From Customer Retention to a Holistic Stakeholder Management System : Living a Vision
Being the fourth in the series on Stakeholder Management books, the current volume looks back at the beginnings of Stakeholder Management and how it has since developed into a fully-fledged system over the last 20 years. It also highlights the importance of a benchmarking database generated from several thousand case studies for comparing businesses. Furthermore, international case studies look at the application of Stakeholder Management in a wide array of industries such as the automotive, public and hospitality sector as well as the consumer market. The reader benefits from a well-rounded account of articles that explain the entire process from data collection to implementation of actions derived from result analysis.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) : Economy and Society
Until now, Friedrich Nietzsche’s influence on the development of modern social sciences has not been well documented. This volume reconsiders some of Nietzsche’s writings on economics and the science of state and in doing so pioneers a line of research not previously available in English.
Foundations in microeconomic theory : A volume in honor of Hugo F. Sonnenschein
What a wonderful occasion it is to be celebrating 65 years of Hugo Sonnenschein! Given his many contributions to economic research and academia more broadly, there is much to celebrate. This volume, presented to Hugo at a confer ence in his honor at the University of Chicago in October 2005, highlights one of his deepest contributions. It is perhaps the hardest to detect from reading his bios and vita; but something that he is famous for among economists in general and economic theorists in particular. It is his incredible record as a mentor and advisor of students. In putting this volume together, we have collected papers from Hugo's students with the aim of demonstrating his tremendous impact as an advisor. The papers span decades, with the earliest coming from his advisees in the first years of his career and the most recent coming in the last two years after his return to research and advising that followed his adventures as a university administrator.
Foundations for Local Governance : Decentralization in Comparative Perspective
Various forms of decentralization are recently pursued in the world, including developing countries. However, there has not been a coherent framework to access these intended outcomes generated by decentralization measures implemented in Asian and African countries. This book provides such a framework based on comparative analyses of different experiences of decentralization measures in six developing countries, where the policy rationale to “bring services closer to people” originated in different socio-political backgrounds. Although decentralization measures are potentially useful for attaining both political democratization and economic efficiency, what is often packaged under the umbrella of “decentralization” needs to be disaggregated analytically. Successful reforms need coherent approaches in which a range of stakeholders would become willing to share responsibilities and resources in order to achieve the ultimate outcome of poverty reduction in the developing countries.
Formation and Early Growth of Business Webs: Modular Product Systems in Network Markets
Networks of firms have been in the focus of management research for several years. Recently, special attention has been paid to so-called business webs. Business webs are networks of firms which provide complements to a common product architecture.The present book explicitly examines the formation and early growth of business webs. The author illustrates the early growth phases with two in-depth cases of the formation of the wireless internet ecosystem i-mode and the leading person-to-person online auction platform eBay. The book uncovers the contingencies under which the establishment of business webs is likely to succeed. Business researchers will benefit from the theoretical framework, while interested business managers will find explanations and advice for establishing a business web.
Formalizing the Shadow Economy in Serbia : Policy Measures and Growth Effects
The main objective of this book is to develop a strategy and policy measures to enhance the formalization of the shadow economy in order to improve the competitiveness of the economy and contribute to economic growth; it explores these issues with special reference to Serbia. The size and development of the shadow economy in Serbia and other Central and Eastern European countries are estimated using two different methods (the MIMIC method and household-tax-compliance method). Micro-estimates are based on a special survey of business entities in Serbia, which for the first time allows us to explore the shadow economy from the perspective of enterprises and entrepreneurs.
Formal Modelling in Electronic Commerce
Advances in automation for electronic commerce require improved understanding and formalization of the objects, processes, and policies of commerce itself. These include business objects such as bills of lading and contracts; processes such as workflows and trade procedures; and policies covering such problems as contract or procedure validation and strategic behaviour. This book is about theory, formalization, and proof-of-concept implementation of these and related matters. In addition to presenting state-of-the-art results, the book places this work in the context of nearly twenty years of developments in formal modelling for electronic commerce. A comprehensive bibliography and index are provided.
Foreign Exchange Rate Forecasting using Artificial Neural Networks
In this monograph, the authors try to apply artificial neural networks (ANNs) to exchange rates forecasting. Selection of the ANN approach for - change rates forecasting is because of ANNs’ unique features and powerful pattern recognition capability. Unlike most of the traditional model-based forecasting techniques, ANNs are a class of data-driven, self-adaptive, and nonlinear methods that do not require specific assumptions on the und- lying data generating process. These features are particularly appealing for practical forecasting situations where data are abundant or easily available, even though the theoretical model or the underlying relationship is - known. Furthermore, ANNs have been successfully applied to a wide range of forecasting problems in almost all areas of business, industry and engineering.
Forecasting Innovations : Methods for Predicting Numbers of Patent Filings
This is a practical guide to solutions for a case study of forecasting demand for services and products in international markets - and so much more than just another listing of dry theoretical methods. Leading experts present studies on improvements to methods for forecasting numbers of incoming patent filings at the European Patent Office. Studies are presented from econometric, survey and systems theory viewpoints.
Fleet Telematics : Real-time management and planning of commercial vehicle operations
FLEET TELEMATICS: Real-Time Management and Planning of Commercial Vehicle Operations combines wireless telematics systems with dynamic vehicle routing algorithms and vehicle-positioning systems to produce a telematics-enabled information system that can be employed by commercial fleet operators for real-time monitoring, control, and planning. The book presents a Messaging & Fleet Monitoring System that automatically identifies deviations between the planned and the current state of the transportation system and a Dynamic Planning System (DPS) that provides real-time decision support considering the current state of the transportation system. The DPS uses newly developed dynamic vehicle routing algorithms to find high-quality solutions and adjust schedules and routes immediately.
Fiscal Equalization : Challenges in the Design of Intergovernmental Transfers
These original essays highlight the state of knowledge in intergovernmental transfer design. They represent creative new thinking about challenging policy issues and offer useful options for policy makers. There is a genuine need for this book; it will become a 'benchmark' reference. I am impressed with its content, organization, readability, and fresh thematic approach.
Financing the end-to-end supply chain : A reference guide to supply chain finance
Provides readers with a comprehensive understanding of the financial synergies across the supply chain / Combines theory and practice to tackle key issues and adapt supply chain finance to individual organizations' circumstances/ Presents several initiatives to coordinate and develop cross-border financing from institutions such as the World Bank
Financial risk management with bayesian estimation of GARCH models : Theory and applications
This book presents methodologies for the Bayesian estimation of GARCH models and their application to financial risk management. The study of these models from a Bayesian viewpoint is relatively recent and can be considered very promising due to the advantages of the Bayesian approach, in particular the possibility of obtaining small-sample results and integrating these results in a formal decision model. The first two chapters introduce the work and give an overview of the Bayesian paradigm for inference. The next three chapters describe the estimation of the GARCH model with Normal innovations and the linear regression models with conditionally Normal and Student-t-GJR errors. The sixth chapter shows how agents facing different risk perspectives can select their optimal Value at Risk Bayesian point estimate and documents that the differences between individuals can be substantial in terms of regulatory capital.
Financial Privacy : An International Comparison of Credit Reporting Systems
This book provides the first in-depth analysis of the economics and regulation of financial privacy. It is an international comparison of credit reporting systems in the United States and in European countries. On the theoretical level the book explains competition in information markets, especially in markets for goods made of highly personal and sensitive information. It reviews the microeconomics of information and privacy and discusses the economic incentives to disclose or to conceal information. The book also focuses on the institutions of credit reporting, the history of credit reporting agencies and the regulation of privacy and credit reporting on both sides of the Atlantic as well as internationally. Finally, on the empirical level, it reviews the microeconomic and potential macroeconomic effects of credit reporting in the credit markets of countries around the world.
Financial market imperfections and corporate decisions : Lessons from the transition process in Hungary
The book presents the results of an empirical investigation of the behaviour of Hungarian firms during the transition process focusing in particular on the role of financial market imperfections for corporate capital structure and investment decisions. The results suggest that financial market reforms have succeeded, albeit partially, in hardening firms's budget constraints and improving the efficiency of the credit allocation process. In particular, following the introduction of the banking sector reform and of the new bankruptcy law, budget constraints became more binding for small private firms, while informational costs became less relevant for foreign-owned firms.
Financial Distress, Corporate Restructuring and Firm Survival : An Empirical Analysis of German Panel Data
Philipp Jostarndt analyzes the anatomy of financial distress for a large sample of German corporations. He studies distress-induced changes in ownership and control, success factors in distressed equity infusions, and firms’ choice between in- and out-of-court debt restructurings. Moreover, he conducts a survival analysis to examine the determinants of survival, acquisition, and bankruptcy as alternative paths to exit financial distress. He includes both the firm perspective as well as the market valuations of the undertaken restructurings and, where applicable, relates the findings to the microstructure of Germany’s revised bankruptcy legislation.
Finance for Food : Towards New Agricultural and Rural Finance
Reflects the current state of discussion about agricultural and rural finance in developing and transition countries. It provides insight into specific themes, such as commodity value chains, farm banking, risk management in agricultural banking, structured finance, crop insurance, mobile banking, and how to increase effectiveness in rural finance. Case studies illustrate various aspects of agricultural and rural finance in developing economies. The book is based on one of the yearly financial Sector Development Symposia held by the KfW Development Bank.
Extending the Horizons : Advances in Computing, Optimization, and Decision Technologies
Computer Science and Operations Research continue to have a synergistic relationship and this book represents the results of cross-fertilization between OR/MS and CS/AI. It is this interface of OR/CS that makes possible advances that could not have been achieved in isolation. Taken collectively, these articles are indicative of the state-of-the-art in the interface between OR/MS and CS/AI and of the high caliber of research being conducted by members of the INFORMS Computing Society.
Explaining Executive Pay : The roles of managerial power and complexity
The pay of corporate leaders has escalated in the last few decades. At the same time the number of research papers on this issue has soared. Despite an impressive research volume, however, many questions concerning executive compensation remain unsolved. The author shows that both firm complexity and managerial power are associated with higher pay levels. This suggests that top managers are paid for the complexity of their job and that more powerful top managers receive pay in excess of the level that would be optimal for shareholders.
Experimenting with Dynamic Macromodels : Growth and Cycles
This book presents a macroeconomic dynamic model à la Solow-Swan, including the market for labour, in a discrete time structure. Labour supply is modelled as a reversed S curve (derived in the appendix). The models are expanded to include expenditure on R&D (thus endogenous technical progress), and public expenditure on infrastructures. For each of the three models, numerical simulations are implemented in MAPLE, and the results are shown in time series figures, which make it easy to detect that even small changes in the parameters produce responses in the time behaviour of the main variables: from steady growth, to regular cycles, to chaotic-like time paths. The simulations show that cycles do not promote material welfare, as measured by total undiscounted consumption along the time horizon, and that the comparative action of R&D versus public expenditure is strictly linked to the values assigned to the parameters.



















