Macro Strategies Research Articles

A mixed methods qualitative approach outlining a strategic and operational agenda for the pawpaw value chain in the eastern US

Abstract The latest global scale occurrences — COVID-19 pandemic and bellicose conflicts — have weakened stable value chain relationships and forced international leaders to reassess commitments to sustainability. From these experiences, it became evident that the success of sustainability initiatives encompasses strengthening local and short value chains while creating means for engaging smallholders in formal food channels. Taking international and national policies as motivations, this article examines the emerging pawpaw value chain in the Eastern United States. We employ a mixed-mode approach with two aims. First, we demonstrate how complementing qualitative methods can be articulated to prepare a strategic agenda to foster the development and resilience of local ag-food chains. Second, through the application of the devised methodology, interview records and survey answers are evaluated to map value chain relationships and describe stakeholders’ perceived challenges and opportunities. On the empirical front, this article proposes four macro strategies and 22 actionable projects. We argue that the representative association of pawpaw growers may adopt a broader leadership role to coordinate the necessary changes for sustaining long-term growth and promoting economic gains in rural communities dedicated to pawpaw production. The mixed-mode approach presented in this study can be replicated to analyze local and short chains elsewhere.

Optimizing the infoproduct launch process: integrating the communication macrostrategy and paid traffic key performance indicators through the VERSALTO method

The global market, especially in the Digital Marketing area, has experienced enormous growth and a high degree of impact due to advances in technology, the growing number of smartphone users and the daily time spent using smartphones by these users. Within this market, the infoproducts sector has emerged as a specific and high-potential segment, directly connecting end consumers with information products, such as courses, mentoring, training, e-books and much more. The unique potential of this sector lies in its ability to overcome barriers that exist in other markets, making it possible to reach niche audiences and audiences on a global scale, often with low-cost operations and high return on investment (ROI). Despite the enormous potential of this emerging market, it lacks consolidated research on macro performance indicators in infoproduct operations, particularly the interaction between indicators of paid traffic operations and communication strategies, which directly affect the financial results of digital launches. In this context, this study aims to present the VERSALTO method, a framework designed to plan and analyze communication macro strategies and paid traffic indicators for infoproduct launches, demonstrating the interrelationship between these KPIs and the communication macro strategy, in addition to developing knowledge academic on the topic. To develop the method and demonstrate its practical application, this research analyzes two case studies with revenues exceeding 100 thousand Brazilian reais (20 thousand American dollars). Through this analysis, the interrelationship between paid traffic indicators and the communication macro strategy used in infoproduct launches was visualized. In this way, this study provides crucial insights for optimizing strategies and generating more profitable results in the dynamic digital marketing landscape.

Cryogenic Pits and Quaternary Glacial Evidence in Central Iran

Quaternary glaciation studies in Central Iran reveal that it is not implausible to anticipate glaciation traces in this region. It is feasible to provide conclusive evidence about the behavior of ice sheets by referring to geomorphological factors and climatic statistical analyses. Factors such as flatness and accidental geographical features contribute to the existence of ice sheets in the Namdan Fars region. The digital reconstruction of past climatic conditions، using the Wright method، along with the absence of lake terraces around Kaftar Lake، signifies the presence of ice instead of water in the lake. The multi-axial morphology of the Namdan Plain، the shape and form of main valleys and passes، and the existence of numerous glacial cirque traces in the surrounding heights are also indicators of this phenomenon. The lack of evidence of ancient settlements in the plain، despite the availability of water and fertile soil، can be attributed to the region's historical thermal conditions. Investigating ancient glaciers helps us understand the natural history of the land. This knowledge can aid planners in devising macro strategies for regional development and water resource management، as glacial performance has always been associated with optimal water levels. Although glacial activities can create aquifers، the movement of ice sheets or ice surfaces does not support the accumulation of sediments required for creating aquifers with sufficient water storage. Instead، their performance leads to the creation of suitable agricultural soil layers. In summary، regional glaciers play a positive role in transforming and creating favorable agricultural soils and can be beneficial in adapting to climatic changes and extending statistical periods.

Exemplar of Micro Strategies in Teaching Speaking in Indonesian Context

The post-method era is currently experiencing a surge in popularity within the realm of English language teaching, particularly in the context of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), such as in Indonesia. Given the crucial role of Speaking as a central element in communication, it requires meticulous attention and instruction in an EFL setting. Teachers play a pivotal role in preparing effective strategies to assist learners in achieving fluency and accuracy in spoken English. Consequently, this paper aims to expound on the recommended micro strategies derived from Kumaravadivelu's post-method framework. It delineates the macro strategies of post-method in English Language Teaching (ELT) as the foundational elements for creating micro strategies tailored to the teaching of Speaking in the Indonesian context. The article outlines ten macro strategies, which include increasing learning opportunities, facilitating negotiated interaction, minimizing perceptual mismatches, activating intuitive heuristics, fostering language awareness, contextualizing linguistic input, integrating language skills, promoting learner autonomy, ensuring social relevance, and raising cultural consciousness. Drawing on this strategic framework, the article gives illustrated instances of classroom activities and instructional tactics, dubbed micro strategies, that have been utilized to improve Indonesian learners' EFL Speaking competency.

Communication Strategies on Twitter: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the US Withdrawal from Afghanistan

ABSTRACT While several studies have explored strategic communication in relation to military intervention, this study analyses communicative strategies in the context of military withdrawals and redeployments. We focus on the case study of the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan to analyse which (and how) strategic narratives were discursively mobilised by the US administration on Twitter (now known as X) to seek public support and legitimacy for its operations. Findings suggest that key narratives of securitisation, national interest and responsibility were deployed through macro strategies of transcendence, bolstering, blaming and mitigation. We claim that while early representations of the war in Afghanistan were depicted as an unavoidable mission, the overarching discourse has now shifted to portrayals of the war being unsustainable and no longer needed by the United States.

Comparative Study on the Cultivation of Agricultural Master's Talents between China and Japan

Agricultural master's degree talents are an important driving force for the development of agriculture and rural areas. Improving the quality of agricultural master's degree talent training is an important guarantee for promoting China's transformation from an big agricultural country to an agricultural powerhouse. With the promotion and implementation of a series of national macro strategies such as rural revitalization and modernization of agriculture and rural areas, how to promote the high-quality development of agricultural master's education has become an important issue in the new era. Taking China Agricultural University and Tokyo A&M University as examples, this paper compares and analyzes the similarities and differences between the training objectives, selection system, curriculum system, thesis, and employment prospects of agricultural master's students in China and Japan, and condenses the inspiration of Japanese agricultural master's talent cultivation for China.

Headlines and Hegemony: Unraveling Ideological Narratives in Arab and Western Media's Portrayal of Arab Women

This study investigates the ideologies and strategies used in the news discourse on Arab women. Initially, it aims to analyze the macro strategies and then highlights the micro strategies used to achieve the macro strategies proposed by van Dijk. It also identifies the ideologies of the selected newspapers regarding Arab women. Four newspapers were selected: the Washington Post, Daily Mail, Arab newspaper, and Gulf Times. The findings reveal that the selected newspapers employed four macro-strategies. It was also found that the selected newspapers employed ten micro strategies to achieve the four macro strategies. More importantly, the analysis showed that the selected newspapers had different ideologies. For instance, the ideologies of Arab newspapers include defending the stand of Arab regimes and Islam regarding women’s rights. However, the ideologies embraced by Western newspapers encompass the promotion of Arab women's advocacy for enhanced rights, urging Western authorities to impose sanctions on Arab nations that do not uphold women's rights and advocate for their governments to sever diplomatic ties with countries that fail to ensure adequate rights for women.

The effect of absolute return strategies on risk-factor diversification and portfolio performance

Absolute return strategies attempt to generate positive returns that are uncorrelated with equity or bond markets and can be used to increase diversification and performance within multi-asset class portfolios. The current paper compared diversification and portfolio performance between traditional multi-asset class portfolios and multi-asset class portfolios with the addition of absolute return strategies. Using closing prices from January 1, 2000 – June 30, 2018, this paper back-tested two multi-asset class portfolios, one composed of equities, fixed income securities, and real return strategies, and the other portfolio composed of the same asset classes but with the addition of absolute return strategies. In particular, the absolute return strategies that this paper added were equity market neutral strategies, managed futures, and global macro strategies. Results indicated that the use of absolute return strategies improved diversification by increasing the portfolio’s effective number of bets (ENB) and enhanced risk adjusted returns as measured by improved Sharpe ratios, Treynor ratios, Jensen’s Alphas, and Sortino ratios. In addition, results showed that the benefits of adding absolute return strategies accrued throughout a full market cycle, which included declines and advances. These results support previous research on the individual absolute return strategies and demonstrate that the portfolio performance and investor wealth can be improved with the addition of these absolute return strategies to multi-asset class portfolios.

How can an alternative natural resource co-management system be established? —Evidence from Chinese community forestry

ABSTRACT In developing countries, interest in community forest management (CFM) has steadily increased over the last decade. Based on the extended political institutional analysis and development (P-IAD) framework, this paper analyzes the Chinese CFM system by combining the political-economic context, rules-in-use, and discourses to show alternative co-management practices. We find that CFM is rooted in national-level development strategies, embedded government-society relationships, and social development claims. This governance structure determines that the public sector guides the development and utilization directions of forest resources based on development planning and national discourses, while community leaders serve both villagers and the public sector. Over the course of development, this co-management system undergoes dynamic adjustments and gradually fulfills the evaluative criteria, including employing varied institutions, ordinary rules, and cross-scale connections. Compared with the previous co-management system, the current system presents the features of national layer penetration, continuous power coordination, and development orientation. The experience of Chinese CFM shows that scholars should focus on the impact of national-level macro strategies and social construction on natural resource management, not just cooperation between civilian agencies and the community. The findings provide developing countries with new thoughts for designing natural resource management systems.

Strategi Bisnis Dalam Perspektif Manajemen Sebuah Review Literatur

Business development in the world has entered the era of free competition not only in a small scope but a large scope, this creates fierce competition between companies. Efforts made by a company to win a market by providing advantages in competition, analyzing competing companies, and implementing effective marketing strategies. This study uses Literature Review research with the results of research that management strategies are oriented towards developing macro strategies such as product strategy development, pricing implementation strategies, acquisition strategies, market development strategies, financial and other strategies. The steps of strategy management include: internal and external environment scanning (Internal &; External Scanning), Strategy Formulation, Implementation, Function Control and Evaluation.

Topoi Analysis of Vladimir Putin’s Speeches in Media Discourse

Media discourse is a type of discourse that is seen as a broadcast platform in which the discourse is directed to a non-present reader, listener, or viewer (O’Keeffe, 2011, p. 441). The study of media discourse is important to understand and interpret the ideologies hidden within the adopted discourse. Topoi analysis is seen as argumentation-schemes within the field of critical discourse analysis that help connect the linguistic means to the macro-sociological and ideological levels implied within the selected discourse. The present study aims to investigate the use of topoi in Putin’s speeches during the Russian-Ukrainian war of 2022. The study shows how Putin utilizes topoi in his speeches and their ideological impact. The adopted methodology is qualitative in nature depending on the model of Wodak et. al. (2009) argumentation-schemes (i.e., topoi) are seen as a bridge between different linguistic means and macro strategies as ideological in the presentation of identified social actors.

The dynamics of policy coordination: The case of China’s science and technology policy-making

AbstractThe literature on policy coordination between government agencies reveals little about how coordination is managed in centralized political systems. This paper, therefore, presents a dynamic and quantitative analysis of policy coordination in China based on the science and technology (S&T) policy documents issued by China’s central government agencies in the period 1978–2019. From a series of snapshots depicting inter-agency policy development in five historical stages over this timeframe, we find that (1) policy coordination has developed steadily and has mainly occurred to interpret macro strategies and put in place more detailed implementation measures. (2) Ministries under the purview of the State Council have played a leading role in policy coordination, while other types of agencies have cooperated in more supporting roles. (3) Coordination efforts have mainly focused on inclusive and national demand-oriented themes, such as high-tech industrialization, rural S&T, and social development. This research offers a panoramic view of policy coordination trajectories and mechanisms in centralized political systems. As such, it adds to the analysis methods available for quantitatively studying policy documents.

Evaluation of Future Maize Yield Changes and Adaptation Strategies in China

In the past century, climate change has become more significant, which has a great impact on crop growth, especially food security. Based on the regional climate model PRECIS, high-precision grid climate data in China under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios were output, and the high-precision amplification and calibration of crop model DSSAT were calibrated and verified in combination with data of maize planting from 2005 to 2015, including observation data of agrometeorological stations, ecological networking experiment data and maize survey data of agricultural demonstration counties. The impact of climate change on maize production in 2030s and 2050s was evaluated; and the effect of main adaptation strategies to climate change is put forward which could support macro strategies of layout adjustment for the maize production system. The results show that if no countermeasures are taken in the future, the risk of maize yield reduction in China will gradually increase, especially under the RCP8.5 scenario. The risk of maize yield reduction in each main production area will be very prominent in the 2050s under the RCP8.5 scenario, which would be between 10–30%. Compared with a delayed sowing date, an early sowing date would be more conducive to maize production, but there would be some differences in different regions. The heat in the growing season of maize would increase significantly. If the growth time of maize from silking to maturity could be prolonged and the accumulated temperature could be raised, the dry matter accumulation of maize would effectively increase, which would have an obvious effect on yield. Improving grain filling rate is also significant, although the effect of yield increase would be smaller. Therefore, sowing in advance, full irrigation and cultivating varieties with a long reproductive growth period could effectively alleviate the yield reduction caused by climate change. Adjusting maturity type and grain harvest strategy would have a more obvious mitigation effect on yield reduction in northeast China and northern China, and plays a positive role in ensuring future maize yield.

Evaluating the impact of community interventions on childhood obesity in populations living in low-income households in Los Angeles: A simulation study.

The complex multifactorial nature of childhood obesity makes community interventions difficult to evaluate using traditional approaches; innovative methods are needed. To evaluate the impact of various interventions targeting childhood obesity-related behaviours, and classified as using a micro-level (e.g., home visitation programs) or macro-level (e.g., business practices) strategy, on obesity among children enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). We simulated a population of 1500 children enrolled in WIC, with specific diet, physical activity, breastfeeding behaviours and body mass index z-scores (BMIz), following them from age 2 to 5 years. Combined interventions targeting breastfeeding appeared to be moderately effective, reducing BMIz by 0.03 (95% CI -005, -0.01). Two strategy-specific interventions, home visitation programs and business practices targeting obesity-related behaviours, appeared to be moderately effective at reducing BMIz by 0.04 (95% CI -0.06, -0.02) and 0.02 (95% CI -0.04, 0.00), respectively. Contrary to expectation, combining all micro and macro interventions appeared to have no impact or moderately increased the proportion of obesity/overweight among children. Interventions targeting breastfeeding behaviour were most effective when both micro and macro strategies were implemented. Interventions targeting obesity-related behaviours in general were effective for two strategies, home visitation and business practices.

How Duterte States His View on The Philippines and Other Countries Relation: A Discursive Strategy Analysis

Different types of social or cultural background, combined with a region or social status, go into the making of spoken or written discourse. One of the interesting spoken discourses to discuss is political interview. It often reveals the intention of political leaders’ way of speaking. While there are those who are subtle in their way of talking, there are also a few who do not, one of whom is the Philippines’ president, Rodrigo Roa Duterte. Known for his outspoken personality, he often states controversial things that influence his country and derive critics from various places. Using van Dijk’s (2004) framework, this study analyzes the macro and micro discursive strategies used by Duterte in delivering his views on other countries’ relations with the Philippines based on his most-watched English interview with Russia Today. The findings revealed that the macro strategies used by Duterte are positive self-presentation, negative other-presentation, and outside polarization. Meanwhile, the mostly micro discursive strategies used are implication, lexicalization, and example/illustration.

How Duterte States His View on The Philippines and Other Countries Relation: A Discursive Strategy Analysis

Different types of social or cultural background, combined with a region or social status, go into the making of spoken or written discourse. One of the interesting spoken discourses to discuss is political interview. It often reveals the intention of political leaders’ way of speaking. While there are those who are subtle in their way of talking, there are also a few who do not, one of whom is the Philippines’ president, Rodrigo Roa Duterte. Known for his outspoken personality, he often states controversial things that influence his country and derive critics from various places. Using van Dijk’s (2004) framework, this study analyzes the macro and micro discursive strategies used by Duterte in delivering his views on other countries’ relations with the Philippines based on his most-watched English interview with Russia Today. The findings revealed that the macro strategies used by Duterte are positive self-presentation, negative other-presentation, and outside polarization. Meanwhile, the mostly micro discursive strategies used are implication, lexicalization, and example/illustration.

Workforce Competency Models for Multiple Construction Projects: A Review

In recent decades, several definitions of competency have been presented by prominent thinkersand scholars of this field, each of them deals with the competency from a certain angle andexpressed different dimensions. Furthermore, the competency approach in human resourcemanagement (HRM) is not a new trend, and the subject of competence is a very old subjectmatter. On the contrary, human resource competence is one of the most important issues of anyorganization, which includes diverse, attractive and, simultaneously, sophisticated topics. Today,due to the dramatic changes in the field of HRM and the trend of managers to meritocracy in theorganization, the planning of an organization based on competency has a special place. Differentstudies in this field show that the necessity to pay attention to the mission perspective, strategy,organizational goals and structure will be an integral part in the successful assignment of humanresources and, without regard to this, the organization's approach cannot be determined. The useof human resource competency models in multiple construction projects requires a majorparadigm, which in HRM literature refers to the competency-based human resource management(CBHRM), and changes the thinking of human resource managers across individuals andorganizations, generally. This competency-based management approach is a coherent approachfor managing human capital in the long term, based on a common set of competency modelsrelated to the macro strategies of each project in this field. In this paper, the researcher initiallyreviewed the diversity of conceptual frameworks and components of competency models inconstruction projects. Then, the competency models of the project manager, civil engineer, andconstruction foreman and worker are identified in project-oriented organizations. At the end ofthe research, a set of competencies of professional, ethical, cultural and social behaviour ispresented in a variety of competency models.

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Discursive Ideologies in Pakistani and Indian Print Media about the Abolition of Article 370 and 35A in Kashmir

The aim of the current study was to identify the hidden stances and discursive ideologies of Pakistani and Indian English newspapers’ editorials on the special status of Kashmir through abolition of Article 370 and 35A. For the current study the Van Dijk Ideological Square Model (2005) as theoretical framework was chosen for positive self-presentation and negative other-presentation for the examining of discourse. The study analyzed linguistics traits in thirty newspapers’ editorials from six newspapers. Three English newspapers were selected from Pakistan and three from Indians. The data analysis revealed that different micro strategies such as hyperbole, authority, lexicalization, illustration, comparison, euphemism, etc. were used in these editorials. Besides these micro strategies, also the macro strategies like negative other-presentation positive self-presentation were also used. The study further revealed that how the polarity and racial agenda were projected by the use of language by two countries in their editorials. The micro strategies in Pakistani editorials were used more than that in the Indian editorials, while the macro strategies used in the Indian editorials were more than in the Pakistani editorials. The positive self-presentation was mostly used in Pakistani editorials whereas India editorial mostly focused on negative other- presentation.

Applying Ollivier-Ricci curvature to indicate the mismatch of travel demand and supply in urban transit network

Urban transit networks need to be upgraded in accordance with urban development. While methods have been studied to design an optimal transit network given the locations of stations, these methods focus on the whole network as the optimization object. However, the strategy to improve parts of an existing transit network based on the gap between travel demand and infrastructure supply is rarely investigated. Different parts of the same network should not have the same priority to be upgraded. An evaluation method is required for this purpose to decide which parts of a transit network should be upgraded first. We argue that Ollivier-Ricci curvature, a concept from differential geometry, can serve as the evaluation method. The basic hypothesis is that Ollivier-Ricci curvature indicates the theoretical attractiveness of the fastest path between any two nodes, thereby capturing the internal structure of the transit network. Meanwhile, travel demand and behavior can be approximated by urban mobility big data. By comparing the theoretical attractiveness and the flow volume between a path between two stations, the traits of lines with mismatched supply and demand are identified, and macro strategies are suggested. A case study in Beijing demonstrates how the proposed method works out followed by a comparison with traditional betweenness centrality analysis.

The Return of Global Macro - why investors should be wary of irrational expectations

With the collapse of LTCM in 1998, global macro investing / trading suffered a severe blow in terms of acceptance in the markets. Because of many highly leveraged hedge funds, investors and counterparts lost serious money, markets were at the brink of destabilisation and the regulators had to come to help. Hedge funds which use so-called global macro strategies were suddenly out of fashion. In 2000, Soros and Robertson left the global macro business and restructured their activities. It seemed that global macro would disappear as a major strategy, traded only by a small number of fund managers, and other strategies such as long / short equity would dominate alternative investment strategies. However, in 2002 many investors noticed th epositive performance of gloabl macro (+14% in the CSFB Tremont Subindex) and felt that they should consider investments into it. Hence many firms will launch new fund sto satisfy this new demand. However, some established funds have recently returned capital to their investors due to the lack of opportunities or the smaller return potential. In this paper we analyse global macro investing and discuss th epotential rewards and risks for investors.