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This chapter explores various aspects of mergers and acquisitions in the banking industry within a simple model that allows explicit comparison of sector performance before and after the mergers and acquisitions. The industry structure we look at involves a few dominant banks and a competitive fringe, which we take as the structure most likely to resemble the Turkish banking industry in the aftermath of the ongoing restructuring process. Using a reasonable set of parameters to simulate the model, we perform comparative statics exercises regarding the impact of mergers among domestic as well as with foreign banks on equilibrium outcomes.

This chapter explores the possible future trading options available to the UK and what impacts these trading options will have on the UK automotive industry. The research makes use of a wide range of data to predict the degree of impact each trading alternative will have on the UK automotive industry. Using a Supply Chain Management (SCM) framework, we discuss the trading practices currently in place today in the sector, and its interactions and dependence on privileged access to the Single Market. We then examine likely impacts each potential trading alternative will have on the sector. Drawing on interviews with senior managers in the sector, the findings of the research suggest that all current available trade scenarios put up different types of trade barriers for the sector, potentially increasing costs and decreasing the UK’s attractiveness as a base for automotive manufacturing. The findings also suggest that the uncertainty around the UK’s trading future with EU is deterring investment into the sector, which will likely have consequences further into the future. We conclude by assessing a wide variety of mitigation strategies open to manufacturers, considering their viability and applicability in each potential scenario.

Truckload routing has always been a challenge. This paper explores the development of continuous flow truckload routes, which resemble less than truckload routes, and a new way to formulate the truckload routing problem (TRP). Rather than view the problem as a succession of origin/destination pairs, we look at the problem as a series of routing triplets. This enables us to use alternate solution methods, which may result in greater efficiency and improved solutions.

This paper develops methods of Bayesian inference in a cointegrating panel data model. This model involves each cross-sectional unit having a vector error correction representation. It is flexible in the sense that different cross-sectional units can have different cointegration ranks and cointegration spaces. Furthermore, the parameters that characterize short-run dynamics and deterministic components are allowed to vary over cross-sectional units. In addition to a noninformative prior, we introduce an informative prior which allows for information about the likely location of the cointegration space and about the degree of similarity in coefficients in different cross-sectional units. A collapsed Gibbs sampling algorithm is developed which allows for efficient posterior inference. Our methods are illustrated using real and artificial data.

This chapter describes the audit of local government in Italy. In Italy, as elsewhere, local audit has been affected by the implementation of new public management based reforms. There is an increasing trend towards collaboration and cooperation between the audited authority and the auditor. Audit has begun, as in other jurisdictions to widen its remit, so that it focusses on performance as much as financial and compliance issues. This change in role brings with it opportunities for the auditor to help public sector improvement but also challenges – as new skills are required for the new roles that the auditor takes on and audit independence is complicated by the cooperative nature of modern local government audit.

This chapter covers three main concepts: it provides an overview of supply chain management (SCM), introduces the concepts of procurement and what is entailed within this function, and explains how inventory is managed. In the first section, SCM is considered broadly but also in the context of hospitality. The key roles and objectives of SCM as well as the significance of supply chain risk and disruption are considered. In the second section, the concept of sourcing is discussed. Sourcing is a critical function in any organization: without this, an organization would cease to operate. The importance of supplier selection is explored, with methods to make the most appropriate selection and for subsequently managing suppliers. Finally, the third section focuses on how inventory management can be optimized. Concepts such as economic order quantity (EOQ) and ABC analysis are explored, along with alternatives to traditional inventory management methods.

In this paper the techniques of zero-non-zero (ZNZ) patterned vector autoregressive modelling are utilized to examine two issues associated with the European single currency – the euro. First, “Granger causality” is employed to examine the causal linkages between the euro exchange rate, the euro area money supply and the gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the euro area. Second, we examine the hypothesis that the euro has become a major influence on international stock markets by testing for the causal relationships between movements in the euro exchange rate, the U.K. pound exchange rate and the London stock market index.