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The present study aims to reveal knowledge, report on perception level and look at the evaluation of exchange rate risk management techniques of enterprises registered to Afyonkarahisar Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In order to achieve this, the authors conducted a study that included a field-survey and consisted of 223 enterprises that have foreign trade transactions in Afyonkarahisar city. The data that were used in the analysis had been collected via a survey and they were statistically evaluated by SPSS program.

Within the scope of the study, the authors investigated the determination of corporational identity of the sampled manufacturing enterprises, organisational structure of finance departments, determination of ownership structures of these enterprises, determination of foreign exchange risk perceptions, classification of exchange rate risks according to industry type and the determination of risk management instruments such as internal and external hedging strategies and information and usage levels of derivative instruments.

The most important result obtained in the study is that the majority of the companies, which operate in a competitive environment, are intensely exposed to foreign exchange risk but try to overcome the foreign exchange risk using traditional internal firm-level hedging methods instead of well-reputed external hedging methods or derivative instruments. Firms declared to be out of knowledge – by any means – for derivative instruments as the main reason for not utilising a well-reputed external foreign exchange risk management techniques.

We investigate the evolution of corporate risk management practices in Slovenian non-financial firms in the period 2004–2009 and compare the findings several surveys conducted for other countries. We mail questionaires to non-financial companies, where the target group included non-financial companies listed on Ljubljana Stock Exchange and the largest exporting companies in Slovenia. We find that the current use of derivatives for hedging purposes is still at a lower level than in the majority of developed countries. The great expansion of Slovenian economy in the period 2004–2008, the development of Slovenian financial system, the convergence of Slovenian and EU accounting standards and recent financial crisis did not sufficiently induce Slovenian firms to adopt risk management practices. The most often stated reasons for the low use of derivatives are (1) insufficient risk exposure, (2) problems with the evaluation and monitoring of derivatives and (3) the costs associated with the implementation of derivatives programme. In our opinion, the institutional environment in Slovenia does not induce managers to undertake proper risk management activities. We argue that not only managers, but also owners and creditors should be more accountable for the decisions they take (or do not take).

This study provides evidence on the importance of operational hedges in foreign-exchange risk management, an issue that has been largely ignored in the literature. One possible reason for the absence of empirical evidence in the literature may be related to the difficulty in devising the appropriate measures of a firm's ability to construct operating hedges. We utilize measures of the structure of an MNC's foreign subsidiary network as proxies of the firm's ability to devise operational hedges and examine their relationship to exposure coefficients computed prior to and during the 1997–1998 Asian currency crisis. Our results show that the mean exposure during the Asian crisis period was significantly higher than the pre-crisis period. In addition, the mean of the absolute change in the exposure of MNCs that only operate in the Asian crisis region was significantly higher than that of MNCs without operations in the crisis region. We find a strong relationship between our proxies for ability to construct operating hedges and exchange-rate exposure measures both prior to the crisis and during the crisis. An even stronger association between exposure and measures of the MNC network structure is found for the sub-sample of MNCs that have some operations in the Asian crisis region. Similar results are obtained when the relationship is examined separately for “net importers” (MNCs with positive exposures) and “net exporters” (MNCs with negative exposures). Overall, our results are consistent with the notion that operational hedges significantly reduce a firm's exposure to foreign-exchange risk.

This paper explores the sensitivity of Chinese stock returns to changes in trade-weighted indexes of the renminbi (RMB) and the currencies of China's trading partners from 1999 to 2003. It analyses this exposure elasticity cross-sectionally using accounting variables to proxy for size and costs of financial distress. It finds that internationally oriented Chinese companies have experienced exchange exposure particularly against the yen. It also finds that, against a trade-weighted index, there is no empirical evidence that Chinese firms are engaged in hedging activities. However, when exposures are measured in yen terms, it finds that Chinese firms, particularly exporters, engage in active currency hedging.

This chapter aims to find an optimal way to hedge foreign exchange exposures on three main currency pairs being the EURUSD, EURGBP and EURJPY. Furthermore, it analyses the risk level of each portfolio together with its kurtosis level. This chapter also looks into the relationship between the EURUSD portfolios and the VIX level.

This study is based on a back-testing analysis over a period of seven years starting in January 2007 and ending in December 2014. Two main Foreign Exchange Premium-Free strategies were structured using the Bloomberg Terminal. These were the ‘At-Expiry Forward Extra’ and the ‘Window Forward Extra’. Portfolios were created using FX options strategies, FX spot and FX forwards. The EURUSD portfolios were also analysed and compared with the VIX level in order to see whether volatility has a direct effect on the outcome of the strategies. The statistical significance of the difference between returns of portfolios was analysed using a paired sample t-test. Finally, the histogram and distribution curve of each portfolio were created and plotted in order to provide a more visual analysis of returns.

It was found that the optimal strategies in all cases were the FX option strategies. The portfolios’ risk was analysed and indicated that optimal portfolios do not necessarily derive the lowest risk. It was also found that with a high VIX level, the forward contract was the most beneficial whilst the option strategy benefited from a low VIX level. When testing for statistical significance between returns of different portfolios, in most cases, the difference in returns between portfolios resulted to be statistically insignificant. Although some similarities were noticed in distribution curves, these differed from the normal distribution. When analysing the kurtosis levels, it is found that such levels differed from that of a normal distribution which has a kurtosis level of 3. Interpretation of such histograms, distribution curves and the kurtosis analysis was explained.

Companies face a wide number of risks and need to have in place appropriate measures and techniques to be able to identify, manage, and monitor risks. Risk management is a fundamental responsibility of the corporate governance structure of an organization; it means managing all risks on a holistic basis, all together rather than just one, through an appropriate and systematic process. This chapter provides an overview of enterprise risk management in the United Kingdom. It presents key information on the economic system of the United Kingdom, emphasizing the role of small and medium enterprises, and presents country macroeconomic highlights. It provides a summary of regulation, practices, and authorities; it presents the key milestones of the regulation on corporate governance and reporting in the United Kingdom, and stresses the importance of corporate governance mechanism in companies' enterprise risk management practices. Further, it discusses the importance of transparency and disclosure in the context of enterprise risk management, specifically the relevance of risk management and internal control related disclosure in the annual reports and accounts. Finally, it reviews the growing academic research on enterprise risk management and previous studies on risk disclosure practices in companies' reports.

The aim of the chapter is to compare Public–Private Partnership (PPP) healthcare investments in developed countries with those in emerging economies, analysing the sustainability issues of health-led growth. Healthcare PPP best practices in developed nations represent a template that catching-up economies may follow with local adaptations. A comparison starts from the UK case and then examines the Turkish experience as an ideal bridge between advanced and developing countries. Healthcare investments are a primary social infrastructure, with a deep impact on poverty alleviation. Demand for the infrastructure necessary to provide healthcare services has increased substantially in developing and emerging economies due to rapid economic growth, industrialization and urbanization, while public supply is limited by budget constraints. PPP best practices provide a global benchmark (World bank, 2015b). Integrated supply and value chains and management of viability milestone improve healthcare PPP sustainability and bankability. Different legal frameworks and funding issues are not thoroughly investigated. Careful customization and local fine-tuning of best practices require further scrutiny. Homogenization of best practices improves comparison of different projects, fostering competition and easing cross-border investments, accompanied by knowledge transfer, sharing and consequent value co-creation. Best practices improve value for money, bankability and resilience of PPP investments, with potential benefits for healthcare services and quality of life. This chapter makes an innovative and comprehensive comparison of healthcare PPP projects worldwide, looking for a common denominator of value-enhancing rules and resilient pro-growth strategies.