This book attempts to deal with financing and investment decision making, with particular focus on the private sector of the UK economy. Its approach is to set out the theories that surround each area of financial decision making and relate these to what appears to happen in practice. Where theory and practice diverge, the book tries to reconcile and explain the differences. It also attempts to assess the practical usefulness of some of the theories that do not seem to be applied widely in practice. The book attempts to make the subject as accessible as possible to readers coming to business finance for the first time. Unnecessarily technical language has been avoided as much as possible, and the issues are described in a narrative form as well as in more formal statements. The more technical terms are highlighted in blue when they are first mentioned and these are included in the glossary at the end of the book. Detailed proofs of theoretical propositions have generally been placed in appendices to the relevant chapters. Readers should not take this to mean that these proofs are particularly difficult to follow. The objective was to make the book as readable as possible, and it was felt that, sometimes, formal proofs can disturb the flow if they are included in the main body of the text. The book is directed at those who are studying business finance as part of an under-graduate course, for example, a degree in business studies. It is also directed at post-graduate, post-experience students who are either following a university course or seeking a professional qualification. It should also prove useful to those studying for the professional examinations of the accounting bodies. It is also hoped that those who are interested in business finance for its own sake will find the book readable and helpful.

This book is a Security Leaders’ Guide to aligning with the business. If you are a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Head of Security with a similar title, a security manager, or a security team member providing leadership to the business, this book is for you. One of our Rational Cybersecurity interviews illustrated the challenge of a disengaged business. I’ve seen way too many businesses with disengaged senior management like this. It takes two basic forms: 1) Security’s not considered to be a priority. 2) Or, the organization has budgeted for security, hired staff, and deems it “handled.” Executives delude themselves into thinking they’ve put security first even if in practice it is routinely put way behind other priorities. We see the second, insidious, form of disengagement even at highly regulated businesses. Staff, even in the security department, are afraid to do anything other than put an optimistic spin on security issues reported up the chain. Misalignment between security and the business can start at the top or happen at the line of business, IT, development, or user level. It has a corrosive effect on any security project it touches. As organizations transform themselves into “digital businesses,” they fall under increasing IT-related risk and regulation. Aligning cybersecurity and IT with business leaders and business processes becomes exponentially more important to digital businesses. I chose to write Rational Cybersecurity for Business because, during my career as an IT research analyst and consultant, I’ve learned that successful cybersecurity isn’t just about the technology, it’s also about the people and organizations. I realized midway through this project, however, that I could write the book for security leaders as the primary audience or for business leaders, but not for both.

This book is the first of a series of spinoffs from Douglas Hubbard’s successful first book, How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of “Intangibles” in Business. For future books in this franchise, we were considering titles such as How to Measure Anything in Project Management or industry- specific books like How to Measure Anything in Healthcare. All we had to do was pick a good idea from a long list of possibilities. Cybersecurity risk seemed like an ideal first book for this new series. It is extremely topical and filled with measurement challenges that may often seem impossible. We also believe it is an extremely important topic for personal reasons (as we are credit card users and have medical records, client data, intellectual property, and so on) as well as for the economy as a whole. Another factor in choosing a topic was finding the right co-author. Because Doug Hubbard—a generalist in measurement methods—would not be a specialist in any of the particular potential spinoff topics, he planned to find a co-author who could write authoritatively on the topic. Hubbard was fortunate to find an enthusiastic volunteer in Richard Seiersen—someone with years of experience in the highest levels of cybersecurity management with some of the largest organizations. So, with a topical but difficult measurement subject, a broad and growing audience, and a good co-author, cybersecurity seemed like an ideal fit. This book in particular offers an alternative to a set of deeply rooted risk assessment methods now widely used in cybersecurity but that have no basis in the mathematics of risk or scientific method. We argue that these methods impede decisions about a subject of growing criticality. We also argue that methods based on real evidence of improving decisions are not only practical but already have been applied to a wide variety of equally difficult problems, including cybersecurity itself. We will show that we can start at a simple level and then evolve to whatever level is required while avoiding problems inherent to “risk matrices” and “risk scores.” So there is no reason not to adopt better methods immediately.

The backbone of our framework is the term structure of rates, including interest rates, real rates, swap rates (Libor), credit rates and volatility. Through principal components analysis we show that the market’s own modes of fluctuations of interest rates are nearly identical to the components of our term structure of interest rates. Essentially, our term structure model speaks the language of the markets. Thus, the model requires the minimum number of components to explain all changes in interest rates. Five components can price all zero coupon treasuries within 2 basis points (bps) of market rates. More importantly, a different number of components can be used for risk management than for valuation without loss of generality. Exact pricing of all interest rate swaps that is provided by our methodology can be used for valuation of swap transactions. The components of the term structure model represent weakly correlated sectors of the yield curve and can be used for structuring and risk measurement of portfolios. The first component, level, is associated with the duration of the portfolio. The second component, slope, is associated with the flattening/steepening structure and can be used to structure a barbell trade. The third component, bend, represents the exposure of a portfolio at the long and short ends relative to the middle of the curve and is used to structure a butterfly trade. Valuation metrics along with the term structure durations for the identification of sources of alpha and risk are provided for all asset classes. We introduce the concept of partial yields as a way to decompose the contribution of different sectors to the yield of a portfolio. It is not reasonable to aggregate the yield of a security that has a high probability of default in a portfolio, since the resulting portfolio yield is not likely to be realized. Partial yield addresses this issue, by calculating the default probability and decomposing the yield into components that can be used to aggregate a portfolio’s yield. The valuation metrics and term structure durations along with linear programming provide tools for portfolio construction at the security level. This is also known as the bottom-up approach to portfolio construction and is useful for daily maintenance of a portfolio. Sector allocations and analysis of the portfolio’s mix of assets and durations and correlation among different asset classes are the subject of the top-down method of portfolio construction in fixed income. The two methods are complementary to each other; however, top-down is usually analyzed on a monthly or quarterly basis. There is a step-by-step outline of building a spreadsheet based tool for designing new products or maintaining an existing portfolio. This tool provides the tracking error, marginal contribution to risk, and can be used for what-if analysis or to see how the portfolio would have performed during prior financial crises or how additions of new asset classes or sectors alter the risk profile of the portfolio. There is also a method to identify the structure of the competitive universe and design a product that could compete in that space. We have provided detailed steps and formulation for the implementation of the framework that is outlined in the book. Many of the components can be built in spread-sheets; however, reliable and efficient analytics require the development of the necessary tools as separate programs. The benefits of such a framework and the potential performance improvements significantly outweigh its development costs.

This book has taken me almost four decades to write. And that makes the task of writing this Preface so difficult. If I might, I would like to offer some simple but hopefully helpful advice and insight into this profession: Learn from anyone and everyone. You’ll be surprised what information you can glean about business from about anyone you might meet. Ask about their job, what (if not nonpublic and material) their company could be doing to become more efficient, what it might be doing wrong or well, as well as the firm’s customers, clients, and competition. While all security analysts like to spend time with the chief financial officer (CFO), in a large organization it’s really the professionals that report to the CFO who carry the valuable information and expertise. For instance, if possible, I like to speak to the individual who wrote particular footnote sections of the 10K or 10Q, such as the manager of global tax or the pension manager. Now that the industrialized world is entering its second decade of slowing economic growth, the analysis of cash flow and credit is coming to the forefront. With that Depression mentality in mind, I explain in this book my concept for how the entity can maximize free cash flow without impairing its growth. For without free cash flow, outside of selling assets, principal on debt cannot be reduced, and investors cannot be compensated. The reason for this book, however, is my genuine concern that investors have not learned to program risk into their expectations. Even when they believe that they have, normally omitted are a multitude of factors that deserved careful attention but did not receive it. Without a careful assessment and evaluation of fundamental business and operating risks, the potential for negative surprise looms. When building in such risks to expectations of reward in the form of cash flow, a superior investment model is created, including the estimate of fair value.

У монографії визначено сутність та уточнено класифікацію маркетингових стратегій зростання, проаналізовано основні методи та етапи їх формування. Здійснено аналіз основних маркетингових показників діяльності досліджуваних аграрних формувань та проведено комплексну оцінку маркетингових стратегій. Виявлено найбільш значущі чинники зростання у досліджених агроформуваннях та надано рекомендації щодо обґрунтування вибору маркетингової стратегії для розвитку конкретних аграрних формувань. Розроблено механізми реалізації маркетингових стратегій зростання аграрних формувань, що дозволить їм значною мірою оптимізувати виробничо-збутову діяльність, домогтися високих темпів економічного зростання на найближчу перспективу. Монографія призначена для науковців, керівників, студентів, аспірантів та викладачів маркетингу закладів вищої освіти України.

Запропоновано весь необхідний навчальний матеріал у спрощеному й узагальненому вигляді, що дозволяє студентам за його допомогою в короткі строки опанувати основи маркетингової цінової політики в різних галузях економіки. Призначений для студентів спеціальностей: 075 «Маркетинг» та 076 «Підприємництво, торгівля та біржова діяльність» всіх форм навчання.

Дисципліна “Зовнішньоекономічна діяльність підприємства” має на меті допомогти майбутнім фахівцям засвоїти теоретичні основи зовнішньоекономічної діяльності, а також навчитись володіти основними термінами і принципами, використовувати їх у різноманітних господарських ситуаціях, набути практичних навичок самостійного укладання контрактів та прийняття рішень. Навчальний посібник написано за програмою для студентів, які навчаються для спеціальності: 076 «Підприємництво, торгівля та біржова діяльність» всіх форм навчання. При підготовці до комплексного екзамену з фаху випускники бакалаврату у цьому виданні можуть знайти відповіді на запитання, винесені на екзамен у формі тестів і задач. Матеріали посібника дають можливість на високому рівні підготувати висококваліфікованих фахівців із зовнішньоекономічної діяльності, що сприятиме посиленню процесів інтеграції нашої країни до світового господарства.

У підручнику всебічно висвітлені сутність сучасного фінансового ринку, його операційний механізм за сегментами, специфіка фінансових інструментів, підвалини ціноутворення, аналіз та портфельне управління на цьому ринку. У кожному розділі наведені перелік запитань, тести та рекомендована література; у розділах практичного спрямування - завдання. Положення підручника ґрунтуються на сучасній нормативно-правовій базі, використанні та аналізі набутого вітчизняного й зарубіжного досвіду. Для науковців, викладачів і здобувачів вищої освіти, практиків у сфері фінансової та страхової діяльності, а також широкого загалу читачів, які цікавляться проблемами функціонування фінансового ринку.

У книзі пропонується загальна концепція використання ризик орієнтованого підходу, щодо його втілення на підприємствах, із застосуванням тих матеріалів з питань безпеки, які вже напрацьовано та їх інтегрування у новітні стандарти. http://repository.kpi.kharkov.ua/handle/KhPI-Press/41884