The belief that firms can be more efficient and effective when they concentrate on core activities and let specialist service providers take care of the rest has made outsourcing the provision of services a rapidly rising trend: from 2001 to 2009, the worldwide services outsourcing market grew from $65 billion to $110 billion, and it is forecasted to reach $130 billion by 2013. With this increasing reliance on third-party services, what can companies do to ensure that they receive high quality?
To prepare to meet greater competition resulting from the liberalisation and privatisation of Europe’s railway system, ICTRA’s Finance Department of the Belgian Railways Group undertook a process of transformation in collaboration with Deloitte Consulting Belgium. The case study that has now been published in collaboration with Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School outlines the transformation project and can inspire other ICT organisations seeking similar results.
The venture capital (or: VC) industry is often very heterogeneous in Europe, where independent, private investors operate alongside government, corporate or bank-related investors. Local players invest alongside international investors. Entrepreneurs often assume that the source of money is not important, but the different types of venture capital each have their own specific impact on the businesses they invest in, each with their specific advantages and disadvantages. Entrepreneurs therefore have to make well-considered choices.
The recent global financial crisis has indicated that the conventional dominant paradigm in finance is unable to cope with the problems of financial systems, markets, and behaviour of financial institutions, and failed to understand the proper role of finance in society and the economic system as a whole. Moving away from the conventional financial paradigm, this volume demonstrates paradigm shifting in the financial world and provides fresh insights on how we may reshape the financial reality to enable societal betterment and prevent any future financial crisis.
Simulation FAST – Finance & Accounting Simulation Tool F.A.S.T. © (Finance and Accounting Simulation Tool) is a quick introduction into the basic concepts of accounting and into the ways of analysing the financial health of a ...
In a recent working paper, Dr Elisabeth Van Laere and Prof Bart Baesens provide a comprehensive analysis on the credit ratings of banks by Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s (S&P). More specifically, the research team has investigated how different factors influence the assignment of S&P and Moody’s long term bank ratings using a unique data set covering different regions, bank sizes, and bank types. By including new bank and country specific variables, the authors clearly show that Moody’s and S&P’s bank ratings are based on different input parameters.
International transfer pricing, that is, the setting of a price for internal transactions within a multinational group, is irretrievably linked to international tax law. In seeking equity across borders, tax law imposes the arm’s length principle as the yardstick to judge the fairness and correctness of the transfer pricing system, in line with the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines.
Private equity investors routinely get a bad press – but how justified are claims that the management buyouts (and buy-ins) they engineer give the green light to a series of predictable decisions that stamp out both the representation and interests of employees? For trade unions, the questions typically raised when private equity buyouts take place tend to focus on how fast, blatant or circuitous the transition, and rarely on whether damaging changes in industrial relations will actually be avoided.
This book examines the daily problems of responsible investment practitioners. It emphasises the importance of asking the right questions as well as getting the right answers; anD of process as well as product. It raises questions about the very purpose of investment and the responsibilities of investors, both economic and societal. Accessible, vivid and illuminating, 'Dilemmas in Responsible Investment' is the first book specifically written for teaching and professional training in responsible investment. It will be required reading for students, academics and practitioners in the areas of finance, ethics and CSR.
Previous research shows that cooperation between marketing and sales departments on the one hand and finance and accounting departments on the other hand is not always satisfactory. More recent developments in management accounting however propose models and methods that are very useful for marketing and sales professionals. In this case study we describe a customer life time model that is used by a telecom company to define its marketing strategy.