Integrated Information Supply for Decision Support in Grid Companies

Increasing regulatory requirements such as price cap regulation have increased the importance of strategic grid asset management. Empirical studies reveal that information supply and consolidation are error prone and long-term processes. The reason is the missing automation of extraction, transformation, and loading. The current gap does neither fulfill the requirements of regulatory nor the necessity of standardized reporting. Furthermore, a detailed planning is not enabled and the calculation of key figures is extensive. Currently, a framework that considers the coupling of financial and technical key figures, the coupling of strategic and operative key figures as well as the integration into information systems is not existent. Therefore, this paper addresses the design of a reference model as a recommendation for action to integrate the asset management within information systems. It is validated by expert interviews. Moreover, it provides information to integrate relevant financial and technical artifacts from distributed systems. Simultaneously, it provides recommendations for implementing a Business Intelligence architecture in the context of strategic decision support

ART Neural Networks: Distributed Coding and ARTMAP Applications

ART (Adaptive Resonance Theory) neural networks for fast, stable learning and prediction have been applied in a variety of areas. Applications include airplane design and manufacturing, automatic target recognition, financial forecasting, machine tool monitoring, digital circuit design, chemical analysis, and robot vision. Supervised ART architectures, called ARTMAP systems, feature internal control mechanisms that create stable recognition categories of optimal size by maximizing code compression while minimizing predictive error in an on-line setting. Special-purpose requirements of various application domains have led to a number of ARTMAP variants, including fuzzy ARTMAP, ART-EMAP, Gaussian ARTMAP, and distributed ARTMAP. ARTMAP has been used for a variety of applications, including computer-assisted medical diagnosis. Medical databases present many of the challenges found in general information management settings where speed, efficiency, ease of use, and accuracy are at a premium. A direct goal of improved computer-assisted medicine is to help deliver quality emergency care in situations that may be less than ideal. Working with these problems has stimulated a number of ART architecture developments, including ARTMAP-IC [1]. This paper describes a recent collaborative effort, using a new cardiac care database for system development, has brought together medical statisticians and clinicians at the New England Medical Center with researchers developing expert systems and neural networks, in order to create a hybrid method for medical diagnosis. The paper also considers new neural network architectures, including distributed ART {dART), a real-time model of parallel distributed pattern learning that permits fast as well as slow adaptation, without catastrophic forgetting. Local synaptic computations in the dART model quantitatively match the paradoxical phenomenon of Markram-Tsodyks [2] redistribution of synaptic efficacy, as a consequence of global system hypotheses.Office of Naval Research (N00014-95-1-0409, N00014-95-1-0657

A Robust Regression-Based Stock Exchange Forecasting and Determination of Correlation between Stock Markets

Knowledge-based decision support systems for financial management are an important part of investment plans. Investors are avoiding investing in traditional investment areas such as banks due to low return on investment. The stock exchange is one of the major areas for investment presently. Various non-linear and complex factors affect the stock exchange. A robust stock exchange forecasting system remains an important need. From this line of research, we evaluate the performance of a regression-based model to check the robustness over large datasets. We also evaluate the effect of top stock exchange markets on each other. We evaluate our proposed model on the top 4 stock exchanges—New York, London, NASDAQ and Karachi stock exchange. We also evaluate our model on the top 3 companies—Apple, Microsoft, and Google. A huge (Big Data) historical data is gathered from Yahoo finance consisting of 20 years. Such huge data creates a Big Data problem. The performance of our system is evaluated on a 1-step, 6-step, and 12-step forecast. The experiments show that the proposed system produces excellent results. The results are presented in terms of Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE)

Show Me the Green: Three Essays on Information Systems Value and Environmental Performance in Global Organizations.

Businesses utilize information systems (IS) to increase revenues, reduce costs, and spur innovation. IS automate tasks, generate and deliver information, and can transform core value creation processes. As climate change and its associated challenges become increasingly relevant to business enterprises worldwide, IS are a key tool in enabling their response. Prior research shows that IS can either aid or inhibit organizational efforts, yet we do not fully understand their influence in this important context. This dissertation presents three essays examining how IS affects financial market value and greenhouse gas emissions performance in large businesses. The first essay (Chapter 2) introduces a method utilized in chapter 3. After finding a surprising dearth of international event studies in the IS discipline, a multiple-factor method is selected from related management literature to estimate international financial market reaction. Its performance relative to the commonly-used single-factor model is evaluated with a Monte Carlo analysis. Error correction improvement of the multiple factor model is calculated to be 44%-99% over the single-factor model for conditions observed in world markets 2000-2012. The second essay (Chapter 3) utilizes the multiple-factor model from chapter 2 to investigate international financial market reaction to Carbon Management Systems (CMS) adoption. CMS, a class of IS, enable the capture and management of carbon footprints. Three main results emerge. First, shareholders do not react positively to CMS announcements, as wealth effects are either not significant or negative, depending on the specification. Second, markets appear to penalize firms in more carbon regulated countries versus others, consistent with theory. Lastly, negative reactions to CMS appear to be dampening over time. The third essay (Chapter 4) examines the impact of IS on firm GHG emissions for large corporations with a presence in North America. This first-of-its-kind analysis finds interaction effects between GHG reduction plans and the physical deployment scope of ERP modules for Enterprise Support (e.g. HR, Finance, Accounting). Corporations with reduction plans in place and the highest 18% of ES physical scope are associated with reduced CO2 emissions. A one-standard-deviation increase in the ES physical scope deployment measure reduces GHG emissions by 46.63% for these companies.PhDBusiness AdministrationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113461/1/danrush_1.pd

Earnings management and its relationship with corporate governance mechanisms in Jordanian industrial firms

This thesis investigates the association between corporate governance mechanisms and earnings management in industrial Jordanian firms. We identify the most important corporate governance mechanisms that have an effect on accounting choices and operating decisions, investigate the tools that managers use to decrease or increase earnings in Jordanian industrial firms, and finally, determine which accruals model is more powerful to detect earnings management in Jordanian industrial companies. Historically, corporate governance mechanisms are considered to be the most important factors in assessing and monitoring the effectiveness of financial reporting (Brown, Pottb and Wömpenerb, 2014), and may be considered to be a cornerstone of control in general. Internal and external corporate governance is established by senior managers to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of operations and reduce the incidence of error or manipulation in accounting systems (Lee, 2006). Earnings management is considered one of the most important issues related to financial reporting, particularly after the Enron and WorldCom scandals. Earnings management behaviours are also related to low levels of corporate social responsibility and improvements in both areas would be expected to lead to improvements in the quality of corporate governance. Mixed methodology is used in this research including both quantitative and qualitative analyses. The quantitative analysis used accruals models the Standard Jones model (Jones 1991), modified Jones model (Dechow, Sloan and Sweeney, 1995), and the Peasnell, Pope and Young margin model (2000) as measures of earnings management and used these variables in conjunction with corporate governance factors. Annual financial reports that were published by the Amman stock market over the period 2005 to 2012 were used to extract the data for corporate governance characteristics of the firms. The qualitative analysis involved semi-structured interviews, conducted with general managers, financial managers and internal audit managers to provide in-depth information about corporate governance issues that we could not investigate easily through quantitative methods and to provide understanding of the context for the firm s earnings management. The qualitative analysis identified a range of motivations for earnings management in Jordanian firms including attempts to reduce customs fees; tax avoidance; the desire to attract more investors and increase share price, and the desire to increase management compensation. We find also that the Peasnell, Pope and Young margin model (2000) is a more powerful model for explaining earnings management in Jordan than the more commonly used accruals models. Quantitative results indicate that the ownership structure of the business plays a more significant role in constraining earnings management than characteristics relating to the board of directors or the characteristics of the audit process. Furthermore, the interviews also explored in depth a number of cultural factors and external economic factors, which were found to be related to the incidence of earnings management. Relevant cultural factors include particularly the tribal system that operates in Jordan, which creates pressures on firms likely to increase earnings management and external economic factors include the recent Middle East revolutions and adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards. The findings could be useful to investors, senior managers in Jordanian industrial firms, and legislators in Jordan, in relation to decisions about how to enhance the quality of monitoring mechanisms and constrain the incidence of earnings management. Our methodology and evaluation of standard accruals models in this context may also prove useful to other researchers on earnings management in developing economies

The Influence of Digital Financial Services on the Financial Performance of Commercial Banks in Cameroon

A strong banking industry is important in every nation and this can have a significant effect in supporting economic development through the provision of efficient financial services. Digital banking/financial services is the act of carrying out financial transactions without the use of physical cash, coins or bills. This paper sort to determine the influence of digital financial services on the financial performance of commercial banks in Cameroon. Specifically, it examined the influence of Digital Savings Services, Digital Transfers Services, Digital Withdrawals Services and Digital Payment Services on the profitability of commercial banks in Cameroon. It covers 10 out of 15 commercial banks in Cameroon. Methodologically,  it made use of survey research design. Item by item analysis of the questions was used to identify the reliability of digital financial services. The Taylor linearise variance estimation technique was used to determine their influence on commercial bank profitability. Results from the study showed that digital saving services, digital withdrawal services and digital transfer services have a positive and significant influence on the profitability of commercial banks in Cameroon. Digital payment on the other hand had a negative but significant influence on commercial Bank’s Profitability at 10% level of significance. Generally, 48% of variations of profitability of commercial banks are caused by joint variations in the use of digital transfer services, Digital Savings services, Digital Withdrawal services and Digital Payment services. Consequently 0.52 or 52% of the variations in profitability are not accounted for by the study’s model on digital financial services and bank profitability but caused by the error term. Conclusively, digital financial services are a booster of commercial bank’s profit levels. Finally, the study recommended that management of banks and policy makers in the banking industry should go in for robust digital systems and services as a means to diversify their sources of income and meet up with declining profit levels

Model of Ground Handling Processes and Establishing Safety Mechanisms

The following paper focuses on the operational safety issues in the aircraft ground handling process. Ground handling is a critical phase in terms of operational safety, however, severe injuries or even fatal accidents are rare. According to the available data, during a handling process a quite large number of incidents have as an outcome a damaged aircraft, which slows down the following processes and fluency of the relevant procedures. The financial costs in case of even the slightest damage are significantly high.In order to implement different approach to safety management of ground handling companies, firstly a process analysis was performed using the Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Process (STAMP) model. The STAMP model offers a different approach to operational safety as opposed to a traditional approach. STAMP approaches failure as a control error. The individual processes are designed for possible future STPA analysis. The processes were modelled according to the publicly available sources, and further improved with the expertise and experience from a real operation. A list of potential deviations is added to the processes or individual activities. Coordination processes between the ground handling company and the airport were also discussed. An operational measure designed to increase operational safety is proposed for selected cases

A multiobjective model for passive portfolio management: an application on the S&P 100 index

This is an author's accepted manuscript of an article published in: “Journal of Business Economics and Management"; Volume 14, Issue 4, 2013; copyright Taylor & Francis; available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.3846/16111699.2012.668859Index tracking seeks to minimize the unsystematic risk component by imitating the movements of a reference index. Partial index tracking only considers a subset of the stocks in the index, enabling a substantial cost reduction in comparison with full tracking. Nevertheless, when heterogeneous investment profiles are to be satisfied, traditional index tracking techniques may need different stocks to build the different portfolios. The aim of this paper is to propose a methodology that enables a fund s manager to satisfy different clients investment profiles but using in all cases the same subset of stocks, and considering not only one particular criterion but a compromise between several criteria. For this purpose we use a mathematical programming model that considers the tracking error variance, the excess return and the variance of the portfolio plus the curvature of the tracking frontier. The curvature is not defined for a particular portfolio, but for all the portfolios in the tracking frontier. This way funds managers can offer their clients a wide range of risk-return combinations just picking the appropriate portfolio in the frontier, all of these portfolios sharing the same shares but with different weights. An example of our proposal is applied on the S&P 100.García García, F.; Guijarro Martínez, F.; Moya Clemente, I. (2013). A multiobjective model for passive portfolio management: an application on the S&P 100 index. Journal of Business Economics and Management. 14(4):758-775. doi:10.3846/16111699.2012.668859S758775144Aktan, B., Korsakienė, R., & Smaliukienė, R. (2010). TIME‐VARYING VOLATILITY MODELLING OF BALTIC STOCK MARKETS. 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Measuring the effect of customer relationship management (CRM) components on the non financial performance of commercial banks: Egypt case

This paper presents customer relationship management (CRM) components as applied on the Egyptian Commercial Banks, examined from the bankers' point of view. Then, it intends to measure their effect on the level of customer satisfaction and loyalty from the customers’ point of view as examples of the non financial performance measures. The paper is quantitative in nature and consists of two different structured questionnaires using convenience/quota sampling. The first involved 180 employees in order to measure CRM applicability, and the second involved 270 customers to measure the level of customer satisfaction and loyalty and their effect on the Egyptian Commercial Banks' financial performance The findings show that the selected banks apply CRM components but the level of application differs from one bank to another. The results showed a significant positive relationship between CRM and customer satisfaction in the Egyptian Commercial Banks, when applying them together and not separately. In addition, there is a strong positive effect between customer satisfaction and loyalty which was reflected on the Commercial Banks' financial performance. The findings confirm the importance of studying and implementing CRM to achieve customer loyalty and improve the Egyptian Commercial Banks financial performance. Banks wishing to improve their relationships with customers need to focus on the CRM components to develop relevant and effective marketing strategies and tactics. The paper measures the CRM as a multidimensional construct as applied on the Egyptian Commercial Banks and relate it to the achievement of the ultimate goal of retaining customers to gaining a sustainable competitive advantage and achieve more profits