Ellen Moore (A): Living and Working in Korea 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 Ellen Moore (A): Living and Working in Korea case study

At Oak Spring University, we provide corporate level professional Net Present Value (NPV) case study solution. Ellen Moore (A): Living and Working in Korea case study is a Harvard Business School (HBR) case study written by Henry W. Lane, Chantell E. Nicholls, Gail Ellement. The Ellen Moore (A): Living and Working in Korea (referred as “Ellen Koreans” 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, Gender, Leading teams, Project management.

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 Ellen Moore (A): Living and Working in Korea Case Study

Ellen Moore, a systems consultant, was sent to Korea to manage a project involving a team of three North American and five Korean consultants representing a joint venture between a major Korean conglomerate and a significant North American information technology company. The Americans were to be involved for the first seven months in order to transfer expertise and knowledge to the South Koreans, who had little experience in this area. Andrew Kilpatrick, Ellen's superior, had played an integral part in securing the contract in Korea due to his depth of knowledge on the subject. Andrew chose Ellen Moore to be the key north American project manager because she had significant project management skills and impressive international experience. Upon Ellen's arrival, she discovered that the Korean consultants were far less skilled than she had expected. In addition, Ellen had understood that she and the Korean manager, Jack, were to be co-managers, but tensions immediately arose between them regarding who was given direction to the team and the scope of the project. Tensions escalated until it was clear that the project was behind schedule and the Koreans were not taking direction from Ellen. The Koreans insisted that Ellen was the problem. Andrew strongly disagreed. Andrew and Ellen must decide how to proceed.

Case Authors : Henry W. Lane, Chantell E. Nicholls, Gail Ellement

Topic : Leadership & Managing People

Related Areas : Gender, Leading teams, Project management

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Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 6% for Ellen Moore (A): Living and Working in Korea Case Study

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 6 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10013300)	-10013300	-	-
Year 1	3452579	-6560721	3452579	0.9434	3257150
Year 2	3971291	-2589430	7423870	0.89	3534435
Year 3	3955582	1366152	11379452	0.8396	3321183
Year 4	3223318	4589470	14602770	0.7921	2553170
TOTAL			14602770		12665938

The Net Present Value at 6% discount rate is 2652638

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. Internal Rate of Return
2. Net Present Value
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. Magnitude of both incoming and outgoing cash flows – Projects can be capital intensive, time intensive, or both. Ellen Koreans 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 Ellen Koreans 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 Ellen Moore (A): Living and Working in Korea

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 Ellen Koreans 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 Ellen Koreans 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	(10013300)	-10013300	-	-
Year 1	3452579	-6560721	3452579	0.8696	3002243
Year 2	3971291	-2589430	7423870	0.7561	3002867
Year 3	3955582	1366152	11379452	0.6575	2600859
Year 4	3223318	4589470	14602770	0.5718	1842943
TOTAL					10448911

The Net NPV after 4 years is 435611

(10448911 - 10013300 )

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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	(10013300)	-10013300	-	-
Year 1	3452579	-6560721	3452579	0.8333	2877149
Year 2	3971291	-2589430	7423870	0.6944	2757841
Year 3	3955582	1366152	11379452	0.5787	2289110
Year 4	3223318	4589470	14602770	0.4823	1554455
TOTAL					9478555

The Net NPV after 4 years is -534745

At 20% discount rate the NPV is negative (9478555 - 10013300 ) so ideally we can't select the project if macro and micro factors don't allow financial managers of Ellen Koreans 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 Ellen Koreans has a NPV value higher than Zero then finance managers at Ellen Koreans 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 Ellen Koreans, then the stock price of the Ellen Koreans 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 Ellen Koreans 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 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.

Understanding of risks involved in the project.

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

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 Ellen Moore (A): Living and Working in Korea

References & Further Readings

Henry W. Lane, Chantell E. Nicholls, Gail Ellement (2018), "Ellen Moore (A): Living and Working in Korea Harvard Business Review Case Study. Published by HBR Publications.