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1 – 10 of 252While there are numerous indices for the German stock and bondmarkets, no performance index exists for the German property market, yetforeign institutional investors in particular…
Abstract
While there are numerous indices for the German stock and bond markets, no performance index exists for the German property market, yet foreign institutional investors in particular are interested in the creation of a performance index, in order to achieve an acceptable framework for international real‐estate investment. Presents a construction method for a real‐estate performance index based on published accounting reports of open‐end real‐estate investment funds. This total return index can be disaggregated into a net cash‐flow return as well as capital growth, and could serve investors as an information tool about the German property market. This index could not only be used within the scope of performance analysis, but also for the benchmarking of real estate portfolios or decision making in portfolio management asset allocation. At the same time, this would enhance the transparency, liquidity and professionalism of the German real‐estate market.
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Neil J.K. Turner and Matthias Thomas
This paper – the second half of a two‐part paper – constructs a notional property index for the German office market. The returns from this index are subject to numerous…
Abstract
This paper – the second half of a two‐part paper – constructs a notional property index for the German office market. The returns from this index are subject to numerous adjustments in order to produce a cash flow which reflects annual indexation changes in rent and possible reviews to open market levels at appropriate intervals, depending on the terms of the lease contracts and the rise and fall of office rents over time. The lease contracts modulate the relationship between changes in market rents and yields in the German office market (as recorded by the relevant published notional index) leading to capital value movements of the hypothetical portfolio. Attempts have also been made to take account of the effects of non‐recoverable operating costs, although depreciation and letting voids were not accounted for.
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Neil Turner and Matthias Thomas
The lack of portfolio‐based property indices in European property markets has led researchers to consider the use of notional property indices to determine the risk and return…
Abstract
The lack of portfolio‐based property indices in European property markets has led researchers to consider the use of notional property indices to determine the risk and return rewards of investing in these markets. Owing to the computation assumptions underlying notional indices, in particular their inability to capture the prevalent lease structure in a market, they are unsuitable for this purpose, and investors devising European investment strategies around them need to be wary. This paper demonstrates the differences in property investment return delivery between notional and portfolio‐based indices, concentrating particularly on lease structures, and utilises data from the UK for this purpose. German lease structures are then considered in this context.
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Anca Băndoi, Claudiu George Bocean, Aurelia Florea, Lucian Mandache, Cătălina Soriana Sitnikov and Anca Antoaneta Vărzaru
Global warming is a process that takes place 11,500 years after the end of the last Ice Age. The main identified reason is the increased emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs)…
Abstract
Global warming is a process that takes place 11,500 years after the end of the last Ice Age. The main identified reason is the increased emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Since the nineteenth century, GHG evolution has recorded a quantum leap from the previous linear development. Human is the main factor behind this evolution, through industrialization and the exponential increase of population. Based on these, the chapter’s primary goal was to highlight an original method of predicting the future evolution of GHG emissions in the domains of Energy (including Transportation), Industry Processes and Product Use, Agriculture, and Waste Management. The novelty of the research consisted of testing several variants of functions (power, exponential, inverse trigonometric) to identify, from a group of variants. This optimal function would generate those predictions, which are closest to the real values. The causes that create GHG emissions in each of the four domains were the foundation for the analysis. This chapter focuses on two main subjects: first, the identification of a smooth function to predict the evolution of GHG emissions, and second, the function’s use to estimate the projections of GHG emissions in the coming years for the four domains: Energy (including Transportation), Industry Processes and Product Use, Agriculture, and Waste Management. An observation was that the weights of these four domains remain relatively the same despite the reductions in the total GHG emissions.
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Patrick Trutwein, Dirk Schiereck and Matthias Thomas
This paper investigates the link between equity and credit markets for the government‐sponsored mortgage institutions, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, during the period from January…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the link between equity and credit markets for the government‐sponsored mortgage institutions, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, during the period from January 2007 until December 2008. Before the financial crisis, investors perceived these real estate finance institutions as quasi state guaranteed.
Design/methodology/approach
By examining Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during 2007 and 2008, this study extends existing research on the link between equity and credit markets. The authors employ univariate time series regression and vector autoregressive models to analyze the comovements over time and the lead‐lag relationship for equity returns, CDS spread changes, and bond spread changes.
Findings
The results provide evidence for equity returns and credit spreads of CDS and bonds being inversely related and adjusting simultaneously. The relationship between equity and credit markets intensifies during periods of heightened risks. The link between equity returns and bond spread changes is more robust in an environment of slightly elevated risk, while the relationship between equity and CDS markets intensifies during times of extreme stress. It was also found that the link between equity and credit markets completely breaks down as government intervention in the form of regulatory changes and ultimately, conservatorship, materializes.
Practical implications
Investors active in equity and credit markets need to be aware of the relevance of the prevailing capital market regime and the role of external effects such as government support and bailout.
Originality/value
There is a growing body of empirical research employing event studies and regression analyses on the firm level to examine the link between equity and credit default swaps. Yet, to the authors' knowledge this relationship has not been explored specifically for quasi guaranteed institutions. However, given the growing number of at least partly state owned real estate finance institutions, this specific focus is important to understand future expected risk compensation of equity and credit investors. The paper ask what lessons are to be learnt from the current financial crisis about investor protection in quasi guaranteed financial institutions.
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Roland Füss, Johannes Richt and Matthias Thomas
The purpose of this paper is to examine the sources of direct real estate portfolio returns and their relative performance against Investment Property Databank (IPD) benchmark…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the sources of direct real estate portfolio returns and their relative performance against Investment Property Databank (IPD) benchmark returns. Active property management consists of the concepts of property transaction execution and operational management, which can be classified as the main drivers of excess return sources.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of three different portfolios managed by two institutional investors, the paper is able to estimate the relevant factors of active property management on annual excess returns for commercial and residential property sectors via a panel regression technique.
Findings
Empirical evidence shows that property‐specific effects exhibit significant sources of excess returns, but property management cannot be identified as their main driver. Furthermore, the sources of excess returns do not differ significantly across sectors; when controlled for property age and size, it is found that their influence is rather limited.
Practical implications
Information about the drivers of excess returns and their variations among property types may lead to superior investment decisions during portfolio rebalancing, and thus promote more efficient capital allocation. Information about return factors, i.e. about property and operational management, can substantially improve property selection and market timing in the asset allocation process. Hence, investors basing their property investment strategies on the impact of selected return factors could enhance the risk‐adjusted performance of their property portfolios.
Originality/value
This paper aims to contribute to the existing literature by identifying and quantifying the excess return sources of a given property portfolio over a predefined benchmark. Due to the lack of property‐related data, there is only limited research on the sources of direct property returns, such as property characteristics or active property management. The authors explore three main questions in this paper. First, they examine sources of excess returns over a benchmark index for several property sectors. Second, they analyze whether the drivers of excess returns vary significantly across these sectors. Third, they determine to what extent excess property returns are influenced by the “economic age” and “rentable area” of a building.
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Matthias Görtz, Thomas Mandl, Katrin Werner and Christa Womser-Hacker
Purpose – Global cooperation between and within organisations has become essential for successful businesses. For the information management within such an international and…
Abstract
Purpose – Global cooperation between and within organisations has become essential for successful businesses. For the information management within such an international and necessarily multilingual environment, new challenges arise due to the diversity of the stakeholders and participants as well as due to the heterogeneity of approaches and traditions of information handling.
Design/methodology/approach – Key technologies like search technologies need to be adapted to support content in multiple languages and efficient access to it. Information processes need to be analysed while bearing in mind that problems may arise due to cross-cultural misunderstandings. The diversity requires appropriate treatment and appropriate methods in information systems in order to improve international information flows.
Findings – This chapter identifies some of these challenges and shows how they can be approached from an information science perspective. User-oriented research at the University of Hildesheim in the areas information retrieval, information seeking and human–computer interaction is presented.
Originality/value – Global enterprises and organisations may use this chapter to identify challenges and solutions for adapting their information technology to an international scale. Researchers who work on multilingual information access and intercultural aspects of information systems get an overview on some current research.
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Amanda Spink and Jannica Heinström
Library and information science (LIS) is an academic, intellectual and industrial field with a large international reach. LIS educates library and information professionals, and…
Abstract
Library and information science (LIS) is an academic, intellectual and industrial field with a large international reach. LIS educates library and information professionals, and is an active field in research and practice with a tradition of research development, standards, networks and distribution worldwide. The field has in recent years experienced a significant growth and development in all parts of the world, however, the field's long-term future is at the same time being challenged by new technologies, education changes and the development of new industries. A refocusing from a library to an information focus is in development within the LIS field. However, the field of information is also being grasped by the technology fields on the one hand and the psychological/behavioural fields on the other. Unfortunately for the field of LIS, information is now everyone's problem and of greater interest to more scientific fields and in addition, industry and government are looking for information management solutions that require technological development based on the psychological quality research. How the LIS field survives over the next 20 years will be played out in educational and industry environments globally.
Anil Kumar Inkulu, M.V.A. Raju Bahubalendruni, Ashok Dara and SankaranarayanaSamy K.
In the present era of Industry 4.0, the manufacturing automation is moving toward mass production and mass customization through human–robot collaboration. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
In the present era of Industry 4.0, the manufacturing automation is moving toward mass production and mass customization through human–robot collaboration. The purpose of this paper is to describe various human–robot collaborative (HRC) techniques and their applicability for various manufacturing methods along with key challenges.
Design/methodology/approach
Numerous recent relevant research literature has been analyzed, and various human–robot interaction methods have been identified, and detailed discussions are made on one- and two-way human–robot collaboration.
Findings
The challenges in implementing human–robot collaboration for various manufacturing process and the challenges in one- and two-way collaboration between human and robot are found and discussed.
Originality/value
The authors have attempted to classify the HRC techniques and demonstrated the challenges in different modes.
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