Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited: Managing the Value Chain Transformation Net Present Value (NPV) / MBA Resources

Introduction to Net Present Value (NPV) - What is Net Present Value (NPV) ? How it impacts financial decisions regarding project management?

NPV solution for Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited: Managing the Value Chain Transformation case study

At Oak Spring University, we provide corporate level professional Net Present Value (NPV) case study solution. Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited: Managing the Value Chain Transformation case study is a Harvard Business School (HBR) case study written by Ravi Ravichandran, Ankur Roy. The Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited: Managing the Value Chain Transformation (referred as “Orchid Formulations” from here on) case study provides evaluation & decision scenario in field of Organizational Development. It also touches upon business topics such as - Value proposition, Supply chain.

The net present value (NPV) of an investment proposal is the present value of the proposal’s net cash flows less the proposal’s initial cash outflow. If a project’s NPV is greater than or equal to zero, the project should be accepted.

NPV = Present Value of Future Cash Flows LESS Project’s Initial Investment

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Case Description of Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited: Managing the Value Chain Transformation Case Study

Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited (Orchid) is an Indian pharmaceutical company which began operations in 1994. Over a span of 10 years, the turnover of this company has increased from US$11 million to US$153 million. The company's profit after tax registered a five-fold increase, from US$1.3 million to US$6.8 million, in the corresponding period. Early success was a combination of pricing flexibility, lower production cost, and business opportunities in unregulated markets. Orchid decided to explore opportunities for the manufacture of generic drugs in the regulated markets and formulations in the domestic market. Diversification to basic research was also considered. Cooperation and joint ventures were the primary route to expand and explore new molecule discovery. By 2005, Orchid was no longer a single-product company, its business had widened to multiple products in bulk, formulations, and generics, in both regulated and unregulated markets. Orchid was making its presence felt in its novel drug delivery systems and new drug development processes. In 2005, Orchid faced several challenges related to financial leverage and risks, leadership, managerial challenges associated with joint ventures, balancing the new business model, setting global trends in being a pioneer in the industry, addressing shareholders' concerns, and evolving an appropriate organization culture and process.

Case Authors : Ravi Ravichandran, Ankur Roy

Topic : Organizational Development

Related Areas : Supply chain

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Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 6% for Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited: Managing the Value Chain Transformation Case Study

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 6 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10028280)	-10028280	-	-
Year 1	3461043	-6567237	3461043	0.9434	3265135
Year 2	3968666	-2598571	7429709	0.89	3532099
Year 3	3958198	1359627	11387907	0.8396	3323379
Year 4	3230677	4590304	14618584	0.7921	2558999
TOTAL			14618584		12679612

The Net Present Value at 6% discount rate is 2651332

In isolation the NPV number doesn't mean much but put in right context then it is one of the best method to evaluate project returns. In this article we will cover -

Different methods of capital budgeting

What is NPV & Formula of NPV,
How it is calculated,
How to use NPV number for project evaluation, and
Scenario Planning given risks and management priorities.

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Capital Budgeting Approaches

Methods of Capital Budgeting

There are four types of capital budgeting techniques that are widely used in the corporate world –

1. Profitability Index
2. Net Present Value
3. Internal Rate of Return
4. Payback Period

Apart from the Payback period method which is an additive method, rest of the methods are based on Discounted Cash Flow technique. Even though cash flow can be calculated based on the nature of the project, for the simplicity of the article we are assuming that all the expected cash flows are realized at the end of the year.

Discounted Cash Flow approaches provide a more objective basis for evaluating and selecting investment projects. They take into consideration both –

1. Timing of the expected cash flows – stockholders of Orchid Formulations have higher preference for cash returns over 4-5 years rather than 10-15 years given the nature of the volatility in the industry.
2. Magnitude of both incoming and outgoing cash flows – Projects can be capital intensive, time intensive, or both. Orchid Formulations shareholders have preference for diversified projects investment rather than prospective high income from a single capital intensive project.

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Formula and Steps to Calculate Net Present Value (NPV) of Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited: Managing the Value Chain Transformation

NPV = Net Cash In Flowt1 / (1+r)t1 + Net Cash In Flowt2 / (1+r)t2 + … Net Cash In Flowtn / (1+r)tn
Less Net Cash Out Flowt0 / (1+r)t0

Where t = time period, in this case year 1, year 2 and so on.
r = discount rate or return that could be earned using other safe proposition such as fixed deposit or treasury bond rate. Net Cash In Flow – What the firm will get each year.
Net Cash Out Flow – What the firm needs to invest initially in the project.

Step 1 – Understand the nature of the project and calculate cash flow for each year.
Step 2 – Discount those cash flow based on the discount rate.
Step 3 – Add all the discounted cash flow.
Step 4 – Selection of the project

Why Organizational Development Managers need to know Financial Tools such as Net Present Value (NPV)?

In our daily workplace we often come across people and colleagues who are just focused on their core competency and targets they have to deliver. For example marketing managers at Orchid Formulations often design programs whose objective is to drive brand awareness and customer reach. But how that 30 point increase in brand awareness or 10 point increase in customer touch points will result into shareholders’ value is not specified.

To overcome such scenarios managers at Orchid Formulations needs to not only know the financial aspect of project management but also needs to have tools to integrate them into part of the project development and monitoring plan.

Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 15%

After working through various assumptions we reached a conclusion that risk is far higher than 6%. In a reasonably stable industry with weak competition - 15% discount rate can be a good benchmark.

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 15 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10028280)	-10028280	-	-
Year 1	3461043	-6567237	3461043	0.8696	3009603
Year 2	3968666	-2598571	7429709	0.7561	3000882
Year 3	3958198	1359627	11387907	0.6575	2602579
Year 4	3230677	4590304	14618584	0.5718	1847150
TOTAL					10460214

The Net NPV after 4 years is 431934

(10460214 - 10028280 )

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Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 20%

If the risk component is high in the industry then we should go for a higher hurdle rate / discount rate of 20%.

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 20 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10028280)	-10028280	-	-
Year 1	3461043	-6567237	3461043	0.8333	2884203
Year 2	3968666	-2598571	7429709	0.6944	2756018
Year 3	3958198	1359627	11387907	0.5787	2290624
Year 4	3230677	4590304	14618584	0.4823	1558004
TOTAL					9488848

The Net NPV after 4 years is -539432

At 20% discount rate the NPV is negative (9488848 - 10028280 ) so ideally we can't select the project if macro and micro factors don't allow financial managers of Orchid Formulations to discount cash flow at lower discount rates such as 15%.

Acceptance Criteria of a Project based on NPV

Simplest Approach – If the investment project of Orchid Formulations has a NPV value higher than Zero then finance managers at Orchid Formulations can ACCEPT the project, otherwise they can reject the project. This means that project will deliver higher returns over the period of time than any alternate investment strategy.

In theory if the required rate of return or discount rate is chosen correctly by finance managers at Orchid Formulations, then the stock price of the Orchid Formulations should change by same amount of the NPV. In real world we know that share price also reflects various other factors that can be related to both macro and micro environment.

In the same vein – accepting the project with zero NPV should result in stagnant share price. Finance managers use discount rates as a measure of risk components in the project execution process.

Sensitivity Analysis

Project selection is often a far more complex decision than just choosing it based on the NPV number. Finance managers at Orchid Formulations should conduct a sensitivity analysis to better understand not only the inherent risk of the projects but also how those risks can be either factored in or mitigated during the project execution. Sensitivity analysis helps in –

What will be a multi year spillover effect of various taxation regulations.

Understanding of risks involved in the project.

What are the key aspects of the projects that need to be monitored, refined, and retuned for continuous delivery of projected cash flows.

What are the uncertainties surrounding the project Initial Cash Outlay (ICO’s). ICO’s often have several different components such as land, machinery, building, and other equipment.

What can impact the cash flow of the project.

Some of the assumptions while using the Discounted Cash Flow Methods –

Projects are assumed to be Mutually Exclusive – This is seldom the came in modern day giant organizations where projects are often inter-related and rejecting a project solely based on NPV can result in sunk cost from a related project.

Independent projects have independent cash flows – As explained in the marketing project – though the project may look independent but in reality it is not as the brand awareness project can be closely associated with the spending on sales promotions and product specific advertising.

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Negotiation Strategy of Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited: Managing the Value Chain Transformation

References & Further Readings

Ravi Ravichandran, Ankur Roy (2018), "Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited: Managing the Value Chain Transformation Harvard Business Review Case Study. Published by HBR Publications.