bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A review of payments interoperability in the Southern African Development Community region
Authors: Gillis Brad , Pillay Rishi
Published: July 2024

Payments interoperability is a concept that is widely misunderstood, or at the very least, considered in a very narrow sense. The authors hope to provide an extensive explanation of the concept and to highlight the conditions necessary to achieve interoperability as well as the pervasiveness in the SADC Region. The authors will present a vision for payments interoperability in SADC based on a five-tier model that encompasses socio-economic, technical and regulatory issues. The envisaged benefits to the region are described in some detail, and readers will get a sense of some of the current developments that form the basis for the future payments regime of SADC. The proliferation of electronic payments in order to achieve cash displacement is deemed possible only with an effective cross border, multi-currency interoperable payments environment. The authors wish to promote awareness; debate and action that will ultimately see an efficient payments system contribute to the growth of the region and the uplift of the living standards of its residents.
Using truncated Lévy flight to estimate downside risk
Authors: Xiong James X.
Published: July 2024

It is well known that the normal distribution model fails to describe the fat tails of markets. The Lévy stable distribution model, meanwhile, has fat tails but leads to an infinite variance, thus complicating risk estimation. This study introduces truncated Lévy flight (TLF) — a better distribution model that has fat tails, finite variance, and more importantly, scaling properties. The paper uses TLF to estimate the downside risk of a variety of asset classes. The downside risk measure used is the conditional value-at-risk (CVaR). The study shows that the lognormal model can underestimate the monthly CVaR by 2.27 per cent for the S&P 500 Index, 0.48 per cent for the US Long-Term Government Bond Index, and 1.16 per cent for the MSCI UK Equity Index. Moreover, the paper extends a univariate TLF model to a multivariate TLF model to study the impact of fat tails on portfolios' downside risk and wealth accumulation.
Changing company demands and priorities are driving new ways of working and innovation between the CRE organisation and its trusted thought partners — the service providers
Authors: Ehrenberg Maureen
Published: July 2024

The business environment is changing rapidly due to globalisation, technology, increased competition, interdependent financial markets etc. In response, new business trends are occurring and companies need to employ innovative responses to ensure that they are leading their industry. Resilient, flexible and decisive companies and leaders are defining the new global marketplace by devising innovative work and operations strategies. Corporate real estate (CRE) organisations must navigate these trends and build strategies with the business to create an efficient, globalised, flexible and more virtual work environment. It is the responsibility of the CRE organisation to look at its service providers as partners which will expand its resources and help to optimise the potential impact of their combined forces. By gaining access to its service providers’ cutting-edge technology, metrics and reporting, subject matter experts, research etc, CRE organisations can build new solutions and incredible capacity from a network of trusted partners. The organisations that most effectively collaborate and leverage their partners effectively will be those that create competitive advantage for their companies.
Media usage patterns of social media users
Authors: Viswanathan Vijay , Schultz Don E , Block Martin
Published: July 2024

With growing use of multiple media, firms have to understand the combination of media used by their target segments. This study examines the use of multiple media by two important target segments — individuals who use social media to seek product information, and those who use social media to share product information. The theoretical framework is based on the premise that understanding individuals’ motivations for searching or sharing information can help explain the combination of media they consume. A multiple discrete-continuous extreme value (MDCEV) model that allows use of multiple media is used for the estimation. The study reveals interesting differences in the combination of media consumed by these groups of individuals. Individuals who regularly seek product information spend more time on the internet and less time on television and radio during primetime. Individuals who share product information using social media, however, spend more time on television and internet. The results have important implications for firms’ media plans and communication strategies.
Underground waterproofing: A case study of a commercial basement in Glasgow
Authors: Bouse Gary
Published: July 2024

This paper deals with the design of a bespoke waterproofing system in accordance with BS 8102 — 2009. This is the British Standards Institute Code of Practice for Protection of Below Ground Structures Against Water from the Ground. The paper provides a synopsis of the problems of and solutions to providing drainage and underground waterproofing in a retail unit in Glasgow. In this case the client was sub-letting the commercial unit, and as part of the conditions, the basement area had to be renovated to make it usable for storage of stock and other non-specific materials.
Infrastructure development/investment (why airports invest)
Authors: Leucci Giulio
Published: July 2024

Airports are capital intensive enterprises and in order to minimize the risk on large capital programs, airport managers should adopt flexible solutions and a stepped approach to capacity increase. Dynamic strategic planning together with a critical alignment of the infrastructure development with the airport business and customers strategy, offer the airport management the possibility to manage more efficiently large capital expenditures.
Place-making in support of preventative public health: Lessons arising from NHS England’s Healthy New Towns project
Authors: Thrift Julia
Published: July 2024

There is robust evidence that the places where people live have a profound influence on whether or not they are able to live healthy lives. This link between quality of place and well-being is now recognised by the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) and is viewed as a key progenitor of pernicious health inequalities. Increasingly, it is also being recognised and reflected in UK national planning policy. Planning policy is weak, however, with few mandatory quality standards, and many of the new homes and places being built in the UK are of a poor quality. Unless there is an urgent effort to strengthen and co-ordinate national policy regarding public health, planning and housing, it is highly likely that the design and management of the built environment will continue to increase the already large health inequalities between rich and poor. In support of thinking anew about place-making as preventative public health, this paper reports insights and lessons arising from NHS England’s Healthy New Towns project.
The development of a regional payment system in Central America: A step towards further integration and economic development
Authors: Dubón Enrique García , Heinrich Gregor
Published: July 2024

Closer cooperation between neighbouring countries has throughout the ages been part of their respective political agendas. In many regions of the world, the desire to create efficient economic spaces, and eventually perhaps even political union, has been one of the driving forces behind political and institutional frameworks created in pursuit of such goals. Often, such goals have suffered setbacks, delays, changes in orientation, but also progress. The central banks of Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua — through their joint organisation, the Central American Monetary Council (CMCA) — have recently inaugurated the regional interlinked payment system known as the SIP (Sistema de Interconexión de Pagos de Centroamérica y República Dominicana). The SIP is the framework for the interlinking of the region’s payment systems, allowing for cross-border ‘electronic funds transfers’ between parti­cipants without the need for corresponding banking relationships with institutions inside or outside the region. The system is the result of a broad programme for financial infrastructure development in the region, which was formally initiated in 2004. This represents a large step forward towards further integration in the region. This paper offers an overview of the goals and practical functioning of SIP and the various steps leading up to its implementation within the context of regional integration.
Next skilling talent for the intelligent automation revolution
Authors: Ramekar Aniket A. , Bloomquist Emily J. , Kamath Janine R. (Coelho) , Larsen Dorothy A.
Published: July 2024

The increased use of intelligent automation (IA) is challenging organisations to rethink their business models and focus on agility, consumer centricity, innovation and operations excellence. Recognising the global impact of COVID-19, rapid changes in technology, data-driven decision-making and competition for differentiated talent, the Department of Management Engineering and Consulting (ME&C) prioritised the next skilling of talent to proactively prepare for the increased use of IA. This paper discusses our strategic approach, best practice interventions and diversity of methods to prepare ME&C staff. In alignment with Mayo Clinic’s new strategy to the year 2030, which is a catalyst for staff to develop the skills needed to transform healthcare, ME&C leveraged the 70-20-10 model for learning and development. Various next skilling interventions were adopted to disseminate knowledge and accelerate skill building across the IA continuum of discovery, translation and application. Commercial digital offerings were used, and various Mayo Clinic offerings (eg a series of artificial intelligence [AI] seminars, a journal club and an IA community of practice) were introduced. A crowdsourcing website was created to promote learnings focused on industry insights on AI, robotics, cloud computing, digital transformation and platform scalability. ME&C staff engaged with multidisciplinary teams on the execution of IA strategic priorities. Through diverse interventions, ME&C validated the importance of experimenting, learning from experiences (inside and outside Mayo Clinic) and developing reusable assets such as frameworks and playbooks. While engaging in initiatives that covered a constellation of technologies, staff learnt about the applied value of emerging technologies, business implications and considerations for consumer and staff experiences. We believe that our project will inform other organisations in their quest to build IA capabilities to accelerate business transformation while developing talent.
An investigation of the possible effects of some innovative solutions for increasing the runway system capacity of Dubai International Airport (DXB)
Authors: Janić Milan
Published: July 2024

The paper deals with an investigation into the possible effects of some short- to medium-term solutions for increasing the runway system capacity at currently capacity-constrained airports facing growing airside demand. The main hypothesis is that one of the prospective solutions can be the implementation of innovative operational procedures supported by the new technologies developed in the scope of European SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) and US NextGen (Next Generation) development programmes. In such a context, this investigation consists of an analysis of the characteristics of the given innovative operational procedures and supportive new technologies and then modelling their possible effects on the runway system capacity of a given airport. For such a purpose, the existing analytical models for estimating the ‘ultimate’ and ‘practical’ capacity of the system of two closely spaced parallel runways have been appropriately modified and applied to Dubai International Airport (DXB) in the UAE. The results have indicated that the innovative operational procedures supported by new technologies could have some potential for increasing both the ‘ultimate’ and ‘practical’ capacity of the runway system at the given airport (DXB) under given conditions, and consequently contribute to postponing its full saturation under conditions of continuously growing demand.
Effects of area-based heritage management on demolition by neglect: Comparing rates in historic urban boroughs
Authors: Newman Galen
Published: July 2024

The approach of American preservationists differs from European heritage management by remaining primarily locally regulated while many European cities practise an area-based approach. Growth management and historic preservation are intrinsically linked but the connections between the two are not fully understood. Local authorities alone do not sufficiently meet the needs to regulate the process of demolition by neglect (DBN). This paper seeks to understand if area-based approaches directly or indirectly affect DBN, expanding on these principles by comparing amounts of neglect in historic urban boroughs with differing amounts of peripheral preserved farmlands. The research compares two historic urban boroughs in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a leading region for sprawling development, historic preservation and agricultural preservation in the USA. The results indicate that, as the amount of preserved farmland increases, rates of DBN tend to decrease, but only indirectly.
Benchmarking the Indian Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 against data protection frameworks in Singapore, the EU, US and Australia
Authors: Chacko Mathew , Mishra Shambhavi
Published: July 2024

This paper benchmarks the Indian Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 in comparison to its global counterparts and identifies ambiguities, defects and issues with the new law that might complicate compliance by global businesses. The paper suggests reforms and approaches based on learnings from best practices under data protection laws in the EU, Singapore, the USA and Australia.
Enterprise case and investigation management: A modern vision
Authors: Sullivan Sean
Published: July 2024

Organisations are under severe scrutiny to better address risk, particularly in the financial industry, due to serious cases of risk mismanagement, to say nothing of stringent compliance and regulatory pressures. However, they also need to tackle this with fewer resources and in a more cost-effective manner.This paper will discuss the way in which financial institutions are addressing operational risk management, based around the issues of cost reduction and the ways in which they can have a more holistic view of their enterprise.It will outline the issues faced by institutions, illustrate what executives are doing to empower the front-line investigators and analysts who review risk cases on a daily basis; discuss the best enterprise case management practices that are emerging in the field and how these can reduce costs; as well as explaining how a bird's-eye view of risk across silos and a unified front end results in productivity gains, reduced losses, and an increased capacity to handle regulatory complexity.
Legal considerations when managing counterparty credit risk in OTC derivatives
Authors: Miller Edward , Reid Sarah
Published: July 2024

This paper analyses the main legal considerations for a party trading over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives transactions in the context of managing its counterparty credit risk. The paper looks at netting and collateral as key mitigants to counterparty credit risk. Each mitigant is examined in the context of normal trading conditions as well as following a default by a counterparty or the insolvency of a counterparty. As the subject of the paper is OTC derivatives, its analysis centres on the suite of industry-standard legal documentation published by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) which is almost universally used as the framework documentation for OTC derivatives.
Transformation of the content life cycle at Edrington — The home of exceptional spirits
Authors: De La Motte Megan
Published: July 2024

This paper identifies and provides solutions to the challenges faced in digital asset management (DAM) within the context of a global premium spirits company. Through example use cases and reference to other studies, the paper explains the considerations to be addressed when transforming DAM from a static repository to a dynamic source system at the centre of media syndication. Assessment of the user requirements from the perspective of the brand content creators, digital asset management team and the end user (be it within the company, creative agencies, joint ventures or customers) is provided, and the approach to solving these differing needs explained. The paper provides insight into the early identification of potential issues around asset protection, the flexibility of taxonomy and how to future-proof a DAM system to ensure wider integrations are achievable with DAM as the one source of truth for media. Soft skills such as active listening and user empathy have proven to be an important part of the approach, therefore practical ways to improve these skills are suggested, including communication techniques and bringing stakeholders on the transformation journey to provide them with a clear vision of the future.
Understanding the benefits of SWIFT gpi for corporates
Authors: Hofmann Christof
Published: July 2024

Within the world of payments, progress with SWIFT’s global payments innovation (SWIFT gpi) initiative — particularly how the benefits are now being realised by multi-banked corporates — has become a topic of significant interest. While SWIFT gpi is already a well-known success story in the payments industry, little has been discussed about the new SWIFT gpi for corporates (g4C) solution. This paper provides further background on Deutsche Bank’s work on this solution, in addition to a summary of Roche’s practical suggestions for other treasury departments that are looking to reap the benefits of this new industry standard.
sekTOR-HF: A research project for cross-sectoral needs-based care for patients with heart failure and for the development of an alternative remuneration model - Part 1
Authors: Walter Dominik , Simon Ira , Zehe Denise , Arnold Matthias , Divchev Dimitar , Wolter Antke , Korfhage Thorben , Griewing Bernd
Published: July 2024

Heart failure (HF) is one of the most common hospital admissions diagnoses and causes of death in Germany. In the care of HF, there are false incentives owing to quantity-based remuneration and separate remuneration models for inpatient and outpatient care. The research project of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG, ‘sekTOR-HF’, has been promoted by the German government’s innovation fund and is intended to ensure better care for HF patients in Germany with the help of optimal coordination of the cross-sectoral care process and new incentives in remuneration. Part 1 describes the initial situation and concept that paved the way for the project in 2020. Patient inclusion began in March 2021. After the project has been completed, in November 2023, a second part will present the project evaluation and the results.
Emerging trends in insurance coverage: Massive encryption attacks create urgent need for business interruption and cyber coverage
Authors: Hoar Sean , Marchel Peter M.
Published: July 2024

The evolving online digital threats to businesses have created an urgent need for insurance coverage products to mitigate the risk of loss due to business interruption. This need is driven by the expanded digital environment in which our information resides. The amount of data generated, transmitted and stored by businesses continues to expand at exponential rates. A related trend is that many businesses are going ‘paperless’, and an increasing number of professional services firms are storing all their data in the Cloud for enhanced security. Unfortunately, the more valuable the target, the more likely that it will be attacked. Consequently, malicious actors continue to follow the data into the cloud, which is not immune to data breaches. Businesses of all sizes, and in all sectors, continue to be targeted. If they have sensitive data (and most do), it can be stolen and monetised. If they have operational data (and all do), it can be encrypted and leveraged for extortion. If that were not enough, the cost of data security incidents continues to rise, in part due to increased regulation. All this is causing risk managers to pursue, with a sense of urgency, expanded business interruption and cyber insurance coverage to help mitigate both first and third-party economic risks. This paper reviews the trends in online digital threats, the corresponding trends in insurance coverage, and enterprise risk management measures that can be taken to better protect sensitive and operational data and mitigate the economic harm from data security incidents.
Rebranding: Yes or no?
Authors: Dugar Anurag
Published: July 2024

Marketing managers have to keep their brands relevant for consumers, and they do this in a variety of ways. Two popular ways are: constantly developing new products that are relevant for consumers; and refreshing the corporate visual identity (CVI) from time to time. Both strategies have their own pluses and minuses. As students of marketing usually study topics in isolation, they usually fail to appreciate the intricacies that marketing managers face in real-time when the topics interact with each other and create complex decision-making scenarios. This case study has been developed with the objective of sensitising students of marketing towards the finer nuances of marketing decision making that top managers face in real organisations. The case concerns a situation where a top car brand from India is facing an identity crisis. The brand is handled by a young manager, Raghav, who is the protagonist of the story. As expected, he uses a copy-book approach towards handling the problem but finds himself in a very tough situation. The case allows readers to become well-versed in the techniques of critical analysis of the situation as well as of the information available. It will also help readers dig deeper into the domains of new product development and brand repositioning. The case study will aid in triggering debate because it touches upon an area of particular interest to marketers. Furthermore, readers (being consumers themselves) have first-hand experience of brand repositioning. As this is a very interesting area, the business press and academic research allocate generous space to covering cases whenever and wherever they occur. Thus, students will not lack material to analyse and on which build their point of view.
Planning and implementing conversation-led marketing
Authors: Wenzek Hagen , Pangaro Paul
Published: July 2024

Digitised media channels have given brands unparalleled opportunities to engage consumers in conversation. Here the authors propose a strict definition of conversation and its elements, in order to show prior limitations of consumer engagement and as a guide to deeper and more fulfilling interactions for all participants. To date, even though the marketer can use Big Data to identify the right audience and ‘programmatic advertising’ to reach that audience effectively, too few campaigns are seen to succeed. It is less the technology, but more the processes behind it and their governance that are failing. When the authors created the CLEAT management framework, they wanted to give the marketing professional comprehensive guidance on what it takes to successfully conduct conversations from the initial contact and context setting all the way to a commercial transaction. Since then they have found numerous use cases where its implementation led to higher marketing performance. The authors share some of these examples and discuss new technologies that enable each step along the process.
Applicability of land readjustment in urban regeneration in Hong Kong
Authors: Yau Yung , Cheng Ching Yin
Published: July 2024

To solve the age-old problem of urban decay in Hong Kong, fostering a building care culture in the community is certainly a long-term approach. With a view to the immediate effects, resort is often made to redevelopment of dilapidated buildings in the city. Hindrances in redevelopment projects caused by land assembly are not rare, however. In light of the hardship in the land assembly process, the technique of land readjustment (LR) has been proposed. While LR has gained popularity in Western Europe and East Asia because of the fairer and more socially desirable outcomes that it generates, the applicability of this technique in a high-rise, high-density, urban setting such as Hong Kong has not been explored. In a comprehensive literature review, overseas case studies were analysed, and a list of critical factors (eg the power of compulsory purchase and strong leaders to coordinate the project) for a successful LR project was generated. Against these identified critical factors, the applicability of LR in urban regeneration in Hong Kong is assessed. The findings from this study offer valuable insights for the public administrators and town planners into the application of the LR technique in Hong Kong.
Aligning a company's people strategy with its business strategy and brand strategy
Authors: Holland Jennifer , Weathers Jackie
Published: July 2024

Every company, no matter how big or small, faces challenges in earning customers, increasing profits and building value. This paper shares findings of a paradigm in aligning a company's brand and people at every step toward success, while showing how to demonstrate a clear, consistent synergistic level of commitment to brand-building and people-building. The Holland Helix model interweaves the three essential elements for increasing profits — business, brand and people — in an integrated approach to operationalise a brand in order to build its value. This highly strategic model incorporates a methodology and process to grow systematically nearly any business; it helps in overcoming challenges — regardless of the company's size. Brand development is a strategic initiative, aligning business and brand strategies to communicate a unique and compelling distinction. The key element, which is too often missing, is a people strategy. With that in mind, every touch point — any time someone comes in contact with a business, whether internal or external — is examined.
Let’s settle this on the (online) gridiron: Examining perceptions of rival brands and platforms in gaming and sport
Authors: Havard Cody T. , Fuller Rhema D. , Padhye Yash
Published: July 2024

This study investigates the differences in perceptions of rival brands and outgroup members between fans of sport teams and electronic gaming/e-sports. Using the theoretical underpinnings of social identity theory, rivalry, in-group bias and the common in-group model, the authors compare the influence of setting and belonging to multiple in-groups on fandom and rival perceptions in sport and gaming. The study finds that compared with gaming fans and participants, fans of sport teams tend to report stronger negative perceptions of their rival teams and supporters. The study also finds that being a fan of both a sport team and gaming tends to influence more positive perceptions of rival brands and out-group members than being a fan of sport or gaming only. Finally, gamers that use an online platform report more negative perceptions of console platforms than vice versa, and ethnicity presents interesting influence on gaming participants. Implications for marketing professionals along with avenues for future investigation are also discussed.
Credit derivatives: Banks' behaviour, financial stability and banking regulation
Authors: Karras Konstantinos N.
Published: July 2024

This paper studies the emergence and development of credit derivatives, and how they have significantly changed the area of credit risk management. In studying the behavioural effects of credit derivatives on banks' behaviour, the theoretical analysis incorporates the modelling of optimal bank capital reserves with the use of credit derivatives by employing an inventory management framework. It is shown that credit derivatives can lead banks to reduce their capital buffer stock, which can have multiple effects on banks' behaviour. By considering these effects in parallel with the existing literature, this paper investigates the implications of credit derivatives with respect to financial stability and banking regulation.
Choosing the right sourcing model for CRE outsourcing agreements
Authors: Vitasek Kate , Fenn Ingrid , Flynn Michele
Published: July 2024

Modern outsourcing is more than a typical make– buy decision. Rather, there is a wide range of sourcing business models that today’s practitioners can choose from. Unfortunately, the fundamental nature of how goods and services are procured is not keeping pace with best practices of tapping into more mature sourcing business models; many business professionals wrongly assume that a transaction-based business model is the only way to architect a supplier contract. This paper provides an easy to understand framework for classifying the various contracting approaches along a sourcing continuum. A key goal of the paper is to help organisations not just understand the various models, but also learn when to use each model. The paper suggests an easy to follow ‘Business Model Mapping’ approach organisations can use to make the decision about what is the most appropriate sourcing business model for their situation.
Use cases of large language models in marketing analytics
Authors: Robbert Katherine , Penn Christopher , Wall John
Published: July 2024

This paper explores the use cases of large language models (LLMs) in marketing analytics. The authors introduce generative artificial intelligence (AI) and its application in marketing, focusing on LLMs and their underlying architectures of transformers and diffusers. The paper discusses various use cases of LLMs in marketing, including marketing strategy analysis, data summarisation and recommendations, analysis and insights generation, bias reduction, increased productivity, trend spotting and risk management. It emphasises the importance of skilled team collaboration, subject matter expertise and careful preparation when implementing generative AI in marketing analytics. The authors also address the risks and measurement of performance associated with the use of generative AI in marketing.
The three-trillion dollar market brands should not overlook
Authors: Alexis Christine
Published: July 2024

Thanks to its continuous growth and increasing buying power, the multicultural market can sustain a business or brand even during the toughest of times. Brands that fail to invest in this market now will find themselves having to spend a tremendous amount of money down the line to gain their loyalty. While acquiring this group can have lasting financial benefits, brands must proceed with caution as any attempt to penetrate this group with insensitive messaging can have a profoundly negative impact. Social media offer one of the best ways to reach this market and can be used as a way of providing this group with a more tailored, personalised brand experience that can lead to greater sales. This paper reviews the use of social media in cultural marketing, focusing in particular on Asian American, African American and Hispanic American markets. The article concludes with recommendations for marketers before launching a campaign targeting the multicultural consumer.
Urban streets and social interactions in ‘third places’: The urban regeneration of Al Wakrah Old Souq (State of Qatar)
Authors: Kutty Najeeba , Furlan Raffaello
Published: July 2024

The social-spatial complexity of a city can be explored through the relationship between its built forms and users’ daily social activities. Researchers argue that there is a relationship between the built environment, social interactions and activities within commercial streets: the presence of a variety of businesses encourages social interactions. As stressed by sociologist Ray Oldenburg,1 ‘third places’ can be regarded as areas of public interest, away from work or home, encouraging social interactions due to a diversity of commercial activity. In order to create a liveable city, therefore, it is necessary to understand the extent to which social interactions at the microscale level are generated by social activities on commercial streets. This research study explores these issues in the context of the urban regeneration of Al Wakrah Corniche Street, a commercial area located in a medium-sized Qatari town. The research design is based on: 1) a theoretical; and 2) an analytical/applied approach. The data obtained through behavioural mapping and visual on-site surveys allowed the determination of each location’s Liveliness Index (LI), which measures the characteristics of a setting in terms of social interaction and engagement. The findings reveal that: 1) the LI for ‘third places’ is higher when compared to other businesses; 2) ‘third places’ along the Corniche Stretch encourage social interactions; and finally 3) specific physical characteristics, such as the degree of permeability, degree of personalisation, seating provided by businesses, shade and shelter within commercial streets, contribute to the urban regeneration of the built environment and/or enhance social interactions in third places.
Contract digitisation and analytics: Goodbye paper audits, welcome to real-time scoring
Authors: Duemler Joan
Published: July 2024

Intel’s global supply chain (GSC) is continually innovating in pursuit of an autonomous digital supply chain. In Q4 2018, the indirect materials team identified a formidable challenge: reading all contract documents to assess and identify key vulnerabilities in the contract. After conducting external scans of contract analytics solutions, the advanced analytics team embarked on a journey to disrupt the contract domain. In this paper they share their insights and the solution they achieved with their stakeholders, rich with business content expertise and robust analytics.
Behind a success story: How the NFL used digital marketing to grow a mainstream sports audience in the UK
Authors: King Jamie , Wiltshire Lewis
Published: July 2024

The US National Football League (NFL) staged its first regular season game in London in 2007. Since then, London has hosted 28 games, featuring 31 of the 32 teams that make up the NFL. These games have provided local relevance in the market, while the season-long marketing approach taken by the NFL has grown the fanbase to the point where the UK can be considered ‘franchise-ready’ for an NFL team to move there at some point. This paper looks at how the NFL has used digital and social media marketing to appeal to this strong fanbase while continuing to bring in new audiences and deliver high levels of growth, with a view to making American football a mainstream sport in the UK.
Growth-linked anti-cyclical debt: A solution for Europe’s public debt overhangs
Authors: Gallo Alberto , Tyrrell-Hendry Lee , Popovic Mateja , Pan Tao , Grant Ashleigh
Published: July 2024

European governments are overburdened with debt, yet Europe’s debt-centred financial markets lack a mechanism to efficiently reduce overhangs. In the private sector, household and corporate losses have left €1tn of non-performing loans on the balance sheets of banks, which have grown to 3.1 × GDP. In the public sector, despite the recent introduction of collective action clauses on sovereign bonds, the Greek example highlights still-limited flexibility to restructure sovereign debt. In this paper we analyse the impact of flexible debt that adjusts interest payments in line with growth performance: growth-linked anti-cyclical debt (GLAD). We model the economic impact of replacing nominal debt with growth-linked bonds for an economy subject to random external shocks as well as political cycles (eg pre-election excess spending). Our analysis shows GLAD bonds reduce the probability of austerity-debt spirals, by easing the burden of interest payments on economies hit by negative shocks, and smoothing cycles. GLAD bonds are naturally a more volatile instrument than normal fixed rate bonds, but they can be calibrated to give the same average payoff as a normal bond, ie compensating for the transfer of risk from creditors to debtors. In a currency union, where monetary policy is set based on the whole and therefore based mostly on large countries, GLAD bonds can provide an additional channel of flexibility for small countries.
Strategic risk management: The failure of HBOS and its regulators
Authors: Mcconnell Patrick J.
Published: July 2024

In a long awaited joint report into the failure of the UK bank, Halifax/Bank of Scotland (HBOS), the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) concluded that the bank had failed because the Board ‘placed inappropriate reliance on continuous growth without due regard to the risks involved [and …] The result was a flawed and unbalanced strategy and a business model with inherent vulnerabilities’ (see https://www.fca.org.uk/news/ publication-of-hbos-failure-review). This conclusion was not a surprise as, in 2004, the predecessor to the FCA reportedly told the Board of HBOS that their aggressive growth strategy was an ‘accident waiting to happen’ (see http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/ joint-select/professional-standards-in-the-banking-industry/news/an-accident-waiting-to-happenthe- failure-of-hbos/). In 2008 the accident happened and HBOS collapsed under a mountain of debt, requiring a government-backed takeover by Lloyds TSB bank and the injection of over £20bn of UK taxpayers’ support. Although HBOS did indulge in lending to some ‘sub-prime’ borrowers, this was not a major contributor to its failure; rather, to meet its growth targets, the bank had made some very risky loans to the corporate sector. Regulators concluded that this was just ‘bad banking’. Ultimately, while the initial impetus for the collapse was an inability to fund its assets, the bank failed because an economic downturn affected its corporate lending portfolio which had grown massively as a result of its misguided growth strategy. The UK parliamentary enquiry (see http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt201213/jtselect/jtpcbs/144/144vw.pdf) into the HBOS collapse labelled the bank’s strategy ‘incompetent and reckless’. This paper looks at the collapse of HBOS as an example of a failure of strategic risk management (SRM), in particular the failure of the board and senior management first to identify and then to mitigate the risks that were inherent in its chosen business strategy and that eventually brought a once-thriving bank to a very messy end. The paper also considers deficiencies in the regulation of HBOS’s strategy and makes recommendations that aim to improve the regulation of risks to the strategies of large banks.
(Re)imagining giving societies: The case study of Moravian University
Authors: Breckinridge Robert E. , Smith Luke , Weaver Jessica , Zondag Marissa
Published: July 2024

In this paper, the authors describe Moravian University's efforts to create and enhance several giving societies over the past three years. The COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to reach out to the university's supporters with new ideas to engage and cultivate them in novel ways. For the three newly created giving societies — for families, women and lifetime giving — the authors provide the underlying reasoning for their creation, how they were named and built and how members are recruited and stewarded. The reasons for enhancing two existing societies — for leadership giving and planned giving — is also described, with specific details provided on the changes and how they were implemented. The authors offer several key takeaways from their experience, from conducting research and finding a champion to using institutional history or points of pride and being patient.
Ensuring good governance throughout the product life-cycle: A financial planner’s view
Authors: Bamford Nick
Published: July 2024

Chartered financial planner status is a relatively new concept in UK financial services. Practitioners have a higher standard of qualification (QCF level 6) than the baseline entry level required by the Financial Conduct Authority Rules which is set at QCF level 4 Diploma. Many chartered financial planners charge explicit fees to their client where advice is not dependent upon the implementation of a financial product: this advice will often be supported by a full and comprehensive financial plan, often supported by lifetime cash flow forecasting. Where a financial product is needed as part of a solution aimed at achieving client goals and objectives, most chartered financial planners will select such product solutions from the whole of the market. They will satisfy the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) definition of ‘independent’.
Managing video content in an ‘always on’ world
Authors: Verrell Mike
Published: July 2024

The current explosion of video content is a double-edged sword for organisations. While video may create new opportunities to engage with audiences, it also brings a plethora of challenges, not least of which is the sheer volume and speed at which this content is created, uploaded and shared. As a result, today’s digital and marketing professionals are under considerable pressure to keep track of who is doing what and where within the organisation while ensuring that industry regulation and rights protection is taking place. Keeping track of this potential tangle of content requires a high calibre of content management, and digital asset management plays a key role in achieving this. The paper also includes a detailed example from Discovery Education to illustrate best practice, not just in terms of video, but managing a complex and fast-moving content creation and publishing environment.
Improving multicultural marketing: Between-group and within-group segmentation approaches
Authors: Villarreal Ricardo
Published: July 2024

This paper reviews the evolution of segmentation approaches used in multicultural marketing. The benefits and limitations of the standard between-group segmentation (BGS) approach are presented as a basis to discuss advancements on the BGS approach. The paper suggests that the within-group segmentation (WGS) approach provides an important alternative to the BGS approach. Two different examples of a WGS approach are presented. The paper suggests that the true variable of interest in multicultural marketing is ethnicity. Reasons for focusing on ethnicity and its definition are presented and tested using a more complex statistical methodology for a WGS approach. The paper concludes with a summary of the relationships between the approaches.
The legal and economic implications from recent UK spoofing cases
Authors: Leonard Greg , Cao Yan , Haas Marlene , Mocek Gregory
Published: July 2024

UK and US financial market regulators have intensified their efforts in securities and commodities markets to detect and pursue the type of disruptive trading behaviour referred to as ‘layering or spoofing’. Surveying the legal landscape of spoofing prosecutions and actions across the Atlantic, the authors note the UK’s fewer publicly announced enforcement actions relative to the USA. The UK has, however, taken a number of actions in recent years that signal its commitment to enforcing laws against market manipulation in general, and spoofing in particular. The authors discuss legal and economic implications of two prominent examples of UK spoofing cases: the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) investigation of Michael Coscia and FCA vs DaVinci. The authors find that although the trading strategies employed by Coscia and DaVinci were different in some aspects, the two cases share important common characteristics that regulators appeared to have relied on to determine whether the conduct constituted ‘spoofing’.
Bilingual memory: The impact of acculturation on the cognitive structure of foreign-born Hispanics
Authors: Beniflah Dr Jake , Chatterjee Sharmila C. , Curtis Kerry P.
Published: July 2024

For more than three decades, the prevailing view in Hispanic marketing is that US Hispanics have a ‘preference’ for Spanish. This paper contends that this is an over-simplification, and applies two theories of bilingual memory — the Revised Hierarchical Model and the Conceptual Feature Model — to help examine the cognitive structure of foreign-born Hispanics in the USA. Cognitive structure refers to a mental framework or schema that organises and retains learned facts. This study proposes that the cognitive structure of foreign-born Hispanics changes based on their level of acculturation. Using experiments, the study finds statistically significant differences in the cognitive structures of first-generation Hispanics across three levels of acculturation — low, moderate and high. These results suggest that the optimal way to target foreign-born Hispanics depends on their level of acculturation. This challenges the commonly held view that first-generation Hispanics are a monolithic group and that Spanish is their language of ‘preference’. This study has the potential to influence how organisations develop segmentation and communication strategies to target first-generation Hispanics, who make up an estimated 40 per cent of the total Hispanic population, and clarify the role that Spanish plays in marketing to this segment. Although conducted in the context of Hispanics, this study has similar implications for other ethnic groups and thus has implications beyond Hispanic marketing.
Creating a brand strategy for a college of art, design, and architecture: Case study of Pratt Institute
Authors: Mcginnis Mara
Published: July 2024

Building a new brand at a college led by expert design practitioners is complicated, but also creates enormous enthusiasm and engagement. Success at Pratt Institute came from the inclusion of many stakeholders from different constituency groups and a willingness to embrace brand flexibility. Allowing fluidity in brand development may seem counterintuitive to ensuring consistency of look and message, but it is essential in the digital age and in a higher education environment where design is king.
The new gateway of DLT technologies (blockchain) for tech companies to invade the banking and financial market: What is the future of financial intermediaries?
Authors: Raffelini Alessandro
Published: July 2024

Blockchain can disintermediate several basic and well-established financial services. This paper supports the conviction that Blockchain applications and cryptocurrencies as digital money will achieve global adoption within the next few years in several sectors, particularly in the banking industry.
Interrelated factors driving the purchase of over-the-top television subscription services: A study using exploratory factor analysis and the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory method
Authors: Saini Chand P. , Gupta Neha
Published: July 2024

This study identifies the key factors motivating people to subscribe to over-the-top (OTT) services and examines the causal relationships between those factors. As it is a multiple criteria decision-making problem, the study embraces an integrated model of exploratory factor analysis and the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method. The latter technique is used to simplify the decision-making process and visualise the interrelationships between the motivation factors. The study identifies four key motivational factors: flexibility, content, variety and social status, of which content is the most crucial. The findings of this study will be of interest to marketing analysts and decision-makers seeking to measure, analyse and improve marketing performance in order to develop better strategies for marketing OTT services.