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Outlines the special characteristics of preferred shares in Germany, notes that ordinary shares are valued at substantially higher figures and presents a study of the pricing of both types for 58 German companies 1990‐1993. Refers to previous research to develop hypotheses on reasons for the common share premium and an explanatory model which is then applied to the data. Finds that larger premiums are associated with higher ownership concentration and lower trading but not to the proportion carrying voting rights or the cumulative preferred dividends in arrears; and that they are significantly reduced if a family or financial institution is a major shareholder. Goes on to show that where a family is the largest blockholder the premium increases with liquidity but for a financial institution, liquidity reduces the premium. Considers the underlying reasons for this and consistency with other research.

Points out that preference shares are much more heavily used in emerging economies than in advanced ones to finance new investment projects and develops a mathematical model to show the conditions under which companies are willing to issue them at a price which will attract investors. Outlines the tax systems in Taiwan, South Korea and New Zealand and uses the model to explain why companies in the former two countries issue preference share but New Zealand firms to not.

Identifies some gaps in corporate risk management research and presents a study of risk management practices in large, non‐financial German firms. Compares the perceived relevance of different types of risk with the intensity of their management and reports that no respondents admitted major difficulty in developing a risk management system. Finds that firm survival is rated as the top goal of risk management, that respondents are closer to risk‐neutral than risk‐averse for financial risks, that around half centralize treasury management and 88 per cent use derivatives. Ranks the types of derivatives used and the importance of associated problems; shows how foreign exchange risk, US $ exposure and interest rate risk are managed; and assesses attitudes towards foreign exchange and interest rate risk management. Considers consistency with other research and calls for more.

Outlines the development of risk management products, reviews relevant research and identifies reasons for their rapid growth. Reports a study of US public issues of securities from 1962 to 1998 which examines the introduction and longevity of various types; and analyses the issuers and leading underwriters for each and the countries involved. Confirms the important role of banks and financial institutions in the market and shows that Europe is the leading area for the issue of currency securities and demand for both these and interest rate securities. Adds that Japanese underwriters lead in currency securities and US underwriters in interest rate securities. Provides a glossary of technical terms.

Proposes to investigate the current practices of credit risk management by the largest US‐based financial institutions. Owing to the increasing variety in the types of counterparties and the ever‐expanding variety in the forms of obligations, credit risk management has jumped to the forefront of risk management activities carried out by firms in the financial services industry. This study is designed to shed light on the current practices of these firms.

A short questionnaire, containing seven questions, was mailed to each of the top 100 banking firms headquartered in the USA.

It was found that identifying counterparty default risk is the single most‐important purpose served by the credit risk models utilized. Close to half of the responding institutions utilize models that are also capable of dealing with counterparty migration risk. Surprisingly, only a minority of banks currently utilize either a proprietary or a vendor‐marketed model for the management of their credit risk. Interestingly, those that utilize their own in‐house model also utilize a vendor‐marketed model. Not surprisingly, such models are more widely used for the management of non‐traded credit loan portfolios than they are for the management of traded bonds.

The results help one to understand the current practices of these firms. As such, they enable us to make inferences about the perceived importance of the risks. The paper is of particular value to the treasurers intending to better understand the current trends in credit risk management, and to academics intending to carry out research in the field.

Resilient hospitals have the vital role in reducing mortality, severity of injuries by providing required emergency services during accidents and disasters. This study aims to identify and prioritize key indicators on hospital resilience.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019. The draft of the indicators obtained from the systematic review of the previous study was finalized, with three expert panel sessions and 14 experts in resilience fields. The outputs of these sessions were divided into three domains including constructive resilience, infrastructural resilience and administrative resilience, 17 sub-domains and 71 indicators. Then fuzzy analytic network process method was used to weight and prioritize the final indicators of hospital disaster resilience.

Administrative resilience, logistic and financial management and strategic outsourcing agreement allocated the highest weight as domain, sub-domains and indicators, respectively. The weight of each sub-domain and indicator was also determined.

Investigating the weight of domains, sub-domains and indicators shows the importance of managerial and operational issues in hospital resilience. By using the indicators and relative weights, a tool for measuring hospital disaster resilience can be created in further studies. The output of these assessments is effective in promoting safety and increasing awareness of hospital managers and health policymakers.

Online ride-hailing platforms match drivers with passengers by receiving ride requests from passengers and forwarding them to the nearest driver. In this context, the low acceptance rate of offers by drivers leads to friction in the process of driver and passenger matching. What policies by the platform may increase the acceptance rate and by how much? What factors influence drivers' decisions to accept or reject offers and how much? Are drivers more likely to turn down a ride offer because they know that by rejecting it, they can quickly receive another offer, or do they reject offers due to the availability of outside options? This paper aims to answer such questions using a novel dataset from Tapsi, a ride-hailing platform located in Iran.

The authors specify a structural discrete dynamic programming model to evaluate how drivers decide whether to accept or reject a ride offer. Using this model, the authors quantitatively measure the effect of different policies that increase the acceptance rate. In this model, drivers compare the value of each ride offer with the value of outside options and the value of waiting for better offers before making a decision. The authors use the simulated method of moments (SMM) method to match the dynamic model with the data from Tapsi and estimate the model's parameters.

The authors find that the low driver acceptance rate is mainly due to the availability of a variety of outside options. Therefore, even hiding information from or imposing fines on drivers who reject ride offers cannot motivate drivers to accept more offers and does not affect drivers' welfare by a large amount. The results show that by hiding the information, the average acceptance rate increases by about 1.81 percentage point; while, it is 4.5 percentage points if there were no outside options. Moreover, results show that the imposition of a 10-min delay penalty increases acceptance rate by only 0.07 percentage points.

To answer the questions of the paper, the authors use a novel and new dataset from a ride-hailing company, Tapsi, located in a Middle East country, Iran and specify a structural discrete dynamic programming model to evaluate how drivers decide whether to accept or reject a ride offer. Using this model, the authors quantitatively measure the effect of different policies that could potentially increase the acceptance rate.

The chapter reviews the literature on the relationship between sustainability reporting and firm performance. The first section discusses and investigates the relationship between sustainability reporting and operational performance (ROA). The second section discusses and investigates the relationship between sustainability reporting and financial performance (ROE). The third section discusses and investigates the relationship between sustainability reporting and market performance (TQ). The last three sections explain the possible reasons for positive, negative and neutral relationship between sustainability reporting and firm performance.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the fatigue life of the crankshaft in an engine with increased horsepower.

The applied load on the powertrain components was calculated through a dynamic analysis. Then, to estimate the induced stress in every crank angle, the calculated loads in different engine speeds were applied on the crankshaft. Finally, the critical plane fatigue theories in addition to URM standard were used to estimate the damage and fatigue life of the crankshaft with the increased power.

It was found that a simultaneous increase of gas pressure and engine speed by 30 percent will cause an increase of maximum applied load on the crankshaft by 25 percent. It was also found that while the results of finite element (FE) method predict an infinite life for the crankshaft after increasing the power, the URM method predicts an engine failure for the increased power application. In this study, the crankpin fillet is introduced as the most critical area of the crankshaft.

Increasing the power of the internal combustion engines without changing its main components has been of high interest; however, the failure associated with the increased load as the result of increased power has been a big challenge for that purpose. Moreover, although URM standard provided an efficient practice to evaluate a crankshaft fatigue life, using FE analysis may provide more reliability.

Additive manufacturing (AM) studies on Inconel 718 (IN718) have focused on exploring its tensile and fatigue response. As IN718 is used in the propulsion and energy sector, the impact of shearing is also critical to ensuring the durability of these components. As such, this study aims to explore the relation between build orientation on the shear cyclic response of direct metal laser sintered (DMLS) IN718.

IN718 torsion specimens were manufactured along six build orientations: (100)-X, (010)-Y, (001)-Z, (110)-XY45, (101)-XZ45 and (011)-YZ45, using the DMLS process. Torsional fatigue testing was performed on as-built specimens, from which fracture behavior, surface roughness, softening/hardening response and monotonic/cyclic shear torsional properties were assessed.

DMLS IN718 was found to exhibit transversely isotropic behavior. In terms of shear stress range and shear modulus, Z > (X, XY45, Y) > (XZ45, YZ45). Specimens cyclically hardened to stabilization and softened to fracture. In terms of torsional fatigue fracture response, the Z, XZ45 and YZ45 specimens exhibited crack initiation and propagation from internal defects, whereas cracks were found to initiate at the surface and propagate between and through build layers for the X, Y and XY45 specimens.

This study reports the torsional cyclic response and shear moduli exhibited by as-built DMLS IN718 manufactured along varying build orientations. The findings are applicable for researchers because of the wide use of IN718 in the gas turbine industry, and the current trend to replace conventional manufacturing with AM.