Strategic Finance

Ünlü eğitim psikoloğu Robert Slavin'in Eğitim Psikolojisi kitabının onuncu baskısı, kuramı uygulamaya aktarma konusunda önemli bir eksikliği gidermekte ve öğretmenlerin sınıfta ihtiyaç duyabilecekleri alanlarda uygulayabilecekleri bilgileri içermektedir.

Kitap, yansıtıcı ve bilinçli bir öğretmenin uygulayabileceği en yeni araştırmaları sunarak, bilinçli öğretmen üzerine odaklanmaktadır. Slavin'e göre bilinçli öğretmen, uygulamasını devamlı surette yansıtan ve bu uygulamaların öğrencileri nasıl etkilediği hakkında net bir düşünceye dayalı olarak öğretim kararları veren kişidir.

Bu kitapta okuyucular alanda önemli ve yeni ortaya çıkan bazı konular ile karşılaşmaktadır. Bu konulardan bazıları; 21. yüzyıl becerileri, ilk yıllarda dil ve okuma yazmanın gelişimi, iki dilli eğitim, nöroloji alanındaki yeni araştırmalar, iş birliğine dayalı öğrenme konusundaki son araştırmalar, okumada sorun yaşayan okuyucular için özel yardım, küçük gruplarla çalışma ve bilişim alanındaki en yeni araştırmalar, gelişmeler ve uygulamalardır. En ince ayrıntısına kadar güncel olan alıntılar, kitabın en güncel araştırmalar üzerine temellendirildiğinin bir göstergesidir. Bu kitapta, 656 yeni ve güncellenmiş kaynak bulunmaktadır. Bu kaynakların % 55'i 2000 yılı sonrasına aittir.

Robert Slavin, akademik derinliğini sergilerken aynı zamanda sanki ders anlatır gibi okuyucuları ile yüz yüze buluşmayı da amaçlamaktadır. Kitap yeni ve farklı bir yaklaşımla pek çok teorik bilgiyi uygulamalı olarak sunan, teorik bilgilerin kavramsal olarak uygulamaya nasıl dönüştürüleceğini göstererek öğretmeyi amaçlayan ve bunda başarılı olduğu açıkça belli olan iyi bir başvuru ve ders kitabı olarak öğrencilere ve eğiticilere önerilmektedir.

The genesis of this IFC White Book lies in the teaching materials prepared for IFC’s Risk Governance Workshops conducted in 20 developing countries during the 2010–2012 time period by the book’s authors. The book and workshops also benefited from the contributions of Torben Andersen of Copenhagen Business School and Zur Shapira of New York University’s Stern School of Business. The contents of the book reflect this team’s years of risk management and governance practice as managers, directors as well as their academic scholarship.

More than 1,000 corporate directors and senior managers participated in the workshop series. The handbook has been shaped by their views, experiences and other feedback and reflects the richness of wide and varied collective experience. The authors have shared specific examples from the participants’ experiences in the handbook — as much as confidentiality constraints allow.

Numerous stock exchanges, regulators, central banks, schools and other institutions partnered with us in hosting the events. The workshops would not have been possible without their administrative support. They also provided key intelligence on local conditions and helped us frame materials to specific emerging market conditions.

IFC staff in local offices and in Washington, D.C. gave their time to help to make these workshops happen. These extended team members are valuable contributors to this final product in as much as their efforts, contacts, and knowledge contributed to the workshops and to the shaping of the consulting teams’ views on risk-taking challenges in emerging markets.

The workshops were funded by contributions from the governments of the Netherlands and Austria, and from IFC. Without their commitment to development, these workshops and this handbook would not have been possible.

In the era of the 21st century, the best higher education institutions have more than one role. Not only do they educate and train students but they also create new ideas and knowledge for the short-term contemporary issues as well as long-term complex problems. In the strategic goals, five aspects are critical in higher education: the democratization of knowledge and access, the contestability of the market and funding, the research technologies, the global mobility and the integration with the industry. Universities should have strategic plans including strategic goals. In this study, the strategic models and plans of the public (5) and private (5) universities are analysed from the five different aspects. In order to deeply understand the dynamics at these universities, the phenomenological interpretive analysis is preferred. University leaders
and managerial departments should consider market needs and do strategic plan accordingly. Hence, they should develop the strategic thinking capacity of both their academic staff and researchers for short and long terms need of the industry. Results have shown that most universities have wrong perception regarding the strategic model and plan. Neither private nor public universities possess enough knowledge on the subject.
Keywords: Higher education, university and industry partnership, strategic model and planning, higher education management, financing of higher education.

Anksiyete; kaygı veya başka bir deyişle endişe insanların deneyimlediği bir korku ve gerilim halidir. Bazı görüşlere göre yaşanan iç çatışmaların sonucudur. Bazılarına göre ise öğrenilmiş davranışlardır. Denetim dışına çıkıp kişinin işlevselliğini aksattığında rahatsızlık olarak adlandırılır.

Eskiden insanların ortalama ömürleri otuz beş yılken ve kendi küçücük dünyalarında yaşarken çoğu kez endişeli olmaya fırsatları olmazdı ve anksiyeteden söz edilmezdi. Oysa, globalleşmenin dünyayı adeta kocaman bir ülkeye dönüştürmesi , mobil teknolojilerin ve sosyal medyanın günbegün hayatımıza sirayeti, bilgisayarların gitgide insan gücünün yerini alması, rekabetin hızla artması, stresli yaşam koşulları ve tarihte hiç olmadığı kadar çok sayıda seçenek arasından karar verme mecburiyeti günümüzde anksiyeteyi en yaygın zihinsel rahatsızlık konumuna getirmiştir. Günümüzde sadece ABD'de yılda 40 milyon kişi anksiyete rahatsızlığından muzdarip olmakta, her dört kişiden biri ise hayatının bir noktasında onunla mücadele etmektedir.

Aksiyete Çağı'm adlı kitapta The Atlantic adlı derginin editörü olan yazar Scott Stossel, kendi yaşadığı ve hayatını etkileyen anksiyete sorununu keşfetmek üzere çıktığı cesur yolculuğu okurlarla paylaşmaktadır. Bu yolculukta Stossell, insanlara büyük ısdırap veren , ancak çoğu kez zayıflık olarak görülen bu illeti; arka planda yıllardan beri incelediği genetik ve sinirbilimi bulguları ve anksiyete tarihi olmak üzere kendisinin ve yakın aile bireylerinin şaşırtıcı hayat hikayesi eşliğinde esprili bir dille ve büyük bir içtenlikle anlatmaktadır.Kitapta ayrıca, anksiyete kıskacına sıkışmış dünyaca ünlü kişilere ve onların hikayelerine de yer verilmektedir.

Finance is a field that deals with the study of investments. It includes the dynamics of assets and liabilities over time under conditions of different degrees of uncertainty and risk. Finance can also be defined as the science of money management.

The presented book is devoted to local development and its governance by forming, on the strategic level, the relationships connecting municipalities with supralocal, i.e. regional, national and global milieu. It is divided into five chapters.
The first chapter constitutes the theoretical and conceptual foundation of the entire study. It discusses the crucial concepts used, such as Fordism and Post-Fordism, localism and new localism, localness and a local system, socio-economic development and sustainable development, as well as the relationships and the historical background of the evolution of these concepts. It also presents the definitions of local development included in the world literature, as well as two new approaches to local development created by the author – the local and supralocal one. These approaches were discussed in the model, process (dynamic) and structural (static) oriented variants. Next the author’s original typology of supralocal relationships of the local systems, which determine local development, was presented. Within its framework the relationships of valorisation and animation were identified as favourable for the local development, and also the relationships of suppression and depreciation as unfavourable for such development.
The second chapter discusses the implementation of local development concept. First the essence and the entities of local and supralocal policies of local development were presented. Next the reader’s attention was directed towards the issue of municipal governance of local development presenting it as the component of public governance. The mechanism of local development formation by the local authorities, using the instruments at their disposal, was also explained. It was followed by presenting the motives and the concept of strategic approach in the municipal governance of local development, showing them as an alternative for an administrative approach. Next the new, author’s category of supralocal perspective of municipal strategic governance of local development was defined. It consists of the characteristics of this governance related to supralocal relationships of a local system defined as exogenous utilitarianness, neo-endogenous absorptivity, protectiveness, retentionness and supralocal easementing, as well as the relevant activities of the local authorities.
The third chapter presents the analysis results of contemporary, world studies on supralocal relationships of local systems and their formation. On its basis the general research problem was identified and described, consisting in the insufficiency of knowledge in this matter despite the theoretical and practical rationale of having it. It was followed by presenting the reasons for which it is indispensable to carry out pilot, subject specific studies covering the selected group of local authorities and aimed at solving the fragment of this problem. The authorities of Polish small towns were selected as such a group. Next the supralocal reasons of contemporary socioeconomic situations of these towns were described in detail along with the interest in their supralocal relationships of science, local governments, supralocal authorities, business environments and the residents of these towns. Further part of this chapter presents the research goals, objects, strategy, methods and techniques, as well as the information sources. The adopted primary research goals were the identification of the characteristics of supralocal perspective of local development strategic governance of small towns, followed by enunciating the general characteristics of this perspective. The adopted secondary research goals were marking improvement methods of this governance perspective out along with the verification of usefulness of the selected information sources, research methods and techniques in diagnosing it.
The local authorities of 369 Polish towns with the residents’ number ranging from 5 to 20 thousand constituted the research population. The applied research method was a diagnostic survey using the technique of long personal interview, the method of content analysis using the encoding technique and the method of qualitative field research using the participant observation technique. The following information sources were adopted: town mayors, local development strategies and the groups of people playing key roles in the construction and implementation of these strategies. All the methods, techniques and sources were combined in accordance with triangulation research strategy. The chapter was completed with the description of the research questions and tools used and the report of the course of conducted research. The research results are presented in chapter four. It contains the detailed information how the studied authorities perceive the importance of particular supralocal relationships of their towns and their own roles in these relationships formation. It also includes information about the relationships which are mainly affected by exogenous utilitarianness, absorptivity, protectiveness and retentionness of strategic governance carried out by the analysed authorities, about the instruments used in this area and also about the positionality, neo-endogeneity and supralocal easementing of such governance. The provided information was illustrated by several comprehensive tables and several dozens graphs.
Based on the above information, the general characteristics of supralocal perspective of local development governance of Polish small towns is presented in the last, fifth chapter. Apart from its main components, i.e. the relationships perceived as strategically significant and formed on the strategic level, its unification was characterized along with its contextual specificity for the supralocal milieu. Fordist and Post-Fordist values dominating in this perspective of governance were also indicated. The impact of supralocal development policies, carried out by Polish state and regional authorities, on this governance, was also discussed. It was all concluded by the assessment of the level of transformation of administrative approach towards local development governance into a strategic one. Next, based on the analysis of legal acts, literature studies and cause and effect analysis the problem specific recommendations were made regarding the improvement of the discussed governance perspective. They were addressed to the analysed authorities, public governance related scientific environment and Polish state authorities. By analysing the course and the results of research the usefulness of methods, techniques and research tools, along with information sources in different, analogical studies, was also shown. The publication was finished with indicating the rationale, directions and methods for the conducted research continuation.

Bu kitap, girişimci olarak yeni bir işe başlayan ya da girişimci olup işlerini sistemli ve stratejik olarak büyütmek isteyen kişilere girişimciliğin tüm yönlerini kapsayan pratik bir rehberdir. Özellikle 21. yüzyılda girişimciliğin kaçınılmaz gerekliliği olan fırsatların hızlı olarak geliştirilip, karlı şirketlere dönüşmesinde gerekli olan stratejiyi sistemli olarak okuyucuları adım adım yönlendirmektedir. Başarılı bir işletme oluşturmak için gerekli tüm prosedürler bu kitapta mevcutdur:
Düzgün yasal altyapıyı,
İş modelleri ve planları,
Organizasyon modelleri,
Pazarlama stratejileri,
Güçlü finansal alt yapı,
Fikri Sınai Mülki Haklar
Patentleme ve Lisanslama
Müşteri ihtiyaç analizleri ve müşteri memnuniyeti.
Günümüzde piyasaları büyüten küçük işletme ve girişimcilerin haberleriyle dolu. Girişimcilik özellikle de küçük işletmelerin girişimcilik hareketi küresel ekonomide büyük bir güç haline geldi. Dünya çapında politika yapıcılar artık küçük ama dinamik girişimcilerin, ekonomik gelişme ve refahın artmasında oynadıkları önemli rolden haberdarlar. Yaratıcı, müşteri odaklı, yeni ürün ve hizmetler sunan,kendilerini başarılı olmaya adamış, dinamik, kararlı kadın ve erkek girişimcilerin ellerinde yeni bir girişimcilikten söz edilmekte. İste bu kitap, bu yeni girişimcilik için okuyuculara yol haritası vermekte. Girişimciliğin öğretilebilecek önemli sırlarını vererek, empati yoluyla küçük değerlerden nasıl fark yaratabileceğine vurgu yapmaktadır. Ayrıca kitap sosyal inovasyon ve sosyal girişimcilik ile ekonomik refah sağlamanın ötesinde dünyayı daha yaşanılası bir yer haline getirmedeki sistemi de sunmaktadır. Kitabın en önemli vurgusu ise bu yeni girişimcilik ruhuna sahip olanların daha kolay bir şekilde pek çok insanın yaşam standartlarını artırma becerisini kanıtlayan sosyo-ekonomik-kültürel-çevresel devrime liderlik etme üzerine kurgulanmıştır. Küçük işletmelerin yönetiminde ve/ya girişimcilik derslerinde bu kitabı kullanarak yaşadığımız toplumda ya da dünya çapında kısa-orta-uzun süreli olumlu değişiklikler meydana getirmek mümkün olacaktır. Sosyo-ekonomik-kültürel-çevresel değişim ve dönüşüme katkı sağlayan bu kitap ile iş başarısı ve finansal zenginlik elde etmek ve yeni girişimcilerden olmak için düşünme şeklini değiştiren ve stratejik hedefleri koyarak gerçekleştirmeyi sağlamak kolay olacaktır.

Bu kitapla ilk seanstan son seansa kadar, yardım ilşikisini yapılandırmanın yollarını gösteren bir haritaya sahip olacaksınız. Kitap boyunca ilişki kurma konusunda ilişkinin yapısını ve danışmanlık sürecini; anlama konusunda problemi analiz etmeyi, duyguları, düşünceleri iletişim ve eylemleri değerlendirmeyi; değişim konusunda ise tüm bu alanlarda yapılan müdahaleleri ve belirli teknikleri öğreneceksiniz. Her bir bölümdeki etkinlikler ile ilgili becerileri uygulama yoluyla edinme ve kitap sonunda kazanımlarınızı yeniden değerlendirme imkânı bulacaksınız.

This article presents results from the first statistically significant study of cost escalation in transportation infrastructure projects. Based on a sample of 258 transportation infrastructure projects worth US$90 billion and representing different project types, geographical regions, and historical periods, it is found with overwhelming statistical significance that the cost estimates used to decide whether such projects should be built are highly and systematically misleading. Underestimation cannot be explained by error and is best explained by strategic misrepresentation, that is, lying. The policy implications are clear: legislators, administrators, investors, media representatives, and members of the public who value honest numbers should not trust cost estimates and cost-benefit analyses produced by project promoters and their analysts.

The demands and needs of the environment are constantly evolving and management is about adjusting the company according to the needs and demands of the environment. Increased competition threatens the attractiveness of an industry and reducing the profitability of the players. It exerts pressure on firms to be proactive and to formulate successful strategies that facilitate proactive response to anticipated and actual changes in the competitive environment (Rainbird, 2014). Firms therefore focus on gaining competitive advantage to enable them respond to, and compete effectively in the market. Thompson and Strickland (2016) argue that a company has competitive advantage whenever it has an edge over its rivals in securing customers and defending against competitive forces. Sustainable competitive advantage is born out of core competencies that yield long-term benefit to the company. To succeed in building a sustainable competitive advantage, a firm must try to provide what buyers will, perceive as superior value. According to Porter (2003) competitive strategy is about being different. This means deliberately performing activities differently and in better ways than competitors. Porter (2003) outlined the three approaches to competitive strategy these being Striving to be the overall low cost producer,

Megaproject Planning and Management: Essential Readings contains the seminal articles from the growing body of research on megaproject planning and management along with an original introduction by the editor, Bent Flyvbjerg. The leading and most cited authority in the field, Flyvbjerg has used crowdsourcing and 25 years of experience to cherry-pick from several hundred articles and books the writings that define the field. This volume will be an indispensable source for those wishing to speak with authority about how megaprojects are prepared, delivered, and fought over. The target audience is students, academics, practitioners, and media pundits alike, as well as communities affected by megaprojects.

Back cover text: Megaprojects and Risk provides the first detailed examination of the phenomenon of megaprojects. It is a fascinating account of how the promoters of multi-billion dollar megaprojects systematically and self-servingly misinform parliaments, the public and the media in order to get projects approved and built. It shows, in unusual depth, how the formula for approval is an unhealthy cocktail of underestimated costs, overestimated revenues, undervalued environmental impacts and overvalued economic development effects. This results in projects that are extremely risky, but where the risk is concealed from MPs, taxpayers and investors. The authors not only explore the problems but also suggest practical solutions drawing on theory, experience and hard, scientific evidence from the several hundred projects in twenty nations and five continents that illustrate the book. Accessibly written, it will be the standard reference for students, scholars, planners, economists, auditors, politicians and interested citizens for many years to come.

A stock market, equity market or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers (a loose network of economic transactions, not a physical facility or discrete entity) of stocks (also called shares); these may include securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.

The article first describes characteristics of major infrastructure projects. Second, it documents a much neglected topic in economics: that ex ante estimates of costs and benefits are often very different from actual ex post costs and benefits. For large infrastructure projects the consequences are cost overruns, benefit shortfalls, and the systematic underestimation of risks. Third, implications for cost–benefit analysis are described, including that such analysis is not to be trusted for major infrastructure projects. Fourth, the article uncovers the causes of this state of affairs in terms of perverse incentives that encourage promoters to underestimate costs and overestimate benefits in the business cases for their projects. But the projects that are made to look best on paper are the projects that amass the highest cost overruns and benefit shortfalls in reality. The article depicts this situation as ‘survival of the unfittest’. Fifth, the article sets out to explain how the problem may be solved, with a view to arriving at more efficient and more democratic projects, and avoiding the scandals that often accompany major infrastructure investments. Finally, the article identifies current trends in major infrastructure development. It is argued that a rapid increase in stimulus spending, combined with more investments in emerging economies, combined with more spending on information technology is catapulting infrastructure investment from the frying pan into the fire.

In the recent period, India has emerged as one of the key political
and economic players at the global level. In order to make its
mark as a major maritime power, it has adopted an ambitious
plan of naval modernisation. This brings to the fore the question
how successive governments in India have sought to promote the
country’s interests. In the recent years, India under the UPA rule
played an assertive role in the Indian Ocean region in order to
protect its interests and strategic preponderance. India’s Indian
Ocean strategy has, among other things, focused on countering
the growing Chinese influence among the Indian Ocean littoral
countries. Nevertheless, it was seen that the UPA government did
not show enough dynamism to formulate a strong Indian Ocean
policy. The new government under Prime Minister Modi is seen to
pursue an active Indian Ocean policy in pursuit of maritime power
and influence. Thus, the paper seeks to study the evolution and
variations in the strategies adopted by the UPA and NDA rule
towards the Indian Ocean. Among other things, the paper also
tries to explore how China figures in India’s strategic ambitions in
the sea.

Lo spionaggio industriale, nella moderna era digitale, rappresenta una limitazione allo sviluppo della competitività aziendale e nazionale. Il progetto ha l’obiettivo di analizzare il fenomeno dello spionaggio digitale quale potenziale danno al know how aziendale e alle innovazioni di prodotto/processo ed individuare un sistema efficiente di best practices endo-imprese per sostenere la crescita aziendale e la competitività nei mercati globali. La ricerca analizzerà e confronterà gli attuali strumenti economico-giuridici nei Paesi maggiormente innovativi (USA, Regno Unito, Germania, Francia e Giappone) per focalizzare punti di forza e debolezza del sistema italiano.
I risultati del progetto sono di notevole utilità per sviluppare ed implementare best practices (di management, di ICT e di diritto industriale) di protezione del know how aziendale che sostengano la competitività delle imprese italiane nel moderno mercato globale. Queste best practices sono strumenti innovativi che l’Intelligence Istituzionale dovrebbe prospettare ed incentivare con finanziamenti alla R&S e formazione, sia a livello aziendale che a livello settoriale, prodromici alla moderna politica industriale in era digitale per la tutela della proprietà intellettuale delle imprese ovvero per l’accrescimento della produttività, competitività internazionale.

The importance of industry-specific factors for a firm's performance has often attracted the attention of researchers, managers, and investment analysts. This research uses random-effect variance component analysis to examine the relevance of structure-conduct-performance (SCP) paradigm in the context of restaurant and petroleum/natural gas firms. The study further investigates class-effect in firm performance by analyzing whether the relative importance of industry-and-firm-level effects varies across different performance groups. Results suggest a direct relevance of the SCP paradigm and industry-specific factors for firm performance, and a distinct dominance of industry-effect over firm-effect regardless of the choice of accounting or value based performance measures. Results further reveal varying roles of industry and firm-level factors (corporate or strategic) across middle-of-the road and non-average (exceptional) performance groups. As such the importance of SCP paradigm and the strategic role of both industry-and-firm effect factors for value creation in US based restaurant firms is better understood.

Investors’ psychology, sentiment, attitude towards risk, degree of risk tolerance or aversion and other risk characteristics largely influence the investment decision which is empirically observed by Deck et al. (2008). Lashgari (2000), Dennis and Mayhew (2002), Suk and Tully (2003), and Wurgler (2006) have used general and risk characteristics of investors to developed models on confidence index on stock markets. This study, in line with those efforts, tries to measure the individual investors’ level of confidence on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) of Bangladesh as a determinant of investment. The Investor Confidence Index indicates a large portion of these individual investors have low confidence on the stock market of Bangladesh with none found to be positive in favor of a better immediate future.

As megaprojects have become ubiquitous, their real benefits and costs have come under increased scrutiny. We interviewed Bent Flyvbjerg, who has extensively studied megaproject development. Flyvbjerg has found systematic problems in the development process: by intentionally misrepresenting information and deliberately disregarding risks, proponents instigate projects that result in fewer benefits and higher costs than promised.

The Supplementary Green Book Guidance on Optimism Bias (HM Treasury 2003) with reference to the Review of Large Public Procurement in the UK (Mott MacDonald 2002) notes that there is a demonstrated, systematic, tendency for project appraisers to be overly optimistic and that to redress this tendency appraisers should make explicit, empirically based adjustments to the estimates of a project’s costs, benefits, and duration. HM Treasury recommends that these adjustments be based on data from past projects or similar projects elsewhere, and adjusted for the unique characteristics of the project in hand. In the absence of a more specific evidence base, HM Treasury has encouraged departments to collect data to inform future estimates of optimism, and in the meantime use the best available data. In response to this, the Department for Transport (henceforth DfT), has contracted Bent Flyvbjerg in association with COWI to undertake the consultancy assignment "Procedures for dealing with Optimism Bias in Transport Planning". The present Guidance Document is the result of this assignment.

This report purposed on employing the use of financial and non-financial metrics in evaluating the performance of Swedish international furniture manufacturer, IKEA from an investor’s point of view. The result from the financial evaluation shows that the profitability of the firm has waned marginally since 2015. For instance, the return in capital employed for the entity declined from 10.40% to 7.10% in the period. However, in comparison to its primary competitor Sears Holdings, IKEA has performed better with the earlier recording a ROCE of -9.19% in 2017. Meanwhile, IKEA’s liquidity has improved with its current ratio rising from 2.22 to 2.67 while that of Sears rising from 1.05 to 1.07 in 2015 and 2017 respectively. Additionally, IKEA management of its assets has been impressive with the inventory turnover period declining from 110 days in 2015 to 30 days in 2017. With regards to leverage, the firm has maintained low leverage with its gearing ratio decreasing from 0.10 to 0.07 as compared to Sears whose gearing ratio rose from 1.86 to 2.82 in 2015 and 2017 respectively.
With regards to the non-financial metrics, the report made use of SWOT analysis and PESTEL analysis to identify the main risk and opportunities that the firm is faced with. Politically, the firm should leverage in relaxed barriers to trade in such Asian nations as China and India. However, the effect of BREXIT on the currency fluctuations may affect the firms operations in the UK. Nonetheless, the moderate to strong in South Asia offers an opportunity for the firm to venture into these markets. Technologically, the firm can improve its online presence to better compete with online retailers such as Amazon. With regards to environmental factors, the firm plans to fully power all its stores with renewable energy by 2020. Nonetheless, the firm has in the past faced legal suits regarding the quality of their furniture.
The SWOT analysis on the other hand revealed that the firm has a grand opportunity of venturing into relatively untapped markets in India and China. Both nations are enjoying strong economic growth but the firm only has one store and 24 stores in India and China respectively. Additionally, the IKEA can increase its online presence to be able to reach such markets as the youth. Nonetheless, the firms faces the threat of online retailers such as Amazon who threaten to take up its market share in the furniture market. Regardless of the threat, the market opportunities as well the impressive financial performance of IKEA makes it an ideal firm to invest in. As such, this report recommends that the investors should purchase IKEA’s stock.

"Over budget, over time, over and over again" appears to be an appropriate slogan for large, complex infrastructure projects. This article explains why cost, benefits, and time forecasts for such projects are systematically over-optimistic in the planning phase. The underlying reasons for forecasting errors are grouped into three categories: delusions or honest mistakes; deceptions or strategic manipulation of information or processes; or bad luck. Delusion and deception have each been addressed in the management literature before, but here they are jointly considered for the first time. They are specifically applied to infrastructure problems in a manner that allows both academics and practitioners to understand and implement the suggested corrective procedures. The article provides a framework for analyzing the relative explanatory power of delusion and deception. It also suggests a simplified framework for analyzing the complex principal-agent relationships that are involved in the approval and construction of large infrastructure projects, which can be used to improve forecasts. Finally, the article illustrates reference class forecasting, an outside view de-biasing technique that has proven successful in overcoming both delusion and deception in private and public investment decisions.

This study aims to articulate the students' perception about cyber bullying, particularly on social media. Even though ICT technology provides a large number of benefits, particularly those who are young, as Campbell (2005) has pointed out that it has also a "dark side" (p. 68). Particularly after the intensive and extensive use of the social media, the impact of the cyberbullying has dramatically increased, but it is rarely discussed and prevented. Hence, in this study, the forty-five participants were selected from two different universities and by using phenomenological analysis (Moustakas, 1994), eight research questions were answered in the semi-structured interviews, which were approximately 45 minutes in length. By gathering theoriginal data were gathered from 'naive' descriptions the experiences related to cyber bullying were taken into account based on reflection and interpretation of the participant's different stories. The collected data were analyzed in Atlas.ti 6 in order to make depth study. Additionally, there were limitations in terms of selecting the participants since a few students wanted to share their personal experiences. As a result, the data showed that the students had inevitably affected by the cyber bullying in the social media in many ways. Among ali these students, the female students had been influenced to a greater degree comparing to male students. Most (96%) of the participants agreed that social relations had changed a lot and they had to have connections with their friends through the social media. The students— particularly females—viewed cyber bullying as a problem, but no one rarely discussed at the university. More importantly a large number (89%) felt loneliness and they did not know how to behave properly. Most (91%) students did not see any helpful resources when dealing with cyber bullying. Students (82%) were currently experiencing the majority of cyber bullying instances outside of the school day, but they had direct relationship with the events at the university. Students (84%) were not able to suggest some basic strategies in order to deal with cyber bullying. They (79%) agreed that they did not know how to respond to cyberbullying. Additionally, a large number of the (94%) participants agreed that the effects would be different on the elite environments comparing to the socially disadvantaged environments. They (96%) pointed out that the future of social media had been changing in terms of education and learning so that they did not have any chance to ignore the social media. Most (85%) of the participants clarified that the university social environment, centres and counselling offices would develop a better network and understanding in order to decrease cyber bullying. Most (88%) participants articulated that cyber bullying on the socail media would develop particuiar problems and would change the culture of social life. Most (81%) claim that social media are important not only for their social life but also for their Professional life so that they did not want to see their private photographs on the walls of their friends. These (61%) participants strongly pointed out that
privacy was remarkably important for the individuals but it was not controlled. Furthermore, most (92%) participants mentioned that the autonomy in the social media would make the individulas aggressive due to the fact that there was not any law and regulations to.

For around fifteen years now, anthropology has been engaged in the study of neoliberalism. What contribution does the discipline have to make to a debate largely monopolized by economics and political science? To answer this question, the present article returns to the major texts and highlights the three perspectives from which anthropology has approached neoliberal expansion: culturalist, systemic and the approach based on governmentality. Each has its own epistemological presuppositions and a specific conception of anthropology, globalization and neoliberalism. The article highlights the relevance and limitations of these approaches.

This article presents results from the first statistically significant study of traffic forecasts in transportation infrastructure projects. The sample used is the largest of its kind, covering 210 projects in 14 nations worth U.S.$59 billion. The study shows with very high statistical significance that forecasters generally do a poor job of estimating the demand for transportation infrastructure projects. For 9 out of 10 rail projects, passenger forecasts are overestimated; the average overestimation is 106%. For half of all road projects, the difference between actual and forecasted traffic is more than ±20%. The result is substantial financial risks, which are typically ignored or downplayed by planners and decision makers to the detriment of social and economic welfare. Our data also show that forecasts have not become more accurate over the 30-year period studied, despite claims to the contrary by forecasters. The causes of inaccuracy in forecasts are different for rail and road projects, with political causes playing a larger role for rail than for road. The cure is transparency, accountability, and new forecasting methods. The challenge is to change the governance structures for forecasting and project development. Our article shows how planners may help achieve this.

Do different types of megaprojects have different cost overruns? This apparently simple question is at the heart of research at the University of Oxford aimed at understanding the characteristics of megaprojects, particularly in terms of how they are established, run and concluded. In this study, we set out to investigate cost overruns in the Olympic Games. To do so, we examined the costs of the Games over half a century, including both summer and winter Olympics. We looked at the evolution of final reported costs and compared these to the costs established in the Games bids, submitted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) up to seven years before the Games occurred. In so doing we established the largest dataset of its kind, and documented for the first time in a consistent fashion the costs and cost overruns for the Olympic Games, from 1960 to 2012. We discovered that the Games stand out in two distinct ways compared to other megaprojects: (1) The Games overrun with 100 per cent consistency. No other type of megaproject is this consistent regarding cost overrun. Other project types are typically on budget from time to time, but not the Olympics. (2) With an average cost overrun in real terms of 179 per cent – and 324 per cent in nominal terms – overruns in the Games have historically been significantly larger than for other types of megaprojects, including infrastructure, construction, ICT, and dams. The data thus show that for a city and nation to decide to host the Olympic Games is to take on one of the most financially risky type of megaproject that exists, something that many cities and nations have learned to their peril. For the London 2012 Games, we find that: (1) With sports-related real costs currently estimated at USD14.8 billion, London is on track to become the most costly Olympics ever. (2) With a projected cost overrun of 101 per cent in real terms, overrun for London is below the historical average for the Games, but not significantly so. (3) The London cost overrun is, however, significantly higher than overruns for recent Games since 1999. London therefore is reversing a positive trend of falling cost overruns for the Games.

As megaprojects have become ubiquitous, their real benefits and costs have come under increased scrutiny. We interviewed Bent Flyvbjerg, who has extensively studied megaproject development. Flyvbjerg has found systematic problems in the development process: by intentionally misrepresenting information and deliberately disregarding risks, proponents instigate projects that result in fewer benefits and higher costs than promised.

Mitler, bazı gizemli olayların neden gerçekleştiğini açıklamak veya nasıl davranmamız ve düşünmemiz gerektiğini doğrulamak amacıyla ortaya çıkan ve nesilden nesile aktarılan hikâyelerdir. Kültürler, etraflarındaki dünyayı açıklamak için mevcut bilgilerden faydalanamadıklarında mitler üretirler. Pek çok insanın yaratıcı olmakla ilgili yanlış inançları vardır. Bu yanlış inanç nedeniyle de yaratıcılıklarını tam olarak kullanamazlar. Yaratıcı bireylerin ve firmaların başarıları üzerindeki en son araştırmalardan biri bu kitabın yazarı David Burks'e aittir.
Elinizdeki bu kitap, yaratıcılık ile ilgili sahip olabileceğimiz yanlış fikirler ve gerçekler ile bizleri yüzleştirip, en iyi fikir ve projeleri, araştırma ve programları bulmak için bizlere pratik bir yöntem sunmaktadır. Özellikle, birçok kişinin ya da organizasyonun yaygın olarak kullandığı 10 yanlış yaratıcılık efsanesinin üzerinde durarak yeni bir sistem önermektedir. Kitapta, tamamıyla yenilikçi stratejileri tasarlayabilmek için yaratıcılık hakkındaki yanlış efsaneleri dolayısıyla da ön yargıları nasıl ortadan kaldırabileceğimiz konusunda cesur fikirler sunulmaktadır. Ayrıca kitap, yaratıcılığın ilham alınarak, bazen tesadüfi gerçekleştiğine ve biraz da şansa bağlı kalındığına dair fikirlerimizi değiştirecek bir kitaptır. Bunun için, özellikle pek çok gence yön veren kişilerin okuması gereken bir kitap konumundadır; gerek büyük gerekse küçük şirketlerde fark oluşturmak isteyen bireyler ve yöneticiler için el kitabı niteliğindedir.
Günümüzde rekabetçi küresel pazarlarda ve ortamlarda kaliteli, hızlı, ihtiyaçlara yönelik yenilikçi ürünler, hizmetler veya süreçler sunmak kaçınılmazdır. Bir diğer anlamda, yenilikçiliğe odaklı yüksek değer oluşturan işler için bizlerden yaratıcı olmamız, yeni ve kullanışlı fikirler geliştirmemiz beklenmektedir. Yenilikçi fikirlerin ortaya çıkması şansa bırakılamaz.
Yaratıcılık ile ilgili ilk dar boğaz, toplumların oluşturduğu mitler ile karşı karşıya kalınmasıdır. Mitlerin ortadan kaldırılacağı yenilikçi fikirler üretmek için kullanılabilecek, bilimsel açıdan kanıtlanmış bir yaratıcılık modeline ihtiyaç vardır. Müthiş fikirler üretmek için bir dış güç inancına bel bağlamak zorunda değiliz. İhtiyacımız olan her şeye zaten kendi içimizde sahibiz. Akıcı bir üslupla ve örneklerle anlatılan bu kitapta, yaratıcılığın efsaneleri, yenilikçiliğe götüren süreçlerin üzerindeki sır perdelerini aralamaktadır.
David Burks, Yaratıcılık Mitleri adlı bu kitabında yenilikçiliği tetikleyen inanışların, engellerin ve güçlerin gizemini çözmeye yardımcı oluyor. Kitap boyunca, her bölümde bilimsel açıdan konuyu destekleyecek farklı örnekler bulabilirsiniz. Yenilik çalışmalarını geliştirmek isteyen herkes için Yaratıcılık Mitleri yeni fikirler bulmak açısından mutlaka okunması gereken önemli bir kitap.

Back cover text: This book aims to enlarge the understanding of decision-making on mega-projects and suggest recommendations for a more effective, efficient and democratic approach. Authors from different scientific disciplines address various aspects of the decision-making process, such as management characteristics and cost-benefit analysis, planning and innovation and competition and institutions. The subject matter is highly diverse, but certain questions remain at the forefront. For example, how do we deal with protracted preparation processes, how do we tackle risks and uncertainties, and how can we best divide the risks and responsibilities among the private and public players throughout the different phases of the project? - Presenting a state-of-the-art overview, based on experiences and visions of authors from Europe and North America, this unique book will be of interest to practitioners of large-scale project management, politicians, public officials and private organisations involved in mega-project decision-making. It will also appeal to researchers, consultants and students dealing with substantial engineering projects, complex systems, project management and transport infrastructure.

This paper focuses on problems and their causes and cures in policy and planning for large infrastructure projects. First, it identifies as the main problem in major infrastructure development pervasive misinformation about the costs, benefits, and risks involved. A consequence of misinformation is massive cost overruns, benefit shortfalls, and waste. Second, the paper explores the causes of misinformation and finds that political-economic explanations best account for the available evidence: planners and promoters deliberately misrepresent costs, benefits, and risks in order to increase the likelihood that it is their projects, and not the competition's, that gain approval and funding. This results in the "survival of the unfittest," where often it is not the best projects that are built, but the most misrepresented ones. Finally, the paper presents measures for reforming policy and planning for large infrastructure projects, with a focus on better planning methods and changed governance structures, the latter being more important.

Risk, including economic risk, is increasingly a concern for public policy and management. The possibility of dealing effectively with risk is hampered, however, by lack of a sound empirical basis for risk assessment and management. This article demonstrates the general point for cost and demand risks in urban rail projects. The article presents empirical evidence that allow valid economic risk assessment and management of urban rail projects, including benchmarking of individual or groups of projects. Benchmarking of the Copenhagen Metro is presented as a case in point. The approach developed is proposed as a model for other types of policies and projects in order to improve economic and financial risk assessment and management in policy and planning.

Esta investigación tiene como propósito evaluar la Planeación Estratégica de las Pequeñas y Medianas Empresas (PYMES)  en Allende Nuevo León. Comenzamos analizando algunos factores de crecimiento para las PYMES, después hablamos de la importancia de la Planeación Estratégica en las PYMES y también presentamos Modelos de Planeación Estratégica para las PYMES. Es importante señalar que a pesar de que se han realizado muchas investigaciones sobre las PYMES, éstas todavía tienen muchas áreas de oportunidad, ya que la Planeación Estratégica consiste en establecer pasos para alcanzar acciones estructuradas que conlleven al logro de los objetivos organizacionales y por ende logren el crecimiento y desarrollo de las mismas. Esta es una investigación de corte transversal en donde se aplicaron 43 encuestas que se analizaron con pruebas descriptivas. Las empresas encuestadas no tienen más de 10 años de haber iniciado su negocio, se encuentran ubicadas en una zona céntrica del municipio de Allende, Nuevo León con muy buenas probabilidades de crecimiento y se caracterizan por su buen servicio pero es notorio que pese a dichas características, no están creciendo. El instrumento usado en esta  investigación se enfoca en conocer las acciones estratégicas que están usando las PYMES, la cual contempla diez criterios de evaluación: Liderazgo, compromiso, comunicación, cultura y cambios estratégicos, filosofía empresarial, objetivos, análisis interno y externo de la estrategia, definición de estrategias, definición de recursos, administración de desempeño y ejecución de las estrategias. En el análisis descriptivo destaca que el promedio de empresas tienen un resultado “regular” en su Planeación  Estratégica. Las tres dimensiones más altas fueron liderazgo, compromiso y comunicación que alcanzaron un resultado  “muy estratégica”. Las dimensiones con puntajes más bajos fueron análisis interno y externo, asignación de recursos, ejecución y administración del desempeño. Finalmente concluimos que la Evaluación de la Planificación Estratégica es necesaria para las organizaciones, de tal manera que ésta permita encontrar aquellas áreas que necesitan ser reforzadas, identificar lo que no se está haciendo y cuáles serían las líneas de acción a seguir. La Planeación Estratégica debe iniciar un cuestionamiento gerencial de expectativas y suposiciones, desencadenar una revisión de objetivos y valores, además de estimular la creatividad para generar alternativas y formular criterios de evaluación. Los gerentes y empleados deben darse cuenta continuamente del progreso y la consecución de los objetivos de la empresa. A medida que los factores esenciales para el éxito cambian, los miembros de la organización necesitan sumar su participación para diseñar las acciones apropiadas.

Out-of-control information technology (IT) projects have ended the careers of top managers, such as EADS CEO Noël Forgeard and Levi Strauss’ CIO David Bergen. Moreover, IT projects have brought down whole companies, like Kmart in the US and Auto Windscreen in the UK. Software and other IT is now such an integral part of most business processes and products that CEOs must know their IT risks, which are typically substantial – and overlooked. The analysis of a sample of 1,471 IT projects showed that the average cost overrun was 27% — but that figure masks a far more alarming “fat tail” risk.  Fully one in six of the projects in the sample was a Black Swan, with a cost overrun of 200%, on average, and a schedule overrun of almost 70%. This highlights the true pitfall of IT change initiatives: It’s not that they’re particularly prone to high cost overruns on average – it is that there are a disproportionate number of Black Swans. By focusing on averages instead of the more damaging outliers, most managers and consultants have been missing the real risk in doing IT. In conclusion, the article outlines ideas as to what can be done to avoid Black Swans.

This paper focuses on problems and their causes and cures in policy and planning for large-infrastructure projects. First, it identifies as the main problem in major infrastructure developments pervasive misinformation about the costs, benefits, and risks involved. A consequence of misinformation is cost overruns, benefit shortfalls, and waste. Second, it explores the causes of misinformation and finds that political-economic explanations best account for the available evidence: planners and promoters deliberately misrepresent costs, benefits, and risks in order to increase the likelihood that it is their projects, and not those of their competition, that gain approval and funding. This results in the ‘survival of the unfittest’, in which often it is not the best projects that are built, but the most misrepresented ones. Finally, it presents measures for reforming policy and planning for large-infrastructure projects with a focus on better planning methods and changed governance structures, the latter being more important.