Royal Bank of Canada: Using People Strategy and Analytics to Drive Employee Performance (A) 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 Royal Bank of Canada: Using People Strategy and Analytics to Drive Employee Performance (A) case study

At Oak Spring University, we provide corporate level professional Net Present Value (NPV) case study solution. Royal Bank of Canada: Using People Strategy and Analytics to Drive Employee Performance (A) case study is a Harvard Business School (HBR) case study written by Debra Schifrin, Kathryn Shaw. The Royal Bank of Canada: Using People Strategy and Analytics to Drive Employee Performance (A) (referred as “Analytics People” from here on) case study provides evaluation & decision scenario in field of Communication. It also touches upon business topics such as - Value proposition, Career planning, Change management, Compensation, Human resource management, Organizational culture, Strategy.

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 Royal Bank of Canada: Using People Strategy and Analytics to Drive Employee Performance (A) Case Study

This case discusses how the leaders of the Royal Bank of Canada infused the 80,000-employee company with a new emphasis on People Analytics. This supported the bank's business strategies for its wide range of business units. The bank's new People Analytics group, led at the top by the vice president of human resources, collected and analyzed huge volumes of data about the bank's employees, customers, and business unit performance to help the company achieve its strategic goals. Companies across industries had long talked about using data analysis to help them improve employee and organizational performance, but the advent of big data created a step change in the ability to make that happen. With the abundance of data available, and many potential ways to use it, the Royal Bank of Canada, referred to as RBC, was choosing projects that had the greatest potential ROI. The People Strategy and People Analytics teams worked together to add clear business value to business units to help them achieve performance objectives. The case details two of RBC's major People Analytics projects. The first project used data to identify empirically the traits of great managers and subsequently identify who might or might not be a great manager. This enabled RBC to help those managers who could benefit from coaching or other types of interventions. The second project used both internal and customer data to diagnose whether any specific branch, region, or product innovation was not doing as well as it could be-and why not.

Case Authors : Debra Schifrin, Kathryn Shaw

Topic : Communication

Related Areas : Career planning, Change management, Compensation, Human resource management, Organizational culture, Strategy

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Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 6% for Royal Bank of Canada: Using People Strategy and Analytics to Drive Employee Performance (A) Case Study

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 6 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10016627)	-10016627	-	-
Year 1	3448699	-6567928	3448699	0.9434	3253490
Year 2	3962899	-2605029	7411598	0.89	3526966
Year 3	3974790	1369761	11386388	0.8396	3337310
Year 4	3249672	4619433	14636060	0.7921	2574045
TOTAL			14636060		12691811

The Net Present Value at 6% discount rate is 2675184

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

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 Analytics People 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. Analytics People 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 Royal Bank of Canada: Using People Strategy and Analytics to Drive Employee Performance (A)

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 Communication 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 Analytics People 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 Analytics People 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	(10016627)	-10016627	-	-
Year 1	3448699	-6567928	3448699	0.8696	2998869
Year 2	3962899	-2605029	7411598	0.7561	2996521
Year 3	3974790	1369761	11386388	0.6575	2613489
Year 4	3249672	4619433	14636060	0.5718	1858011
TOTAL					10466889

The Net NPV after 4 years is 450262

(10466889 - 10016627 )

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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	(10016627)	-10016627	-	-
Year 1	3448699	-6567928	3448699	0.8333	2873916
Year 2	3962899	-2605029	7411598	0.6944	2752013
Year 3	3974790	1369761	11386388	0.5787	2300226
Year 4	3249672	4619433	14636060	0.4823	1567164
TOTAL					9493319

The Net NPV after 4 years is -523308

At 20% discount rate the NPV is negative (9493319 - 10016627 ) so ideally we can't select the project if macro and micro factors don't allow financial managers of Analytics People 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 Analytics People has a NPV value higher than Zero then finance managers at Analytics People 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 Analytics People, then the stock price of the Analytics People 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 Analytics People 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 –

Understanding of risks involved in the project.

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

What can impact the cash flow of the project.

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

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 Royal Bank of Canada: Using People Strategy and Analytics to Drive Employee Performance (A)

References & Further Readings

Debra Schifrin, Kathryn Shaw (2018), "Royal Bank of Canada: Using People Strategy and Analytics to Drive Employee Performance (A) Harvard Business Review Case Study. Published by HBR Publications.