2,203 research outputs found
Banks venture into new territory
No full textFinancial modernization legislation passed in 1999 allows banking organizations to directly invest in any type of company. This merchant banking authority gives banks greater opportunities to provide venture capital to start-up companies and later-stage equity financing to more mature firms. Kenneth Robinson examines how banks have pursued their new merchant banking powers. Robinson finds evidence that organizations that engage in merchant banking tend to be larger than those that do not. His findings are also consistent with the hypothesis that banks may be attempting to lower their average costs by combining merchant banking with other nonbank activities. Allowing banking organizations to pursue this new activity will provide them with an additional source of earnings and greater diversification opportunities and will likely increase private equity financing, which has been a vital component of economic activity.Banks and banking
Interview with Kenneth Sprunt
No full textKenneth Sprunt was born in Wilmington in 1920, the third son of James Lawrence Sprunt. The Sprunts have a long history in and around Wilimington. His grandfather was a cotton merchant in the area and his great-great Uncle is the man for whom James Sprunt Community College is named for as well as the author of Chronicles of the Lower Cape Fear. Mr. Kenneth Sprunt relates his family history both before his birth and after. He spent three years in the Coast Guard during WWII primarily working on anti-submarine warfare in small boats
Letter from Alexander Merchant, Department of State, Division of the American Republics, to DCR-W, November 9, 1943
No full textIn this letter, the author expresses his favorable opinion of Mr. Emmerson's report on the Japanese of Peru. Merchant praises his "extensive use of Japanese-language," and Spanish language materials as well.Collection of notes, articles, correspondence, photographs, and term papers collected by Yukio Mochizuki, a student at CSU Dominguez Hills, while researching Japanese American incarceration and Japanese Peruvian internment during World War II
Three-Dimensional Imaging
No full textSince cells and tissues are inherently three-dimensional (3D), 3D imaging techniques are required to study them. 3D light microscopy offers a noninvasive, minimally destructive option for obtaining spatial and volumetric information about the structure and function of cells and tissues. 3D image data acquired with confocal or multiphoton microscopy can be processed to enhance and display images of 3D objects and to compute a variety of measurements on them. Enhancement techniques include 3D linear and nonlinear image filtering, space-variant 3D deconvolution, maximum likelihood image restoration, and image fusion. Optical section image data can be deblurred and displayed in three dimensions. Objects in the 3D image can be isolated and displayed and photometric and spatial measurements extracted from them. These processes greatly improve our ability to understand the structure and function of microscopic specimens
Performance Target Revisions under Annual Bonus Plans with Multiple Performance Measures
No full textMost performance measurement systems use multiple measures. Target-setting
research, such as the budget-ratcheting literature, however, tends to focus only on
summary financial measures of performance. This study extends that research to examine
the target-setting behaviors used for measures of different types—specifically financial vs.
nonfinancial and common vs. unique. We hypothesize that the target variances of the
different types of measures are differentially informative about an agent’s effort level and
this, in turn, affects a principal’s target revision behavior. The analysis of a proprietary
dataset regarding a multi-measure short-term incentive plan used in a conglomerate
shows that the conglomerate puts a higher weighting on the information of an agent’s
effort level that is revealed in past performance in more informative measures (financial
or common). They thus choose not to fully incorporate the information provided by both
positive and negative in new targets to avoid the “ratchet effect,” which would cause
agents to withhold effort. In contrast, for less informative measures (nonfinancial or
unique), it eliminates the effects of positive variances with full upward ratcheting of
targets. Negative variances in these measures are penalized because downward
adjustments are incomplete
Sistemi di controllo di gestione. Misure di performance, valutazione e incentivi.
No full textSulla base dei più recenti risultati di ricerca accademica, l’opera fornisce i contenuti di base del controllo di gestione in chiave contemporanea, moderna e classica al tempo stesso. Moderna in quanto affianca al tradizionale controllo sui risultati, sia il controllo sulle azioni sia quello organizzativo e culturale. Classica dal momento che il focus rimane ancorato al tema più tradizionale delle misurazioni che stanno alla base dei controlli sui risultati finanziari, ossia delle misurazioni che agiscono influenzando, motivando e incentivando i membri dell’organizzazione ad assumere comportamenti in linea con i suoi obiettivi.
Gli argomenti trattati vengono supportati da alcuni interessanti casi di studio italiani e internazionali, riferiti sia a organizzazioni a scopo di lucro sia non profit, di aziende quotate e non
Debates in AI Symposium: Brian Merchant, What\u27s Work Got to Do With It?
No full textBrian Merchant, a technology journalist and former tech columnist at the LA Times, is widely recognized for his insightful analysis of automation, labor and technology’s environmental impact. Merchant is author of the bestselling The One Device (Little, Brown and Company, 2017) and most recently Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech (Little, Brown and Company, 2023). This new book explores the Luddites’ misunderstood uprising and the modern implications of tech deployment. In addition to writing for prominent publications, Merchant founded Terraform, VICE’s speculative fiction site. He shares updates and discussions on technology’s societal impact through his newsletter, offering a critical perspective on who technology serves and its broader consequences
The Design and Effects of a Long-Term Performance Plan
No full textWe use data obtained from a large Korean conglomerate to explore the design and effec
ts of a long-term performance plan (LTPP) and the short-term incentive plan (STIP) with wh
ich it is used. The payouts from the LTPP were significantly larger than those for the STIP. LTPP
performance targets were, on average, easier to achieve that were those for the STIP, but target
achievability was not significantly related to planning uncertainty. Importantly, the adoption of the
LTPP did appear to lengthen managers’ decision making horizons, as the adoption of the plan was
associated with subsequently larger long-term investments, even after controlling for changes in
economic conditions, and higher key-performance-indicator performance
The Cantelowe Accounts - Multilingual merchant records from Tuscany, 1450-1451
No full textThe Cantelowe Accounts appear to offer the earliest evidence of an English merchant using Italian as a second language. They were written by John Balmayn, an unknown Londoner, who travelled to Tuscany to oversee the sale of a valuable wool shipment in 1450-51 on behalf of his master - the Mercer, Sir William Cantelowe. The author uses an intriguing mix of four languages, combining Middle English, Latin and Anglo-French with the administrative Tuscan that he has learnt working alongside Florentine partners, such as the Salviati company. Two other striking features of the text are the extensive use of Arabic numerals, unparalleled in fifteenth-century English accounting, and the unusually detailed descriptions of merchant marks that were used to identify the woolsacks. Overall, the accounts are unique amongst multilingual medieval sources and will interest economic historians and historical linguists alike
Il bilancio. Analisi economiche per le decisioni e la comunicazione della performance
No full textQuesto testo è tratto da Accounting: Text & Cases, di Robert Anthony, David Hawkins e Kenneth Merchant.
Accounting: Text & Cases si articola in due sezioni. La prima è relativa al bilancio e alla contabilità (financial accounting), la seconda è invece inerente ai temi del controllo direzionale (management accounting). Da quest’ultima sezione sono derivate tre edizioni del testo Sistemi di controllo: analisi economiche per le decisioni aziendali, un libro che ha riscosso notevole successo nel nostro Paese.
Dalla prima parte nasce ora questo volume. Poiché sempre più spesso la preparazione degli studenti ai temi dell’Economia Aziendale prevede un cammino in due fasi (prima la conoscenza del bilancio e dei sistemi contabili, poi lo studio dei temi relativi al controllo di gestione i quali presuppongono quella conoscenza), utilizzare due testi che hanno la loro genesi in un unico volume d’origine garantisce all’intero percorso di apprendimento non solo un’impostazione coerente, ma la condivisione di concetti, principi e terminologia. Garantisce, in definitiva, una didattica più efficace.
il volume si rivolge agli studenti dei corsi di laurea in ingegneria gestionale, dei master e, in generale, a coloro che affrontano corsi introduttivi ai temi dell’Accounting e del controllo di gestione.
La presente edizione, arricchita con nuovi riferimenti allo specifico contesto italiano, è stata potenziata in quelle parti che riguardano la strumentazione di analisi della performance (come nei capitoli dedicati all’analisi di bilancio e al rendiconto dei flussi di cassa)
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