"Reinventing" the Command: General Janet Wolfenbarger's Values-Based Leadership Drives Change at the United States Air Force 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 "Reinventing" the Command: General Janet Wolfenbarger's Values-Based Leadership Drives Change at the United States Air Force case study

At Oak Spring University, we provide corporate level professional Net Present Value (NPV) case study solution. "Reinventing" the Command: General Janet Wolfenbarger's Values-Based Leadership Drives Change at the United States Air Force case study is a Harvard Business School (HBR) case study written by Dana Born, Laura Winig. The "Reinventing" the Command: General Janet Wolfenbarger's Values-Based Leadership Drives Change at the United States Air Force (referred as “Afmc Wolfenbarger” 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, Communication, Decision making, Government, Leadership, Organizational culture, Reorganization.

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 "Reinventing" the Command: General Janet Wolfenbarger's Values-Based Leadership Drives Change at the United States Air Force Case Study

Due to proposed long-term cuts in the United States Department of Defense (DOD) budget, the DOD prioritized improving efficiencies, reducing overhead, and eliminating redundancies within its many commands. Accordingly, the Commander of Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC), the support command responsible for equipping the Air Force to keep it ready for war, assembled a small team, led by AFMC's Vice Commander, Lieutenant General Janet Wolfenbarger, to examine their options. Her team proposed to reorganize the command to align with the Secretary of Defense's efficiency mandate. Even so, Wolfenbarger anticipated opposition to the plan since it called for the elimination of seven of twelve AFMC centers-a move that would require support from the AFMC leadership, the Air Force, the DOD and Congress. Wolfenbarger knew she would need to draw on her lifetime of military leadership experience to accomplish her mission of successfully reorganizing AFMC. This case illustrates how a leader's life experiences shape their values and principles and how those personal and professional values can influence a leadership and management challenge. Case Number 2065.0

Case Authors : Dana Born, Laura Winig

Topic : Leadership & Managing People

Related Areas : Communication, Decision making, Government, Leadership, Organizational culture, Reorganization

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Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 6% for "Reinventing" the Command: General Janet Wolfenbarger's Values-Based Leadership Drives Change at the United States Air Force Case Study

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 6 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10022648)	-10022648	-	-
Year 1	3450882	-6571766	3450882	0.9434	3255549
Year 2	3974349	-2597417	7425231	0.89	3537156
Year 3	3939705	1342288	11364936	0.8396	3307852
Year 4	3233327	4575615	14598263	0.7921	2561098
TOTAL			14598263		12661656

The Net Present Value at 6% discount rate is 2639008

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. Profitability Index
3. Payback Period
4. Net Present Value

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. Afmc Wolfenbarger 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 Afmc Wolfenbarger 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 "Reinventing" the Command: General Janet Wolfenbarger's Values-Based Leadership Drives Change at the United States Air Force

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 Afmc Wolfenbarger 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 Afmc Wolfenbarger 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	(10022648)	-10022648	-	-
Year 1	3450882	-6571766	3450882	0.8696	3000767
Year 2	3974349	-2597417	7425231	0.7561	3005179
Year 3	3939705	1342288	11364936	0.6575	2590420
Year 4	3233327	4575615	14598263	0.5718	1848665
TOTAL					10445031

The Net NPV after 4 years is 422383

(10445031 - 10022648 )

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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	(10022648)	-10022648	-	-
Year 1	3450882	-6571766	3450882	0.8333	2875735
Year 2	3974349	-2597417	7425231	0.6944	2759965
Year 3	3939705	1342288	11364936	0.5787	2279922
Year 4	3233327	4575615	14598263	0.4823	1559282
TOTAL					9474903

The Net NPV after 4 years is -547745

At 20% discount rate the NPV is negative (9474903 - 10022648 ) so ideally we can't select the project if macro and micro factors don't allow financial managers of Afmc Wolfenbarger 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 Afmc Wolfenbarger has a NPV value higher than Zero then finance managers at Afmc Wolfenbarger 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 Afmc Wolfenbarger, then the stock price of the Afmc Wolfenbarger 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 Afmc Wolfenbarger 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 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.

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.

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 "Reinventing" the Command: General Janet Wolfenbarger's Values-Based Leadership Drives Change at the United States Air Force

References & Further Readings

Dana Born, Laura Winig (2018), ""Reinventing" the Command: General Janet Wolfenbarger's Values-Based Leadership Drives Change at the United States Air Force Harvard Business Review Case Study. Published by HBR Publications.