Spoilt for Choice: How senior managers select professional advisors

Wienke Seeger

How do senior executives, such as CEOs and CFOs, interact, select and appoint professional advisors? Based on a successful PhD project, the research in this book explores the interactions between advisors of large professional service firms and senior executive clients on an evidence-based academic level. The research journey and the author’s reflections are charted step-by-step, providing an example of how to analyse unstructured qualitative data, reach theoretical saturation and capture emerging substantive theories. Moreover, by taking a unique holistic and inductive approach, this study offers a series of practical insights on how to combine and apply Kathy Charmaz’ constructivist grounded theory with an auto-ethnographic stance. Divided into eight chapters, the author uses empirical data and rigorous analysis to uncover two distinct decision-making processes, namely (a) the client’s decision to develop and maintain a relationship with the advisor and (b) to select and appoint the advisor for a particular project or services. Mapping these to one common conceptual framework a second complementary model emerges - a type of decision-making matrix with the foci ’competitiveness, skills and merit’, ‘continuity and embeddedness’, ‘control and manage’ and ‘trust and empathy’ - which offers the reader an alternative perspective of client decision-making. This book will be useful for practitioners and researchers alike who have an interest in understanding either naturalistic decision-making processes, the complexities of relationship development and procurement dynamics, as well as applied qualitative research methods.

Currency Risk Management

Selected Research Papers

Edited by M.S.V. Prasad, GITAM Institute of Management, India and G. V. Satya Sekhar, Gitam University, India

Currency Risk Management (CRM) is vital for any business engaging in international trade. Fluctuations and uncertainty within currency markets mean that businesses must seek to effectively manage and anticipate potential risks when striking international deals. In a rapidly changing and volatile global business environment, CRM is now more than ever of critical importance. However, what risks should businesses hedge – and how? With so many viable strategies for hedging currency exchange risk, it is crucial that businesses either outsource or have a specialized team to ensure effective and efficient management of currency exchange risks. But how does CRM operate in an emerging market? And what are the key factors that influence the chosen CRM strategies? Organized in association with Indian Bank, GITAM’s national conference on CRM sought to highlight the trends, problems, and prospects of CRM in India. Taken from the conference proceedings, this book presents 9 innovative research papers that consider differing CRM practices. From a comparative study of India and China to an assessment of CRM strategies used by commercial Indian banks, this book offers an invaluable insight into CRM from the perspective of an emerging market. As a whole, this book addresses India’s shift to a market-determined exchange rate regime and the inevitable problems caused the by the high volatility of exchange rates. Aimed at students enrolled in commerce and management courses, this collection of research papers will also be of interest to researchers in international finance.

Climate Change and Sub-Saharan Africa: The Vulnerability and Adaptation of Food Supply Chain Actors

Edited by John K. M. Kuwornu, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand

The adverse effects of climate change and climate variability have become some of the biggest environmental and socio-economic challenges for society, and for food supply chain actors, in particular. Serving as a serious inhibitor to the attainment of food security, climate change poses a fundamental threat to the availability, accessibility, stability and utilization of nutritious food and quality drinking water. The threat of this global phenomenon is not only apparent from the difficulties faced by all food supply chain actors, but is also felt acutely by households dependent on semi-subsistence agriculture. As evidenced by numerous studies conducted by the academic community, governmental and non-governmental organisations, climate change and climate variability will have disastrous effects on entire food supply chains across the world. This edited volume looks to address: How vulnerable are food supply chain actors to climate change and climatic variability? What adaptation strategies are they adopting? How is the resilience of food supply chains being supported? Are they being financed and/or supported by international organizations to cope with climate change? And what governmental support are they receiving to help cope with climate change? This book is an essential resource for students, lecturers, researchers, agribusinesses, marketing firms, agricultural institutions, climate change adaptation institutions, policymakers and many others with an interest in agricultural development and the global food industry.

Introducción a la Macroeconomía Computacional

Anelí Bongers, Universidad de Málaga, Spain et al.

Este libro presenta una introducción a la macroeconomía computacional, utilizando un nuevo enfoque para el estudio de los modelos macroeconómicos dinámicos. Para ello resolveremos numéricamente una gran variedad de modelos en tiempo discreto, utilizando como herramienta informática una hoja de cálculo; en particular, Excel de Microsoft. Los modelos resueltos incluyen tanto modelos macroeconómicos dinámicos con expectativas racionales no microfundamentados, como modelos microfundamentados, constituyendo un enfoque que facilita el aprendizaje y uso de los modelos de equilibrio general dinámico, los cuales se han convertido en la principal herramienta para el análisis macroeconómico en la actualidad. Las hojas de cálculo son ampliamente conocidas y relativamente fáciles de usar, lo que supone que los conocimientos informáticos necesarios para poder trabajar con modelos de equilibrio general dinámico son asequibles para alumnos de grado.

Introducción a la Macroeconomía Computacional

Anelí Bongers, Universidad de Málaga, Spain et al.

Este libro presenta una introducción a la macroeconomía computacional, utilizando un nuevo enfoque para el estudio de los modelos macroeconómicos dinámicos. Para ello resolveremos numéricamente una gran variedad de modelos en tiempo discreto, utilizando como herramienta informática una hoja de cálculo; en particular, Excel de Microsoft. Los modelos resueltos incluyen tanto modelos macroeconómicos dinámicos con expectativas racionales no microfundamentados, como modelos microfundamentados, constituyendo un enfoque que facilita el aprendizaje y uso de los modelos de equilibrio general dinámico, los cuales se han convertido en la principal herramienta para el análisis macroeconómico en la actualidad. Las hojas de cálculo son ampliamente conocidas y relativamente fáciles de usar, lo que supone que los conocimientos informáticos necesarios para poder trabajar con modelos de equilibrio general dinámico son asequibles para alumnos de grado.