This book presents the best papers from the 1st International Conference on Mathematical Research for Blockchain Economy (MARBLE) 2019, held in Santorini, Greece. While most blockchain conferences and forums are dedicated to business applications, product development or Initial Coin Offering (ICO) launches, this conference focused on the mathematics behind blockchain to bridge the gap between practice and theory. Every year, thousands of blockchain projects are launched and circulated in the market, and there is a tremendous wealth of blockchain applications, from finance to healthcare, education, media, logistics and more. However, due to theoretical and technical barriers, most of these applications are impractical for use in a real-world business context. The papers in this book reveal the challenges and limitations, such as scalability, latency, privacy and security, and showcase solutions and developments to overcome them.

Venture Capital. A Euro-System Approach covers a wide spectrum of topics: it investigates the way venture capital really works, the relations between venture capital, corporate banking and stock exchanges, market trends in Europe and the US, legal issues related to the creation of venture capital firms and closed end funds, and finally regulatory and economic policy issues. The book is based on a strong link between a rigorous methodological approach and real world best practices of venture capitalists - thanks to a team of contributors formed by both academics and professionals of different fields (venture capitalists, financial analysts, regulators, stock exchange executives).

'Superb' - Tim Harford, author of How to Make the World Add Up Money is essential to the economy and how we live our lives, yet is inherently worthless. We can use it to build a home or send us to space, and it can lead to the rise and fall of empires. Few innovations have had such a huge impact on the development of humanity, but money is a shared fiction; a story we believe in so long as others act as if it is true. Money is rarely out of the headlines - from the invention of cryptocurrencies to the problem of high inflation, extraordinary interventions by central banks and the power the West has over the worldwide banking system. In Money in One Lesson, Gavin Jackson answers the most important questions on what money is and how it shapes our world, drawing on vivid examples from throughout history to demystify and show how societies and its citizens, both past and present, are always entwined with matters of money. 'A highly illuminating, well-researched and beautifully written book on one of humanity's most important innovations' - Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator, Financial Times

This book highlights the key issues, opportunities and challenges facing African firms, industries, cities and nations in their quest to compete successfully in the global economy. Exploring a topic which has grown in importance as Africa faces a period of subdued economic development, this edited collection takes a unique multi-disciplinary, multi-industry and multi-country approach. The authors provide insights into a broad range of issues, including competitiveness measurement and evaluation, sectoral competitiveness of declining and emerging industries, threats of the 'Dutch Disease,' and talent competitiveness. This timely book offers a response to the urgent need for the diversification of economies and the advancement of manufacturing in Africa, appealing to scholars of international business and economics.

This book provides a new evolutionary perspective on outsourcing. The traditional prioritization of continuous outsourcing has resulted in increased hidden costs that have sabotaged business profits. As a result of undisciplined outsourcing, businesses have lost a defining characteristic of their success: decision control. In contrast, the ability to combine outsourcing with backsourcing is a winning strategy for business leaders across a broad range of industries. In this book, the author traces the essence of the outsourcing industry as it has evolved over the past two centuries. With compelling case studies from the pharmaceutical, aviation, insurance, and cookware industries, this book moves beyond theorizing. It highlights key insights from some of the leading outsourcing pioneers who helped to define the industry. The case studies demonstrate the evolution of outsourcing, from a past marked by a costly outsourcing approach to a future fueled by the diversification of sourcing for optimal business success. Through the provision of decision models and best practices, this book provides academics and practitioners with tangible steps to implement successful outsourcing and backsourcing strategies.

Analyzing Event Statistics in Corporate Finance provides new alternative methodologies to increase accuracy when performing statistical tests for event studies within corporate finance. In contrast to conventional surveys or literature reviews, Jeng focuses on various methodological defects or deficiencies that lead to inaccurate empirical results, which ultimately produce bad corporate policies. This work discusses the issues of data collection and structure, the recursive smoothing for systematic components in excess returns, the choices of event windows, different time horizons for the events, and the consequences of applications of different methodologies. In providing improvement for event studies in corporate finance, and based on the fact that changes in parameters for financial time series are common knowledge, a new alternative methodology is developed to extend the conventional analysis to more robust arguments.

Fundamentals of Corporate Finance helps students develop the intuition and analytical skills necessary to effectively apply financial tools in real-world decision-making situations. The authors provide a fully integrated framework for understanding how value creation relates to all aspects of corporate finance; whether it be evaluating an investment opportunity, determining the appropriate financing for a business, or managing working capital. This unique and integrated framework also provides robust coverage of problem solving and decision-making skills.

"Trillions for Military Technology "explains why the weapons purchased by the U.S. Department of Defense cost so much, why it takes decades to get them into production even as innovation in the civilian economy becomes ever more frenetic, and why some of those weapons don't work very well despite expenditures of many billions of dollars. It also explains what do about these problems. The author argues that the internal politics of the armed services make weapons acquisition almost unmanageable. Solutions require empowering civilian officials and reforms that will bring choice of weapons "into the sunshine" of public debate.

This book on corporate finance systemically integrates firms' approach toward the market, the value fundamentals of investors, and the pricing dynamics of financial markets. The reader is first introduced to an illustration and analysis of some of the main models used in corporate finance and in asset pricing. The text moves to define the core analysis and valuation techniques to demonstrate how integrating the fields of corporate finance and asset pricing allows us to make comprehensive and precise valuations over time. The textbook combines rigorous quantitative analysis with effective use of graphics to aid intuitive understanding, as well as didactic elements to help grasp the theoretical framework. Suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, as well as financial analysts and advisors, investors, and bankers, the book also provides an overview of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), IPO, and Private Equity to help illustrate the theoretical concepts in practice.

This book discusses the importance of developing routininized behaviours in new venture development, specifically highlighting the unique challenges that academic spin-offs face in this vital step towards successful business creation. During the early development stage, new ventures are informally established and have few routines that inform organizational performance. However, the process of new venture development is characterized by high ambiguity, for example entrepreneurs have to deal with ill-defined technologies that are only vaguely understood or delineated. They also need to gradually make sense of the connections between technological functions, customer preferences and market structures. At the same time, during the early stage of new start-ups, experiences tend to be personal, embodied in specific individuals, such as the founder of founding team. Benefiting from these experiences and developing successful businesses that can exist independently of these individuals requires that these experiences become embedded in the form of routines. The author argues that developing these routines, or 'routinizing behaviours,' plays a critical role in the process of adaptation, learning, and ultimately, success. Focusing on these routinizing behaviours in particular, the book presents primary and empirical research on the specific challenges that academic spin-offs face and delivers a framework for the routinization of behaviours, demonstrating the challenges and opportunities that can intervene in this process. Finally, the author brings together implications that academics and practitioners can take and apply in their own ventures.

Written by two leading experts on multinational accounting and billion-dollar international investment funds, this book provides a framework for a global reform of the world monetary system, and defines a decidedly new approach to dealing with public debt mortgage, an issue that we can see in many countries in Europe and around the world. The authors put forward a proposal for transforming sterile financial masses, which are withdrawn from the real economy as they no longer bear interest, into wealth. To facilitate this return to the real economy, the authors propose that a significant share of public debt be converted into net equities in the world of business and goods production in order to find new profitable investment projects. The idea is bold, and the authors strive to demonstrate its technical feasibility. They are convinced that this approach can accompany and enhance a movement that has already begun, namely the implementation of vast national and international investment programs in major infrastructures and research projects in innovative sectors. This work builds on the authors’ two previous books, which focus on the monetary system. The first, published in 2010 and including a foreword by former French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, analyzes the new virtual dimension of money. The second, published in 2014, puts forward an innovative proposal for a new financial regulation aimed at more stable economies. This third book is intended for professionals in the financial industry, including decision makers at banks, accounting and private equity firms, as well as policymakers at central banks and government institutions involved in the implementation of financial and monetary reforms.

We all make mistakes, but imagine losing your financial solvency or your children's inheritance to the failing economy. Buying low and selling higher is the name of the game, but we often do the opposite. As the stock market rises, we remain on the sidelines, watching as others are reaping monetary rewards. We want to rebuild, but we are fearful of losing additional funds in today's risky market.

These challenges have plagued investors for decades, many of whom have lost much of their investments in various recessions. Even so, you can transform your investment mistakes into financial gains. Making a comeback from investment errors requires an understanding of some basic elements of investing, such as predictable investor behavior; insight from hindsight; risk/reward consideration; chance of loss measurement; and data and analysis.

All investors experience the same psychological emotions and are susceptible to making the same investing errors of judgment; thus, the winners and losers are determined by how they play the game. Author Juliana Vilke offers winning investment strategies for women along with advice from wealthy investors who learned a great deal from their investment mistakes. She offers time-tested advice to help any woman take control of her investing future.

Corporate governance mechanisms are recognised as the critical fulcrum of business and management decision-making, with a deep impact not only upon corporate performance but economic prosperity and social well-being. Controversies in corporate governance have seized the public imagination concerning issues such as corporate collapse, executive compensation, the security of superannuation funds, and mergers and takeovers. Corporate governance is a relatively new field, but has now moved from the margins to the mainstream of business and management education. However, discovering the origins and foundations of corporate governance involves a lengthy search through law, finance, economics, accounting and management journals. Most of the original and essential corporate governance literature is therefore highly dispersed and often inaccessible to business and management students today. This unique collection brings together this widely dispersed material for the first time, providing students and researchers in corporate governance with an unrivalled research resource.

The global financial crisis has led to more and more focus on corporate governance and financial institutions. There has been much coverage in the media about various corporate governance related issues in banks and other financial institutions, such as executive directors' remuneration and bankers' bonuses, board composition and board diversity. This book, dedicated to the corporate governance of banks and other financial institutions, makes a timely and accessible contribution to the literature in this area. The contributors are experts in their field with in-depth knowledge of the various countries including Italy, the UK, Germany, the US, China, Japan, Brazil, Russia, Australia and Nigeria, plus a chapter on Islamic financial institutions, covered in this book. Overall, the engagingly written chapters highlight many of the shortcomings of corporate governance which have led to financial scandals, whilst indicating areas where corporate governance can be strengthened and improved. Adding depth and accessibility to existing corporate governance books, this Handbook is ideal as a teaching and learning tool for undergraduate and postgraduate students. For directors and the general business and wider stakeholder communities concerned with corporate governance, it is an essential resource. Contributors: C.L. Ahmadjian, K.-J. Chang, M.J. Conyon, F. Cuomo, H. Farag, L. He, H.-Y Liang, I. Love, C.A. Mallin, C. Ogbechie, B. Okhunjanov, G. Pearson, S. Prigge, R.F. Schiozer, O.K. Tam, P.R.S. Terra, A. Zattoni

Globalization and the financial crisis highlight the problems caused by worldwide banking organizations and force financial groups to reassess their development strategies. This book discusses the impact of the crisis on the consolidation process in the European financial industry and the need for regulation and financial supervision.

This book explores how the U.S. has been in the throes of a startup revolution, fueled by a risk-taking culture. There has been a growth of young startup from 1994, accelerating after 2010 through the present day. Most entrepreneurial activity is in the professional and business services sector, which comprises technical services as well as research and development. However, new establishments face a low survival rate, suggesting that starting businesses is not the problem, sustaining their development and growth is the principal challenge. A paradox is presented by the simultaneous presence of declining labor force participation rate among prime working age adults, a decrease in productivity growth rates in the past decade and a startup revolution. There are five native skills that are acquired by experience rather than formal education: resourcefulness, practical intelligence, over-optimism and personal initiative. These are built on a foundation of attributes that form the culture of risk-taking and decision-making. Underlying values and beliefs include collaboration, openness to new ideas, an awareness of the environment and the needs of people in your radius of interaction. A strongly embedded community forms the essence of entrepreneurial culture, and its values cannot be taught, they must be learned through experience.

This book presents the best papers from the 3rd International Conference on Mathematical Research for Blockchain Economy (MARBLE) 2022, held in Vilamoura, Portugal. While most blockchain conferences and forums are dedicated to business applications, product development or Initial Coin Offering (ICO) launches, this conference focuses on the mathematics behind blockchain to bridge the gap between practice and theory. Blockchain Technology has been considered as the most fundamental and revolutionising invention since the Internet. Every year, thousands of blockchain projects are launched and circulated in the market, and there is a tremendous wealth of blockchain applications, from finance to healthcare, education, media, logistics and more. However, due to theoretical and technical barriers, most of these applications are impractical for use in a real-world business context. The papers in this book reveal the challenges and limitations, such as scalability, latency, privacy and security, and showcase solutions and developments to overcome them.

Acquisitions are one of the most powerful tools in the business armoury, but they can also be positively dangerous. Conducting thorough due diligence is one of the most effective ways to reduce the risk involved in acquisition and investment, and to improve the chances of success. Due diligence is a term traditionally used for the review process applied to an acquisition. In recent times, the practice has evolved substantially and the level of detail and analysis now possible allows companies to take better development decisions.Well conducted due diligence can help a transaction to proceed smoothly, and can even enable companies to find ways of adding value to acquisitions and other partnerships. Any transaction is highly risky ? at least 50% of acquisitions fail and numerous other partnerships end in disappointment and acrimony. Due diligence is the essential step to taking the risk out of deals and business partnerships. This book is a concise, comprehensive guide to the process, containing practical advice, accessible analysis, and case studies.

Professionals are constantly searching for competitive solutions to help determine current and future economic tendencies. Econometrics uses statistical methods and real-world data to predict and establish specific trends within business and finance. This analytical method sustains limitless potential, but the necessary research for professionals to understand and implement this approach is lacking. Applied Econometric Analysis: Emerging Research and Opportunities explores the theoretical and practical aspects of detailed econometric theories and applications within economics, political science, public policy, business, and finance. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as cointegration, machine learning, and time series analysis, this book is ideally designed for economists, policymakers, financial analysts, marketers, researchers, academicians, and graduate students seeking research on the various techniques of econometric concepts.

Risks and uncertainties market, financial, operational, social, humanitarian, environmental, and institutional are the inherent realities of the modern world. Stock market crashes, demonetization of currency, and climate change constitute just a few examples that can adversely impact financial institutions across the globe. To mitigate these risks and avoid a financial crisis, a better understanding of how the economy responds to uncertainties is needed. Maintaining Financial Stability in Times of Risk and Uncertainty is an essential reference source that discusses how risks and uncertainties affect the financial stability and security of individuals and institutions, as well as probable solutions to mitigate risk and achieve financial resilience under uncertainty. Featuring research on topics such as financial fraud, insurance ombudsman, and Knightian uncertainty, this book is developed for researchers, academicians, policymakers, students, and scholars.

This volume critically re-examines the profession's understanding of asset bubbles in light of the global financial crisis of 2007-09. It is well known that bubbles have occurred in the past, with the October 1929 crash as the most demonstrative example. However, the remarkably well-behaved performance of the US economy from 1945 to 2006, and, in particular during the Great Moderation period of 1984 to 2006, assured the economics profession and monetary policymakers that asset bubbles could be effectively managed with little or no real economic impact. The recent financial crisis has now triggered a debate about the emergence of a sequence of repeated bubbles in the Nasdaq market, housing market, credit market and commodity markets. The Greenspan-Bernanke Federal Reserve has followed an asymmetric approach to bubble management. This method advocates no monetary policy action during the bubble formation and growth, but a speedy response with a reduction in market rates when a bubble bursts to reduce the potential loss of output and employment. It was supported by academic research and seemed to work well until September 2008 when the financial system came close to a complete collapse. The realities of the recent financial crisis have intensified theoretical modeling, empirical methodologies, and debate on policy issues surrounding asset price bubbles and their potentially considerable adverse economic impact if poorly managed. Choosing to take a novel approach, the editors of this book have selected five classic papers that represent accepted thinking about asset bubbles prior to the financial crisis. They also include original papers challenging orthodox thinking and presenting new insights. A summary essay by the editors highlights the lessons learned and experiences gained since the crisis.

The core idea of corporate social responsibility, the notion that companies have a responsibility beyond legal requirements, is by now deeply embedded in the corporate cultures of the largest U.S. companies. The authors suggest that productive debate now focuses on the following two issues. First, what are the impacts of existing corporate social responsibility programs for the corporation? And, second, what constitutes the precise contours of this responsibility? This book explores these two themes.

The issue of how corporate social responsibility affects individual companies engaged in socially responsible activities is not well understood. Further, the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate corporate social responsibility activities has not always been clearly drawn. This book, therefore, is designed to fill in some of the gaps in our understanding. This is done by carefully organizing and reviewing the relevant and growing literature on corporate social responsibility. In addition, this book reports on the results of two original empirical studies designed to further explore the relationship between corporate social responsibility and traditional financial performance. This book has profound implications for business executives and researchers in finance, accounting, business ethics, and business and society.