bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Positioning corporate real estate to drive competitive advantage and facilitate corporate goals
Authors: Burns John , Katz Michael A.
Published: July 2024

Actively managing a corporate real estate (CRE) portfolio as a strategic asset may not ‘make’ the profit and loss (P&L) but failing to do so can certainly break it. A robust CRE function enhances the organisation’s competitive stance, enabling it to control costs and step up rapidly to embrace new business opportunities. This paper is directed to senior executives whose remit is to foresee and then mitigate risk to the business as well as to periodically benchmark the return on investment of company assets as marked to market. It urges senior management, especially chief financial officers (CFOs), to recognise the value and risk of CRE and to involve their CRE team in asset strategy planning. It draws on the authors’ experience and conversations with CRE leaders, as well as examples of how a strong CRE function can mitigate risk, enhance the corporation’s competitive advantage, seize opportunities, realise hidden value and staunch bleeding P&Ls. It outlines a model structure for corporations seeking to position the corporate real estate function to control risk and participate in asset strategy planning for real estate assets they own or lease in support of their core business. The paper’s premise is that CRE is a strategic asset whose cost, deployment of capital and risk demand an appropriately active management model that promotes business goals and protects against the significant risks inherent in these long-term, illiquid assets. Nonetheless, in many organisations, real estate is handled as a routine administrative function and static cost centre far removed from senior decision makers. Target audiences are CFOs, controllers and private equity operating partners typically in medium-sized companies that are planning or undergoing significant growth, leading to increasing complexity, growing portfolios and higher transaction volumes. It is equally appropriate for executives who insist on being actively involved in real estate decisions to protect their P&Ls and forestall being ‘stuck’ with either too expensive, poorly located or ill-configured real estate with few options to fix it. The concepts described also apply to companies with larger portfolios that need to exert oversight and/or cost control due to evolving market conditions.
Managing travel risk: A duty of care toolkit
Authors: Cameron David
Published: July 2024

This paper discusses the security, safety and health risks inherent in business travel and expatriate assignment in the current global environment. It explores the corporation's responsibility to mitigate these risks, presents strategies to do so, and highlights the consequences of failing in this regard. Two case studies of the impact of such oversight are presented. The reader should take away from this paper an appreciation of the gravity of travel risk, an understanding of corporate responsibility for its mitigation, and a basic strategy for developing and implementing risk mitigation plans.
How Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is using modular construction to reduce development costs and timelines
Authors: Charkas Mohamed , Needham Matt
Published: July 2024

Construction is one of the biggest challenges facing airports. Not only can construction negatively affect the airport experience for millions of passengers, it also can severely hamper airport operations and revenue. Yet, until recently, nearly allairport construction was performed in a similar fashion with whole sections of airports being shut down for months — often years — to build and/or renovate space from scratch. Modular construction represents a radical departure from this conventional building process. By constructing whole sections of a building off-site or landside, modular construction can dramatically minimise disruptions to airport operations and drive costs down by opening labour markets to expanded pools of talent. This paper will examine how modular construction has evolved, how it is currently being used in the renovation of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport’s Pier A and C expansion and how it could revolutionise amenity design and concession leasing.
Can employee productivity provide the business case for green leasing? An analysis of sustainability measures worth pursuing
Authors: Rothenberg Laurie S.
Published: July 2024

As companies increasingly consider environmental sustainability in their choice of leased space, they need to prioritise which sustainability measures to accommodate. Rather than pursuing certified ‘green’ space without any further enquiry, tenants need to consider which green measures the landlord has implemented and whether they have the financial payback required to justify any green premium. To date, most companies recognise the savings related to operating efficiencies in green buildings, but they also need to consider the financial benefits of sustainability measures that improve employee health, productivity and retention. Sick building syndrome, caused by indoor air pollutants, can result in eye and nose irritations, headaches, difficulty concentrating and acute respiratory illnesses that cause employees to take sick leave or work less efficiently. Rather than relying on the ‘feel good’ or intangible benefits of improvements addressing these symptoms, this paper explores the business case underlying specific measures and translates them into dollars. By improving indoor air quality and the employee experience, sustainable measures such as pollutant source control, ventilation and daylighting can result in savings of over US$25 per square foot. Through carefully drafted language in their leases, work letters and other documentation, companies can preserve these savings and the benefits of leasing a green property.
The changing landscape of international payments
Authors: Dangelmaier Ralph , Smart Debbie
Published: July 2024

Many changes that impact international payments are occurring in the financial industry. This paper reviews the growth in global payments, examines the complexities of cross-border payments and looks at the many regulatory and industry challenges faced by banks and companies. The paper discusses new opportunities for financial institutions, such as remittances, open account trade and globalisation. It also considers the challenges in dealing with disparate payment systems and processing silos, and current trends towards streamlining and improving those processes. Finally, the paper discusses how payments hubs and enterprise risk management systems can streamline financial institutions' operations and reduce risk, resulting in opportunities for increased business and revenue growth.
The diversity of diversity
Authors: Alligood Douglass L.
Published: July 2024

As workforce demographics shift and global markets emerge, workplace diversity moves closer to becoming a business necessity instead of a banner that companies wave to show their commitment to embracing differences and change. Employees reap tangible and intangible benefits from workplace benefits, not the least of which include respect from co-workers and business gains. This article summarizes lessons learned from one of the nation’s leading experts in diversity and inclusion in the advertising industry, and suggests ways companies in the ad business can do better for their clients in a growing multicultural marketplace.
Investigating endorser personality effects on brand personality: Causation and reverse causation in India
Authors: Roy Subhadip , Moorthi Y. L. R.
Published: July 2024

A considerable amount of research has been conducted in the area of celebrity endorsements and brand personality (BP). However, there has been no effort (at least as far as the authors are aware) to integrate both aspects of celebrity endorsements and BP to ascertain the effect of celebrity personality on brand personality. The current study aims to examine whether celebrity personality has an effect on BP (defined formally by Aaker as ‘the set of human characteristics associated with a brand’) with the help of construction and testing of a conceptual model. Moreover, the authors also test the applicability of brand personality dimensions for a celebrity, assuming the celebrity as a brand. Analysing data collected from 394 respondents, the authors use structural equation modelling to test the conceptual model. The Brand Personality scale dimensions are found to be reliable and valid for both the brand and the celebrity. The results also indicate a statistically-significant effect of the celebrity personality on the brand personality. However, a significant effect of the brand personality on the celebrity personality is also observed, which indicates a reverse flow of personality from the brand to the celebrity. In a broader sense, the study tries to achieve a link between celebrity endorsement and brand personality literature with the help of the concept of meaning or personality transfer between the celebrity endorser and the brand endorsed.
My strategic supplier diversity journey
Authors: Rocco Wendy Gill
Published: July 2024

This paper is being shared from a practitioner’s perspective and is a refreshing lesson-learned illustration into the strategic value that comes with making a corporate commitment and investment into implementing a supplier diversity programme. It addresses the potential value proposition, as well as possible challenges. It is a committed focus in facilitating a win–win proposition for both your company and the communities in which your employees live and work, and that your company serves. This business decision is more far-reaching than just the act of providing reporting requirements to your customers. You will gain a greater appreciation and respect for the art of building and sustaining a programme with a holistic mindset. The paper addresses areas that support a strategic decision that not only emphasises executive leadership buy-in, but also buy-in from all your employees, as they will ultimately execute the diligence it takes to be successful. Moreover, you will learn that instituting and nurturing a supplier diversity programme comes with a competitive advantage for all parties engaged. It is an economic decision that should always make sense for your organisation as well as the suppliers you partner with, it is the big picture.
Beyond the spend: How corporate real estate is a key driver for elevating diversity in the industry, workforce and communities
Authors: Woolley Gabrielle , Needles Michelle
Published: July 2024

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in corporate real estate (CRE) is not only valuable to companies, but necessary to create more opportunities to bring generational wealth to disenfranchised communities. While advancements have been made in recent years, more work in the industry is needed. Today, we find approximately 29 per cent Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC) representation among all real estate professionals, and just 10 per cent representation in brokerage. Another study finds that women occupy less than 37 per cent of CRE roles and only 9 per cent of C-suite positions. Despite enthusiasm and commitments, there appears to be considerable room to grow DEI more broadly throughout CRE. In fact, a recent study demonstrated that collective efforts to achieve parity in the industry have seen little progress over the past several years. Intention is important, but demonstrating this intention is a commitment. DEI must encompass all areas of CRE and not be limited to diverse supplier spend strategies. This means DEI strategies for CRE professionals should embrace and address the needs of the stakeholder communities they affect, and the companies that are more advanced in this area must push the boundaries in the industry. This paper provides guidance for building holistic, intentional DEI programmes, including an industry-leading example of the global CRE partnership between Colliers and Cummins. It concludes with a roadmap for any company to take meaningful steps toward a DEI strategy that has lasting significance.
Resilience to combined attacks
Authors: Winks David
Published: July 2024

Threats to critical infrastructure are rapidly changing. It is important to anticipate how adversaries can combine various types of attacks for more devastating effects. Executives and those in leadership need a plan to prevent or mitigate these combined attacks. This paper reviews cyber, physical and electromagnetic threats and provides a guide to incrementally protect critical infrastructure. By reviewing this information, readers should be able to understand the emerging threats, ways adversaries can combine attacks and practical steps that can be taken to reduce the likelihood of an attack. The concepts discussed in this paper apply to both existing and new infrastructure. Readers will learn about cyber defence technologies including binary hardening, contextual access control, artificial intelligence (AI), re-imaging and automated orchestration. For physical defence, readers will gain an understanding of the threats posed by snipers and weaponised drones and how to prevent or minimise their impact. To protect against electromagnetic threats, readers will learn about solar storms, directed energy weapons and electromagnetic pulses. They will learn how to use new shielding materials and devices to protect the power, cooling, telecommunication and computing systems. The information in this paper should enable readers to take immediate actions to reduce their own vulnerabilities and empower them to affect policies, design codes and laws. By influencing decision makers, readers should be able to reduce risks and lessen the likelihood and severity of an attack.
Risk management infrastructure as a living organism
Authors: Lindo Steve
Published: July 2024

Like any complex, intelligent, adaptive organism, a financial institution depends on the performance of its critical systems, of which risk management is one. Just as the institution’s health and longevity depend on the performance of these systems, they in turn depend on the soundness of their infrastructure. This paper examines the essential elements of risk management infrastructure in a financial institution using another complex, intelligent, adaptive organism as an analogy — the human anatomy. The critical elements of the human anatomy — brain, skeleton, cardiovascular, muscular, nervous and immune systems — all have their counterparts in the infrastructure of a high-functioning risk management system. In addition to establishing this analogy, the paper will translate the insights it provides to real-life contexts, using actual examples from the financial sector to highlight the preservative effects of robust risk management infrastructure elements as well as the catastrophic effects of flawed ones.
Dilapidations claims and consecutive leases: Problems and possible solutions
Authors: Tanney Anthony , Taskis Catherine
Published: July 2024

This paper addresses the additional issues that may arise in a terminal dilapidations claim, where the expired lease is the last in a chain of two or more successively renewed leases. Analysis suggests that the most difficult of those issues concerns the tenant’s obligation to reinstate alterations, where the legal position is both complex and arguably inconsistent with the law regarding the tenant’s covenant to yield up the premises in good repair. Where legal issues of this kind impede settlement of a dilapidations claim by negotiation, court proceedings are not the only — or necessarily the best — way to proceed. Arbitration or expert determination can be a more cost-effective solution in many cases, but is under-used.
Website content adaptation as a response to cultural differences: A study of US and Indian versions of US corporate websites
Authors: Dwesar Rishi , Kesharwani Ankit
Published: July 2024

Successful entry and the continuous growth of multinational firms in foreign markets mostly requires effective communication which is inclined toward the cultural dimensions of the host country. Also, communication attuned to the nation-specific culture is more effective and even necessary for the long-term success and profitability of multinational companies. Thus, multinational companies have recognised the impact of sociocultural values on local organisational behaviour and their communication with varied stakeholders in order to fruitfully run their operations. The objective of this paper is to categorise the content of various websites in such a way as it can be used to reflect Hofstede’s four cultural dimensions: individualism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance and masculinity. Following the content analysis procedure, this study has made an attempt to find and establish differences between the content displayed on multinational companies’ Indian versions of their websites and their home websites, in relation to Hofstede’s four cultural dimensions. The results show that multinational companies’ Indian versions of their websites reflect a higher frequency of collectivist and power distance features than their home websites. Finally, implications related to the findings of the study have been suggested.
Air travel banks: A public-private partnership approach to air services development at smaller airports
Authors: Klophaus Richard
Published: July 2024

Financial incentives to develop air services at smaller airports are scrutinised by regulatory authorities. This is especially true within the European Union with its new guidelines on state aid and consequent rulings on the repayment of subsidies provided by airports to airlines that violate state aid rules. Private funds used to develop air services are not state aid. For this reason, air travel banks (ATBs) might be a promising air services development tool for smaller airports. This concept builds on the idea of binding monetary pledges from air transport users that constitute a revenue guarantee for new or expanded air services. This paper describes the ATB public-private partnership approach and offers advice to airport authorities and regional development agencies considering this approach to air services development without public financing.
Derivatives clearing infrastructure renewal in Japan: The impending post-trade market revolution
Authors: Yanagawa Eiichiro
Published: July 2024

This is the second in a series of reports on the securities settlement revolution in Japan. It is based on a Celent survey conducted in 2017 about technology use in post-trade operations. It offers a comprehensive overview of the current state of market participants and the challenges they face in the ongoing market transformation, while offering proposals related to the potential of emerging technologies, innovation, legacy issues and ecosystem migration. Japan’s derivative market has grown in leaps and bounds in tandem with the expansion of market derivatives and securities over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives. Work on an initiative to renew the clearing infrastructure has followed in the wake of market integration already completed on the execution system side by virtue of the new Japan Global Access Trading Engine (J-GATE; futures, options) that began operating in July 2016. The Japan Securities Clearing Corporation (JSCC) new clearing system will mandate action on the part of market participants in areas including the revision of clearing services, risk management and clearing systems. While many of the major participants in the clearing market appear to have already completed preparation for the transition to the new system, there remain stragglers that are in the process of responding — and even some who have yet to take action. At the same time, the actions being taken by these entities to respond to the coming changes are also thrusting challenges related to the overall posttrade market into the limelight.
Financial crime compliance in professional services: Moving beyond the three lines of defence
Authors: Vaughan Catherine
Published: July 2024

The role of professional services in the fight against Financial Crime is as integral as that of the financial sector. Often viewed as ‘Gatekeepers’, professional services including Accountants, Auditors, Lawyers and Tax professionals have a significant role to play in combatting the flow of illicit funds through the world’s economies. This paper explores how professional service organisations, in particular within the Accounting profession, approach compliance with complex and fast-changing rules as they respond to expectations placed on them by regulators, clients and other stakeholders. Examining the traditional ‘three lines’ model for compliance frameworks, the author asks the question, ‘Is it time to move beyond the three lines of defence?’ As part of a broader approach to Enterprise Risk Management consideration is given to the role of education and empowerment as ways of enabling professionals meet their obligations with these key non-negotiable compliance requirements.
The case for diversity, equality and inclusion
Authors: Janes Francis , Harvey Richard H.
Published: July 2024

This paper will give bank compliance officers and senior managers an understanding of how diversity, equity and inclusion efforts within their institutions will drive innovation and reduce risks. The reader will discover that organisations that excel at diversity and inclusion will more likely attract and retain top talent and drive superior financial returns. The reader will also gain an understanding of how to begin incorporating various aspects of this work into the overall business and operational planning of the bank.
On counterparty risk
Authors: Haldane Andrew G.
Published: July 2024

The financial crisis demonstrated the inadequacy of the management of counterparty credit risk and the vulnerability of financial structures to counterparty concerns. Three possible solutions are proposed to mitigate such risks in the future: improved network visibility to understand credit chains; the clearing of transactions centrally to improve transparency and reduce intra-financial system debt; and building protection against counterparty default through higher capital and margining requirements.
The how and why of executive social media activation
Authors: Hall Patrick Casey
Published: July 2024

Social media platforms provide a unique opportunity for modern executives to lead conversations in their industries, improve employee engagement and support the marketing and communications goals of their companies. Unfortunately, this opportunity goes unrealised when executives and the communications teams that support them are not prepared to engage in these channels. Within most companies, technical social media expertise tends to be localised within marketing teams that may not have the capacity to fully support executive social media activation. Executive communications teams are better prepared to develop executive messaging but often lack sufficient experience with enterprise social media to support executive social media messaging effectively. This paper shows that once an executive and their communications team understand the basic functions and cultures of social media platforms, developing a strategy for executive social media communications can be an integrated part of their overall executive communications plan.
Energy management systems: The ‘five-step-plus’ approach and ISO 50001
Authors: Lewry Andy
Published: July 2024

To successfully carry out energy management within an organisation, a system needs to be introduced that is simple to understand, addresses management issues and provides a structured approach and framework in which to work. For the past few years BRE has been advocating a ‘five-step-plus’ approach in which the first five steps are: get commitment; understand the issues; plan and organise; implement; and monitor ongoing performance. The loop is then closed by a review and audit step, the analysis of which feeds into the lessons learned step. These lessons are then incorporated into a plan for improvement stage, which embraces all aspects of the process and includes an action plan for change. This is in line with ISO 50001 and, although the attainment of these standards should be the ultimate goal, because of the degree of rigour and, as a result, the resource implications, this should be achieved in the longer term. That does not mean, however, that the underlying philosophy and methodologies should not be taken on board from the start. The key to this standard is the approach the standard has adopted — the Plan, Do, Check, Act approach. This paper maps out the standard in terms of this approach and provides practical advice on the steps to take.
How Charles Schwab rediscovered its challenger mojo
Authors: Boland Pete
Published: July 2024

We tend to think that acting as a ‘challenger brand’ is the preserve of disruptive start-ups such as Uber, iShares, Dyson and so on. Their ability to take advantage of new technologies and market openings would seem to be a prerequisite for acting as a challenger. It would seem that bigger, more established brands lack the agility, energy and introspection required to challenge category conventions. But as Charles Schwab's current ‘Own Your Tomorrow’ campaign shows, being a successful challenger may not be about size or recency, nor even agility. It is about adopting the right mindset, one in which taking on category conventions on behalf of a defined group of consumers becomes the company's raison d'être. It means burnishing and championing key values and beliefs that might lie dormant in the firm's DNA. Those values or beliefs have extra power and resonance to consumers if they represent something special, meaningful and transformational. Of course, today's consumers expect any brand that wants to engage with them to demonstrate, through brand behaviour, its values and beliefs, which makes being a challenger brand an imperative for today's marketers, not just one of a choice of positioning options. For Charles Schwab, adopting the challenger mindset meant breathing new life into the core values upon which the firm was founded in the 1970s. Within three years of the launch of their refreshed challenger platform, the brand's position, according to Landor's Brand Asset Valuator (see figure 1) shifted from lagging to leading brand in the financial service brokerage category. This paper describes the process by which Charles Schwab regained category leadership.
UK data protection and digital information bill explained
Authors: Wilkinson Steve
Published: July 2024

It has been more than four years since the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was applied to the UK, as supplemented by the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018.1 Since then, the UK has left the EU. Having reflected on the advantages and disadvantages of the current framework, the government identified and consulted on several areas where it considered improvements could be made that would benefit those who process personal data while retaining high data protection standards. Any revised legislation may have impacts on the UK's adequacy as well as trading abilities throughout the EU. This article will review the current status of the bill together with a review relating to the impact of the proposed legislation within the UK.
Negotiating dilapidations claims: What is really going on?
Authors: Mcmillan Alan
Published: July 2024

This paper considers in a discursive manner some of the theoretical issues which arise when surveyors and others are negotiating dilapidations claims. Working on the assumption that most readers will have negotiated such claims, and perhaps do it regularly, the objective of the paper (abridged from a talk given at the RICS Dilapidations Conference 2016 in Glasgow, Scotland) is to assist or remind negotiators to become expressly aware of some of the different levels at which negotiation occurs, as well as at least two different principles of negotiation.
Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport: Instilling a culture of accessibility for people with disabilities that goes above and beyond requirements
Authors: Burke Phil , Welbes John
Published: July 2024

This paper explores the work done at Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport to promote outreach and responsiveness to accessibility issues for people with disabilities. In recent years the airport established the Travelers with Disabilities Advisory Committee (TDAC) in an effort to go above and beyond in making the facility as accessible as possible. The paper details the management ideas behind the committee, its composition and the highlights of its work to date. The paper also touches on how accessibility problems are identified, how interaction with the TDAC influenced certain projects and what changes were made to remove barriers and improve airport accessibility. Results are discussed in terms of real-world solutions that have led to improvements for people with disabilities in the areas of transportation, services and communication within the airport.
Innovative non-invasive assessment of structures
Authors: Avent Jon
Published: July 2024

This paper provides details for a new and innovative methodology for the understanding, appraisal and testing of existing building structures. Assessment of structures requires knowledge and experience, combined with a practical understanding of how structures work. When existing structures need to be inspected and assessed, the structural engineer or building surveyor is often expected to have X-ray eyes. Lacking such a gift, and despite what clients may assume, they draw instead on knowledge and experience to make value judgments in many situations, with appropriate margins of safety and consideration of appropriate risk incorporated along the way. Codes of practice and British Standards provide a useful reference to assist with this process, but often sound judgment needs to underpin decisions made. This paper introduces the technique of non-invasive dynamic testing for assessing existing structures and provides examples of its use. The technique can be used on a range of applications to provide an understanding of how existing structures are actually behaving, rather than using more traditional conservative assessments that rely on a range of assumptions made on material properties, member interaction and support conditions. As a non-invasive option to traditional appraisal techniques it has wide ranging benefits in the heritage sector, but additionally provides significant economic benefits compared to existing solutions.
Artificial humanity: Smart tooling to implement the human touch in digital investing
Authors: Vandenbroucke Jürgen
Published: July 2024

In recent years, the accessibility of investment services and the business impact of digital distribution channels have drastically improved. The rapid growth in financial technology is one explanation. But this is insufficient. Performing digital investment processes grow beyond cold automation. Equally important, therefore, is the content-driven innovation in methodologies that help understand and anticipate human behaviour. This makes digitisation more successful in the absence of adviser assistance. Government agencies and regulators show a growing interest in this field. Accessibility of investment services is welcomed as it promotes financial inclusion, but it could equally add to systemic risks. Content-driven innovation that delivers technology in support of conscious decision making aligns financial inclusion with digital literacy and investor protection. This paper equips financial professionals and decision makers to spearhead this evolution.
The UK water crisis: What actions the government and private sector need to take
Authors: Skelton Emmeline
Published: July 2024

The paper discusses why resilience is increasingly important for companies to measure and address, thinking about relevant issues such as climate change and extreme weather. It gives insight on how companies measure their resilience and that it is more than a business continuity issue; indeed, it is a board issue. The paper looks at the role of regulation for companies with national critical infrastructure in putting in resilience guidelines and discusses the benefits of regulation in resilience, presenting a case study of the UK Water Services Regulation Authority resilience guidelines.
Planning for and surviving a BCM audit
Authors: Freestone Mandy , Lee Michael
Published: July 2024

Business continuity management (BCM) is moving progressively higher up the agendas of boardroom executives due to growing regulator, insurer and investor interest in risk management and BCM activity. With increasing pressure across all sectors, BCM has become an integral part of any effective corporate governance framework. Boardroom executives and senior management are thus now expected to provide an appropriate level of business continuity preparedness to better protect shareholder, investor and other stakeholder interests. The purpose of this paper is to build a link across the 'chasm' that separates the auditee from the auditor. The paper attempts to illuminate understanding about the process undertaken by an auditor when reviewing the BCM process. It details the steps the BCM auditor typically undertakes, and provides practical guidance as to the types of documentation and other supporting evidence required during the process. Additionally, the paper attempts to dispel commonly-held misconceptions about the BCM audit process. Executives, senior management and BCM practitioners will all benefit from the practical guidance offered in this paper, to assist in planning for and surviving a BCM audit.
Logistic regression to identify organisational opportunities in customer surveys using R
Authors: Kwartler Ted
Published: July 2024

Historically, identifying specific focal points to improve the customer experience using information from customer surveys has proven to be difficult. The large quantity of responses and the nature of the responses themselves often do not translate into specific areas for improvement that have an impact on satisfaction. Using logistic regression, however, one can identify the impact on overall customer satisfaction of various survey responses. This practical paper demonstrates a method to analytically understand customer responses and create a compelling visualisation using the R programming language.
Giving flight to an authentic purpose: How Aflac transformed its mascot into an icon for childhood cancer patients
Authors: Cone Carol , Kenney Kristin
Published: July 2024

My Special Aflac Duck is an award-winning social robot for children with cancers. Modelled after Aflac Incorporated’s iconic duck mascot, My Special Aflac Duck was developed by social impact agency Carol Cone ON PURPOSE and R&D shop Sproutel to meet the social-emotional needs of paediatric cancer patients during their average 1,000 days of treatment. The initiative, which is part of the broader Aflac Childhood Cancer Campaign, was created to support Aflac’s reputational and brand goals, building on more than two decades of commitment to paediatric cancer research and treatment. Additionally, Aflac sought to make a direct patient impact through technology and innovation, moving beyond traditional corporate citizenship to align purpose, values, brand and product in a never-before-seen execution. Readers will learn how Carol Cone ON PURPOSE developed crisp criteria around Aflac’s objectives, partnered with Sproutel to develop the duck based on the specific needs of children, launched the initiative to media in an unexpected way, supported roll-out in hospitals across the United States and helped Aflac achieve significant brand and business lifts.
Securing decentralised organisations
Authors: Rajnović Damir
Published: July 2024

This paper compares efforts required to secure a centralised organisation and a conglomerate (holding structure). Achieving a uniform level of security across a conglomerate is more challenging due to the nature of the organisational structure — ie every subsidiary is independent, so each can define its own processes and select how to implement global security guidelines. Implementing security measure in a conglomerate is an equivalent of managing a distributed project. Having a very strong governance function is the only way to make such an endeavour successful. Governance function, by itself, is not sufficient, but additional impetus must come from individual headquarters and the holding company itself. Security is different from other organisational functions (eg payroll, sales, etc.) because of the relationships between individuals from different subsidiaries, which can be used to more easily compromise the organisation.
How small and medium-sized retail enterprises can make the best use of payment innovations
Authors: Vangelisti Maria Iride
Published: July 2024

Recent years have seen great innovation in the field of payments. This paper discusses which aspects of the payment process may be relevant for retailers and the innovations that may be useful for meeting retailers’ needs. Special attention is devoted to how small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) can make effective use of such advancements to simplify the payment process, ensure a frictionless experience for their customers, speed up the finality of fund settlement and reduce processing costs. The paper discusses the importance of giving careful consideration to the selling mode and size of the firm, as well as the implementation costs. The paper shows that while some innovations are easy to implement, for instance, because banks and service providers supply turnkey solutions, others require more complex arrangements and the involvement of third-party providers. The paper highlights the importance of cooperation agreements between SMEs, specific awareness campaigns and financial literacy initiatives to put SMEs in a better position to leverage payment innovations and improve their business opportunities.
Consider the consequences: A powerful approach for reducing ICS cyber risk
Authors: Wyman Richard
Published: July 2024

Securing industrial control systems (ICS) or, for that matter, information technology (IT) systems is a never-ending battle. Cybersecurity subject matter experts secure their systems with the latest technology and threat actors develop new techniques to bypass these controls in a constant arms race of attack and defend, attack and defend. This single-minded focus on responding to the latest threat often causes ICS cybersecurity subject matter experts to forget what they are defending, which is controlling and protecting the process. To be more specific, the cyber protections should prevent a threat actor from issuing malicious control commands and/or ensuring that a threat actor does not stop legitimate commands from reaching their objectives. Unauthorised commands and the inability to issue commands have caused several high-profile impacts that resulted in significant damage in physical systems. This paper explores the relationship between cyber and physical systems by introducing a reference model that explains the cascading nature of impacts. While a cyberattack on an ICS originates in the cyber domain the most serious impacts occur in the physical domain. By understanding this concept, cybersecurity subject matter experts can make more targeted defensive measures in the cyber domain and add protections in the physical domain to significantly reduce ICS cyber risk.
Profitability in the airline versus airport business: A long-term perspective
Authors: Vogel Hans-Arthur , Graham Anne
Published: July 2024

There is a perception within the air transport industry that airports are able to achieve substantially higher profit levels than airlines. This can cause considerable friction in the airline-airport relationship; however, there is only limited evidence in the literature to support these claims. Hence the overall aim of this paper is to explore this issue in depth and to compare the financial performance of European airlines and airports by undertaking both a cross-sectional assessment of the two sectors to analyse their comparative performance during the same time period and also by undertaking a longitudinal assessment to determine the comparative variability of the performance of the two sectors over time. A sample of 20 European airports and airlines was used for this analysis. Data for a long-term time trend were used to take account of the cyclical nature of the industry. A number of financial ratios relating to profitability, debt/asset management and capital productivity were used. The results show that, first, airlines and airports have different capital structures and perform substantially differently according to a number of financial criteria, but are much more similar in terms of their reported returns on assets or capital employed. This is primarily due to the more capital intensive nature of the airport business and the higher leveraged airline sector. Secondly, in many areas of financial performance, the airline industry has a more variable performance than the airport sector when the whole economic cycle is considered.
Analysing perceptions towards electric cars using text mining and sentiment analysis: A case study of the newly introduced TOGG in Turkey
Authors: Demirer Dilek Penpece , Büyükeke Ahmet
Published: July 2024

The electric car market is growing steadily around the world and, accordingly, has become an attractive research area. It is important to understand the consumer perspective on newly introduced electric cars, such as those of Turkey’s Automobile Joint Venture Group Inc. (TOGG). Thus, the purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding of consumers’ perceptions related to the newly introduced TOGG, which may create a competitive advantage. Social media is an abundant source of textual data that allows for very reliable analysis and understanding of consumer opinions. In this study, Twitter comments on TOGG were collected and studied. Text mining, sentiment analysis and topic model analysis were then conducted. The results show that TOGG is a popular product with the public: there are many more positive Twitter comments related to TOGG than negative ones. The topics identified in social media are price expectancy, production facility, design and features. The most frequent topic for both positive and negative comments is price expectancy.
Who makes brands?
Authors: Wolff Michael
Published: July 2024

This paper asks, ’who really makes brands?’ Brand building usually starts with an organisation’s management, but ultimately it is each person’s judgment based on their encounters with the organisation that brings a brand to life. Readers are invited to think of France or Italy and the images they suggest, and how each of us forms our own version of a country as a brand. We do the same with the cities where we live, and companies and their products and services. a brand is the result of an organisation’s behaviour and not a piece of graphic design, which this paper describes as ‘superficial clothes’. Everything an organisation does can be identified as behaviour and has a profound effect on perceptions of it as a brand. Organisations should base their ‘choreography’, or the dance they offer their customers, on strong underpinning ideas. The paper gives seven reasons why a strong and consistent brand idea is a valuable asset, citing the dangers of undermining this value if employees do not have a sense of ownership, and urges all organisations to be single-minded in articulating their brand idea and to create coherence between that idea and what they aspire to achieve.
Chipping away at the granite mountain: Challenges in transitional leadership for system change
Authors: Turner Curtis W.
Published: July 2024

The University of South Alabama (UoSA) has a mission to deliver health care to the underserved community and provide for the education of future paediatric healthcare providers. Previously, the UoSA paediatric residency ambulatory clinic had a large percentage of missed appointments or ‘no-shows’, which hampered the revenue cycle, patient care and education of medical students and paediatric physicians in training. UoSA has since opened the door to enhance paediatric patient flow through the implementation of ‘on demand’ or an open access scheduling system. Open access scheduling has decreased the number of missed appointments. In addition, the volume of phone calls for families attempting to schedule future appointments also decreased in a short time. The implementation of this system involved an internal analysis performed on the problems that obstructed the clinics’ performance. Under new leadership, the clinic created a new system of templates and schedules that accelerated the rate at which patients were seen and enforced individual responsibility among resident physician providers and advanced paediatric practitioners (APP). Scheduling changes included appointment templates that incorporated ‘wave’ scheduling and staggered start times. Implementation of these templates increased the number of available appointments or open access and decreased the number of no-shows. The number of incomplete charts decreased, resulting in an improved revenue cycle, as evidenced by collections. Residents were also given educational resources and visual reminders to improve the accuracy and consistency of billing and coding procedures. The educational efforts addressed the knowledge deficit about billing and coding, increasing the number of encounters that were documented as moderate complexity. The educational components consisted of reading papers and applying knowledge to billing and coding case scenarios or vignettes. In addition, billing and coding practices were reviewed in detail during patient encounters to provide instantaneous feedback. Overall, the clinic had improved access to patient care and a decreased number of missed appointments and missed billing opportunities, leading to improved collections. Some of the issues discussed in this paper include chaotic clinic scheduling, incomplete charts affecting billing and revenue cycle, large numbers of no-shows for appointments, lack of resources due to a negative budget and a need for educating residents about billing and coding.
How to play nicely: The current law of party wall surveyors’ duties , and what to do with it
Authors: Webber Richard
Published: July 2024

This paper aims to set out the current state of the law on the duties and responsibilities of party wall surveyors, in the context of historic and recent case law, with a particular focus on Welter v McKeeve (2018) and Walsh v PSB Management & others (2022), and based on that to give the reader a practical guide to dealing with the difficulties of being instructed by one party but having duties to that party jointly with others. It identifies a trend in case law on party wall surveyors’ duties of having particular regard to the rights and interests of the adjoining owner and notes a potential inconsistency with the client-facing duties owed by party wall surveyors appointed by building owners. It discusses the extent to which, and manner in which, party wall surveyors should include their appointing owners in their investigation and decision-making process. It concludes that these might best be resolved by acting as impartially as possible commensurate with the surveyor’s duties to their appointing owner, keeping the parties reasonably informed, but at all times retaining control over the decision-making process. The law is stated as at February 2024.
Creating a workplace fit for your current and future workforce
Authors: Mohiuddine Lawrence
Published: July 2024

Is corporate real estate (CRE) dead? Not at all. This paper shows that while how people use space, why they want an office and what is needed in the workplace has changed, the office itself remains fundamental to businesses across the globe. Indeed, as Unispace EMEA saw in its `Returning for Good’ study, 75 per cent of organisations have increased their office footprint in the last two years to keep up with the demand from employees and to create or enhance hospitality spaces, with a further 74 per cent planning to do so by 2025. This paper demonstrates why the office is here to stay, and will be the success factor behind workplace returns, increasing employee loyalty and attracting new talent.