The relationship between exchange rate exposure, currency risk management and performance of international equity funds

This paper assesses the currency risk management policies for a sample of Australian international equity trusts. The relevance of currency risk management is considered in the context of exchange rate exposure and performance measures. The study incorporates differing economic climates and particular emphasis is given to the Asian crisis in mid-1997. Our results indicate that a good proportion of funds do implement specific currency risk management policies. Furthermore, we find that for those funds managing currency risk, there is some evidence of a favourable impact on currency exposure and fund performance.

Business education in operations management

This paper examines trends in the practice of Operations Management and in teaching the field in major Business Schools. Operations Management has been defined as the design and management of transformation processes that create value for society. The operations function is the one function directly involved in that transformation, and hence is directly responsible for the activities that justify the existence of the firm, both economically and as a value-creating organization in society. The top rated schools in Operations Management are the top-rated research-intensive Business Schools in the world. Operations Management is an area that has been undergoing rapid change in response to changes in business practices worldwide. It is at the heart of changes of which the AACSB report Management Education at Risk, August 2002 (p 20), comments of Business Schools in general: ‘With regard to global relevance (of Business Schools), the complex opportunities and challenges that emanate from the world scope of operations, outsourcing, supply chains, partnerships, and financial and consumer markets – all linked in real time through the Internet – are not reflected adequately in curricula and learning approaches.’ Products, and even services, depend increasingly on advanced technology. This is true globally and especially so for countries in South East and East Asia, from which Australian Universities draw a significant number of students. Services operations management has become much more important, while there are both educational and industrial needs in management science or operations research.

Technological and financial approaches to risk management in agriculture: an integrated approach

In the present paper, risk-management problems where farmers manage risk both through production decisions and through the use of market-based and informal risk-management mechanisms are considered. It is shown that many of these problems share a common structure, and that a unified and informative treatment of a broad spectrum of risk-management tools is possible within a cost-minimisation framework, under minimal conditions on their objective functions. Fundamental results are derived that apply regardless of the producer's preference towards risks, using only the no-arbitrage condition that agricultural producers never forego any opportunity to lower costs without lowering returns.

National whoppercropper - risk management discussion support software

It is a paradox that in a country with one of the most variable climates in the world, cropping decisions are sometimes made with limited consideration of production and resource management risks. There are significant opportunities for improved performance based on targeted information regarding risks resulting from decision options. WhopperCropper is a tool to help agricultural advisors and farmers capture these benefits and use it to add value to their intuition and experience. WhopperCropper allows probability analysis of the effects of a range of selectable crop inputs and existing resources on yield and economic outcomes. Inputs can include agronomic inputs (e.g crop type, N fertiliser rate), resources (e.g soil water at sowing), and seasonal climate forecast (SOI phase). WhopperCropper has been successfully developed and refined as a discussion-support process for decision makers and their advisers in the northern grains region of Australia. The next phase of the project will build on the current project by extending its application nationally and enhancing the resource management aspects. A commercial partner, with over 800 advisor clients nationally, will participate in the project.