...LEAN PROJECT MANAGEMENT Assessment of project risk management processes NEUS ALCARAZ BOSCÀ Master of Science Thesis Stockholm, Sweden 2012LEAN PROJECT MANAGEMENT Assessment of project risk management processes by Neus Alcaraz Boscà Master of Science Thesis INDEK 2012:36 KTH Industrial Engineering and Management Industrial Management SE-100 44 STOCKHOLMi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor, Johann Packendorff, from the School of Industrial Engineering and Management at the Royal Institute of Technology, for accepting me in his department and for giving me good and useful guide. Secondly, thanks to all my family for being during all this year at the other side of the screen making me much easier the way. Especially, thanks to my sister, Maria, for spending some of her spare time giving me very good advice in the writing of this thesis, and above all, for being such a good example of effort and overcoming during my entire life. Thanks to Marcos, for being always so kind with me, and forsupporting me not only this year but also all these years of study. Finally, I would like to thank all my friends for having always something fun to tell, cheering my day up despite being so far. Thanks especially to Pau and Lidia for coming to visit us and spend wonderful days together, and also to Marta, Patri and Ceci for being always there to me. I would like to dedicate this thesis project to my grandma, for having taken such good...
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...Financial Management Part 1. The rise of the multinational corporation The MNC - Definition A company with production and distribution facilities in more than one country With a parent company located in the home country At least five or six foreign subsidiaries A. Forces Changing Global Markets 1. Massive deregulation 2. Collapse of communism 3. Privatizations of state-owned industries 4. Revolution in information technology 5. Wave of M&A 6. Emergence of free market policies in Third World Nations 7. Countless nations accepting the standards of free market capitalism The Rise of China as a Global Competitor 3. Evaluates changes on value of the firm. Part 2. Internationalization of business and finance I. Globalization II. Political and Labor Union Concerns III. Consequences of Global Competition: The acceleration of the global economy Part 3. Multinational financial management: theory and practice I. The MNC’s Policies A. Main Objective of MNC: Maximize shareholders’ wealth B. Other Objectives Reflect Its Ability to Link:via affiliate transfer mechanisms C. Mode of Transfer: Reflects freedom to select a variety of financial channels. D. Timing Flexibility: Most MNC have some flexibility in timing of fund flows. E. Value: The ability to avoid national taxes has led to controversy. II. Functions of financial management A. Two Basic Functions: 1. Financing 2. Investing B. Additional Factors Facing the MNC Executive 1. Political risk 2. Economic risk III. Theoretical...
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...School of Management, USA Russell M. Genet Orion Institute, USA Introduction Most observers have agreed that the theory of human behavior derived from the assumption of selfish rationality is inadequate to describe human behavior and human organizations (Rousseau et al., 1998). The issue is what other approach to theory building will provide an adequate theoretical toolkit for human behavior. We argue in this essay that evolutionary theory is the proper foundation for the human sciences, particularly a theory that includes an account of cultural evolution. This theory shows how the limited but real altruistic tendencies of humans arose by tribal-scale group selection on cultural norms followed by coevolutionary responses on the part of our genes. Our tribal social instincts in turn act as a moral hidden hand that makes human organizations possible. We introduce this theory and describe some implications of it for strategy and organization. In effect, managers want to control the cultural evolution of organizations so as to make them perform better. Understanding the tribal roots of our social instincts and the dynamic properties of cultural evolution should lead to a better understanding of the potentials of humans to create functional organizations and to a better understanding of how organizations can become dysfunctional and fail. We hope to strike up a dialog with SO!’s readers about the applications of cultural evolutionary theory. A challenge to management and management...
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...direct affects on economic and business. Social and culture are foundation of living and work for humans, they has an impact on characteristic to work and every day life. For lows, it is convention for country activities including economic activities and business. Therefore economics, political, social and lows are closely bound in terms of relationship. Technology environment refers to new knowledge factor in the world such as sciences or engineering and including strategic management because marketing competition enforce each country to invent new knowledge or know-how benefit for its own business development. Each country that has new knowledge must create new products; have low capital and high efficiency in order to keep pace with the international competitors and to respond the customers’ needs in the international market. When the country enters into international business, they must encounter risks in international business, which can be listed as four categories as following; Country risk is associated with intervening of the government, protectionism, trading and investing barriers, social disturbance and instability of politics, economic malfunction and unorganised, unsatisfied of foreign companies in legal sanction, bureaucry, managerial postponements and bribery,...
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...SMEs. This paper reports on the results of that empirical survey, and seeks to identify the weights of various success factors in alliance-making in SMEs. The results show that “soft” facts such as trust are important for alliance success, but not on their own sufficient. Also “hard” facts such as strategic compatibility and appropriate governance mechanisms have an important influence on alliance success. Careful strategic planning and good partnership preparation are essential for alliance success, but the full value of an alliance has to be developed as it evolves. k 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights c reserved. Introduction Interfirm collaborations, such as strategic alliances and joint ventures,1 have become important business management instruments to improve the competitiveness of companies, especially in complex and turbulent environments.2 Alliances help to bridge the gap between the firm’s present resources and its expected future requirements.3 In this time of globalisation and radical technological change, alliances have become important strategic manoeuvres in industries such as telecoms, electronics, biotech and automobiles.4 Alliances reportedly improve the competi0024-6301/01/$ - see front matter k 2001 Elsevier...
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...perception between companies with different CSR levels and that which has none 6. To differentiate the level of customer’s satisfaction on the company with CSR to that of no CSR 7. To identify the contributions of company’s CSR to the development of its competitive advantage 8. To provide companies in the local areas of recommendations of whether or not to employ CSR activities RATIONALE/SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been publicized as an effective management tool to strengthen the company’s performance through the creation of a better image in stakeholder's mind and also because of their responsible behavior in minding the overall welfare of the society. CSR has not been given much attention voluntarily in previous years. Most companies were only surprised by public responses to issues they had not previously thought were part of their business responsibilities. In fact, the undertaking of CSR has been through many evolutions in its concept and application because of the environmental activism as well as government regulations. Socio-civic organizations of all kinds have been more aggressive and effective in bringing public pressure to bear on corporations. These pressures clearly demonstrate the extent to which external...
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...THE EVOLUTION OF STOCK MARKET EFFICIENCY OVER TIME: A SURVEY OF THE EMPIRICAL LITERATURE Kian-Ping Lim Universiti Malaysia Sabah and Monash University and Robert Brooks Monash University Background This paper provides an insight into the empirical literature as pertains the evolution of stock market efficiency over time, with a keen focus on the weak form Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH). The authors provide a systematic review of the correlation between several financial factors namely: Adaptive Markets Hypothesis (AMH), Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH), Evolving Return Predictability, Stock markets and Weak-form EMH. The authors pay keen attention on how return predictability from past price changes is affected by key players and determinants on the stock markets. From the survey they conduct, the posit that the bulk of the empirical studies examine whether the stock market under study is or is not weak-form efficient in the absolute sense, assuming that the level of market efficiency remains unchanged throughout the estimation period. The authors acknowledge that one field that has drawn extensive investigation by scholars and other players alike is the predictability of stock returns on the basis of past price changes. This is partly due to its direct implication on weak-form market efficiency. They find that a vast majority of the literature implicitly assumes the level of market efficiency remains unchanged throughout the estimation period. However, the possibility...
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...www.palgrave-journals.com/ces/ Survey Article The Effects of Bank Regulation on the Relationship Between Capital and Risk ALESSANDRA TANDA Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Conservatorio, 7, Milan 20122, Italy. E-mail: alessandra.tanda@unimi.it Capital regulation acts as an external force in the determination of bank capital and risk levels. Changes in the regulatory framework can influence banks’ decisions. Starting from the debate of the prudential regulation after the financial crisis, this paper reviews the main empirical contributions on the role of capital regulation in the determination of banks’ capital ratios and risk exposure to evaluate bank behavior. Capital and risk decisions seem to be effectively influenced by regulation, although results may vary according to factors such as time period, country, and the type of capital analyzed. Comparative Economic Studies (2015) 57, 31–54. doi:10.1057/ces.2014.35; published online 22 January 2015 Keywords: bank regulation, capital, Basel, risk, literature review JEL Classification: G2 INTRODUCTION The latest financial crisis has highlighted how bank capital regulation is necessary for the stability of the financial system. But also, it appears that it is not sufficient to ensure that banks’ decisions, in terms of risk and capital, are consistent with the aims of regulation. Regulation acts as an external force in the capital optimization...
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...1. Introduction 2 Types of strategy Corporate strategy Diversification Vertical Integration Takeover Entry into new business segments Disinvestments Role of headquarter Competitive strategy Product strategy Advertising measures Price strategy Make of buy Innovation strategy Building up market entry barriers Usage of economies of scale Building up alliances Competitive advantages 1. Company 2. Competitor 3. Customer Unique Selling Proposition The unique feature of a product, which enables to have a competitive advantage over other providers. The marketing concept of the unique selling proposition facilitates the successful promotion of products. Highlighting of an outstanding product feature supports the company in positioning their products and helps to convince consumers of its benefits. Different ways of value of the headquarter 1. Stand-alone Influence Separate influence on the strategies and the performance of the particular business fields 2. Linkage Influence Creating synergies by taking advantages of existing relations between business fields 3. Central Functions and Services Avoidance of redundancies by providing cost-efficient centralised services 4. Corporate Development Design of the business portfolio through purchase, sale and restructuring of business fields Business design The totality of how a company selects its costumers, defines and differentiates its offerings, defines the tasks it will perform itself and those it will outsource, configures its resources, goes to market,...
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...The Theoretical Value of Studying Indian Multinationals Ravi Ramamurti The rise of new multinationals in countries like India provides an opportunity to revisit and carefully construct theories of how firms internationalize—a topic on which extant theory is weak. Indian firms are “infant MNEs,” unlike Western firms that are “mature MNEs.” Indian firms are also internationalizing in a very different global context, and can do so on the basis of different competitive advantages, than MNEs that came before. Finally, research on Indian MNEs can help identify generic strategies for internationalization, examples of which are provided in the article. By pursuing the lines of inquiry proposed, research on Indian MNEs can contribute not just to better local practice but also to broader theory building about early-stage internationalization. Ravi Ramamurti is CBA Distinguished Professor of International Business and Director, Centre for Emerging Markets, at Northeastern University, USA. E- mail r.ramamurti@neu.edu. This essay draws heavily on the author’s two papers (“Why Study Emerging-market Multinationals?” and “What Have We Learned about Emerging –market Multinationals?”) in Ravi Ramamurti & Jitendra V. Singh (eds.) (2009), Emerging Multinationals in Emerging Markets, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Research on Internationalization of Indian Firms Research on India’s emerging multinational enterprises (MNEs) may be intrinsically rewarding for India specialists, but...
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...RETHINKING THE IDENTITY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: INTERDISCIPLINARY REFLECTIONS The world of government and public administration has traveled far since the early days of its struggle for disciplinary independence. Lately, there has been talk of the advent of a new spirit in the public sector, or at least expectations of its coming. Some say that such a spirit is already here. Others aver we are witnessing only the tip of change. The world wide globalization process supported by stronger orientations towards open markets, open highways of information, growing levels of organizational learning and interdisciplinarity in the social sciences have also made their impact on the study of our bureaucracies. Yet by all definitions public administration in the beginning of the 2000s still lacks the sense of identity that other fields of the social sciences has long since obtained. In other words, the Have you looked outside lately at the world of government and administration? Have you noticed a strange scent in the air indicating the arrival of a new spirit in the public sector? Some people say it is already here. Others say we have only witnessed the edge of the change. Yet by all definitions public administration at the beginning of the 2000s is looking for its way forward. Today, it is already much different from what it used to be forty, thirty, and even twenty or ten years ago. In the coming years it is going to be even more different. field is looking back and down into its...
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...MASTER THESIS School of Management and Economics Logistics outsourcing 3PL & 4PL – A Survey on Pakistani manufacturing and exporting companies Business Logistics, 15ECTS, FE–5594 Authors Muhammad Usman Tahir - 840523 Hammad Tabassum - 830509 Saeed Ahmad - 820919 Muhammad Arshad - 830804 Examiner: Helena Forslund Tutor: Petra Andresson ABSTRACT Authors: Tutor: Examiner: Title: Background: Muhammad Usman Tahir, Hammad Tabassum Muhammad Arshad, Saeed Ahamad. Petra Andersson Helena Forslund A Survey on Pakistani manufacturing and exporting companies The development of recent means of transportation, information has increased opportunities for global business and it is very common that the companies involved in global business often need to outsource logistic function, as they cannot perform global logistics on their own. The need of service effectiveness for companies and operations efficiency from logistics service providers involves the minimization of the uncertainties associated with logistics outsourcing, therefore risks reduction measures must be implemented using logistics outsourcing. - How do the Pakistani manufacturing and exporting companies currently outsource their logistics function in their downstream supply chain? - What benefits they seek with respect to 3PL and 4PL? - What factors they consider for outsourcing logistics? To investigate the current logistics outsourcing situation of the Pakistani Manufacturing and Exporting Companies. What logistics...
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...Key Term: Hedging The key term for week four forum will discuss hedging. I chose this topic because I thought it would be insightful to discover hedging procedures that protect businesses in Italy from increase or decrease in the exchange rates of currency. As for emerging markets, many companies in Italy including State Railways, Autostrade and BT’s Albacom, are getting into the telecoms market as infrastructure and service suppliers. (Cazzani, p. 65) Hedging is defined as measures taken by a company or corporation to protect itself from loss that may occur because of fluctuations in the exchange rate of currency. International corporations that operate globally conduct the majority of hedging in global markets. Our text also pointed out a very important fact to be mindful of while hedging, in that, although hedging may guard against loss, it may significantly destroy potential for great unexpected profits. (Satterlee, p. 145) So I would caution companies in deciding to engage in hedging because it may cause them to lose out tremendously in the future. Speaking of some of the dangers of hedging, the article chosen for summarization discussed when proxy hedging goes badly. We all know that as time changes, so do global markets. And these changes can have adverse effects on corporate treasurers. For a while the Deutsche mark has served well as a proxy hedge for other currencies. However, overtime a good portion of European currencies decided to leave the Deutsche...
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...presents How to approach the M&A round in optimum conditions ? We often hear talking about « M&A » or Merger and Acquisitions without really understanding the long process that is at work behind operations that are not only complex but also diversified. The goal of this short introduction is not to give a profound analysis of M&A techniques, but to give a quick overview of the method that is at work during such operations. This introduction also aims at presenting the different ways of assessing a company’s value, as it is indeed the goal : evaluating the assets’ value, which is the company’s value. This document belongs exclusively to WallFinance©. Is is forbidden to copy, distribute or sell this document. I. The different steps to evaluate a company Starting...
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...The Rise and Evolution of the Chief Risk Officer: Enterprise Risk Management at Hydro One by Tom Aabo, Aarhus School of Business, John R. S. Fraser, Hydro One, Inc., and Betty J. Simkins, Oklahoma State University T he Chinese symbols for risk shown above capture a key aspect of enterprise risk management. The first symbol represents “danger” and the second “opportunity.” Taken together, they suggest that risk is a strategic combination of vulnerability and opportunity. Viewed in this light, enterprise risk management represents a tool for managing risk in a way that enables the corporation to take advantage of valueenhancing opportunities. A missed strategic opportunity can result in a greater loss of (potential) value than an unfortunate incident or adverse change in prices or markets. As in the past, many organizations continue to address risk in “silos,” with the management of insurance, foreign exchange risk, operational risk, credit risk, and commodity risks each conducted as narrowly focused and fragmented activities. Under the new enterprise risk management (ERM) approach, all would function as parts of an integrated, strategic, and enterprise-wide system.1 And while risk management is coordinated with senior-level oversight, employees at all levels of the organization are encouraged to view risk management as an integral and ongoing part of their jobs. While there are theoretical arguments for corporate risk management,2 the main drivers for...
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