By: Jerry Beck,
on 2/8/2016
If you want to learn a new job in 3 months that'll make you lots of money, this self-help author recommends animation.
The post Self-Help Author: Robots Are Taking Over So Learn Animation Before It’s Too Late appeared first on Cartoon Brew.
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By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 2/3/2016
We're heading towards a tipping point in the market. Companies are partnering up with Walmart and Loot Crate and other alternative sales avenues are on the rise. DC is undergoing a Rebirth. Where do we go from here? How do we build a comics industry for the 21st century?
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/30/2015
Walmart.com has a graphic novel section, with many superhero titles, but also media adaptations and some kids comics. Many publishers have attempted to enter the world of Walmart, and some have been accepted only to be rejected when someone actually reads them and see they are filled with sex and drugs and maybe some violence. But as of now, you can buy Powr Mastrs 4 on the Walmart website for a mere $14.23, with free shipping.
By: scriberess,
on 4/26/2014
By: Alice,
on 1/23/2013
Walmart now has stores in more than fifteen developing countries in Central and South America, Asia and Africa. A glimpse at the scale of operations: Nicaragua, with a population of approximately six million, currently has 78 Walmart retail outlets with more on the way. That’s one store for every 75,000 Nicaraguans; in the United States there’s a Walmart store for every 69,000 people. The growth has been rapid; in the last seven years, the corporation has more than doubled the number of stores in Nicaragua (see accompanying graphs — Figure 1 from the paper).
When a supermarket chain like Walmart moves into a developing country it requires a steady supply of fresh fruits and vegetables largely sourced domestically. In developing countries where the majority of the poor rely on agriculture for their livelihood, this means that poor farmers are increasingly selling produce to and contracting directly with large corporations. In precisely this way, Walmart has begun to transform the domestic agricultural markets in Nicaragua over the past decade. This profound change has been met with both excitement and trepidation by governments and development organizations because the likely effects on poverty and inequality are not known, in particular:
Supermarkets require that farmers meet standards related to production, post-harvest processing, and delivery; for example, the use of specific pesticides and fertilizers and the cleaning and packaging of vegetables. Moreover, supermarkets generally require farmers to guarantee production year round, which requires planning (sometimes across multiple farmers), irrigation and capital. These requirements can present significant challenges to small farmers with little capital and it is thought that such challenges could strongly effect which farmers sell produce to supermarkets.
Generally, researchers have studied the inclusion of farmers in supply chains by measuring the income, assets and welfare of a group of farmers selling a crop to supermarkets (“suppliers”) with a similar group of farmers selling the same crop in traditional markets (“non-suppliers”). This research has provided important insights but has struggled with two persistent challenges.
First, because most existing studies rely on surveys of farmers living in the same area, we do not know how important farmer experience or assets such as farm machinery or irrigation, are for inclusion in supply chains in comparison to other farmer characteristics like community access to water or proximity to good roads.
Second, without measurements on supplier and non-supplier farmers over time it is difficult for a researcher to isolate the effect being a supplier has on the farmer. For example, if Walmart excels at choosing higher-ability farmers as suppliers, a study that just compared supplier and non-supplier incomes would overestimate the supermarket effect because Walmart’s high-ability farmers would earn more income even if they had not contracted with the supermarket.
With these two challenges in mind, I implemented a research project in Nicaragua in which I first identified all small farmers who had had a steady supply relationship with supermarkets for at least one year since 2000 (see accompanying graphs — Figure 2 from the paper). I also revisited 400 farmers not supplying supermarkets but living in areas where supermarkets were buying produce. My team and I surveyed farmers about their experiences over the past eight years: the markets where they had sold, the farming, land, and household assets they had owned. Since my study included farmers selling a variety of crops to supermarkets and measured how their assets, and supermarket relationships, changed in time, I was able to more rigorously address how these markets affected small farmers. The project was part of a collaboration between researchers Michigan State University, Cornell University, and the Nitlapan Institute in Managua.
Farmer participation
Farmers located close to the primary road network and Nicaragua’s capital, Managua, where the major sorting and packing facility is located, and with conditions that allow them to farm year round were much more likely to be suppliers. Remarkably, this effect was much stronger than other farmer characteristics such as existing farm capital or experience.
Farmer welfare
Suppliers do benefit from selling their produce to supermarkets. The assets of farmers that sold to supermarkets for at least one year between 2000 and 2008 were 16% higher than for farmers that did not sell to supermarkets.
One way to think of income is as a flow of financial resources based, in part, on a farmer’s assets. By statistically relating a change in assets to a change in income I find that a 16% increase in assets corresponds to an average increase in annual household income of about $200 — or 15% of the average 2007 income for the farmers I studied.
Our previous work discovered that supermarkets don’t pay farmers a higher mean price than traditional markets but they do offer a more stable price. This analysis suggests a reason that household assets – and thus income — increase among farmers who sell to supermarkets; shielded from price fluctuations in the traditional markets by the supermarket contract, farmers invest in agriculture, in some cases moving to year-round cultivation. Farmers finance these investments through higher and more stable incomes and new credit sources. Income increases are attributable not to higher average prices but likely to increased production quantities.
NGOs
NGOs have played an important role in small farmer access to supermarket supply chains all over the world. In Nicaragua, a USAID program funded NGOs to help small farmers sell to supermarkets. These NGOs established farmers’ cooperatives and provided technical assistance, contract negotiation, and financing. Do NGOs change farmer selection or outcomes? Do they choose farmers with less wealth or experience? Or do farmers working with NGOs benefit in a special way from supermarkets because of the services NGOs provide?
We find, on average, that NGO-assisted farmers start with similar productive assets and land as those who sell to supermarkets without NGO assistance. Nor do we find a special effect on the assets of NGO-assisted farmers. However, we do find that NGOs play a critical role in keeping farmers with little previous experience in vegetable production in the supply chain. Low-experience farmers who are not assisted by NGOs are more likely to drop out of the supply chain than those assisted by NGOs.
These findings offer grounds for optimism and also a measure of caution with respect to the effects of supermarkets operating in developing countries. Supermarket contracts improve farmer welfare, and the improvements are detectable in farmers’ assets. However, since being close to roads and having the ability to farm year round is so critical to inclusion in the supply chain, not all farmers will be afforded these opportunities. Moreover, because these trends are still nascent in Nicaragua and in many other parts of the developing world, it remains to be seen what the broader effects will be for the agricultural sector and development. For example, as NGOs invest in preparing more small farmers to supply supermarkets, the gains to farmers from joining supply chains may be lost to increased competition. Our results in Nicaragua suggest that, given the small number of supplier farmers, changes in rural poverty related to supermarket expansion will be modest, but how will these supply chains, and the benefits they represent for farmers, change over time? I am currently a part of a team studying Walmart supply chains in China, which will interrogate these questions on a much larger scale in the context of a global and rapidly expanding economy.
Hope Michelson is a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University’s Earth Institute in the Tropical Agriculture and Rural Environment program. She completed her doctoral research in the Economics of Development in 2010 at Cornell University’s Department of Applied Economics. She is the author of “Small Farmers, NGOs, and a Walmart World: Welfare Effects of Supermarkets Operating in Nicaragua” in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, which is available to read for free for a limited time.
The American Journal of Agricultural Economics provides a forum for creative and scholarly work on the economics of agriculture and food, natural resources and the environment, and rural and community development throughout the world.
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Image credits: All images property of Hope Michelson. Do not reproduce without permission.
The post What happens when Walmart comes to Nicaragua? appeared first on OUPblog.
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By: Scott Laming,
on 7/23/2012
The town of McAllen Texas was recently repurposed an abandoned Walmart building into the towns new 124,000sq library. The new facility is fantastic and completely state of the art; it even won the International Interior Design Association "2012 Library Interior Design Award."
I encourage you to look at some of the photos, even though it is quite modern I still really like the look of this library.
By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 1/31/2012
Pinterest is growing rapidly and has quickly become the #5 social network (in terms of driving retail traffic, behind Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Yahoo!, and ahead of Google+. It makes sense considering the site’s large female following... Read the rest of this post
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By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 1/23/2012
Today we bring you another installment of Youth Media Movers and Shakers. We’ve culled through industry publications looking for the recent executive placements we think you should know about. If you have executive news that you want us to... Read the rest of this post
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By: scriberess,
on 9/6/2011
By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 7/26/2011
McDonald’s is revamping its happy meals (to make them healthier. Kids will find fewer fries, and a serving of fruit or veggies instead, lowering the overall calorie content by 20%. McDonalds had thought about cutting out the fries altogether... Read the rest of this post
By: Lauren,
on 4/5/2011
A decade ago, Betty Dukes, a Wal-Mart greeter (one of the folks in blue vests who welcome you to the store), filed a lawsuit against her employer. She alleged that her supervisors had treated her harshly and, once she complained, had retaliated by demoting her. Rather than sue Wal-Mart on her own, she joined with six other women who also (allegedly) suffered discrimination at the company. These women included one who had been passed over for promotion, one who could not transfer to day shifts, and one who had been sexually harassed by coworkers. Together, these women claimed to represent all women at Wal-Mart, and asked for damages on all their behalf.
Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral argument on the case. The media has covered Wal-Mart v. Dukes as a gender discrimination case. And it’s true that the underlying cause of action is a violation of Title VII, the United States’s antidiscrimination statute. But the issue the Court heard is a procedural one: can the women who sued Wal-Mart bring their case as a class action? If they can, the huge damages at stake will likely induce Wal-Mart to settle on generous terms. (No company, even one as big as Wal-Mart, wants to risk a billion-dollar verdict.) If they can’t, then each woman must bring her case on her own. And while some women’s discrimination claims may be worth enough to interest a lawyer, others will not. Since the procedural question could make or break this case, it has taken on the same significance as if the Court were ruling on whether companies are allowed to discriminate against women.
So what is a class action? It’s a method of aggregating a large number of claims into a single lawsuit. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 — the rule that authorizes class actions — the lawsuit begins with an individual plaintiff. If she can convince the court her claim is enough like those of the people she seeks to represent, the court certifies the case as a class action. Once the class is certified, the plaintiff offers proof of her individual claim at trial. If she wins, the whole class wins; but if she loses, then the whole class loses with her.
The Supreme Court heard arguments about whether the women suing Wal-Mart had demonstrated they met two of the requirements of Rule 23.
First, it considered whether the women met the “commonality” requirement. Commonality calls for every class action to have a common question of law or fact that, if answered, moves the case forward. The requirement seems simple, but can be hard to meet for a diverse group of 1.6 million women. (Hence the references to the Dukes class being “too big to certify.”) The women argued that their common question was whether Wal-Mart’s corporate culture was “vulnerable” to sex discrimination, and whether allowing managers “excessive subjectivity” in personnel decisions ended up discriminating against women.
0 Comments on Wal-Mart v. Dukes: Procedure Matters as of 4/5/2011 7:04:00 AM
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By: Brian Minter,
on 3/28/2011
“With this grant, our library was able to purchase 100 books for our library collection, as well as provide books for 87 preschoolers from low-income families. With proration hitting so many non-profits, it was truly a blessing to receive this grant for our library. HOOORAY to FIRST Book and Walmart for helping us!”
– Debra Grayson, White Smith Memorial Library, Jackson, AL
First Book was able to distribute over 75,000 brand-new books to teen and young adult readers in Alabama, Florida, Rhode Island, Oklahoma and Georgia, thanks to support from the Walmart State Giving Program.
Fifty programs in each of the five states received a $500 credit for the First Book Marketplace, our online store available exclusively to programs serving children from low-income communities. In addition, programs across those states received thousands more books – free of charge – from our National Book Bank.
“In the past we haven’t been able to provide books to older readers to the extent needed,” said Kyle Zimmer, First Book’s president and CEO. “But that’s changing fast; the selection of young adult titles we’re able to offer to our network of schools and programs is growing, and we’re on track to deliver even more resources to this under-served group this year.”
We know how hard teachers and program leaders are working to get teenagers reading, so we’re excited to be able to offer more books that appeal to older readers, and get them into the hands of kids that need them.
If you work with young adults, get in touch or leave a comment below, and let us know about the books they’re interested in and what we could do to help your program.
By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 2/12/2010
Percy vs. Potter (the myth-based series debuts this weekend and unsurprisingly can't escape comparisons to director Chris Columbus's previous supernatural success. The verdict: the magic is gone. Plus USA Today reviews the The Percy Jackson and The... Read the rest of this post
By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 12/22/2009
We continue our Year In Review coverage today with an attempt to look back on what we thought were the biggest youth media and marketing trends of the year. If you think we've missed a big trend, please post your own in the comments. We also have... Read the rest of this post
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Posted on 11/22/2009
With Thanksgiving less than a week away, I've already begun my preparations. This year I'm hosting not one but TWO Thanksgiving dinners in my home. That's a lot of turkey! I'm hoping my meals will turn out as delicious as the feasts my mom has always prepared. Both my grandmother and mother are talented cooks and bakers, so I have some big shoes to fill. Thanksgiving is truly a special holiday for us filled with wonderful traditions. Usually we watch the Macy's Thanksgiving parade and a little football. We gather together and give thanks for all of our blessings. And of course there is the food: the turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, cranberry sauce and numerous pies and treats.
This year Walmart wants to help families serve up delicious holiday meals without the worry of overspending their budget. They've rolled back their food prices and have announced that consumers can prepare a Thanksgiving dinner for as low as $20. According to their website, the scrumptious $20 feast includes the following (see http://connect.walmart.com/holidaymeals/ for complete details):
* One 12-pound Grade A turkey
* Three 11 to 15.5-ounce cans Green Giant vegetables
* Two 14-ounce cans Ocean Spray cranberry sauce
* Three 6-ounce boxes of Stove Top stuffing
* One 5-pound bag of red potatoes
* One 12-count package of Sara Lee dinner rolls
* One 22-ounce pumpkin roll cake
I've seen some great food deals advertised this week, so I'm sure that I'll be able to save quite a bit of money on my grocery bill with some frugal shopping. I'm a regular user of Walmart's Ad Match policy where they match local competitor's prices. I've also spotted quite a few coupon deals on the following websites:
Campbell's Soups and French’s® French Fried Onions
Libby's Vegetables
Pillsbury/Green Giant/Progresso
By the way, after browsing Walmart's website, I noticed they have a Food & Recipe center. Who knew? After a quick search I discovered several Turkey recipes including, Apricot-Onion Roasted Turkey, Brined Hickory Turkey, and Lemon-Herb Turkey Roast. This holiday season the site will also post some great recipes from the Food Network’s Melissa d’Arabians.
And don't forget those photos with Santa. Last year our local Walmart had a couple special days when Santa visited and they gave out free photos with Santa
By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 11/12/2009
With all of the talk around the economic crisis spurning teens and Gen Y'ers to spend their discretionary funds with a more value-driven mentality, you might assume that more would be seeking out thrift shops and vintage stores for hidden... Read the rest of this post
By: DGLM,
on 11/2/2009
Now, the Wall Street Journal and others are reporting that the big three retailers--Walmart, Target and Amazon--are rationing those selected bestsellers they have been deep discounting. This is ostensibly to prevent other retailers from buying from them in quantity and reselling these titles.
I believe that the only ones who are going to get hurt by the deep discounting and the rationing are those retailers who are doing it. First of all, they cannot continue to sell these books at these prices for a long period of time as they are losing a substantial amount of money by doing so; and limiting the number of copies per customer during the holiday season, especially, should discourage potential consumers and send them elsewhere.
In this poor economic climate for publishers and booksellers alike it would seem to me that working together to help our industry rather than undercutting each other would be far more constructive and productive.
What do you think?
-Jane
By: Hardygirl,
on 9/8/2009
Today was quite a day. I'm crazy busy--and a bit discombobulated because of the three day weekend followed by the four day week. I can't remember who has ballet and who has tests and who has a soccer game (and what IS our coach's name???). Add to all of this the fact that I had to go to Walmart today. Where I saw things like this:
By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 8/25/2009
In the flurry of media attention around this season's back-to-school shopping push, the focus has been split (not surprisingly) between the projected downturn-induced dip in numbers and a move towards integrating even more social media into... Read the rest of this post
Weird titles, eh? Well they'll mean something in a minute.
I received a cool book from PBS: The Rules of Survival, Nancy Werlin. I've been waiting over a year for this book on PBS and it finally came thru my wishlist.
I went to Wal*Mart yesterday and found: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson. Originally I wanted the trade paperback (the bigger one) but ended up buying the mass market paperback for $5.97. It was a deal.
When I'll be able to read them? who knows. I'm busy with school work right now.
Also, I'm going to keep the Shiver contest open until 6PM tonight. This is absolutely the final deadline. Number 45 wins. Only a couple more slots, but you may never know who you are until you post and approve it! So get to it! MAKE SURE YOU POST UNDER THE CONTEST POST. POSTING HERE WILL NOT ENTER YOU!!!!
By: Steph,
on 10/16/2007
The cards have arrived!
I recently participated in a competitive project called Custom 52. My card designs were selected for cycle 1 which have been printed and now on sale here.
The ojective of this exercise was to participate in an online design community using playing cards as the canvas. Entries were graded by peers. The top design for each playing card of each suit were selected to go to print and a deck of the top submissions was produced.
The cards turned out awesome and I am really happy with the printing results. A very special thanks goes out to all who voted.
By: Steph,
on 7/5/2007
I recently participated in the Custom 52 project.
My submission is titled, "Seven Deadly Diamonds" illustrated above, and I thought it fit nicely with this weeks theme of "red."
By clicking on the card illustration below, it will take you to my card site for voting. 
Happy voting and wish me luck!
Steph D.
By: m.b,
on 5/30/2007
Vote for me! Again! And then post something yourself so I can vote for you too!
Everyone got Jeff's email, no excuses! I found out about Custom52 last week and I had designed some cards so I thought it would be fun. So far, my entries seem to be unique in that, like 98% of the rest are full-on graphic design. Get IN THERE folks! They need a serious infusion of illustration!!
I'm hoping to do at least one more myself.
Made it through JOSEPH for the second time today, and have an additional whole page of edits... simple things like a missing word and and extra words, etc. Now I will wait until I get it home, print it out and go through it one more time. Sometimes I think it is easier to read the hard copy than to read things on the computer.
Working on a little marketing, too. I sent a couple of brochures to Matthew's teacher, and she seemed really excited about the books, saying they were really needed to make people more aware of autism. She thinks they need to be in classrooms and libraries...figured she knows the people around here, so sent her a whole bunch of the brochures to share with all those people she thinks need the books. Not all that many, in the overall scheme of things, but if I find enough enthusiastic people to share their thoughts about the books, it can only help get them out to where they will do some good.
Quiet day today, for the most part...took the kids to WalMart after we went out to dinner, to spend some of their own money, and miracle of miracles...WalMart HAD the computer game that Matthew has been obsessing about for the last three days. Jay was happy to find the one he wanted too, so things were REALLY quiet when we returned.
Golf was good today, in that it was good weather (not too hot) and the course was nice. A little different than most courses in Florida...it looked more like a ski field filled with hills and lots of moguls...not very many flat places at all. Scored poorly on the front, but at my handicap on the back
Step 1) Modernize distribution so that data flows bottom up across the vertical from store to publisher and back to store
Step 2) Publishers realize that their audience is now the readers, not the stores, which means reworking their advertising/marketing
Step 3) Actually use the data from step 1 to help with step 2
Step 4) Profit
From the data I see Loot Create (all the geek boxes) provide no long term lift, there’s a next issue crash. The digital redemptions from the boxes I’m told is worse.
Walmart is horrible, best the industry stay away. They leave nothing but damage in everything they touch.
Reboots have become the crack cocaine of the comic book industry. When you have to relaunch your entire line every few years, something is wrong. Namely, the people in charge don’t know what they’re doing.
A. Make comics affordable. Go old school and do cheaper print runs on cheaper stock. Drop the price to 3 bucks or less.
B. Sell through Walmart and other mass market retailers. Sell them anywhere a retailer wants to put them on display.
C. Stop it with the endless variant covers. It does nothing to grow your market beyond the die hard fans.
D. Wipe the collectible mind set from your brain-this is for everyone: the artists, the writers, the publishers and the retailers. That is THEE WORST freaking thing to infect the entire industry.
E. Stop trying to impress the other publishers and start publishing stories that people want to read.
F. Remember how old you were when you started reading comics and publish more stories for the next gen readers.