Alternative Assets and Strategic Allocation. Rethinking the Institutional Approach

Since the first edition of the Handbook of Alternative Assets was published, significant events-from the popping of the technology bubble and massive accounting scandals to recessions and bear markets-have shifted the financial landscape. These changes have provided author Mark J. P. Anson with an excellent opportunity to examine alternative assets during a different part of the economic cycle than previously observed in the first edition. Fully revised and updated to reflect today's financial realities, the Handbook of Alternative Assets, Second Edition covers the five major classes of alternative assets-hedge funds, commodity and managed futures, private equity, credit derivatives, and corporate governance-and outlines the strategies you can use to efficiently incorporate these assets into any portfolio. Throughout the book, new chapters have been added, different data sources accessed, and new conclusions reached. Designed as both an introduction to the world of alternative assets and as a reference for the active investor, the Handbook of Alternative Assets, Second Edition will help you match alternative assets with your various investment goals.

Insightful modelling of dynamic systems for better business strategy The business environment is constantly changing and organisations need the ability to rehearse alternative futures. By mimicking the interlocking operations of firms and industries, modelling serves as a ‘dry run’ for testing ideas, anticipating consequences, avoiding strategic pitfalls and improving future performance. Strategic Modelling and Business Dynamics is an essential guide to credible models; helping you to understand modelling as a creative process for distilling and communicating those factors that drive business success and sustainability. Written by an internationally regarded authority, the book covers all stages of model building, from conceptual to analytical. The book demonstrates a range of in-depth practical examples that vividly illustrate important or puzzling dynamics in firm operations, strategy, public policy, and everyday life. This updated new edition also offers a rich Learners' website with models, articles and videos, as well as a separate Instructors' website resource, with lecture slides and other course materials (see Related Websites/Extra section below). Together the book and websites deliver a powerful package of blended learning materials that: Introduce the system dynamics approach of modelling strategic problems in business and society Include industry examples and public sector applications with interactive simulators and contemporary visual modelling software Provide the latest state-of-the-art thinking, concepts and techniques for systems modelling The comprehensive Learners' website features models, microworlds, journal articles and videos. Easy-to-use simulators enable readers to experience dynamic complexity in business and society. Like would-be CEOs, readers can re-design operations and then re-simulate in the quest for well-coordinated strategy and better performance. The simulators include a baffling hotel shower, a start-up low-cost airline, an international radio broadcaster, a diversifying tyre maker, commercial fisheries and the global oil industry. «Much more than an introduction, John Morecroft’s Strategic Modelling and Business Dynamics uses interactive ‘mini-simulators and microworlds’ to create an engaging and effective learning environment in which readers, whatever their background, can develop their intuition about complex dynamic systems.» John Sterman, Jay W. Forrester Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management «Illustrated by examples from everyday life, business and policy, John Morecroft expertly demonstrates how systems thinking aided by system dynamics can improve our understanding of the world around us.» Stewart Robinson, Associate Dean Research, President of the Operational Research Society, Professor of Management Science, School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University

Matlab is used within nearly all investment banks and is a requirement in most quant job ads. There is no other book written for finance practitioners that covers this Enables readers to implement financial and econometric models in Matlab All central concepts and theories are illustrated by Matlab implementations which are accompanied by detailed descriptions of the programming steps needed All concepts and techniques are introduced from a basic level Chapter 1 introduces Matlab and matrix algebra, it serves to make the reader familiar with the use and basic capabilities if Matlab. The chapter concludes with a walkthrough of a linear regression model, showing how Matlab can be used to solve an example problem analytically and by the use of optimization and simulation techniques Chapter 2 introduces expected return and risk as central concepts in finance theory using fixed income instruments as examples, the chapter illustrates how risk measures such as standard deviation, Modified duration, VaR, and expected shortfall can be calculated empirically and in closed form Chapter 3 introduces the concept of diversification and illustrates how the efficient investment frontier can be derived – a Matlab is developed that can be used to calculate a given number of portfolios that lie on an efficient frontier, the chapter also introduces the CAPM Chapter 4 introduces econometric tools: principle component analysis is presented and used as a prelude to yield-curve factor models. The Nelson-Siegel model is used to introduce the Kalman-Filter as a way to add time-series dynamics to the evolution of yield curves over time, time series models such as Vector Autoregression and regime-switching are also presented Supported by a website with online resources – www.kennyholm.com where all Matlab programs referred to in the text can be downloaded. The site also contains lecture slides and answers to end of chapter exercises

Portfolio Design – choosing the right mix of assets appropriate to a particular investor – is the key to successful investing. It can help you accumulate wealth over time, while cushioning the blow of possible economic downturns. But in order to successfully achieve this goal, you need to be familiar with all of the major asset classes that go into modern portfolios and learn how much they add to portfolio diversification. Thoughtful asset allocation provides discipline to the investment process and gives you the best chance of building and safeguarding wealth. Wharton Professor Richard C. Marston, 2014 recipient of the Investment Management Consultants Association’s prestigious Matthew R. McArthur Award, will guide you through the major decisions that need to be made when designing a portfolio and will put you in the best position to balance the risk-reward relationship that is part of this endeavor. Portfolio Design is to be read by investment advisors. The book is rich in information about individual asset classes, including both traditional assets like stocks and bonds as well as alternative assets such as hedge funds, private equity, real estate, and commodities. So it should appeal to all sophisticated advisors whether or not they are trying to qualify for one of the major investment designations. In fact, the book is designed to be read by any advisor who is as fascinated as Marston by the investment process.

The investment landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years, destroying many of the old certainties by which investors lived their lives. In particular, it has shaken belief in the ability of traditional asset types such as bonds and equities to protect them from abnormal market conditions, and it has brought home how closely correlation between different markets can be squeezed together by extreme pressure. Future investors will have to regard so-called «alternative» assets as essential elements within their portfolios, and be prepared to deal with the complexities that this will entail. This will in turn force a re-appraisal of core concepts such as «risk» and «return», not least because some alternative asset classes do not lend themselves well to traditional return measures. Exciting times lie ahead, but a thorough working knowledge of the various alternative asset classes will be an essential pre-requisite to success, and perhaps even to survival. Alternative Assets meets investor's need for a guide on where to allocate in this new climate. It provides investors with a primer on each alternative asset class, as well as practical tips on the pros and cons, implementation, returns analysis, fees and costs. It also offers introductory guidance on how to set investment targets, and how alternative assets can be accommodated within the allocation process. Each chapter gives useful background knowledge on a particular asset type, including a discussion of whether a satisfactory beta return level exists and, if so, the different ways in which it might be accessed. Written by best-selling author Guy Fraser-Sampson, this book guides investors through the new look alternative investment arena, providing post-financial crisis perspective and investment advice on the alternatives landscape.

Praise for Active Alpha «Active alpha is the quest for every sophisticated investor. This book covers all of the key alpha sources currently mined by active managers, reduces the complexity of the subject, and helps the investor get started in the right direction.» -Mark Anson, Chief Executive Officer, Hermes Pensions Management Ltd. «Long-held traditional methods for investing large portfolios are giving way to new processes that are designed to improve productivity and diversification. These changes find their locus in the sometimes overly mysterious world of absolute return strategies. In this book, Alan Dorsey demystifies that new world and provides a guiding pathway into the future of professional portfolio management. This is an important read for any investor who plans to succeed going forward.» -Britt Harris, Chief Investment Officer, Teacher Retirement System of Texas «With great lucidity, Alan Dorsey's book, Active Alpha, fills an important void by identifying the relevant institutional features of this complex subject and by providing a unifying analytic framework for understanding and constructing portfolios of alternative assets. For anyone investing in the alternative class, from the new student to the experienced practitioner, Active Alpha is a necessary read. I am recommending it to everyone I know with such an interest, and it is destined to become a much thumbed reference on my shelf.» -Steve Ross, Franco Modigliani Professor of Financial Economics, Sloan School, MIT

The current period of market and governmental turbulence is the most challenging—yet rewarding—time to be a treasurer. Now, as perhaps never before, the treasurer’s visions, skills, and worth will be tested and proven. A useful reference, The Strategic Treasurer: A Partnership for Corporate Growth systematically equips today’s corporate treasurers to move from merely being the liquidity manager to becoming a strategic driver and steward of corporate value as well as an equal partner with senior management.

Explore the interplay between corporate governance and strategic decision-making in this startling new resource In Understanding and Managing Strategic Governance , strategy and management experts Dr. Wei Shi and Robert E. Hoskisson deliver an insightful exploration of the influence that governance actors, like the board of directors, activist investors, institutional investors, and securities analysts, have on important strategic decisions. Based on surveying the latest research and analyzing unique datasets compiled by the authors, the book explains the impact that governance actors have on a firm’s strategic choices and the quality of such choices as well as the unintended consequences of that impact. The authors also describe how executives can manage the conflicting interests of multiple governance actors and leverage the influence of these actors to make effective strategic decisions. In this book, you’ll discover: How to avoid the strategic pitfalls that arise from governance actor influence and harm firms’ long-term competitiveness The effect that governance actors can have on corporate strategy, competitive strategy, corporate innovation strategy, global strategy, stakeholder strategy, and more The latest trends in corporate governance and their implications for managers, regulators, and policy makers in this area Perfect for C-level executives, board of directors, and institutional investors as well as students of corporate governance and strategy, Understanding and Managing Strategic Governance is a revealing and original examination of the interplay between corporate governance and firm strategy and how to manage that interplay to create sustainable competitive advantages.

Architecture is on the brink. It is a discipline in crisis. Over the last two decades, architectural debate has diversified to the point of fragmentation and exhaustion. What is called for is an overarching argument or set of criteria on which to approach the design and construction of the built environment. Here, the internationally renowned architect and educator Michael Hensel advocates an entirely different way of thinking about architecture. By favouring a new focus on performance, he rejects longstanding conventions in design and the built environment. This not only bridges the gap between academia and practice, but, even more significantly, the treatment of form and function in design. It also has a far-reaching impact on knowledge production and development, placing an important emphasis on design research in architecture and the value of an interdisciplinary approach. Though ‘performance’ first evolved as a concept in the humanities in the 1940s and 1950s, it has never previously been systematically applied in architecture in an inclusive manner. Here Michael Hensel offers Performance-Orientated Architecture as an integrative approach to architectural design, the built environment and questions of sustainability. He highlights how core concepts and specific traits, such as climate, material performance and settlement patterns, can put architecture in the service of the natural environment. A wide range of examples are cited to support his argument, from traditional sustainable buildings, such as the Kahju Bridge in Isfahan and the Topkap? Palace in Istanbul to more contemporary works by Cloud 9, Foreign Office Architects, Steven Holl and OCEAN.

A guide to strategic communication that can be applied across a range of subfields at all three levels—grand strategic, strategic, and tactical communication Communication is a core function of every human organization so when you work with communication you are working with the very core of the organization. Written for students, academics, and professionals, Strategic Communication Theory and Practice: The Cocreational Model argues for a single unified field of strategic communication based in the three large core subfields of public relations, marketing communication, and health communication, as well as strategic communicators working in many other subfields such as political communication, issues management, crisis communication, risk communication, environmental and science communication, social movements, counter terrorism communication, public diplomacy, public safety and disaster management, and others. Strategic Communication Theory and Practice is built around a cocreational model that shifts the focus from organizational needs and the messages crafted to achieve them, to a publics-centered view placing publics and their ability to cocreate new meanings squarely in the center of strategic communication theory and practice. The author—a noted expert in the field—outlines the theories, campaign strategies, common issues, and cutting edge challenges facing strategic communication, including the role of social media, ethics, and intercultural strategic communication. As the author explains, the term «strategic communication» properly refers only to the planned campaigns that grow out of research and understanding what publics think and want. This vital resource answers the questions of whether, and how, strategic-level skills can be used across fields, as it: Explores the role of theory and the cocreational meta-theory in strategic communication Outlines ethical practices and problems in the field Includes information on basic campaign strategies Offers the most recent information on risk communication, preparedness and terrorism communication, and employment in strategic communication Redefines major concepts, such as publics, from a cocreational perspective