Cyberfraud & identity theft: the hidden costs of business process outsourcing

Offshore business process outsourcing involves additional risks, according to Anne Rouse and David Watson. Here they outline some of these with strategies for their management.

Acknowledging risks when deciding to outsource business processes : the case of data theft

Outsourcing is generally framed in terms of benefits and cost savings, rather than risks. One important risk is “data theft”. This paper draws upon a longitudinal study into IT and business process outsourcing to present a theoretical model incorporating risk. Sources include qualitative interviews with purchasers, non purchasers, and vendors of outsourced business process services. It concludes that data theft is an under-acknowledged risk in all business process outsourcing (BPO), but is higher for offshore outsourcing. This risk may be mitigated, but when factored into the business case can invalidate typically small cost savings. In acknowledging and adequately costing this risk, decision-makers may find BPO, particularly where offshore vendors are involved, less attractive.

A structural VAR analysis of electricity consumption and real GDP : evidence from the G7 countries

In this paper, we depart from the literature on electricity consumption–real GDP in that for the first time we examine the reaction of real GDP to shocks in electricity consumption. To achieve this goal, we use the structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model and examine the impact of electricity consumption shocks on real GDP for the G7 countries. We find that except for the USA, electricity consumption has a statistically significant positive impact on real GDP over short horizons. This finding implies that except for the USA, electricity conservation policies will hurt real GDP in the G7 countries.

Electricity consumption–real GDP causality nexus: Evidence from a bootstrapped causality test for 30 OECD countries

The goal of this paper is to examine any causal effects between electricity consumption and real GDP for 30 OECD countries. We use a bootstrapped causality testing approach and unravel evidence in favour of electricity consumption causing real GDP in Australia, Iceland, Italy, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic, Korea, Portugal, and the UK. The implication is that electricity conservation policies will negatively impact real GDP in these countries. However, for the rest of the 22 countries our findings suggest that electricity conversation policies will not affect real GDP.

Can the electricity market be characterised by asymmetric behaviour?

In this paper, we test for asymmetric behaviour of industrial and residential electricity demand for the G7 countries, using the entropy-based test for symmetry suggested by [Racine, J., and Maasoumi, E., 2007. A versatile and robust metric entropy test of time-reversibility, and other hypotheses. Journal of Econometrics 138(2), 547–567; Racine, J., and Maasoumi, E., 2008. A robust entropy-based test of asymmetry for discrete and continuous processes. Econometric Reviews 28, 246–261], the Triples test of [Randles, R., Flinger, M., Policello, G., and Wolfe, D., 1980. An asymptotically distribution-free test for symmetry versus asymmetry. Journal of the American Statistical Association 75, 168–172] and the [Bai, J., and Ng, S., 2001. A consistent test for conditional symmetry in time series models. Journal of Econometrics 103, 225–258] test for conditional symmetry. Using data that spans over three decades, we find overwhelming evidence of conditional symmetry of residential and industrial electricity consumption. This finding implies that the use of econometric tests based on linear data generating processes is credible.

Multivariate granger causality between electricity consumption, exports and GDP : Evidence from a panel of Middle Eastern countries

This paper examines the causal relationship between electricity consumption, exports and gross domestic product (GDP) for a panel of Middle Eastern countries. We find that for the panel as a whole there are statistically significant feedback effects between these variables. A 1 per cent increase in electricity consumption increases GDP by 0.04 per cent, a 1 per cent increase in exports increases GDP by 0.17 per cent and a 1 per cent increase in GDP generates a 0.95 per cent increase in electricity consumption. The policy implications are that for the panel as a whole these countries should invest in electricity infrastructure and step up electricity conservation policies to avoid a reduction in electricity consumption adversely affecting economic growth. Further policy implications are that for the panel as a whole promoting exports, particularly non-oil exports, is a means to promote economic growth and that expansion of exports can be realized without having adverse effects on energy conservation policies.

Roofing that generates electricity and heat

Integrating solar energy devices with building products is a rapidly growing market in the building industry. The aim is to make solar devices that integrate into a standard facade, window, roof tile, membrane roof or long run roof. These serve as weatherproofing for a building and also generate electrical and thermal energy.

The electricity consumption and GDP nexus for the Fiji Islands

Fiji is a small open island economy dependent on energy for its growth and development; hence, the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth is crucial for Fiji's development. In this paper, we investigate the nexus between electricity consumption and economic growth for Fiji within a multivariate framework through including the labour force variable. We use the bounds testing approach to cointegration and find that electricity consumption, GDP and labour force are only cointegrated when GDP is the endogenous variable. We use the Granger causality F-test and find that in the long-run causality runs from electricity consumption and labour force to GDP, implying that Fiji is an energy dependent country and thus energy conservation policies will have an adverse effect on Fiji's economic growth.

The residential demand for electricity in Australia : an application of the bounds testing approach to cointegration

This paper reports estimates of the long- and short-run elasticities of residential demand for electricity in Australia using the bounds testing procedure to cointegration, within an autoregressive distributive lag framework. In the long run, we find that income and own price are the most important determinants of residential electricity demand, while temperature is significant some of the time and gas prices are insignificant. Our estimates of long-run income elasticity and price elasticity of demand are consistent with previous studies, although they are towards the lower end of existing estimates. As expected, the short-run elasticities are much smaller than the long-run elasticities, and the coefficients on the error-correction coefficients are small consistent with the fact that in the short-run energy appliances are fixed.