Harvard Business Review

MARCH 31, 2017

If you’re not a numbers person, finance is daunting. But having a grasp of terms like EBITDA and net present value are important no matter where you sit on the org chart. Stop avoiding finance because you’re afraid of numbers. Think of it this way, “Finance is the way businesses keep score.

Finance 8

Finance Skills EBITDA Net Present Value 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 8, 2018

Business students have traditionally considered net present value, payback period, and hurdle rates as necessary tools to determine which project to select. In light of this, an employee is evaluated not based on what she contributed to the company’s bottom line, but whether she identified a new, breakthrough idea.

Report 8

Report GAAP Net Present Value CFO 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

In our experience, companies that adopt this marketing analytics approach can unlock 10–20 percent of their marketing budget to either reinvest in marketing or return to the bottom line. This lack of an analytical approach has traditionally formed a barrier between marketing and finance.

CFO 8

CFO Short-term Long-term Benchmarking 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 9, 2012

Because the fact that value is not guaranteed in the future lessens value in the present. This reduction in value is present and represents a cost today , not tomorrow. This is a concept fundamental to finance but that, for some reason, has not migrated into supply chain risk management.

Supply Chain 8

Supply Chain Chief Procurement Officer Risk Management Management 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

Foreign subsidiaries can expect local sales to fall and distribution channels to come to a halt, with depressing consequences for the bottom line. Anyone who has had to make the argument for an investment knows the basic tool involved: a Net Present Value (NPV) calculation.

NPV 13

NPV Short-term Discount Politics 13

Harvard Business Review

MAY 1, 2017

Today, the average cost of equity capital sits at close to half that: just 8% for the roughly 1600 companies comprising the Value Line Index. So, in real terms, debt financing is essentially free. In these circumstances, strategies that generate faster growth create more value for most companies than those that improve profit margins.

ROE 14

ROE Long-term GDP Six Sigma 14