bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Breaking the reactionary cycle by investing in supply chain resilience
Authors: Aylor Ben , Burke Dustin , Kay Jeremy
Published: July 2024

Eighty per cent of companies are unprepared to quickly address disruptions and their operations are not structured to absorb disruptions over the long term, according to a recent Boston Consulting Group (BCG) survey. These companies need to strengthen their resilience — the ability to quickly identify and assess risks, react fast and absorb the impacts of disruptions across the supply chain. Although the pandemic-induced supply chain challenges are easing, now is the time for supply chain leaders to reinforce their commitment to resilience. Each company should determine the optimal level of supply chain resilience in its specific circumstances and risk profile. This paper sets out a wide variety of actions to build resilience. Investments that allow companies to ‘absorb’ disruptions (for example, network design, multisourcing, product redesign and inventory) are costly to employ across the board, so a targeted approach is necessary to maximise return on investment. Investments to ‘recover’ from disruptions (monitoring and sensing, predictive modelling and crisis response) can be cost-effective and offer the promise of a first-mover advantage when crises occur. All companies need both absorb and recover capabilities. Our research finds, however, that few companies excel in all these dimensions, and the frontrunners are investing to increase their advantage. Companies can apply these capabilities to define a strong resilience strategy. Steps include gaining visibility into your extended supply chain, quantifying potential disruptions and the cost of actions to reduce the associated risks, and understanding your current level of resilience and how resilient you want to become. With this information, supply chain leaders can secure the investment they need.
The relationship between fan identification and collegiate athletic apparel brand preference
Authors: Kirkpatrick Nathan , Eason Clifton
Published: July 2024

Fan identification often leads to emotional attachment and buying behaviour in sport fans. The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between fan identification and collegiate athletic apparel brand preference among an array of sport consumers. Three research questions are presented, and a Web-based survey was used to gather data to address these questions of interest. The survey was conducted through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk labour market, and, after data refinement, 394 respondents remained for analysis. Significant results showed: 70.8 per cent of respondents could accurately recall the sponsor of their favourite team’s uniforms. 66.5 per cent state they are more likely to buy apparel from the sponsoring brand of their favourite team. 43.5 per cent of respondents believed they would buy less of their favourite team’s present sponsoring brand if their team changed its apparel sponsor. As future spending intentions were significant for fan identification but not team loyalty, we conclude that identification is the more influential factor for sponsoring brands to consider in their branding and promotion strategies.
How social media can strengthen donor relationships
Authors: Roe Julie A. , Lazar Bruce L.
Published: July 2024

During a time when nonprofit leaders struggle to manage their donor base, there remain questions regarding the benefits of using social media to promote exchanges among donors and nonprofit organisations. The study described in this paper aimed to determine whether donors felt that using social media in their relationships with nonprofit organisations enhanced the relational attributes of trust, satisfaction, commitment and communal relationships. Social exchange and open systems theories formed the theoretical framework of the study. Using a social media addictive scale and a verified relationship scale, data were collected online from a randomly selected sample of 1,155 donors to a nonprofit organisation in the south-eastern USA. The researchers used multiple regressions and a multivariate analysis of variance to measure the connections among social media exchanges (predictor variables) and communal relationships, trust, commitment and satisfaction (criterion variables). The results reveal a significant contribution to the relational attributes of commitment and satisfaction, but marginal significance with communal relationships and trust. Nonprofit leaders can apply the findings by incorporating the interconnectivity of social media as a communication practice to foster donor relationships.
The e-commerce explosion: Rising to the challenge with digital asset management
Authors: Haws Matt
Published: July 2024

To remain competitive in today’s dynamic market, brands are under increasing pressure to provide their customers with the ultimate personalised experience. This means e-commerce strategies must be aligned across all platforms, and digital assets must be of the highest quality and consistency. A strong digital asset management (DAM) architecture enables brands to centralise assets and product information, ensuring content is unified and delivered to the right people, systems and channels at the right time. When carefully planned and managed, DAM provides a powerful engine for e-commerce. In this paper, readers will learn the efficacy of digital assets for e-commerce, how to manage asset data effectively, and the ability for brands to differentiate themselves through personalisation.
Understanding the chemistry of communicating effectively to an audience that is connected and engaged interactively in real time
Authors: Vanhonacker Wilfried R.
Published: July 2024

As social media and mobile technology enable consumers to have more time to engage with brands, the need to provide and leverage relevant and meaningful content has moved centre stage. But what do we mean by relevant and meaningful? Because of the nature of social network connectivity, all marketing communication, including traditional mass advertising, has essentially a real-time live audience that stretches across social network platforms. Although gaining some power over such an audience is a challenge, one can learn much from stand-up comedians. In fact, comedic brilliance is built on principles that delineate relevant and meaningful engagement in real time. This paper explores what it takes to create a remarkable, and hence memorable, live performance and as such provides guidelines on how brands should engage with audiences in the era of digital connectivity.
Adopting RegTech: A practical guide
Authors: Singh Harpreet
Published: July 2024

As the regulatory burden increased over the last decade, financial institutions aimed to consolidate their regulatory solution to improve efficiency and enhance compliance. RegTech grew as a segment with multiple vendors, financial institutions and regulators all working together to find solutions that would enable adherence to the rules. Newer technologies such as cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics began to dominate, with further innovations making regulatory systems more foolproof. Underpinning these advancements is the ability of the RegTech system to improve data management. In return, data quality enhancements provide reliable AI and more trustworthy RegTech systems. This paper analyses insights from global regulators on RegTech and underlying technologies, and provides practical guidance for implementation.
Using hotline data to build better board reports
Authors: Penman Carrie , Burt Andrew
Published: July 2024

This paper seeks to provide compliance and regulatory professionals, as well as board members, with the context, practices and essential questions necessary to utilise internal hotline data to create stronger, more informative and actionable board reports. In so doing, it will dispel common myths concerning the implications of higher internal report volumes, establish the measurable benefit of higher reporting rates and explore the impact this data can and should have on corporate governance. As the financial and reputational costs of compliance failures continue to rise, Boards of Directors have taken an increasing interest in risk management issues. Recent studies and analysis suggest that an organisation’s internal hotline reporting data can be a powerful indicator of a firm’s overall health and profitability, making it a valuable tool for boards in identifying and proactively managing risk. Board members face, however, several key challenges when trying to effectively interpret this data. Through presentation and training, compliance officers can help board members correctly analyse, contextualise and act on this information. This paper focuses primarily on US corporations; many of the challenges and practices outlined are also applicable to firms operating in non-US or multinational markets.
The language and style of ‘awards’
Authors: Kay Anthony
Published: July 2024

This paper, the second in a short series, deals with the language and style of awards within the wider context of dispute resolution. It reviews past and current judicial and quasi-judicial practice and guidance.
Transformation in the central securities depositories business: The Turkish example
Authors: Bora Karaağaçli , Özgür Uysal , Setenay Yağanoğlu
Published: July 2024

This paper begins with an introduction on the changing roles of CSDs along the CSD business value chain. Then it gives a short history of the CSD of Turkey’s (MKK’s) transformation from a core depository services provider into a Research and Development Center by providing information on the various value-added services that were developed by the CSD. In the last section, the paper presents future trends in the CSD business that utilize emerging technologies, concluding that CSDs need to diversify their services considering the rapid pace of evolution in the business.
A formula for success: How Formula One racing embraced digital and social media to engage fans
Authors: Wood Natalie T. , Burkhalter Janée N.
Published: July 2024

In January 2017, Liberty Media finalised its purchase of the world’s premier motor racing series, Formula 1. At the time of acquisition, the sport had developed a reputation as an ‘old boys club’. Global viewership and fan engagement were declining, and the sport had lost sponsors. This decline was largely attributed to a lack of marketing and a failure to adapt to the digital age. Liberty engaged in extensive marketing research to understand fans’ desires and interests to reverse this trend. Its research identified two key target markets: existing committed fans who skewed older and a new younger target market — millennials. To meet the needs of existing fans, Liberty developed a strategy that involved providing more detailed information about the sport through podcasts, enhanced YouTube videos and F1 TV streaming services. For younger fans new to the sport, Liberty created a number of initiatives across different platforms, including the Netflix docuseries ‘Drive to Survive’, an esports game, encouraging fans to vote for their favourite ‘Driver of the Day’, and promoting race-specific hashtags on social media. Liberty also recognised the importance and power of social media and the need for involvement at all levels of the sport — association, team, driver and sports member — to keep fans engaged year-round. This case study highlights the importance of data-informed decision making, understanding how fans are developed, what motivates them and how fan engagement manifests across different platforms.
ESG and airports: The benefits and risks of ESG reporting for US airports
Authors: Bannard David Y.
Published: July 2024

The subject of ESG — environmental, social and governance — disclosure and how airports are responding to the issues presented by these factors has become of great interest in the last few years. This paper will help familiarise airport managers and others with the concepts behind ESG and what these factors mean at an airport; discuss the reasons why an airport might want to provide ESG guidance to a wider audience; and review the potential risks and liabilities associated with ESG reporting, including a review of the application of US securities laws to disclosure regarding ESG, either formally through an official statement in connection with an issuance of bonds or less formally through an ESG report or by other means. ESG reporting has been driven, in large part, by the growth of funds and other investors who are seeking to invest primarily in securities issued to finance sustainable infrastructure and/or in entities that are working to achieve socially driven goals. It provides a very different scope of review of an airport's operations, focusing primarily on the external impacts of those operations on the environment, on affected communities and on how the entity operates within its regulated environment.
Facebook’s Libra: A case for capital markets supervision?
Authors: Rirsch Ralph , Tomanek Stefan
Published: July 2024

This paper considers some of the seemingly simple questions that people have been asking about Facebook’s Libra, with particular regard to its legal nature. As this paper will show, thanks to the way Libra is structured, it falls under various aspects of European capital markets law. The paper argues that the Libra Association and its resellers will most likely be required to operate properly licensed branch(es) or registered office(s) in the EU. Otherwise, they would not be allowed to market and operate their network on the EU single market. Libra is a complex product combining the functions of traditionally separate product types (namely payment instruments and funds/financial instruments). In this way, it embodies the very risks that capital market regulation seeks to control and mitigate — shrouding these risks in an innovative and exciting technical guise does not change this fact.
Talking about a (business continuity) revolution: Why best practices are wrong and possible solutions for getting them right
Authors: Armour Mark
Published: July 2024

The business continuity profession has been following a methodology that has barely evolved since its inception. Unfortunately, the stodgy, labour-intensive practices of the past are poorly suited to today’s fast-paced and ever-changing work environments. Proposed herein is a new approach to the discipline. Just as agile methodology revolutionised project management, new tactics in preparedness can drastically change how this profession is practised. That is the hope. If there is to be any significant change in business continuity ahead, it may just take a revolution.
Business continuity and risk management at a strategic level: Case study of the Flemish government
Authors: Bouve Joris , Steens Herman-Peter , Ruebens Martin
Published: July 2024

The Flemish government comprises a number of different departments and agencies with the autonomy to optimise their service level in a proactive and resilient manner. Recently, the Flemish government defined four organisational values: openness, decisiveness, trust and agility. In addition, the Internal Audit Agency developed guidelines concerning internal control and organisational management, in which risk management was emphasised. In combination with goal setting and process management, this paper considers risk management as a starting point for the overall management of Flemish government entities. The paper then develops tools to support the establishment of business continuity and risk management processes. These tools fit into the organisation’s strategic framework and are easy to understand, pragmatically designed and flexible in their use. The paper goes on to illustrate how the Department of the Chancellery and Public Governance is implementing BCM and risk management, and how it is integrating BCM, risk management and crisis management. It will then focus on the Flemish government’s long-term strategy across the boundaries between the different entities and the question of how risk management can become a useful tool for policy makers.
Corporate occupiers strengthen place making initiative in London’s White City : The BBC’s and Imperial College’s role in adding value
Authors: Kane Chris , Gaskell Adi
Published: July 2024

This paper tells the story of how a major corporate took a more proactive and innovative approach to strategic portfolio planning in order to overcome some significant challenges. Based on extensive experience of place making while at the Walt Disney Company and fine-tuned while transforming the BBC estate, this story considers how this type of disruptive thinking could be added to the CRE team toolkit. It looks at how innovation can be harnessed to deliver significant value enhancement, occupational benefits and social value. Using unconventional and creative thinking, the BBC Workplace team developed a ‘Smart Value’ place making strategy that enabled them to partner with Imperial College London. This alliance has delivered significant benefits for both organisations in terms of portfolio optimisation, value creation and operational flexibility.
Ensuring operational resilience in Japan: The rise of new regulations and their implications
Authors: Yanagawa Eiichiro
Published: July 2024

In 2022, regulators around the world began to take steps to instil greater operational resilience throughout the financial services sector to deal with unforeseen systemic risks. Regulations vary from region to region, but they all mandate an integrated risk management approach that combines multiple aspects of operational risk into a single framework, identifies crucial business services and identifies how to respond in the face of a system failure with enterprise-wide agreement. Financial institutions need urgent and significant assistance in transforming their risk capabilities, as many regulators are calling for enhanced processes and systems by 2025. Many financial institutions are realising that a higher level of collaboration is needed across the enterprise to meet regulatory requirements. Financial institutions need to improve both enterprise-level visibility into risk and compliance activities and enterprise-level crisis response capabilities. This paper analyses the latest developments and provides implications through its primary research in the Japanese market.
Economic capital: A brief history and practical applications today
Authors: Ferguson Tally
Published: July 2024

Learning from trends on capital levels leading into the Great Recession of 2008, this paper presents three approaches for mining the benefits of economic capital today to inform strategic planning and help with capital management. The paper recognises the benefits of economic capital over the standardised regulatory risk weight method. Economic capital’s distribution-oriented measures better discriminate risk across assets over plausible worst-case scenarios; however, this paper surmises that economic capital models contributed to financial institutions having less capital than needed to weather the Great Recession. It explains how correlation treatment and understating ‘tail’ risk in those models may have understated capital needs in severe stress conditions. Using historical performance data, the paper illustrates the impact of losing diversification benefits. It also quantifies tail risk for four business lines common to US financial institutions. The paper concludes with methods for recognising when economic capital approaches need to be adjusted to avoid understating unexpected loss in some cases and overstating unexpected loss in others. It offers solutions for avoiding both types of errors, including leveraging off the infrastructure built up by US financial institutions in response to stress testing requirements. The paper provides templates for readers to build on for their own capital planning framework.
How to kickstart an AI venture without proprietary data: AI start-ups have a chicken and egg problem — here is how to solve it
Authors: Hosanagar Kartik , Gulabani Monisha
Published: July 2024

Even when entrepreneurs have innovative ideas for applying AI to real-world problems, they can encounter a unique challenge to kickstarting their AI ventures. Today’s AI systems need to be trained on large datasets, which poses a chicken-and-egg problem for entrepreneurs. Established companies with a sizable customer base already have a stream of data from which they can train AI systems, build new products and enhance existing ones, generate additional data, and rinse and repeat. Entrepreneurs have not yet built their company, so they do not have data, which means they cannot create an AI product as easily; however, this challenge can be navigated with a strategic approach. This paper presents five strategies that can help entrepreneurs access the data they need to break into the AI space, as well as examples of how these strategies have been used by other companies, particularly in their early stages. Specifically, the paper discusses how entrepreneurs can: 1) start by offering a service that has value without AI and that generates data; 2) partner with a non-tech company that has a proprietary dataset; 3) crowdsource the (labelled) data they need; 4) make use of public data; and 5) rethink the need for data entirely and instead use expert systems or reinforcement learning to kickstart their AI ventures.
Sinking floors: The problem of movement within ground-bearing domestic floor slabs
Authors: Smith Bernie
Published: July 2024

This paper is a brief synopsis of the problem of movement within ground-bearing domestic floor slabs. What are the signs associated with the movement of ground-bearing slabs? Related problems that could occur as a result of movement to ground-bearing slabs are discussed, and three possible methods of remedial action suggested.
What security and emergency information do businesses want from government? A New York survey
Authors: Raisch William G. , Della Margaret , Statler Matt
Published: July 2024

This paper presents and analyses survey findings gathered from New York City metropolitan area business continuity and emergency management professionals regarding the flow of security and emergency preparedness information between government and businesses. It finds that NYC metropolitan area businesses want information from government to inform their activities before, during and after a crisis. Existing efforts notwithstanding, businesses believe that the information they currently receive from government is insufficient, too general and not actionable. The survey also indicates that businesses lack the formal rules and processes to evaluate and distribute emergency information received from government. The paper recommends that government agencies allocate resources to broaden their existing information outreach to the business sector, increasing both the ‘volume’ as well as the ‘quality’ of information, emphasising content that is specific, actionable and relevant to activities before, during and after a crisis. It also calls for the government to promote additional research to define information needs within the private sector; to identify and share best practice regarding existing information programmes; and to fund and support information- sharing programmes on a state-wide, regional and major metropolitan area basis. Finally, the paper recommends that businesses should improve their internal capabilities to evaluate and distribute security and preparedness information received from government.
Tapping into user habits to create a strong digital presence
Authors: Chishick Toby
Published: July 2024

This paper discusses the evolution of social media, user
habits and how to create an online brand presence. It describes the
structure of the global social media accounts for one of the
world’s top three confectionery brands, KitKat®, as well as the
importance of understanding and embracing internet culture. It also
considers the importance of brand tone of voice, understanding a
brand’s audience online and the benefits of experimenting with new
formats and apps, and looks at the growing culture of immediacy and
the changing digital landscape.
The impact of business continuity management on the components of supply chain resilience: A quantitative analysis
Authors: Riglietti Gianluca , Avatefipour Amir , Trucco Paolo
Published: July 2024

This study investigates the mitigating influence of business continuity management (BCM) with respect to supply chain disruptions. Using a dataset from the 2017 BCI Supply Chain Resilience Report, the authors conduct partial least square-based structural equation modelling with reflective constructs for both exogenous and endogenous variables. The results demonstrate that BCM reduces vulnerability and mitigates the impact of supply chain disruptions on operational performance. The study highlights BCM’s contribution to such important components of supply chain resilience as visibility, collaboration and agility. In addition to demonstrating the impact of BCM on supply chain resilience, the paper explains the role of top management in the BCM process, and provides a list of measures that organisations can take to protect themselves from external threats. This is the first study to use statistical analysis to provide empirical validation in this field, while employing a clear definition of BCM in line with international best practices.
Refining the process: An institutional approach to preparing projects for digitisation
Authors: Mcintosh Marcia , Mangum Jacob
Published: July 2024

Over several years of managing digital projects, librarians at the University of North Texas Libraries have refined their knowledge management and digitisation operations to realise gains in efficiency and error reduction, and to provide a more fluid imaging workflow for staff and student workers. This paper describes the opportunities identified in pre-processing projects and front-loading decision-making for physical collections.
Trade matching in the traditional and alternative markets
Authors: Miller Holly
Published: July 2024

Pressures from investors and regulators are accelerating the pace of convergence in traditional and alternative asset management organisations and improving standards of practice. At present, in the traditional investment management arena, managers’ and brokers’ records are generally compared on a trade-by-trade basis and custodians are authorised by the managers to settle matched transactions. In the hedge fund world, prime brokers, often serving as both trading counterparty and custodian, either settle trades without any affirmation or issue the affirmation on behalf of the manager. After tracing the historical development of these two de facto industry standards, the author comments on the role of the administrator, illustrates how the absence of trade matching increases hedge fund managers’ costs, explores why the hedge fund industry has accepted an error-prone process, and outlines a resolution.
Cross-border marketing of Dresden Airport
Authors: Hupe Michael
Published: July 2024

The integration of Poland and the Czech Republic into the EU and the improved infrastructure between the metropolitan areas around the border triangle have extended Dresden Airport's catchment area and increased competition. Based on an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the airports serving the catchment area with regard to different product segments, the marketing team of Dresden Airport, together with its partners, use different distribution and communication channels to promote the airport and the products of airlines serving it. Controlling tools have to be established.
Building the donor pipeline: A case study of how Wayne State University built a donor relations programme from the ground up
Authors: Carmona Leslie
Published: July 2024

This paper focuses on how Wayne State University built a donor relations programme from the ground up. From figuring out where to start to determining how to best celebrate all levels of giving at an organisation, this paper provides examples that can be followed by organisations large and small.
Customer experience in an increasingly digital world
Authors: Bocris Ingrid , Mahieux Sebastien
Published: July 2024

The retail banking business model has clearly been disrupted with a lot of significant trends impacting mid-term profitability (low interest rates, regulations, new and aggressive competitors, more demanding customers, etc). The challenge today is to generate customer preference in an increasingly fragmented market. In our view, the winning approach is the one relying on a deep reinvention of the customer experience in order to rethink the banking relationship model. Super-satisfaction, recommendation and loyalty are thus becoming essential to develop new growth areas and to create long lasting differentiation. This paper analyses the challenges and essential success factors in implementing on the field a renewed customer experience in an international banking group such as Société Générale, characterised by the diversity of its markets.
The data protection reform and its impact on the Italian legal system: Between hopes and expectations
Authors: Panetta Rocco
Published: July 2024

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will be subject to national-level implementation over the next two years, but are we sure this will help pave the way for the creation of a real European digital single market and strengthen individuals’ rights to privacy and data protection? This paper will analyse those aspects of the data protection reform enshrined in the GDPR that can be considered the most important for European businesses, public institutions and national data protection authorities alike. In particular, the focus will be on: (1) the one-stop-shop mechanism; (2) the new rules of consent in the marketing domain; and (3) the role of data protection officers according to the new regulation. Furthermore, considering the need to contextualise such a change in the law of the EU with a more country-specific analysis, the author will also provide a general overview of the possible impact of the reform on the Italian legal system, according to its current laws and regulations and the jurisprudence of the Italian Data Protection Authority.
The inverted bank: How platforming helps exploit ecosystems
Authors: Som Sankha , Ram V.
Published: July 2024

Ecosystems are emerging as major drivers of economic activity all across the world. The emergence of ecosystems is seeing a fundamental transformation of traditional business models across all sectors of the economy. The FinTech movement has been one of the earliest ecosystem-based disruptions that have profoundly affected the banking sector. The banking sector globally has been trying to build strategies to engage and exploit ecosystems with varying degrees of success. Community banks have been early adopters of ecosystems, leveraging the traditional banking infrastructure to take deposits, underwrite loans and provide the regulatory governance infrastructure to FinTechs, whereas FinTechs provide the necessary customer experience layer and create innovative new products and services. While large banks are pursuing major digital transformation programmes to make banking services more accessible to customers and partners, smaller community banks are devising new ways of remaining low-cost players with personalised services. Digital ecosystems are now opening scope for API-fication and AI-based decision-making. Smaller niche firms are now able to build and integrate faster and demonstrate business agility. In this paper we present a summary of the macro environment that is driving changes to business structure in enterprises. The present FinTech engagement strategies of banks are presented through the lens of motivation to go-to market with new products and features that appeal to the end-customer. We have also attempted to analyse the relative merits and demerits of each strategy. If banks must emerge as ecosystem orchestrators, they will need to re-architect themselves into digital platforms. This is even more relevant for community banks. We present a logical architecture of such banking platforms and important features that need to be built into these platforms. Finally, we have presented a model of an ‘inverted bank of the future’, where many existing production activities of the bank, large and small alike, will be performed outside the bank’s boundaries by the banks’ ecosystem.
The top 14 challenges for today’s model risk managers: Has the time come to think about going beyond SR11-7?
Authors: Hill Jon R.
Published: July 2024

Model risk management (MRM) is, in the broadest sense, a governance framework that has an impact on every phase of the model life cycle, including model validation. MRM is a relatively immature discipline compared to validation, a practice most banks, and more recently insurance companies, have had in place for 10 to 15 years. Because it is a recently evolved discipline, model risk managers are confronted with a set of challenges that traditional model validation has not had to contend with. Addressing these expanded challenges in model risk management requires creativity, resourcefulness and support from a firm’s senior management, as well as additional staffing with a variety of specialised skills, both quantitative and qualitative. This paper attempts to identify and discuss industry standard solutions and potential alternative approaches to the 14 greatest challenges that model risk managers face today and in doing so raises the question: Has the time come to think seriously about going beyond the recommendations of SR11-7/OCC2011-12, the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB)/Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) joint landmark guidance that set the standard for model risk management at US financial firms in 2011?
Pricing of climate transition risks across different financial markets
Authors: Broeders Dirk , Schouten Bernd , Tiems Isabelle , Verhoeven Niek
Published: July 2024

As the global economy transitions towards net zero, it is conjectured that efficient financial markets reflect the risks involved with this transition. This hypothesis is empirically tested in this paper and signals are found of climate transition risk pricing in options, equity and bond markets, based on greenhouse gas emission levels. The analysis of recent developments in the option market suggests that investors perceive the oil and gas sector to have an elevated risk profile. In the equity and bond market for, particularly, the energy sector, investors appear to demand higher returns to compensate for a higher transition risk. In addition, it is found that the average maturity of newly issued bonds in the carbon intensive coal sector decreased, while the average maturity increased strongly in the renewables sector with low carbon emissions. The reduction of investors' long-term exposure to the coal sector signals concerns about its long-term viability, while the opposite is the case for the renewables sector. Nonetheless, it is not possible to conclude that climate risk pricing is consistent, as the statistical evidence is not overwhelming and not fully aligned across different markets. Furthermore, as climate indicators and emission data still contain important flaws, climate pricing based on these indicators could also be inadequate. Therefore, this paper aligns with the literature arguing that climate risk pricing is inconsistent and inadequate and that this is important for investors and risk managers to acknowledge. In addition, policymakers are urged to ensure that transition information, like emission data, is correct, timely and comparable to ensure its information value and usability.
Accessible housing and the new national technical standards
Authors: West Simone
Published: July 2024

This paper identifies the new national optional technical housing standards, including: the national space standard, which is an option applied by the local planning authority at the planning stages and only if proved viable; Section M4(2) of Volume 1, Approved Document M, which is an option implemented by the planning authority, if viable, but monitored and regulated by Building Control; Section M4(3) of Volume 1, Approved Document M, which is a further option implemented by the planning authority, if viable, but monitored and regulated by Building Control. The aim is to give greater understanding of how the new optional standards will be implemented and what they seek to achieve. Some examination of the content of the new standards is used to explain the differences and similarities between the optional standards and the mandatory standard M4(1). Some comparison is made with Lifetime Homes standards and Category 2 of the optional standards to understand the impact of the design standards on new housing developments. The paper also examines some of the issues surrounding the current and predicted demands upon housing, including the need for greater adaptability, flexibility and accessibility.
Distributed ledger technology: Implications of blockchain for the securities industry
Authors: Workie Haimera , Jain Kavita
Published: July 2024

Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is emerging as a potential disruptive force in the financial services industry and has garnered significant interest from various stakeholders. The technology offers the potential of significant efficiency gains and risk reduction, but also brings with it a new set of risks such as those related to security and privacy. Some argue that it could change the status quo of how securities are issued, traded and cleared, and redefine the roles of various market players. This paper provides an overview of distributed ledger technology and explains key features such as public versus private networks, the use of digital assets, and the general process for conducting and verifying transactions and recording them on a DLT network. It then highlights some key applications being explored in the securities industry including those in the equity, debt and derivatives markets, and in the utilities space. Further, the paper explores the potential impact of the technology in key areas of market efficiencies, transparency, role of intermediaries and operations, and highlights related benefits and risks. Many of the securities laws that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is charged with overseeing are potentially implicated by various DLT applications.
Bring on the Privacy Shield
Authors: Whitaker Pulina
Published: July 2024

This paper discusses the requirements of the new Privacy Shield for EU–US data transfers and alternative options for exporting personal data from the EU.
Securing brand trust and reputation in an era of political polarisation and AI-driven disinformation
Authors: Khaled Wasim
Published: July 2024

This paper analyses the seismic reputational risks now facing brands as two major sociotechnical forces converge — the rise of ideological polarisation and the emergence of AI’s ability to generate synthetic media impersonating organisations. It examines how brands have embraced polarised stances on social issues to build deeper connections with values-driven consumers, especially younger demographics like millennials and Gen Z. By adopting partisan positions. Brands also become targets for ideological attacks seeking to erode trust. Meanwhile, rapid advances in generative AI empower malicious actors to disseminate disinformation, attacking brands with harmful narratives, misinformation and disinformation on an unprecedented scale and realism to do financial and reputational harm. The paper provides an in-depth examination of both dynamics. It explores how younger consumers increasingly demand corporate advocacy on divisive issues, forcing brands to navigate complex sociopolitical fault lines. Taking progressive stances risks a backlash from ideological opponents ready to instigate reputation-damaging retaliation. The paper also details the exponential threats introduced by AI synthesis technologies like generative adversarial networks. It explains how even modestly resourced attackers could soon produce unlimited volumes of fake content, misinformation and disinformation to target brands across all digital channels and media types. To address these converging risks, the paper recommends that brands invest in capabilities including monitoring sociocultural tensions, technologically authenticating communications, establishing early disinformation warning systems, educating consumers on resisting manipulation, crafting proactive narratives, practicing radical transparency and testing defences. It emphasises the need for holistic ‘narrative intelligence’ combining data analysis, cultural discernment and human wisdom. With deliberate strategies focused on verification, transparency and continuous learning, brands can foster resilience and enduring trust despite inevitable disruptions. The paper concludes that competence in navigating partisan debates and AI deception will become a competitive advantage in determining which brands lead in this complex future.
Diversity is good business: Transforming business and marketing practices for growth
Authors: Sahagun Nydia
Published: July 2024

A major demographic shift has occurred in the United States, and by the mid-2040s, the country will be majority–minority. Younger, more diverse consumers are shaping today’s culture, trends and consumer values. They are an integral part of the US economy with significant and rapidly increasing buying power serving as a growth engine for many industries. Multicultural consumers represent nearly US$4tn in buying power, which is greater than the fourth largest economy in the world. By 2030, they will represent more than half of the adults in the United States. These shifts require brands to evolve their strategies in order to stay relevant in the lives of these consumers and realise the growth they present. Today many brands are still missing this opportunity because they have not adapted their business and marketing strategies to reflect the new reality of a more diverse marketplace. As a result, they face the risks that come with inaction. Addressing the needs of and investing in diverse consumers can pay dividends for a brand but require inward reflection and more inclusive and integrated business practices. This paper analyses five strategic imperatives that can fuel a brand’s ability to make material progress: 1) sizing and clarifying the business opportunity; 2) investing in quality diverse insights, data and measurement; 3) investing for long-term growth; 4) expanding diversity in marketing and 5) educating your organisation.
Brand awareness: A community perception of a nonprofit organisation
Authors: Cronin-Gilmore Julia , Bates Myra Jo , Brown Doug
Published: July 2024

This study was proposed by the United Way of the Midlands to gather information about donors in an uncertain economic environment. Motivation for giving encompasses altruistic and self-serving reasons. The brand is viewed as a ‘boomer’ brand, which is ageing and will soon be replaced by Generation X, Generation Y and the Millennials. These younger cohorts need to be understood and targeted for the long-range sustainability of the United Way. Engaging these potential donors will entail different forms of media. The researchers gathered qualitative data from three focus groups: upper-level managers of corporations that sponsor in-house United Way campaigns; donors to corporate campaigns; and non-donors to the United Way. When the personal needs of donors are recognised and addressed, charitable giving continues. The attrition rate for the first three months of a campaign sets the pattern for attrition throughout the campaign. Individual donors seem to be less sensitive to personal income changes and charitable giving than do corporate donors. Individual non-donors are more likely to donate useful goods and services than individual or corporate donors. There is a positive relationship between income and the amount given. Fourteen recommendations for acquiring new donors and retaining current donors are given.
Decision-making in crisis: Applying a healthcare triage methodology to business continuity management
Authors: Moore Bethany , Bone Eric A.
Published: July 2024

The concept of triage in healthcare has been around for centuries and continues to be applied today so that scarce resources are allocated according to need. A business impact analysis (BIA) is a form of triage in that it identifies which processes are most critical, which to address first and how to allocate limited resources. On its own, however, the BIA provides only a roadmap of the impacts and interdependencies of an event. When disaster strikes, organisational decision-makers often face difficult decisions with regard to allocating limited resources between multiple ‘mission-critical’ functions. Applying the concept of triage to business continuity provides those decision-makers navigating a rapidly evolving and unpredictable event with a path that protects the fundamental priorities of the organisation. A business triage methodology aids decision-makers in times of crisis by providing a simplified framework for decision-making based on objective, evidence-based criteria, which is universally accepted and understood. When disaster strikes, the survival of the organisation depends on critical decision-making and quick actions to stabilise the incident. This paper argues that organisations need to supplement BIA processes with a decision-making triage methodology that can be quickly applied during the chaos of an actual event.
Asset rights clearance: Critical next steps in the DAM life cycle
Authors: Guest Gregg , Fadel Tarek
Published: July 2024

The proliferation of digital media content combined with the increasing complexity of tracking these digital assets across multiple formats, platforms and geographies creates new challenges for licensors and licensees. Many organisations have adopted digital asset management systems to manage the creation and distribution of their digital assets; however, the next critical challenge is to protect their digital intellectual property (video, music, etc), gain visibility on its usage, and further monetise its potential. This paper will detail three key drivers for asset rights management and clearance and will consider how to extend a digital asset management system with an effective solution and strategy to protect, manage and monetise intellectual property. It covers key considerations when introducing these clearance processes and systems and details best practices. Topics include: managing intellectual property by gaining visibility into the organisation’s assets and connecting assets and contracts together — understanding what assets you have, what contracts you have and how they relate; tying asset ingestion to contract flow in order to drive asset rights and financial obligations, and centralise all rights and contract terms in a unified source; why storing rights information in a digital asset management system can quickly become limiting as the organisation grows, asset volumes increase and the asset data become more complex and conditional; and what an effective data rights model will need to support and key requirements in a rights clearance engine.
The modern threat: Lessons learned from an airport shooting
Authors: Nonnemacher Michael
Published: July 2024

This paper aims to educate airport operators in how to be better prepared for an active threat incident. The paper does not discuss preventative measures but focuses on lessons learned from a real-life incident that took place in 2017. Information included is derived from a detailed after-action report that focuses on mitigating strategies, communication methods, employee training, and business resumption.