Portfolio
Main article portfolio (finance)In
finance, a portfolio is a collection of investments held by an institution or a private individual. Holding but not always a portfolio is part of an investment and risk-limiting strategy called
diversification. By owning several
assets, certain types of risk (in particular
specific risk) can be reduced.
In
strategic management and
marketing, a
portfolio is a collection of
products,
projects,
services, or
brands that are offered for sale by a company. In building up a product portfolio a company can use various analytical techniques including
B.C.G. Analysis,
contribution margin analysis,
G.E. Multi Factoral analysis,and
Quality Function Deployment. Typically a company tries to achieve both
diversification and balance in their portfolio of product offerings.
Many portfolio optimization algorithms are based on MPT or Modern Portfolio Theory. The most commonly used method is Mean-Variance optimization where portfolio allocations aim at maximizing the profit while constraining the risk.
see also: Product management, strategic management, project management, marketing, problems with portfolio models
In
education,
portfolio refers to a personal collection of information describing and documenting a person's achievements and learning. There is a variety of portfolios ranging from
learning logs to extended collections of achievement evidence. Portfolios are used for many different purposes such as accreditation of prior experience, job search, continuing professional development, certification of competences.
Tens of millions of people across the world have already used some kind of
portfolio. Alone in the
UK, more than
4 million people have got a qualification
(NVQ) through accreditation of prior learning or accreditation of work experience, and most of them have built a portfolio to collect the evidence required to get their certificate.
The recent explosion of knowledge, information and learning technologies has led to the development of
digital portfolios or
electronic portfolios, commonly referred as
ePortfolios. For example, all participants in the
Mississippi Teacher Corps are required to create
"digital portfolios" upon the completion of the two-year program.
An
artist,
architect, or
fashion model seeking work will be expected to present a portfolio of their prior work, along with recommendations of clients. The work will often consist of photographs, magazine clippings ("tearsheets"), blueprints or mock-ups, or other physical evidence of the trade.
In
politics, portfolio can refer to the office of the President in a country. Portfolio can also refer to the contents of the job a minister has. For example in the
United Kingdom,
Peter Mandelson's title was
Minister Without Portfolio.
