John Wiley & Sons Limited

Все книги издательства John Wiley & Sons Limited


    Merger Arbitrage. How to Profit from Global Event-Driven Arbitrage

    Thomas Kirchner

    Mitigate risk and increase returns with an alternative hedge fund strategy Merger Arbitrage: How to Profit from Event-Driven Arbitrage, Second Edition is the definitive guide to the ins and outs of the burgeoning merger arbitrage hedge fund strategy, with real-world examples that illustrate how mergers work and how to take advantage of them. Author Thomas Kirchner, founder of the Pennsylvania Avenue Event-Driven Fund, discusses the factors that drove him to invest solely in merger arbitrage and other event-driven strategies, and details the methods used to incorporate merger arbitrage into traditional investment strategies. And while there is always a risk that a deal will fall through, the book explains how minimal such risks really are when the potential upside is factored in. Early chapters of the book focus on the basics of the merger arbitrage strategy, including an examination of mergers and the incorporation of risk into the arbitrage decision. Following chapters detail deal structures, financing, and legal aspects to provide the type of in-depth knowledge required to execute an effective investment strategy. The updated second edition stresses new, increasingly relevant information like: Worldwide legal deal regimes UK takeover code UK takeover code global offspring Regulators around the world The book provides clear, concise guidance on critical considerations including leverage and options, shorting stocks, and legal recourse for inadequate merger consideration, allowing readers to feel confident about trying a new investment strategy. With simple benefits including diversification of risk and return streams, this alternative hedge fund strategy has a place in even the most traditional plan. Merger Arbitrage: How to Profit from Event-Driven Arbitrage, Second Edition provides the information that gives investors an edge in the merger arbitrage arena.

    Internal Audit Quality. Developing a Quality Assurance and Improvement Program

    Sally-Anne Pitt

    Deliver increased value by embedding quality into internal audit activities Internal Audit Quality: Developing a Quality Assurance and Improvement Program is a comprehensive and authoritative guide to better practice internal auditing. Written by a global expert in audit quality, this guide is the first to provide complete coverage of the elements that comprise an effective internal audit quality assurance and improvement program. Readers will find practical solutions for monitoring and measuring internal audit performance drawn from The IIA's International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing, and complemented by advice and case studies from leading audit practitioners from five different continents. Major corporate and financial collapses over the past decade have challenged the value of internal audit. With an increased focus on internal audit's role in good governance, management is increasingly demanding that internal audit provides assurance of the quality of its own activities. The IIA standards provide a framework for audit quality in the form of mandatory guidance . Recent research indicates that the majority of internal audit functions do not fully comply with the standards and, as a result, are not servicing the needs of their organizations as well as they might. Internal Audit Quality offers a roadmap to internal audit quality, providing readers the guidance they need to: Embed quality into all elements of internal audit from strategic and operational planning down to day-to-day tasks Create well-defined internal audit programs and procedures Independently self-assess internal audit quality and performance Conform with the IIA standards and better practice Provide assurance over internal audit efficiency and effectiveness Deliver value by meeting stakeholder expectations As a key component of good governance, internal audit is on the rise. The days of retrospective, compliance-focused auditing is a thing of the past. Organizations expect more of internal audit, and many internal audit activities are accepting the challenge. Rather than relying on audit supervision and external assessments, modern auditors are embedding quality into audit activities to create effective programs. For the auditor looking to distinguish themselves as leading edge, Internal Audit Quality provides the guidance that enables the right work, at the right time, in the right way.

    Profit & Purpose. How Social Innovation Is Transforming Business for Good

    Kyle Westaway

    Why has Warby Parker been able to make such dramatic inroads against the behemoths in the long established eyeglass market? How has Method revolutionized the soap aisle? Amid the cacophony of online retailers, why has Etsy seen such explosive growth, with 2013 annual sales north of $1 billion? These companies all have been disruptive because they are operating from a strong social/environmental purpose. They are proving a counterintuitive truth – purpose can drive profits. But it’s not just innovative startups that are getting in on the action. Blue chip companies such as Nike, Coca-Cola and IBM are innovating within their organization to create a positive social and environmental impact globally. This is not a trend. It’s the future of business. Based on in-depth interviews with founders, Profit & Purpose profiles a number of the most successful pioneers of this new way forward, telling the stories of thirteen social enterprises ranging from non-profits like Charity:Water and DonorsChoose.org, to for-profits, like Method and Burts Bees; from startups like Etsy and Warby Parker, to multinational corporations with market capitalizations in the hundreds of billions, like Coca-Cola, IBM and Nike. Kyle Westaway digs beneath the public stories of these organizations’ success to reveal how they have harness the power of purpose. Taking readers behind the scenes, he shows how these leading social enterprises progressed from concept to scale, how they overcame common pitfalls, and how they managed to find an optimal balance between their mission and their business mandates. Westaway reveals that though there is no magic bullet formula that guarantees success, there are seven core practices that distinguish these market leaders from the pack of contenders. They are: DISCOVER THROUGH CURIOSITY // Finding the right opportunity catalyzes impact. DESIGN WITH HUMILTY // Prioritizing users creates killer products. BUILD THROUGH HUSTLE // Rallying people creates critical momentum for launch. FUND BY COMMITMENT // Aligning funders around a vision creates true partnerships. CONNECT WITH AUTHENTICITY // Authentic connection builds a movement. SCALE THROUGH COMMUNITY // Focusing on culture ensures smart growth. EVALUATE WITH HONESTY // Honest measurement ensures continual improvement. Profit & Purpose takes the literature on social entrepreneurship an important step forward, providing the practical tools for turning good intentions into breakaway success.

    Brief. Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less

    Joseph McCormack

    Get heard by being clear and concise The only way to survive in business today is to be a lean communicator. Busy executives expect you to respect and manage their time more effectively than ever. You need to do the groundwork to make your message tight and to the point. The average professional receives 304 emails per week and checks their smartphones 36 times an hour and 38 hours a week. This inattention has spread to every part of life. The average attention span has shrunk from 12 seconds in 2000 to eight in 2012. So, throw them a lifeline and be brief. Author Joe McCormack tackles the challenges of inattention, interruptions, and impatience that every professional faces. His proven B.R.I.E.F. approach, which stands for Background, Relevance, Information, Ending, and Follow up, helps simplify and clarify complex communication. BRIEF will help you summarize lengthy information, tell a short story, harness the power of infographics and videos, and turn monologue presentations into controlled conversations. Details the B.R.I.E.F. approach to distilling your message into a brief presentation Written by the founder and CEO of Sheffield Marketing Partners, which specializes in message and narrative development, who is also a recognized expert in Narrative Mapping, a technique that helps clients achieve a clearer and more concise message Long story short: BRIEF will help you gain the muscle you need to eliminate wasteful words and stand out from the rest. Be better. Be brief.

    Data Smart. Using Data Science to Transform Information into Insight

    John Foreman W.

    Data Science gets thrown around in the press like it's magic. Major retailers are predicting everything from when their customers are pregnant to when they want a new pair of Chuck Taylors. It's a brave new world where seemingly meaningless data can be transformed into valuable insight to drive smart business decisions. But how does one exactly do data science? Do you have to hire one of these priests of the dark arts, the «data scientist,» to extract this gold from your data? Nope. Data science is little more than using straight-forward steps to process raw data into actionable insight. And in Data Smart, author and data scientist John Foreman will show you how that's done within the familiar environment of a spreadsheet. Why a spreadsheet? It's comfortable! You get to look at the data every step of the way, building confidence as you learn the tricks of the trade. Plus, spreadsheets are a vendor-neutral place to learn data science without the hype. But don't let the Excel sheets fool you. This is a book for those serious about learning the analytic techniques, the math and the magic, behind big data. Each chapter will cover a different technique in a spreadsheet so you can follow along: Mathematical optimization, including non-linear programming and genetic algorithms Clustering via k-means, spherical k-means, and graph modularity Data mining in graphs, such as outlier detection Supervised AI through logistic regression, ensemble models, and bag-of-words models Forecasting, seasonal adjustments, and prediction intervals through monte carlo simulation Moving from spreadsheets into the R programming language You get your hands dirty as you work alongside John through each technique. But never fear, the topics are readily applicable and the author laces humor throughout. You'll even learn what a dead squirrel has to do with optimization modeling, which you no doubt are dying to know.

    60-Minute Brand Strategist. The Essential Brand Book for Marketing Professionals

    Idris Mootee

    Praise for 60-Minute Brand Strategist «A fresh take on the wisdom of putting brand strategy at the heart of corporate strategy. Brilliant insights for a fast-moving world.» —Angela Ahrendts, CEO, Burberry «Idris Mootee paints a sharp, comprehensive, and finely articulated analysis of the potential of meaningful brands in the 21st century's cultural scenario and business landscape. The result is a smart manual that reminds you and your company how to build relevant, authentic, sustainable, and successful brands in an evolving society.» —Mauro Porcini, Chief Design Officer, PepsiCo Inc. «Idris's book teaches us how to engage today's increasingly cynical consumers on a deeper emotional level to build real equity and leadership. He demonstrates how to break out of the box and connect business strategy to brand strategy, and how the right brand story never really ends!» —Blair Christie, SVP and CMO, Cisco Systems, Inc. «It's rare to find a book that's both inspiring and practical but Idris nailed it! He has crafted the ultimate guide to brand building in the connected world with visual clarity and thought-provoking strategy.» —Eric Ryan, cofounder, Method Products, Inc. This book is about one thing only: branding. Period. In this economy ruled by ideas, the only sustainable form of leadership is brand leadership. 60-Minute Brand Strategist offers a fast-paced, field-tested view of how branding decisions happen in the context of business strategy, not just in marketing communications. With a combi-nation of perspectives from business strategy, customer experience, and even anthropology, this new and updated edition outlines the challenges traditional branding faces in a hyper-connected world. This essential handbook of brand marketing offers an encyclopedia of do's and don'ts, including new case studies of how these concepts are being used by the world's most successful and valuable brands. 60-Minute Brand Strategist is your battle plan, filled with powerful branding tools and techniques to win your customers' hearts and defeat the competition.

    Elevate. The Three Disciplines of Advanced Strategic Thinking

    Rich Horwath

    According to a study published in Chief Executive Magazine, the most valued skill in leaders today is strategic thinking. However, more than half of all companies say that strategic thinking is the skill their senior leaders most need to improve. Elevate provides leaders with a framework and toolkit for developing advanced strategic thinking capabilities. Unlike the majority of books that focus on strategy from a corporate perspective, Elevate gives the individual executive practical tools and techniques to help them become a truly strategic leader. The new framework that will enable leaders to finally integrate both strategy and innovation into a strategic approach that drives their profitable growth is the Three Disciplines of Advanced Strategic Thinking: 1. Coalesce: Fusing together insights to create an innovative business model. 2. Compete: Creating a system of strategy to achieve competitive advantage. 3. Champion: Leading others to think and act strategically to execute strategy. Every leader desperately wants to be strategic–their career depends on it. Elevate provides the roadmap to reach the strategic leadership summit.

    Laddering. Unlocking the Potential of Consumer Behavior

    Eric Holtzclaw V.

    Marketing and product development best practices for a fragmented economy The rules for marketing and product development have changed forever. You no longer control where and how consumers receive marketing messages. The consumer is in charge, with ever-growing choices and a shrinking decision window. Therefore, it is crucial to understand what drives customer behavior to design products, marketing, and experiences that will succeed. Laddering explains how to better understand your customers' core values. Learn to ask the right questions from your customers, use it to analyze your data, and unlock the true potential of your product or service. Use Laddering techniques to map your customer's DNA and understand why consumers buy from you. Helps you look at your customers in a new way and as a result maximize your profits and reduce your support costs Provides a framework for evaluating what marketing messages, campaigns and experiences are appropriate Author Eric V. Holtzclaw is CEO and founder of User Insight, a user experience research firm and Laddering Works, a marketing strategy and consulting firm. His weekly radio show, The 'Better You' Project, shines a spotlight on entrepreneurs' business journeys, his column Lean Forward appears weekly on INC.com and he is regularly contributor to CMO.com. You must understand what is truly important in order to build relationships with consumers and to market for success in the new many-to-many economy. Laddering offers the tools and knowledge you need to thrive.

    Guitar Theory For Dummies. Book + Online Video & Audio Instruction

    Desi Serna

    Serious about jamming, understanding, and creating guitar-driven music? Easy. With an approachable and engaging style, Guitar Theory For Dummies goes beyond guitar basics, presenting the guidance intermediate to advanced players need to improve their improvisational and compositional skills. Plus, with access to audio tracks and video instruction online you can master the concepts and techniques covered in the book. Key content coverage includes: pentatonic and major scale patterns; the CAGED chord system, chord progressions, and playing by numbers; roots, keys, and applying scales, plus modes and modal scales; intervals and chord extensions; popular song references and theory applications that help you understand how to play popular music and contemporary guitar styles, and create music of your own. This title also features companion audio tracks and video content hosted online at Dummies.com The expert instruction and easy-to-digest information provides comprehensive guidance on how to apply music theory concepts to fretted instruments If you already have a handle on the basics and want to know more about the building blocks and theory behind guitar music, Guitar Theory For Dummies has you covered.

    Bounce Forward. How to Transform Crisis into Success

    Sam Cawthorn

    An inspiring business book that shows leaders and businesspeople how to turn adversity into innovation, productivity, and profitability When he was just twenty-six years old, Sam Cawthorn's life changed forever. A terrible car accident cost him his arm, left him in a coma, and put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life—or so he thought. Today, Sam is one of the most successful motivational and inspirational speakers around, addressing some 100,000 people around the world each year, from some of the world’s biggest companies. Sam’s recovery was more than just a bounce back to where he had been before the accident. Instead, he used his accident as a launching pad to bounce forward to reach even greater heights than before. Now, Sam uses his own story to share the secrets of both personal and corporate turnarounds, how to use adversity as a springboard to greater heights not just for individuals, but also for companies and teams. Sam speaks to bankers, salespeople, leaders, corporate executives, government workers, students, and anyone else who faces challenges and setbacks every day. In Bounce Forward, Sam shares the tools, strategies, and psychology that anyone can use to overcome any obstacle. If Sam can bounce forward from the accident that nearly took his life, there's almost nothing that you can't overcome. An inspiring and motivational guide to overcoming challenges in life and in business Ideal for corporate leaders and employees, business managers, and anyone else who needs to motivate themselves or their teams Packed with the tools, strategies, and secret formulas it takes to turn adversity into success No matter what kind of challenge you face—in the office, at home, or even in your own heart—Bounce Forward gives you the insight you need to climb higher than ever before, in business or in life.