Summary Of Research Paper Cites :)

Cite 1

• Name of Website: The Guardian 
• Writer: Xie Xiaoping

This article is telling about the plans that China and Apple have of cleaning up some of the pollution that has occurred since their relationship started. Apple is trying to make it their first priority. The article goes on to say how apple is trying to make themselves better by lowering greenhouse gases and toxic substances. But these rules have failed to prevent Apple suppliers from polluting and this, is because Apple does not take the pollution seriously and they do not care about the wellbeing of the other country. This article also highlights some of the Chinese environmental groups.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/04/apple-chinese-pollution-concerns

Summary 2:

Website: Wall Street Journal

 Title: Apple to Audit Supplier's Pollution Management

By: PAUL MOZUR

This article talks about how Apple is attempting to inspect some of their companies to see the amount of pollution. In 2010 there  was 29 companies that were the main reasons for pollution  in China Apple was the only one who didn’t respond to do anything better. By doing the audit is showing that they care about making the pollution less .The article goes on to say that apple is changing their ways and they are now able to change the way that they run things. Making China a better place to live and helping lower the pollution. 

Beginning of the Research Paper

Economics Research Paper

Question: Since Apple and China have a very good relationship, who should take responsibility for the pollution?

Justification

·       The rapid growth in china with the addition of the pollution from Apple, I want to know who should be responsible.

·       Being American I want to know if we are the reason for the pollution.

·       I also chose this question because I think that Americans should take responsibility and they should also just produce apple products in the US.  

Case Study Questions

Case Study Questions

Specialization means to produce those goods and services which you can make most efficiently and with the greatest cost advantage.

What good did Mr. Sanchez specialize in?

·         Mr. Sanchez specialized in personalized computer id cards

What were his reasons?

·         He was an engineer and he loved to make products

What are some examples of specialization in the global context? Are there particular regions or countries that have historically specialized in a product or group of products?

·         Computer products. Yes, for example Japan and there they specialize in the mass production electronic devices.

What are the reasons for that historic specialization? Are there regions or countries that have only recently begun to specialize in a product or group of products?

·         The reason for specialized products is because countries need to have a special product that they can trade with other countries. For example America has begun to make some of their own products, for example Asia has been known for the products they make but recently America has started to make their own electronics. For example Apple.

What changes in technology, trade, or other areas do you think lead to this specialization?

·         I think that this specialization was made because of the upgrade in agriculture and technology, so then a place with good electronics can trade with people with good agriculture.

What types of decisions did Mr. Sanchez make? What types of actions did the government take?

·         Mr. Sanchez made the decision to lower his prices so that he could compete with the other countries. The government still taxed him for the work he did. 

How did those decisions or actions affect the success or failure of the business?

·         These decisions hurt his business because then he got a smaller amount of profit. Also he had to pay his workers which made it even harder for him to get profit.

What factors might have led Mr. Sanchez to make a decision other than the one he chose?

·         If he was making more money  in his business  he would have not have lowered his prices. If the other countries weren’t selling the same product for less, then he also would have not had to change his prices.

How would access to information affect the decisions made by Mr. Sanchez?

·         If he had known more about the economy then he would have known that other countries would eventually make the same product as him and eventually make him lower his process. If he would have known this then he wouldn’t have had to change his prices.

To export means to sell goods or services to foreign markets.

To what countries did Mr. Sanchez export his devices?

·         India and Japan

In some countries, export-oriented industries are the primary source of employment.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of relying heavily on exports?

·         If  the other countries stop wanting the product then you will have no business because you didn’t rely on your own country. But on the other hand an advantage would be if the country is in desperate need for your product then they will keep buying it and you will have a huge business. 

How might a strong export-oriented economy affect employment?

·         It will be effected in a positive way because if you are constantly exporting then you are giving people in your own country more jobs, whereas if you are constantly importing then you are preventing your country from having as many jobs.

Can you think of an example in which a country relies almost completely on export of one good?

·         U.A.E. *oil*

How has this affected the country?

·         It has earned them a good amount of profit, and it helps them

To import means to sell goods or services made in other countries in your home market

What products discussed in the case study were imported into the United States?

·         Personalized computer id cards

How did this affect Mr. Sanchez?

·         This affected him badly because the US dollar was weak at the time

What imported products are available in your community?

·         In Africa there is: export a lot of Minerals,

·         Gold, Coal, Iron, Platinum, Uranium, Chromium, Cement is exported from Egypt and Morocco.

Is there any additional value associated with the importation of any of these products (i.e., French wine, Italian shoes, Japanese electronics)?

·         Yes there is value because in the 3^rd world countries in Africa this minerals help them to get more money and tends to be the only source of money

What affect on a country’s culture might result from widespread availability of imported goods and services?

·         Making things available for people everywhere is a good thing because it gets the country more money and  stuff.

A trade barrier is a governmental policy that affects the flow of trade.

What trade barrier, put in place by the government, initially helped Mr. Sanchez?

·          

What happened when that barrier was removed?

What are some products that have barriers or tariffs restricting their trade (imposed either by the US or its trading partners)?

·         When they tax to high on the product this stops a lot of buyers from buying the product.

How might a barrier based on communication, trust, and reluctance to import US products (such as in Japan) differ from a formal trade barrier?

·          

With this example, why might a removal of a formal trade barrier have little or no effect?

What are the dangers of removing a trade barrier?

·         Buyers would take advantage of it

What were the goals of Mr. Sanchez in opening his factory

·         He just wanted to make his product and sell it without any problems in his business

What were the goals of U.S. government policy when Mr. Sanchez opened his factory?

·         The US was trying to get money with the high tariff and taxing all of the exports out of the country .

How did these goals change over time? Why do you think they changed?

·         They would tax  high if the economy was bad or vise versa.

jilauren Williams  

New info on Americas GDP

UNITED STATES GDP The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the United States was worth 15094 billion US dollars in 2011. The GDP value of the United States represents 24.35 percent of the world economy. GDP in the United States is reported by the The World Bank Group. Historically, from 1960 until 2011, the United States GDP averaged 5525.3 USD Billion reaching an all time high of 15094.0 USD Billion in December of 2011 and a record low of 520.5 USD Billion in December of 1960. The gross domestic product (GDP) measures of national income and output for a given country's economy. The gross domestic product (GDP) is equal to the total expenditures for all final goods and services produced within the country in a stipulated period of time. This page includes a chart with historical data for the United States GDP

Americas GDP

Part 3 Unilevers Plan to help the Evironment

Unilever has multiple plans to help the environment they call it SUSTAINABLE LIVING. It is broken down into points : Greenhouse effect, health, and waste and packaging. Their are many more but these relate to my product i have chosen. Okay so to start their greenhouse plan starts with they are trying t reduce their amount of greenhouse gases (GHG). Here is what they say:

Our Compass strategy sets out our ambition as a company, which is to double the size of our business while reducing our environmental footprint and increasing our positive social impact. This includes greenhouse gas emissions. Over 2008-2010 we conducted extensive work to understand the total greenhouse gas footprint of our product portfolio

Based on this analysis we set ourselves an ambitious target to halve the ‘per consumer use’ greenhouse gas impact of our products. This target will be achieved through:

• reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with our raw materials
• reducing the greenhouse gas impacts from our manufacturing and increasing our use of renewable energy
• reducing the emissions related to transport and refrigeration, and
• reducing the greenhouse gas impacts associated with the use of our products, in particular our skin, hair and laundry products.

This is there greenhouse plan Now here is there waste and packaging plan:

The targets we have set in our Unilever Sustainable Living Plan will require us to take the following steps to reduce our packaging and waste impact:

• reduce the quantity of packaging we require for our products. We will adopt leading-edge design techniques and choose materials to minimise impacts
• find more ways to enable our consumers to reuse product packaging, for example through the development of refill packs
• work on increasing the use of recycled and renewable materials in our packaging as well as making our products as recyclable as possible. This will require us to work with others through advocacy and partnership to strengthen the recycling and recovery infrastructure in countries where we sell products
• continue to reduce waste from our manufacturing process
• tackle sachet waste in developing and emerging markets
• eliminate particular materials of concern such as PVC.
  
  
  Now weather they are telling the truth on their website is to be decided. They have a sturdy plan and it seems to be working for them IF they are telling the truth.In part 4 of the Tresemme investigation i will post about what other people think or other websites say about the Unilevers environmental Footprint on them. 
  
  

Sites:

1. "Our Waste & Packaging Strategy." Unilever Global Company Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2013.
2. "Our Greenhouse Gas Strategy." Unilever Global Company Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2013.

Part 3 interpreting Plastic Graph

In this graph it show mechanical engineering, medical, footwear, packaging, building and construction,  electrical, furniture,transport, toys and agriculture. My product would fall under the category of packaging Tresemme uses plastic in the bottles and labeling. In my next post i will talk about Unilevers recycling process. On my next post it will help me to understand Unilevers relationship with the environment and how their product hurts or helps the environment.  

Econ questions part 2 Lauren

Lauren Williams Block G.

Econ. Part 2 questions

Name of product

• ·         TRESemme

Origin of purchase

• ·         America

Company name that owns it

• ·         Alberto-Culver used to own it but was bought over by Unilever  

Break down of the product

• ·         Water (Aqua, Eau), stearyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, caprylic/capric triglyceride, stearamidopropyl dimethylamine, fragrance (parfum), lauroyl lysine, caprylyl glycol, brassica campestris/aleurites fordi oil copolymer, aspartic acid, distearyldimonium chloride, persea gratissima (avocado) oil, citric acid, alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, aloe barbadensis leaf juice.

Where is it manufactured

• ·         The bottle I bought was from America it was manufactured in Melrose Park IL, 60160 intended for distribution in the Americas

Where are the raw materials from

• The websites say that their main ingredients  are:   

·         Main ingredients are : Water, Aloe Vera and Avocado

Sites

                                            I.            Thread: Tresemme Naturals Ingredients - No Silicones, but Any Potential for Buildup?" The Long Hair Community Discussion Boards RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013.

                                          II.            "TRESemmé." TRESemmé. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013.

                                        III.            "Alberto Culver." Alberto Culver. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013.

                                        IV.            "Naturals Moisture Conditioner." Natural Nourishing Conditioner. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013.

Questions from Economics 1/14/13 Lauren Williams

1. What is your country of origin?

·         America

2. What is your countries economic system?

·         It is an Capitalist/ Market economy

·         Some people may say they have very close characteristics to each other

3. Highlight 5 characteristics of a Capitalist economy . Explain.

·         Resources  are owned by individuals meaning people handle their things without the government interfering and that people are able to do things themselves 

·         They consider individual economic  freedom very important in peoples life's meaning that people have the freedom to do their own things and are only required to do things appointed by the government so no one is enslaved.

·         There also is a lot of economic freedom in Capitalist/Market economies ( self explanatory).

·         Most decisions are based on the bases of supply and demand meaning all of the decisions on who wants the product they have and also the supply of how much they have produced

·         Under this Capitalist system  producing and distributing things can be handled by a small group of people meaning that even small companies or any company doesn't need to have a huge group of people to produce and distribute

4. What is your countries main economic activity?

·         Goods and services

·         Export of food

·         Getting money from  privately owned businesses  

Helpful Sheblak Definitions

Supply and Demand - Associated with market economies and setting price points, supply is the number of goods or services produced and demand is the number of consumers wanting the goods or services. The higher the demand and the lower the supply, the more expensive an item will be whereas the higher the supply and the lower the demand, the lower the price.

Capitalism - Capitalism is the economic system many are already familiar with. The purpose of capitalism is to ensure that production occurs that maximizes profit and is characterized by competition against other producers within the system. The means of production are privately held.

Market Economy - A market economy is an economy in which there is a strong division of labor (someone owns the restaurant, someone manages the restaurant, yet other people carry out the tasks of cooking and waiting tables); supply and demand is what allows individuals to set prices.

Site:

"Juan Sheblak's Blog." Juan Sheblaks Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013.

"EconomyU.S. Economic System." U.S. Economic System. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013.

"World Socialist Movement." What Is Capitalism? –. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013.

"Imports and Exports Components." About.com US Economy. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013.

Economics Definitions

Our Group Definitions of Economics...

1. The study of goods and service exchange. 
2. The relationship of how different money sector interact together in the world of money. 
3. The study of marketing and the way people sell and buy things. 

Key  Words 

Study: how people analyzing economics 
Relationship: How the people in the world and the companies work together and interact. 
World: Economics is an international affair involving the whole world with or without money including trade and goods. 

Final Definition 

The study of the relationship of different money sector and how they interact together in the world of money. 

My Econ Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE65OtgAiNs

video