INSTRUCTOR: Jim Kendrick, Professor of Agricultural Economics

Numbers: Office, Room 308 Filley Hall. Phone, 402-472-1933. E-mail: JGK@unlserve.unl.edu. Since I am retired, my office hours will be much reduced from previous years. Yet, I will generally be in my office for a short time after lunch on MWF and if you make an appointment I will spend as much time with you as you wish. For this class however, the prime means of maintaining contact will be with E-Mail, the listserv, and by voice mail.

REFERENCES: This course requires the student to be absolutely current with world events affecting agricultural exports and imports. What effects these imports and exports—almost any event, in any country, that has an impact on national, regional or global politics, monetary policy, agricultural production & policy, and weather patterns.

Add to this, the actions of multinational firms and one begins to get a feel for Agricultural Marketing in an International Environment. Obviously, no textbook can be current with today's events. Thus, it is the student who must detect and analyze information from many sources to successfully complete this course. I will emphasize the web as your major informational resource. I would wager this course will require more time than any other course in your collegiate experience. My "bookmarks" (http://www.ianr.unl.edu/kendrick/jgk.htm) provide a convenient starting place for access to global data and current news.

OBJECTIVES: This is an event analysis course. After completing this course, students should be able to evaluate the impacts of U.S. and world economic and political events on agricultural imports and exports by:

• Identifying political, economic, and social events (current, pending, reasonably possible) that will impact the domestic or international marketing of specific products.
• Analyzing the genesis of events and how these events might evolve in the near and longer-term.
• Developing a marketing plan for specific value added products that are in harmony with the political, economic, and social realities. Graduate students will also develop a business plan for selected products.

Once a decision is made on the number and geographical responsibility of the Desks, students will undergo a metamorphosis and will be hired as Analysts by an agricultural firm specializing in the global marketing of value added products. Like the real world, Analysts hired are assumed to be brilliant and hard working. Performance below these standards will result in a "pink slip." My preference is for students to register for a Pass/No Pass grade, which corresponds to the real world where you are either doing "good" work or are fired. Since a grade of "B" is considered "good performance" that is the standard used to earn a "Pass" in this course.

If you decide to register for a letter grade rather than Pass/No Pass, be advised that to earn a grade higher than a "B," the analyst must demonstrate:

• Superior written, oral, and electronic communication skills;
• Superior skills in integrating political, economic, and cultural data into concise oral or written "briefing packets"  for the Desk; and
• Superior skills in developing and presenting a logical marketing plan for specific products selected by the Desk for export or import.

Each Desk will develop and formally present a marketing plan for its geographical area. Such a plan will include a detailed economic and political analysis of the area along with a description of the marketing plan for those value-added products that will be imported or exported by that Desk. There will be no formal quizzes or exams since each class period is an examination of your analytical ability. In addition to tutoring you on how to become a respected Analyst, I will also act as the CEO of this hypothetical firm.

The scheduled class period will quickly gravitate to a thrice-weekly staff meeting between the Analysts and the CEO. Obviously, Analysts will need to devote considerable time in preparation for these staff meetings. I trust it is equally obvious that Analysts are expected to attend all staff meetings.

Each Desk shall elect a Chairperson. This Chairperson is responsible for:

• Organizing the responsibilities of each Analyst on that Desk, and
• Combining the reports of the Analysts into a consistent format that meets the "style manual" for this firm.

Written reports from the Chairs of the various Desks will be electrically sent to the CEO's Administrative Assistant (AA), Erin Fujan (hskrz_no_1@hotmail.com) . The AA will review these reports to determine that they fulfill the assigned task and are in compliance with the style manual. The AA will return to the Chair reports not meeting these criteria for immediate correction and resubmission.

Excerpts from the style manual, working documents of the Desks, as well as specialized web sites applicable to AECN 425 are located at (http://www.ianr.unl.edu/kendrick/425.htm)

In addition, a listserv (AGINTL@unl.edu) is provided to facilitate communications between and among the Desks as well as between the Instructor (CEO), the AA, and the Analysts.It is required that all class members have an individual e-mail account, know how to use a web browser, and have access to the Internet on a daily basis.

COURSE PREREQUISITE: At least three courses in economics or agricultural economics or permission of the instructor.

MY EXPECTATION OF YOU: Attendance is expected, period. To understand the complex inter relationships that exist among current marketing and policy issues you are expected to devote considerable time in reading and study of current, pending, and reasonably possible events. In addition, your "Desk" will develop a detailed marketing plan for specific value added food products to be exported from, or imported to, the nation(s) comprising your assigned geographical area. If you find that you can not budget sufficient time to meet these expectations you should seriously consider dropping this course at the earliest possible time.

YOUR EXPECTATION OF ME: I will try to establish a learning environment that will result in your greater understanding of the impacts on global agriculture that result from changes in the international economic and political environment. I will endeavor to fairly evaluate your performance.

With the AGINTL listserv, the instructor and members of the Desks can post information of interest to a specific Desk or to all Desks. In addition, the listserv can be used to pose questions, carry on discussions, make comments on current events, etc.

To subscribe to the Agricultural Marketing in a Multinational Environment listserv, send an e-mail note to listserv@unl.edu, leave the subject field BLANK, and ONLY THIS TEXT (no signature block) in the body of the message: subscribe AGINTL

Once subscribed, you may send your comments, questions, observations, etc., to all other subscribers by addressing an e-mail to AGINTL@unl.edu Fill in the subject line so that others have a hint of what’s in your note. Place your comments, questions, observations, etc. in the body of the e-mail message.

Once subscribed, you might want to change the default settings of the listserv to get; a) each message as it is sent (rather than a daily digest), b) get a copy of what you sent, c) receive acknowledgment that your message was distributed to all subscribers, and d) reduce the "headers" that accompany each message. To do all this, send the following e-mail to listserv@unl.edu, leave the subject field BLANK, and ONLY THIS TEXT (no signature block) in the body of the message: SET AGINTL MAIL SHORT REPRO ACK

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