Enterprise-Value Books

I've watched the words "Shareholder Value" creep into our business vocabulary over the past decade or so, and I've heard many explanations of how to optimize it. Unfortunately, there about as many definitions and techniques for measuring and managing it as there are books on the subject. I've read many of these other texts and worked with the other consultants Mr. Knight mentions in his book. But none of them have approached the precision and clarity of this book. Mr Knight starts with why management should understand the shareholder's needs and the proper methods for addressing those needs, then he takes the reader logically through all the steps (including the subtle nuances) of implementing such a program. There is no more comprehensive nor better written book on this subject on the market. If only Mr. Knight had written his book 10 years ago, many of us would have been saved from endless hours of vague and confusing meetings about what we were really trying to accomplish.

I expected much more of it. Very basic in it's assesments and definition. I cannot get a real signification of EVA until chapter 6. Good for earliers beginners not awaiting for much academic support

This book shows how to develop and implement strategies regarding value creation for shareholders. It has a very good mix of theory and business cases. The core aspect of this book is the theory behind the imperative link of: Strategic Planning, Budgeting, Financial Reporting and Incentive Compensation. This theory is tested against many sucessful business cases. The author also shows why some companies fail after incomplete or wrong assumptions on the value based management implementation.

Darlene Barrientos Crane and Margery Mayer's Executive Accountability: Creating the Environment for Business Value from Technology is the perfect book for an executive whose organization is considering implementing a new IT system. The book stresses the importance of executive accountability in the organization from the time that the idea of implementing an IT initiative is conceived through its implementation. The book informs executives on how to align their firm's goals with IT necessities into one unified vision that everyone in the organization can strive towards. The book is divided into three distinct sections that allow the executive to gain a full understanding of the challenges and problems that arise from implementing a new IT initiative, and then demonstrate how to overcome those challenges to successfully integrate a new IT system that increases business efficiency and business value.

Crane and Mayer not only stress the importance of executive accountability when implementing a new IT initiative, but also the importance of continuously measuring and evaluating the performance of new IT systems to derive the greatest benefits possible. Rather than attempt to create a new valuation method for IT initiatives, the authors promote the utilization of current measurement methods such as performance ratios.

This book was very easy to read and understand. Each chapter had several graphs and charts, and each chapter concluded with a short summary and questions that the executive could ask himself or herself to evaluate how their firm is current performing and how it could benefit from the implementation of the authors' suggestions. It is the perfect book for a busy executive who is wishing to properly prepare their firm for the implementation of an IT initiative.

The book Executive Accountability: Creating the Environment for Business Value from Technology by Darlene Barrientos Crane and Margery Mayer focuses on an executive's role before, after, and during implementation of an IT system. The book informs executives on various methods that would allow managers to align their firm's diverse goals to the new IT system.

This book is divided into three distinct segments that allow an executive to fully understand the challenges of implementing a new IT system. The first section of the book lays the foundation from which the rest of the book is built. The second section continues on with a discussion on the importance of shifting from a departmental or business unit way of thinking into an organization-wide thinking. This allows for a more centered thinking among all employees of a company. The last section of the book focuses a new method that executives can help generate value from the technology. The authors suggest that instead of attempting to value the benefit that technology implementation has had on a firm, a comparison of measurable ratios from before implementation to after implementation should be used.

This book is very easy to understand and provides the reader with various charts, figures, and tables that make the ideas to be very easy to understand. Moreover, this book emphasizes how collaboration and tone at the top affects the implementation of a new IT system. Thus, executive involvement is very important so that a new IT system can increase efficiency and increase value for a company.

A great tip and synopsis pocket book covering the tools and techniques for lean enterprise

Some useful hints there are much better lean books out there. This book will fit in your back pocket which was surprising to me. All in all not reccommended.

This short work of two essays is a basic summary of Novak's economic thinking. He affirms a free-market "democratic capitalist" economy, and is opposed to "socialist or statist alternatives." The "tripartite" theory he recommends is that there should be free markets, a democratic society, and a free moral-cultural system (i.e. freedom of politics, economics, and belief). Novak's work is a bit dated here, since papal encyclicals have qualified or made obsolete some of his claims about a theology of economics. Nonetheless it is still a good, short summary of his essential thought. Like this work or disagree with it, it is a fairly short defense of the free-market system, focused mostly on economic and political ideas, and very lightly on theological reflections upon them (the Catholic Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism does that).

Michael Novak is probably the foremost Christian thinker on the economy. His "Toward a Theology of the Corporation" is an under-appreciated classic that succinctly, yet powerfully, sets out a theologically sound analysis of the modern corporation and its role in society. In this slender and well-written volume, Novak joins issue with theologians like Paul Tillich who contend that "any serious Christian must be a socialist."

THEOLOGY has two principal themes. First, it is addressed to those who work for corporations. Many Christians have been taught to feel, at best, "faint disdain" for corporations and those who manage them. In contrast, Novak knows that many (most) business men and women are ethical people who yearn for moral guidance and advice. Consequently, THEOLOGY tackles a basic moral question: "Can a Christian Work for a Corporation." Novak's answer? "Yes!" (Those wishing more detailed discussion of practical business ethics ought also read Novak's "Business as Calling.")

Yet, Novak recognized that anyone who purported to think about practical business ethics needed to understand the predominant form of business organization-the public corporation. Much of THEOLOGY is thus devoted to an analysis of the corporation: Is the firm's structure as a bureaucratic hierarchy consistent with church teaching on human dignity? What social responsibility, if any, does the corporation have? And so forth.

Thinking about those questions naturally lead Novak to broader issues, such as the consistency of capitalism with church teachings on wealth. In THEOLOGY, therefore, Novak began working out the line of argument that was later developed more fully in his magisterial "The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism." Novak recognizes that church teaching has been hostile to capitalism, as with much else of modernity. Yet, Novak contends that arguments against capitalism serve mainly to give aid and comfort to the Leviathan state

In the most controversial portions of THEOLOGY, Novak attributes Christian opposition to capitalism to two main sources: ignorance and antique world views. Church leaders and theologians tend to be poorly trained in economics and inexperienced with the world of economic reality. Many believers (again, this is especially true of theologians) "are likely to inherit either a pre-capitalist or a frankly socialist set of ideals about political economy." As a result, "Church leaders are more likely to err in this territory [i.e., economic justice] than in most others." (p. 59.)

To be clear, Novak does not believe that faith should be subordinated to capitalism. To the contrary, he recognizes that the divine plan was that we should enjoy the fruits of the earth and of our own industry. He simply contends that capitalism is the best way Fallen humans have yet devised to obey the Biblical command that we are to be stewards of God's world. Novak never loses sight of the basic proposition that it was equally the divine plan that God should be worshiped, obeyed, and feared. The fear of the Lord, he would argue, is the beginning of capitalist wisdom, just as it is of any other kind of wisdom. Not surprisingly, therefore, Novak's analysis has begun to impact the way the church thinks about capitalism. Pope John Paul II's most recent encyclicals on work and the economy, for example, such as Centesimus Annus, contain obvious marks of Novak's influence. In sum, THEOLOGY is very highly recommended for any Christian interested in corporations.

A great book with clear explanations and excellent support web site.
The book describes many tools on how to do the valuation (DCF, ratios, real options etc.). I particularly like the explanation of eight models of DCF. Chapters 19, 20 and 21 are the best ones I have ever read about discounted cash flow valuation.
For finance professionals, "Valuation methods and shareholder value creation" is a wonderful book to study, to keep and to look up for reference. I strongly recommend investment bankers (and clients), finance managers and MBAs to have one.
It explains Adjusted Present Value much better than Copeland�s and Damodaran's books. Now, I understand it!!!

In his new book on valuation, Pablo Fernandez presents and analyzes a variety of valuation methods. The book is comprehensive in covering ALL of the methods and contains a wealth of information, data and examples on the relevant topics. The book is a valuable source for obtaining details on the different methods. However, there is a risk, although small, that the number of trees may overwhelm the reader and the reader may miss the forest.
In Part III, which is the theoretical part of the book, he examines all the various approaches for Discounted Cash Flow Valuation. In particular, Pablo Fernandez makes the unusual claim that for FCF in perpetuity with a constant growth rate of g, the discounted value of the tax shield (DVTS) is not the present value of the tax shield (PVTS). Furthermore, he defines the PVTS as follows: PVTS = T*D*Ku/(Ku - g). At first sight, this definition of the PVTS seems very strange. To obtain this result, which is in direct contradiction with the formulas in Copeland's book, he assumes that the return to levered equity Ke does not depend on whether the growth rate is zero or nonzero. This departure from the accepted definition of the PVTS may surprise those readers who are familiar with other books on valuation.
In common with other books on valuation, the examples on the cost of capital are restricted to cash flows in perpetuity. Without providing the necessary justification, the author assumes that the formulas for the cost of capital carry over to finite cash flows. The book would be strengthened if there were numerical examples that linked the discussion on the cost of capital directly to the finite cash flow statements that are derived from the usual financial statements.

'Alliance Competence' provides a 360 degree perspective on business alliance. It captures both the difficulties & opportunities involved in developing business alliance. It also outlines the resources & skills needed. The values of business alliance are also incorporated into the competitive advantage framework. The book is filled with detail to 'walk the talk', but the content tend to be ocasionally repetitive.

This work is a seamless compilation of information from the corners of the globe detailing innovative new approaches to the alleviation of global poverty through creative efforts in the private sector. Beyond useful and insightful facts and information, this book goes on to organize and present the knowledge in a framework that serves to effectively establish the context of global poverty and therefore the efforts to alleviate it. Because of this context-building framework, as a reference material, this volume is greater than the sum of its parts.

This book uniquely draws on the authors' wide experience as OFA professionals to harness common knowledge from many projects and offer insights gained from implementing a number of OFA projects. It effectively bridges the existing gap between functionality-focused courses, and unstructured experience to offer you a comprehensive guide to successfully implementing OFA projects. Aimed at business analysts, technical architects, project managers and OFA implementers and administrators, this book will give you invaluable support, whether you are working on a first project of are extending an existing one. The book starts with an overview, followed by in-depth discussion of project scoping for OFA, assisting the business analyst in identifying the business processes to which it should be applied. It then focuses in detail on the key features of OFA and goes on to consider related issues of Enterprise Resource Planning systems and the Data Warehouse. All principles and practices discussed are explained through references to a number of case studies and each chapter is roadmapped, assisting you in structuring your reading of the book to meet your own project requirements. OFA project implementation principles covered: sponsorship; business process modelling; change management; planning; design of the application architecture; database design; infrastructure specification documentation; roll-out and continuing change management; backup and recovery

As with any piece, I suggest you read this book and make up your own mind. Do as he suggests, have an open mind. After all, how else do we learn?

This value of this book is the ability to open the mind to who wants to move from a product excellence-based company to a total product lifecycle value-based company; do not expect any magic receipe but only good principles, guidelines, examples and high-level methodologies. Execution is the real challance, to be done not in a one-shot approach but gradually.
Top management of most companies should read it.