Your Company May Unwittingly be Conducting Business with Human Traffickers: How Can You Prevent This? 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 Your Company May Unwittingly be Conducting Business with Human Traffickers: How Can You Prevent This? case study

At Oak Spring University, we provide corporate level professional Net Present Value (NPV) case study solution. Your Company May Unwittingly be Conducting Business with Human Traffickers: How Can You Prevent This? case study is a Harvard Business School (HBR) case study written by Katherine Taken Smith, Teresa Betts. The Your Company May Unwittingly be Conducting Business with Human Traffickers: How Can You Prevent This? (referred as “Trafficking Human” from here on) case study provides evaluation & decision scenario in field of Global Business. 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 Your Company May Unwittingly be Conducting Business with Human Traffickers: How Can You Prevent This? Case Study

A new concern is beginning to gain notoriety in society: human trafficking. This issue, which can result in slavery, should concern businesses. Almost 30 million slaves exist globally today. The fact that human trafficking is a $32 billion business indicates either indifference for human rights or an ignorance of the injustice occurring. Even though companies may be against the idea of human trafficking, they may not recognize that they could be contributing to this problem through their business operations and relationships. However, companies can exercise social responsibility by using their influence over suppliers and business partners to prohibit human trafficking. This article examines the extent to which companies are involved in combating human trafficking, and helps companies identify where they are at risk for involvement with human trafficking. Moreover, steps are suggested to prevent human trafficking from occurring within company operations and supply chains.

Case Authors : Katherine Taken Smith, Teresa Betts

Topic : Global Business

Related Areas : Supply chain

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Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 6% for Your Company May Unwittingly be Conducting Business with Human Traffickers: How Can You Prevent This? Case Study

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 6 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10019874)	-10019874	-	-
Year 1	3447492	-6572382	3447492	0.9434	3252351
Year 2	3954848	-2617534	7402340	0.89	3519801
Year 3	3942478	1324944	11344818	0.8396	3310181
Year 4	3226168	4551112	14570986	0.7921	2555427
TOTAL			14570986		12637759

The Net Present Value at 6% discount rate is 2617885

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. Magnitude of both incoming and outgoing cash flows – Projects can be capital intensive, time intensive, or both. Trafficking Human 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 Trafficking Human 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 Your Company May Unwittingly be Conducting Business with Human Traffickers: How Can You Prevent This?

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 Global Business 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 Trafficking Human 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 Trafficking Human 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	(10019874)	-10019874	-	-
Year 1	3447492	-6572382	3447492	0.8696	2997819
Year 2	3954848	-2617534	7402340	0.7561	2990433
Year 3	3942478	1324944	11344818	0.6575	2592243
Year 4	3226168	4551112	14570986	0.5718	1844572
TOTAL					10425068

The Net NPV after 4 years is 405194

(10425068 - 10019874 )

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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	(10019874)	-10019874	-	-
Year 1	3447492	-6572382	3447492	0.8333	2872910
Year 2	3954848	-2617534	7402340	0.6944	2746422
Year 3	3942478	1324944	11344818	0.5787	2281527
Year 4	3226168	4551112	14570986	0.4823	1555829
TOTAL					9456688

The Net NPV after 4 years is -563186

At 20% discount rate the NPV is negative (9456688 - 10019874 ) so ideally we can't select the project if macro and micro factors don't allow financial managers of Trafficking Human 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 Trafficking Human has a NPV value higher than Zero then finance managers at Trafficking Human 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 Trafficking Human, then the stock price of the Trafficking Human 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 Trafficking Human 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 are the key aspects of the projects that need to be monitored, refined, and retuned for continuous delivery of projected cash flows.

What can impact the cash flow of the project.

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

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 Your Company May Unwittingly be Conducting Business with Human Traffickers: How Can You Prevent This?

References & Further Readings

Katherine Taken Smith, Teresa Betts (2018), "Your Company May Unwittingly be Conducting Business with Human Traffickers: How Can You Prevent This? Harvard Business Review Case Study. Published by HBR Publications.