sources for the article. The source I will be commenting is an article of the professor of sociology Gerry Coutler based on Baudrillard’s work and his analysis of Marxim.

USSR vs USA: competition for supremacy in space exploration

During the Cold War John F. Kennedy said “We choose to go to the moon in this decade, not because it is easy, but because it is hard. The competition between the two superpowers was already boiling, the supremacy and reputation were at stake. Arriving to the moon was the hugest challenge that technology had to face in that moment. National budget and all effort was focused on this goal, defeating the enemy was as important as obtaining the recognition as hegemonic power. This scientific battle lasted from 1957 to 1975 and it involved a great economical effort and also human sacrifice. In fact, it is considered the greatest technological investment ever made after the Second World War.

Last year Konstantin Bogdanov published ,in the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, an article about the race of manned trips. The article is an interesting source and above all a truthful report supported by many data about the space race. One of his areas of investigation covers all events related to the space race. He explains the significant progress of spatial technology and he comes to the conclusion that USSR and USA drawed in this intense space race. In order to complete this information, there is an illustrated report about the arrival to the moon that El Mundo newspaper disclosed in its digital edition.

This report shows many features about this historic event such as the trip of Neil Amstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, the mission, the biography of the twelve astronauts that landed on the moon and what the consequences of this success produced. In addition, the report in order to viewers understand and figure the event out better encloses a documentary with real images of the arrival on our satellite.

Besides, it is important to manage information about Apollo program with which Americans arrived to the moon. That is the reason why the work includes this information retrieved from NASA, the greatest spatial authority in the world. From this American point of view, it is possible to explain how important the success was for US. As Neil Amstrong said, this giant step for the mankind. Yes, it actually was the victory of American nation and its people. But behind every success, there are loads of failures and the report about Apollo program shows many flops, for example Apolo 1 explosion and the death of the astronauts.

To sum up, this wikipedia article about the space race in basque expects to collect different points of view. Firstly, the article of Bodganov provides the Soviet view about the issue. Then, it is important to use information done by any other neutral country like Spain, Therefore, the report of El Mundo is a quite useful source. Finally, NASA is going to explain the events from American point of view. In this way, the project is going to be focused on many perspectives instead of sticking to unique point of view.

References:

– El Mundo digital: 2009 July, 40 años en la Luna, 2009 retrieved 28/2/2012. www.elmundo.es/especiales/2009/07/ciencia/llegada_hombre_lun…

– Konstantin Bodganov: La carrera espacial entre Estados Unidos y la URSS fue muy intensa y terminó en empate. RIA Novosti 28/02/2011. Retrieved 27/2/12. sp.rian.ru/opinion_analysis/20110228/148443802.html

– NASA: Apollo program, humankind’s first step on the lunar surface, retrieved 27/2/02  http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/index.html

Every tweet is a waterfall: Coldplay on the net

Social Networks have turned upside down the way brands interact with customers. Today, we could say that participating actively in social networks is almost essential to succeed in business. Coldplay band is aware of the relavance the Internet has, and so has developed a commincation strategy that enables their music to be advertised on the net.

Susan Payton ” Whether it’s you or someone else at your company, you need to dedicate someone to social media strategy.“

¿Pueden las redes sociales hacer algo para ayudarnos a salir de la “crisis”?

Como dijo Sainte-Beuve ya en el siglo XIX, “el que abusa de un líquido no se mantiene mucho tiempo sólido”. Eso es claramente lo que le ha ocurrido al sistema financiero internacional; la actual crisis es resultado de un largo período de sobreabundancia de liquidez – dinero al alcance de la mano que iba y venía, de un lado para otro – que llevó a la acumulación de una serie de excesos – principalmente el famoso “apalancamiento”, aunque no entraré a hablar de ellos -, sin que se valoraran adecuadamente los riesgos que éstos conllevaban.

Más de tres años llevamos escuchando la palabra “crisis” a diario y leyendo en los periódicos titulares agoreros. Y, sin embargo, es más que probable que muchos no lleguemos a comprender lo que está ocurriendo a nuestro alrededor ni la magnitud que tiene “la recesión ésta”.

Sare sozialen zeregina enpresen antolakuntzan

Zergatik egon beharko litzateke enpresa social media deiturikoan? Enpresa buru askok nahiko jarrera eszeptikoa izan dezakete honen aurrean, baina badaude arrazoi erabakigarriak sare sozialetan egoteko. “Es allí en los espacios sociales donde hoy día habla su público de su marca y de su empresa.” (Joost Scharrenberg, scharrenberg.net). Social Media bada enpresa batek bere bezeroekin harremana sortzeko euskarri baliagarriena, ikus dezagun zer gehiago eskaini diezaiokeen honek empresari.

“Sare sozialetan ez bazaude, ez zara existitzen.(…)  Gaur egun erran daiteke sare sozialak ez direla berrikuntza. Gure gizartearen parte dira. Nahi ala ez informazioa kontsumitzeko bide bat bihurtu dira. “.  (Xan Harriague Tristant, 2011)

Economics in the world

“If all you’re trying to do is essentially the same thing as your rivals, then it’s unlikely that you’ll be very successful.”
Quotation of Michael Porter.

This subject try to concienciate the students how the world is nowadays. What are de main problems and reasons of the actual crisis in the world. It also show us the main bases to create and enterprise or how to run or control it (how to enter to the market, the globalization…)

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. It omes from the Ancient Greek. Economics, is a subject that Modern languages and Managment are attending. This subject is focus to the actual crisis that the world is suffering and it also talks about diferent fields where economics has influence.

“Globalization is a fact of economic life” Carlos Salinas de Gortari

The real meaning of globalization is and how thas this conect with economic globalization and what the effects of such a terrible change will be for human societies in a near future.

Globalization presumes sustained economic growth. Otherwise, the process loses its economic benefits and political support” Paul Samuelson

Ekonomia: 2008-2010eko krisialdi ekonomikoa

Gaur egun bizi dugun krisi ekonomikoa oinarritzat hartuz, ekonomia klaseak inoiz baino baliagarriagoak dira. Deustuko Unibertsitatean ekonomiako hainbat eta hainbat klase ematen dira eta nirean, konkretuki,  hainbat kontu desberdin maneiatu ditugu baina aipagarriena gaur egun bizitzen ari garen krisi ekonomikoa da. Hain zuzen ere 2007an  Ameriketako Estatu Batuetako finantza sektorean hasi zena eta geroago mundu osora zabaldu zen krisia.  Hurrengo lerroetan krisialdiaren arrazoiak, eraginak eta sektore ukituenak  batu ditut.