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A Refresher on Cost of Capital

Harvard Business Review

You’ll likely be asked to show that the return on the investment will be better than your company’s cost of capital. What is the cost of capital? “The cost of capital is simply the return expected by those who provide capital for the business,” says Knight. Further Reading.

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The Rise of FinTech in Supply Chains

Harvard Business Review

The use of FinTechs allows suppliers to access funding at the multinationals firm’s lower cost of capital.). The supplier gives the buying firm a discount on the invoice amount at the buyer’s lower cost of capital. The buying firm benefits through longer payables, which positively impact its working capital.

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Should Companies Retain "Strategic" Cash?

Harvard Business Review

This raises the question of whether retaining strategic cash makes economic sense and should be viewed as a legitimate corporate finance tool in today's environment. Strategic cash also can be used to finance long-term reinvestment programs in the business—which is especially valuable to companies in capital-intensive industries (e.g.,

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The Most Common Mistake People Make In Calculating ROI

Harvard Business Review

Sure, you may know this already, but people who haven’t studied finance often find this statement confusing. Finance & Accounting Tool. It indicates what is left after all costs and expenses are subtracted from the company’s revenue. Excerpted from. HBR TOOLS: Return on Investment. Joe Knight. Add to Cart.

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4 Ways Leaders Can Get More from Their Company’s Innovation Efforts

Harvard Business Review

One reason for the paltry performance is that while other business areas, like sales or finance, are considered to be core functions, innovation is often considered to be something that’s “nice to have” rather than essential. Here are four things leaders can do. Don’t Get Trapped in Your P&L.

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Desperately Seeking Simplicity

Harvard Business Review

An example was a discussion session of tired-looking European finance ministers, defensive and elusive about the speed of acting on the Euro crisis. I heard it in a session led by Professor Michael Porter and Dean Nitin Nohria of the Harvard Business School who were sharing a research project on declining American Competitiveness.

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How CMOs Can Get CFOs on Their Side

Harvard Business Review

Just 36 percent of CMOs, for example, have quantitatively proven the short-term impact of marketing spend, according to the 2013 CMO Survey (and for demonstrating long-term impact, that figure drops to 32 percent). This lack of an analytical approach has traditionally formed a barrier between marketing and finance.

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