Career Focus

Career Focus

The course is designed for students planning careers in corporate finance and/or corporate strategy. Typically, these careers will be in corporate strategic planning, financial business analysis or management consulting. The course is also useful for non-finance students looking for a better understanding of fundamental valuation concepts discussed in the introductory core finance class.

Educational Objectives

The primary objective of this class is to improve your understanding of valuation concepts and how to apply them. In the business environment, there is a close and clear link between business strategy and finance. Management is under constant surveillance by financial markets to add to shareholders' investments. The question is: What are the key drivers contributing to firm value? This course will concentrate on identifying the drivers and show you how to value a business using free cash flow.

Content and Organization

The course will be demanding on your time. There are extensive reading assignments and case analyzes. Fortunately, some of the reading is over material covered in Finance 502. You will cover this material in greater detail, as it provides the foundation for understanding valuation concepts.

The course has three interwoven modules:

* Discussion of the linkage between business strategies and value. To understand the strengths and weaknesses of a firm, it is necessary to have an understanding of the strategy management is following and how the firm is able to compete in the factor, product, and financial markets.

* Examination of financial concepts. Within the financial sphere, firm value is a function of the cash flows generated by its products, the financing mix used to support the assets, and the rate of return required by investors.

* Implementation of models to measure value added by management's decisions. You measure value of a firm by the expected future cash flows.

Textbooks & Other Materials...