The world is changing and has neverbeen more challenging to private equityplayers, public companies, and investors. Withrecord market volatility and a global economiccrisis, decision makers of all types canlearn from successful private equity playersand other top value builders.

Private equity is growing at a rapid rate, with .7 trillion intransactions since 2001 and buyouts occurringin every type of market, including decliningones. And now, with the end of investmentbanks as we know them, the door is open tomore opportunities than ever.

In The Private Equity Edge, economics giantArthur B. Laffer, along with value-buildingexperts William J. Hass and Shepherd G.Pryor IV, combines the concepts of intrinsicvalue, macroeconomics, and incentives intoa single strategy used by todays top valuebuilders. Youll learn how to create valuewhile reducing risk by:

• Thoroughly exploring relevant datato quantify ranges of value and risk
• Anticipating reactions of thosewhom you seek to influence
• Exploring possibilities and optionsbefore making major decisions
• Employing incentive systems that workin both up and down markets

Examples of major private equity playersat Blackstone, KKR, Carlyle, Cerberus, andMadison Dearborne Partners illustrate whatto do and what to avoid in specific situations.

Decision makers seeking to take full advantageof the new, interconnected world ofbusiness and economics will learn how tomake the best decision the first time around,quickly and with conviction the key toseizing the private equity edge.

Rights to Language: Equity, Power, and Education brings together cutting-edge scholarship in language, education, and society from all parts of the world. Celebrating the 60th birthday of Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, it is inspired by her work in minority, indigenous, and immigrant education, multilingualism, linguistic human rights, and global language and power issues. Rights to Language situates issues of minorities and bilingual education in broader perspectives of human rights, power, and the ecology of language. The rich mix of papers serves to underline that the issues are comparable worldwide, that many disparate topics can cross-fertilize each other, and that our understanding of the issues can benefit from coverage that is global, reflective, and committed.

A Web site with additional resource materials to this book can be found on http://www.cbs.dk/staff/phillipson/

Nanotechnology is enabling applications in materials, microelectronics, health, and agriculture, which are projected to create the next big shift in production, comparable to the industrial revolution. Such major shifts always co-evolve with social relationships. This book focuses on how nanotechnologies might affect equity/equality in global society. Nanotechnologies is likely to open gaps by gender, ethnicity, race, and ability status, as well as between developed and developing countries, unless steps are taken now to create a different outcome. Organizations need to change their practices, and cultural ideas must be broadened if currently disadvantaged groups are to have a more equal position in the nano-society rather than a more disadvantaged one. Economic structures are likely to shift in the nano-revolution, but policymakers and participatory processes can invent newly invented institutions for social welfare, better suited to the new economic order than those of the past.

Portfolio being constructed from Listed companies selected from National Stock Exchange India Limited

Private equity firms are snapping up brand-name companies and assembling portfolios that make them immense global conglomerates. They´re often able to maximize investor value far more successfully than traditional public companies.