The economic process of financialization is defined by many as the development of the dependence and subordination of the productive sector to the financial sector. Leading to an emphasis on maximizing shareholder value above all else, the financialization of the economy and production has an enormous impact on the everyday life of ordinary people including the erosion of employment right, the rise of precarious work, and rising inequalities. Using multicase study research and an exploratory approach, this book analyzes the financialization process in the ten companies with the highest market capitalization worldwide including tech firms, oil companies and banks. This book analyzes indicators of financialization in large corporations including a comparison between profitability sources; shareholding structure, acquisitions and sales of shares; mergers and acquisitions; the origins of directors; payment of compensation to executives; dividend payments to shareholders and stock repurchases; employee salaries; and employment levels. The data demonstrates that what would once have been considered non-core business activities have become more profitable than core business activities in many of these companies. In some cases, these companies are responsible for large investment funds and financial-type institutions which already surpass the largest banks in terms of assets under management. Meanwhile, the average salaries at some of these companies have been falling in real terms due to the rise of outsourcing and the use of cheap or precarious labour. Adopting an economic sociology approach, this book marks a significant contribution to the literature on financialization in economics, sociology and business.

As a business owner, you are guaranteed at some point to have to ask yourself, are you content with your level of success or do you want to continue growing? Because whether you are in technology, sales, the restaurant business, or any other type of industry, there is a cap to your single business. But what if you purchased another company and expanded that way? That may seem daunting to you, especially considering where you came from, but when done right, expanding your acquisitions can deliver outstanding rewards.Written by an M&A expert with more than $1 billion in transactions under his belt, Successful Acquisitions fills business leaders in on all they need to know about finding and buying the right companies that most closely already match their business model and are most likely to successfully expand their business toward the growth it is ready for. The book's practical and comprehensive approach integrates all the moving pieces into a logical step-by-step process that covers: * The art and science of researching companies * Building and balancing an acquisition team * Valuation tips that look beyond the obvious * The importance of "the seller's equation" * Developing a negotiation platform * Guidelines for structuring an airtight deal * Bringing the deal to a timely close * A 100-day plan for making integration a success* And more!You don't have to be in the mergers and acquisitions business to be able to successfully expand your company by way of a multimillion-dollar purchase. Successful Acquisitions has done all the homework for you. From building the foundation to growing the relationships to cementing the deal, you'll be well on your way to unimaginable growth in no time!

Mergers & acquisitions are an essential instrument of strategic corporate management for companies of all sizes. The success of an M&A project highly depends on an optimal transaction preparation, fast execution and the experience of all parties involved. Due to numerous endogenous and exogenous influences, no two M&A transactions are alike at the detailed level. This book is designed as a practical M&A guide for students and professionals alike. In addition to dealing with important basics of mergers & acquisitions, the focus is on a structured and in-depth examination of the individual process steps of a typical company sale. At various points in this book, specific differences between a company sale of medium-sized companies (mid-caps) and large companies (large-caps) are discussed in detail.

This proceedings volume contains research trends, issues and developments in global economics and management with particular focus on the digital postindustrial economy-Economy 4.0. Featuring papers presented at the Economic and Management session of the 2018 Prospects of Fundamental Science Development International Conference (PFSD 2018) held in Tomsk, Russia, this book presents new models, methods, analyses, and approaches to different sectors of economics and management such as tax policy, labor economics, econometrics, municipal management systems, and international finance, among others. The papers are related to three main topics: Theoretical approaches to the development of Economy 4.0, the construction of a postindustrial society, and their impact on the labor market, finance, public and social values. Innovative methods and models are mentioned as well. The creation and implementation of cryptocurrencies and block chain technology. Comparative analysis of regional and institutional economics in different countries such as Russia, China, the United States and the EU, among others. Regulation, supervision, accounting and economic security measures are also explored. Featuring industry-specific case studies in sectors such as oil and gas, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, IT and ecology, this book is a useful reference for academics, students, practitioners, and scholars in economics.

In a first approximation, profit may seem like a simple and intuitive concept, but the definition is not limited to a single conceptual category. Analysis of the definition and role of profit must be implemented with a study at the corporate level. This book discusses the phenomenon of profit smoothing, implemented by management, which aims to maintain a constant flow of profit over time. On an operational level, the phenomenon of profit smoothing analyses and determines the correlation existing between a shock to a variable at the corporate level and the relationship between this shock and profit. This book discusses the main reasons, at the strategic level, of the phenomenon of profit smoothing and summarizes this into three groups. Firstly, the functionality of this phenomenon for corporate management is to transmit to the external environment, and especially to external investors, a business reality devoid of crisis and imbalances. Secondly, this initial motivation engages basically the second. In fact, levelling the trend of profit from year to year, top management can reduce the risk perceived from the outsiders and as from the company's insiders. Thirdly, this justification is related to the stability of the flow of dividends. Profit smoothing places great emphasis on the phenomenon of dividends. It should be note how in fact the profit smoothing is used to keep the expectations of shareholders profit from one period to another. This book is focused on the profit smoothing and, in particular, how this phenomenon is established in developing-economies like the Chinese one, and will be of interest to academics, researchers, and students of corporate finance.

Strategic alliances offer organisations an alternative to organic growth or acquisition when faced with the need to develop the business to a new level, innovate in terms of products or services or significantly reduce costs. The Strategic Alliance Handbook is a clear and complete guide to the nuts and bolts of the process behind successful collaborations. The book enables readers to understand the commercial, technical, strategic, cultural and operational logic behind any alliance and to establish an approach that is appropriate for the type of alliance they are seeking and the partner organisation(s) with whom they are working. Whether you are an alliance executive, responsible for the systems, strategy and performance of your organisation's alliancing programme or an alliance manager needing to ensure the success of a given partnership, The Strategic Alliance Handbook is an essential guide.

In the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, corporate collapses, accounting scandals and concerns around competition and auditor choice, the European Commission (EC) promoted the preparation of various reports on audit policy to support a harmonisation process of European auditing regulation. Consequently, the European Union Audit Regulation and Directive was implemented from 2016. This book provides a timely picture of the audit sector and how it responds to regulatory and technological challenges. It analyses the impact of EU reforms on audit practices by comparing the U.K. and Italy, which, representing two very different regulatory and cultural contexts, will offer insight into how the efforts at standardising audit regulation may lead to very different organisational firm responses within Europe. It addresses issues relating to public policy work and the concerns faced by the market for audit and assurance services, in promoting audit quality, better communication about the role of the auditor, capital market stability and confidence, and auditor independence. Moreover, it highlights what the future of auditing might look like in the EU particularly after the U.K. has left, and how meeting public expectations will continue to be a struggle for the accounting profession given the many problems ahead. The book encourages a deeper awareness of the challenges faced by those that monitor and certify the financial statements of the world's largest public companies and contributes to the general understanding of this controversial industry. It will serve as a useful guide to the recent EU audit reforms, not only for academics, and research students but also to regulators, policymakers, standard setters, industry professionals, and business executives worldwide.

Sustainable finance has been one of the emerging areas of finance in the last decade. With its emphasis on environmental, social, and governance as focal points in decision-making processes, it can help to improve social well-being while also supporting sustainable recovery. Furthermore, when practiced appropriately, it has the potential to avoid financial crises. Focusing on sustainable finance, responsible banking, responsible insurance, and responsible public finance can thus drive economic resiliency and must be examined from a pre-, post-, and during-crisis period in order to effectively avoid such circumstances in the future. Global Aspects of Sustainable Finance in Times of Crises discusses theory and concepts, focuses on practices and strategies, addresses the recent challenges and trends, and presents future prospects regarding sustainable finance. It provides a comprehensive look at sustainable finance in a variety of contexts and fields and discusses contemporary issues in light of crises such as the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. Covering a wide range of topics such as climate finance, green finance, and microfinance, it is ideal for corporate managers, portfolio managers, investors, finance professionals, accountants, government officials, financial analysts, researchers, practitioners, academicians, students, and policymakers.

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.

Poverty is one of the top problems the Muslim community faces today. A scholastic approach towards a solution based on the values and cultural contexts of the Muslim community holds great importance and significance to the Islamic civilizations and modern economic and cultural applications in the world. Challenges and Impacts of Religious Endowments on Global Economics and Finance is a pivotal reference source that examines the role of waqf and similar endowments in Islamic financial systems and how these religious endowments impact global economics and finance. While highlighting topics such as Islamic finance, risk management, and economic development, this publication explores adopting Islamic approaches to contemporary socio-economic issues and the methods of content analysis and meta-analysis methods. This book is ideally designed for professionals, economist regulators, financial analysts, academics, researchers, and postgraduate students seeking current research on modernized Islamic economic models in order to tackle the problem of fiscal deficiency.

The process of identifying and evaluating a target firm, completing a deal after its negotiation and announcement, and then integrating a target firm after legal combination is a multi-year process with uncertain returns to acquiring firms. Research on mergers and acquisitions (M&As) is progressing rapidly yet it remains fragmented across multiple research perspectives that largely examine different acquisition phases separately and coincide with a focus on different research variables. As a result, research fragmentation means that a researcher in one area may be unaware of research from related areas that is likely relevant. This contributes to research silos with M&A research displaying different traditions, starting points, and assumptions. Mergers and Acquisitions: A Research Overview summarizes the frontier in M&A research and provides insights into where it can be expanded. It undertakes the needed integration and reconciliation of research in order to derive practical knowledge for managing acquisitions from beginning to end, providing a summary of what is known and its implications for future research. This concise overview reconciles and integrates the state of the art in our understanding of mergers and acquisitions, providing an essential first stopping point in the research journey of students and scholars working in this area.

Control of an impartial balance between risks and returns has become important for investors, and having a combination of financial instruments within a portfolio is an advantage. Portfolio management has thus become very important for reaching a resolution in high-risk investment opportunities and addressing the risk-reward tradeoff by maximizing returns and minimizing risks within a given investment period for a variety of assets. Metaheuristic Approaches to Portfolio Optimization is an essential reference source that examines the proper selection of financial instruments in a financial portfolio management scenario in terms of metaheuristic approaches. It also explores common measures used for the evaluation of risks/returns of portfolios in real-life situations. Featuring research on topics such as closed-end funds, asset allocation, and risk-return paradigm, this book is ideally designed for investors, financial professionals, money managers, accountants, students, professionals, and researchers.

The Enlightened Shareholder Value principle and Corporate Social Responsibility are areas of increasing academic and research interest. However, discussions on the ESV principle in relation to CSR are very limited. This book provides a critical analysis of the impact of the concept of ESV, embedded in the Companies Act 2006, on CSR and explores the scope for reform. Along with analysing existing empirical research, it presents the findings of an empirical study conducted to determine whether the concept of ESV is capable of promoting or assisting CSR. The book also examines whether implementing an ESV approach has had any impact on the CSR practices of multinational corporations that originate in the UK and operate in developing nations, as in order to assess whether the ESV principle links to CSR both its domestic and international impact need to be considered. This analysis was undertaken through the lens of a case study on the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh, with some focus on the Rana Plaza factory disaster. This study also assists in demonstrating the changes that need to be made to improve the current situation. Lastly, the book addresses the need for reform in the area and provides possible suggestions for reform. This interdisciplinary book will be of great interest to students and scholars of corporate law, corporate governance and business studies in general as well as policymakers, NGOs and government departments in many countries around the world working in the fields of CSR, sustainability and global supply chains.

The Financial Crisis was a cross-sector crisis that fundamentally affected modern society. Regulation, as a concept, was both blamed for allowing the crisis to happen, but also tasked with developing and implementing solutions in the wake of the crash. In this book, a number of specialists from a range of fields have contributed their insights into the effect of the Financial Crisis upon the regulatory frameworks affecting their fields, how regulators have responded to the Crisis, and then what this may mean for the future of regulation within those industries. These analyses are joined by a picture of past financial crises - which reveals interesting patterns - and then analyses of architectural regulatory models that were fundamentally affected by the Crisis. The book aims to allow sector specialists the freedom to share their insights so that, potentially, a broader picture can be identified. Providing an interesting and thought-provoking account of this societally impactful era, this book will help the reader develop a more informed understanding of the potential future of financial regulation. The book will be of value to researchers, students, advanced level students, regulators, and policymakers.

There has been an increasing interest in financial markets across sociology, history, anthropology, cultural studies, and related disciplines over the past decades, with particular intensity since the 2007-2008 crisis which prompted new analyses of the workings of financial markets and how "scandals of Wall Street" might have huge societal ramifications. The sociologically inclined landscape of finance studies is characterized by different more or less well- established homogeneous camps, with more micro-empirical, social studies of finance approaches on the one end of the spectrum and more theoretical, often neo-Marxist approaches, on the other. Yet alternative approaches are also gaining traction, including work that emphasizes the cultural homologies and interconnections with finance as well as work that, more broadly, is both empirically rigorous and theoretically ambitious. Importantly, across these various approaches to finance, a growing body of literature is taking shape which engages finance in a critical manner. The term "critical finance studies" nonetheless remains largely unfocused and undefined. Against this backdrop, the key rationales of The Routledge Handbook of Critical Finance Studies are firstly to provide a coherent notion of this emergent field and secondly to demonstrate its analytical usefulness across a wide range of central aspects of contemporary finance. As such, the volume will offer a comprehensive guide to students and academics on the field of Finance and Critical Finance Studies, Heterodox Economics, Accounting, and related Management disciplines. Chapter 14 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license at https://tandfbis.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/rt-files/docs/Open+Access+Chapters/9781138079816_oachapter14.pdf

The first stock exchange in Warsaw - capital city of the Kingdom of Poland- was established in 1817. Over the past 205 years, the fortunes of the capital market have been closely linked to the "bumpy road" of Polish history. The establishment of the GPW Warsaw Stock Exchange in 1991 was a landmark for transformation from a centrally planned communist economy to a market-driven capitalist one. Since the doors of the exchange reopened, Polish GDP per capita (current USD) increased eight times, translating into an average yearly growth rate of over 7%. The capital market has played a pivotal role in the economic success of Poland over the last three decades. It is not easy to precisely quantify the impact, as it was rather a spill-over effect. Economic growth has fostered the development of a capital market, and more efficient conversion of savings to investments via the capital market. The excellence of capital market institutions can be gauged with reference to various parameters. A synthetic measure is so-called market status. According to FTSE Russell (global index provider), Polish capital attained developed market status in 2018, being the first and only post-communist state to do so. It is fair to say that transformation has been completed and developed market status indicates clearly that the institutions and regulations are world class. The current challenge is competing with other developed markets for the best issuers and offering the most demanding investors an excellent trading experience. This book offers scientific insight into the Polish capital market story. Authored by a group of renowned scholars, with contributions aspiring to the highest academic standards for theoretical considerations and empirical research. The book covers various topics, including links between monetary policy and capital markets, micro and macro market structures, and investors and issuers' behaviour and strategies. All chapters are rooted in contemporary finance theory, supported by various econometric models based on the most recently available data. The book aims to provide academics and practitioners insight into the Polish capital market, appealing especially to those interested in gaining a deeper understanding of emerging markets' successful transformation into developed ones. It can also be used as supplementary reading for doctoral and master's students in finance, particularly relating to capital markets and economics - predominantly development economics and economic policy.

This book explores research that contributes to the current literature on the Oil and Gas Sector by analysing the multiple discourses that experts use to examine social investment. This book explains how these discourses influence social investment practices and host communities in the O&G sector. This book serves as a starting point from which companies, social investment experts, communities, host country governments, and international banks can build more participatory and community-centred social investment programmes to promote positive futures. The book suggests an alternative approach to O&G social investment, where social investment represents one of the main tools of social engagement, rather than its substitute; and where care instead of profit, becomes the driver of O&G social investment.

The most up-to-date and in-depth book on the business of professional team sports Pro team sports are the biggest and most important sector of international sport business Strong focus on applied analysis and performance measurement, invaluable real-world skills Covers sports, teams and leagues all over the world from the EPL to the NFL Addresses key themes from ownership and competitive balance to media revenue and the role of agents

This book combines theory and practice to analyze risk measurement from different points of view. The limitations of a model depend on the framework on which it has been built as well as specific assumptions, and risk managers need to be aware of these when assessing risks. The authors investigate the impact of these limitations, propose an alternative way of thinking that challenges traditional assumptions, and also provide novel solutions. Starting with the traditional Value at Risk (VaR) model and its limitations, the book discusses concepts like the expected shortfall, the spectral measure, the use of the spectrum, and the distortion risk measures from both a univariate and a multivariate perspective.

This practical guide in Eviews is aimed at practitioners and students in business, economics, econometrics, and finance. It uses a step-by-step approach to equip readers with a toolkit that enables them to make the most of this widely used econometric analysis software. Statistical and econometrics concepts are explained visually with examples, problems, and solutions. Developed by economists, the Eviews statistical software package is used most commonly for time-series oriented econometric analysis. It allows users to quickly develop statistical relations from data and then use those relations to forecast future values of the data. The package provides convenient ways to enter or upload data series, create new series from existing ones, display and print series, carry out statistical analyses of relationships among series, and manipulate results and output. This highly hands-on resource includes more than 200 illustrative graphs and tables and tutorials throughout. Abdulkader Aljandali is Senior Lecturer at Coventry University in London. He is currently leading the Stochastic Finance Module taught as part of the Global Financial Trading MSc. His previously published work includes Exchange Rate Volatility in Emerging Markers, Quantitative Analysis, Multivariate Methods & Forecasting with IBM SPSS Statistics and Multivariate Methods and Forecasting with IBM (R) SPSS (R) Statistics. Dr Aljandali is an established member of the British Accounting and Finance Association and the Higher Education Academy. Motasam Tatahi is a specialist in the areas of Macroeconomics, Financial Economics, and Financial Econometrics at the European Business School, Regent's University London, where he serves as Principal Lecturer and Dissertation Coordinator for the MSc in Global Banking and Finance at The European Business School-London.

Now in its fourth edition, Fundamentals of Corporate Finance continues to use its engaging, accessible narrative to give students an introductory overview of the key concepts in modern corporate finance, and the strategies used by firms in this continually changing field. The author uses years of expertise to guide readers through a framework of corporate finance, providing readers with a solid foundation of knowledge. With integrated theories and real-world European examples, the new edition presents the fundamentals of corporate finance in a clear and captivating way. Key Features * New Sustainability in Finance boxes provide awareness on how sustainability and corporate finance are interconnected in every-day life. * Example boxes in every chapter provide real and hypothetical examples, illustrating theoretical concepts such as calculating returns, bond yields and equity. * Real World Insight boxes on prominent topics like mortgages, investing and price models illustrate how corporate finance theories and concepts have been applied to business and decisions. * Up-to-date content reflecting the latest developments in the field, including the growth of ethics and sustainability, the emergence of cryptocurrencies and financial technology, and the impact of Brexit on corporate finance practice. * Coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic and how this has and will impact the field of corporate finance in the future. * Material aligns with external syllabi from professional bodies including ACCA, CIMA and ICAEW.

This book is the first to combine the views of scholars with those of practitioners (mostly CEOs and C-level executives) on the topic of sustainability, technology and finance. Includes the top thought leaders from the worlds of practice and research. Readers will gain insights into how technology and digitalization can fundamentally reshape the way ESG is practiced.

The rise of the global financial industry is treated by many economists as a critical component of the rise of neoliberalism. What few address is the role of the 1973 OPEC Oil Embargo and the 1979 Oil Shock in making modern financialization possible. Here, it will be demonstrated that the dramatic transfer of wealth from the industrialized, capitalist world to OPEC's members triggered by the Oil Embargo and the Oil Shock created a vast pool of liquid capital. Oil prices inflation, as a result of Embargo and Shock, also triggered a balance of payments crisis that created unprecedented global demand for credit. Processing this capital and mitigating the inflationary pressures which followed the 1973 Shock encouraged the development of more liquid, internationally mobile instruments that made financialization possible and ushered in the effective privatization of money creation. This transformation of the creation of money, the rise of a new global debt cycle, and petrocapital-fuelled changes to financial practices laid the foundations of modern finance and the neoliberal world order as we know them.

This book provides a unique picture of green finance by highlighting, under both theoretical and practical lenses, current changing paradigms and future directions in this field. The book is founded upon four major aspects that characterize current debates in green finance: products and services, financial innovation, green washing and transparency, and external pressures. The book is particularly useful to understand the current perimeter of the field; identify the potentials and challenges of the sector; explore current changing paradigms and its potentials to act as drivers for mainstreaming green finance; and conceptualize future directions of the field, with particular focus on its role in the post-COVID recovery plans. The book therefore is not only useful for deriving theoretical or practical implications for researchers and policy makers, but also to capture the evolving complexity of the field at the eve of extraordinary and green-driven changes in financial industry and in policy programs. The book also opens up interesting questions on theoretical advances in financial theory derived from these innovations and accelerated by the pandemic. It will be of interest to scholars and students from different academic disciplines such as economics, finance, political science, and entrepreneurship, as well as practitioners interested in green finance and in the financing of environmentally impactful organizations and projects.