Corporate Finance.docx

Corporate Finance.docx

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CorporateFinance

CorporateFinance

美国纽约大学商学院教授

Damodaran

WhatisCorporateFinance?

Itճallcorporatefinance.

Myunbiasedviewoftheworld

Everydecisionmadeinabusinesshasfinancialimplications,andanydecisionthatinvolvestheuseofmoneyisacorporatefinancialdecision.Definedbroadly,everythingthatabusinessdoesfitsundertherubricofcorporatefinance.Itis,infact,unfortunatethatweevencallthesubjectcorporatefinance,becauseitsuggeststomanyobserversafocusonhowlargecorporationsmakefinancialdecisionsandseemstoexcludesmallandprivatebusinessesfromitspurview.AmoreappropriatetitleforthisdisciplinewouldbeBusinessFinance,becausethebasicprinciplesremainthesame,whetheronelooksatlarge,publiclytradedfirmsorsmall,privatelyrunbusinesses.Allbusinesseshavetoinvesttheirresourceswisely,findtherightkindandmixoffinancingtofundtheseinvestments,andreturncashtotheownersiftherearenotenoughgoodinvestments.

Inthisintroduction,wewilllaythefoundationforthisdiscussionbylistingthethreefundamentalprinciplesthatunderliecorporatefinance—theinvestment,financing,anddividendprinciples—andtheobjectiveoffirmvaluemaximizationthatisattheheartofcorporatefinancialtheory.

TheFirm:

StructuralSet-Up

Incorporatefinance,wewillusefirmgenericallytorefertoanybusiness,largeorsmall,manufacturingorservice,privateorpublic.Thus,acornergrocerystoreandMicrosoftarebothfirms.Thefirmճinvestmentsaregenericallytermedassets.Althoughassetsareoftencategorizedbyaccountantsintofixedassets,whicharelong-lived,andcurrentassets,whichareshort-term,wepreferadifferentcategorization.Theassetsthatthefirmhasalreadyinvestedinarecalledassetsinplace,whereasthoseassetsthatthefirmisexpectedtoinvestinthefuturearecalledgrowthassets.Thoughitmayseemstrangethatafirmcangetvaluefrominvestmentsithasnotmadeyet,high-growthfirmsgetthebulkoftheirvaluefromtheseyet-to-be-madeinvestments.Tofinancetheseassets,thefirmcanraisemoneyfromtwosources.Itcanraisefundsfrominvestorsorfinancialinstitutionsbypromisinginvestorsafixedclaim（interestpayments）onthecashflowsgeneratedbytheassets,withalimitedornoroleintheday-to-dayrunningofthebusiness.Wecategorizethistypeoffinancingtobedebt.Alternatively,itcanofferaresidualclaimonthecashflows（i.e.,investorscangetwhatisleftoveraftertheinterestpaymentshavebeenmade）andamuchgreaterroleintheoperationofthebusiness.Wecallthisequity.Notethatthesedefinitionsaregeneralenoughtocoverbothprivatefirms,wheredebtmaytaketheformofbankloansandequityistheownerճownmoney,aswellaspubliclytradedcompanies,wherethefirmmayissuebonds（toraisedebt）andcommonstock（toraiseequity）.

Thus,atthisstage,wecanlayoutthefinancialbalancesheetofafirmasfollows:

Notethecontrastbetweenthisbalancesheetandaconventionalaccountingbalancesheet.

Anaccountingbalancesheetisprimarilyalistingofassetsinplace,thoughtherearesomecircumstanceswheregrowthassetsmayfindtheirplaceinit;inanacquisition,whatgetsrecordedasgoodwillisaconglomerationofgrowthassetsinthetargetfirm,synergiesandoverpayment.

FirstPrinciples

Everydisciplinehasfirstprinciplesthatgovernandguideeverythingthatgetsdonewithinit.Allofcorporatefinanceisbuiltonthreeprinciples,whichwewillcall,ratherunimaginatively,theinvestmentprinciple,thefinancingprinciple,andthedividendprinciple.Theinvestmentprincipledetermineswherebusinessesinvesttheirresources,thefinancingprinciplegovernsthemixoffundingusedtofundtheseinvestments,andthedividendprincipleanswersthequestionofhowmuchearningsshouldbereinvestedbackintothebusinessandhowmuchreturnedtotheownersofthebusiness.Thesecorecorporatefinanceprinciplescanbestatedasfollows:

∙ἳπανστψλε=∍φοντ:

7.0πτ∀TιμεσNεωPομαν∀∍>     TheInvestmentPrinciple:

Investinassetsandprojectsthatyieldareturngreaterthantheminimumacceptablehurdlerate.Thehurdlerateshouldbehigherforriskierprojectsandshouldreflectthefinancingmixused—ownersՠfunds（equity）orborrowedmoney（debt）.Returnsonprojectsshouldbemeasuredbasedoncashflowsgeneratedandthetimingofthesecashflows;theyshouldalsoconsiderbothpositiveandnegativesideeffectsoftheseprojects.

∙ἳπανστψλε=∍φοντ:

7.0πτ∀TιμεσNεωPομαν∀∍>     TheFinancingPrinciple:

Chooseafinancingmix（debtandequity）thatmaximizesthevalueoftheinvestmentsmadeandmatchthefinancingtonatureoftheassetsbeingfinanced.

∙ἳπανστψλε=∍φοντ:

7.0πτ∀TιμεσNεωPομαν∀∍>     TheDividendPrinciple:

Iftherearenotenoughinvestmentsthatearnthehurdlerate,returnthecashtotheownersofthebusiness.Inthecaseofapubliclytradedfirm,theformofthereturn—dividendsorstockbuybacks—willdependonwhatstockholdersprefer.

Whenmakinginvestment,financinganddividenddecisions,corporatefinanceissingle-mindedabouttheultimateobjective,whichisassumedtobemaximizingthevalueofthebusiness.Thesefirstprinciplesprovidethebasisfromwhichwewillextractthenumerousmodelsandtheoriesthatcomprisemoderncorporatefinance,buttheyarealsocommonsenseprinciples.Itisincredibleconceitonourparttoassumethatuntilcorporatefinancewasdevelopedasacoherentdisciplinestartingjustafewdecadesago,peoplewhoranbusinessesmadedecisionsrandomlywithnoprinciplestogoverntheirthinking.Goodbusinesspeoplethroughtheageshavealwaysrecognizedtheimportanceofthesefirstprinciplesandadheredtothem,albeitinintuitiveways.Infact,oneoftheironiesofrecenttimesisthatmanymanagersatlargeandpresumablysophisticatedfirmswithaccesstothelatestcorporatefinancetechnologyhavelostsightofthesebasicprinciples.

TheObjectiveoftheFirm

Nodisciplinecandevelopcohesivelyovertimewithoutaunifyingobjective.Thegrowthofcorporatefinancialtheorycanbetracedtoitschoiceofasingleobjectiveandthedevelopmentofmodelsbuiltaroundthisobjective.Theobjectiveinconventionalcorporatefinancialtheorywhenmakingdecisionsistomaximizethevalueofthebusinessorfirm.Consequently,anydecision（investment,financial,ordividend）thatincreasesthevalueofabusinessisconsideredagoodone,whereasonethatreducesfirmvalueisconsideredapoorone.Althoughthechoiceofasingularobjectivehasprovidedcorporatefinancewithaunifyingthemeandinternalconsistency,itcomesatacost.Tothedegreethatonebuysintothisobjective,muchofwhatcorporatefinancialtheorysuggestsmakessense.Tothedegreethatthisobjectiveisflawed,however,itcanbearguedthatthetheorybuiltonitisflawedaswell.Manyofthedisagreementsbetweencorporatefinancialtheoristsandothers（academicsaswellaspractitioners）canbetracedtofundamentallydifferentviewsaboutthecorrectobjectiveforabusiness.Forinstance,therearesomecriticsofcorporatefinancewhoarguethatfirmsshouldhavemultipleobjectiveswhereavarietyofinterests（stockholders,labor,customers）aremet,andthereareotherswhowouldhavefirmsfocusonwhattheyviewassimplerandmoredirectobjectives,suchasmarketshareorprofitability.

Giventhesignificanceofthisobjectiveforboththedevelopmentandtheapplicabilityofcorporatefinancialtheory,itisimportantthatweexamineitmuchmorecarefullyandaddresssomeoftheveryrealconcernsandcriticismsithasgarnered:

Itassumesthatwhatstockholdersdointheirownself-interestisalsointhebestinterestsofthefirm,itissometimesdependentontheexistenceofefficientmarkets,anditisoftenblindtothesocialcostsassociatedwithvaluemaximization.

TheInvestmentPrinciple

Firmshavescarceresourcesthatmustbeallocatedamongcompetingneeds.Thefirstandforemostfunctionofcorporatefinancialtheoryistoprovideaframeworkforfirmstomakethisdecisionwisely.Accordingly,wedefineinvestmentdecisionstoincludenotonlythosethatcreaterevenuesandprofits（suchasintroducinganewproductlineorexpandingintoanewmarket）butalsothosethatsavemoney（suchasbuildinganewandmoreefficientdistributionsystem）.Furthermore,wearguethatdecisionsabouthowmuchandwhatinventorytomaintainandwhetherandhowmuchcredittogranttocustomersthataretraditionallycategorizedasworkingcapitaldecisions,areultimatelyinvestmentdecisionsaswell.Attheotherendofthespectrum,broadstrategicdecisionsregardingwhichmarketstoenterandtheacquisitionsofothercompaniescanalsobeconsideredinvestmentdecisions.Corporatefinanceattemptstomeasurethereturnonaproposedinvestmentdecisionandcompareittoaminimumacceptablehurdleratetodecidewhethertheprojectisacceptable.Thehurdleratehastobesethigherforriskierprojectsandhastoreflectthefinancingmixused,i.e.,theownerճfunds（equity）orborrowedmoney（debt）.Inthediscussionofriskandreturn,webeginthisprocessbydefiningriskanddevelopingaprocedureformeasuringrisk.Inriskandreturnmodels,wegoaboutconvertingthisriskmeasureintoahurdlerate,i.e.,aminimumacceptablerateofreturn,bothforentirebusinessesandforindividualinvestments.

Havingestablishedthehurdlerate,weturnourattentiontomeasuringthereturnsonaninvestment.Inanalyzingprojects,weevaluatethreealternativewaysofmeasuringreturns—conventionalaccountingearnings,cashflows,andtime-weightedcashflows（whereweco