Remove Cost of Capital Remove Management Remove Operations
article thumbnail

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
article thumbnail

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?

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 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.

article thumbnail

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.). They include new enterprises such as Orbian , Prime Revenue , C2FO , Taulia , and Ariba as well as new operations launched by traditional financial service firms such as Citi Group, HSBC, BNP Paribas, and Deutsche Bank.

article thumbnail

Shutting Down Stores Doesn’t Have to Be Bad for Business

Harvard Business Review

A major challenge for all retailers is managing the closures in a way that maximizes revenues and profits. Our studies of a wide range of retailers have found that companies often have the most difficulty managing death. Over time, retailers have identified and adopted many innovative ideas to manage these complex tasks.

Retail 8
article thumbnail

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.

CEO 8
article thumbnail

We Can’t Study Short-Termism Without the Right Metrics

Harvard Business Review

While a laudable effort in principle, measuring a company’s tendency to make myopic operating and investing decisions is fiendishly complex. But the other indicators probably pick up legitimate differences in how companies in the sample operate, as opposed to whether they are myopic.

EPS 9