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The Challenge Of Achieving Sustained Growth - Take Two

Six Disciplines

As reported in the Harvard Business Review's Daily Stat , the consulting group Bain's updated global database of Sustained Value Creators found only 12% of companies worldwide managed to grow profits and revenues more than 5.5% over the 10 years ending in 2008 and earn back their cost of capital.

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The Complexity of Business Communication

CoachStation

Compare Michael Porter’s competitive advantage definition: “Competitive advantage, sustainable or not, exists when a company makes economic rents, that is, their earnings exceed their costs (including cost of capital).” Is change communication in your organisation more like the first example or the second?

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Why Sit on All that Cash? Firms Uncertain on Cost of Capital

Harvard Business Review

Many are deeply uncertain about which initiatives they should fund — and one root of this indecision is a general lack of confidence in the cost of capital projections they are using to make the call. We find that 55 percent of respondents are convinced their cost of capital estimates are off by more than 50 basis points.

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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.

EPS 25
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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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What If Companies Managed People as Carefully as They Manage Money?

Harvard Business Review

Today’s executives spend a lot of time managing the balance sheet, despite the fact that it doesn’t represent their company’s scarcest resource. Financial capital is relatively abundant and cheap. According to Bain’s Macro Trends Group, the global supply of capital stands at nearly 10 times global GDP.