...Aspens BY EDWARD THOMAS All day and night, save winter, every weather , Above the inn, the smithy, and the shop, The aspens at the cross-roads talk together Of rain, until their last leaves fall from the top. Out of the blacksmith's cavern comes the ringing Of hammer, shoe, and anvil; out of the inn The clink, the hum, the roar, the random singing— The sounds that for these fifty years have been. The whisper of the aspens is not drowned, And over lightless pane and footless road, Empty as sky, with every other sound Not ceasing, calls their ghosts from their abode, A silent smithy, a silent inn, nor fails In the bare moonlight or the thick-furred gloom, In tempest or the night of nightingales, To turn the cross-roads to a ghostly room. And it would be the same were no house near. Over all sorts of weather, men, and times, Aspens must shake their leaves and men may hear But need not listen, more than to my rhymes. Whatever wind blows, while they and I have leaves We cannot other than an aspen be That ceaselessly, unreasonably grieves, Or so men think who like a different tree. Stairway to the Stars BY RON PADGETT "And then there were three whereas before there had been four or two And then there were four or two." Thus spake the King. No one dared ask what it meant. He seemed satisfied by the beauty of the logic that had arrived, the royal hall now lightly radiant as he arose from his throne and the world fell away...
Words: 311 - Pages: 2
...Aspen Technology was growing, both domestically and internationally. Along with this growth come important issues to consider. With over 50% of licensing revenues coming from international clients, and many of these clients using the financing that Aspen offered, Aspen needs to have a sound-proof currency hedging strategy in place to manage the risks. Aspen’s current currency hedging strategy is to hedge 100% of its booked sales. This is an unnecessary strategy, primarily because Aspen turns around and sells these receivables for cash. We would therefore recommend that Aspen only hedge the portion of receivables that they do not sell right away. They should then maintain an active strategy of hedging in the future any further sales of receivables. Also, since Aspen is selling these receivables with limited recourse, they should hedge the amount of these receivables equal to the portion of receivables held in allowance for doubtful accounts. This way they will only be risking the credit of these accounts and not currency risk on top of that. As a measure of risk, Aspen could calculate VaR for their cash flows. For each time period in the future, they could calculate the 99% VaR using historical currency data. This can give them a better idea of the safety or lack there of their cash flows. Another issue that Aspen has not been addressing is their expenses in foreign countries. They have not been adjusting hedging policies for these expenses, and they should...
Words: 476 - Pages: 2
...TFIN752 - FINANCIAL RISK MANAGEMENT ASPEN TECHNOLOGY, INC.: CURRENCY HEDGING REVIEW MME 32 – GROUP 2: INTRODUCTION AspenTech was founded by Lawrence Evans an MIT Professor. AspenTech operation started in 1982 and specialized in the development of simulation software for customers in process manufacturing industries, particularly the chemical industry. Over the next 13 years, AspenTech’s sales grew rapidly as it became a major player in the process simulation segment of the software industry. In October 1994, the firm started to go public in a $31 million initial public offering (IPO), and as of the fall of 1995, AspenTech was the only one of the firms that specialized in simulation programs for the chemical, petroleum, and petrochemical industries that was publicly traded. AspenTech offered software for both steady-state analysis and dynamic analysis. By 1995, its products were Aspen Plus, Speed Up, Max, Advent, Properties Plus, and CIM/21. Aspentech also offers worldwide support i.e. training, technical support and workshops Behind the success of its products, research and development became a crucial weapon for AspenTech. Aspen spent in R&D US$ 4.4 mio in 1992, US$ 6.6 mio in 1993 and US$ 6.9 mio in 1994, primarily on salaries of programmers and engineers In 1995 with acquisition of ISI, R&D grew to US$ 11.4 Mio which US$ 9.3 Mio for non ISI research and US$ 2.1 for ISI research. The firm’s...
Words: 1569 - Pages: 7
...Aspen Technology Case – Group 1 Problem Definition Aspen Technology, Inc. has undergone rapid growth over the past thirteen years and the current business model has proven to be outdated. The young software company’s biggest challenge occurred in 1994 when they went public in a $31 million dollar initial public offering. The IPO effectively enabled the company to finance its increasing research and development spending, but it also increased the need to hedge risk associated with the growth of the multinational organization. AspenTech has become a public company with more risk adverse investors who want to invest in the core business of the firm, but do not want to assume its foreign exchange risk. Foreign exchange risk is a core risk for AspenTech, because much of its business is done outside of the United States. Its current risk management policy is ineffective because it does not currently account for its foreign expenses, which create an effective “natural hedging.” The ideal scenario would be to match foreign expenses to its respective sales, and completely hedge the difference, but AspenTech’s outdated hedging policy has failed to account for any of the expense exposure in Belgium, and has “over-hedged” exposure in Japan and the United Kingdom. Description of Methodology In this case we will identify the reasons Aspen Technology, Inc., has foreign exchange rate exposure, discuss where it comes from, quantify how much exposure they have, and provide recommendations...
Words: 1080 - Pages: 5
...IBM® Sterling B2B Integrator Map Editor INPUT Branching Diagram C:\Users\tmpdbohrer\Documents\IBM\Customers\Varroc Lighting\vTrac_AUD_APP_CMMS_CIF_856_OB.map.map Input Standards Association Agency : Version : Transaction Set : Release : Functional Group : INPUT* Group* 856HD* 856A* Temp* M C C C C 1 0 0 0 0 1 9999 1 1 1 Output Standards Association Agency : Version : Transaction Set : Release : Functional Group : Routing Header Primary Control Record Wed Oct 31 22:41:04 2012 Page 1 IBM® Sterling B2B Integrator Map Editor OUTPUT Branching Diagram C:\Users\tmpdbohrer\Documents\IBM\Customers\Varroc Lighting\vTrac_AUD_APP_CMMS_CIF_856_OB.map.map OUTPUT* APP_REC_HDR* M C 1 0 1 9999 Wed Oct 31 22:41:04 2012 Page 2 IBM® Sterling B2B Integrator Map Editor INPUT Record Details C:\Users\tmpdbohrer\Documents\IBM\Customers\Varroc Lighting\vTrac_AUD_APP_CMMS_CIF_856_OB.map.map Record 856HD* Routing Header HD1* HD2* HD3* HD4* HD5* HD6* HD7* HD8* HD9* HD10* Tag 856HD at 1 Header Version Number Data Version Number Trans Control Number Sender's Location Code Receiver's Location Code Delimiter Receiver's Location Code 2 Delimiter Receiver's Location Code 3 Final Delimiter Conditional C C C C C C C C C C 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 16 5 5 1 5 1 5 1 String String String String String String String String String String X X X X X X X X X X 0 1 6 8 10 26 31 36 37 42 43 48 2 2 16 5 5 1 5 1 5 1 Left Left Left Left Left Left Left Left Left Left Record 856A* Primary...
Words: 1494 - Pages: 6
...Energy—an Advanced System for Process Engineering (ASPEN) Project.[1] [2] On July 15, 2004, AspenTech was required by the Federal Trade Commission to make divestitures in regard to an anti-trust ruling against its acquisition of HyproTech. This included divestment of batch and continuous simulation systems and integrated engineering software business (AXSYS). [3] Aspen Technology was delisted from the NASDAQ on February 19, 2008 for failing to meet financial transparency guidelines of the NASDAQ exchange.[4] It has since been relisted.[1] [edit] Corporate Turnaround Over the past few years, under the leadership of Mark Fusco, AspenTech has attempted a corporate turnaround strategy.[5] Consolidating facilities with regional head offices in The America's, EMEA and Asia Pacific. Reducing the R&D facilities from 19 to 3 globally - Process Modeling based in Burlington, Massachusetts; Manufacturing and Supply Chain Center of Excellence in Houston, Texas; Quality Assurance Center in Shanghai, China Reorganizing the professional services business unit - new organization structure and management, and streamlining operations. [edit] References ^ Aspentech Corporate Overview http://www.aspentech.com/corporate/press/media_kit.cfm ^ Facts at a Glance http://www.aspentech.com/corporate/press/media_kit.cfm ^ FTC ruling on Hyprotech acquistion antitrust case http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/07/aspen.shtm ^ Aspen Technology Notice of Delisting http://sec....
Words: 266 - Pages: 2
...Triennial Central Bank Survey Foreign exchange and derivatives market activity in April 2010 Preliminary results Monetary and Economic Department September 2010 Queries concerning this report should be addressed to the authors listed below: Sections I + II: Karsten von Kleist tel +41 61 280 8408 tel +41 61 280 8256 tel +41 61 280 8445 tel +41 61 280 8425 e-mail: karsten.von-kleist@bis.org e-mail: carlos.mallo@bis.org e-mail: serge.grouchko@bis.org e-mail: philippe.mesny@bis.org Sections III + IV: Carlos Mallo Section III: Section IV: Serge Grouchko Philippe Mesny Copies of publications are available from: Bank for International Settlements Communications CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland E-mail: publications@bis.org Fax: +41 61 280 9100 and +41 61 280 8100 This publication is available on the BIS website (www.bis.org). © Bank for International Settlements 2010. All rights reserved. Brief excerpts may be reproduced or translated provided the source is stated. ISSN 1814-7348 (print) ISBN 92-9131-840-X (print) ISSN 1814-7356 (online) ISBN 92-9197-840-X (online) Contents Summary of the April 2010 Triennial Central Bank Survey ......................................................1 I. II. Background on the Triennial Central Bank Survey..........................................................2 Results of the triennial survey .........................................................................................3 1. Global foreign exchange market turnover ........
Words: 11108 - Pages: 45
...PRO-KONTRA SEPUTAR PENCALONAN JOKOWI DI MATA PEMILIH Temuan Survei Nasional Januari - Februari 2014 Jl. Cikini V No 15 A Menteng , Jakarta Pusat 10330 Telp. (021) 31927996/98 Fax (021) 3143867 www.indikator.co.id Latar Belakang • Jauh sebelum penetapan Joko Widodo (Jokowi) sebagai calon presiden (capres) dari PDI Perjuangan, sudah muncul perdebatan di kalangan sebagian elit politik maupun pengamat mengenai etis-tidaknya Jokowi maju sebagai capres. • Hal ini dimungkinkan karena posisi Jokowi sekarang yang baru menduduki posisi sebagai Gubernur DKI Jakarta selama 1,5 tahu. • Oleh karena itu, dapat diduga, tak lama setelah Megawati mengeluarkan mandat untuk mencapreskan Jokowi, kontroversi seputar etis tidaknya Jokowi maju kembali disuarakan oleh pihak-pihak yang kontra. • Pertanyaannya, terlepas dari suara kaum elit, bagaimana publik di DKI Jakarta dan nasional menilai pencalonan Jokowi? . Survei Nasional Januari-Februari 2014 2 Latar Belakang • Mengingat kadar kontroversinya, sejak awal isu ini disadari bisa menjadi polemik yang tak berkesudahan. • Suara pemilih di DKI Jakarta maupun secara nasional, penting didengar karena merekalah yang menjadi “juri” atas perdebatan, baik yang pro dan kontra seputar pencalonan Jokowi sebagai capres tersebut. • Survei ini memang dilaksanakan sebelum penetapan resmi Jokowi sebagai capres, tapi bisa menjadi gambaran sejauhmana isu tersebut dinilai oleh pemilih secara luas. Survei Nasional Januari-Februari 2014 . 3 ...
Words: 5055 - Pages: 21
... Case study ASPEN TECHNOLOGY INC.: Currency Hedging Review 1) What are Aspen Technology’s main exchange rate exposures? How does Aspen Tech’s business strategy give rise to these exposures as well as to the firm’s financing need? The main exchange rates exposures are: British pounds, Deutsch Mark, Japanese Yen and Belgian Francs. Aspen faces foreign currency risks due to sales and expenses in those foreign currencies. Expenses include R&D costs (20% of overall R&D are in UK), headquarters, sell force etc. and represent 52% of Aspen expenses. If Aspen sells its products in local currency, it’s because its clients need to plan their P&L and don’t want to see their expenses fluctuate with the currency change. Besides, Aspen grants deferred payment for 5 years, impacting heavily their working capital. They can afford to grant 5 years receivable because their clients are highly rated multinational, which cannot cancel the payment (that carry a huge financing spread) and the market’s demand is inelastic. The market is looking for high quality product: with two years development needed to get a customized software, the switching costs is very high and benefits to Aspen (90% of its clients re-conduct their contracts). However, Aspen succeed to finance its need by selling its receivables to two financial institutions - guarantying a hedge to the currency - depending on the nature of the receivable (where it comes from, the amount etc.). Aspen hedge all its...
Words: 669 - Pages: 3
...And there we were, my family, myself, and all of our ski gear, on the train platform in Glenwood Springs, Colorado just about 20 minutes outside of Aspen. We were preparing ourselves for the long journey ahead. Little did we know what kind of memories this adventure would bring us. The -20 degree temperature and tons of snow were irrelevant to us, we just wanted to get home and back into the swing of things. My family and I had decided to go out on a leisure trip to Aspen, Colorado for winter break, and got stuck there. It was during the “polar vortex” so the day we were planning to leave, one of the private jets that had flown out of the Aspen airport crashed right after it took off, so the whole airport was shut down. We had to get back...
Words: 819 - Pages: 4
...Summary Aspen has become a public company withmore risk adverse investors who want to invest in the core business of the firm and not assume any foreign exchange risk. Foreign exchange risk is a core risk to Aspen’s business because they have many customers outside of the United States. We believe that transferring this risk to the customers would limit Aspen’s growth on the foreign markets: Aspen should keep its current marketing strategy, which includes credit installment payments and payments in local currencies for Japan, the UK and Germany. The current risk management program hurts the company because it doesnot consider Aspen’s expenses abroad that balance sales exposures to currency fluctuations. We then recommend that Aspen hedge completely its exposure but after “natural hedging”, which we recommend increasing thanks to the larger financial capacities allowed by its IPO. Using options for aggregated positions (by estimating yearly sales per currency),rather than having multiple forwards contracts, seems reasonable becauseit would enable the company to benefit from good moves in the currency exchange rates, to pay less in transaction costs because of the larger amounts and at the same time use its current human resources (limited hedging skills) by avoiding complex, expensive products. Business and Marketing Strategy Aspen Tech’s business strategy and marketing strategy create financing needs due to the position Aspen puts itself in with its customers. Aspen allows installment...
Words: 1796 - Pages: 8
...Design-Specification Manual: A How-to on Aspen Plus If this screen appears, enter in a title for the simulation and click on the Next button. If it doesn’t you can find it by clicking on Setup, which is found on the left hand side of the input screen. However, completing the Setup form isn’t manditory. Once finished inputting a title, Click Next. In the Component Name box enter the two components for this problem: isobutane and isobutylene (isobutene). Note that the data bank doesn’t recognize the name isobutene, hence isobutylene is entered because it is the same compound and it is in the data bank. Enter these names in the component name column. The names in the component ID column are aliases. Click Next. At this screen, enter in NRTL for the "base method” as we have done before in other simulations. This screen is under the Specifications sub-directory of the Properties section. Click Next. Aspen will now ask you for the FEED stream information. (Note how the title bar indicates which input form you are in.) Enter a temperature and a pressure of your choice. Next, enter the known flow rate of isobutane in the Total Flow box (make sure that you are using the right units). Also, Aspen Plus requires some composition info for the feed stream. For this example, in the Composition box, select the Mole-Frac and input 1 in the Value box for isobutane. Click on the Next button. The next screen will be the input...
Words: 1021 - Pages: 5
... Wittman stated that he loves Aspen with all of his heart and has loved her since he first saw her. There is a clear bond between Mr. Wittman and Aspen. In addition to Aspen, Mr. Wittman has two of Aspen's sisters in the home. Brittany and Breanna Caucasian teenage girls. Aspen is in the sixth grade at Medora Elementary. Aspen does well in school. Mr. Wittman lives in a Fourth Generation, two-story farm house. The upstairs houses two bedrooms and two spare rooms. The main floor has a dining room, kitchen, living room, two bedrooms, bathroom and an attached garage. The house has a full basement with a utility room and laundry room. The home is clean and well furnished. There are working smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors in the home. There are no structural concerns with the home. There are barns and sheds on the property as well as a big garden full of fresh produce. Mr. Wittman is aware of how to access community resources as they have internet access. There are libraries, parks, shopping malls and community resources in the community. David uses grounding and...
Words: 408 - Pages: 2
...I predict that Aspen will try to connect with America. Aspen broke up with America right before she had to leave to go to the Selection, which left her heart broken. She saw Aspen with another girl while she was loading onto the bus to go to the airport, and at the last moment he ran to her but she had no interest to hear what he had to say. The break up was very sudden and uncalled for, which made no sense to America because Aspen told her to join the Selection. I predict that America will be selected as Maxon’s wife. Maxon’s and America’s first encounter was not quite how she pictured it would be. The way that he was describing his act of affection toward her did not impress her as he had planned. Many of the other girls seem to be more passionate about winning the princes heart, but America still sees him as a desperate man. I do think that they had a slight connection although her feelings toward him right now don’t seem to be deep. I believe that Aspen will try to get America back and that her and Maxon will end up getting...
Words: 753 - Pages: 4
...Aspen Technology Inc. * Development of simulation software for customers in process manufacturing industries, particularly the chemical industry, * Developed modeling software for oil refining and chemical manufacturing systems. * In 1994, to finance further R&D, to acquire externally developed technologies, and to allow early investors….. AspenTech went public in a $31 million initial public offering * RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT COST * >> High funding >> Intense competitive in the market >> high switching costs associated with committing to a particular simulation program. >> primarily on salaries of programmers and engineers >> A significant portion of the R&D expenditure was to develops products that would take several years to be market-ready and given the installment structure of most of its license sales, even longer to generate cash flow. 1. What are Aspen Technology’s main exchange rate exposures? How does Aspen Technology’s business strategy give rises to these exposures as well as to the firms financial need? Aspen Technology * 52% of AspenTech’s software license revenue came from customers outside the United States. With most, but not all, of its expenses incurred in the United States, and a material fraction of its sales abroad in yen, pound sterling and DM. * Aspen Technology had experienced many changes in its business, including the acquisition of a United Kingdom subsidiary, ever-increasing...
Words: 860 - Pages: 4
