Multinational Finance. Evaluating the Opportunities, Costs, and Risks of Multinational Operations

An in-depth treatment of the international financial arena Multinational Finance, Fifth Edition assumes the viewpoint of the financial manager of a multinational corporation with investment or financial operations in more than one country. This book provides a framework for evaluating the many opportunities, costs, and risks of multinational operations in a manner that allows readers to see beyond the math and terminology surrounding this field to realize the general principles of multinational financial management. Logically organized and written in a clear, non-technical style, this book includes information on international finance topics such as foreign exchange, currency and derivatives markets, currency risk (transaction, operating, and translation) management, country risk, international taxation, capital structure, cost of capital, and international portfolio diversification. It also offers unique chapters on multinational treasury management, the rationale for hedging currency risks, options on real assets, international corporate governance, asset pricing, and portfolio management. Emphasizes the managerial aspects of multinational finance with graphs, figures, and the use of numerous real-world examples Expands on the treatment of parity disequilibria to include exchange rate expectations that differ from parity and a project's operating exposure to currency risk Provides an overview and comparison of the various derivative instruments and their use in risk hedging Contains valuable insights on valuation and management of a multinational corporation's investments If you're looking for the best way to gain a firm understanding of multinational finance, look no further than the fifth edition of this classic text.

Recent Events -from September 11, to the anti-globalization protests to the collapse of the high-tech boom have accentuated the sense that the global economy is moving into uncharted waters Bringing together the leading authorities on globalization and international business The Future of the Multinational Company looks ahead to the new challenges facing multinational firms and predicts what the multinational company will look like in ten years time. Brings together the leading authorities in the field of global / international busi-ness. Accademically rigourous but accessible · Addresses a topic of concern to practitioners and academics alike

The Multinational Corporation in China: Controlling Interests addresses the question of how multinational corporations control and coordinate their worldwide affiliates, with a fascinating inside story on contemporary China. Focuses on dynamic management control processes by four large US multinational corporations of their China operations. Based on the author’s own research, including personal interviews with senior managers, and discussions with consultants, lawyers, and government officials. Reviews internal as well as publicly available company documents, and books, newspapers and periodicals dealing with relevant industries and with China. Enables readers to understand how multinational corporations are managed. Facilitates the development of a coherent theory of management control.

Pension plans around the world are in a state of crisis. U.S. plans alone are facing a total accrued liability funding deficit of almost $4 trillion (of the same order of magnitude as the federal debt), a potential financial catastrophe that ranks among the largest ever seen. It has become clear that many government, corporate, and multi-employer pension sponsors will not be able to cope with this crippling debt and may default on promised benefits. And many of those sponsors that might be able to cope are exasperated by continuous, ongoing negative surprises-large unexpected deficits and higher-than-expected required contributions and pension expense-and are choosing to terminate their plans. But it need not be so. Pension Finance: Putting the Risks and Costs of Defined Benefit Plans Back under Your Control walks the reader through the conventional actuarial and accounting approaches to financing pension benefits and investing plan assets, showing that the problems described happen as a natural consequence of the dated methods still in use. It shows in detail how modern methods based on market value will easily minimize these risks: Pension plans can in fact be comfortable for employers to sponsor and safe for employees to contribute todepend on for their retirement needs. This book is must-read for defined benefit pension plan sponsors and employee representatives, plan executives, board members, accountants, fund managers, consultants, and regulators., Research sponsored by the CFA Institute, this book demystifies pension finance, previously accessible only to actuaries. It teaches the topic in lay terms by drawing complete analogies to ordinary transactions such as paying off a mortgage or saving for college. Armed with this book, anyone comfortable with finance and investments in any other context can be comfortable with pension finance and pension investment policy. And further armed with a handheld financial calculator, any layperson can quickly estimate the contributions needed to keep a given plan comfortably solvent, giving them a powerful tool for oversight.

A unique collaboration featuring the latest methodologies and research on multi- and cross-national surveys Over the past two decades, the relevance of cross-national and cross-cultural methodologies has heightened across various fields of study. Responding to increasing cultural diversity and rapid changes in how research is conducted, Survey Methods in Multinational, Multiregional, and Multicultural Contexts addresses the need for refined tools and improved procedures in cross-cultural and cross-national studies worldwide. Based on research submitted to the International Conference on Multinational, Multicultural, and Multiregional Survey Methods (3MC), this book identifies important changes in comparative methodology approaches, outlines new findings, and provides insight into future developments in the field. Some of the world's leading survey researchers gather in this volume to address the need for a standard framework that promotes quality assurance and quality control in survey research, and its impact on various stages of the survey life cycle, including study design and organization, cross-national sampling, testing and pretesting, data collection, and input and output variable harmonization. Self-contained chapters feature coverage of various topics, such as: Question and questionnaire design, from both global and study-specific perspectives The construction and evaluation of survey translations and instrument adaptations The effects of cultural difference on the perception of question and response categories Non-response issues Analysis in comparative contexts, featuring discussion of polytomous item response theory, categorization problems, and Multi-Trait-Multi-Methods (MTMM) The significance of evolving methodologies for current international survey programs, including the European Social Survey, the International Social Survey Programme, and the Gallup World Poll Survey Methods in Multinational, Multiregional, and Multicultural Contexts is a valuable supplement for courses on comparative survey methods at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. It also serves as an insightful reference for professionals who design, implement, and analyze comparative research in the areas of business, public health, and the social and behavioral sciences.

The business world is undergoing dramatic change that is driven by tough new legislation, expanded market based incentives and increased consumer awareness of environmental issues (e.g., hazard ingredients in products, alternative energy, reduction in greenhouse gases). This is forcing companies to reassess the life cycle of their products and the efficiency of their supply chains. Environmental issues are becoming business critical. Good to Green provides the vital information, backed by case studies and examples, that gives progressive business leaders the strategic know-how to pro-actively manage environmental issues and realize the business benefits of going green.

Throughout banking, mathematical techniques are used. Some of these are within software products or models; mathematicians use others to analyse data. The current literature on the subject is either very basic or very advanced. The Mathematics of Banking offers an intermediate guide to the various techniques used in the industry, and a consideration of how each one should be approached. Written in a practical style, it will enable readers to quickly appreciate the purpose of the techniques and, through illustrations, see how they can be applied in practice. Coverage is extensive and includes techniques such as VaR analysis, Monte Carlo simulation, extreme value theory, variance and many others. A practical review of mathematical techniques needed in banking which does not expect a high level of mathematical competence from the reader

A detailed look at the water industry and the trends that can lead to investment opportunities Water has quickly grown into a big global business, with annual revenues in the United States alone reaching over $200 billion. In the years ahead, companies as well as governments must find innovative ways to address important issues within this field without sacrificing basic needs, such as safety of drinking water or the reliability of water for energy production. Nobody understands this better than author Neil Grigg, a forty-year veteran of the water industry, and now, with Water Finance, he shares his extensive experience with you. Most of the water business operates under the radar, but with this reliable resource, Grigg shines a bright light on this essential area and offers comprehensive coverage of the public responsibilities and private opportunities associated with it. While Water Finance does contain many facts and figures, it also takes the time to pull together the various aspects of water, going far beyond water as just a commodity, to skillfully explain it as the integrated business that it is. Opens with a detailed discussion of the water industry before turning its focus to water handling, which includes water supply, wastewater, industrial water, storm water, irrigation and drainage, and instream flows Reveals the different driving forces, and issues, surrounding the water industry such as government involvement, privatization, law and regulations, financial structure, water and health, and workforce capacity Offers insights on water industry business, careers, and investments Organized around the idea that the water business is about all aspects of handling water, from the global environment to your tap, Water Finance contains the information you need to succeed in this dynamic field.

This new book by two distinguished Italian economists is a highly original contribution to our understanding of the origins and aftermath of the financial crisis. The authors show that the recent financial crisis cannot be understood simply as a malfunctioning in the subprime mortgage market: rather, it is rooted in a much more fundamental transformation, taking place over an extended time period, in the very nature of finance. The ‘end’ or purpose of finance is to be found in the social institutions by which the making and acceptance of promises of payment are made possible – that is, the creation and cancellation of debt contracts within a specified time frame. Amato and Fantacci argue that developments in the modern financial system by which debts are securitized has endangered this fundamental credit/debt structure. The illusion has been created that debts are universally liquid in the sense that they need not be redeemed but can be continually sold on in increasingly extensive global markets. What appears to have reduced the riskiness of default for individual agents has in fact increased the fragility of the system as a whole. The authors trace the origins of this profound transformation backwards in time, not just to the neoliberal reforms of the 1980s and 90s but to the birth of capitalist finance in the mercantile networks of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This long historical perspective and deep analysis of the nature of finance enables the authors to tackle the challenges we face today in a fresh way – not simply by tinkering with existing mechanisms, but rather by asking the more profound question of how institutions might be devised in which finance could fulfil its essential functions.

Written for non-experts in jargon-free language, this work shows how to create systems within organizations that preempt the monetary, strategic, and emotional costs associated with on-the-job conflict. Its clear and simple approach translates advanced concepts into practical how-tos and provides readers with four guiding principles they can follow to create conflict control systems of their own. Amply illustrated with real-world examples, it details the policies, procedures, and practices that make for successful control systems and tells precisely how to implement them.