Olivier Mesly

The Core of Predation: The Predatory Core—Finding the Neurobiological Center of Financial Predators and Preys

This paper proposes a theoretical view of the financial predator and preys brain, with the hypothalamus being the core cerebral structure driving financial predatory behaviors. This model will hopefully help opening doors to possible better management as it appears that the number of financial scandals that have their source in the malevolent behavior of a selected few keeps rising. Indeed, neuromarketing is an emerging trend but lots of work remains to be done. This paper suggests that future research could be oriented toward the understanding of the predatory core in human behavior, more specifically referred to as the black box of consumers.

Bankers and Functional Psychopathy: The Risk of Losing Everything

For at least the past 100 years, a number of financial scandals have rocked the world and ruined the lives of thousands of citizens. In the past decades alone, a number of financiers (most notably Robert Madoff) have been caught and sent to jail. Financial predators have erroneously been labeled as psychopaths. In fact, many are not anti-social at all and do not display dysfunctional impulsively, but rather quite the opposite. The term that describes them best is “functional psychopaths.” This multidisciplinary paper proposes to warn banking and financial institutions about the possibility that an undetected functional psychopath (a financial predator) will, in his drive for success, run their company down. Leeson at Barings is a painful reminder of such a grim scenario.

Satisfaction and Financial Predation:A Large GroupStudy Revealing Their Mathematical Link

For several decades now, wealthy organizations and people have had the misfortune of finding out that their pockets have been systematically and meticulously emptied by people they blindly trusted. This phenomenon includes such cases as the all-mighty employer Sumitomo and its star trader, Yasuo Hamanaka, “the copper master.” In the 1990s, he managed to hide some US

Effective multicultural project management: the role of human interdependence

2.6 billion in losses over a 10-year period. This multidisciplinary article uses three databases, one of which is from recent research on a Canadian case of financial predation involving nearly 2,000 investors, to show that unconditional trust can be built through consistently satisfying stakeholders. In the process, they lower their guard and become easy prey for malevolent financial predators. Understanding this process is an additional tool to protect wealthy individuals against abuse.

Fear, Predatory Webs, and Blind Trust Characterize Market Bubbles

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to look at human interdependence and its significance in project management. Design/methodology/approach – The paper focuses solely on human interaction in the context of a short-term project consisting of preparing a small “international” fair in Gatineau, Quebec (Canada). For this purpose, an established questionnaire was used which aimed to evaluate the predator-prey dynamic between team members (as described by Mesly in a recent paper). Findings – Human interdependence indeed plays a key role in the functioning of short-lived projects (and, this paper assumes, of long-term projects as well). Originality/value – The paper places emphasis on considering the human power-game factor (predator-prey) more strongly in future project endeavors.

Asymmetry of Information and Competitive Advantage in a Closed, Dynamic Duopolistic System—Consequences for Regulatory Authorities

This article posits that fear, predatory webs, and blind trust characterize the emergence and implosion of market bubbles. It rests on a psychological view of market agent’s behavior anchored in the Consolidated Model of Financial Predation (CMFP). Two mathematical formulae are generated with the growth phase formula correctly depicting herd behavior, overshooting, and over-optimism followed by an unavoidable crisis phase. This article hopes to shed new light on market bubbles, a better understanding of which can assist governments in setting up proper measures to control them, if not to eliminate them altogether.

A Reliance on Predatory Behavior in theContext of Financial Negotiation asSoon as Given a Chance? A ThreeGroup Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Studyon the Concept of Perceived Predation

This article explains how competitive advantage can be achieved by a producer to the detriment of another producer using the Consolidated Model of Financial Predation (CMFP). The article refers to recent literature on this particular model, including findings resulting from a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study in which 20 participants took financial decisions while in a brain scanner. The surprise element is thought to play a key role in the capacity of one producer to quickly seize a market opportunity against his only competitor based on asymmetry of information. The main conclusion is that asymmetry of information provides market players an opportunity to catch their competitors by surprise, thus gaining a competitive advantage, which can turn into predatory practices. The article shows that regulatory authorities can identify those responsible for the 2008 market chaos by identifying those who provoked and sustained asymmetry of information to their advantage with the purpose of causing harm to the other market agents, by surprise.

A stylized model of home buyers’ and bankers’ behaviours during the 2007-2009 US subprime mortgage crisis: a predatory perspective

This article discusses the notion of perceived predation (the idea that a vis-à-vis wants us harm, by surprise) and reveals some of the key findings following a longitudinal study conducted with three different groups in 2011. The study shows that untrained people invited to negotiate financial transactions with another party naturally tend to adopt a strong stance, one that can be perceived as predatory, whereas those with training in negotiation adopt somewhat of a more conciliatory attitude. The important implication of such findings is that portfolio managers who attempt to maximize their client’s wealth in an unrestricted manner may well, consciously or not, turn against the very interests of those clients by using techniques that minimize perceived predation.

A Historical Measure of Financial Predation in the U.S. Market

ABSTRACT We examine the behaviour of market agents during the years leading to the 2008 US subprime mortgage crisis using a stylized capital asset pricing model model. In our study, an average investor eager to make money by flipping houses meets a banker who offers him subprime mortgage deals. We refer to recent research that shows the mechanics of the psychological and behavioural components of these two market agents. In particular, much in line with the famous Stanford experiment, it is assumed that investors adopt a predator or a prey position. Our analysis shows that, given a historical tendency towards financial predatory acts on the part of market agents (including buyers), government regulations should be adapted and strengthened to face this dooming reality.

Heteroscedasticity of deviations in market bubble moments – how the goods and bads lead to the ugly

This article, theoretical in essence, complements two previous articles published in The Journal of Wealth Management (JWM) regarding the Consolidated Model of Financial Predation (CMFP). It expands further on the role of information and discusses in particular the key characteristics of a dynamic financial system: such a system engages two rival investors, each aiming at maximizing his financial gains. The author looks at financial predation in terms of asymmetry of information serving the egoistic goals of a few (predators). A U.S. historical predatory index (HPI) is developed and a vision of the future is proposed.