Business, Finance & Law Books

Book SynopsisThis signature book describes the multiplicity of currencies that have been used in and around the island over the centuries, and how these culminate in the Singapore dollar today. The authors trace the impact, sometimes dramatic, of political and economic events and technological forces shaping these currencies. Singapore has followed its own development path, from the days when, in the first few decades of the colonial settlement, local merchants resisted currency reforms imposed on the island by the East India Company. Greater monetary autonomy was achieved in the second half of the 19th century when Singapore became a Crown colony in its own right. The drive towards self-representation culminated in full internal self-government in 1959, independence from British colonial rule in 1963 as part of the Federation of Malaysia, and the status of a sovereign nation in 1965. The introduction of Singapore's own currency in 1967 was a national milestone. In 1971, Singapore established the Monetary Authority of Singapore with the sovereign power to undertake monetary policy as it deemed most appropriate. Money has evolved from coins minted from precious metals to those struck from baser metals, to notes issued first by commercial banks and later by governments. The journey from commodity-based money to a purely fiat money has unfolded in parallel. The use of money in its electronic and more 'weightless' forms has also become increasingly common. The powerful effects this trend will have on the nature of money and banking are still unfolding. All these issues, and more, are examined in this book, published to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of Singapore's central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), in January 1971.

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Book SynopsisThis book delivers essential skills in “spoken” professional communications, presenting theoretical and applied frameworks for business talk using English as a lingua franca. Adopting a role-playing approach mimicking various professional settings, it assesses the strength of the well-reasoned argument, the logical links that convince the audience of the coherence of the speaker’s argument and the necessary linguistics competencies. This book centers on a variety of situations that commonly take place in business organizations (such as relational talk; call center talk; job application talk) and addresses key skills such as conflict resolution and collaborative problem solving through communication, which are key for both students and practitioners. In addition it analyses spoken business discourse data with the four main sources of communicative competence: grammatical competence, discourse competence, sociolinguistic competence and strategic competence in order to highlight how they are used in business speaking practices. Table of Contents

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Book SynopsisThis monograph represents a historic breakthrough in the field of linear programming (LP)since George Dantzig first discovered the simplex method in 1947. Being both thoughtful and informative, it focuses on reflecting and promoting the state of the art by highlighting new achievements in LP. This new edition is organized in two volumes. The first volume addresses foundations of LP, including the geometry of feasible region, the simplex method and its implementation, duality and the dual simplex method, the primal-dual simplex method, sensitivity analysis and parametric LP, the generalized simplex method, the decomposition method, the interior-point method and integer LP method. The second volume mainly introduces contributions of the author himself, such as efficient primal/dual pivot rules, primal/dual Phase-I methods, reduced/D-reduced simplex methods, the generalized reduced simplex method, primal/dual deficient-basis methods, primal/dual face methods, a new decomposition principle, etc.Many important improvements were made in this edition. The first volume includes new results, such as the mixed two-phase simplex algorithm, dual elimination, fresh pricing scheme for reduced cost, bilevel LP models and intercepting of optimal solution set. In particular, the chapter Integer LP Method was rewritten with great gains of the objective cutting for new ILP solvers {\it controlled-cutting/branch} methods, as well as with an attractive implementation of the controlled-branch method. In the second volume, the `simplex feasible-point algorithm' was rewritten, and removed from the chapter Pivotal Interior-Point Method to form an independent chapter with the new title `Simplex Interior-Point Method', as it represents a class of efficient interior-point algorithms transformed from traditional simplex algorithms. The title of the original chapter was then changed to `Facial Interior-Point Method', as the remaining algorithms represent another class of efficient interior-point algorithms transformed from normal interior-point algorithms. Without exploiting sparsity, the original primal/dual face methods were implemented using Cholesky factorization. In order to deal with sparse computation, two new chapters discussing LU factorization were added to the second volume. The most exciting improvement came from the rediscovery of the reduced simplex method. In the first edition, the derivation of its prototype was presented in a chapter with the same title, and then converted into the so-called `improved' version in another chapter. Fortunately, the author recently found a quite concise new derivation, so he can now introduce the distinctive fresh simplex method in a single chapter. It is exciting that the reduced simplex method can be expected to be the best LP solver ever.With a focus on computation, the current edition contains many novel ideas, theories and methods, supported by solid numerical results. Being clear and succinct, its content reveals in a fresh manner, from simple to profound. In particular, a larger number of examples were worked out to demonstrate algorithms. This book is a rare work in LP and an indispensable tool for undergraduate and graduate students, teachers, practitioners, and researchers in LP and related fields.Table of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Geometry of Feasible Region.- Chapter 3. Simplex Method.- Chapter 4. Implementation of Simplex Method.- Chapter 5. Duality Principle and Dual Simplex Method.- Chapter 6. Primal-Dual Simplex Method.- Chapter 7. Sensitivity Analysis and Parametric LP.- Chapter 8. Generalized Simplex Method.- Chapter 9. Decomposition Method.- Chapter 10. Interior-Point Method.- Chapter 11. Integer Linear Programming (ILP).- Chapter 12. Pivot Rule.- Chapter 13. Dual Pivot Rule.- Chapter 14. Simplex Phase-I Method.- Chapter 15. Dual Simplex Phase-l Method.- Chapter 16. Reduced Simplex Method.- Chapter 17. D-Reduced Simplex Method.- Chapter 18. Generalized Reduced Simplex Method.- Chapter 19. Deficient-Basis Method.- Chapter 20. Dual Decient-Basis Method.- Chapter 21. Face Method with Cholesky Factorization.- Chapter 22. Dual Face Method with Cholesky Factorization.- Chapter 23. Face Method with LU Factorization.- Chapter 24. Dual Face Method with LU Factorization.- Chapter 25. Simplex Interior-Point Method.- Chapter 26. Facial Interior-Point Method.- Chapter 27. Decomposition Principle.

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Book SynopsisThis book introduces intelligent manufacturing system planning, design, and implementation, through the deep integration of the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence, and manufacturing process, to promote the transformation and upgrading of enterprises. This book shows the implementation of intelligent manufacturing process with 12 benchmarking enterprises, discusses the planning, implementation, and control of intelligent manufacturing system technology and method of theory, and analyzes the five hierarchies of intelligent manufacturing system, the five stages of life cycle, and five kinds of intelligent depth. The content can cultivate the reader's vocational ability to develop intelligent solutions and implementation based on complex, uncertain environment needs. This book will be interesting and useful to a wide readership in the various fields of management, information science, and engineering science.Table of ContentsBackground, basic concept and method.- Spatial hierarchy dimension of Intelligent manufacturing.- Life cycle dimension of Intelligent manufacturing.- Intelligent feature dimension of Intelligent manufacturing.- Comprehensive implementation path of Intelligent manufacturing.- Future research and development direction.

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Book SynopsisThis book focuses on relatively neglected areas of simulation and gaming (S&G), i.e., cultural aspects and ethical issues, in addition to giving readers a basic knowledge of S&G. Although the educational effects of S&G, and related methods such as gamification, as well as serious games have been studied and are gaining recognition, their downsides are often overlooked. For example, there is always a risk of manipulation by games if maliciously designed and facilitated. Ethical codes of game designers, facilitators, and educators must be established on the basis of academic research. Considerations of the ethics of games are essential not only for S&G researchers and educators but also for the general public, because games have sometimes been used for propaganda purposes in the past and could be again, in the present and future. Looking at the cultural aspect, as the S&G community has accumulated research over 50 years, the book includes the knowledge of the pioneers, i.e., archival interview data. This is the first book that includes extensive interviews of researchers and commercial game designers and critics. It also contains diverse topics from the perspective of gender and Japanese culture. Japan has been attracting attention in the field of board games as there are many independent game designers and an expanding market. Although women in S&G have gained some recognition, the topic has been rather ignored and was first officially discussed in 2019 at the international conference of the International Simulation and Gaming Association held in Warsaw. In summary, by focusing on comparatively overlooked or neglected aspects of S&G, this book expands future opportunities in the field for researchers and educators, with increased awareness by the general public.Table of ContentsPreface- Part 1 Culture in Gaming and Simulation.- Chapter 1: Gaming Simulation – Terminology and Fundamentals.- Chapter 2: Knowledge from the Great Ancestors: The “Cone of Ab-straction” – Revisiting a Key Concept through Interviews with Gaming Simulation Veterans.- Chapter 3.- Board Game Immersion.- Chapter 4: Women (and a little bit of Culture) in Simulation Gaming.- Chapter 5: The Current Status of Japanese Game Players and its Impact on the Society.- Part 2 Education.- Chapter 6: Case Example: KIKATOPIA Game – A Simulation Game on Diversity and Living together with Children as Co-designers.- Chapter 7: Bringing Gaming into Education: Cultural Context and Ethical Issues in the Case of SN Games.- Chapter 8: Code of Conduct for Facilitators and the Ethics of De-briefing.- Chapter 9: Ethics and Simulation Games in a Cultural Context: Why Should we Bother? And What Can We Learn?.- Part 3 Manipulation in Games.- Chapter 10: Subtle Manipulation in Games.- Chapter 11: Manipulation through Gamification and Gaming.

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Book SynopsisThis book is a collection of the up-to-date experience and knowledge about the implementation of sustainable business excellence in a particular context of SMEs. The book uses empirical and practical approach to tackle this issue, which is underdeveloped in the literature. Hence, it could constitute a relevant reference for SMEs managers seeking to manage their operations sustainably, efficiently and resiliently. The book also integrates the smart component to the sustainable business excellence and proves for those who are still skeptical that SMEs could benefit from smart and digital technology in the favor of sustainability and business excellence. Overall, we build on successful initiatives we experienced in real life to guide SMEs in order to be sustainable smart and resilient in the post COVID context which is highly demanding in terms of business excellence and efficiency.Table of ContentsSustainable excellence and continuous improvement approaches in SMEs.- Sustainable excellence and continuous improvement approaches in SMEs.- Achieving environmental excellence through Lean and green in SMEs.- Lean six sigma and sustainability: from total quality to total sustainability.- Beyond the hype: smart manufacturing and sustainable excellence for SMEs.- Social sustainability in SMEs: the role of lean, lean six sigma and smart Manufacturing.- How to measure progress in sustainable excellence of SMEs?.- Sustainable, lean and resilient SMEs in the age of COVID 19.- Circular economy in SMEs: the role of lean, lean six sigma and smart manufacturing.- Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisThis book sheds light on the processes and cognitions used by managers to successfully implement strategies while navigating the strategy and change interface.It applies the latest thinking from the resource-based literature, in particular the idea that high performing organisations have become adept at honing and utilising value creating dynamic capabilities. Key processes and cognitions help organisational leaders sense opportunities and threats as well as shrewdly seize strategic opportunities to advantageously enhance performance. The book also adopts an institutional view; that is, it assumes that organisations must satisfy their stakeholders while navigating a range of influences, including other organisations, markets, laws, quality standards, conventions, and cultural norms. This book conceptualises corporate strategy as an amalgam of four fundamental strategies: the organisation’s financial, customer value creation, resource, and non-market strategies. These strategies address the capital, product and services, and resource markets as well as various non-market institutions. Successfully integrating and implementing these four strategies allow organisations to enable their employees’ multidisciplinary talents. By approaching strategy in this way, the book demonstrates why it is important to monitor changes to the organisation’s strategic context and helps it identify the practices, collaborations, and projects necessary to achieve spectacular strategic change. Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction: Navigating the Strategy and Change Interface Successfully.- Section 1: The Strategy Process.- Chapter 2: Introduction: The Strategy Process.- Chapter 3: A social context view of strategic cognition: Strategists are highly emotional and interactive Homo sapiens!.- Chapter 4: Implementing strategy and avenues of access: A practice perspective.- Chapter 5: Strategy implementation and organizational change: A complex systems perspective.- Section 2: The Finance Strategy.- Chapter 6: Introduction: The Finance Strategy.- Chapter 7: Implementing a financial strategy: Managing financial capital, investing in people, balancing risk, and developing critical resources.- Chapter 8: An evolution: Turning management accounting into a strategic function.- Section 3: The Customer Value Creation Strategy.- Chapter 9: Introduction: The Customer Value Strategy.- Chapter 10: Business models for sustainability.- Chapter 11: The customer value concept: How best to define and create customer value.- Chapter 12: Strategic processes and mechanisms of value creation and value capture: Some insights from business organizations in Poland.- Section 4: The Resource Strategy.- Chapter 13: Introduction: The Resource Strategy.- Chapter 14: Communicating and shaping strategic change: A CLASS framework.- Chapter 15: A structured approach to project management as a strategic enabling priority.- Chapter 16: Family firms and mergers and acquisitions: The importance of the transfer of trust.- Section 5: Non-Market Strategies.- Chapter 17: Introduction: Non-Market Strategies.- Chapter 18: Towards a strategic change framework for the nonprofit sector: The roll-out of Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).- Chapter 19: When everything matters: Non-market strategies, institutions and stakeholders’ interests.

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Book SynopsisThis book introduces the field of Responsible Innovation in Health (RIH) by clarifying its theoretical foundations and the practical approaches that enable the design and production of responsible medical devices, health and social care interventions, digital tools and solutions based on artificial intelligence. It brings a lasting impact on the ways innovation stakeholders think about and develop solutions to twenty-first century challenges, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Table of ContentsPart I RIH Concepts1 Introduction 2 Getting Started 3 Generating a Responsible Health Innovation Idea 4 Fleshing Out a Venture That Can Responsibly Tackle the Problem 5 Designing a Responsible Solution Part II Tools to Make and Measure RIH 6 Making RIH 7 Bringing It All Together 8 Assessing the Degree of Responsibility of a Health Innovation Part III A Sustainable Path for RIH 9 Orchestrating RIH 10 Clearing Obstacles, Harnessing Drivers 11 Conclusion

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Book SynopsisThis book provides a step-by-step guide to implementing lean at SMEs using an approach that has been tested and fine-tuned at over a hundred organizations across India, South East Asia and the Middle East. The book approaches Lean through an implementation project cycle flow and enables the reader to understand the imperative for Lean, how to diagnose current operations, how to plan and deploy Lean and shows a path for long-term sustenance. Diverse situations such as meeting the demand fluctuations, designing a facility, or improving profit margin etc. are included in the case studies from multiple sectors, to ensure that every reader finds a situation similar to their organizational situation. While the publicly available literature on lean offers a large collection of tools and techniques, given each organization’s unique context, the choice of the right sequence of tools differ. The book offers guidelines in terms of which solutions work in which context, backed by real-cases, which is a big help to the resource constrained SMEs. This book is an equally good resource for the organizations that have already implemented lean, as it provides realistic pointers about sustaining, tackling supply chain uncertainties and going beyond Lean by integrating emerging technologies and management principles. It is an excellent resource for students and researchers studying this area and also for corporates, professionals and industry watchers.Table of Contents​ MODULE I: INTRODUCTION 1. History of Lean Management - Origination of Toyota Production System - Adaptation by the Western world - The competitive imperative and compelling value proposition - Cross-linkage of chapters, cases and sectors 2. Lean Management Principles - 14 principles of lean management - Customer focus - Understanding value and waste - Muda, Muri and Mura - Culture of a lean enterprise - Key Metrics MODULE II: SMEs and Lean Management 3. Overview of Small and Medium Enterprises - Definition and economic role - Challenges and constraints, Ownership and Management styles - Barriers and Enablers to Lean implementation - Targeted Lean Interventions – NCMP Lean Cluster scheme in India, Similar programs in other countries 4. Generic Framework for Lean implementation - The five stage Lean implementation framework ( Assessment, Create Flow, Enable and Support Flow, Standardize and Sustain) - Approaches to implementation · Problem Solving · The Focused Improvement Workshop · Advisory & Hand holding - Pros & Cons – what works best when MODULE III: IMPLEMENTATION 5. Commencing the Lean Journey - Diagnosis - Understanding management goals and objectives - Core Team formation – getting the buy-in - Gemba walk and identification of sources of value - Measuring the current state using tools & templates such as VSM, MFD, OEE etc. - Measuring Key metrics; Industry-specific key attributes 6. Designing the Lean Intervention & Developing Project Plan - Create a Lean Roadmap for the enterprise - Prioritizing projects – The importance of quick wins - Set-up project management organization – Lean Champions, Pillar Heads 7. Implementation - Team formation & taking ownership - Kick starting through Focused Improvement Workshops / Events - Create Flow – Core concepts such as One piece flow, process and layout design - Enable Flow – Lean tools including Cycle time reduction, line balancing, Pull systems (kanban) etc - Support Flow through SMED, Problem Solving, Jidoka etc - Validating results and updating standards - Feedback from implementation to back to plan MODULE IV: MONITORING & SUSTENANCE 8. Post-implementation Monitoring - Causes and prevention of slip-back - Post-implementation reporting - Standardizing processes through tools such as 5S, Poka-Yoke, AM, & PM etc. - Tools & Templates 9. Sustaining Lean - Why Lean journeys often fail to sustain - Building Continual Improvement culture through kaizen - Periodic Lean Assessments - Beyond Operations - Expanding lean to the rest of the organization - Commitment of senior management - Tools & Templates MODULE V: ACHIEVING LEAN EXCELLENCE 10. Turbo charging lean - Six Sigma - Industry 4.0, - Theory of Constraints - Sustainability 11. Leveraging Lean to tackle uncertainty - Increasing occurrence and intensity of supply chain disruptions - Supply Chain Risk Management - Extending lean to supply chain - Lean and flexibility - Extending lean principles to achieve supply chain resilience Appendix – Detailed Case Studies i. Animal Feed (process industry) – Company turnaround through Lean intervention ii. White Goods - Commercial refrigerator manufacturer – Classic Lean journey Tactical to Strategic; implement in existing plant to designing a new plant) iii. Restaurant (Service operations) – customer delight through service and a template to growth iv. Electronic products (High-speed discrete manufacturing) – reducing costs and building in flexibility v. Plastic toys – Lead Design for a new product and facility vi. Bulk Drugs (Pharmaceuticals) – applying problem-solving techniques for targeted improvements VIII. Agricultural Seed Processing – Lean approach for a highly seasonal industry

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Book SynopsisThe Persian Gulf 2021-22 is the ninth in the annual Persian Gulf Series published by MEI@ND. It is a detailed analysis of India’s bilateral relations with the nine countries in the Persian Gulf region and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and focuses on the developments of 2020 and 2021. It offers a comprehensive account of the internal politics, economic situations, foreign policy, security challenges and social developments in the Persian Gulf countries and India’s strategic, political, economic and cultural engagements with the region. The book also offers policy recommendations for India based on the current state of affairs.Table of Contents1. Introduction2. Bahrain3. Iran4. Iraq5. Kuwait6. Oman7. Qatar8. Saudi Arabia9. United Arab Emirates10. Yemen11. GCC12. Policy Options

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Book SynopsisThis book contains a collection of teaching cases that study and emphasise how twenty-first-century businesses address and satisfy the needs and wants of socially conscious consumers while remaining profitable. This book explores the practise of marketing for societal benefit through real-life case studies. It provides a critical understanding of marketing approaches such as social marketing, sustainability marketing, and other practises of a similar nature. This book is made up of both long and short real-life cases from various industries, with varying degrees of difficulty.Table of ContentsSection 1: Introduction.- Section 2: Key Principles and Concepts.- Section 3: Current Developments (Review of extant literature).- Section 4: Case Studies.

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Book SynopsisImpact Assessment (IA) is introduced in this book, with a guide to the process, scope, content, and management of IA for the governments of developing economies. In doing so, evidence-based policy making is taken into full consideration. After the principles of IA are set forth, its procedures are described, illustrated by typical cases from the United States and Japan. Then an explanation follows of the components of IA such as necessity, alternatives, and assessment of cost and benefit, with a description of competition assessment. In developing economies, it is not effective to simply import a system from developed countries directly into developing countries, especially for economic regulation and in consideration of compliance and competition issues. Thus the book provides recommendations on how to appropriately modify developed countries’ systems for countries that are still developing. The book concludes by taking up several issues surrounding IA, especially nudge theory and public involvement.Table of ContentsChapter 1 Outline and Necessity of Impact Assessment (IA).- Chapter 2 Role of Evidence-Based Assessment in Democracy.- Chapter 3 Procedure of Impact Assessment (IA) and Concept of Institution Design for Conducting Impact Assessment (IA).- Chapter 4. IA Procedure and Organization in the U.S.- Chapter 5. Economists’ Role in IA in the United States and the United Kingdom.- Chapter 6. Economists’ Optimal Placement Within Relevant Organizations.- Chapter 7 Analysis and viewpoints in Impact Assessment (IA).- Chapter 8 Role of Causal Inference in IA.- Chapter 9 Competition Assessment in the UK, the US, Japan, and Pakistan.- Chapter 10 Competition Assessment in the US.- Chapter 11: How to Incorporate Behavioral Science and Using Nudges in Regulation and IA.- Chapter 12: COVID-19 Pandemic and Impact Assessment.- Chapter 13 Regulation for the Digital Era and IA for Smart Regulation.- Ch 14. Concluding Remark.

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Book SynopsisThis is an open access book under CC BY-NC-ND.This open access book is a comprehensive solution proposed by Dr. Chen Dongsheng for the issues of medical care, pension, and fund raising in the era of longevity. This book studies the relationship among aging population, economic development, and business model innovation. It integrates multi-disciplinary, multi-industry, and multi-professional research and thinking to focus on how to meet the challenge of aging population from business perspective. The author analyzes the keys and experience for Taikang to get successful in this area. The arrival of the "Era of Longevity" not only creates new business opportunities, but also changes the economy, governance, and cultural ecology of the society. It is of interest to the readers in business and policy-making.Table of ContentsChapter 1. Longevity Era Centennial Life.- Chapter 2. Healthy Era, Healthier Longevity.- Chapter 3. Wealth era rich life.- Chapter 4. Pioneer of the age of longevity - Japan.- Chapter 5. longevity economy.- Chapter 6. The Road to Corporate Innovation for the Age of Longevity (6 and 7 Merger).- Chapter 7. Taikang's solution makes the era of longevity better.- Chapter 8. Building a Harmonious Longevity Society.

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Book SynopsisThis open access book seeks effective strategy to realize a rice Green Revolution in sub-Saharan Africa based on more than ten years of research team’s inquiries into determinants and consequences of new technology adoption in rice farming in seven countries in this region. Rigorous statistical analyses are carried out by using valuable household data of rice farmers. The book is actually sequel to the two earlier books on the same subject published by Springer and edited by K. Otsuka and D.F. Larson, An African Green Revolution published in 2013 and In Pursuit of an African Green Revolution in 2016. The main message of the first book was that rice is the most promising cereal crop in SSA because of the high transferability of Asian rice technology, whereas that of the second book was that rice cultivation training programs are effective in significantly increasing rice yield in SSA. This third book has wider coverage in terms of topics, study periods, and study sites. It continues to show the significant impacts of rice cultivation training on productivity and newly demonstrates the high sustainability of the productivity impact of the training and the existence of spillover effects from trainees to other farmers by using panel data. We newly assess the important role of mechanization in intensification of rice farming, high returns to large-scale irrigation schemes, and the critical role of rice millers in improving the quality of milled rice. Based on these studies, this book provides clear pathways toward full-fledged Green Revolution in rice farming in sub-Saharan Africa.Table of ContentsPrefacePART I: EXTENSIFICTION, INTENSIFICATION, AND REVOLUTION Chapter 1: Issues of Rice Green Revolution in sub-Saharan Africa Keijiro Otsuka, Yukichi Mano, and Kazushi Takahashi 1-1. Failure in the Past 1-2. Prospects in Future 1-3. Structure of the Book Chapter 2: Role of Extension for Green Revolution Kazushi Takahashi and Keijiro Otsuka 2-1. Role of Extension in Dissemination of New Technology 2-2. Impact of Rice Cultivation Training 2-3. Missing Issues Chapter 3: Mechanization and Irrigation for Intensification of Rice Farming Hiroyuki Takeshima and Yukichi Mano 3-1. Role of Mechanization in SSA 3-2. Role of Irrigation in SSA 3-3. Missing Issues PART II: IMAPCT OF RICE CULTIVATION TRAINING Chapter 4: The Case of Tanzania Yuko Nakano 4-1. An Overview 4-2. From Key Farmers to Ordinary Farmers 4-3. Impact of Rice Intensification Program Chapter 5: The Case of Uganda Yoko Kijima 5-1. An Overview 5-2. Sustainability of Rice Cultivation Training Program Chapter 6: The Case of Cote d’Ivoire Kazushi Takahashi, Yukichi Mano, and Keijiro Otsuka 6-1. An Overview 6-2. Extension from Treated to Controlled Farmers Chapter 7: The Case of Mozambique Kei Kajisa 7-1. An Overview 7-2. An Impact Assessment of Rice Cultivation Training PART III: MECHANIZATION AND INTENSIFICATION Chapter 8: The Case of Cote d’Ivoire Yukichi Mano, Kazushi Takahashi, and Keijiro Otsuka Chapter 9: The Case of Tanzania E.F. Magezi, Yuko Nakano, and Takeshi Sakurai PART IV: RETURN TO LARGE-SCALE IRRIGATION INVESTMENT Chapter 10: The Case of Kenya Masao Kikuchi, Yukichi Mano, Timothy Njagi, D. Merrey and K. Otsuka Chapter 11: The Case of Senegal Takeshi Sakurai Part V: RICE MILLERS AND RICE QUALITY Chapter 12: The Case of Kenya Yukichi Mano, Tim Njagi, and Keijiro Otsuka Chapter 13: The Case of Ghana Tetsuya Ogura, Joseph A. Awuni, and Takeshi Sakurai PART VI: CONCLUSION Chapter 14: Towards Full-Fledged Rice Green Revolution in SSA Keijiro Otsuka, Yukichi Mano, and Kazushi Takahashi

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Book SynopsisThis book focuses on a new and emerging, yet as old as recorded history, organizational concern: virtue. Virtue has recently become a topic of serious examination among organizational researchers and progressive companies who are exploring their role in creating new, more holistic, healthy, and humane work environments. With interdisciplinary insights by many of the world's leading management thinkers, the book includes conceptual treatments, empirical research, and actual cases concerning virtuous behavior and leadership under conditions of crises, and ordinary and exemplary times.Until recently, scholarly research paid scant attention to virtue, especially in organizations. The pursuit of virtue, as opposed to the bottom line, remained outside the acceptable domain of practising managers faced with economic pressures and stakeholder demands. Concepts such as efficiency, return on investment (ROI), and competitive advantage were emphasized over more virtuous concerns such as caring, compassion, integrity and wisdom. The Virtuous Organization fills this void by presenting paradigm-shifting insights of leading scholars that have the potential to change the face of management thinking and practice for both this and future generations.Table of ContentsThe Virtuous Organization and Crises: Organizational Healing: Lived Virtuousness Amidst Organizational Crisis (E H Powley & K S Cameron); Making Sense of Organizational Actions with Virtue Frames and Its Links to Organizational Attachment (S-Y Rhee et al.); The Forgiveness from the Perspectives of Three Response Modes: Begrudgement, Pragmatism and Transcendence (D S Bright et al.); The Spiritual Challenges of Power, Humility and Love as Offsets to Leadership Hubris (A L Delbecq); The Virtuous Organization and Ordinary Times: The Language of Virtues: Toward an Inclusive Approach for Integrating Spirituality in Management Education (K P Manz et al.); Leveraging Psychological Capital in Virtuous Organizations: Why and How? (C M Youssef & F Luthans); Europe versus Asia: Truth versus Virtue (G Hofstede); Peter F Drucker on Mission-Driven Leadership and Management in the Social Sector, Interviews and Postscript (J A Maciariello); Corporate Global Citizenship: Successfully Partnering with the World (N J Adler); The Virtuous Organization and Exemplary Times: Virtuous Leadership: A Theoretical Model and Research Agenda (C L Pearce et al.); Spirituality in Action: The Fred Rogers' Way of Managing Through Lifelong Mentoring (I I Mitroff & D Mitroff); The Positive Potential of Tempered Radicals (R Quinn & D Meyerson); Fortune Senior Writer Marc Gunther on A"The Role of Virtues in Spiritual LeadershipA" (M Gunther & J Neal); The Corporate Conduct Continuum: From A"Do No HarmA" to A"Do Lots of GoodA" (R M Kanter); and other papers.

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Book SynopsisFollowing the success of their first book 'The Leader, The Teacher, & You', which won the Singapore Literature Book Prize in the Non-Fiction Category in 2014, Siong Guan and Joanne H Lim have collaborated again to produce their new book 'Winning with Honour: In Relationships, Family, Organisations, Leadership, and Life'. The book draws upon wisdom from history, geography, culture, religion, the wisdom of the ancients, as well as writings and examples from all over the world. The book posits that there is a universality in the message of Honour that can prove valuable to all who would care to reflect on how to sustain success in one's life, family, community, organisation and/or nation.The purpose of this book is to invite you to think about what winning in life actually means, and seeks to raise consciousness about the virtue of Honour in our lives, particularly in the two dimensions of 'Honouring Our Word' and 'Honouring Each Other'.Segmented into 10 parts and drawing from a collection of wisdom literature, the book posits that Honour does not just explain Singapore's journey from Third World Economy to First World Economy in a generation, but is an essential virtue that undergirds purposefulness in life, happiness in family, stability in society, advantage in business, success in leadership, and security in the nation. Written in a unique format that is accessible to people from all walks of life, the book seeks to showcase what is possible if imagination and human enterprise are coupled with honour.Table of ContentsSingapore: Small City; Small State; Honour: Small Thought; Big Idea; Winning with Honour in Relationships, Family, Organizations, Leadership and Life;

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Book SynopsisThe Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is a large, complex, and diverse region, which faces a wide range of economic issues. The MENA group includes Algeria, Bahrain, Cyprus, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.The purpose of this book is not to provide a country-by-country study, but rather to deal with general economic themes found in Arab MENA and Israel, such as problems associated with growth and structural change; the role of State-intervention in country-specific local markets; labor market imperfections driven by gender bias; technology gaps and endogenous growth; capital market development in a restricted financial model based on religious constraints; savings and investment behaviour in a model of state subsidization and intervention designed to control local development; and the role of the state in constraining private sector activity. Data sources used in this second edition include country-specific data, the World Bank, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.The new material in this second edition includes a discussion of the impending and inevitable leadership changes which will occur throughout Arab MENA over the next decades. The evidence to support this evaluation is based on the current lack of transparent markets; the lack of inclusive macro policies, the impact of distortionary micro economic policies across all sectors; and the impact of anti-globalization and xenophobia on innovation. Old chapters are revised with updated data, a discussion of the role of the 'State' and 'Oligarchies' in the economies of most of the MENA countries, an in-depth exploration of the investment in human capital and growth and an identification of the most important binding constraints to economic development in Arab MENA and Israel.This book serves as both a textbook and a summary of the very large literature on MENA. It examines the economic realities of the region and compares them across the MENA economies. It should be stressed that this book is not about the latest political debate on who did what to whom in the Middle East or in North Africa. The focus is on economics, not political economics.

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Book SynopsisEconomic Models for Industrial Organization focuses on the specification and estimation of econometric models for research in industrial organization. In recent decades, empirical work in industrial organization has moved towards dynamic and equilibrium models, involving econometric methods which have features distinct from those used in other areas of applied economics. These lecture notes, aimed for a first or second-year PhD course, motivate and explain these econometric methods, starting from simple models and building to models with the complexity observed in typical research papers. The covered topics include discrete-choice demand analysis, models of dynamic behavior and dynamic games, multiple equilibria in entry games and partial identification, and auction models.

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Book SynopsisEmployee stock options (ESOs) are an integral component of compensation in the US. In fact, almost all S&P 500 companies grant options to their top executives, and the total value accounts for almost half of the total pay for their CEOs. In view of the extensive use and significant cost of ESOs to firms, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has mandated expensing ESOs since 2004. This gives rise to the need to create a reasonable valuation method for these options for most firms that grant ESOs to their employees. The valuation of ESOs involves a number of challenging issues, and is thus an important active research area in Accounting, Corporate Finance, and Financial Mathematics.In this exciting book, the author discusses the practical and challenging problems surrounding ESOs from a financial mathematician's perspective. This book provides a systematic overview of the contractual features of ESOs and thoughtful discussions of different valuation approaches, with emphasis on three major aspects: (i) hedging strategies; (ii) exercise timing; and (iii) valuation methodologies. In addition to addressing each of these categories, this book also highlights their connections and combined effects of the cost of ESOs to firms, as well as examines the implications to modeling and valuation approaches. The book features a unique approach that combines stochastic modeling and control techniques with option pricing theory, and provides formulas and numerical schemes for fast implementation and clear illustration.

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Book SynopsisThe book shares stories of the role of school leadership in Singapore, with case studies from selected schools, that provides some insights on how Singapore delivers a high-quality education that had led to it achieving high rankings in TIMMS and PISA. This book will provide both the historical and present contexts of changes in the education system, school leadership and teacher leadership in Singapore that made it what it is today. It will distil some universal principles of educational change that school leaders and policy makers can apply in bringing about educational changes that will enhance the learning experiences of students and prepare them for future challenges.

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Book SynopsisThis survey reviews research on the economics of small business, introducing key concepts for the understanding of the research, including some basic microeconomics, distribution functions, and concepts of entrepreneurship. Accessible to readers with elementary knowledge of economics and probability, the book is suitable as a text for an undergraduate course in the economics of small business. It also covers the economics of organization, the role of the family in small business, human capital and nonpecuniary motivation, together with the relationship of small business to entrepreneurship and growth. Public policy toward small business is discussed with an emphasis on the United States, together with comparisons and contrasts of many other countries.

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Book Synopsis'The collection represents an extraordinary intellectual achievement and ... a handbook for anyone thinking about health and health policy.'Foreword by Sir Angus Deatonwinner of the Nobel Prize in Economics 'Victor Fuchs ... is one of the world's most influential figures in health, medicine, and policy ... His writings could be considered the single most authoritative guidebook on health economics.'Foreword by Victor J Dzau, MDPresident of the National Academy of Medicine Victor Fuchs offers a selection of his public lectures, articles, papers, and op-eds during the past 50 years. Also included are forewords by Sir Angus Deaton, Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics, and Victor Dzau, MD, president of the National Academy of Medicine. Organized in eight parts, it begins with an introduction to the field of health economics and ends with tributes to the founders and leaders of the field. In between, Fuchs discusses the determinants of health, the cost of medical care, international comparisons, health insurance, demography and aging, and health policy and health care reform. A special introduction precedes each Part. This book represents what Fuchs calls the economic perspective applied to health and medical care, a perspective of which Angus Deaton says, 'Fuchs has long been the master.'

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of the New York Times bestseller, Megatrends: Ten New Directions Transforming Our Lives, comes the new title on dealing with the complexity of change. It is one thing to spot the real trends from the fads, but it is another whole new ball game to deal with the incoming trend. This is the centrepiece of Mastering Megatrends.

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Book SynopsisThis open access book provides a clear holistic conceptual framework of CISS-F (competitiveness, inclusiveness, sustainability, scalability and access to finance) to analyse the efficiency of value chains of high value agricultural commodities in India. It is based on the understanding that agriculture is an integrated system that connects farming with logistics, processing and marketing. Farmer’s welfare being central to any agricultural policy makes it very pertinent to study how a value chain works and can be strengthened further to realize this policy goal. This book adds value to the existing research by studying the value chains end-to-end across a wide spectrum of agricultural commodities with the holistic lens of CISS-F. It is not enough that a value chain is competitive but not inclusive or it is competitive and inclusive but not sustainable. The issue of scalability is very critical to achieve macro gains in terms of greater farmer outreach and sectoral growth. The research undertaken here brings out some very useful insights for policymaking in terms of what needs to be done better to steer the agricultural value chains towards being more competitive, inclusive, sustainable and scalable. The value chain specific research findings help draw very nuanced policy recommendations as well as present a big picture of the future direction of policy making in agriculture. Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Evaluating Agricultural Value Chains on CISS-F Framework.- Chapter 3: Decoding Value Chains of Tomatoes, Onions and Potatoes (TOP).- Chapter 4: Towards an Efficient Banana and Mango Value Chains in India.- Chapter 5: Analysis of Grapes and Pomegranates Value Chain.- Chapter 6: Towards Creation of an Efficient Dairy Value Chain.- Chapter 7: Poultry Value Chain in India.- Chapter 8: Pulses in India: A Value Chain Analysis.- Chapter 9: Developing Agricultural Value Chains in India- the Way Forward.

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Book SynopsisProgram debugging has always been a difficult and time-consuming task in the context of software development, where spectrum-based fault localization (SBFL) is one of the most widely studied families of techniques. While it’s not particularly difficult to learn about the process and empirical performance of a particular SBFL technique from the available literature, researchers and practitioners aren’t always familiar with the underlying theories. This book provides the first comprehensive guide to fundamental theories in SBFL, while also addressing some emerging challenges in this area. The theoretical framework introduced here reveals the intrinsic relations between various risk evaluation formulas, making it possible to construct a formula performance hierarchy. Further extensions of the framework provide a sufficient and necessary condition for a general maximal formula, as well as performance comparisons for hybrid SBFL methods. With regard to emerging challenges in SBFL, the book mainly covers the frequently encountered oracle problem in SBFL and introduces a metamorphic slice-based solution. In addition, it discusses the challenge of multiple-fault localization and presents cutting-edge approaches to overcoming it. SBFL is a widely studied research area with a massive amount of publications. Thus, it is essential that the software engineering community, especially those involved in program debugging, software maintenance and software quality assurance (including both newcomers and researchers who want to gain deeper insights) understand the most fundamental theories – which could also be very helpful to ensuring the healthy development of the field. Table of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. A Theoretical Framework for Spectrum-based Fault Localization.- Chapter 3. Theoretical Comparison Among Risk Evaluation Formulas.- Chapter 4. On the Maximality of Spectrum-based Fault Localization.- Chapter 5. A Generalized Theoretical Framework for Hybrid Spectrum-based Fault Localization.- Chapter 6. Practicality of the Theoretical Frameworks.- Chapter 7. Tackling the Oracle Problem in Spectrum-based Fault Localization.- Chapter 8. Spectrum-based Fault Localization for Multiple Faults.- Chapter 9. Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisThis book on business psychology—particularly organizational leadership—crosses industries, continents, and business environments: it includes 45 précis on emerging theories of leadership; ethical and cultural considerations; group and team leadership; leadership self-development; management philosophy and practice; organizational diagnosis and cultural dynamics; personality and lifespan in the workplace; professional development; qualitative research methods; psychological, socio-cultural, and political dimensions of organizations; the role of technology in organizations; strategic change management; and systems theory. The material ranges widely but is pithy: each précis offers in easy bites the latest "take" on the subject, drawing from popular textbooks, recommended readings, case studies, group exercises, personal experience, and self-reflection; each was written as a key to understanding and change with an eye to re-imagining leadership in the 21st century. Both rigorously researched and entertaining, this book addresses the fast-changing realities of organizational leadership in domestic and international settings across the private, public, and nonprofit sectors: it will serve as a valuable quick-access resource for practitioners and students.Table of ContentsEthical and Relational Leadership.- Paradox and Neuroscience: Emerging Theories of Leadership.- Personal Leadership Development Plans: Essentials and Practicum.- Personal Philosophy of Leadership.- Personal Philosophy of Leadership (2nd Edition).- Review of Situational Leadership® After 25 Years - A Retrospective.- Ethics: My Own Perspective.- Life-Markers and Personal Values.- Reflections on Four Case Studies in Ethics.- The Self in Teams.- The Self in Teams (Coda).- The Self in Teams (Continued).- Establishing Your Fundamental Self.- The Challenges of Learning from Experience.- The Full Range Leadership Model: Essentials and Practicum.- A Taxonomy of Management Theories.- Mintzberg's Managing: Implications for Coaching and Training.- Mintzberg's Model of Managing: Random Thoughts from an Observation.- Synergizing the Competing Values Framework and the Six-Box Model.- Blustein's Psychology of Working: A Very Short Introduction.- Contextual Factors in Working.- Developing Expert Leadership.- Identity Processes in Leader Development.- Leader Development Through Work Experience.- Moral Development for Authentic Leadership Effectiveness.- Seven Entries on 21st Century Working.- The Reflective Judgment Model: What Role in Leader Development?.- Analyzing the Logic of Articles and Textbooks: Essentials and Practicum.- Reading Research Articles.- Scholarly Argument: Linking Doctoral Research to Practice.- Critical Psychology and Organizations: The Case of the United Nations.- Development of Critical Psychology.- Minority Population Analysis: The Aeta of the Philippines.- Minority Populations: There Are More Than Meets the Eye.- Book Analysis of Interviewing as Qualitative Research (Seidman, 2013).- Research Concept Paper for Leading Organizations of the Future.- Change Management Strategy in Action: Independent Evaluation for Learning.- Schein's Process Consultation: Three Reactions.- Five Notes on Systems Theory.- Idealized Design for Virtual Teaming: A Modest Proposal.- Idealized Design: Three Reactions.- Mental Models In and Of Organizations.- The Learning Organization Needs No Apology.- Planning and Driving a Digital Strategy.- Information and Communication Technology in Organizations: An Evolutionary Perspective.

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the national automotive policy in Malaysia to help readers gain an understanding of the country’s industrial policy-making processes. Addressing a gap in analysis of the political economy of the national automotive policy, the research presented combines the new institutional theory and the developmental state approach to provide new insights into elite policymakers’ measures to shield domestic automotive enterprises from pro-market reforms. The formation of the national car project marks a turning point for Malaysia's industrial development as a country, which it envisions will lead to it becoming a major player in the global automotive market. However, the domestic institutional factors embedded in ethno-economic interests and patronage constrain national car-makers, limiting their potential to grow, and instead causing a slowdown in the industry.Allowing readers to understand the background to Malaysia’s heavy industrialisation programme and the birth of its national car projects, this book critically discusses the significance of institutional context in policy outcomes, and highlights how institutions and policies have impact growth or decline. It is a valuable resource relevant to analysts, researchers and students who are interested in the political economy of the national industrial policy and automotive industry in Malaysia and beyond.Table of ContentsIntroduction.- Theoretical framework.- Malaysia automotive policy and industrial policy.- The political economy of the national car project.- Political economy analysis of the national automotive industry.- Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisThis book, written in story narrative form, traces the development of a company from a start-up to a global enterprise. It develops the key concepts related to this evolution — corporate strategy, raising external finance, capital budgeting, dividend policy, mergers and acquisition, globalization, marketing and human resource management. The focus is on topics in corporate strategy and corporate finance, and each topic is developed in depth with problem sets and reflection questions within the context of the organization's evolution.The Power Point slides, practice problems and solutions, as well as intervention exercises for executive education teaching is available upon request for all instructors who adopt this book as a course text. Please send your request to sales@wspc.com.Table of ContentsTime for Action: Jerry Says Hello to Finance and Takes the Plunge; The Source of Value: Strategy; Risk and Value: Why Should Jerry Care?; More on Economic Profit; Comprehensive Resource Allocation: A Training Seminar; Acquiring a Firm; Resource Allocation for Non-Traditional Projects; Post-Acquisition Integration Issues; Managing in Tough Times Versus Innovating; and other papers.

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Book SynopsisThis volume provides the definitive treatment of fortune's formula or the Kelly capital growth criterion as it is often called. The strategy is to maximize long run wealth of the investor by maximizing the period by period expected utility of wealth with a logarithmic utility function. Mathematical theorems show that only the log utility function maximizes asymptotic long run wealth and minimizes the expected time to arbitrary large goals. In general, the strategy is risky in the short term but as the number of bets increase, the Kelly bettor's wealth tends to be much larger than those with essentially different strategies. So most of the time, the Kelly bettor will have much more wealth than these other bettors but the Kelly strategy can lead to considerable losses a small percent of the time. There are ways to reduce this risk at the cost of lower expected final wealth using fractional Kelly strategies that blend the Kelly suggested wager with cash. The various classic reprinted papers and the new ones written specifically for this volume cover various aspects of the theory and practice of dynamic investing. Good and bad properties are discussed, as are fixed-mix and volatility induced growth strategies. The relationships with utility theory and the use of these ideas by great investors are featured.Table of ContentsThe Early Ideas and Contributions; Classic Papers and Theories; Relations to Asset Allocation: Benchmarks, Fractional Kelly Strategies and Volatility Pumping; Critics and Good and Bad Properties; Utility Foundations; Evidence of Use by Great Investors.

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Book SynopsisThis book teaches financial engineering in an innovative way: by providing tools and a point of view to quickly and easily solve real front-office problems. Projects and simulations are not just exercises in this book, but its heart and soul. You will not only learn how to do state-of-the-art simulations and build exotic derivatives valuation models, you will also learn how to quickly make reasonable inferences based on incomplete information. This book will give you the expertise to make significant progress in understanding brand new derivatives given only a preliminary term sheet, thus making you extraordinarily valuable to banks, brokerage houses, trading floors, and hedge funds.Financial Hacking is not about long, detailed mathematical proofs or brief summaries of conventional financial theories; it is about engineering specific, useable answers to imprecise but important questions. It is an essential book both for students and for practitioners of financial engineering.MBAs in finance learn case-method and standard finance mainly by talking. Mathematical finance students learn the elegance and beauty of formulas mainly by manipulating symbols. But financial engineers need to learn how to build useful tools, and the best way to do that is to actually build them in a test environment, with only hypothetical profits or losses at stake. That's what this book does. It is like a trading desk sandbox that prepares graduate students or others looking to move closer to trading operations.Table of ContentsBlack-Scholes; Intuitions about Option Greeks; Exotic Options; P&L Decomposition; Hedging Questions; Volatility Skews and Smiles; Local and Implied Volatilities; Variance Swaps; Exotic Derivatives.

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Book SynopsisThis volume provides a practical guide to building and using simulation models for international trade theory and policy. Through a sequence of carefully constructed and fully documented programs, the volume illustrates how numerical simulation can be used to analyze a wide array of problems. Modern computable general equilibrium (CGE) models for trade policy are challenging in their complexity, but can be thought of as constructions of much simpler building blocks. By developing the building blocks in a consistent manner, and gradually putting them together in more complex and interesting ways, the volume makes CGE accessible to anyone with a background in microeconomics/trade theory. The volume will be useful to graduate students and researchers in international trade looking for a detailed guide to building simulation models and to developing the skill set necessary to enter into the world of CGE modeling.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Utility Maximization; Cost Minimization; Long-Run Production; Short-Run Production; Dual Approach; Transition; Higher Dimensions; Autarky; Small Country Trading Equilibrium; Large Country Trading Equilibrium; Armington Preferences; Intermediate Inputs; Joint Production; Non-Traded Goods; Tariffs and Other Distortions; Single Country Competitive CGE; Imperfect Competition; Multiple Households; Imperfect Factor Mobility; Two Country Trading Equilibrium; Higher Dimensions and Trade; Multi-Country Competitive CGE; Appendices.

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Book SynopsisTechnical analysis is defined as the tracking and prediction of asset price movements using charts and graphs in combination with various mathematical and statistical methods. More precisely, it is the quantitative criteria used in predicting the relative strength of buying and selling forces within a market to determine what to buy, what to sell, and when to execute trades. This book introduces simple technical analysis tools like moving averages and Bollinger bands, and also advanced techniques such as wavelets and empirical mode decomposition. It first discusses some traditional tools in technical analysis, such as trend, trend Line, trend channel, Gann's Theory, moving averages, and Bollinger bands. It then introduces a recent indicator developed for stock market and two recent techniques used in the technical analysis field: wavelets and the empirical mode decomposition in financial time series. The book also discusses the theory to test the performance of the indicators and introduces the MATLAB Financial Toolbox, some of the functions/codes of which are used in our numerical experiments.Table of ContentsIntroduction to Technical Analysis; The Primary Tools for Technical Analysis; Chart Pattern Reading - Trend, Trend Line and Trend Channel; Chart Pattern Reading - Identifying Important Chart Patterns; Linear Filters; Momentum Indicators; Moving Averages; Wavelets in Financial Market Trading; Bollinger Bands and Relative Strength Index; Unraveling Mysticism in Gann's Theory: Prophecy of Stock Market Trends; Standardized Yield Differential Indicator; Empirical Mode Decomposition in Financial Time Series; Other Trading Methods in Technical Analysis.

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Book SynopsisSoutheast Asia has been an emerging frontier for internet technology startups, with talent and capital flooding into the region's technology markets in recent years. Navigating ASEANnovation: The Reservoir Principle and other essays on startups and innovation in Southeast Asia is a collection of essays and interviews with founders and investors on what it takes to thrive and win in the region as a tech startup. From topics such as bringing together a founding team to exiting a company, the collection covers various aspects of startup growth, digging deep into the critical strategies tech founders and business leaders of different countries and industries can adopt, while embracing the diversity critical to understanding the region.Navigating ASEANnovation serves as go-to compendium providing practical advice and mental frameworks for anyone interested in Southeast Asia and tech startups, highlighting the unique aspects of operating in the region that the world can learn from as well.The collection was curated with commentary from Yinglan Tan, Founding Managing Partner of Insignia Ventures Partners, an early stage technology venture fund in Southeast Asia, and Paulo Joquiño, Editor of Insignia Business Review, the official publication of Insignia Ventures Partners.

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Book SynopsisIn an effort to promote agro-enterprises and agro-industries as viable forms of inclusive development, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and The Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD) in collaboration with the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE), organized an international symposium on the topic “Innovative Institutions, Public Policies, and Private Strategies for Inclusive Agro-Enterprise Development”, as part of the Triennial Meetings of the IAAE held in Foz do lguaçu, Brazil, in August 2012.This book contains the major papers presented at the symposium, which feature a wide range of country and regional experiences and examine the influence of markets and technology transfer to agro-enterprises on food security, poverty, and economic growth. The contributions also identify alternative market access strategies for sustainable economic development. This volume will enrich existing knowledge of agro-enterprises as a channel for promoting inclusive growth and reducing poverty levels across developing and emerging markets.

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Book SynopsisThe next generation internet, the Internet of Things, cannot work without an Internet of Value. The Internet of Value or ValueWeb, for short allows machines to trade with machines and people with people, anywhere on this planet in real-time and for free. The problem is that our old system cannot work that way, as it takes days to process and costs a fortune. Using a combination of technologies from mobile devices, wearables and the bitcoin blockchain, fintech firms are building the ValueWeb regardless. What does that mean for financial institutions, governments and citizens? This book provides the answers. Chris Skinner one of the most authoritative voices on FinTech anywhere has provided us another timely and thoughtful look into the fascinating convergence of technology, e-commerce, and finance that is changing the world. - Seth Wheeler, Former Economics Advisor to the US President and The White House Skinner's ValueWeb is a sweeping and well-researched analysis of the big technology trends that will shake the windows and rattle the walls of the industry -Don Tapscott, Best Selling Author This book will be an invaluable read for all interested in the way business works.- Sir Roger Gifford, Former Lord Mayor of LondonBest insight into money in the 3rd industrial revolution, aka the digital revolution, you will read.-Lawrence Wintermeyer, CEO Innovate FinanceThis is another must-read, not only for those interested in the world of FinTech, but anyone wanting to get a glimpse of a future where monetary and non-monetary transfers occur instantaneously across mobile and digital networks.-Jim Marous, The Financial Brand/Digital Banking ReportChris has a great eye for the case studies and practical examples of innovation that help you to really reflect on where banking is going.-David Birch, Director Consult Hyperion

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Book SynopsisA class of highly mathematical algorithms works with three-dimensional (3D) data known as graphs. Our research challenge focuses on applying these algorithms to solve more complex problems with financial data, which tend to be in higher dimensions (easily over 100), based on probability distributions, with time subscripts and jumps. The 3D research analogy is to train a navigation algorithm when the way-finding coordinates and obstacles such as buildings change dynamically and are expressed in higher dimensions with jumps.Our short title 'ia≠ai' symbolizes how investment analytics is not a simplistic reapplication of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques proven in engineering. This book presents best-of-class sophisticated techniques available today to solve high dimensional problems with properties that go deeper than what is required to solve customary problems in engineering today.Dr Bernard Lee is the Founder and CEO of HedgeSPA, which stands for Sophisticated Predictive Analytics for Hedge Funds and Institutions. Previously, he was a managing director in the Portfolio Management Group of BlackRock in New York City as well as a finance professor who has taught and guest-lectured at a number of top universities globally.Related Link(s)

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Book SynopsisOptimal Mean Reversion Trading: Mathematical Analysis and Practical Applications provides a systematic study to the practical problem of optimal trading in the presence of mean-reverting price dynamics. It is self-contained and organized in its presentation, and provides rigorous mathematical analysis as well as computational methods for trading ETFs, options, futures on commodities or volatility indices, and credit risk derivatives.This book offers a unique financial engineering approach that combines novel analytical methodologies and applications to a wide array of real-world examples. It extracts the mathematical problems from various trading approaches and scenarios, but also addresses the practical aspects of trading problems, such as model estimation, risk premium, risk constraints, and transaction costs. The explanations in the book are detailed enough to capture the interest of the curious student or researcher, and complete enough to give the necessary background material for further exploration into the subject and related literature.This book will be a useful tool for anyone interested in financial engineering, particularly algorithmic trading and commodity trading, and would like to understand the mathematically optimal strategies in different market environments.

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Book SynopsisInternational Finance and Open-Economy Macroeconomics provides a complete theoretical, historical, and policy-focused account of the international financial system that covers all of the standard topics, such as foreign exchange markets, balance of payments accounting, macroeconomic policy in an open economy, exchange rate crises, multinational enterprises, and international financial markets. The book uses the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference as a unifying theme to relate the many controversial issue. It is written in a lively manner to bring real world events into the discussion of all of the concepts, topics, and policy issues. There is also emphasis on the history of economic thought in order to explain how economists in different time periods dealt with international financial issues.Table of ContentsThe Balance of Payments Accounts; The Foreign Exchange Markets; An Open-Economy Macroeconomic Model; Applications of the Open-Economy Macroeconomic Model; History of the International Financial System; The Euro Area; Multinational Enterprises and International Financial Firms; The 2007-2009 Financial Crisis; Financialization;

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Book Synopsis

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