Globalens: Sustainable Finance

Class Session #12: Cost of Compliance and Wrap Up

This is the last class of the course. To wrap up, students are asked to revisit the case, “Southern Company” and apply real options analysis (ROA). The objective is the same: figure out the least cost way for a particular firm to comply with the new regu...

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10/26/2009 4:36:49 PM

Class Session #11: Application of Real Options

This class session is all about application of real options analysis (ROA). We look at two case studies: GreenTech and Xylene’s Basement. (Xylene’s Basement case is from Harvard Publishing and you can access the case and its teaching note from the Harvar...

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10/26/2009 11:58:04 AM

Class Session #10: Real Options, Cont.

This class is a continuation for the previous class and an ongoing discussion on option pricing. To be able to analyze investments using real options, students must be able to understand the binomial option pricing model and apply an intuitive risk-neu...

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10/23/2009 5:08:20 PM

Class Session #9: Real Options – The Framework for

In this class, Gautam goes over the basic underpinnings of the real options framework. Why is this important to know real options and how does it related to sustainability? When it comes to sustainability, a big question is often about which technolog...

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10/23/2009 4:16:23 PM

Class Session #8: CASE: Southern Company (A & B)

This case, “Acid Rain: The Southern Company,” attempts to help students understand how a firm should operate given government regulation. Specifically, this case is about the Southern Company’s (a holding company for coal-fired electric plants) effort...

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10/22/2009 4:43:50 PM

Class Session #7: Controlling Acid Rain

This is probably the most nebulous and difficult case in the entire course (Note: it’s not a traditional business case. Rather, it’s a case from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.) To analyze this case well, students should have a decent understa...

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10/8/2009 5:16:47 PM

Class Session #6: Tree Values

The case, “Tree Values,” is very heavy on Excel, but has some fundamental lessons about finance and sustainability. One of the major goals of this class session is to have students work on their excel modeling. This case is a about the value of a natu...

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10/8/2009 4:28:58 PM

Class Session #5: Case: Acumen Fund

First, this case was co-developed with Brian Trelstad, CIO of Acumen Fund, to help student think though social venture investing. It’s meant more or less to help students think through the issues associate with social venture financing; as such, there isn...

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9/28/2009 2:20:18 PM

Class Session #4: Case: Nghe An Tate & Lyle

In class today, a student team was selected to give a presentation on the HBS case, Nghe An Tate & Lyle Sugar Company (Vietnam). The case is about an IFC agricultural specialist reviewing a $45 loan proposal for a sugar plant in Vietnam. In addition to a...

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9/28/2009 10:47:07 AM

Class Session #3: Financial Valuation Methods

This class was primarily a review of valuation techniques that MBAs should have learned prior to entering this class. However, Gautam doesn’t assume that everyone is on the same page so he went over various finance equations such as calculating free cash...

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9/16/2009 3:54:33 PM

Class Session #2b: Interest Rates

Consider the formula for free cash flow (FCF) as follows: Revenue -COGS -SG&A -Depreciation = EBIT EBIT (1-Tax Rate) + Depreciation - Change in Working Capital - Capital Expenditure =Free Cash Flow (FCF) Most corporate managers look at this...

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9/15/2009 9:03:40 AM

Class Session #2a: C/R

Today we continue where we left off from the previous class. After recapping Solow’s definition on sustainability, we venture into a discussion on an age-old finance formula: [b]C/R[/b]. If you have a finance background, you’ll know that this is the form...

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9/15/2009 9:02:54 AM

Class Session #1

Great first class today. Around 40 students attended and Gautam set the tone for the next six weeks. This course is going to be intense, opened ended, and co-created by the students. And unlike a lot of other courses on the topic of sustainability, this...

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9/9/2009 11:42:07 AM

Class Session #0: Blogging The Course

Welcome to the Sustainable Finance class forum. Professor Gautam Kaul and I will post reflections and thoughts here on all the class sessions for the Ross School of Business course, "Finance and the Sustainable Enterprise (FIN 637)." We believe this...

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8/19/2009 3:11:14 PM

The class is going great. Hopefully others in academia will adopt the course or parts of it. Students are really enjoying it so far, though it's hard sometimes for them because it's more open ended that other bshcool classes....

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9/28/2009 10:49:05 AM