Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Cost reduction strategies banks'

Centralized data storage and reconciliation by trusted intermediaries has historically put financial systems in the hands of a single central parties. The emergence of bitcoin and blockchain, combined with the 2008 financial crisis, has shifted the Swedish financial sector’s traditional perspectives on democratization, centralization, transparency and automation. Trade and export finance is one of many sectors investigating how blockchain and distributed ledger technology can be used other than as a digital currency system. Swedish trade and export finance connects importers, exporters, banks, credit providers, customs, and transporters into a fragmented and complex process with many stakeholders. Sweden further has a history of quickly adopting technological innovations. Banks therefore face a dynamic environment and an inconsistent, manual operative process that removes profitability incentives in providing small enterprises with credit. The adoption of DLT could provide efficiency gains and cost savings in administration, communication, reconciliation and accounting. In this thesis, the costs, benefits, and remaining barriers of implementing distributed ledger technology in Swedish trade finance are identified. Further, Swedish contextual factors’ effect on the rate of adoption is addressed. The chosen methodology of deep interviews and thorough studying of literature provides an assessment of the potential transition dynamics, forming a foundation for future investment decisions. The conclusions drawn suggest that the main costs related to adoption lie in research and development and implementation. R&D costs for distributed ledgers in the Swedish financial sector during 2019 were approximated to USD 40 million. The main benefits of automation, efficiency and reduced level of complexity were concluded to likely outweigh the costs within approximately ten to twenty years. Experience will allow companies to optimize governance structures and consensus mechanisms, while learning to expose parts of networks into public space. The innovative, adaptive Swedish market environment presumably enables faster than average diffusion of innovation, while remaining barriers in cooperation, trust, interoperability and regulation may extend the adoption process

I en pandemi där stora delar av världen tvingades stänga ner, tvingades även detaljhandelsföretag i Sverige tänka om och hitta nya tillvägagångsätt. Samhället uppmanades till att stanna hemma och allmänhetens köpmönster förändrades helt. Tidigare forskning visar att e-handel ökat som effekt av pandemin, däremot saknas forskning på hur e-handelns olika affärsmodeller, clicks och brick-and-clicks, påverkats av covid-19. Studien är en komparativ flerfallstudie med syfte att belysa vilka strategier clicks och brick-and-clicks tillämpat för att möta covid-19 samt om strategierna skilt sig mellan affärsmodellerna. Vidare framhåller denna studie om strategierna varit lämpade för respektive affärsmodell. Resultatet visar att clicks och brick-and-clicks använt olika strategier för att möta pandemin. Vi finner att brick-and-clicks har tillämpat strategier för kostnadsreducering och fått ökad lönsamhet som effekt. Clicks har inte utnyttjat kostnadsreduktioner i samma utsträckning utan haft en avvaktande strategi. Sekundärdata visar att clicks försäljning ökat under pandemin. Däremot visar analys av prognostiseringen att clicks underpresterar gällande lönsamhet.<br>In a pandemic in which large parts of the world were forced to shut down, retailcompanies in Sweden were also forced to rethink and find new ways to reachcustomers. Society was encouraged to stay at home and the public's buying patternschanged completely. Previous research shows that e-commerce has increased as aneffect of the pandemic, but there lacks research on how e-commerce's variousbusiness models, clicks and brick-and-clicks, have been affected by covid-19.In this comparative multi-case study, the purpose is to investigate which strategiesclicks and brick-and-clicks have applied to counter the covid-19 pandemic andwhether the strategies differed between the business models. Furthermore, this studyillustrates whether the strategies of each business model have been suitable. Theresults shows that clicks and brick-and-clicks used different strategies to meet thepandemic. We find that brick-and-clicks have applied cost reduction strategies andincreased profitability as a . Clicks has not used cost reductions to the same extentbut has had a more cautious strategy. The secondary data shows that clicks salesincreased during the pandemic. On the other hand, the analysis of the forecast showsthat clicks underperform in profitability.

Americans spent nearly $2.6 trillion, or $8,000 per person for medical and administrative costs in 2010. By 2015, healthcare spending in the United States increased to 5.8% reaching $3.2 trillion or $9,990 per individual. By tackling healthcare administrative costs, it is estimated that healthcare providers could reduce these costs by $20 billion yearly. This case study explored strategies for streamlining hospital administrative procedures to reduce costs. The business process reengineering model formed the conceptual framework for this study. Data were gathered through semistructured face-to-face interviews guided by open-ended questions with a purposeful sample of 4 hospital managers in Atlanta, Georgia. This study identifies important themes regarding cost reduction and hospital administration based on participant interviews. Themes included participants' unfavorable perspectives of the Spell out PPACA (PPACA) legislation, employment of physicians, PPACA reimbursement method, follow-up services, hospital administrative governance, and lack of business education. The themes comprised steps hospital managers could take to streamline administrative procedures to reduce costs. The implications for positive social change included the potential to provide strategies for streamlined processes that could lead to savings passed on to patients from low socio-economic backgrounds through accessibility to affordable healthcare services.

碩士<br>國立臺灣大學<br>土木工程學研究所<br>104<br>The aim of the study is to find out feasible strategies for cost-saving and carbon reducing of pavement rehabilitation (milling and overlay) and estimate the potential of CO2 reduction of pavement rehabilitation strategies by lifecycle cost inventory and CO2 emission inventory. According to literature review, expert interview, and model derivation, it was found that the most important factors for cost saving and CO2 reduction are lower expense of natural material and longer service life of each milling and overlay. Alternatives evaluated in this study are designed based on change of material (by reclaimed asphalt mixture and stone matrix asphalt mixture, improve construction quality (providing lower initial roughness), and thicker dense grade layer of the pavement structure. The length of the analysis period in this study is 40 years of operation and maintenance of pavement that set based on the characteristic of the National Freeway in Taiwan. The software of AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) latest design guide, MEPDG (Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide) is used to predict the length of service life that every milling and overlay provides of each alternative. All factors that used in the simulation, like amount of daily truck traffic, basic structure, and climate are set as close as possible to the real situation in Taiwan. The analysis shows that lower initial IRI (International Roughness Index) leads to the least CO2 emission and rehabilitation cost. Improving the construction quality provides the best performance for financial and environmental sustainability. Secondly, using reclaimed asphalt mixture also shows good performance in the two phases. Thicker dense grade layer does not benefit to neither economical nor environmental phases. Using SMA mixture as replacement of part of dense grade layer has benefits on cost saving, but does not make significant contribution to CO2 reduction. For the short term, improving construction quality is what Taiwanese highway agencies should do first to save maintenance cost and reduce CO2 emission. Although Taiwanese government does not levy a tax on CO2 emission so far, with the trend of CO2 reduction across the world, it is possible that all of the emission must pay for carbon rights. Since some of the alternatives evaluated in this study shows good performance on reducing CO2 emission, like lower initial IRI and use reclaimed asphalt mixture, those methods should be applied to exchange more carbon rights for road rehabilitation. Those alternatives also provide good potential on CO2 reduction. For example, it is suggest that the authority must reduce 7.92 million tons of CO2 every year to meet the national emission reduction targets. According to the inventory in this study, if the initial IRI of highway pavement has been lower to 100 in./mi. (1.57 m/km), the amount of CO2 emission would decease 10,831 tons, about 1.37% of the reduction target (7.92 million tons). Improving the construction quality is undoubtedly the most urgent task for Taiwanese road agencies.

Tese de mestrado integrado em Engenharia da Energia e do Ambiente, apresentada à Universidade de Lisboa, através da Faculdade de Ciências, 2013<br>A agência internacional de energia estima que cerca de um quinto da população mundial não tem, acesso a eletricidade, particularmente em zonas rurais, maioritariamente na África Subsaariana e no Sudeste Asiático. A taxa de eletrificação rural na África Subsaariana era, em 2009, cerca de 14 % - consideravelmente abaixo da média mundial de 68%. As Nações Unidas apontam que a disponibilidade de energia (em especial energia elétrica) sustentável com baixo custo, tem o potencial de promover a educação, o acesso a água potável, a igualdade de géneros, diminuição da pobreza, e sustentabilidade ambiental – assim, a disponibilidade de energia pode ter um impacto direto e considerável na realização dos oito Objetivos de Desenvolvimento do Milénio. Os sistemas descentralizados de energia como o KUDURA podem providenciar energia limpa e água potável a comunidades rurais ou remotas. Apesar disso, este tipo de abordagens requerem um maior atual desenvolvimento, de modo a que se consiga aumentar a sua competitividade tecnológica e económica, e assim, a sua flexibilidade em ser distribuído em zonas rurais. O presente trabalho estuda duas tecnologias e case-studies em específico: Gaseificação de biomassa de pequena dimensão para a geração de eletricidade no Norte de Moçambique, utilizando casca de caju como combustível; e micro-hídrica para geração e armazenamento de eletricidade no litoral do Quénia – estas aplicações foram contempladas como possíveis formas de reduzir os atuais custos do KUDURA. Estas tecnologias são comparadas e analisadas com recurso ao software HOMER – uma ferramenta de análise para a avaliação de diferentes tecnologias e recursos energéticos e sua otimização com base em critérios económicos. O custo de energia para o sistema híbrido de gaseificação a biomassa é de 0.46 €/kWh, em oposição aos 0.53 €/kWh do sistema KUDURA. Estes resultados mostraram ser sensíveis a variáveis como o preço do caju, a potência do sistema solar fotovoltaico e, mais importante, sensíveis ao custo de operação e manutenção – em particular, o salário dos técnicos locais. Em relação ao sistema hídrico de fio-de-água proposto, é mostrado nesta análise que o custo de energia situa-se na gama de 0.17-0.27 €/kWh, tornando este sistema particularmente adequado a regiões com um recurso hídrico abundante. Por outro lado, como opção de armazenamento hídrico de energia através de bombagem de água, os resultados simulados sugerem que pode não tornar-se economicamente competitivo com as formas tradicionais de armazenamento de energia eletroquímica.<br>The International Energy Agency estimates that about one-fifth of the world’s population does not have access to electricity in particular in rural areas, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In 2009, the rate of rural electrification in sub-Saharan Africa was 14%, considerably below the global average of 68%. The United Nations has found that access to affordable and sustainable energy, particularly electricity, can promote education, access to potable and safe water, gender equity, poverty’s end and environmental sustainability, thus electricity can have a direct impact on achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals. Decentralised energy systems, like the KUDURA concept, have the ability to provide clean energy and potable water to rural or remote communities. Nevertheless, these approaches require further development to increase its cost-effectiveness and deployment flexibility. The present work looks at two specific technologies and case-studies: small-scale biomass gasification for power generation using cashew nut shells as feedstock for the northern region of Mozambique; and micro hydro-power for power generation and energy storage for coastal Kenya – which were seen as possible cost reduction routes. These technologies are compared and analysed through the use of the HOMER software, an analytic tool for evaluating different energy technologies and resources and optimization based on economic criteria. The levelised cost of energy (LCOE) of the optimized hybrid biomass gasification system may reach €0.46/kWh, significantly below the KUDURA baseline cost of €0.53/kWh. These results are sensitive to variables such as the feedstock cost, the photovoltaic array required and, most importantly, to the costs associated to operation and maintenance, in particular the salaries of the local technicians. Regarding the proposed run-of-the-river-type hydro system, it is shown that it may achieve a LCOE in the range of €0.17-0.27/kWh, making it particularly suitable for regions with an abundant hydro resource. On the other hand, as a form of energy storage via pumped water storage, the simulation results suggested it cannot become competitive with standard electrochemical energy storage.

Η είσοδος των ηλεκτρονικών λύσεων, εφαρμογών και διευκολύνσεων στις τραπεζικές συναλλαγές δεν είναι κάποια νέα υπόθεση. Το διαφορετικό, σήμερα, βρίσκεται στις τεράστιες δυνατότητες, που προσφέρει η τεχνολογία για την άμεση και συνεχόμενη διασύνδεση της τρα-πεζικής πελατείας με όλα τα προϊόντα και υπηρεσίες του τραπεζικού συστήματος. Οι νέες αυτές δυνατότητες περιγράφονται με τον όρο ηλεκτρονική τραπεζική. Αυτόματες ταμειακές μηχανές σε όλα τα τραπεζικά καταστήματα, ηλεκτρονικές αγορές μέσω καρτών και τηλεφωνικές συναλλαγές προσφέρουν υπηρεσίες που εφαρμόζονται ήδη με μεγάλη επιτυχία. Επίσης και η τραπεζική μέσω του Διαδικτύου αναπτύσσεται με αξιοσημείωτους βαθμούς. Η σχέση των πελατών με την τράπεζά τους ενδύεται πλέον τις ανάγκες της εποχής και προσαρμόζονται στους ρυθμούς με τους οποίους εργάζεται η σύγχρονη, παγκοσμοποιούμενη και συνεχώς ανταγωνιστικότερη οικονομία. Συνεχής λειτουργία επί 24 ώρες και για τις 7 ημέρες της εβδομάδες, με παράλληλη εντυπωσιακή μείωση του χρόνου εκτέλεσης των εντολών και περιορισμού του κόστους. Το ηλεκτρονικό δίκτυο, όπως απεικονίζεται στη φιλική μορφή του Διαδίκτυο (internet) προσφέρει πολλαπλές δυνατότητες εμπορικής ανάπτυξης των ηλεκτρονικών συναλλαγών. Με το ηλεκτρονικό χρήμα να αποτελεί, εδώ και πολύ καιρό, μια καθημερινή συνήθεια ο δρόμος για ριζοσπαστικές αλλαγές έχει ανοίξει.<br>The entrance of electronic solutions, applications and facilities in banking is not a new case. The different today is the enormous possibilities offered by technology for direct and con-tinuous connection of bank customers with all products and services of the banking system. These new features are described by the term electronic banking. Cash machines in all bank branches, electronic shopping cards and telephone transactions offer services that are be-ing applied with great success. Also the bank via the Internet is growing at a remarkable degree. The customer relationship with their bank now wears the needs of the times and adapt to the rhythms with which modern works, globalized and increasingly competitive economy. Contin-uous operation for 24 hours and 7 days of the week, while striking reduction in the time of exe-cution and cost containment. The electronic network, as illustrated in the friendly form of Internet offers multiple pos-sibilities for commercial development of electronic transactions. With electronic money to be here a long time, a daily habit the way for radical changes has opened.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to ascertain the efficacy of an intervention -where laboratory test costs were provided to clinicians as a pocket-sized brochure - to reduce the laboratory test costs over a 4 month period. Design: This was a non randomised intervention study where the intervention. group was compared to a similar and concurrent control group regarding the difference in laboratory test costs over a specified period in a specific year. The costs incurred were also computed for the same 2 groups over an identical time period and seasonal period in the preceding year, referred to as the control period. Setting and Subjects: The study was conducted in the Internal Medicine Wards at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital. The intervention period was during the winter months of May to August 2008 and the pre-intervention period was in the same months of the preceding year. Outcome measures: In the two (2007 and 2008) 4 month periods, for each patient admitted, the number of days in hospital and the laboratory tests ordered were computed. For the Intervention and control groups, pre and post intervention cost and days in hospital were estimated. The differences in logcosts per day were compared over time using ANOVA with group (1-2), time (1-2) and group*time as factors. Results: The mean cost per patient admitted in the intervention group decreased from R 2864.09 to R 2097.47 as a result of the intervention – a 27 % reduction in cost. The mean cost per day in the intervention group as a whole also decreased from R 442.90 to R 284.14 due to the intervention – a 36% reduction in cost. By contrast, in the control group, all costs increased in the control group from the pre-intervention to intervention periods – mean cost per admission in this group increased from R 1859.87 to R 2429.25 – an increase of 23%. The mean cost per day admitted in this group also increased from R 363.54 to R 371.92 – an increase of 2.2%. Conclusion: A heightened awareness of the cost of a laboratory test be it prospectively or retrospectively is a cost-effective and sustainable method of making doctors order tests rationally and appropriately.<br>Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2011.<br>Internal Medicine<br>unrestricted