Remove Finance Remove Management Remove Marketing Remove Net Present Value
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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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How CMOs Can Get CFOs on Their Side

Harvard Business Review

Marketing is in the midst of an ROI revolution. The arrival of advanced analytics and plentiful data have allowed marketers to demonstrate return on investment with a degree of precision that’s never been possible before. To date, however, the reality of marketing analytics has fallen short of the promise.

CFO 8
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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. What have been less explored are the specific actions taken by private equity (PE) fund managers. At the same time, debt puts pressure on managers not to waste money.

CAPM 8
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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
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Warren Buffett's 2010 Shareholder Letter: What to Expect

Harvard Business Review

Imagine if managements, boards, and investors adopted them: we could restart our economy, energize our business school curricula and create prosperity for our children and grandchildren. But why compare apples (book value) to oranges (share price and dividends)? In all but seven of these 45 years, Berkshire beat the S&P.

Letter 14
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Will You Be Writing Off Your Investment in Egypt?

Harvard Business Review

With political upheaval roiling the streets of Cairo, the first concern of top management in many multinationals is to get their employees and their families out of Egypt safely. Anyone who has had to make the argument for an investment knows the basic tool involved: a Net Present Value (NPV) calculation.

NPV 12
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Shape Strategy With Simple Rules, Not Complex Frameworks

Harvard Business Review

Managers in these organizations translate corporate objectives into a few straightforward guidelines that help employees make on-the-spot decisions and adapt to constantly shifting environments, while keeping the big picture in mind. Its new management team took over an organization that was bureaucratic, overstaffed, and bleeding cash.