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Investment plays an increasing role in promoting economic diversification, and this only succeeds if it is managed effectively. Economic diversification is a crucial feature of supportable progress, as divergence improves economic steadiness and support to surge GDP and encourages organisational and long standing change not only in the budget but also in extra columns of expansion such as communal establishments and proportions. Nevertheless, there is no accord on the consequences in the literature review for the reason that of several influences, for example the employment of dissimilar variable quantity, methods, KSA countries, and time periods. Thus, this work provides detailed insight into the current and future trends and shifts of the Saudi economy. The paper conducts a measurement and analysis of the Saudi economic diversification in light of Vision 2030, the findings of which are used to develop and propose a study framework for developing a dynamic economy.

The rate of economic growth is largely determined by the level of investment activity, as well as by the scale of investment activity, the expansion of which requires an increase in investment and its efficiency. Objective economic and statistical assessment of investment provides an opportunity to analyze the results of the process of management of this sphere of activity. The purpose of the work is to investigate changes in the composition and structure of investments, factors influencing and limiting the growth of their funding sources, as well as to analyze the dynamics of investment activity in the Russian Federation in recent years on the basis of data from the Federal State Statistics Service. The paper provides definitions of investments and considers their types. In the course of the study, the authors applied such scientific methods as structural and dynamic data analysis, theoretical research in the form of generalization, comparison and special analytical procedures. The results obtained can be used to prioritise investment management and management decisions.

Logistic tasks are aimed at the optimal distribution of material, energy, financial and human resources. This research has a narrow field aimed at optimal management of financial resources and their redistribution. Specifically, a reinvestment policy model is derived by maximizing the profit of a business entity. Reinvestment is done with risk-free assets, but they have different maturity periods. This makes it difficult to assess the optimal investment strategy, as reinvestment can be done at the end of the maturity period. This study develops a model for a dynamic control process, which leads to the formalization of a discrete integer time optimization problem. Its solution gives a sequence of investments and a total optimal return. The solution to the problem is illustrated in an EXCEL environment. The added value of this study stems from the formalization and quantification of the model for the reinvestment strategy in the optimization problem.

Pythagorean cubic fuzzy sets (PCFSs) are a more advanced version of interval-valued Pythagorean fuzzy sets where membership and non-membership are depicted using cubic sets. These sets offer a greater amount of data to handle uncertainties in the information. However, there has been no previous research on the use of Einstein operations for aggregating PCFSs. This study proposes two new aggregator operators, namely, Pythagorean cubic fuzzy Einstein weighted averaging (PCFEWA) and Pythagorean cubic fuzzy Einstein ordered weighted averaging (PCFEOWA), which extend the concept of Einstein operators to PCFSs. These operators offer a more effective and precise way of aggregating Pythagorean cubic fuzzy information, especially in decision-making scenarios involving multiple criteria and expert opinions. To illustrate the practical implementation of this approach, we apply an established MCDM model and conduct a case study aimed at identifying the optimal investment market. This case study enables the evaluation and validation of the established MCDM model's effectiveness and reliability, thus making a valuable contribution to the field of investment analysis and decision-making. The study systematically compares the proposed approach with existing methods and demonstrates its superiority in terms of validity, practicality and effectiveness. Ultimately, this paper contributes to the ongoing development of sophisticated techniques for modeling and analyzing complex systems, offering practical solutions to real-world decision-making problems.

Renewable energy sources (RES) will play a key role in the transition to clean energy. Financial and socio-economic benefits determine the investment management in these energy sources. This article aims to indicate current energy policy goals, present socio-economic benefits resulting from renewable energy investments, and review further development directions in Poland. The research was carried out using desk research, case studies, and literature review methods to provide a broader economic context for RES investments. The scope of the research included both the Polish and the European Union contexts. The authors examined the Polish objectives of investment in renewable energy contained in strategic, planning, and other legal documents compared to EU targets, reviewed possible investments in renewable energy, and indicated wind farms and photovoltaic investments as the most effective ones from the point of view of further development which aims to meet the EU’s goals by 2030. The authors also demonstrated a wide range of socio-economic benefits based on literature reviews, analysis of policy documents, and regulations regarding the energy sector, and examined a specific example of investment implementation and identified the ecosystem of beneficiaries and their benefits.

Investment management is a common process and practice used for achieving a desirable investment goal or outcome. Unfortunately, the systematic variation of economic situations in the marketplace effects the continuous and frequent change of investment conditions and environment in which the investor should act and operate. Hence, the rules required for providing a reasonable quality of investment projects can be based only on the investor’s management strategy, intuition and practice. There exists various decision-making approaches to investment management, and simple additive weighting (SAW) is one of the most well-known multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) methods aiming to provide an optimal decision for the decision-maker when solving various real-life problems, particularly investment problems. In this paper, the fuzzy simple additive weighting (FSAW) method is applied in group decision-making to undertake capital investment expenditure for purchasing cars with the purpose of renting them out to the public. A numerical example illustrates the importance and effectiveness of the suggested approach with the aim of ranking alternatives, and, hence, determining the preferred alternative in the MCDM problem.

Profits that are calculated to finance unexpected cash need expedite management. This paper investigates the effect of corporate governance on cash holdings with systematic risk as a moderating variable. The population consists of companies from the property and real estate sectors listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) during 2012–2020. Through the purposive sampling technique, the sample obtained 41 companies as the study object. Data analysis is focused on panel data and its interpretation through the Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA). Hypothesis testing uses statistical terms at the 5% probability level. Important findings underline that corporate governance has a positive significant effect on cash holdings, while systematic risk has a negative insignificant effect. On the other hand, the moderation between corporate governance and cash holdings through systematic risk is positive significant. Systematic risk reflects the reliability of a stock; when the risk is higher, it tends to increase in cash flow situations, and investors prefer high-risk investments with the expectation of profit from returns. It is hoped that future contributions will serve as reference material for academics, government, and companies engaged in the financial service sector

COVID-19 has impacted the world economy in an unprecedented manner; the financial markets indicate the same. This spontaneous event landed most of the stock markets into extreme volatility. Large capital outflow and extreme rapid fall were seen among almost all the world financial markets. Though similar trend prevailed everywhere during this pandemic, the impact could not be accumulated in absolute terms. Using the data of five stock markets, the current study endeavored to draw an impact of COVID-19 on major stock exchanges. The study uses wavelet coherency analysis on one-year daily data from June 2019 to May 2020 of five stock markets: Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), London Stock Exchange (LSE), NASDAQ, Tokyo Stock Exchange (Nikkei), and Shanghai Stock Exchange. It is observed that there are time-variation and scale-variation in co-movements between the studied markets. During the crisis, the co-movement concentrates on a short time scale, even for two days. These results have significant implications for international investors, which will help them in portfolio diversification with time elements. All the stock markets under study have indicated co-movement at different time scales and frequencies with varying cross-power levels. However, the concentration of co-movement is found the most between the UK and the US stock markets. It is the least between Japan and the UK. In BSE, co-movement at shorter time scales started late. NASDAQ is leading only in one case, i.e., Shanghai Stock Exchange. BSE is not leading any stock index. LSE is in the leading position in all four cases. It has also been observed that co-movement started to concentrate at a shorter time scale as soon as the impact of the crisis increased.

The attempt to predict stock price movements has occupied investors ever since. Reliable forecasts are a basis for investment management, and improved forecasting results lead to enhanced portfolio performance and sound risk management. While forecasting using the Wiener process has received great attention in the literature, spectral time series analysis has been disregarded in this respect. The paper’s main objective is to evaluate whether spectral time series analysis can produce reliable forecasts of the Aurubis stock price. Aurubis poses a suitable candidate for an investor’s portfolio due to its sound economic and financial situation and the steady dividend policy. Additionally, reliable management contributes to making Aurubis an investment opportunity. To judge if the achieved forecast results can be considered satisfactory, they are compared against the simulation results of a Wiener process. After de-trending the time series using an Augmented Dickey-Fuller test, the residuals were compartmentalized into sine and cosine functions. The frequencies, amplitude, and phase were obtained using the Fast Fourier transform. The mean absolute percentage error measured the accuracy of the stock price prediction, and the results showed that the spectral analysis was able to deliver superior results when comparing the simulation using a Wiener process. Hence, spectral time series can enhance stock price forecasts and consequently improve risk management.

Liquid liabilities are required to develop key sectors that drive the Nigerian economy by ensuring that loans are available for investment purposes. However, controversies concerning the effectiveness of growth finance in fostering liquid liabilities in Nigeria exist. Thus, this study examines the relationship between growth finance and liquid liabilities in Nigeria, with insight into Nigeria’s real sector. In achieving its objective, the study utilizes secondary data from the annual reports of the Central Bank of Nigeria (1980–2018). The study finds that gross domestic savings significantly drive liquid liabilities in the long run compared to other growth finance indicators, which include stock market development and remittance inflows. Therefore, the study recommends that to improve liquid liability, gross domestic savings, among other growth finance indicators, should be harnessed as a tool to efficiently influence liquid liabilities in the Nigerian economy. The study concludes that attention should be paid to development policies that drive all stakeholders’ gross domestic savings.

This paper proposes some possibilities of implementing information technology in investment management. The paper deals with the choice of the optimal investment alternative out of a series of alternatives compared, evaluated in the system of different and heterogeneous criteria with different requirements for the extremization with different relative significance. The analysis of the criteria was performed from the aspect of production capacities, investment value, the required number of employees, the internal rate of return, investment maintenance, as well as the logistical and technological levels. The choice of the optimal alternative was made by the multicriteria decision-making methods with developed software support for this purpose. The results indicate the agreement of the optimal alternative, i.e. the rank of the compared alternatives, through the parallel application of the two multicriteria decision methods. The compromise programming method and a modified approach to the Promethee multicriteria decision-making method that allows the analysis of an unlimited number of different preferential functions are applied in the paper. The application of certain preferential functions is analyzed from the point of view of individual criteria applied in this paper. The paper presents the general options for choosing investment alternatives from several most significant aspects, with an analysis of the preferences of the individual criteria. The application of the presented methodology enables a sophisticated approach to criteria analysis. On the other hand, the software solution developed for this purpose enables simplicity and applicability in practical conditions of use.

The article addresses the future of the task of developing a diversified innovative economy in Russia by means of drawing the attention of the state (as evidenced by the establishment of numerous funds, accelerators, and business angels), Russian and foreign private investors to the venture business activity. In our country, the venture industry is at its inception, but its core players are already in place: they are Russian and foreign venture capital funds, associations of business angels, corporate venture funds, public-private venture funds and the “fund of funds” (the Russian venture company). The intensity of the venture capital investment activity is low, and there is no state support system available. Financial transformations can decelerate the slow formation of the venture industry if there is no awareness of the importance of this activity for the development of the economy of the Russian Federation. At the same time, the availability of a significant amount of innovative research, needed for commercialization, creates the need for venture financing and the future change of the venture industry. Highquality management of venture investments can be implemented within the framework of a consolidated method: investment; control; formation and increase of importance for owners, institutional investors and society. At the same time, the examination of the investments, that have already been made, contributes to the development of certain knowledge, skills, avoidance of fatal mistakes in the selection of projects, conclusion of agreements and management of companies. The conference speakers addressed the most relevant issues of construction cost examinations which are essential when the cadastral value of real estate facilities is contested in court and when causes, conditions, circumstances and the mechanism of accidents, failures, and casualties in the course of construction and operation of construction facilities are identified. Hence, the most relevant problems of forensic structural engineering and construction cost examinations were considered, and the most effective solutions were developed.

Background. The development of strategic directions for designing a promising investment policy of business entities in the regions of the country is possible on the basis of an appropriate methodological framework. The analysis of the approaches currently practiced to the study and management of investment activities of domestic enterprises allows us to form a methodological basis for the study. Materials and methods. The study uses the source-based method, as well as elements of the methodology of system analysis. Results. The positive aspects of the approaches to managing the investment policy of regional economic entities, as well as their shortcomings from the perspective of the stated research issues, are revealed. Conclusions. The provisions of the marketing approach are most consistent with the goals and objectives of the study aimed at identifying the best ways to build an investment policy in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. At the same time, a combination and complementarity of the approaches available in science will give the best result in managing the investment policy of regional economic entities.

This article analyzes the correlation between compliance to the Austrian Code of Corporate Governance and financial success of Austrian stock listed companies. It uses a sample of 52 Austrian companies that are listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange and corporate data collected from company publications such as annual reports, financial reports, corporate governance reports and company websites. Three accounting measures – return on assets, return on equity and net profit margin – were chosen in order to proxy the financial performance of a company. The period under review ranges from 2008 to 2016, whereas particular attention is given to the years 2010 to 2016. A corporate governance compliance score has been established on the comply or explain basis and recommendation rules of the Austrian Code of Corporate Governance in order to measure a company’s ability of implementing ‘good’ corporate governance practices. In line with research for other countries, this study finds no statistical evidence that a correlation exists between high compliance to the Austrian Code of Corporate Governance and financial success of companies listed on the Austrian Stock Exchange. The paper highlights the uniqueness of the Austrian Corporate Governance system when compared to other systems and gives arguments why companies comply with corporate governance recommendations.

We assess investment value of stock recommendations from the standpoint of market risk. We match I/B/E/S (Institutional Brokers’ Estimates System) consensus recommendations issued in January 2015 for a cross-section of u.S. public equities with realized volatility of these papers, showing that these recommendations signifcantly correlate with subsequent changes in market risk. Thus, the results indicate that to some extent the analysts can predict an increase or decrease in risk, which can beneft asset management. However, the relationship between the recommendations and the risk is not linear and depends on the specifc recommendation. using a semi-parametric copula model, we fnd recommendation levels to be associated with future changes in volatility. We further fnd this relationship to be asymmetric and most pronounced among the best-rated stocks which experience largest volatility declines. We conduct a trading simulation showing how stock selection based on such ratings can lead to a reduction in portfolio-level value-at-risk.

The article analyzes the concepts to determine the essence of the investment project. The theoretical and methodical approach to the definition of an investment project, which will provide the possibility for a clear identification of the essential features, ensure an effective interaction with internal and external dynamic environment is offered. The most common classification features of investment projects are singled out. The main features of the definition of the functions of investment management as a management system and a special area of enterprise management are determined. It was emphasized that for the steady positive development of industrial enterprises in a competitive and rapidly changing environment, effective management of investment activity of enterprises is a necessary condition for functioning. In addition, it is proved that in the context of the limited financial and other types of resources, the use of an integrated approach to investing is one more major area for improving the efficiency of management of investment processes at the macro level, and an integrated investment design is a system-integrated process of management of a set of investment projects that are subordinated to a single strategic plan focused on the successful implementation of the enterprise investment program. The necessity of further, more profound research of investment management in conditions of uncertainty and risk is substantiated. The next stage of the research should be the construction of a system for making investment decisions in conditions of uncertainty and risk.

The subject of the article is information technology to support the process of investing in real estate projects. Real estate projects need to find sources and forms of investment that would ensure a balance between project costs and financial resources. Crowdfunding is seen as an innovative way of financing. The purpose of this work is to create a crowdfunding platform focused on attracting new investors to support real estate projects. The following tasks are solved: research of functional possibilities of existing crowdfunding platforms; development and configuration of expansion modules for the selected framework; development of the interface of the financial manager of the project with real estate. Research methods: system analysis, financial management methods, information technologies of site development. The following results were obtained: The characteristic features of crowdfunding, which make it an effective way of financing projects, were analyzed. The popular crowdfunding platforms are analyzed today, their advantages and disadvantages are revealed. As a result, the basic requirements for a crowdfunding real estate investment platform have been identified. Based on the conceptual model of the web platform interface, the main functionalities are highlighted, the scenario of user interaction is described and the database is designed. Necessary modules of the internal wallet system and project system have been developed. It should be noted that the internal wallet system allows you to contribute to projects and control profits. Also, in addition to the main modules, a module for blogging and user registration with e-mail confirmation was integrated and configured. Conclusions: It is necessary to take into account the interests of stakeholders who provide funds for the project, which forms their motivation to invest. Information support for crowdfunding investment projects increases the efficiency of project portfolio management, allows the financial manager to publish projects and raise funds for financing from registered investors with the subsequent payment of interest on profits.

This paper presents an innovative new approach to investment portfolio design, which applies a discrete, state-based methodology to defining market states and making asset allocation decisions with respect to both current and future state membership. State membership is based on attributes taken from traditional finance and portfolio theory namely expected growth, and covariance. The transitional dynamics of the derived states are modeled as a Markovian process. Asset weighting and portfolio allocation decisions are made through an optimization-based approach coupled with heuristics that account for the probability of state membership and the quality of the state in terms of information provided.

The eco-tourism development in the Altai Republic is an up-to-date task since the formation of the tourist sector will boost the whole regional economy of the Altai Republic, provide significant social and economic benefits not only at the regional but also at the nation-wide level, allow partial solution of the problem of uneven distribution of economic resources and the manpower in Russia without upsetting the balance between the environment and the economic reproduction. This research work includes methods of qualitative modeling as well as elements of the graph theory and the cluster analysis. All analytical methods were realized by using the R programming language. In this research the basic principles of the qualitative modeling that allows taking into account qualitative factors influencing the tourist industry are analyzed, a qualitative model of the ecological tourism development is developed, the optimum directions of investments in the tourist industry of the Altai Republic are defined. The basic provisions of the article and the research findings can be used for creation of an effective tourism management system both at the level of regional authorities and the level of tourist industry subjects. The qualitative modeling algorithm has an independent scientific and practical value and can be used for high-quality modeling of various systems of regional economy, including modeling of the tourist sector.

The increasing of investment attractiveness of an enterprise for external and internal investors and efficient management of investments play an important role in ensuring the enterprise competitiveness in the market. The purpose of the article is to analyze the essence, features of formation and activation of investment activity of a trade enterprise and the problems it faces in this activity. There proposed the following definition of investments: these are all types of money, property and intellectual contributions aimed to obtain an economic or social effect in the future with regard to possible risks. The effectiveness of using investments is reflected in such final results as the financial condition of the enterprise, its competitiveness, availability of new prospects, and capitalization of the market value of the enterprise, which can be ensured not by increasing the absolute value of capital investments but by achieving greater efficiency per unit of capital. The investment activity of the enterprise implies the existence of a clearly formulated and achievable goal, which is the basis of its own development, and requires the development of a comprehensive investment strategy. The authors developed methodological approaches to improving investment activities of trade enterprises; substantiated the leading role of the state in enhancing investment activities of trade enterprises and creating conditions for effective implementation of the enterprise investment potential. The proposals formulated in the work will help to increase the competitiveness of domestic trade enterprises.

The efficiency of public investments is based on the identification and analysis of economic indicators and the main tool of analysis and valuation of investment projects is cost-benefit analysis. Within it, the emphasis is on the economic impact generated by the projects implementation. Context of sustainable development as growth and competitiveness in European plan, investment strategies implies the use a social and economic perspective, taking into account the benefits allocation and use of resources in the long term. The social and cultural environment issues and the generated impact, it integrates the principles of the territorial intelligence based on the use of information technology and increased territorial connectivity between people, organizations and communities. The article intends to present public investment management approach taking into account the specifics and planning needs of the territory and identifying new approaches in area that were based on documentary analysis of current methodologies. The study results demonstrate the need to evaluate investment efficiency taking into account the three priorities: territorial economic intelligence, territorial strategic intelligence and management of territorial communities.

The aim of the article. The main objective of the domestic company is the development of new market mechanisms, the implementation of progressive reforms, formation of specialized structures supporting innovation-oriented management. The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive approach to the principles of industrial enterprises modernization. Based on the goal, the main objectives of the study are: to identify the main objectives of modernization of industrial enterprises; to develop an algorithm modernization of industrial enterprises; to propose the approach to investment support modernization justification. The results of the analysis. Improving economic openness of Ukraine and in particular the Agreement on free trade zone with the EU Ukraine has led to increased international competition and exacerbated the problem of how to enhance the competitiveness of domestic industry. Condition of most industrial enterprises is characterized by low innovation activity, insufficient use of outdated equipment and technology, inefficient system of organizing business processes and more. The modern vision of modernization must include the full range of interrelated elements: improving of production management system in general, the state of the environment, work with personnel, updated product range. The authors give basic provisions of the economic model of target formation modernization. The methodical base of investment planning should be target-oriented approach to basic principles which include: commitment, consistency, complexity, security, priority and timeliness. Principles of investment portfolio formation for modernization projects together are proposed. Policy principles for support are given basing on the financial condition of the company and its investment activity in financial markets. The algorithm of enterprise modernization is suggested. Practical implementation of the tasks is to implement the program of investment portfolio, the implementation of modernization measures, as well as subsequent reorganization of business processes. It is advisable to introduce modernization as a process that has certain duration, including procedures for investment, domestic turnover and redistribution and allocation of financial resources. The process of real investment covers four main stages that make up the combined cycle of investment. One of the areas of problems resolving of enterprise development is the concept of periodic review of investment planning to modernize industrial enterprises. In parallel, it should be noted that the parameters of economic model should be changed taking into account the influence of internal and external factors on the company. Conclusions and directions for further research. Implementation of a comprehensive program of enterprise development by upgrading is a necessary condition for achieving good economic growth, technological progress and high competitiveness of domestic enterprises in Ukrainian and foreign markets.

The subject of the research is constituents of the investment system in the educational sphere of Ukraine, the systemization of which would provide scientific substantiation of wide-scale investments attraction at a multitude of its levels. The purpose of the article is: to reveal the constituents of the investment system in the educational sphere and to determine direct and reverse interrelation between them considering the peculiarities of functioning and development of this sector in Ukraine, which serves as a basis for the mechanism of educational investment and enhancement of efficiency in the activities of investment process managing1authorities at various levels of educational sphere in crisis conditions. Methodology of the conducted research. The paper is carried out through employing analytical and systematic methods of research. Findings of the research. The research dwells upon defining the constituents of the investment system in the domestic educational sphere that must become the scientific substantiation for the investment policy at the nation-wide and regional levels of education management as well as at the level of stand-alone entities within this sphere of activity (educational institutions, private and legal entities). Sphere of application of the research results: to be used for performing scientific research in respect of modeling the investment-driven development of the education sphere of Ukraine in the crisis events. Summary. Results of the conducted system analysis create specific strategic basis for applying the terminology of investment management in the conditions of the educational sphere that constitutes the methodological platform for investment policy at every level of education management. Furthermore, research findings allow systematizing the information required to ensure investment provisions for functioning and development of educational sphere in Ukraine in the long-term perspective taking into account a multitude of factors of internal and external environment.

ENGLISH: This article analyzes judicial approaches to interpreting the definition of an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the United States federal statute governing investment advisers. It starts by noting the role of investment advisers in the United States financial services industry and introduces the statutory definition of an investment adviser and each element of this definition. It explains briefly why adviser status is important and touches on the relationship between investment adviser status and registration as an investment adviser with the United States Securities & Exchange Commission. Based on cases initiated by the United States Securities & Exchange Commission, the United States Department of Justice and investment adviser clients alleging investment adviser violations of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the article discusses key judicial interpretations of the elements of the definition of investment adviser. Along the way, the author shares his observations about these judicial approaches to interpreting the definition of an investment adviser by, among other things, evaluating some of the strengths and weaknesses reflected in these judicial approaches. DEUTSCH: Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht mögliche juristische Herangehensweisen an die Definition eines Anlageberaters im Sinne des „Investment Advisers Act of 1940“, einem Gesetz der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, welches die Anlageberatung regelt. Zunächst wird unter Beachtung der generellen Funktion eines Anlageberaters in der amerikanischen Finanzdienstindustrie im Detail die gesetzliche Definition eines Anlageberaters analysiert. Der Beitrag erklärt kurz die Relevanz der Stellung als Anlageberater und behandelt auch das Verhältnis zwischen der Stellung eines Anlageberaters und der Zulassung als Anlageberater durch die „United States Securities & Exchange Commission“. Basierend auf konkreten Fällen einer behaupteten Verletzung des „Investment Advisers Act of 1940“, die von der „United States Securities & Exchange Commission“ und dem „United States Department of Justice“ eingeleitet wurden, beleuchtet der Beitrag unterschiedliche Interpretationsmöglichkeiten wesentlicher Tatbestandsmerkmale der Legaldefinition eines Anlageberaters und vergleicht deren Stärken und Schwächen.

This paper presents research related to the choice of the criteria that can be used to perform an optimal selection of the forklift unit for warehouse operation. The analysis has been done with the aim of exploring the requirements and defining relevant criteria that are important when investment decision is made for forklift procurement, and based on the conducted research by applying multi-criteria analysis, to determine the appropriate parameters and their relative weights that form the input data and database for selection of the optimal handling unit. This paper presents an example of choosing the optimal forklift based on the selected criteria for the purpose of making the relevant investment decision.

The article considers the category of investment project quality as the basis for investment efficiency increasing in the economic activity of managing subjects. The algorithm has been offered for calculation of investment project quality at realization of investment programs in enterprises.

Robust optimization has been receiving increased attention in the recent few years due to the possibility of considering the problem of estimation error in the portfolio optimization problem. A question addressed so far by very few works is whether this approach is able to outperform traditional portfolio optimization techniques in terms of out-of-sample performance. Moreover, it is important to know whether this approach is able to deliver stable portfolio compositions over time, thus reducing management costs and facilitating practical implementation. We provide empirical evidence by assessing the out-of-sample performance and the stability of optimal portfolio compositions obtained with robust optimization and with traditional optimization techniques. The results indicated that, for simulated data, robust optimization performed better (both in terms of Sharpe ratios and portfolio turnover) than Markowitz's mean-variance portfolios and similarly to minimum-variance portfolios. The results for real market data indicated that the differences in risk-adjusted performance were not statistically different, but the portfolio compositions associated to robust optimization were more stable over time than traditional portfolio selection techniques.

Effective IT governance helps ensure that IT supports business goals, optimizes business investment in IT, and appropriately manages IT-related risks and opportunities. Organizations that realize the IT is no longer a support process and embeds value and risks need a structured approach for better managing Information Technology, enable its capability to deliver added value enterprise wide and for setting up a risk management program to address new risks arising for usage of IT in business processes. In order to assess if IT Governance is in line with industry practices, IT Auditors need a good understanding of processes and applicable standards, particular audit work programs and experience in assessing potential problem indicators.

Emerging markets equity indexes are usually seen as high return with a high degree of volatility associated with them. However, this should not be the case, if you choose high-quality firms that have increasing returns and lower volatility. The intent of this paper is to introduce the risk weighted alpha (RWA) indexation method that helps identify stocks that have stable increasing returns with lower volatility. In order to review this method in the context of emerging markets scenario, this paper takes the example of the Sensex index listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that comprises India’s top 30 stocks by market capitalisation. Results show that some stocks like Hindustan Lever do show increasing returns and lower volatility. The RWA Sensex index outperforms the BSE Sensex index, while still maintaining a beta that is the same as that in the BSE Sensex index.

Active funds are typically managed by placing bets against a well defined passive bench-mark. In this context, when examining the launching of a new actively managed fund with a target expected excess rate of return relative to the benchmark equal to µ, asset managers face the problem of estimating the risk σ of excess rates of return. This estimate is critical to examine whether the product is commercially feasible and to define risk limits for the manager, if the product is launched. This paper proceeds to examine the solution to this problem assuming an especial form of the binomial model, in the context of the market timing structure advanced by Merton (1981). The paper shows that two variables are relevant for the solution of the proposed problem. The first, and the most relevant, is the skill level of the manager. A ore skilled manager is able to operate a less risky product with the same target excess rate of return µ. The second relevant variable is the trade-off between risk and return determined by existing investment opportunities in the market. The smaller the increases in risk exposure required to obtain an increase in excess returns, the less risky the product will be After solving the problem under specific assumptions, the paper proceeds to test empirically their validity using a representative sample of hedge funds in the Brazilian market. The empirical results strongly support the validity of the required assumptions.

MERTON (1981) examines the creation of value by fund managers selecting between stocks and fixed income instruments through market timing. HENRIKSON and MERTON (1981) proceed to propose empirical tests of funds and manager performance in market timing. BRITO, BONA and TACIRO (2003) generalize the results of MERTON (1981) and HENRIKSON and MERTON (1981) for actively managed funds with a clearly defined benchmark portfolio. In the generalized context of active portfolio management, this paper proposes a new index – the Skill Index of Brito (SIB) – to measure the performance and efficiency in market timing of actively managed funds. The paper proceeds to test the performance and skill of hedge funds in Brazil using the SIB. A representative sample of 32 hedge funds with a window of 90 trading days on October 31, 1999 was obtained. The empirical tests of performance and skill use the interbank borrowing and lending rate as the passive benchmark. The results indicate the significance at the 5% level of the SIB for ten hedge funds in the sample. Among them seven funds also have shown significance at the 1% level. In sum the results indicate a majority of hedge funds with no significant skill in the Brazilian market in the examined period.

Investment strategy selection relies heavily on personal experience and behavior. This paper proposes an improved Analytical Hierarchy Process-group decision making (IAHP-GDM) model to reduce investment risk. This model applies the method of least squares to adjust group decision matrix in order to satisfy the property of positive reciprocal matrix in AHP. In addition, five experts from related fields are invited to evaluate investment risk that takes group wisdom to eliminate personal bias. An empirical study is conducted to compare the proposed model to AHP for group decision making model. The results show that the IAHP-GDM model is not only accurate and effective, but also consistent with realistic investment environment.