Strategic Value: Value Analysis as a Business Weapon

Description

Right now, businesses are operating in an environment of volatility and risk never before seen in financial markets. Uncertainty is up, confidence is down and value is anyone's guess. There's never been a greater need to understand value and to be able to assess it. And there's never been a better time to make real changes to improve the overall competitive advantage of your business. Strategic Value provides a lucid framework for assessing how much your business is worth, what risks confront it, and how you can add value to it. First, Strategic Value offers a clear guide to conducting a valuation. Next it addresses what to do when things go wrong, equipping readers with four tried and tested methods for analysing risk - because, as valuation expert Richard Stewart points out, when the stakes are high and the risks are real, knowledge is power. The picture is completed with five ways in which a senior executive can increase the value of their business. This down-to-earth and exceptionally practical guide draws on parallels with sailing, gambling and poker. The reason? Just as in business valuation, all three endeavours require participants to understand what's at stake and the risk associated with that stake, and to grasp the strategies through which they might improve their position. In today's post-GFC economy, valuation is not so much an accounting add-on as a core business skill. Strategic Value is vital reading for CFOs and senior financial executives, heads of strategy, current and future entrepreneurs, investors - especially corporate portfolio managers - and any businessperson who has responsibility for the strategic direction of their company.

Richard Stewart is a Corporate Value Advisory Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, specialising in corporate finance and valuation. He writes and speaks regularly on value issues, and is an Adjunct Professor in Business Valuation at the University of Technology in Sydney.