 The Catastrophe Bond Market at Year-End 2005: Ripple Effects from Record Storms
There was an unprecedented level of activity in the catastrophe bond
market in 2005. Record highs either were set or matched in terms of total risk
capital issued, total risk capital outstanding, number of bonds
placed and number of first-time sponsors. On a less positive note, the market
suffered the first significant loss to a publicly disclosed catastrophe bond.
To read the 2005 installment of Guy Carpenter’s annual review of the
catastrophe bond market, click here.
***
The New Global Workforce:
Putting the Right People in the Right Places
 Optimizing the global workforce is one of the greatest challenges facing
companies today. Responding effectively requires knowledge of the new labor landscape, underpinning
a clear understanding of how global workforce deployment best serves
your business model, leading to
a smart, pragmatic approach to making specific decisions about where to
locate key processes and people.
This paper from Mercer Human Resource Consulting address these three
challenges and lays out a comprehensive framework that will help management
teams ensure that they put the right people in the right places. Its intent
is to equip you with a starting point for understanding the major and
emerging "trade routes" for talent and how your company might approach
labor deployment decisions.
 Download "The New Global Workforce: Putting the Right People in the Right
Places".
***
Top
Economic Approaches to Intellectual Property Policy, Litigation and Management
 Over the past century, the value and importance of intellectual property
has grown rapidly worldwide. While it is crucial for companies to
successfully manage their intangible assets, they face difficult
questions in attempting to navigate the complex business and legal
environment that surrounds IP rights. Co-edited by Dr. Gregory K.
Leonard and Dr. Lauren J. Stiroh, this book is an anthology of 23
articles by economists associated with NERA Economic Consulting, whose
analyses have played a crucial role in numerous landmark legal and
regulatory cases. The chapters explore topics ranging from the valuation
of IP damages to intellectual property rights protection in China and
the antitrust implications of standard setting and patent pools.
Learn More
***
Top
Viewpoint
Number 2, 2004
PDF of the entire issue
***
Top
Economics of Antitrust: New Issues, Questions and Insights
 This new book by NERA Economic Consulting economists looks at the issues and questions surrounding antitrust public policy and litigation. By showing how economics is applied in the "real world," it provides insights into issues including: how price discrimination may be beneficial to consumers by enhancing competition and lowering prices; how to distinguish anticompetitive predatory pricing from aggressive competition; why and how specific market facts and circumstances can determine whether a merger of two competing companies might or might not lead to higher prices for consumers; why high accounting profits do not imply that a company has market power; why a conventional application of traditional antitrust principles should not be relied upon to assess mergers that raise competitive concerns about the level and pace of R&D; and why it is important to look beyond market shares when evaluating the competitive effects of a proposed merger.
Learn More
***
Top
Mercer Management Consulting White Paper: Unlocking Profitability in Complex Companies
Whether through acquisitions, customer and channel proliferation, or
tailoring of products for powerful customers, many large companies find
themselves thrashing about in a sea of complexity. Not only does the
enterprise become difficult to manage, but some high maintenance customers
also become hugely unprofitable. By winnowing certain products, brands, or
customers, re-pricing others, and rationalizing manufacturing and
distribution capacity, companies can simplify their way to dramatically
improved profitability. The trick is determining how to "simplify for
value" without jeopardizing either near-term performance or future growth
prospects.
Full Text
***
Top
Responsible Executive Compensation for a New Era of Accountability
Written by Peter Chingos and 17 other Mercer Inc. consultants, this new
book describes the current context behind the new executive
compensation
imperatives including improved business performance alignment, a
changed
agenda for equity, and the new regulatory landscape. With each chapter
written by a different author, the book shows how companies should
re-evaluate their executive compensation programs in an unprecedented
time
of transition where senior executives and Boards of Directors manage
out of
an economic downturn, redesign equity compensation programs in light
of new
accounting rules, and operate under stronger governance standards.
Learn More
***
Top
Controlling the Costs of Workers' Compensation
 With the exception of terrorism, perhaps the most troubling risk for
employers in the United States is workers' compensation. Over the past
three years, its costs have increased an average of 50 percent and
currently account for $.67 of every dollar spent on casualty insurance. At
the current average rate of growth, the employer's total costs for workers'
compensation will exceed the employer's costs for social security in only
six years.
Full Text
***
Top
Play to Your Strengths
Whether you call it human capital, the workforce, an intangible, or
simply people — "it" represents the single largest asset that most
business leaders know the least about. Now, more than ever before, executives are urgently seeking
ways to manage this asset to drive performance and establish enduring
competitive advantage. And, as if the stakes weren't high enough, boards, and
increasingly the investment community, are intensifying their demand for
proof that this asset is performing.
Learn more
***
Top
Viewpoint
Number 1, 2004
Reducing Risk and Costs: Global Management of Pension Plans
By Susan J. Kilrain and Giles Archibald
Controlling the Costs of Workers’ Compensation
By Stanton Long
Strategic Planning Redux: Linking Strategy to Execution and Funding
By Phyllis Rothschild, Jag Duggal, and Richard Balaban
PDF of the entire issue
Top
|
