Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) studies have evolved as one of the mainstreams in business strategy. This book presents a comprehensive perspective on the motivations behind the studies, the effects of FDI, and how it can be utilized and extended to other areas of studies. Written with a global perspective, this book not only touches upon business strategies but also covers government policies toward promoting and attracting FDI for industrial and economic development. The author, with his vast experience in consulting and research projects for multinational companies, international organizations and governments, examines real world business practices of Eastern firms and how they relate to their Western counterparts, thus making this book a valuable and practical reference not only for students, but for practitioners, too.

Corporate valuation underlies the interrelationship between corporate strategy, financial analysis and financial management. Acquisitions, mergers, ESOPs and private placements are becoming increasingly common in the middle-market as investment banks and non-bank entities become players in the field. Managers and financial professionals need to become conversant in corporate valuation methods in order to expand their relationships with customers and to create profitable opportunities for their organization.;This text provides a catalogue of valuation tools, together with guidance on analyzing and valuing a business. The author breaks down the topic to provide advice for any business, no matter how complex. He presents eight different methods of firm valuation and discusses the benefits and limitations of each method, supporting this information with examples from international markets.

An Introduction to Wavelets and Other Filtering Methods in Finance and Economics presents a unified view of filtering techniques with a special focus on wavelet analysis in finance and economics. It emphasizes the methods and explanations of the theory that underlies them. It also concentrates on exactly what wavelet analysis (and filtering methods in general) can reveal about a time series. It offers testing issues which can be performed with wavelets in conjunction with the multi-resolution analysis. The descriptive focus of the book avoids proofs and provides easy access to a wide spectrum of parametric and nonparametric filtering methods. Examples and empirical applications will show readers the capabilities, advantages, and disadvantages of each method.
*The first book to present a unified view of filtering techniques
*Concentrates on exactly what wavelets analysis and filtering methods in general can reveal about a time series
*Provides easy access to a wide spectrum of parametric and non-parametric filtering methods

This authoritative guide--the only in-depth survey of dividend policy--challenges the belief that corporate executives and financial analysts should dismiss dividend policy as irrelevant to shareholder wealth. Dividend policy does matter, say the authors, as they cite many classic and contemporary examples to show how dividend policy decisions play out in the marketplace. A carefully planned and executed policy is critical to maximizing shareholder wealth. This accessible, practical book covers every aspect of sound dividend planning and implementation. It includes a brief history of the evolution of dividends, statistics on dividends relative to profits and capital investments, their importance as a component of investor total returns, the relationship of dividends to share price, how management makes dividend decisions, and the impact of different tax regulations on dividend policies. The book focuses less on mathematics and more on the intuition of share valuation as a function of dividend policy. While the authors acknowledge the irrelevance of dividend policy in a world with perfect capital markets, they stress how market imperfections such as taxes, imperfect information, and agency issues can alter the dividend irrelevance conclusion. The book devotes special chapters to international dividend policy and to share repurchases as an alternative to dividend payouts. It concludes with the authors' recommendations on how managers should incorporate market imperfections most relevant to their firms in setting dividend policy. Dividend Policy is a must-have resource for all managers, executives, and institutional investors.

Drawing on the principles of welfare economics and public finance, this second edition of Cost-Benefit Analysis: Theory and Application provides the theoretical foundation for a general framework within which costs and benefits are identified and assessed from a societal perspective. With a thorough coverage of cost-benefit concepts and their underlying theory, the volume carries the reader through the steps of a typical evaluation process, including the identification, measurement, and comparison of costs and benefits, and project selection. Topics include alternative measures of welfare change, such as the concepts of consumer surplus and compensating and equivalent variation measures, shadow pricing, nonmarket valuation techniques of contingent valuation and discrete choice experiment, perspectives on what constitutes a theoretically acceptable discount rate, the social rate of time preference, income distribution, and much more. The book also focuses on real-world applications of cost-benefit analysis in two closely related areas-environment and health care-followed by an examination of the current state of the art in cost-benefit analysis as practiced by international agencies.

The inclusion and factoring of political risk into accounting and non-accounting decisions is crucial if multinational firms are to avoid negative consequences ranging from unprofitable business environments to the outright expropriation of their assets. In a work that will be of particular value to professionals and academics in international and domestic finance, accounting, and management, the authors examine the characteristics of environments that give rise to political risk, explore the relationship between low economic growth and high political risk, and differentiate between definitions and forecasting models of political risk. They also provide a unique forecasting model to explain and predict risk, and they suggest alternative strategies for managing political risk.

Top businesses recognise risk management as a core feature of their project management process and approach to the governance of projects. However, a mature risk management process is required in order to realise its benefits; one that takes into account the design and implementation of the process and the skills, experience and culture of the people who use it. To be mature in the way you manage risk you need an accepted framework to assess your risk management maturity, allowing you to benchmark against a recognised standard. A structured pathway for improvement is also needed, not just telling you where you are now, but describing the steps required to reach the next level. The Project Risk Maturity Model detailed here provides such an assessment framework and development pathway. It can be used to benchmark your project risk processes and support the introduction of effective in-house project risk management. Using this model, implementation and improvement of project risk management can be managed effectively to ensure that the expected benefits are achieved in a way that is appropriate to the needs of each organisation. Martin Hopkinson has developed The Project Risk Maturity Model into a robust framework, and this book allows you to access and apply his insights and experience. A key feature is a downloadable resource containing a working copy of the QinetiQ Project Risk Maturity Model (RMM). This will enable you to undertake maturity assessments for as many projects as you choose. The RMM has been proven over a period of 10 years, with at least 250 maturity assessments on projects and programmes with a total value exceeding AGBP60 billion. A case study in the book demonstrates how it has been used to deliver significant and measurable benefits to the performance of major projects.

A global banking risk management guide geared toward the practitioner Financial Risk Management presents an in-depth look at banking risk on a global scale, including comprehensive examination of the U.S. Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review, and the European Banking Authority stress tests. Written by the leaders of global banking risk products and management at SAS, this book provides the most up-to-date information and expert insight into real risk management. The discussion begins with an overview of methods for computing and managing a variety of risk, then moves into a review of the economic foundation of modern risk management and the growing importance of model risk management. Market risk, portfolio credit risk, counterparty credit risk, liquidity risk, profitability analysis, stress testing, and others are dissected and examined, arming you with the strategies you need to construct a robust risk management system. The book takes readers through a journey from basic market risk analysis to major recent advances in all financial risk disciplines seen in the banking industry. The quantitative methodologies are developed with ample business case discussions and examples illustrating how they are used in practice. Chapters devoted to firmwide risk and stress testing cross reference the different methodologies developed for the specific risk areas and explain how they work together at firmwide level. Since risk regulations have driven a lot of the recent practices, the book also relates to the current global regulations in the financial risk areas. Risk management is one of the fastest growing segments of the banking industry, fueled by banks' fundamental intermediary role in the global economy and the industry's profit-driven increase in risk-seeking behavior. This book is the product of the authors' experience in developing and implementing risk analytics in banks around the globe, giving you a comprehensive, quantitative-oriented risk management guide specifically for the practitioner. * Compute and manage market, credit, asset, and liability risk * Perform macroeconomic stress testing and act on the results * Get up to date on regulatory practices and model risk management * Examine the structure and construction of financial risk systems * Delve into funds transfer pricing, profitability analysis, and more Quantitative capability is increasing with lightning speed, both methodologically and technologically. Risk professionals must keep pace with the changes, and exploit every tool at their disposal. Financial Risk Management is the practitioner's guide to anticipating, mitigating, and preventing risk in the modern banking industry.

This comprehensive guide to all the essential legal and business considerations in financing the business activities of the modern corporation. Readers are provided with a clear and concise introduction to the legal and contractual framework that governs the major capital raising transactions in which a firm might be involved, with a particular emphasis upon the federal and state securities laws. An indispensable resource for consummating any private investment transaction, public offering, or commerical loan transaction, as well as dealing with disclosure requirements, the structuring of underwriting arrangements, and complying with public company responsibilities. Intended for entrepreneurs and managers at firms of all sizes.

It's not your imagination: the wealthy "do" get wealthier, while you still struggle from paycheck to paycheck. In this eye-opening money manual, seasoned certified public accountant Joseph Rouse explores why millions of hard-working, middle-class Americans like you have such a hard time making ends meet and then delivers a no-fail plan for taking charge of your financial destiny.

Rouse examines today's social, political, and economic realities that force most people to work long hours and even multiple jobs just to get by. And he tells how and why, if you aren't careful, you will most certainly lose your ability to retire at all.

Rouse's must-have guide to financial freedom delivers the tools and guidance you need to stop feeling helpless and start managing your finances with confidence. With his straightforward, solid, empowering approach, you will learn how to overcome every obstacle placed in your way by politicians, mass media, and your own temptations; destroy debt forever; and get on your way to building an impressive nest egg for yourself and your family.

At last, anyone and everyone can get ahead, achieve financial security, and enjoy a much-deserved, rich retirement

"Accounting for Improvement" offers concrete and constructive demonstrations of the possibilities of designing participative forms of organization. Field experiment cases illustrate how the operational level can assume a new significance in competitiveness and strategic positioning. In this way, the relevance of the accounting function to the improvement of productivity and quality is restored.

Several broadly applicable lessons can be learnt, among them: how companies can strengthen their competitive base by patient improvement; how people with operative jobs can take command of their work situation and improve it in quality as well as efficiency.

New bottom-up, people-orientated, empirically-founded approaches to decentralised participative management demonstrate a place for individuals and teamwork in today's "lost relevance" and "smart machine" environment.

"Financial Risk Management" provides a rigorous analysis of domestic and international risk management issues. Unlike other texts in the area there is an emphasis on the international dimension of portfolio management allowing the development of an effective, geocentric portfolio strategy.
All chapters represent in-depth reviews of the latest research on the topics under discussion. This ensures that the discussions are comprehensive, thorough and easy to read.
Topics covered include: .
* A comprehensive review of investment developments and strategies.
* Foreign exchange markets.
* Various forms of market anomalies.
Presenting the latest techniques and strategies in domestic and international investment management in a clear way, this is an ideal text for advanced undergraduate and graduate students who use quantitative techniques for investment and portfolio management.

Do you lurch from one fundraising campaign to the next, or are you able to step back and take the long view? The way you approach fundraising can make all the difference to your charity's success and its ultimate survival. The prudent fundraiser has to have a strategy in place that is both robust and dynamic, and this book will set you on the path to achieving that. Grounded in robust theory but with the needs of practitioners at its heart, this book will be your indispensable aid. It shows you how to: * Understand the internal and external fundraising environment * Identify your strategic objectives and key audiences * Structure your tactics * Track, measure and control your plan * Avoid strategic wear-out With additional insights around contemporary issues and advice on how to establish an ethical framework for your fundraising, this guide is a pre-requisite for all fundraising professionals.

Riahi-Belkaoui's research shows that U.S. firms, and possibly firms elsewhere, resort to the underutilization of their resources, a phenomenon known as organizational and budgetary slack. In this, the first exhaustive study of slack, the author identifies and explains the phenomenon and its causes, explicates the characteristics of organizations afflicted by it, and suggests ways to remedy it. In doing so, he also analyzes the role of the multidivisional structure and the performance plan in the creation of slack, and the distortion of information that accompanies it. A challenging study for organizational behavior theorists and for organization planners and top management in the private and public sectors.

In today's increasingly litigious climate, corporate directors can be held personally liable for the financial misconduct of corporate employees. In this comprehensive volume, Fertakis provides the practical information corporate board members need to correctly interpret the financial data and operating statements presented to them for review and approval. Written in a style accessible to directors who are not financial specialists, the book shows how to spot clues in financial statements to potentially serious underlying problems, how to evaluate and understand financial presentations, and how to obtain an accurate picture of a company's financial affairs.

This volume, inspired by and dedicated to the work of pioneering investment analyst, Jack Treynor, addresses the issues of portfolio risk and return and how investment portfolios are measured. In a career spanning over fifty years, the primary questions addressed by Jack Treynor were: Is there an observable risk-return trade-off? How can stock selection models be integrated with risk models to enhance client returns? Do managed portfolios earn positive, and statistically significant, excess returns and can mutual fund managers time the market? Since the publication of a pair of seminal Harvard Business Review articles in the mid-1960's, Jack Treynor has developed thinking that has greatly influenced security selection, portfolio construction and measurement, and market efficiency. Key publications addressed such topics as the Capital Asset Pricing Model and stock selection modeling and integration with risk models. Treynor also served as editor of the Financial Analysts Journal, through which he wrote many columns across a wide spectrum of topics. This volume showcases original essays by leading researchers and practitioners exploring the topics that have interested Treynor while applying the most current methodologies. Such topics include the origins of portfolio theory, market timing, and portfolio construction in equity markets. The result not only reinforces Treynor's lasting contributions to the field but suggests new areas for research and analysis.

Until recently, profit in the television industry went to the owners of the conduit, the distributors of content. As the industry enters the digital age, the distribution bottleneck will disappear and be replaced by the content creators themselves. This book explains patterns of profitability from the golden age of television to the emerging digital age. Television today is not just 500 channels: it is countless millions of hours of programming stored on video servers around the world. For media companies wanting to create value in this new era, including the major networks, digital branding is key. Just as consumers manage to make their way in 30 seconds through a 100-foot aisle jammed with hundreds of boxes of cereal by reaching for a box of whatever name brand product they know and love, viewers will also navigate through the vast wasteland of content by returning to their favorite digital brand.

This book provides detailed historical data, financial models, and informed discussion of profitability trends in the industry. It offers a framework for understanding and predicting profitability and describes the nature of branding as it applies to the television industry. It shows how a handful of dominant brands will emerge as sought-after organizers of content. Investors, industry consultants and executives, policy makers, students and academics will all find this book fascinating and informative.