344 research outputs found
Effects of Dogs on Depression Levels of Cancer Patients
No full textAbstract
Date Presented 3/31/2017
This study examined the link between being a caretaker of a dog and depression levels in clients with cancer. An exploratory design was used to determine a correlation between two variables: depression and dogs. Dog caretaking could be a cost-effective method for preventive and integrated cancer treatment.
Primary Author and Speaker: Melissa Ricciardelli
Additional Authors and Speakers: Kristy Henner, Kelly McDade</jats:p
The corporate centre in a financial conglomerate : governance under fundamental industry changes
Full text linkIn part 1, we discuss 1) the fundamental changes in the financial services industry, 2)
financial conglomerate structures and 3) value-based-management. These are core
components for understanding the challenges and intentions of corporate level
management of financial conglomerates.
The financial services industry, financial conglomeration and value orientation
In the first chapter, we highlight the major trend of consolidation in the financial
services industry. This trend is most visible in business publications, and interacts
with other trends. Financial conglomerates grow due to the fact that size is believed to
be the answer to many difficulties. Consolidation has an effect on the systemic risk of
the financial services industry because consolidation changes the risks of individual
institutions, which in turn can affect other institutions. If the risk of an individual
financial institution increases, the probability that the institution will fail or become
illiquid before settling some of its payment obligations also increases. This increasing
risk of an individual institution exposes other institutions directly as payees, or
indirectly through contributing to panic runs or securities markets problems. As
consolidation continues and non-traditional financial service activities enter into
financial service activities by financial services firms, the safety net expand s, thereby
imposing additional costs on the financial system. Regulators keep a close watch on
the trends in the financial services industry: their objective is to maintain microeconomic
stability, protect investors and support financial services firms’ proper
behaviour, efficiency and competition. In intervening in consolidation decisions,
regulators try to limit the government’s liability and to prevent exploitation of the
safety net. To achieve this, regulators are looking for new ways of supervision. New
capital requirements for credit, market and operational risk (Basel II), mandatory
subordinated debt, a better supervisory structure and guidelines for corporate
governance are all under development. The expectation is that, after a period of focus
on model-based risk management, regulators will now be increasingly focusing their
attention at management processes. Consolidation is a worldwide phe nomenon, primarily taking place in, but not limited
to, well-developed economies. Globalisation of markets has contributed to (crossborder)
mergers and acquisitions. In the United States, between 1988 and 1997, there
has been a decrease in the number of financial services firms by 26.8 percent. In
Europe we recognise the same trend: in Germany only there already has been a
decline in the number of financial services firms from 5,000 to 36,000 between 1990
and 1995. In Japan and Singapore we see the same trend of consolidation. Although
consolidation is primarily a domestic process, we also see cross-border mergers and
acquisitions. Various trends contribute to the consolidation drive. For one, technological progress
is very important as technology erodes entry barriers; financial services firms face
pressures from a wider and more diverse range of competitors. Although information
technology is pivotal for the internal processes of the financial services firms, clientfocused
technologies make the difference on the market. New technologies support
the development of new financial products and these products create new challenges
for financial services firms. These products increasingly are capital-market based
instead of straightforward savings- or credit facilities. Well-developed economies tend
to shift from a bank-based system towards a market-based system in which the
majority of the financing need is provided for by the capital market, which requires a
efficient distribution in terms of scale and reach. While regulators attempt to supervise
the financial system, deregulation leads to increased competition with margins being
driven down and requiring scale economies. This dynamic is complemented by the
drive to eradicate excess capacity in the global financial services industry. At the same time, and perhaps resulting from these industry changes, the lines of the
financial services industry are blurring in various parts of the world. Non- financial
services firms are making inroads in the financial services industry. We call this nearbanking
and it can be understood to be the activity where non- financial services firms
diversify into financial services. It implies that sections of the financial services
industry are indeed attractive and that non- financial services firms are of the opinion
that the present level of competition does not rule out profitability. This movement
also reveals that specific banking and finance skills, once exclusive to financial
services firms, have disseminated to other industries. A specific form of near-banking is in-house banking: non- financial firms perform several financial activities for
themselves, such as provision of capital, investor relations, short-term financing,
banking and custody, credits and collections, portfolio management, and tax
optimisation. A special case of near-banking is internet banking. Innovations in
communication and information technology has led to the increased possibility of
total process automation of searching, buying, selling, producing and distributing and
introduces the notion of contract banking, in which a complete package of services
for a client consists of the management of contracts for those products individually.
Electronic banking operating costs are estimated to be only 25 to 30 percent of the
costs of providing financial services through traditional branches. This reduction in
cost implies that financial services firms would have to adapt their business model to
remain competitive and profitable. At its core, a financial service is about controlling
the flow of money and financial information. Due to capital investments, regulations
and loose (client) relationships, the internet is not as powerful as expected at first; on
the other hand, it will increasingly become a central component of the financial
services business. Financial services firms are reacting by setting up separate internet
divisions, partnering with technology-oriented firms, and forming alliances with firms
in- and outside of the financial services industry. In the second chapter, we discuss financial conglomerate structures. The financial
services industry is made up of many types of participants of which financial
conglomerates are often the most visible. Financial conglomerates deal with the
fundamental changes in the financial services industry in part by choosing an
appropriate structure. There are four different prototypes of financial conglomerates
recognised, which range from almost complete to very loose integration: the fully
integrated, German, British and American variant. These variants find their origin in
historical reasons and different legal systems. Financial conglomerates are formed when management feels that this structure is best
suited to achieve maximum synergies: economies of scope and scale in production
and sales of financial services. Management always intends to increase market
capitalization, reduce risk or create access to new products or markets. Synergies,
from the firm’s perspective, can be reached in improved client management, when
distribution channels are used for more products, simultaneous marketing of products, use of information for different products and the reduction of portfolio risk. From the
client’s perspective, synergies may exist in the procurement and use of a complete
financial services package instead of individual products: costs for searching,
information, monitoring and transaction may be lower. As switching costs can be
higher with a complete services package, clients may be less likely to switch financial
services provider. There are also diseconomies of scope, which may jeopardize the
advantages of the financial conglomerate structure. We recognize regulation and
compliance costs of a large bureaucracy, complexity of managing several businesses,
lack of client trust in the use of information on them and decrease of transparency as a
result of reduction in market discipline, as potential issues. The advantages of
financial conglomeration have not (yet) been proven in practice and good
management seems to be paramount to achieving these advantages. As we see in the third chapter, in dealing with environmental turbulence and the
optimisation of the structure, financial conglomerates focus on the creation of
shareholder value in all their activities. Shareholder value creation can be used as a
yardstick to measure how well the financial conglomerate is doing; there is a zone
between bankruptcy and absolute value creation leadership, which implies there is
space to give other interests a higher priority when necessary. Functional excellence is
not the only pre-condition for success, increasingly a client focus, reducing xinefficiency,
and company repositioning in the (financial services) industry, e.g.
through alliances, becomes important. There are various methodologies to measure
shareholder value creation, which in essence is about achieving a return on capital
higher than its cost. Shareholder value creation requires a management approach to
support this. Corporate aspirations, analytical techniques and management processes
should be aligned to assist the financial conglomerate maximise its value by focusing
decision making on the key drivers of value: this is called value-based management.
Dynamic value drivers should be developed down to the level of detail that aligns the
value driver with the decision variables directly under the control of line management.
Six characteristics determine to what extent a financial conglomerate is valueoriented:
performance drive, value-base, low cost, self-reinforcing processes, two-way
communications, and bottom-up and top-down management (dual control approach).
Implementing value-based management in financial conglomerates follows the lines
of the triad of value-based bank management: value-oriented business philosophy, value-oriented growth policy and value-oriented risk policy. The triad focuses on
profitability, goal-oriented management, supported by planning, decision-making,
implementation and control, an appropriate organisational and operational structure
for the institutionalised controlling cycle, and a management information system
reporting transparently on transaction level. The company organisation for valuebased
management is the profit centre. Profit centres are organisational units, which
are responsible for their own results and are able to decide independently from each
other. Profit centres increase revenue and cost transparency, enable faster and a more
flexible approaches to (market) changes, improve staff motivation, enhance earnings
and value orientation, and allow for objective performance evaluation of management.
Profit centres, therefore, improve the management of the financial conglomerate as a
whole. The profit centre concept can be implemented when various requirements have
been met. These requirements include: decentralisation of management structures,
operational independence, correct allocation of costs and revenues and creation of
technical accounting and settlement units in accordance with the areas of
responsibility. Adjacent to the profit centre concept is lean banking, which focuses on
the optimisation of operational processes through well-known concepts from
industrial management, including continuous improvement, quality management and
customer-focused production. Measuring the results of value-based management is of utmost importance on both
corporate and divisional levels, as well as within divisions. Value controlling
measures the gap between the market value of the firm and its potential, and supports
divisions with the implementation of value-enhancing strategies. This implies that the
value controlling system has to be integrated in the corporate philosophy, be accepted
by users, adapt flexibly to changes, and have a good cost-benefit relationship.
Instruments for value-controlling include the Market Rate Method, which attempts to
isolate the revenue contribution made by each individual transaction, Activity Based
Costing, which allocates costs more precise to activities than other methods, and
Process-oriented Standard Direct Cost Accounting, which uses planned or standard
costs for references to the future. The non-financial dimension is assessed with the
Balanced Scorecard, which, in addition to the financial view, takes on the following
views: customer perspective, internal business process perspective, and organisational
learning and growth perspective. The Balanced Scorecard can be seen as a system of (partly) operational measures (i.e. ratios), which are connected to each other via
cause-and-effect relationships. One important determinant of shareholder value creation is lowering risk as this
results in a lower firm cost of capital. Financial conglomerates, though, accept risk to
generate profits. Profitability (volatility) concerns and the financial conglomerate’s
ability to carry risk must be taken into account. For financial conglomerates there are
five risk categories: systemic risk, company-specific strategic risks, market risk, credit
risk, and operational risk. A risk matrix, formed by risk categories affecting the
individual business areas, is the core of a risk control system. Allocating internal
(risk) capital to the organisational units and activities is common to both value-based
management and asset and liability management. The concept of value at risk (VaR) is currently widely used in the financial services
industry to ascertain and value the market risks inherent in financial positions. In
general, the VaR is treated as a measure of the maximum possible change in the value
of a portfolio of financial instruments within a given likelihood and for a specified
period and is intended to quantify the potential losses inherent in that portfolio. Credit
risk, at a minimum, is the risk of loss due to borrower defaults and is attributed to all
units with borrower or counterparty exposure. Credit risk management has evolved
from credit scoring of individual borrows to sophisticated aggregate models of
borrowers’ default probabilities and the extent of asset recovery. Operational risk is
the potential for any disruption in the financial conglomerate’s (operational) processes
and includes reputational risk, legal enforcement of contracts and claims, possibly
having a severe impact on the financial conglomerate’s perception in the market,
share price devaluation and a loss of standing. Underlying causes of operational risk
include complacency or a false sense of security, cost, as controlling operational risk
can be seen as a new activity, difficulties in measuring operational risk,
miscommunication when using jargon, over reliance on outside vendors, incompatible
systems, decentralisation complicating oversight of operational risks, and
organisation-specific factors. Four types of qualitative guidelines are particularly
relevant: industry guidelines for good operations practices, guidelines for internal
control, process and resource quality guidelines and regulatory capital requirements.
Operational risk seems to be more in the management realm than in accounting. An overemphasis on the quantitative measurement of operational risks may be dangerous
to firms without good management and staff or well-designed processes. Ultimately,
the main defence against operational risks must be governance: management and staff
who are knowledgeable about the risks and the good processes and systems that
embody that knowledge. Discussion of the corporate centre Given that we now understand the major governance issues for financial
conglomerates: fundamental changes in the financial services industry, financial
conglomerate structures and value-based and (operational) risk management, we
discuss the main governance body of financial conglomerates in part 2: the corporate
centre. We focus on its nature, management and organisation, and economics In the first chapter, we discuss (de-) centralisation, roles and contribution of the
corporate centre. There is an ongoing discussion on the level of decentralisation, i.e.
what belongs to the corporate centre and what belongs to the divisions. On the
continuum between centralisation and decentralisation, we distinguish between five
statuses: core, policy, matrix, service, and autarchy. These statuses have different
characteristics and are appropriate in situations of different complexity and
environmental dynamics. Decentralisation without coordination leads to a lack of
focus. Coordination is implemented with the use of special instruments, which
manage the interdependencies between organisational units. In the ranking of
increasing coordination, we recognise the following instruments: company (sub)
culture, role standardisation, self-management, plans, programs, and personal
instruction. In conjunction with issues of decentralisation and coordination is the issue
of influence of the corporate centre. Influence can be seen as the result of decisions of
design and the implemented level of decentralisation; influence tends to be highest in
the general planning areas e.g. setting of budgets and financial targets, major capital
investments, business strategy and new business creation. Influence tends to be lower
in the functional areas e.g. human resources and marketing. Companies with greater
diversity tend to have more decentralised decision-making. Striking the correct
influence balance, i.e. fine tuning decentralisation and coordination proves to be
difficult. Continuous tests are necessary to assess if the influence exercised is appropriate and effective. High levels of influence in combination with a very diverse
portfolio could indicate either that the company is too centralised in its decisionmaking,
or that the portfolio is insufficiently focused. On the other hand, low levels of
influence in combination with a focused portfolio could indicate that the company is
missing opportunities to add value. There are two different types of corporate centres: separate and embedded corporate
centres. The latter type is integrated in the main division and is most common when
the company comprises either a single major division together with a few minor
divisions. If the minor divisions develop into more major operations, such companies
tend to move to the separate corporate centre form. In this study, focusing on financial
conglomerates, we concentrate on the separate corporate centre. Another typology for
(parts of) the corporate centre is determined by the intensity of coordination; we
distinguish between the operational, financial, and management holding. We
recognise that companies can optimise their centralised services by placing them in
divisions, which, depending on qualifications, regional or functional considerations,
are the best location for those activities. From a strategy viewpoint, we can assume
that the corporate centre, as instrument of corporate management, is primarily there to
help develop and implement the overall corporate strategy. Hence, the aim is to
combine the advantages of the flexibility and autonomy of the divisions with the
unified strategic direction and management of the company as a whole. High
performing firms do not distinguish themselves from the low performers by being
more or less diversified or more or less decentralised: high performers have a better fit
between their diversification strategy and the role their corporate centre performs,
even in dynamic circumstances. There are three requirements for value creation by the
corporate centre: 1) opportunity, 2) skills and resources, and 3) the degree of
understanding by the corporate centre. Opportunities arise from an imperfect fit
between divisions and the environment. The following five types of opportunities are
distinguished: build, stretch, link, leverage and portfolio development. Synergy, the
notion that the whole is larger than the sum of its parts, is hard to quantify and proves
hard to reach in financial conglomerates. One way to realise the synergy potential is to
identify affinities and critical interrelationships within the group, develop and analyse
value chains per division and look for common characteristics, formulation of a
strategy in coordination with corporate and division strategies with goals supporting the pursuit of interrelationships, and configuration of the synergy activities by e.g.
centralisation of these activities on a separate location. In these steps, different
instruments can be deployed: change of attitude of management, structuring
collaboration, and supporting systems and procedures. Obstacles to achieving synergy
include a classic, one-dimensional strategic planning approach, predominant vertical
organisational boundaries, lack of motivation, and a lack of symmetric benefits in
interrelationships. In the second chapter we focus on the management and organisation of the corporate
centre. The form of the corporate centre is decreasingly determined by historical and
cultural differences and increasingly by industry trends. Further, when a firm is active
in a regulated industry, such as the financial services industry, the corporate centre has
to take special influences into
Green transition: The whole world can learn from a small town in Iceland : A small town in northern Iceland has gone almost CO2-neutral. Researchers went there to find out how they did it and what we can learn from them.
No full textStor succes med grøn omstilling: Hele verden kan lære af lille by i Island : Akureyri i det nordlige Island er i dag næsten CO2-neutral. Hvordan gjorde indbyggerne det, og hvad kan vi lære af dem?
No full textLinked for action? An analysis of transnational municipal climate networks in Germany
No full textIn times of ongoing urbanisation and unabated climate change, cities face increasing demands for improvements in urban climate change governance. This article investigates the activities of transnational municipal networks that were set up in response to climate change and analyses their potential to influence local climate governance. On the basis of a conceptualisation of transnational municipal climate networks (TMCNs), quantitative data on the proliferation of TMCNs amongst German municipalities were assessed and complemented by a qualitative analysis of scientific and grey literature and interviews. The quanti- tative analysis reveals a wide proliferation of TMCNs in Germany. Finally, the results show that TMCNs have different profiles which can be categorised into four functions all of which might influence local climate change governance. The functions are ‘platform’, ‘consultant’, ‘commitment broker’ and ‘advo- cate’. It is concluded that TMCNs can play a crucial role in fostering climate governance. Keywords
Entangled Cities : Transnational Municipal Climate Networks and Urban Governance
Full text linkThis thesis investigates the influence of transnational municipal climate networks (TMCNs) on urban climate governance in Germany. The reality of climate change means that cities all over the world are faced with two challenges. First, they need to go through decarbonisation transitions to mitigate climate change. Second, they need to adapt to the conditions of a changing climate. The growth of cities world-wide means that cities both constitute increasingly important hubs of carbon and material flows, and face increasing climate risk. This means that cities have to address both climate change mitigation and adaptation needs, while offering economies of scale for these measures.During recent decades, a number of TMCNs have emerged. These networks aim to improve the governance of climate change related issues in their member municipalities. Many German cities and municipalities have joined these networks, and today more than half of the German population (44 million people) lives in municipalities that are members of at least one of these networks. Despite the wide proliferation of TMCNs, research on their impact has remained unsystematic, and important aspects of their impact have been neglected by existing research.This thesis aims to close this research gap by tackling the impact of TMCNs on urban climate governance in a systematic manner through a variety of methods (including a survey, interviews, field visits, observations, literature and webpage analyses). My research focuses on the local level of climate governance, in particular on the perspective of urban climate managers, because they are key actors who link local climate governance to TMCNs. This perspective has been neglected thus far by research on TMCNs.My results show that urban climate managers use their city’s membership in TMCNs mostly for fostering internal governance of climate issues. Specifically, membership in TMCNs is used by climate managers to support internal mobilisation on climate policies, to formulate emission reduction goals, and to institutionalise climate trajectories by, for example, creating new positions in the administration. Interaction between the local and the network level, such as project support provided by the networks, is seen as relevant but less important than previously expected. In addition, in sharp contrast to research findings in other contexts, actors in German cities seldom use the city’s memberships in these networks for green city branding purposes. Another important finding is that the interests of actors in member cities can differ significantly from staff of TMCNs, which might be due to funding issues. Networks have to rely on external funding (e.g., from the European Union or national funding schemes) to maintain their staff and infrastructure, and thus the expectations of actors in cities are sometimes not met, as is the case of the Covenant of Mayors.By shifting the perspective to the local (or operational) governance level I am able to draw attention to impacts of TMCNs which so far have been overlooked. Based on my results, I argue that research in the field of TMCNs needs to pay more attention to internal processes at the local level of climate governance, including political struggles and contestations, else we risk missing important impacts of these networks on urban climate governance
Complementary training in the flight simulator in context of leadership development - development of a business idea
No full textDie vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit der Frage, inwiefern erprobte Konzepte aus der Luftfahrtbranche hilfreich sein könnten um Führungskräfte in anderen Branchen auf Problemstellungen der Zukunft vorzubereiten. Nach Meinung des Autors besteht ein gewisses Potential, daraus eine Geschäftsidee abzuleiten und dabei auf den Flugsimulator als Trainingsgerät zurückzugreifen. In dieser Arbeit wird zunächst analysiert, was die Luftfahrtbranche gut beherrscht und welche Inhalte sich konkret in andere Branchen übertragen lassen. Dabei wird ebenfalls eine Einschätzung seitens des Autors getroffen, inwiefern sich diese Inhalte durch ein Training im Flugsimulator vermitteln lassen. Anschließend wird der Status Quo im Bereich Führungskräftetraining mithilfe von Experteninterviews näher beleuchtet und die zuvor gewonnenen Ergebnisse verifiziert. Zusätzlich werden die verifizierten Ergebnisse einem Abgleich mit den Anforderungen der Branchen Medizin und Schienenverkehr unterzogen. Danach wird die Geschäftsidee anhand des Business Model Canvas und des Value Proposition Canvas entwickelt. Hierbei werden nicht nur Kundensegmente und Alleinstellungsmerkmale definiert, sondern auch Marketingkanäle, Schlüsselressourcen, Problemstellung und Problemlösung, sowie Einnahmen- und Ausgabenseite des Geschäftsmodells skizziert. Im Anschluss wird die entwickelte Geschäftsidee einer Analyse unterzogen, bei der Stärken und Schwächen, aber auch die Wirtschaftlichkeit betrachtet werden. Abschließend wird eine Einschätzung bezüglich der Erfolgsaussichten einer solchen Unternehmung getroffen.This thesis deals with the question to what extent tried and tested concepts from the aviation industry could be helpful in preparing executives in other industries for future problems. In the author’s opinion, there is a certain potential for deriving a business idea from this and using the flight simulator as a training device. This work first analyzes what the aviation industry is good at and what content can be specifically transferred to other industries. The author also makes an assessment of the extent to which this content can be conveyed through training in the flight simulator. The status quo in the area of leadership training is then examined in more detail with the help of expert interviews and the previously obtained results are verified. In addition, the verified results are compared with the requirements of the medical and rail transport sectors. The business idea is then developed using the Business Model Canvas and the Value Proposition Canvas. Not only customer segments and unique selling points are defined, but also marketing channels, key resources, problem definition and problem solving, as well as income and expenditure side of the business model are outlined. The developed business idea is then subjected to an analysis in which strengths and weaknesses as well as profitability are considered. Finally, an assessment of the chances of success of such an undertaking is made.vorgelegt von: Henner ReichAbweichender Titel laut Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des VerfassersMasterarbeit FH JOANNEUM 202
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