A Practitioner's Guide to Growth Models

The survival and prosperity of any corporation over the long term depend on the company's ability to grow and develop through a process of investment, restructuring, and redeployment. Since the late 19th century, mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have become an essential vehicle for corporate change, fuelled by synergies that could arise from expansion of sales and earnings, reduction in cost, and lower taxes and cost of capital.M&A transactions, however, are complex and risky and are affected by the state business cycle, financial conditions, regulations, and technology. Approximately two-thirds of all M&A deals fail. This book seeks to provide an effective and comprehensive framework, predominantly embedded in corporate finance, for achieving greater success. Written by academics and practitioners, it integrates business strategies with formal analysis relating to M&A deal making, providing a coherent statement on M&A by utilizing scholarly work with best practices by industry.The authors provide extensive analytical review and applications of the following critical M&A issues: valuation, leveraged buyouts, payment methods and their implications, tax issues, corporate governance, and the regulatory environment, including antitrust in M&A. The book globalizes the M&A model by extending it to cross-border business, risk and select hedging methods, and addresses postmerger integration.This book is intended as a reading text for a course in M&A for undergraduates and MBA programs, and for practitioners as a handbook.

Nominal yields on government debt in several countries have fallen very near their zero lower bound (ZLB), causing a liquidity trap and limiting the capacity to stimulate economic growth. This book provides a comprehensive reference to ZLB structure modeling in an applied setting.

A Practitioner's Guide to Stochastic Frontier Analysis Using Stata provides practitioners in academia and industry with a step-by-step guide on how to conduct efficiency analysis using the stochastic frontier approach. The authors explain in detail how to estimate production, cost, and profit efficiency and introduce the basic theory of each model in an accessible way, using empirical examples that demonstrate the interpretation and application of models. This book also provides computer code, allowing users to apply the models in their own work, and incorporates the most recent stochastic frontier models developed in academic literature. Such recent developments include models of heteroscedasticity and exogenous determinants of inefficiency, scaling models, panel models with time-varying inefficiency, growth models, and panel models that separate firm effects and persistent and transient inefficiency. Immensely helpful to applied researchers, this book bridges the chasm between theory and practice, expanding the range of applications in which production frontier analysis may be implemented.

Capacity Management is described in most key ITSM frameworks: ITIL, ISO 20000 Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) and the Application Service Library (ASL) all note the importance of Capacity Management. This major title meets the need for an in-depth practical guide to this critical process. Written and reviewed by some of the world’s most respected experts in this field it shows how Capacity Management best practice can support provision of a consistent, acceptable service level at a known and controlled cost. Practical advice covers the essential control of two balances: Supply versus demand and resources versus cost. In times of mean, frugal economic measures, it is essential to focus on those practices that are effective and yield practical results. In enlightened times of sustainability, it is also a requirement to find solutions that satisfy the criteria for 'greenness'. This excellent title shows how Capacity Management works not only within an IT environment but also why it is pivotal in meeting high profile business demands. Aligns with ISO/IEC 20000 and ITIL® ­ISO/IEC lists a set of required capacity management deliverables ­ITIL outlines what should be done in capacity management ­this book starts to describe how to do it Covers details of what capacity management is all about: ­what is capacity management ­why do it – benefits and cost-benefit analysis ­how to do it – data-flows and activities ­who does it – roles and perspectives ­implementation, maintenance, improvement, tools Provides comprehensive templates and checklists: ­objectives, interfaces and data-flows, sub-practices and activities ­metrics, application sizing parameters, data for modelling ­deliverables, reports, CMMI levels, KPIs, risk matrix ­sample capacity plan

This book provides practitioners with a step-by-step guide on how to conduct efficiency analysis using the stochastic frontier approach.

This publication is a practitioner's guide for analyzing the distributional impact of reforms to trade, monetary and exchange rate policy, utility provision, agricultural markets, land policy and education. These six areas of policy reform are the ones most likely to have an impact on distribution and poverty. Such analysis helps in policy formulation and development and for implementing poverty reduction strategies in developing countries. Each chapter in this volume provides an overview and guidance on the specific issues arising in the analysis of the distributional impacts of policy and institutional reforms in selected sectors.