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Businesses need a new type of problem solving. Why? Because they are getting people wrong. Traditional problem-solving methods taught in business schools serve us well for some of the everyday challenges of business, but they tend to be ineffective with problems involving a high degree of uncertainty. Why? Because, more often than not, these tools are based on a flawed model of human behavior. And that flawed model is the invisible scaffolding that supports our surveys, our focus groups, our R&D, and much of our long-term strategic planning. In The Moment of Clarity, Christian Madsbjerg and Mikkel Rasmussen examine the business world’s assumptions about human behavior and show how these as...
Targeted towards institutional asset managers in general and chief investment officers, portfolio managers and risk managers in particular, this practical book serves as a comprehensive guide to quantitative portfolio optimization, asset allocation and risk management. Providing an accessible yet rigorous approach to investment management, it gradually introduces ever more advanced quantitative tools for these areas. Using extensive examples, this book guides the reader from basic return and risk analysis, all the way through to portfolio optimization and risk characterization, and finally on to fully fledged quantitative asset allocation and risk management. It employs such tools as enhanced modern portfolio theory using Monte Carlo simulation and advanced return distribution analysis, analysis of marginal contributions to absolute and active portfolio risk, Value-at-Risk and Extreme Value Theory. All this is performed within the same conceptual, theoretical and empirical framework, providing a self-contained, comprehensive reading experience with a strongly practical aim.
What if fascism didn't disappear at the end of WW II with the defeat of Hitler and Mussolini? Even more troubling, what if fascism can no longer be confined to political parties or ultra nationalist politicians but has become something much more diffuse that is spread across our societies as cultural expressions and psychological states? This is the disturbing thesis developed by Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen, who argues that late capitalism has produced hollowed-out and exchangeable subjectivities that provide a breeding ground for a new kind of diffuse, banal fascism. The overt and concentrated fascism of the new fascist parties thrives on the diffuse fascism present in social media and everyday life, where the fear of being left behind and losing out has fuelled resentment towards foreigners and others who are perceived as threats to a national community under siege. Only by confronting both the overt fascism of parties and politicians and the diffuse fascism of everyday life will we be able to combat fascism effectively and prevent the slide into barbarism.
Wars throughout history have been fought in the name of ideology, religion and the pursuit of peace. Our thinking about war – when it is justified, how it should be fought and how it is perceived – has changed dramatically over time. Whereas in the past war has been seen as a battle of wills, this provocative and illuminating new book shows how war has evolved into an exercise in risk management. In a rare blend of political science, sociology, history and cultural thought, Christopher Coker peels away the layers of meaning shrouding our current understanding of war and warfare. Using the ideas of writers such as Zygmunt Bauman, Ulrich Beck and Frank Furedi, he shows that risk has become...
Issues of defence politics and policy have long been at the forefront of political agendas and defining of international affairs. However, the dramatic changes to the global system that have taken place since the end of the Cold War and parrticularly since the terror attacks on the USA on 11 September 2001 have amplified the world's attention toward political and policy issues of national, regional and global security. The focus of this volume is on examining the fundamental causes of, and defence policy responses to this new 'post-9/11' security environment. Edited by Isaiah (Ike) Wilson III and James J. F. Forest of the US Military Academy, West Point, USA, this volume is international in scope, with pieces written by experts in the field, offering a collection of up-to-date and balanced insights on key contemporary issues of concern to defence policymakers. The book will be an invaluable reference tool for academics and students, researchers in international relations, policymakers, media professionals and government officials.
When NATO took charge of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan in 2003, ISAF conceptualized its mission largely as a stabilization and reconstruction deployment. However, as the campaign has evolved and the insurgency has proved to more resistant and capable, key operational imperatives have emerged, including military support to the civilian development effort, closer partnering with Afghan security forces, and greater military restraint. All participating militaries have adapted, to varying extents, to these campaign imperatives and pressures. This book analyzes these initiatives and their outcomes by focusing on the experiences of three groups of militaries: those of Britain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the US, which have faced the most intense operational and strategic pressures; Germany, who's troops have faced the greatest political and cultural constraints; and the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Taliban, who have been forced to adapt to a very different sets of circumstances.
Corporate culture is critical to any organizational change effort. This book offers a proven model for identifying and leveraging the essential elements of any culture. In a world that changes at a dizzying pace, what can leaders do to build flexible and adaptive workplaces that inspire people to achieve extraordinary results? According to the authors, the answer lies in recognizing and aligning the elusive forces—or the “puzzling” pieces—that shape an organization's culture. With a combined seventy-five years' worth of research, teaching, and consulting experience, Mario Moussa, Derek Newberry, and Greg Urban bring a wealth of knowledge to creating nimble organizations. Globally rec...
Dramatically improve your decisions with data and AI In Decision Intelligence: How to Transform Your Team and Organization with AI-Driven Decision-Making, a team of pioneering decision and AI strategists delivers a digestible and hands-on resource for professionals at every part of the decision-making journey. The book discusses the latest technology and approaches that bridge the gap between behavioral science, data science, and technological innovation. Discover how leaders from various industries and environments are using data and AI to make better future decisions, taking both human as well as business factors into account. This book covers: A demystifying behind-the-scenes peek inside ...
A wide-ranging rethinking of the many factors that comprise the making of American Grand Strategy. What is grand strategy? What does it aim to achieve? And what differentiates it from normal strategic thought--what, in other words, makes it "grand"? In answering these questions, most scholars have focused on diplomacy and warfare, so much so that "grand strategy" has become almost an equivalent of "military history." The traditional attention paid to military affairs is understandable, but in today's world it leaves out much else that could be considered political, and therefore strategic. It is in fact possible to consider, and even reach, a more capacious understanding of grand strategy, o...
This book examines reciprocity between asymmetrical sides in war and conflict.