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Managers Need to Relearn How Interest Rates Work

Harvard Business Review

With cost of capital this low, many managers have paid scant attention to the time value of money — an essential concept in doing financial analysis. In the United States, short-term interest rates have been near zero for most of the last 15 years.

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Adapt Your Strategy to Higher Interest Rates

Harvard Business Review

While many executives and investors were thrown by last year’s interest rate increases, the cost of capital needn’t be a threat. Companies that integrate the cost of capital into their strategy and planning reap real benefits. When something is cheap, people waste it.

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A Refresher on Cost of Capital

Harvard Business Review

You’ve got an idea for a new product line, a way to revamp your inventory management system, or a piece of equipment that will make your work easier. 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?

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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.). Many FinTechs function as cloud-based software platforms and can enable “procure-to-pay” systems that incorporate both purchasing management and accounts payable functionality.

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Still Many Ways to Skin a Capital Cost

Harvard Business Review

It's the opening paragraph of a Harvard Business Review article called "What's Your Real Cost of Capital?" The motivation behind it, as with many, many articles published over HBR's nearly 90-year history, was to take an effective practice developed in one corner of industry and spread it to managers everywhere. by James J.

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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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CEOs Don’t Care Enough About Capital Allocation

Harvard Business Review

Unless your company’s return on capital exceeds its cost of capital, no amount of revenue growth can create value. For the many firms whose cost of capital and return on capital are roughly equal, in fact, the only path to value creation is to increase return on capital.

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