Real Options: A Practitioner's Guide Book

The business world moves fast these days, too fast for some. Real Options: A Practitioner's Guide aims to give those making investment decisions for their companies the paths, or options, that will allow their firms to survive and thrive. Who, in 2000, would have envisaged the success story that was BT being forced to split in two just to survive? Copeland and Antikarov argue that the traditional approach for gauging whether to proceed with an investment, net present value (NPV), has become simply too static a measure. Put simply, NPV takes the projected cost of, and revenues from, a proposed investment. If the sum comes up as a negative, the conventional wisdom says "Don't invest". Effectively, NPV is anchored in the present. Real options, meanwhile, allow managers to make decisions at each step of an investment--because at each stage new and unanticipated options may become apparent, and new values and cash flows may result. Cue a great deal of complex, arithmetical analysis: Real Options is, as they say, a practitioner's guide, a handbook for real businesses, and all the tools and maths are here. But to help managers get their heads around the real-world applications of this super-flexible form of decision making, the authors constantly refer back to real life scenarios. They show how Airbus Industries uses real options to keep up in a risky, competitive business, one hamstrung by the need for enormous capital investment and long lead times. It's a demanding read, but to check that you've been paying attention, the authors set you a series of questions at the end of each chapter. Why read this book? Because if you want your company to fulfil its potential, you are going to need the flexibility and tools it provides. --John RennieRead More