Corporate Finance Theory and Strategy - the case study approach 張 紹 基 Fall, 2010

The Design of this Course  The design of this course takes off in three directions –The 2nd part of Financial Management with focus on corporate financial policies. –Applications / implication of theory Business practice The evidence –The most recent issues in the real business

Theory  Textbook –Principles of Corporate Finance by Brealey and Myers (BW), 6th edition. McGraw Hill –Corporate Finance by Ross, Westerfield and Jaffe (RWJ), 6th edition, McGraw Hill –Financial Management: Theory and Practice by Brigham and Ehrhardt, 11ed. Thomson

Applications  Cases –Team-works –“There is no “truth” in much of Business Management. What matters is to understand and exert impact on others’ mind” –Please do understand the underlying reasons of others’ comments  Selected articles, from –Harvard Business Review –Journal of Applied Corporate Finance –Corporate Finance: where theory meets practice

What is Happening around us?  News from major publications –Asian Wall Street Journal –The Economists – 工商時報，經濟日報 –Business Weeks –Fortune, Forbes

The Required Work  One news presentation in each class  Cases  Take three tests Most importantly, do participate in the discussions.

Presentations  In English – 人總有第一次嘛 ! –Practice makes it perfect!  15 minutes is good, definitely no more than 20 minutes  It should represent a group-work

The Grading Policy  Cases Report:20%  Presentation:15%  Participation: 35%  Three tests: 30%  Adjustment to reflect group work contribution: -20% to +20%

Things that could seriously hurt your grade  Absence / Lateness  Silence in the class  Poor peer evaluation  Presentation without 100% preparation

After This Course, I Hope You….  Have more ideas on the issues of Corporate Finance  Understand how finance integrates with other functions within a firm  Realize what we know, and, more importantly, what we DO NOT know so far in Finance!  Understand financial news, and have your own insight  Appreciate the intelligence of your team-members  Start to read international journals  Be less afraid of English presentation

Questions and Suggestions?

Frequently Asked Questions  Am I able to handle this course without finance background?  How are we tested in the exams? –Open-book tests  Is the load of this course heavy? –It depends.