An Approach to Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management

Marine scientists and policymakers are encouraging ecosystem-based fishery management (EBFM), but there is limited guidance on how to operationalize the concept. We adapt financial portfolio theory as a method for EBFM that accounts for species interdependencies, uncertainty, and sustainability constraints. Illustrating our method with routinely collected data available from the Chesapeake Bay, we demonstrate the gains from taking into account species variances and covariances in setting species total allowable catches. We find over the period from 1962–2003 that managers could have increased the revenues from fishing and reduced the variance by employing ecosystem frontiers in setting catch levels.ecosystem-based fishery management, portfolio, trophic modeling, precaution

Wheat Variety Selection to Maximize Returns and Minimize Risk: An Application of Portfolio Theory

This research shows that a portfolio of wheat varieties could enhance profitability and reduce risk over the selection of a single variety for Kansas wheat producers. Many Kansas wheat farmers select varieties solely based on published average yields. This study uses portfolio theory from business investment analysis to find the optimal, yield-maximizing and risk-minimizing combination of wheat varieties in Kansas.portfolio theory, wheat variety selection, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Industrial Organization, Production Economics, Risk and Uncertainty, Q12, Q16,

Cultivar Diversity: A Neglected Risk Management Strategy

Risk reduction through diversification across cultivars is evaluated. A case study of peach growers in California shows that cultivar diversity reduces both yield and revenue variability. As a result, the probability of falling below minimum income requirements set using a safety-first model is reduced using this strategy.cultivar, diversification, peaches, risk management, safety first, Risk and Uncertainty,

What Are the Useful Past Inter-Organizational Relationships (IORs) for Forming Complex IORs?

Purpose: The purpose is to explore the relationship between prior and later inter-organizational relationships (IORs) by studying whether past experience can be leveraged on when forming new, more complex, IORs. Methodology: Participation in prior IORs is characterized in terms of both resource- transferring and resource-pooling IORs in home-country networks, while complex IORs are considered those with foreign partners. An empirical test on 366 Italian firms is performed using OLS with robust standard errors. Findings: Both resource-transferring and resource-pooling IORs have non-convergent effects. The former has controversial effects on the base of the position a firm occupies, that in turn affects the structure of interests between the partners. The latter has different effects in line with the information complexity of the objective of the relationship. Research Implications: Results provide support to the idea that structure of interests and information complexity represent \u201cdiscriminating characteristics\u201d that identify salient structural alternatives in the analysis of inter-firm organization. Practical Implications: The paper advances that firms can partially leverage on the exploitation of prior experience in settings that are explorative in nature, by carefully selecting within past experiences. Originality: A distinction between coordination \u201cgiving\u201d and coordination \u201ctaking\u201d IORs is proposed to discern among different types of inter-firm coordination forms

A Portfolio Approach for the New Zealand Multi-Species Fisheries Management

Marine species are reproducible resource. Maintaining the stock level of marine species and the sustainability of fisheries development become critical issues in current scientific research areas due to the explosion of human population and exacerbation of natural environment. The traditional method that protects the marine species is the single species approach which set maximum sustainable yield (MSY) to prevent over-harvest. However, with the development of technology and comprehension of marine science, the single species approach has been found obsolete and incapable of dealing with problems of severe depletion of fish stocks and escalation of fisheries confliction. Studies show that when regulations are species specific and species are part of a multi-species fisheries, the catch levels of different species are correlated which result in correlation of net return from each species. This paper employ financial portfolio into fisheries, treat fish stocks as assets, model the fishers’ behaviour who face multiple targeting options to predict the optimal targeting strategies. This methodology is applied to New Zealand fisheries that are managed in Quota Management System (QMS) introduced in 1986. Species considered in this research are selected carefully based on two criteria. Efficient risk-return frontier will be generated that provides a combination of optimal strategies. Comparison between results and actual data will be presented. Potential explanations will be given so that further suggestions to fisheries can be made.Agribusiness, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty,

Does Risk Aversion Matter for Foreign Asset Holdings of Pension Funds – The Case of Poland

In this study we explore the issue of foreign assets in mandatory pension funds portfolios. First we provide an overview of the regulatory policies regarding international assets and indicate the externalitieswhich may account for the observed differences among the CEE states. Then, taking the perspective of portfolio theory, we run a simulation study to measure the diversification benefits that may be achieved by greater international asset allocation. By applying the specific constraints and exchange rate volatility to our optimization procedure, the study reflects the perspective of the Polish pensioner. However, the findings regarding risk aversion intensity and the discussed directions of further research should be of a universal character.W artykule podjęto zagadnienie inwestycji w aktywa zagraniczne dokonywanych przez fundusze emerytalne. W części pierwszej opracowania dokonano przeglądu polityk nadzorczych oraz wskazano efekty zewnętrzne inwestycji zagranicznych, które mogą odpowiadać za obserwowane różnice w regulacjach pomiędzy krajami Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej. Następnie wykorzystując teorię portfela przeprowadzono symulacje mające na celu oszacowanie korzyści dywersyfikacyjnych, jakie mogłyby zostać osiągnięte poprzez wyższy udziałaktywów zagranicznych. Stosując specyficzne ograniczenia oraz biorąc pod uwagę zmienność kursu walutowego, zaprezentowane badanie oddaje perspektywę członka polskiego funduszu emerytalnego. Z drugiej strony, wnioski dotyczące stopnia awersji do ryzyka oraz wskazane kierunki dla dalszych badań powinny mieć charakter uniwersalny

Technological diversification, coherence and performance of firms.

Technological diversification at the level of the firm, i.e. the expansion of a firm’s technology base into a wide range of technology fields, is found to be a prevailing phenomenon in all three major industrialized regions: US, Europe and Japan, prompting the term multi-technology corporation. Whereas previous studies have provided insights into the composition of technology portfolios of multi-technology firms, little is known about the link between technological diversification and firms’ technological performance. Against a backdrop of the technology and innovation management literature, this article investigates the relationship between technological diversification and technological performance, taking into account the moderating role of technological coherence in firms’ technology portfolios. Hereby, technological coherence is defined as the degree to which technologies in a technology portfolio are technologically related. In order to measure the technological coherence of portfolios, a measure of technological relatedness of technology fields is constructed based on patent citation patterns found in 450,000 EPO patent grants. Two hypotheses are presented in this article: (1) Technological diversification has an inverted U-shaped relationship with technological performance; and (2) Technological coherence moderates the relationship between technological diversification and technological performance positively. These hypotheses are tested empirically using a panel dataset (1995-2003) on patent portfolios pertaining to 184 US, European, and Japanese firms. The firms selected are the largest R&D actors in five industries: Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology, Chemicals, Engineering & General Machinery, IT Hardware (computers and communication equipment), and Electronics & Electrical Machinery. Empirical results, obtained by fixed-effects negative binomial regressions, support both hypotheses in this article. Technological diversification has an inverted U-shaped relationship with technological performance. While technological diversification offers opportunities for cross-fertilization and technology fusion, high levels of diversification may yield few marginal benefits as firms risk lacking sufficient levels of scale to benefit from wide-ranging technological capabilities, and firms may encounter high levels of coordination and integration costs. Further, the results show that the net benefits of technological diversification are higher in technologically coherent technology portfolios. If firms build up a technologically coherent diversified portfolio, the presence of sufficient levels of scale is ensured and coordination costs are limited. This article clearly identifies the important role of technological coherence and points out in the discussion session the relevance of future research on interface management practices directed to the realization of the benefits of technological diversification.technology diversification; technology relatedness; innovation; firm performance;

VALUE AT RISK - CORPORATE RISK MEASUREMENT

The notion of "risk" is used in a number of sciences. The Faculty of Law studies the risk depending on its legality. The Accident Theory applies this term to describe the damage and the disasters. One can find studies on the risks in the works of psychology, philosophy, medicine and within each of these areas the study of the risk is based on the given science subject and, of course, on their methods and approaches. Such a variety of risk study is explained by the diversity of this phenomenon. Under the market economy conditions, the risk is an essential component of any economic agent management policy, of the approach developed by this one, a strategy that depends almost entirely on individual ability and capacity to anticipate his evolution and to exploit his opportunities, assuming a so-called \"risk of business failure.\" There are several ways to measure the risks in projects, one of the most used methods to measure this being the Value at Risk(VaR). Value at Risk (VaR) was made famous by JP Morgan in the mid 1990s, by introducing the RiskMetrics approach, and hence, by far, has been sanctioned by several Governing Bodies throughout the world bank. In short, it measures the value of risk capital stocks in a given period at a certain probability of loss. This measurement can be modified for risk applications through, for example, the potential loss values affirmation in a certain amount of time during the economic life of the project- clearly, a project with a lower VaR is better. It should be noted that it is not always possible or advisable for a company to limit itself to the remote analysis of each risk because the risks and their effects are interdependent and constitute a system .In addition, there are risks which, in combination with other risks, tend to produce effects which they would not have caused by themselves and risks that tend to offset and even cancel each other out.risk, value at risk, confidence intervals, variance, Monte Carlo simulation

Valuing fuel diversification in optimal investment policies for electricity generation portfolios

Optimal capacity allocation for investments in electricity generation assets can be deterministically derived by comparing technology specific long-term and short-term marginal costs. In an uncertain market environment, Mean-Variance Portfolio (MVP) theory provides a consistent framework to valuate financial risks in power generation portfolios that allows to derive the efficient fuel mix of a system portfolio with different generation technologies from a welfare maximization perspective. Because existing literature on MVP applications in electricity generation markets uses predominantly numerical methods to characterize portfolio risks, this article presents a novel analytical approach combining conceptual elements of peak-load pricing and MVP theory to derive optimal portfolios consisting of an arbitrary number of plant technologies given uncertain fuel prices. For this purpose, we provide a static optimization model which allows to fully capture fuel price risks in a mean variance portfolio framework. The analytically derived optimality conditions contribute to a much better understanding of the optimal investment policy and its risk characteristics compared to existing numerical methods. Furthermore, we demonstrate an application of the proposed framework and results to the German electricity market which has not yet been treated in MVP literature on electricity markets.power plant investments, peak load pricing, mean-variance portfolio theory, fuel mix diversification