bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The challenge of assessing strategic cyber security risk in organisations and critical infrastructure
Authors: Harry Charles
Published: July 2024

The increasing threat of cyberattacks against systemically important institutions and critical infrastructure continues to highlight the need to improve the defence and resilience of organisations. The US government focuses its defence strategy on applying a risk-based approach to optimise the allocation of scarce resources across federal networks and promotion of best practice for critical infrastructure. This paper discusses the framing national policy and the core methodological challenges facing practitioners who seek to implement such an approach. The paper defines three key areas of fundamental challenge: 1) defining tiers, categories, and severity measures of end effect; 2) linkage of devices to organisational processes; and 3) a mechanism for connecting organisations together to analyse emergent societal effects. This approach is broadly applied to an example of commercial airline operations identifying the interconnection between key functions in the production chain that, if disrupted, lead to strategic effects in the critical infrastructure sector.
Where is marketing research headed in the 21st century?
Authors: Stewart David W.
Published: July 2024

Marketing research and its uses within the firm are undergoing a profound shift in response to changes in technology, consumer lifestyles and the global economy, and demands for greater accountability of the marketing organisation. This paper explores the nature of these changes and their implications for the conduct of marketing research in the future.
Trends in consumer payment fraud: A call for consistent strong authentication across all consumer payments
Authors: Cimiotti Gerd , Merschen Toni
Published: July 2024

Fraud has been a cost of doing business in the merchant and retail space since the beginning of organised trade thousands of years ago. Payment fraud is only a part of overall retail fraud, but it seems to have moved closer to the focus of the discussion in the financial industry and with the other stakeholders in the financial ecosystem, eg the merchants, the consumers and, last but not least, the regulators. This paper reviews the latest consumer payment fraud statistics and analyses the recent regulatory activities. The actions taken by the various stakeholders to detect or prevent fraud are then assessed in the context of both meeting regulatory provisions and enabling growth of retail volume seamlessly across all channels. It concludes with an urgent call for introducing a strong authentication regime across the consumer financial industry in a consistent and comprehensive way.
The macroeconomic impact of payment cards
Authors: Banka Holti
Published: July 2024

This paper focuses on the macroeconomic benefits of the transition from paper-based to electronic payments, examining the impact of payments using debit and credit cards on household consumption. The empirical model is based on the work of Zandi et al.1, with a considerably richer dataset in terms of the number of years and countries. The results confirm that the use of payment cards has a positive impact on private consumption and gross domestic product (GDP), while finding a meaningful effect for both consumption and GDP — and a larger impact for both than found by Zandi et al. The analysis indicates that the transition to electronic payments matters for both the economy as a whole ( for GDP) and for individual families (through higher consumption). Overall, card penetration contributed to global GDP by an annual average of 0.243 percentage points, which translates into US$160bn per year. The contribution of card usage to global income approximately amounts to the 2014 GDP of Kuwait, and is slightly lower than the 2014 GDP of Bangladesh and Vietnam (US$183bn and US$185bn, respectively) and slightly higher than the 2014 GDP of Hungary and Ukraine (US$136bn and US$130bn, respectively).
Designing an alumni engagement scoring model to measure relationships and raise more money
Authors: Bacon Mike , Martinez Christine , Orange John , Stryker Jim
Published: July 2024

You have probably heard the saying, 'Engagement leads to giving'. We also know that data should help us make better decisions. So how can we use our internal data to deepen our understanding of alumni engagement and raise more money? The Alumni Relations and Development team at Trinity University spent about a year working on a plan for measuring alumni engagement. Why did the Trinity team spend a year developing this? Because a well-planned alumni engagement scoring system can be a reliable tool for identifying and ranking major gift, leadership gift and annual fund prospects. It can also provide a useful tool to measure and track the level of engagement within the alumni base. While studying examples of engagement models, the team conducted an alumni survey and spent a year in active listening mode through a presidential tour to visit alumni chapters in 22 cities. The result from the planning process, survey analysis and active listening is a scoring model that measures alumni engagement based on giving and non-giving support of the university. This paper will share the Trinity experience in developing the model and provide some of the behind-the-scenes discoveries of what really matters.
Calibrating exposure at default for corporate credit lines
Authors: Jimenéz Gabriel , Lopez Jose A. , Saurina Jesús
Published: July 2024

The management of credit risk inherent in a corporate credit line is similar to that of a term loan, but with one key difference. In addition to needing to know the borrower's probability of default and the facility's loss given default, the bank must also have a measure of the line's exposure at default (EAD). In fact, EAD is one of the key parameters used for regulatory capital calculations within the Basel II framework. This paper constructs and examines EAD values for credit lines within the Spanish credit register, which provides a census of all corporate lending within Spain over the last 20 years. The analysis shows that defaulting firms have significantly higher credit line usage rates and EAD values up to five years prior to their actual default. Furthermore, the analysis indicates that there are important variations in EAD values due to credit line size, collateralisation and maturity. While the results are derived from data for a single country, they should provide useful benchmarks for further academic, business and policy research into this under-developed area of credit risk management.
Technology-driven next-gen corporate banking: Trends and implications in APAC and Japan
Authors: Yanagawa Eiichiro
Published: July 2024

Corporate banking is at a critical juncture of accelerated change. External factors are driving disruptions and opportunities in corporate banking. Banks are at risk of falling behind in their response. Players in the corporate banking arena need to ensure that they keep pace and take significant strides to compete effectively with financial institutions at the vanguard of technology as well as digital giants and FinTech firms. Companies need to cease product-centric approaches and embrace a customer-centric approach, one that reimagines and improves the customer journey. Banks need to digitise paper-based processes and assign top priority to shifting from intuition-driven decision-making to data and analysis-driven decision-making. Asia-Pacific (APAC) dominates the global bank profit landscape, generating 43 per cent of total global bank revenue, with the Chinese market forming the centrepiece of growth strategies for the region. Having said that, moving ahead, China will not be the sole growth engine. The global situation is characterised by uncertainty stemming from factors ranging from negative interest rates and the emergence of trade protectionism to US-China trade friction and Brexit and now coronavirus (COVID-19). Against this backdrop, the future of corporate banking growth can be expected to be heavily dependent on performance in digital economies, where technology plays a prominent role. This paper discusses how, now more than ever, as technology iteration continues to speed up, banks should seek to pursue evolution and innovation in the corporate banking arena.
Preparedness planning and response to a mass-casualty incident: A case study of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Authors: Cocco Claudia , Thomas-Boaz Will
Published: July 2024

This case study describes a response to a real mass-casualty incident from the perspective of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, a major trauma centre in Toronto, on a day when hospital occupancy levels were at a peak. To help evaluate the lessons learned from the incident response, the article also outlines the hospital’s preparedness planning and the readiness assessment it conducted six months prior to the incident. Lessons learned from the readiness assessment are closely linked to those of the real incident, highlighting the importance of readiness assessments and that routine exercises are effective methods to identify opportunities for improvement and enhance preparedness. The mitigation of issues related to interoperability during an emergency requires investment in education, planning and preparedness, as well as routine training and exercises specific to mass-casualty incidents, with the inclusion of impacted departments and services across the hospital setting. Additionally, the inclusion of surge and overcapacity management principles within hospital emergency plans would benefit from further case studies as a method to maintain continuity of operations during these events.
Improving messaging to airport community residents: An application of sentiment analysis to community engagement
Authors: Diana Tony
Published: July 2024

Natural Language Processing has made significant progress over the last decades with the development of open-source software and dedicated libraries. Sentiment analysis has become a best practice in both private and public organisations. While airports have utilised sentiment analysis to assess their image and level of service, it has not been extensively used as a tool to be proactive when airport operators engage community residents. This analysis shows how sentiment analysis can be used to anticipate residents’ attitudes based on changes in key operational factors.
Advances in education: Using a game-based learning platform in the online learning environment
Authors: Spender Ellen
Published: July 2024

Technology, in recent decades, has advanced at an exponential rate and, for experienced educators, the arrival of technology such as mobile phones into the classroom did not occur without problems. Where students persist in bringing them out in the class, educators often remind them that the phone will not help them when they sit their exams. With the emerging research into the use of game-based learning platforms such as Kahoot!, which examines the benefits and drawbacks of using such applications, it is difficult to ignore this type of technology. There are many reasons why using game-based learning technology is becoming more popular, but the main one is that students nowadays have been introduced to technology, such as online games, from a young age and have constant access to a personal mobile phone. In 2020 technology was embraced for this study and was introduced to in-person classes as a way of engaging students; when delivery was moved online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kahoot! continued to be used in the virtual classroom. The study evaluates whether students benefit from using Kahoot! as an aid to their understanding of the subject and if they view it as a game or as a learning tool. The paper explores the views of three distinct groups of students’ use of Kahoot! in their learning environment: when used in an online-only teaching environment, in a blended teaching environment consisting of online and in-person delivery and for an in-person-only teaching environment.
Exploring the use of digital currencies as a form of payment in Barbados
Authors: Wood Anthony , Brathwaite Runako
Published: July 2024

What has been accepted as payment has changed over time, and so have the ways in which payments are made. Coins made of precious metals were one of the first methods used for making payments in a number of economies. This eventually evolved to the use of receipts for gold housed with goldsmiths, which then developed into banknotes whose value depends not on gold but on the economic and financial position of the country. Next in the evolution of payment methods is digital currency, which is considered by many to have the potential to disrupt and transform the existing global financial infrastructure. The aim of this paper is to examine the potential for introducing digital currency as a form of payment in the Barbadian economy. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire that was administered to 50 participants between July and September 2015. The questionnaire covered participants’ awareness and perception of digital currency, as well as the frequency with which they utilise those services (money transfer/remittance and online shopping) that would derive significant benefits from its introduction. The findings revealed that most respondents became aware of the concept of digital currency in 2014, with only a few persons recognising digital currencies other than bitcoin. Generally there was limited knowledge among Barbadians about digital currencies and although most had heard of it, few had more than a beginner’s level of knowledge on the subject. Despite this finding, many expressed a willingness to use it if certain conditions could be met.
The impact of digital marketing on the performance of firms in Tunisia
Authors: Fridhi Bechir
Published: July 2024

The objective of this study is to examine digital marketing in Tunisia and its benefits as a business model used by Tunisian businesses and to determine the influence of digital transformation on the performance of firms in Tunisia. In addition, the objective of our empirical survey is to define the capacities and skills essential to the success of a digital transformation. The study focused on: (1) establishing the extent to which digital marketing has been adopted by firms in Tunisia and (2) determining the influence of digital transformation on the open innovation performance of Tunisian firms. The result of the integration of technological power into the management of enterprises gives rise to a digitalisation that disrupts marketing strategies, significantly contributing to the creation of new business models. The results revealed that the use of digital marketing is significantly linked to three open innovation performance metrics: increased revenue, acquisition of new customers and retention of existing customers. This open innovation performance also has a positive and significant relationship with the use of digital channels by customers, showing that customers using digital channels in their purchasing process will tend to buy, consume and be more loyal than customers using the classic channels.
Managing and delivering an airport privatisation programme: Case study of the Republic of Congo
Authors: Janecke Hans-Dieter
Published: July 2024

This paper is about the privatisation process of the airports of Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire and Ollombo in the Republic of Congo. The author describes the different phases and challenges during the three-year process. Finally, he looks at the most important problems encountered and success factors.
Every little hurts: Why partnering with chains will not work
Authors: Rubin Guy , Taylor John
Published: July 2024

This paper responds to 'From "chains" to partnerships? Supermarkets and regeneration' by Gareth Potts ([2a]Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal, Volume 1, No. 1, pp. 22–36). It argues that any analysis of the role of supermarkets in regeneration requires an understanding of the enormous institutional and corporate power of supermarkets, and the manner in which this power is exercised on the planning system and in regeneration projects. The paper presents evidence that the benefits from supermarket-led regeneration, such as through the Under-served Markets project, are overstated. In fact, this approach creates reverse multipliers sucking money out of local economies. Alternative approaches to regeneration centred on local distinctiveness such as street and farmers' markets and Local Food Webs deliver substantial benefits to the local economy and community. Drawing upon research from the US and the UK, the paper argues that the presence of a supermarket damages the small business sector, with serious consequences for entrepreneurialism, social capital and business leadership. It highlights the role of small shops in making and reinforcing social capital. The paper also examines Potts' proposal for a 'hybrid' model based on a partnership between a supermarket chain and community organisations and concludes that this approach has major flaws that undermine its usefulness.
Revealing consumer insights through visual analysis of social media images
Authors: Hura Alina
Published: July 2024

By analysing visual content on social media, marketing professionals can gain a deeper understanding of their audience than via traditional methods of market research, such as surveys. This paper outlines the unique advantages of visual analysis of online images and highlights eight case studies from the social media listening platform that demonstrate these benefits. It concludes with a forecast of possible future directions for visual analysis in marketing.
Access to accounts: Why banks should embrace an open future
Authors: Salmony Michael
Published: July 2024

This paper provides a fresh perspective on the recent access to accounts initiative proposed by the European Commission. There is a history of success of open versus closed systems (eg IBM, Telecoms), and it is now the banks’ turn to open up. As it is better to disrupt oneself rather than letting others do the disrupting, the author proposes an open standard interface for controlled payment services: CAPS (controlled access to payment services). The recent PSD2 regulation proposal provides some of the necessary prerequisites of such an approach, but many questions remain to be answered, and severe changes need to be made if the success of other industries is to be replicated here. Open access to bank accounts has the potential to lead to an explosion of (potentially disruptive) innovation, competition and new services. New revenue streams will evolve, and the banks themselves could even be one of the main beneficiaries of this dynamic development. Yet banks need to position themselves proactively in this new environment. The access to accounts will be a reality in the not too distant future — the regulator will enforce this (although he still has to set some boundary conditions for success) — so banks should now prepare to shape this business opportunity to their advantage. This can lead to a situation where banks, payment service providers, merchants and customers are markedly better off than today.
Branding a new university: The development of Atlantic Technological University's brand identity
Authors: Duffy Seán
Published: July 2024

This paper analyses how Atlantic Technological University (ATU) successfully created a unique brand identity for this newly established university located in the west and north-west of Ireland. The opportunities and challenges presented by such a large task are reviewed. Developing a new higher education brand uniting three education institutes, each with over 50 years of history, required a team effort and considerable communication and engagement skills to ensure that all stakeholders supported the project. A strategic partnership between three Institutes of Technology, the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, Institute of Technology Sligo and Letterkenny Institute of Technology, was formed in 2012 and was known as the Connacht-Ulster Alliance (CUA). The goal of the CUA was to establish a university of size, scale and impact for its region, which would make a substantial contribution to higher education nationally and internationally. Developing a brand for the new university involved dedicated and motivated internal teams supported by an external branding consultancy company. This case study outlines the work of the team responsible for developing the brand identity, along with the lessons learned which ultimately resulted in a successful launch of a brand for a new university — ATU. The approaches and considerations for branding a new institution may also apply to rebranding an existing entity.
Risk tolerance: Essential, behavioural and misunderstood
Authors: Davies Greg B. , Brooks Peter
Published: July 2024

An understanding of an investor's risk tolerance is essential to determining investment suitability and yet there is no universally agreed definition of what risk tolerance is. The authors discuss the need for a holistic approach to measuring risk tolerance that provides a consistent framework for constructing efficient multi-asset allocation and ensuring a suitable aggregate level of risk and return, given the investor's personality and financial circumstances. Risk tolerance is only stable when considered as a personality trait, which can be measured effectively using holistic psychometric scales. Attempts to measure risk tolerance at lower levels of granularity are unstable, they accentuate, rather than mitigate short-term behavioural distortions and cannot be meaningfully aggregated to provide an overall level of risk that is appropriate given the investor's risk capacity. This implies that the recent move towards mental accounting, goal-based, assessments of risk tolerance is misguided and exposes institutions to risks associated with providing unsuitable advice.
The Leipzig Airport judgment: The application of EU state aid rules to the financing of airport infrastructure
Authors: Lepièce Annabelle
Published: July 2024

Since 2005, the European Commission has examined the public financing of airport infrastructure under European Union (EU) state aid rules. This extension of the Commission's control followed the evolution of the sector as acknowledged by the Court of Justice of the EU in the Aéroports de Paris case in which airports were qualified as undertakings and thus submitted to European law. In March 2011 the Court of Justice confirmed the Commission's practice towards the financing of airport infrastructure in the Leipzig Airport case. The Court nevertheless reminded all parties that airport infrastructure dedicated to non-economic activities, such as safety and security, falls outside the scope of EU state aid rules. The aim of this paper is to provide airport managers and public authorities with a practical guide to the European legal constraints regarding the public financing of airport infrastructures.
Saving a 15th-century nave roof from structural collapse at the Abbey Church of St Mary and St Melor, Amesbury, Wiltshire
Authors: Mullen Emma
Published: July 2024

This paper looks at the technical and practical challenges faced during the conservation repair of a large 15th-century trussed roof structure of a Grade I listed church building. Urgent repairs were required after a section of ceiling plaster fell, after years of water ingress, resulting in tight programme and budget constraints, with the added pressure of a global pandemic. The paper describes the early stages of the contract, with surprising discoveries such as a hive of over 40,000 honeybees, bat roosts, a secondary roof structure, concrete and extensive deathwatch beetle decay. The engineer’s economic solutions to complex structural problems are explained, as well as architect designed details to address ongoing causes of decay, such as new ventilated eaves and ridge details. This paper sets out to describe how technical challenges were overcome, but also explains how opportunities were taken to introduce new oak carvings and lead details, to leave a legacy and add to the historic narrative of the building. This paper will be of particular interest to anyone working on ecclesiastical or listed building structures, where there has been a history of poor maintenance or previous repairs. It should offer technical information relating to a wide range of traditional building trades, but particularly structural repairs of historic timber structures.
Decision-making during VUCA crises: Insights from the 2017 Northern California firestorm
Authors: Thomas Cliff
Published: July 2024

Decision-making is a central aspect of crisis management, yet research and literature directed at the topic are scarce. Consequently, practitioners have access to very few new decision-making insights. To help fill this knowledge gap, a study of leader decision-making during the 2017 Northern California firestorm was undertaken. The outcomes of the study suggest that crisis decision-making may be less process-driven and consequence-focused than has been previously thought. Rather, a myriad of human elements appear to have significantly influenced crisis decision-making. Three influences discussed in this paper involve the fluidity and variability of decision factors, leader and team trust, and leader wellbeing. Finally, the paper discusses the practical implications of the study’s outcomes.
Cross-device advertising: How to navigate mobile marketing’s next big opportunity
Authors: Buss Jon
Published: July 2024

Cross-device usage is growing, and marketers wanting to target consumers effectively and efficiently must make the most of this evolving opportunity. This paper lays out strategies to bring advertisers closer to their goal: delivering the right ads, at the right time and to the right user in a bid to improve conversion. The paper also takes a look at exact versus implied-matching, technology and tracking, and the cross-device challenge.
Stabilising the Round Tower at Windsor Castle
Authors: Dawson Clive
Published: July 2024

This paper endeavours to describe the causes, investigations and remedial works carried out to stabilise the Round Tower at Windsor Castle following the significant structural movement in 1987. The nature of the tower, designed to keep soldiers out, meant that significant logistical and practical problems had to be considered, overcome and designed out before the technical hurdles could be surmounted. These obstacles resulted in what would normally be a conservation project becoming a large civil engineering project using plant, equipment and skills rather alien to the conservation world. The project overcame the obstacles and differing approaches to construction work, with both ends of the spectrum learning from each other to produce a successful outcome: to stabilise the iconic symbol of British monarchy for another 900 years. The project was carried out in full view of the public, as the castle remained open throughout, with work interrupted for official and state occasions and site meetings disrupted by the Band of the Guards marching past, making it a unique experience for all concerned.
Reimagining the future of securities operations: The time for change is now
Authors: Walley Bob , Gopalakrishnan Sriram , Wade Mike
Published: July 2024

This paper focuses on the need for change in the financial services industry and leveraging and implementation of technologies to transform the front-, middle- and back-office functions. The paper explains the pressures and needs of the industry and identifies the different technology solutions that can collectively change the operations landscape to better address evolving client needs, changing organisational models and increasing global regulatory compliance requirements. It highlights the drivers for change in the era of digital disruption and provides insights into tools, approaches and techniques that progressive operations leaders are adopting.
Corporate actions on Russian securities: Market practice, legislation and proposed changes to the legislation
Authors: Kashkin Anton
Published: July 2024

This paper describes aspects of participation in corporate actions of Russian issuers both for holders of local shares and holders of depository receipts (DRs). In order to demonstrate the main differences, the full life cycle of the annual general meeting and the annual dividend are examined. For every stage, the legal rationale, disclosure aspects, local market practice and order to participate for holders of receipts are considered. Special attention is paid to the problem of recognition of foreign nominal holders as beneficial owners in Russia, as this feature of Russian law has a significant negative impact on the corporate actions processing. Another important topic of the paper is comparison of taxes and fees paid by holders of local shares and holders of depository receipts, which results in different amounts of dividends received by them. At the end of the paper, proposed changes to the Russian legislation and market infrastructure are analysed. Such initiatives as the introduction of a central depository; changes to the system of nominal holding; and introduction of special custody accounts for depository programmes are examined for their ability to improve the quality of corporate actions processing both for holders of local shares and of depository receipts.
What do small and medium enterprises want from next-generation banking?
Authors: Beeson Will
Published: July 2024

Banking is changing, with much of the innovation so far focused on retail customers. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a core component of developed economies, are underserved by existing banks. This paper looks at the changing expectations of SMEs in relation to banking services, foreshadowing the innovations likely to come in business banking. As part of the analysis, the paper explores the structural forces underlying current and future changes to the existing banking paradigm.
Towards ambient accountability in financial services: Shared ledgers, translucent transactions and the technological legacy of the great financial crisis
Authors: Birch David , Brown Richard G. , Parulava Salome
Published: July 2024

The consensus in the finance sector seems to be that the shared ledger technology behind Bitcoin, the ‘blockchain’, will disrupt the sector,1 although many commentators are not at all clear how (or, indeed, why). The blockchain is, however, only one kind of shared ledger and the Bitcoin blockchain works in a very specific way. This may not be the best way to organise shared ledgers for disruptive innovation in financial services. So what is? And why would financial services organisations want to exploit shared ledger technology? This paper sets out a simple shared ledger taxonomy and layered architecture designed to facilitate communication between technologists, businesses and regulators in the financial services world, and explains why the various forms of shared ledgers might be attractive to financial services organisations, borrowing the phrase ‘ambient accountability’ from architecture to suggest a new way to organise a financial sector.
Why financial institutions need a master data strategy as a starting point for a RegTech strategy
Authors: Abur Murat , Murphy Sarah
Published: July 2024

This paper focuses on the necessity for a master data strategy within a successful RegTech strategy. Among the issues explored are the role that a lack of data standards and an abundance of legacy technology systems played in the lead up to the financial crisis, as well as the ethos of post-crisis financial regulation and how this can positively influence a RegTech strategy. The paper also examines the largely undiscovered value of financial data and how this can be exploited, as well as opportunities beyond regulatory compliance which a master data strategy can facilitate. Furthermore, the paper consists of guidelines and practical advice on creating a data standard. Much of the knowledge presented in this paper has been derived from Suade’s creation of the Financial Regulatory (FIRE) data format. FIRE is an open-source data standard for financial regulatory data, developed by Suade with funding from the European Commission and support from organisations such as the Open Data Incubator Europe. Suade was inspired to build the FIRE data format owing to its belief that a data-driven approach to regulation is they key to preventing the next financial crisis.
Empowering content search: Leveraging the potential of machine learning
Authors: Jindal Meenakshi , Sekhri Varun , Low Tiffany
Published: July 2024

In the digital age, the power of machine learning is harnessed to transform content search capabilities. This integration heralds a new era for content creation tools, granting editors and creators access to granular, frame-level content insights. These capabilities enable precision adjustments, enhancing the final product’s efficiency and quality. Recent years have witnessed remarkable shifts in using machine-generated data within media tools. However, harnessing the full potential of machine-learning techniques poses challenges due to the vast and diverse data generated by many algorithms. In response, Netflix has pioneered a groundbreaking solution: the Media Understanding Platform. This platform is a unifying abstraction layer across all Netflix studio applications, bridging the gap between client and machine-learning platforms. This paper illustrates the platform’s design and prowess through real-world examples of promotional media tools that enrich content discovery within Netflix’s expansive catalogue, offering a glimpse into the future of content search.
Cyber-compromised data recovery : The more likely disaster recovery use case
Authors: Beattie John , Shandrowski Michael
Published: July 2024

To extort a ransom payment, ransomware actors must make the threat sufficiently compelling that payment seems like the only option. This is achieved by encrypting or disabling a company’s data replicas and backups as well as its production data — data that are essential to the organisation’s success. To prevent this happening, it is essential to extend one’s thinking beyond the organisation’s cyber security incident response plan and disaster recovery programme and give active consideration to a cyber incident recovery risk management (CIR-RM) programme. This paper explores what this requires, including the right thinking, the right approach, the right team and the right plan.
The role of ethical leadership in resilient corporations
Authors: Dajani Jorge , Rossert Marianne
Published: July 2024

This paper suggests that to ensure resilient and sustainable organisations, ethical leadership needs to go beyond strict rule compliance, using a four-pronged approach: 1. Collect and monitor broad indicators, quantitative and qualitative, that may signal an increase in ethical risks; 2. Create an open and safe dialogue culture where voicing risks and concerns is actively encouraged. 3. Develop a values-based corporate culture where duty of care, in its widest conception, guides policies and decision making by all members of the organisation. This implies actively supporting those who (i) show genuine concern and care for the organisation; (ii) care for one another and for their staff; (iii) care for stakeholders, including clients and those that may be negatively affected by its operations; 4. Create trust in this values-based culture by ensuring a gradual, people-centred response to inappropriate conduct, away from the traditional rules-based legalistic approach that has fuelled distrust in the system's ability to heal internally.
Business investment in deprived areas: Creating the conditions
Authors: Seex Patricia
Published: July 2024

Increasing business activity in deprived areas is a key part of the current UK Government's efforts to address disadvantage. But policies aimed at achieving this have had mixed success. The relationship between deprivation and business development is not straightforward. There are a number of risks associated with the public sector trying to divert business investment from more prosperous areas and regions into less prosperous regions and areas. Using a market failure approach to understanding and addressing the barriers to business investment in deprived areas mitigates these risks.
Mastering the fundamentals of mobile analytics
Authors: Hadley Loren
Published: July 2024

Are data quality issues impacting the effectiveness of your mobile analytics programme? Mobile presents some unique challenges that can only partially be solved by technology. Many major hurdles stem from problems in data governance and process. Fortunately, the industry has solved most of these issues, developing robust web analytics practices over the past decade. This paper explores common pain points and how you can address them to help mobile analytics live up to its potential in your organisation.
Smart urbanism in historical occurrences and recurrences: An evolutionary perspective between critical and progressive factors
Authors: De Falco Stefano
Published: July 2024

The disruptive explosion of technology that has characterised these last decades has, erroneously, been considered in an early period as the main plan of interest for the studies of global phenomena, especially smart phenomena, while instead the exact opposite is true, because these phenomena represent projections of the new micro-urban phenomena that are seen in smart cities and in the corollaries related to smart urbanism. The most significant emblematic smart urban elements are able to highlight the transition towards new sociocultural paradigms at a global level, which constitute and represent the theoretical foundations of every current process of urban regeneration and renewal. Since the 1980s when the informatics revolution exploded, the magnitude of the revolutionary effects on, first, urban and second, global paradigms have been continuously determined by smart urbanism, as touched upon within the current analysis. It makes sense to reflect on the most relevant transition, in terms of urban planning implications, that has already characterised the course of history and which seems to be recurring in another form: the transition from a hunter-gatherer society to a farmer society by the use of advanced technologies. This transition is currently fully present, in which urban environments become smart cities and smart work becomes prey. Therefore, the citizens are moving away from hunters of traditional work and are increasingly becoming farmers of smart work. The current paper, based on theoretical reflections, reviews research in the field to highlight that there are conflicting views in smart city planning and analyses the concept of smart urbanism with historical comparisons, focusing on both positive and negative urban implications.
‘Dear Prudence’: An overview of Tax Increment Financing
Authors: Squires Graham
Published: July 2024

This paper looks at the use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) as a tool for levering regeneration and renewal within a wider policy framework. The paper introduces TIF in an era of low economic growth, while finance is both straitened and increasingly provided with an emphasis on the ‘local’. The study then gives an overview of key US literature on TIF for regeneration and renewal. Using interviewees working with TIF in the USA and UK, insight is gained for the introduction of TIF into the UK. Key TIF policy considerations and explanation are put forward, given an introduction of TIF into the UK. In addition, there is a question ‘check-list’ of concerns if a TIF project is proposed. It is argued that TIF should in the first instance be reserved for regeneration and renewal, and that if TIF is selected, it can be a powerful tool as long as a prudential approach is taken.
Safeguarding financial resilience through digital trust and responsible innovation
Authors: Vasiliu-Feltes Ingrid
Published: July 2024

In the rapidly evolving financial industry landscape, the convergence of digital and physical realms, known as the ‘phygital era’, presents novel challenges for boards that aim to build digital trust and strengthen their financial resilience while fostering responsible innovation and maintaining their competitive edge in the global business arena. These encompass people management, processes and their digital technology portfolio. Building a new phygital culture, upskilling and reskilling the workforce, deploying a mix of intelligent automation and hybrid augmented workflows and deploying frontier technologies responsibly are now on the agenda for forward-thinking boards. The latest deep tech innovation trends in financial services offer exponential pathways for innovative solutions yet increase cybersecurity threats, create new ethical dilemmas and demand a new risk tolerance from board executives. Novel risk management styles, the value of harmonising cyber and ethics programmes, and leadership traits are potentially viable solutions for risk management at the board level in this phygital era. This paper proposes a trifecta that financial industry boards can embrace to adapt their risk governance to the demands of this phygital era: zero trust cybersecurity, ethics by design and risk management by design. By deploying this combination of strategies, boards within the finance industry can successfully navigate the complexities of the phygital era and steer their organisations towards a more secure, trustworthy and sustainable future.
Acts of terrorism and mass violence targeting schools : Analysis and implications for preparedness in the USA
Authors: Schlegelmilch Jeff , Petkova Elisaveta , Martinez Stephanie , Redlener Irwin
Published: July 2024

To enhance the preparedness of US schools to acts of terrorism and mass violence, the landscape of threats against schools must first be understood. This includes exploring the global trends of acts of terrorism against schools, as well as looking specifically at the history of terrorism and acts of mass violence against schools domestically. This paper conducts a review of two databases in order to look at the trends in acts of terrorism and mass violence carried out against schools, and provides recommendations for domestic school preparedness based on this information.
Core DAM + more DAM: One company’s attempt to integrate digital asset management into organisational DNA
Authors: Shattuck Michael , Gardner Caroline
Published: July 2024

Digital asset management (DAM) is more than just a system – it is the way an organisation manages its valued assets during the entire life cycle, from conception all the way to distribution. In 2016, New Balance refreshed its DAM strategy by engaging a new partner to help integrate DAM into its organisational DNA. This was only possible with a partner that could meet its core needs, while offering stability and functionality to meet extended plans to engage DAM system users. This paper takes a closer look at New Balance’s journey from recognising its need for a new partner through a rapid launch that would position DAM as central to its business.
The path to digital financial inclusion in Nigeria: Experiences of Firstmonie
Authors: David-West Olayinka
Published: July 2024

In emerging markets like Nigeria, the number of adults excluded from formal financial systems has developed an informal system excluded from formal reporting structures that aid economic development and policy formulation. Documentation requirements, costs, access to financial services and literacy are contributing factors to the high adoption of informal systems. Unlike banking, mobile telephony access and adoption has revolutionised traditional perspectives of financial access and inclusion. This has warranted regulatory changes and the introduction of a new cadre of financial service providers: mobile money operators (MMOs). The policy changes that resulted in MMO licensing has produced over 20 operators and the opportunity of offering financial services to the larger unbanked community. This paper explores Nigeria’s path to digital financial inclusion (DFI) with experiences drawn from Firstmonie, the mobile money initiative of one of Nigeria’s oldest institutions, First Bank. Derived from public sources and interviews, we present the operating model of Firstmonie using the business model canvas (BMC) and subsequently draw insights on Nigeria’s path to DFI. While Nigeria’s mobile money adoption and performance has fallen short of expectations, the first hand experiences catalogue operator issues and challenges provides understanding of the contextual constraints of mobile money operations in Africa’s largest economy.
Bringing integrated digital marketing to the next level: How to measure engagement across the customer lifecycle for continuous program improvement
Authors: Earley Seth
Published: July 2024

Digital marketing is a dominant and fast-growing marketing technique but can be challenging to implement. EIS wanted to develop a data-driven approach to its marketing that would inform its strategy with data from every step of the customer journey. This paper describes the customer lifecycle and the key performance indicators that EIS uses to track and measure interactions with its prospects and customers. In addition, it identifies the stages involved in developing a comprehensive, integrated marketing strategy, including planning, technology implementation and executing multiple marketing campaigns.
Information retrieval from textual data: Harnessing large language models, retrieval augmented generation and prompt engineering
Authors: Hikov Asen , Murphy Laura
Published: July 2024

This paper describes how recent advancements in the field of Generative AI (GenAI), and more specifically large language models (LLMs), are incorporated into a practical application that solves the widespread and relevant business problem of information retrieval from textual data in PDF format: searching through legal texts, financial reports, research articles and so on. Marketing research, for example, often requires reading through hundreds of pages of financial reports to extract key information for research on competitors, partners, markets and prospective clients. It is a manual, error-prone and time-consuming task for marketers, where until recently there was little scope for automation, optimisation and scaling. The application we have developed combines LLMs with a retrieval augmented generation (RAG) architecture and prompt engineering to make this process more efficient. We have developed a chatbot that allows the user to upload multiple PDF documents and obtain a summary of predefined key areas as well as to ask specific questions and get answers from the combined documents’ content. The application’s architecture begins with the creation of an index for each of the PDF files. This index includes embedding the textual content and constructing a vector store. A query engine, employing a small-to-big retrieval method, is then used to accurately respond to a set of predefined questions for each PDF to create the summary. The prompt has been designed in a manner that minimises the risk of hallucination which is common in this type of model. The user interacts with the model via a chatbot feature. It utilises similar small-to-big retrieval techniques over the indices for straightforward queries, and a more complex sub-questions engine for in-depth analysis, providing a comprehensive and interactive tool for document analysis. We have estimated that the implementation of this tool would reduce the time spent on manual research tasks by around 60 per cent, based on the discussions we have had with potential users.