Executive compensation has gained widespread public attention in recent years, with the pay of top U.S. executives reaching unprecedented levels compared either with past levels, with the remuneration of top executives in other countries, or with the wages and salaries of typical employees. The extraordinary levels of executive compensation have been achieved at a time when U.S. public companies have realized substantial gains in stock market value. Many have cited this as evidence that U.S. executive compensation works well, rewarding managers who make difficult decisions that lead to higher shareholder values, while others have argued that the overly generous salaries and benefits bear little relation to company performance. Recent conceptual and empirical research permits for the first time a truly rigorous debate on these and related issues, which is the subject of this volume.

"The State Economic Handbook" is a new annual reference book profiling the economy, demography, political environment, and business climates for each of the 50 states. This information, gathered from a variety of sources and clearly presented in one volume, will be of great value to researchers, businesses, news media, and government agencies.

This book discusses the concepts of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) that are the core of various paradigms used in strategic management to understand competitive advantage as well as flexibility in organizational boundaries. It serves as a valuable reference resource in the area of VUCA markets. An increase in the levels and types of uncertainty has important implications potentially for the durability of a company's advantages, the way firms learn and adapt, approaches for managing innovation and knowledge, and the attractiveness of different strategies and organizational models. In today's world, strategic flexibility in VUCA is essential for business leaders to sustain market advantage and attain a clear vision amid the chaos. Business leaders who stay focused and are aware of external volatility as the prevalent characteristic are successful, while those who are not flexible in this VUCA world and lock themselves into fixed positions lose out. The book includes empirical and conceptual research papers along with case studies and models discussing strategies for emerging markets in volatile and uncertain environments. It also covers a variety of issues, including innovation, people and processes, financial management, and leadership and strategies in VUCA markets. Apart from research fraternity and academia, the contents of the book will be useful for practitioners as well as industry watchers.

This collection examines the emerging issues, and the basic questions and analytical structures, arising from increasingly globalized financial markets. Topics covered include: an in-depth study of the exchange rate market, equilibrium and efficiency, inflation and interest rates, capital movement, the balance of payments and international reserves, foreign debt, country risk analysis, currency market arbitrage and speculative designs under market imperfection, international tax issues and trade liberalization, offshore banking and related issues. The contributors include: Alejandra Cabello; Benoit Charmichael, Jean-Claude Cosset, Krishnan Dandapani, Gilles Duteil, Christopher A. Erickson, Irene Finel-Honigman, Klaus P. Fischer, Shyamasri Ghosh, Larry Guin, M. Anaam Hashmi, Jannett K. Highfill, Anisul Islam, Muhammad Islam, Moosa Khan, Shahriar Khaksari, Ramakrishnan S. Koundinya, John P. LaJaunie, Eric Youngkoo Lee, Charles Maxwell, Bruce L. McManis, Mathew J. Morey, Abraham Mulugetta, Atsuyuki Naka, A.P. Palasvirta, Joanna Poznanska, Arun j. Prakesh, Emmanuel N. Roussakis, Neil Seitz, Michael Szenberg, William V. Weber, Elliott Willman, M. Razuibuz Zaman.

This book analyses the connections between the banking industry in Europe and the companies it finances. Ferretti specifically studies how these bonds have evolved over time and questions whether now is the time for a change in the relationship's dynamics. Chapters discuss the role of bank lending in firms' financing during the recent financial crisis, as well as issues in credit risk management. The discussion also examines regulatory requirements impacting banks and firms (Basel III) and how they intersect with banks' internal purposes. Moreover, the book explores how the financial crisis has impacted the relationship between banks and businesses, and seeks to identify the strengths and weaknesses inherent to it. Through this timely discussion, Ferretti looks to the future of the relationship between banks and non-financial organizations to see how they can be revitalised, adapted and reimagined in a post-crisis economy.

This book provides a comprehensive, step-by-step plan that simplifies the myriad complexities surrounding the formation and incorporation of branch offices and subsidiary companies within such havens as the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Greece, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Panama, Puerto Rico and Switzerland. In addition, it presents detailed information on each tax haven's economic, legal, political, cultural and geographical aspects, which must be considered if such an enterprise is to operate successfully.;In this compact and informative volume, Adam Starchild reveals the secrets of tax haven business planning for the corporate executive. He details the theory and practice of haven dealings and the incorporation of holding and operating companies. He spells out the advantages and disadvantages of the multitude of haven uses that are available to all companies having any international facets to their business - whether it be manufacturing, importing components, exporting, or services.

This book reports on foreign investments in transitional economies and the corporate governance of international strategic alliances in China. It throws new light on the relationship between ownership, corporate governance, international technology transfer, organizational learning and the performance of such alliances. The book reviews the problems encountered by these international strategic alliances, provides significant empirical evidence of foreign investment decisions and profiles corporate governance and organizational learning in strategic alliances. Based on research into 1000 firms in China, it draws important conclusions for theory and practice.

Financial risk management has become increasingly important in the last years and a profound understanding of this subject is vital for managers, practitioners, investors and students of finance and related areas. This book provides the major trends regarding research on financial risk management, as well as the practices of different countries and economies. It is a compilation of the state of the art, new trends, and theoretical and empirical studies on the domain of enterprise risk. It is a critical reference source that discusses the financial instruments firms use to manage the different kind of financial risks, such as interest rate risk, corporate risk, credit risk, liquidity, and default risk. This book focuses on international risk management practices, and its relationship to firms' performance, and other dimensions of companies. It will present research on topics such as several types of financial risk, management of risk, hedging strategies, corporate governance and risk management, and behavioral finance and risk, and more. It is ideal for regulatory authorities, accountants, managers, academics, students, and researchers seeking coverage on the theoretical, empirical, and experimental studies that relate to the different themes in these global subjects.

This practical guide on the theory and practice of Investor Relations combines the art and science of marketing, financial analysis and financial communications in a single source. It offers expert advice and helpful tips to be used in real business life by corporate executives, financial analysts, students, and anyone competing for capital.

This book documents the distinctive experiences and challenges of Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Asia. By assessing succession and innovation in SMEs as the two sides of a coin, this book explains how innovations are essential to SMEs in succession. With detailed case examples, the book provides generalized solutions for SMEs to answer the question of how to make succession and innovation simultaneously successful. The authors discuss the potential solutions to solve the challenges of SMEs on succession and innovation by considering the utilization of the capital market, the electronic commerce strategy, the international strategy, and angel investment to pursue portfolio entrepreneurship, and compare these Asia solutions to the experiences from Europe. The book is recommended for family business and SME owners, professionals serving these firms, and the consulting firms that work on continuity issues of SMEs in Asia.

This book explores new topics in modern research on empirical corporate finance and applied accounting, especially the econometric analysis of microdata. Dubbed "financial microeconometrics" by the author, this concept unites both methodological and applied approaches. The book examines how quantitative methods can be applied in corporate finance and accounting research in order to predict companies getting into financial distress. Presented in a clear and straightforward manner, it also suggests methods for linking corporate governance to financial performance, and discusses what the determinants of accounting disclosures are. Exploring these questions by way of numerous practical examples, this book is intended for researchers, practitioners and students who are not yet familiar with the variety of approaches available for data analysis and microeconometrics. "This book on financial microeconometrics is an excellent starting point for research in corporate finance and accounting. In my view, the text is positioned between a narrative and a scientific treatise. It is based on a vast amount of literature but is not overloaded with formulae. My appreciation of financial microeconometrics has very much increased. The book is well organized and properly written. I enjoyed reading it." Wolfgang Marty, Senior Investment Strategist, AgaNola AG

Investment and financing decisions require the concurrent evaluation of profitability, liquidity, and risk. This book provides expertise to foster sound growth in sales and earnings within risk limits acceptable to management. It offers a unique presentation, based on the author's extensive experience in management, consulting, and teaching. Practical examples and detailed illustrations provide methods for analyzing relevant alternatives that promote clearer communications and better-informed decisions.

"The State Economic Handbook" is a new annual reference book profiling the economy, demography, political environment, and business climates for each of the 50 states. This information, gathered from a variety of sources and clearly presented in one volume, will be of great value to researchers, businesses, news media, and government agencies.

Dividends are not only a signal about a firm's prospects under asymmetric information, but they can also act as a corporate governance device to align the management's interests with those of the shareholders. Dividend Policy and Corporate Governance is the first comprehensive volume on the relationship between dividend policy and corporate governance, and examines in detail empirical studies and current theories. Reviewing the interactions between dividend policy and other corporate governance mechanisms, it compares results for the UK and the US with those for other countries such as France, Germany, and Japan, and provides new empirical evidence on corporate governance in continental Europe and its impact on dividends. Focusing on one of the main representatives of this system, Germany, it highlights major differences between the dividend policies of German firms and those of UK or US firms. Conventional wisdom states that German dividends are lower than UK or US dividends, yet on a published-profits basis, the exact converse is true. In addition, the authors demonstrate a link between corporate control structures and dividend payouts, report evidence that the existence of a loss is an additional determinant of dividend changes, and demonstrate that the tax status of the controlling shareholder and the firm's dividend payout are not linked. The conclusions reached in this book have important implications for the current debate on corporate governance, making it invaluable for academics, finance professionals, regulators and legal advisors.

Management literature is full of examinations of so-called managerial excellence: firms such as GM, IBM, and DuPont have been managed in an exemplary fashion which others might emulate. Works such as Peters & Waterman's "In Search of Excellence" have extolled these firms as models for the future. In his new book, Ghosh responds to the hyberbole in this literature by taking a hard, analytical look at the real financial performance of such firms. His study of the financial performance of these well-known firms during the last twenty-five years (1960-1984), brings out significant findings that are invaluable to the investing public as well as to finance and management analysts.

Taking a list of these best-run companies and a control sample from the Fortune 500, the author applies sophisticated statistical and econometric tools to analyze their performance, comparing the excellent firms with the control group. By using these analytical techniques, Ghosh is able to determine whether these firms were indeed excellent from both the management's and stockholders' point of view. Over the period studied here, Ghosh discovers that the excellence of these firms has been transitory at best, that in most respects the control group has surpassed the excellent group in financial performance and market valuation in the long run, and that the excellent group has not exceeded the performance or the market generally. Given these results, Ghosh has called into question the whole 1980s notion of excellence (what it is and what it is not) and which firms are to be emulated for the long-term good of the U.S. economy. This book will have wide public appeal and be of special interest to scholars in management, finance, and economic history, as well as to financial and management analysts.

How the persistent worsening of the income distribution in the US in the 1980s and 1990s be explained? What are the prospects for the re-emergence of sustainable prosperity in the US economy over the next generation? Situating these questions within a wider context through historical analysis and comparisons with Germany and Japan, this book focuses on the microeconomics of corporate investment behavior, and the macroeconomics of household saving behavior. The contributors analyze how the combined pressures of excessive corporate growth,international competition, and intergenerational dependence have influenced corporate investment over the past two decades. They also offer a perspective on how corporate investment in skill bases can support sustainable prosperity, with studies drawn from the machine tool, aircraft engine, and medical equipment industries.

This book provides an overview of the evolution of investment and risk, together with a synthesis of research on these developments. It explores how exposures can be modified by measuring and managing them and introduces readers to the latest strategies and trends in investment. Broad in scope, the book covers the most important aspects of investment risk management, including the time value of money, financial markets, equity markets, bond markets, and portfolio theory. Accordingly, it offers a valuable asset for advanced undergraduate and graduate finance students, investors and academics alike.

'A rollercoaster read that reveals everything that's wrong with our financial system' Catherine Belton, author of Putin's People 'The financial investigation of the decade... Money Men instantly enters the canon of great financial crime books' Bradley Hope, author of The Billion Dollar Whale 'A rip-roaring ride into the underworld of the global economy' Tom Burgis, author of Kleptopia This is the stranger-than-fiction story of Wirecard, once a $30 billion tech darling, now a smouldering wreck, by the journalist who brought it crashing down - perfect for those who loved Bad Blood and Empire of Pain. When journalist Dan McCrum followed a tip to investigate the hot new tech company challenging Silicon Valley, everything about Wirecard looked a little too good to be true: offices were sprouting up around the world, it was reporting runaway growth and the CEO even wore a black turtleneck in tribute to Steve Jobs. In the space of a few short years, the company had come from nowhere to overtake industry giants like Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank on the stock market. As McCrum dug deeper, he encountered a story stranger and more dangerous than he ever imagined: a world of short sellers and whistleblowers, pornographers and private militias, hackers and spies. Before long he realised that he wasn't the only one in pursuit. Shadowy figures were following him through the streets of London, high-flying lawyers were sending ominous letters to his boss, and he was named as the prime suspect in a criminal inquiry. The race was on to prove his suspicions and clear his name. Money Men is the astonishing true story of Wirecard's multi-billion-dollar fraud, Europe's biggest new tech darling revealed as a house of cards. Uncovering fake bank accounts, fake offices and possibly even a fake death, McCrum offers a searing exposé that will finally lay bare the truth. Now adapted as the Netflix documentary Skandal! 'Required reading' The Economist 'A cross between the Enron scandal and Rosemary's Baby' John Lanchester, London Review of Books 'Reads like a crime drama' New Statesman 'The culmination of years of careful investigative work... Gripping' Evening Standard 'A thrilling, head-spinning book' Irish Times

For courses in corporate finance or financial management at the undergraduate and graduate level. Excel Modeling in Corporate Finance approaches building and estimating models with Microsoft(r) Excel(r). Students are shown the steps involved in building models, rather than already-completed spreadsheets.

An important new resource for managers in marketing, finance, acquisitions analysis, and strategic planning, this book explores a question central to the financial health of every company: Is there a rate of corporate growth that is both desirable and sustainable? As the authors point out, excessive growth in sales can be as destructive to the survival of a firm as no growth. Here they present analytical models and tools that enable corporate planners to evaluate their own growth needs, target realistic expectations, and assess the collateral risks of growing either too fast or too slow.

Focusing throughout on the concept of managed growth, the authors begin with a theoretical micro/macroeconomic analysis and proceed to a practical, applied presentation of growth theory in management decision making. They present models useful for both short- and long-term management, all of them illustrated with concrete data taken from corporate annual reports and SEC 10K reports. By employing these models, planners will be able to accurately forecast optimal and feasible growth rates, evaluate the impact of price fluctuations on the sustainable growth rate, isolate the effects of productivity trends, plan working capital requirements, determine the most favorable capital structure of the firm, and measure the impact of potential mergers or takeovers on sustainable growth. Each of the models can easily be programmed for computer usage. The authors also pay considerable attention to remedial actions that can be taken when the actual growth rate either exceeds or falls short of the sustainable growth rate, making this an especially practical tool for anyone charged with financial, sales, and strategic planning responsibilities.

"The relationship between finance and strategy is important and...this text makes it a central theme...and should make the subject much more relevant." Graham Diggle, Oxford Brookes University "This text is well written, clear and easy to follow... and innovative in that it provides a link between corporate finance and financial strategy." Shishir Malde, Nottingham Trent University What are the core principles of corporate finance and their links with financial strategy? What are the tools and techniques of financial decision-making necessary to solve real-life business problems? How in practice are financial strategies implemented that are appropriate to businesses at each stage of their life cycle? Corporate Finance and Financial Strategy answers these and many more questions. This textbook introduces contemporary financial issues and topics of growing importance such as Islamic finance, corporate governance, and behavioural finance, and discusses reasons for and implications of the current global financial crisis. Along with its accompanying resources, this text is a must for corporate finance and financial strategy undergraduates and postgraduates, MBAs, and those undertaking professional examination courses.

As an ever-growing international business, Islamic banking has changed the face of economics in recent years. As more and more industries embrace Islamic principles, the industry will unquestionably influence modern economic practices and techniques across the globe. The Handbook of Research on International Islamic Banking is a collection of innovative research on the methods and applications of Islamic banking interests on a global economic scale. While highlighting topics including asset diversification, profit sharing, and financial reporting, this book is ideally designed for bankers, banking analysts, international business managers, financiers, industry professionals, economists, government officials, academicians, students, and researchers seeking current research on Islamic banking perspectives and approaches to finances.

As well as reviewing traditional models, this book proposes an alternative model for estimating the cost of risk capital. This model, known as CaRM (Capital at Risk Model), bases the cost estimate of risk capital on VaR (Value at Risk) for the very first time. This book is an ideal resource for developing valuation research in SMEs.