Schlagwort-Archiv: Economy

Actually, the house always wins

Compulsive players are not discouraged from playing by the sentence „The house always wins“. They are addicted to the anticipation of a gain and accept the risk of losing. In the beginning the bet is only occasional and generates good feelings. Then, the obsession starts and more and more often one loses larger sums. The whole thing culminates in complete despair and hopelessness.
The same happens with stock exchange transactions and other investment opportunities. The game with larger amounts of money triggers the limbic intoxication of a gambler. However, safety nets are currently under construction to cushion these players by allowing them to claim their losses – either through the legal code or through the new court of arbitration that operate outside the national jurisdiction. This allows the players to recover their losses through legal action. By the way – of course, the house wins here too.

In the end, this is a systemic mistake. The risk of the transactions is transferred to the society and the profits remain with the players. What are the interests that heat up the financial transactions and give the participants their fruitful source of income?

  • Companies need capital
    Companies need in advance capital to finance their business, for example to pay
    the personnel and material costs required to develop and prepare products and services.
    In the event of failure, companies go bankrupt or rebrand and leave collateral damage to the society – like environmental damage, unemployment and asset losses.
  • Investors are looking for profits
    The wealthy have more money than they can spend. In order to counteract a loss of value such as above or inflation, they sedulously look for ways to let the money work.
    Investors privatize their profits regardless of collateral damage and socialize their losses to the society.
  • The state is looking for investors
    In principle, it is up to the state to ensure that the population lacks nothing. For this reason, politicians make attractive offers to investors, when they invest in their country – tax advantages and business-friendly laws. And if a business fails, politicians secure the capital invested, borrow money from one bank to relieve another – and vice versa.
    The costs for wrong decisions of the political „economic leaders“, who are interested in nothing else than their mandate, are borne by their voters – which actually is strange.
  • Products need consumers
    Due to the advanced automation of established companies and the globalization, more and more cheap products are developed, which urgently need a customer.
    In the end, these short-lived products pollute the environment. All people bear the consequences.
  • The society needs work
    In contrast to the wealthy; the majority of the population is depending on full-time employment in order to pay for their monthly expenses. Job competition is taking place globally. At the same time, simple tasks are competing with machines, which now perform routine tasks more reliably.
    Overall, traditional employment opportunities are disappearing. Society is impoverishing.
  • The economy has a need for turnover
    In order to prosper, the society must consume the products and services of the companies. The loss of traditional work as well as precarious jobs create a consumer class that needs affordable alternatives to mainstream consumption – like repair cafés, barter sites, sharing, pay-per-use.
    Contrary to the previous standpoints, when it was assumed that the tides would move everyone up and down, the gap is widening regardless of the economic situation – the poor are becoming poorer and the rich richer.

Bottom line: Since many optimize themselves and indemnify based on the society, distortions occur, which go above all at the expense of the powerless. Companies rely on external financing and thus shift the risk to the lenders. Investors maximize their profits by investing their capital in risky transactions and by socializing losses. The state (or its decision-makers) foregoes revenue in order to attract investors. The flood of bad products damages the environment at the end of the ever shorter life cycle. The population can no longer make a living from their work and saves itself in social networks. The economy is overheating in the hope of being able to restart in a coming crash. And all financial transactions, no matter in which direction, are processed by the house – that always win.

Rules rule rules that rule rules

In times of increasing bureaucratization it becomes more difficult to oversee the innumerable rules that must be followed. Since the employees act autonomously and each detail cannot be regulated from the top, they need a clear set of rules. In order to provide the best possible directions, the enterprises use for example COSO and COBIT as a guideline, i.e. standards for implementing the Governance. The trend to a constantly growing number at standards is foreseeable. Let’s remember the different standards in Project Management. Do we have to adjust ourselves to the fact that in the future rules rule rules that rule rules?

Schlangebeisstschwanz

A common denominator in the rules is the fact that they follow certain rules. The following aspects define the quality of the Governance.

  • Transparency
    In this case the decisions, the decision path and the principles of leadership should be made accessible to the employees. They should always be able to understand, for what reasons the top management deploys certain rules. At the same time they should understand the point of control for their own influence.
  • Economy
    In order to create a reasonable handling of scarce means, the procedures should be designed accordingly. These definitions prevent an uncontrolled growth of rules and procedures. Beyond that, they reduce the expenditure for the introduction of guidelines and enable over time an improved use.
  • Participation
    The employees are motivated by personal sharing and participation in the designing of the enterprise. They receive with the regulations the right and the obligation to participate in the decision making and the implementations. For this reason clear points of control for the participation of the employees are inserted in the procedures.
  • Competencies
    Through clear assignments of authority and responsibility defined tasks prevent Muda and friction losses. All areas are considered as well as the overlap of authorities and mutual obstructions are prevented. The employees know through the transferred rights and obligations, what they have to do – and what not.
  • Rule of law
    Through the bindingness to the rules for all, without exception, the individual is reinforced. In order to get a functioning interaction, it must be guaranteed that that all are equally treated. For this purpose it needs in case of conflicts a clear procedure as well as an independent board of arbitration that can be called by everybody.
  • Justice
    Through an adequate and demandable reconciliation of interests, the justice offers a general framework that goes beyond the detailed rules. The values of the enterprise need a common, fundamental understanding about what is right and what not. A respective understanding avoids a variety of detailed regulations.

In order to guarantee that the Governance is adapted to the respective conditions, a clear control model is required for the enterprises. Thus, COSO offers a framework for the financial reporting and Cobit for the IT. The Governance can be introduced correctly at the right place with these frameworks.

Bottom line: The build-up of a control system, the Governance, is an effective means, for steering enterprises or departments. Standards facilitate reliably the implementation. It is however important to resist the regulation craze. More is not necessarily better. Rules rule rules that rule the rules is the end of effective rule sets.