Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships 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 Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships case study

At Oak Spring University, we provide corporate level professional Net Present Value (NPV) case study solution. Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships case study is a Harvard Business School (HBR) case study written by Ekin Pehlivan, Pierre R. Berthon, Mine U. Hughes, Jean-Paul Berthon. The Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships (referred as “Duplicity Stealth” from here on) case study provides evaluation & decision scenario in field of Sales & Marketing. It also touches upon business topics such as - Value proposition, Social platforms.

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 Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships Case Study

Stealth, or undercover, marketing involves the disguising of marketing communications that marketers undertake to purposefully influence their audiences without the audiences being aware of these activities. Inasmuch as stealth marketing involves secrecy (the withholding of information) and miscommunication (the communication of partial or misleading information), it is at least on some level duplicitous. Duplicity is the double act of secrecy and misrepresentation. In this article we explore duplicity in marketing communications. Specifically, we deconstruct the movie The Joneses to explore the various ways in which both marketers and consumers employ duplicity in their communications-to each other and themselves. We conclude by exploring the ethical and functional issues duplicity raises, and suggest that irony is one way in which duplicity can be ethically and productively employed.

Case Authors : Ekin Pehlivan, Pierre R. Berthon, Mine U. Hughes, Jean-Paul Berthon

Topic : Sales & Marketing

Related Areas : Social platforms

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Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 6% for Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships Case Study

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 6 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10021020)	-10021020	-	-
Year 1	3466697	-6554323	3466697	0.9434	3270469
Year 2	3961032	-2593291	7427729	0.89	3525304
Year 3	3972348	1379057	11400077	0.8396	3335260
Year 4	3227044	4606101	14627121	0.7921	2556121
TOTAL			14627121		12687154

The Net Present Value at 6% discount rate is 2666134

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. Internal Rate of Return
3. Net Present Value
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 Duplicity Stealth 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. Duplicity Stealth 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 Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships

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 Sales & Marketing 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 Duplicity Stealth 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 Duplicity Stealth 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	(10021020)	-10021020	-	-
Year 1	3466697	-6554323	3466697	0.8696	3014519
Year 2	3961032	-2593291	7427729	0.7561	2995109
Year 3	3972348	1379057	11400077	0.6575	2611883
Year 4	3227044	4606101	14627121	0.5718	1845073
TOTAL					10466585

The Net NPV after 4 years is 445565

(10466585 - 10021020 )

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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	(10021020)	-10021020	-	-
Year 1	3466697	-6554323	3466697	0.8333	2888914
Year 2	3961032	-2593291	7427729	0.6944	2750717
Year 3	3972348	1379057	11400077	0.5787	2298813
Year 4	3227044	4606101	14627121	0.4823	1556252
TOTAL					9494695

The Net NPV after 4 years is -526325

At 20% discount rate the NPV is negative (9494695 - 10021020 ) so ideally we can't select the project if macro and micro factors don't allow financial managers of Duplicity Stealth 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 Duplicity Stealth has a NPV value higher than Zero then finance managers at Duplicity Stealth 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 Duplicity Stealth, then the stock price of the Duplicity Stealth 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 Duplicity Stealth 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 can impact the cash flow of 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.

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 Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships

References & Further Readings

Ekin Pehlivan, Pierre R. Berthon, Mine U. Hughes, Jean-Paul Berthon (2018), "Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships Harvard Business Review Case Study. Published by HBR Publications.