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Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Ethics
in food and
agriculture

The production, transformation and distribution of food and agricultural products are generally accepted as routine aspects of daily life around the world. Therefore, such activities have rarely been addressed within the realm of ethics. But food and agriculture, and the economic benefits that derive from participation in the food and agriculture system, are means to ends that are inherently ethical in nature. Only on a few occasions has FAO considered ethical values, although they are embedded in the preamble to the Organization's Constitution (see Box). Without these ethical values, the most important of which are considered below, FAO would have little reason to exist.

The value of food. Food is essential for the survival of human beings; hunger results from neglect of the universal right to food. Both formal ethical systems and ethical practices in every society presume the necessity of providing those who are able-bodied with the means to obtain food and enabling those who are unable to feed themselves to receive food directly. Failure to do so is deemed an injustice, an unethical act, whereas the elimination of hunger and malnutrition is deemed beneficent. Several international documents proclaim the validity of this well-established principle, among them the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the Rome Declaration on World Food Security (1996).

The value of enhanced well-being. Today, nearly every nation state recognizes the need to enhance the well-being of its citizens. Such improvements in well-being also advance human dignity and self-respect. While charity is sometimes necessary to respond to desperate and pressing situations, it cannot provide for long-term improvements in well-being, which can only be accomplished by providing people with access to skills, capital, employment, education and opportunities. In addition, for sustainable agriculture and rural development to flourish, a viable rural infrastructure must be in place, together with an enabling policy environment.

The value of human health. Human health is improved by the elimination of hunger and malnutrition. Healthy people are more able to participate in human affairs and more able to live productive and meaningful lives. Furthermore, the protection of human health also involves ensuring adequate nutrition and safeguards against unsafe food. On both of these points, nations are agreed - as members of the World Health Organization (WHO Constitution, 1946) and the Codex Alimentarius Commission (1963).

Excerpt from the Preamble to FAO's Constitution

The Nations accepting this Constitution, being determined to promote the common welfare by furthering separate and collective action on their part for the purpose of:

·         raising levels of nutrition and standards of living of the peoples under their respective jurisdictions;

·         securing improvements in the efficiency of the production and distribution of all food and agricultural products;

·         bettering the condition of rural populations;

·         and thus contributing towards an expanding world economy and ensuring humanity's freedom from hunger;

hereby establish the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ...

The value of natural resources. All human societies recognize the importance of atural world that are used to produce food and other valued goods and which are necessary for our survival and prosperity. Clearly, no particular use of such resources should undermine the other le-gitimate uses to which they might be put, now or in the future. In particular, no current use should condemn our progeny to endless toil or deprivation.

The value of nature. Finally, there is growing agreement that nature itself must be valued. As our power to modify nature grows, there is also an increasing recognition of the beauty, complexity and integrity of nature, and of the limits to humans' restructuring of the natural world. The Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) not only recognizes the value that may be placed on particular organisms; it also acknowledges, as do countless cultures, that nature itself is to be valued for what it is.

* * *

To sum up, these values define in part who we are and what we should do and, while different cultures may vary in their interpretation of them, all agree as to their importance. The values in question are by no means new, and they are also central to FAO's mission. So why is it that they are again the subject of dialogue and debate? Why is it that FAO feels obliged to raise the issue of ethics in food and agriculture?

For more information: http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/DOCREP/003/X9601S/x9601s01.htm

 

Sincerely yours Rodrigo González Fernández

JPrenafeta, que es un muy distinguido blogger español nos señala lo siguiente respecto de los abogados en España. Como verán, ésto no deja de sorprender ya que en Chile hay ruidos en contrario. Seguro que las condiciones pueden haber cambiado. Consultaré al Presidente del Colegio de Abogados Sr Sergio  Urrejola al respecto y a la firma ADIMARK con Roberto Méndez para tener una idea de lo que sucede en Chile.

LA IMAGEN DE LA ABOGACÍA EN ESPAÑA

La imagen de conjunto de la Abogacía entre la población es claramente positiva y llamativamente homogénea (es decir, no presenta diferencias significativas en función de factores como la edad, la clase social o la región de residencia). Tampoco hay diferencias en la valoración que de los abogados, en general, realizan usuarios y no usuarios.

Entre los usuarios la satisfacción de conjunto con los servicios del abogado es calificada con una llamativa puntuación media de 6,9. Esta valoración sube incluso hasta un excepcional 7,9 (en cuanto a la atención y el trato recibido) y registra incluso un sorprendente 6,5 respecto de los honorarios devengados. El interés y dedicación al asunto obtiene un 7,1 y la satisfacción con el resultado conseguido un 6,9.

La relación abogado/cliente es entendida en nuestra sociedad como una relación de total confianza y entrega. De ahí que la elección de abogado se sustente de forma casi exclusiva en factores de confianza interpersonal (se confía en aquél abogado en quien confían las personas que merecen confianza). Al mismo tiempo, la idea masivamente dominante es que la tarea del abogado no es tanto defender lo justo como aquello que beneficia a su cliente.

Esta expectativa de entrega total a la causa del defendido constituye sin embargo, a la vez, una pieza fundamental de la buena imagen del propio abogado y de soporte a las valoraciones más críticas (expresadas por lo general en forma de tópicos y estereotipos consagrados y generalizados) referidas a “los” abogados en general. La imagen de estos últimos resulta así en alguna medida contradictoria y ambivalente, -siempre dentro de una sustancial valoración positiva de conjunto, como ya se ha indicado.

Fuente: “La imagen de la Abogacía en la sociedad española” (pdf). Segundo Barómetro Externo de Opinión del C.G.A.E. Noviembre de 2005.

Pueden ver más en :

http://www.jprenafeta.com/blog/index.php/archives/2006/02/02/la-imagen-de-la-abogacia/

Imagen del Abogado desde JPrenafeta, saludos Rodrigo González Fernández, consultajuridica.blogspot.com

 

 

From Larry Bodine's PROFESSIONAL SERVICES MARKETING Blog

News, opinions and insights into professional marketing.

Marketing DNA

Do these scenarios sound familiar at your firm when it comes to marketing?

  • Passive-Aggressive (“everyone agrees, smiles, and nods, but nothing changes”): entrenched underground resistance makes getting anything done like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall.
  • Fits-and-Starts (“let 1,000 flowers bloom”): filled with people pulling in different directions.
  • Outgrown (“the good old days meet a brave new world”): reacts slowly to market developments, since it’s too hard to run new ideas up the flagpole.
  • Just-in-Time (“succeeding, but by the skin of our teeth”): can turn on a dime and create real breakthroughs but also tends to burn out its best and brightest.

According to Suzanne Lowe, it may mean that your professionals lack marketing DNA.  "Over the past year, I've been struck by the amount of marketing-oriented dysfunction that I continue to see in professional service firms, regardless of professional sector:  poor internal marketing communication; diplomatic and political ineptitude regarding garnering leaders' endorsement of marketing strategies; counterproductive and sometimes truly baffling marketing reporting relationships; not implementing client-endorsed differentiation strategies; under-resourced marketing teams; inexperienced marketing partner leadership; and more "ready-fire-aim" marketplace programs than you'd believe," she says.

"Some of my past research findings, and the painful marketing struggles that I've witnessed recently, suggest that for most professional service firms a true Marketing DNA is not a given, and that too little is being done to improve effectiveness in achieving substantive marketplace gains," she says.

I agree with Lowe: "It's clear that many professional firms simply don't have a market-driven DNA; they are undoubtedly driving their CMOs and senior marketing leaders crazy as a result."

What to do?  Here's what:

  • Management must issue an edict: we now have a marketing strategy and we expect everyone to play a role in carrying it out.
  • Each lawyer must compose a personal business development plan and file it with the marketing director and firm management.
  • Create a carrot and stick.  Every partner should have a certain amount of points at risk in their performance review for completing or failing to complete their personal marketing plan.  At least $50,000 in points should be at risk.
  • If the partner fails to complete a marketing plan two years in a row, they should have their pay cut by $100,000, and asked to leaveThere's no room for "library lawyers," grinders and minders who expect to inherit clients.
  • Change your recruiting criteria and don't hire lawyers who are non-rainmakers.  Give them a personality test to check out their nascent marketing skills.  If they have none, don't hire them.

From Larry  Bodine´s blog, sincerely  yours ,  Rodrigo González Fernández , consultajuridica.blogspot.com

 

You must first win! Then we'll talk about communication and budgeting

In this InHouse Counsel issue, the writer describes a Georgia program. Outside counsel took the "hot seat" and listened to the complaints of corporate general counsel.

Some of the issues raised are:

"...
• Why outside firms are slow to send invoices but lightning-quick to demand payment.

• Why outside lawyers don't understand the business models and corporate culture of their clients.

• Why outside firms are unwilling to bend on price.

Then there was the matter of getting hired and staying hired. Charles J. Kalil, general counsel of The Dow Chemical Co., said one factor for assessing an outside law firm stood head and shoulders above all others."

... That factor is winning! This should not be a big surprise, though many of my comments in the past have merely assumed that the quality of the representation was not in issue. Here, Kalil is putting it on the line, saying that first you must win the case, then we'll talk about communication and budgeting and the other niceties!

About Ed Poll

Ed Poll is the principal of LawBiz Management. He is a nationally recognized coach, law firm management consultant and author. He practiced law on all sides of the table for 25 years – as a corporate general counsel, government prosecutor, sole practitioner, partner and law firm chief operating officer .. and as a client. He also owned and operated several manufacturing businesses.

For the last 14 years, Ed Poll has been coaching and consulting lawyers and law firms in the areas of strategic planning, profitability analysis and practice development. He has been called as an expert law firm management witness by the State Bar of California Trial Court, appointed as a Trustee of law firms convicted of disciplinary violations. He currently facilitates Managing Partners Roundtable consisting of some of the largest law firms in the country, Executive Directors Roundtable, as well as Diversity Directors Roundtable.

Sincerely yours, Rodrigo González Fernández, consultajuridica.blogspot.com

 

¿AFP UN SISTEMA EN CRISIS?

Un cliente nos  hace ver su preocupación por el sistema de Pensiones Chileno y como es un aspecto que hoy es relevante y general les indico que en “  El Mostrador” hay un artículo interesante :

“De la totalidad de las pensiones de vejez, el 78,3% son públicas con un promedio de 147 mil pesos mensuales, cifra que en algunos casos aumenta a un promedio de $360.000 en el caso de los empleados públicos y a $421.000 en el caso de los pensionados militares o de carabineros. En el sistema AFP el promedio de las pensiones de vejez es de 125.000 pesos. Para llegar a esa cifra, que es igual al mínimo garantizado, el Estado debe aportar en promedio un veinticinco por ciento, ya que el sistema sólo alcanza a dar $96.000 pesos mensuales por pensionado.

Una proyección conservadora, hecha a partir del volumen de cotizaciones que genera el mercado laboral chileno, indica que más de la mitad de la masa laboral actual no alcanzará un nivel de cotización adecuado para obtener pensiones mínimas. Y que será necesaria una inyección creciente de fondos públicos para alcanzar los montos de pensión garantizados por ley. Ello se debe a múltiples factores, entre los que se cuentan la falta de competencia, las fallas regulatorias y la enorme precariedad del mercado laboral chileno, que alcanza cotizaciones de apenas un promedio de 4.2 meses por año. Si se agregan los altos costos de administración para los afiliados al sistema, el hecho de que de las seis empresas que operan en el mercado previsional las tres mayores concentran el 80% o más del mismo, con una rentabilidad promedio sobre activos de un 50% al año, según datos de la Universidad Católica, el problema es más que preocupante.”

Entonces la preocupación de nuestro cliente es real y es un aspecto que abordaremos más adelante  con información completa en estudio que estamos realizando y que se los presentaremos una vez listo.

Saludos Rodrigo González Fernández, consultajuridica.blogspot.com

 



INVERTIR EN FORMACIÓN  EN AVANZAR EN LA EMPRESA

Este interesante artículo de Blog el salmón es importante porque justamente las empresas que se señalan están presentes en Chile. Es obvio, que la inversión en formación es fundamental y en Chile pronto estará Mentor Chile con el tema de Marca Personal o Personal branding para ejecutivos que deben reinventarse por diversas razones. Saludos Rodrigo González Fernández

¿Invertir en formación? De Pablo Mancini

 

Los datos de un informe del Círculo de Consultoras de Información, citado por Invertia. las empresas españolas invirtieron durante el año pasado unos 278 euros promedio en la formación por trabajador, lo que podría traducirse en 29 horas de capacitación. El Círculo de Consultoras espera que en el 2005 esas 29 horas se eleven a 31.

 

Las empresas que más invierten son las de energía, (780 euros persona/año), las financieras, (715 euros persona/año) y las de telecomunicaciones (705 euros persona/año). En 2004, aproximadamente 750 millones de euros fue la cifra que movió las inversiones en formación laboral.

 

Las inversiones en formación y capacitación de personal están directamente relacionadas con la calidad de empresa. Sin embargo, a veces algunas compañías son reticentes a destinar unos euros con esos fines. Se ve claramente en la industria del Turismo, que genera millones de euros cada año pero que es la menos invierte en la formación de sus empleados (115 euros persona/año). Llega un punto en que eso se acaba. Sin formación ni capacitación las empresas pierden capital.

 

En un mundo en movimiento, quienes permanecen en el mismo lugar retroceden.

 

PRESIDENTE DE  VENEZUELA INVITA A BACHELET A TRABAJAR POR AMERICA

Hugo Chávez invita a Bachelet a Venezuela y a ''trabajar'' por América asi lo anuncia EL MOSTRADOR
"Es necesario que los pueblos de Chile y Venezuela sigan dirigiendo su mirada al esfuerzo integracionista que nos ocupa desde los tiempos de nuestra primera emancipación", dice Chávez en la invitación.
El presidente venezolano, Hugo Chávez, invitó a su colega chilena, la socialista Michelle Bachelet, a visitar Caracas para "conversar largamente" y "trabajar por Chile, por Venezuela y por nuestra América".
La invitación, cursada en una carta fechada el 17 de enero, fue dada a conocer este martes por el Ministerio de Comunicación.

Para leer más de este interesante artículo pueden ir a:

http://www.elmostrador.cl/modulos/noticias/constructor/detalle_noticia_mail.asp?id_noticia=180990

Saludos Rodrigo González Fernández, consultajuridica.blogspot.com