The crisis in agriculture seems to be different than in other economic sectors. This is the result of agriculture’s specificity. There is a very strong relationship between farmers and the results of their work with natural environment. These connections are much more important than in industry or services. Food production is of greatest importance. People have to eat even during very strong economic crisis. Still, there are some types of crises present in contemporary agriculture. Some of them resemble the crises present in the last thousands of years, but some of them are characteristic for current situation. In the article the following types of contemporary agricultural problems were discussed: the crisis caused by natural environment conditions (the case of Russia and India), overproduction (the case of CAP in EU), the economic crisis (the case of West), the crisis caused by political tensions (the case of Laos and Zimbabwe) as well as the situation of Polish agriculture (after Poland’s accession to EU).
Small farms disappear in many regions of the world. Still, they play an important role in the economy of both developed countries and developing ones. The article presents selected examples of the role and function of small farms. Particular attention was given to Poland and Malopolska (Lesser Poland) Province. The causes and effects of the spatial distribution in the region and further prospects of their presence as a permanent element of the economy in rural areas of Malopolska were discussed.
PL
Małe gospodarstwa zanikają w wielu regionach świata. Wciąż jednak pełnią istotną rolę w gospodarce zarówno krajów wysoko rozwiniętych, jak i rozwijających się. W artykule na wybranych przykładach przedstawiono rolę i funkcje małych gospodarstw rolnych. Szczególną uwagę zwrócono na Polskę i województwo małopolskie. Przedyskutowano przyczyny i skutki przestrzenne ich rozmieszczenia w tym regionie oraz dalsze perspektywy ich obecności jako trwałego elementu gospodarki terenów wiejskich Małopolski.
Innovation seen as the development of new methods, tools, new approaches and improvement of the existing processes is generally synonymous with “young” and modern companies. Hardly anyone would expect after 100 years of a company’s existence that it is able to continually meet the highest standards of business and compete on the international market, especially in terms of innovation. An example of such a company is International Business Machines (IBM). The company was founded in 1911 and initially dealt with the production of various equipment: weights, meat slicers, or data storage media, such as punch cards and machines for them. The latter have become over time the most important activity of the corporation. At the turn of the 1960s, IBM introduced hard disk drives, developed the world’s first storage, and introduced to customers the software language Fortran, which is still in use. In 1969, IBM computers were used by NASA during the first man on the moon mission. In 1981, the company created the first personal computer IBM 5150 PC, which the weekly magazine “Time” dubbed “machine of the year”. Thanks to its innovations, regardless of the era, IBM has always been ahead of the reality in which it is located. Today IBM announced that in 2019 it will have a supercomputer, which should come close to matching the power of the human brain. At the moment, BlueGene already copies 4.5% of human brain activity. The activities of such a powerful company are not only associated with market developments. In the 1990s, the company began to focus on new market areas, in particular services. In November this year, IBM introduced the five innovations that over the next five years would significantly improve the quality of life of urban citizens around the world, as well as reduce potential hazards. Therefore, the vision of the company seems to be right – our customer’s success, innovation for us and the world. The purpose of this paper is to present innovative solutions implemented by IBM in terms of technology and services.
Wpływ działalności rolniczej na kształtowanie struktur funkcjonalnych obszarów wiejskich jest w ostatnich latach coraz mniejszy. Stwarza to nowe uwarunkowania dla rozwoju wsi, zwłaszcza w kontekście ich zwiększającego się potencjału demograficznego. Problem ten jest bardzo ważny z punktu widzenia Małopolski, gdyż województwo to cechuje się bardzo dużym w skali kraju udziałem ludności mieszkającej na obszarach wiejskich. Przekłada się to na bardzo duże rozdrobnienie gospodarstw rolnych i najmniejszą przeciętną ich powierzchnię. Celem artykułu jest określenie wpływu peryferyjności położenia na rozwój społeczno-gospodarczy obszarów wiejskich województwa małopolskiego. W tekście określono zróżnicowanie dostępności komunikacyjnej regionalnych ośrodków wzrostu na tle poziomu przedsiębiorczości terenów wiejskich.
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