Visions of the future: two success strategies for software selection

The first and most crucial step in any system implementation is the specification and subsequent selection of the software. It is important to make the "right" choice--one where the software works with the hardware to integrate the users so it helps them do their jobs better now and into the future. This article will review the software selection process utilized by two companies to choose the software that was "right" for them. Insights and experiences will also be shared to assist others in their software selection activities.     

Regulierung, Bildung und Wohlstand — der IW-Regulierungsindex

Education is considered as a key factor for the future development of an economy. Therefore, a well-designed education system is indispensable for a society to maintain or increase its welfare. The regulation of the education system is one of the main tools to which a government has recourse in order to infl uence the system. By using the regulation index created by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research (Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft (IW) K?ln), it is possible to quantify this regulation and to identify positive or negative trends. The authors show that a higher extent of regulation usually correlates with negative economic performance. In terms of education, the results indicate that a higher extent of regulation has a negative impact on the labour market, threatening sustainable long-term development of the economy.     

L?nderrisiko: Die ?konomischen Konsequenzen einer Herabstufung durch die Ratingagenturen

Die Macht der Ratingagenturen wird derzeit allenthalben kritisiert. Tats?chlich haben ihre Beurteilungen eine gro?e Bedeutung bei der Kreditvergabe. Dies wurde aber vor allem durch zahlreiche Regularien vom Staat selbst verursacht. Dabei wirken sich die L?nderratings aufgrund des „Sovereign-Ceiling“-Prinzips auch auf die Bewertung von Unternehmenskrediten aus.     

Diagnose Krebs

Die Diagnose Krebs erschüttert nicht nur die Patienten, auch ihr Familiensystem ger?t ins Wanken. Das gilt ganz besonders dann, wenn Kinder in der Familie leben. Welche Hilfsangebote brauchen betroffene Familien?     

Accounting For Conversion Of Convertibles

Accounting policy-makers continue to confront problems that arise from ambiguities in the value of some types of transaction. For example, AAS21 was put in place partially to ensure that assets of a business acquired are accounted for at fair market value, rather than at the values recorded in the books of the acquired business. One related question that has not been clarified is the value to be attributed to shares issued as a result of convertible note-holders exercising conversion options. Convertible notes and convertible preference shares feature regularly in the capital structures of Australian firms. This paper discusses the economic nature of the conversion option, outlines alternative ways of accounting for conversion in the context of tax and other economic implications, and reports a brief survey of current practice.     

Recent Developments in Credit Markets

We summarize recent developments in the credit derivative markets. We show the role of dependence between individual debtors in portfolio derivatives in a study of implied correlation. The risk of changing dependence structures between stock and bond markets becomes evident in an example of capital structure arbitrage. How credit derivatives can introduce new risks is illustrated by the example of “overlay” in basket derivatives.     

Entrepreneurial Spawning: Experience,Education, and Exit

We investigate the career dynamics of high‐tech entrepreneurs by analyzing the exit choice of entrepreneurs: to act as a business angel, to found another firm, or to become dependently employed. Our detailed data from CrunchBase indicate that founders are more likely to stick with entrepreneurship as a serial entrepreneur or as an angel investor in cases where the founder had prior experience either in founding other startups or working for a startup, or had a “jack‐of‐all‐trades” education.     

Accessing material art through technologies of mediation and immediation

In this paper, we explore touch technologies and the kinds of engagements with art that they enable. We discuss implications of using these technologies, and technology more generally, to access art via electronic displays within museums and galleries and outside of museums over the Internet. Our discussion is put in the context of how museums, both now and in the past, have constructed experiences of objects. We trace a trajectory from museum environments in which all senses were active to contemporary ones, which are purely visual. We argue that emerging technologies can be used to reverse this movement.     

Auswirkungen von Enhanced Annuities auf den Bestand eines Versicherers

The value for money of a standard annuity is the higher, the longer the life expectancy of an insured, and therefore it is only acceptable for persons with an above average life expectancy. The discrepancy is intensified by tax regulations that favor lifelong annuity payments opposed to a lump sum. This discrimination of impaired insureds could be prevented if so-called enhanced annuities were offered, i.e. products where the annuity paid is the larger, the lower the person’s life expectancy. The article presents a quantitative comparison of the risk profile of insurance companies offering standard annuity contracts compared to enhanced annuities and an analysis of the impact of adverse selection on a standard insurer. By definition of individual mortality rates a heterogeneous insurance portfolio is specified. Besides we model the individual underwriting of enhanced annuities. A Monte Carlo Simulation provides results to compare the profit/loss situation of a portfolio of traditional annuity products and a portfolio of enhanced annuities with individual underwriting of different quality and to assess the impact of selection effects.