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Why We Need to Update Financial Reporting for the Digital Era

Harvard Business Review

The market caps of just four companies, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft, now exceed $3 trillion. Their combined assets of $944 billion are an order of magnitude lower than the combined assets of $7,700 billion of the largest 3,177 companies in 1986, when the aggregate market capitalization reached $3 trillion for the first time.

Report 8
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The Secrets to Building a Lucky Network

Harvard Business Review

A major customer may default, a promised source of funding may disappear, or the world's markets may sour — any of these can shift your trajectory in an instant. After all, if he were on a desert island without a capital market, the value of his skill goes nearly to zero. Then again, you may be lucky. So, Luck matters.

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Warren Buffett's 2010 Shareholder Letter: What to Expect

Harvard Business Review

But why compare apples (book value) to oranges (share price and dividends)? Buffett explains that book value is the best proxy for "intrinsic value," the net present value of all estimated future cash flows. Consider that since 1965, Berkshire's book value grew 434,057% and the S&P index grew only 5,430%.

Letter 15
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Beware of Short-term Management, Not the Short-term Investor

Harvard Business Review

This blog post is part of the HBR Online Forum The CEO's Role in Fixing the System. The short-term investor does not reduce the firm's long-term competitiveness and value;short-term management does. A firm's long-term value should correspond to the present value of future expected cash flows.

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What Private Equity Investors Think They Do for the Companies They Buy

Harvard Business Review

We also know that private equity funds have outperformed public equity markets over the last three decades , even after the fees they charge are accounted for. In operational engineering, PE firms develop industry and operating expertise that they bring to bear to add value to their portfolio companies.

CAPM 8
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Shape Strategy With Simple Rules, Not Complex Frameworks

Harvard Business Review

Next, ALL's CEO assembled a cross-functional team to develop simple rules for prioritizing capital spending. Employees frequently attribute breakdowns to incompetence or bad faith on the part of colleagues in other departments: "Those bozos in headquarters [or finance or marketing] screw everything up." reuse existing resources.

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Is Your Business Biased Against Innovation?

Strategy Driven

Many conventional metrics we use to estimate value are based on faulty assumptions. Net present value [NPV] is a case in point. Tools for each challenge are presented, backed by examples from companies – from small firms to global giants – that have successfully put these methods into practice.