Author: Winston Ma
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119746604
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 416
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Book Description
Who holds the power in financial markets? For many, the answer would probably be the large investment banks, big asset managers, and hedge funds that are often in the media's spotlight. But more and more a new group of sovereign investors, which includes some of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, government pension funds, central bank reserve funds, state-owned enterprises, and other sovereign capital-enabled entities, have emerged to become the most influential capital markets players and investment firms, with $30 trillion in assets under management (“super asset owners”). Their ample resources, preference for lower profile, passive investing, their long-time horizon and adherence to sustainability as well as their need to diversify globally and by sector have helped to transform the investment world and, in particular, private markets for digital companies. They have helped create and sustain an environment that has fostered the rise of the likes of Uber, Alibaba, Spotify and other transformative players in the digital economy, while providing their founders and business models the benefit of long-term capital. Despite this increasingly important impact, sovereign investors remain mostly unknown, often maintaining a low profile in global markets. For the same reason, they’re also among the most widely misunderstood, as many view investments made by sovereign investors as purely driven by political aims. The general perception is that most sovereign investors lack transparency and have questionable governance controls, causing an investee nation to fear exposure to risks of unfair competition, data security, corruption, and non-financially or non-economically motivated investments. The current global tensions around the AI race and tech competition – and now the corona virus pandemic – have exacerbated such misperceptions, spawning controversies around sovereign investors and capital markets, governments, new technologies, cross-border investments, and related laws and regulations. As such, sovereign capital and the global digital economy are undergoing an unprecedented, contentious moment. In short, the emergence of sovereign funds symbolizes a major shift of the world’s economic power. For the first time, investment funds from developing countries are playing with OECD financial giants as equals. Furthermore, their investments into high tech enable them to participate at the cutting-edge of the fourth industrial revolution, challenging traditional innovation powerhouses like the US and Germany. For all stakeholders, from tech unicorns, VC funds, asset managers, financial firms, to policymakers, law firms, academics, and the general public, this is the must-have book to get to know these new venture capitalists and “super asset owners”.
Author: Dorothy Dunnett
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307762432
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 689
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Book Description
With the bravura storytelling and pungent authenticity of detail she brought to her acclaimed Lymond Chronicles, Dorothy Dunnett, grande dame of the historical novel, presents The House of Niccolo series. The time is the 15th century, when intrepid merchants became the new knighthood of Europe. Among them, none is bolder or more cunning than Nicholas vander Poele of Bruges, the good-natured dyer's apprentice who schemes and swashbuckles his way to the helm of a mercantile empire. Scotland, 1468: a nation at the edge of Europe, a civilization on the threshold of the Modern Age. Merchants, musicians, politicians, and pageantry fill the court of King James III. In its midst, Nicholas seeks to avenge his bride's claim that she carries the bastard of his archenemy, Simon St. Pol. When she flees before Nicholas can determine whether or not the rumored child is his own—or exists at all—Nicholas gives chase. So begins the deadly game of cat and mouse that will lead him from the infested cisterns of Cairo to the misted canals of Venice at carnival. Breathlessly paced, sparkling with wit. The Unicorn Hunt confirms Dorothy Dunnett as the genre's finest practitioner.
Author: Winston Ma
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119748917
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 416
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Book Description
What new directions in China’s digital economy mean for us all China is the largest homogenous digital market on Earth: unified by language, culture, and mobile payments. Not only a consumer market of unrivaled size, it’s also a vast and hyperactive innovation ecosystem for new technologies. And as China’s digital economy moves from a consumer-focused phase to an enterprise-oriented one, Chinese companies are rushing to capitalize on ways the newer wave of tech—the Internet of Things, AI, blockchain, cloud computing, and data analytics (iABCD)—can unlock value for their businesses from non-traditional angles. In China’s Data Economy, Winston Ma—investment professional, capital markets attorney, adjunct professor of digital economy, and bestselling author—details the profound global implications of this new direction, including how Chinese apps for services such as food delivery expand so quickly they surpass their U.S. models within a couple of years, and how the sheer scale and pace of Chinese innovation might lead to an AI arms race in which China and the U.S. vie aggressively for leadership. How China’s younger netizens participate in their evolving digital economy as consumers, creators, and entrepreneurs Why Online/Office (OMO, Online-merge-with-Offline) integration is viewed as the natural next step on from the O2O (Online-to-Offline) model used in the rest of the world The ways in which traditional Chinese industries such as retail, banking, and insurance are innovating to stay in the game What emerging markets can learn from China as they leapfrog past the personal computer age altogether, diving straight into the mobile-first economy Anyone interested in what’s next for Chinese digital powerhouses—investors, governments, entrepreneurs, international business players—will find this an essential guide to what lies ahead as China’s flexes new digital muscles to create new forms of value and challenge established tech giants across the world.
Author: Diana Peterfreund
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061861472
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 436
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Book Description
Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns. The fluffy, sparkly, friendly “horses” so popular the world over don’t exist. Real unicorns are killers. Beasts the size of elephants, with cloven hooves that shake the earth, hides impervious to bullets, and horns that contain a deadly poison, unicorns can outrun a sports car and smell a human from a mile away. And they can only be killed by virgin warriors descended from Alexander the Great. Sixteen-year-old Astrid Llewelyn has grown up with her mom Lilith’s tall tales about unicorns and their exalted family heritage, but figures her mom’s crazy. But the scary stories her mom told her about the monsters in her formative years left her with a firm phobia about unicorns, even the cutesy kind popular with young girls. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend in the woods—thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to prom—Astrid finds herself headed to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter. “As swift and sure-footed as a killer unicorn, Rampant weaves a vibrant new mythology from venerable threads.”—Scott Westerfeld, bestselling author of the Uglies series
Author: Bruce Coville
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 0545128072
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 626
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Book Description
The Last Hunt weaves together all the strands of the great clash between the Hunters and the unicorns. As the Hunters invade Luster, bent on the extermination of the unicorns, the unicorns rally to defend themselves. To do so, they will be forced to make peace with their intimate enemies, the delvers. Even worse, the Hunters may not be the greatest danger. For Luster itself is beginnings to collapse from the damage done to the great world tree when Beloved tore a hole between the worlds. Preventing that collapse will require Cara--reunited at last with her mother and father--to discover the secret of how and why Luster was originally created. But first she must confront her own ancestor, the fierce and wily Beloved!
Author: C. C. Humphreys
Publisher: Bluefire
ISBN: 0375853502
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 354
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Book Description
Despite her father's belief in the lore of an ancestor's connection to the unicorn, Elayne remains skeptical until she finds herself entering a world where she must fulfill her legacy by taming the unicorn and bringing a tyrant to justice.
Author: Bruce Coville
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
ISBN: 9780545068246
Category : Children's stories
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Having jumped into the fantasy land of Luster, Cara joins Lightfoot the unicorn in the search for Queen Arabella Skydancer.
Author: Meredith Rusu
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 1338432052
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 28
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Book Description
Join the Beanie Boo unicorns on a magical adventure through the Fantastical Forest and Shimmering Sky! When Treasure the unicorn receives a mysterious treasure map, she and her unicorn friends set off on a quest to find the hidden surprise.Join the Beanie Boo unicorns on this magical adventure in which they might just discover that friendship is the greatest treasure of all!
Author: Chris Lavers
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061900842
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276
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Book Description
“Lavers keeps his intellectual detective story passionate and suspenseful.” — Washington Post Book World From Biblical stories about virgins to adventures with Harry Potter, unicorns have enchanted people for millennia. In the endlessly fascinating The Natural History of Unicorns, author Chris Lavers ingeniously traces the legend of this mysterious creature to the real people, places, and animals that have influenced its story.
Author: Alex Willan
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1534453849
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 40
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Book Description
Perfect for fans of Dragons Love Tacos and Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great, this wildly funny and imaginative picture book celebrates the value of differences as a grumpy goblin gets to know his new unicorn neighbors. It’s an undeniable fact that unicorns are the worst! Magic is serious business, but all unicorns do is frolic around, have tea parties, and leave glitter all over the place! They’re nothing like goblins—practical and hard-working, who can put magic to good use! Unicorns aren’t helpful at all. Or are they?
