Remove Cost of Capital Remove Finance Remove Management Remove Present Value
article thumbnail

Still Many Ways to Skin a Capital Cost

Harvard Business Review

When executives evaluate a potential investment, whether it's to build a new plant, enter a new market, or acquire a company, they weigh its cost against the future cash flows they expect will spring from it. To make sure they're comparing apples to apples, they discount those future cash flows to arrive at their net present value.

CAPM 13
article thumbnail

The Most Common Mistake People Make In Calculating ROI

Harvard Business Review

But before anyone writes a check, you need to calculate the return on investment (ROI) by comparing the expected benefits with the costs. Analyzing ROI isn’t always as simple as it sounds and there’s one mistake that many managers make: confusing cash and profit. Finance & Accounting Tool. Excerpted from.

ROI 8
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

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

Harvard Business Review

What have been less explored are the specific actions taken by private equity (PE) fund managers. In a survey of 79 PE firms managing more than $750 billion in capital, we provide granular information on PE managers’ practices and how firms’ strategies relate to the characteristics of their founders.

CAPM 8
article thumbnail

How CMOs Can Get CFOs on Their Side

Harvard Business Review

This lack of an analytical approach has traditionally formed a barrier between marketing and finance. CFOs are more interested in capital investment estimates, net present values, and a clear outline of the trade-offs of any investment. They’re going to make ads and do whatever it is they do. Ask for the CFO’s help.

CFO 8
article thumbnail

Why Those Guys Won the Economics Nobels

Harvard Business Review

He got his PhD at Yale under Shiller’s supervision in 1984, but since then he has also done a lot of work expanding on Fama’s ideas about risk and return, some of it co-authored with Fama’s son-in-law and University of Chicago finance colleague, John Cochrane. And Lars has taken some of these ideas and applied them in finance.

CAPM 8