We are constantly reminded by the talking heads on the major business channels (CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox) and in other media outlets that one of corporation's top priorities and expectations of government is a stable, predictable, long term legal framework and regulatory environment around which they can build their business plans and conduct their operations.
However, the expected reduction in caloric intake obtained by restrictive surgery procedures does not invariably lead to predictable long term results.
The International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm), a multilateral development institution, has been created to accelerate the availability of predictable long term funds for health and immunization programmes through the GAVI Alliance in 70 of the poorest countries in the world.
With such uncertainty, predictable, long-term policy-making is tricky.
"Lagoon technology has the potential to provide predictable long-term green energy with an investment lasting over a century.
A pension fund, with predictable long-term liabilities, should not normally be invested only in high-risk equities, for example.
But a hydrocarbon law and a predictable long-term investment climate, the Iraqis themselves say, is a prerequisite for long-term development.
City developers and landlords, led by their powerful trade group, the Real Estate Board of New York, have long sought a real estate tax cap, which would guarantee them a discounted and predictable long-term tax bill in return for renting out some apartments at below-market rates.
According to this analysis, the reunification of power in the Russian president in both title and practice — even one, like Mr. Putin, who has a track record of abrogating contracts — creates a more predictable long-term outlook for companies like Exxon Mobil, which has just agreed to a major oil exploration deal in the Russian Arctic.
Drax chief executive Dorothy Thompson said: These initiatives mark an important step in delivering our strategy, contributing to stronger, more predictable, long-term, financial performance, through greater diversification of the businesses, delivering more opportunities right across the markets in which we operate.
Robert G. Hagstrom Jr., a portfolio manager for Legg Mason Focus Trust and author of "The Warren Buffett Way: Investment Strategies of the World's Greatest Investor," (John Wiley & Sons, 1994) said the toy business did not have the kind of predictable, long-term earnings that Mr. Buffett considers essential.
