Veggies 4U's Energy Pricing Dilemma

Veggies 4U is a young and dynamic family-run greenhouse: Lucy and her husband run the business with the help of a small group of friends and colleagues who serve on the company's Board of Directors. Lucy is preparing a report to the Board to recommend a natural gas supply contract for the next three years. The company has received four different contract offers, ranging from a simple forward contract, to a maximum cost contract with a price floor. The case focuses on the pricing and risk management opportunities offered by an integrated North American natural gas market. Lucy has to assess the different supply contract offers received by the company and to reverse engineer them in order to benchmark their cost with that of potential synthetic alternatives Veggies 4U could build. Once Lucy has decided what to recommend, she has to sell it to the Board.Energy price risk, Natural gas supply contract, Financial engineering, Risk, Demand and Price Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty,

Enterprise Risk Management at Top Agro Inc.

Top Agro (TA - not its real name) is a small crop protection start-up operating in the European Union. In a relatively short period of time TA has been able to secure a reasonable profit margin and build a solid niche in the Italian crop protection market. The driving force in their success is the professional expertise of the two owners, their knowledge of the domestic market, and the highly flexible business model they’ve developed. Chemicals are sourced either in the Far East via a Hong Kong based commercial partner or purchased directly from other European domestic suppliers. TA is responsible for the formulation and packaging of the finished product, which is then distributed in the domestic Italian market. Although TA is now profitable, further sales growth is unlikely. One of the owners is convinced that significant benefits may be obtained by identifying and controlling the key risks that TA is exposed to, in particular by reducing the price risk in their international supply chain. This case has been classroom tested at the senior undergraduate and MBA level with good results. It works well as opening case for an eMBA course on managing price risk, as it provides an opportunity to map the risk “opportunity set†via the ERM challenging students to reason and set intervention priorities by focusing on currency exchange rates and risk management as the most immediate and promising action.supply chain, enterprise risk management, currency risk management, crop protection., Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Productivity Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty,

The role of magnetic field for quiescence-outburst models in CVs

In this paper we present the elementary assumptions of our research on the role of the magnetic field in modelling the quiescence-outbursts cycle in Cataclysmic Variables (CVs). The behaviour of the magnetic field is crucial not only to integrate the disk instability model (Osaki 1974), but also to determine the cause and effect nexus among parameters affecting the behavior of complex systems. On the ground of our interpretation of the results emerging from the literature, we suggest that in models describing DNe outbursts, such as the disk instability model, the secondary instability model (Bath 1973) and the thermonuclear runaway model (Mitrofanov 1978), the role of the magnetic field is at least twofold. On the one hand, it activates a specific dynamic pathway for the accreting matter by channelling it. On the other hand, it could be indirectly responsible for switching a particular outburst modality. In order to represent these two roles of the magnetic field, we need to integrate the disk instability model by looking at the global behaviour of the system under analysis. Stochastic resonance in dynamo models, we believe, is a suitable candidate for accomplishing this task. We shall present the MHD model including this mechanism elsewhere.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, CTU Proceedings, Acta Polytechnica (accepted

Parma Agrifood Research Management Knowledge Network: PARMa KN

The case focuses on the proposed development of the Parma Agrifood Research Management Knowledge Network (PARMa KN). The PARMa KN is intended to be a global network of leading professionals drawn from academia, industry, and the public sector. The proposal is for the group to be funded by the City of Parma and corporate, foundation, and individual donors. Its main objective would be to build value for society through the development of cutting-edge research, educational programs, and service activities for firms in the food and agribusiness sector. It is hoped that the new foundation will bring international expertise to food and agribusiness firms in Parma to help them to expand and remain globally competitive.consulting, trade association, industry association, SWOT, industry research, Industrial Organization, International Relations/Trade, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q10, Q17,

PKN: The Challenge of Building a Virtual Knowledge Network to Address Food and Agribusiness Management Research, Service and Training Needs

The Parma Agribusiness Research & Management Knowledge Network, PARMaKN (PKN in the article) is an innovative public-private partnership, focused on the development of advanced food and agribusiness management research and service activities. PKN was launched in Parma in July 2007 by Societa’ Parmense per gli Insediamenti Produttivi (SPIP), the economic development corporation of the City of Parma. This paper presents the vision, mission and medium term activity plan of PKN.Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Industrial Organization,

Neoadjuvant Breast Cancer HVFX 2011-2015

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio