Ziwo Agricultural Service Co. Ltd.: Vertical Integration 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 Ziwo Agricultural Service Co. Ltd.: Vertical Integration case study

At Oak Spring University, we provide corporate level professional Net Present Value (NPV) case study solution. Ziwo Agricultural Service Co. Ltd.: Vertical Integration case study is a Harvard Business School (HBR) case study written by Yibo Lv, Shaojie Han, Binyuan He, Jingqin Su. The Ziwo Agricultural Service Co. Ltd.: Vertical Integration (referred as “Ziwo Agricultural” from here on) case study provides evaluation & decision scenario in field of Leadership & Managing People. 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 Ziwo Agricultural Service Co. Ltd.: Vertical Integration Case Study

Ziwo Agricultural Service Co. Ltd. (Ziwo), located in the city of Shenyang in Liaoning Province in northeastern China, was a market leader in sales of agricultural materials. In 2006, China began changing how cropland was distributed and used. Over the next few years, decentralized, small farm households gave way to larger, more centralized, family farms. The change undermined Ziwo's business, driving it into a sharp decline in market share and income from 2008 to 2011. In December 2011, the company considered integrating the supply chain vertically to survive the decline. Was this move necessary, and if so, which direction should the vertical integration strategy take-forward or backward? How could Ziwo even achieve vertical integration under its current circumstances? Finally, would vertical integration help Ziwo deal with an emerging threat from Chinese Internet retailers that were entering the agricultural supply chain? Yibo Lv is affiliated with Dalian University of Technology.

Case Authors : Yibo Lv, Shaojie Han, Binyuan He, Jingqin Su

Topic : Leadership & Managing People

Related Areas : Supply chain

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Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 6% for Ziwo Agricultural Service Co. Ltd.: Vertical Integration Case Study

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 6 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10022087)	-10022087	-	-
Year 1	3453197	-6568890	3453197	0.9434	3257733
Year 2	3970930	-2597960	7424127	0.89	3534114
Year 3	3940284	1342324	11364411	0.8396	3308338
Year 4	3228282	4570606	14592693	0.7921	2557102
TOTAL			14592693		12657287

The Net Present Value at 6% discount rate is 2635200

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. Payback Period
4. Internal Rate of Return

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

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Formula and Steps to Calculate Net Present Value (NPV) of Ziwo Agricultural Service Co. Ltd.: Vertical Integration

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 Leadership & Managing People 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 Ziwo Agricultural 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 Ziwo Agricultural 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	(10022087)	-10022087	-	-
Year 1	3453197	-6568890	3453197	0.8696	3002780
Year 2	3970930	-2597960	7424127	0.7561	3002594
Year 3	3940284	1342324	11364411	0.6575	2590801
Year 4	3228282	4570606	14592693	0.5718	1845781
TOTAL					10441955

The Net NPV after 4 years is 419868

(10441955 - 10022087 )

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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	(10022087)	-10022087	-	-
Year 1	3453197	-6568890	3453197	0.8333	2877664
Year 2	3970930	-2597960	7424127	0.6944	2757590
Year 3	3940284	1342324	11364411	0.5787	2280257
Year 4	3228282	4570606	14592693	0.4823	1556849
TOTAL					9472360

The Net NPV after 4 years is -549727

At 20% discount rate the NPV is negative (9472360 - 10022087 ) so ideally we can't select the project if macro and micro factors don't allow financial managers of Ziwo Agricultural 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 Ziwo Agricultural has a NPV value higher than Zero then finance managers at Ziwo Agricultural 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 Ziwo Agricultural, then the stock price of the Ziwo Agricultural 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 Ziwo Agricultural 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 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.

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

Understanding of risks involved in 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 Ziwo Agricultural Service Co. Ltd.: Vertical Integration

References & Further Readings

Yibo Lv, Shaojie Han, Binyuan He, Jingqin Su (2018), "Ziwo Agricultural Service Co. Ltd.: Vertical Integration Harvard Business Review Case Study. Published by HBR Publications.