Dow Chemical’s CTO William Banholzer discusses six key challenges for managing innovation during economic turbulence: balancing investment timing vs cash flows, managing fads, prioritization through Innovation Growth Playbook, portfolio management, appropriate metrics (productivity over spending), and talent management. Emphasizes sticking to long-term strategy despite short-term pressures.
These notes covering four cornerstones of finance: core-of-value (growth and return on capital drive value), conservation-of-value (higher cash flows create value), expectations treadmill (market expectations affect performance), and best-owner principle (value depends on management capabilities). Applications include project evaluation, M&A, executive compensation, and divestitures.
Value creation concepts covering firm objectives (profit vs wealth maximization), EVA and MVA by Stern & Stuart, financial development in countries, and dealing with short-term investor reactions. Emphasizes information transparency, cash flow management, realistic business models, and comprehensive risk management for sustainable long-term shareholder value creation and investor confidence.
Disciplines in finance including investment analysis, capital markets, international finance, corporate finance, personal financial planning, real estate finance, public finance, and financial services. Covers basic business organization forms: sole proprietorship, partnership, joint stock company, and Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) with their characteristics, advantages, and legal requirements.
CFO role in large organizations addressing external challenges (SOX compliance, regulatory pressures, global competition) and internal challenges (complexity, resource constraints, strategy leadership). Covers organizational structure with treasurer and controller functions, four faces of CFO (strategist, catalyst, steward, operator), and transformation from bean counting to value creation.