It would, of course, be ideal if people embraced change with zest and unquestionable commitment. But rarely have I worked with partners where that has occurred. Usually I encounter resistance even after we’ve set up a plan and created an environment in which change can take root.Understanding why people resist change is a big step [...]
The statistical properties of bond returns do not correspond with one of the basic assumptions of modern portfolio theory. As indicated by the descriptive statistics the empirical distributions of bond returns significantly deviate from a normal distribution. Keeping in mind this deficiency we nevertheless provide the results of the classical mean–variance framework as a benchmark [...]
The macroeconomic analysis of corporate bond markets typically is based on aggregate measures of growth, employment, interest rates and monetary policy. The impact of changes of these variables on corporate revenues and cash flows and thus on credit risk depends on financial and operating leverage and on the ratio of earnings or cash flows to [...]
With respect to the analysis of a specific issuer, it is important to consider how far the market value of the firm’s assets is away from its default threshold. When the value of the assets approaches the default barrier, fundamental issues such as the likelihood of capital structure changes, possible corporate actions and potential changes [...]