Financial crimes: the constant challenge of seeking effective prevention solutions
Purpose – Financial market‐related crimes seem to continually increase in number as well as in the amount of illicit profits. This emerging situation has obliged governments and self‐regulated bodies to act aggressively on the issue. This paper provides a snapshot of the evolution timeline of financial crimes and discussion in support of the fight against this plague.Design/methodology/approach – Based on financial crime literature and field work.Findings – Improvement in the expertise and degree of refinement employed by both organized crime and criminal businessmen.Research limitations/implications – Some information originates from confidential sources and consequently could not be further developed.Originality/value – Contemporary picture of the current situation. Some recommendations were submitted to regulatory authorities who are examining and adjusting their actions accordingly.
Expert elicitation to estimate the size of an iceberg based on the tip: Some methodological challenges in determining the magnitude of white-collar crime
Expert elicitation is a research method designed to make estimations in areas where we have no knowledge, only indicators and experiences. By systematic interviews of experts, we tried to estimate the magnitude of white-collar crime in Norway. On our way to a final answer, we were faced with a number of obstacles in our research design. This article reports from our research journey by communicating our learning from methodological challenges when applying expert elicitation to estimate the size of an iceberg based on knowledge about the tip of the iceberg. In particular, participation refusals and response confusions are discussed. This article presents results from a study where we engaged an expert panel to estimate a number of parameters that can determine the total amount of money lost yearly because of white-collar crime. ________________________________________________________________________
Application of the Kano Model for a Better Understanding of Customer Requirements in Higher Education—A Pilot Study
Various pieces of information and knowledge turn into “know-how” simply by their application in the market. This applies to all spheres of activities. It is therefore important to know and understand the requirements of customers already in the stage of making a product, and to confront these with the possibilities of a producer. In this article we are exploring the possibilities of a better understanding of the requirements of customers and stakeholders in the process of the creation of products in educational services. In particular, we examined seven general requirements: practice orientation, ethical orientation, research orientation, quality resources, innovation orientation, skills orientation, and quality staff. We use the Kano model on a pilot sample of respondents at an institution of higher education. Our results showed that “practice orientation” and “quality resources” are the most stable requirements, while “quality staff” is the least stable. The most linear requirement (the same effect on satisfaction and dissatisfaction) is “innovation orientation”. “Research orientation” belongs to attractive requirements and we also found that in the case of “ethical orientation” there are weak relations between positive and negative responses in our survey. The “skills orientation” proved to be too general, and our research shows that it could be indifferent. It is therefore advisable to specify the investigated skills when investigating requirements on educational services. The main contribution based on the proposed research procedures is an effective linking of customers and producers already from the beginning of constructing a value chain. Investing in sophisticated management approaches when modelling products and processes can thus become a significant source of the competitive advantage of an educational institution. At the same time, it is a contribution to better placing of its graduates in the labor market.