Matching Items (115)
Description
This thesis discusses methodology used to assess the financial health of Company X's suppliers. Each suppliers' industry characteristics and key risk exposures are identified using the Porter's Five Forces. Along with qualitative analysis, financial data is analyzed with the Altman Z-Scores, forecasted financial statements, and comparative ratio analysis. The focus is narrowed down throughout the process to enable further investigation on Supplier E and the semiconductor-memory industry.The procedure and results of the analysis lead to the final recommendation to Company X on how it should assess the financial health of suppliers in the semiconductor-memory industry, and possibly other industries, using our methodology.
ContributorsBanda, Janelle (Co-author) / McDermott, Eric (Co-author) / Park, Hye Jun (Co-author) / Corral, Esteban (Co-author) / Hertzel, Michael (Thesis director) / Simonson, Mark (Committee member) / Schulz, Matthew (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This paper seeks to put a spotlight on much that is wrong in the United States with cancer drug development, pricing, marketing and outcomes. Roche Pharmaceutical's cancer drug, Avastin will be used as an example to highlight these issues. Drug patents, Medicare policies, weak metrics of efficacy and ceaseless demand—allow drug manufacturers to price their oncology treatments as they choose, regardless of results, and with virtually no competition, avenue or institution that serves to lower prices in the United States. Avastin will be established as an oncology drug that is overpriced and poorly evaluated based on its effectiveness. Facts, opinions and study analytics will be offered (from industry experts, insiders, doctors and scientists) that in almost all cases show that patients treated with Avastin receive marginal benefit. Allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices with manufacturers, reducing conflicts of interest for doctors, setting research & development investment requirements and creating more relevant clinical metrics for use in FDA approvals would help reduce the financial burden on cancer patients and taxpayers.
ContributorsTrettin, Michael William (Author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Budolfson, Arthur (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The purpose of this research project is to develop a recommendation for Company X on the strategies it should use to enter a new market. This was done through the compilation and interpretation of data from the company and the construction of a financial model capable of analyzing our different proposed strategies. Company X is a leading producer of silicon chips which seeks to remain one of the leading forces in new technologies. Currently Company X wants to assess the value and risks associated with introducing a new packaging technology (FO-WLP) into their products either by developing the technology in-house or outsourcing production. The first portion of the research consisted mostly of gathering the necessary business acumen to be able to to fully understand our research findings. Market research was conducted to discover what competitors exist and what inputs should be included for the model with help from employees at Company X. The research then proceeded with the identification of three possible strategies and construction of financial models to analyze these options. Using the results from our analysis we were able to develop our recommendation for Company X and lay out the next steps which the Company needs to take before investing in the new technology.
ContributorsRubenzer, Jack (Co-author) / Galaviz, Roberto (Co-author) / Mariani, Stephanie (Co-author) / Mecinas, Freddy (Co-author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Hertzel, Mike (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
The basis of this project was to analyze the potential cost savings derived from the implementation of an ultrasonic flaw detector for gas pipes in factories. The group began by researching the market of the Industrial Internet of Things. IIoT is a very attractive market for investment, as connected technologies are become both more advanced and more affordable. Factory automation also saves costs of human capital, maintenance, and bad product cost as well as safety. After doing this preliminary research, the group continued by identifying potential solutions to current shortcomings of the manufacturing status quo. After narrowing down the options, the ultrasonic flaw detector appeared to have the highest potential for success in Company X's factories. The group began doing research on what physical components would go into this solution. They found pricing for all of the various parts of such a device as well as estimated labor, maintenance, and implementation costs. After estimating these costs, the team began the construction of a detailed financial model to generate the hypothetical net present value of such a tool. After presenting two times to a panel of Company X employees, the group decided to focus only on cost savings for Company X, and not the potential revenues of selling the whole solution. They ran a sensitivity analysis on all of the factors that contributed to the NPV of the project, and discovered that the estimated percentage of scrapped product resulting from gas leaks and the percentage of gas lost to leaks contributed the most to the NPV.
ContributorsFlick, Jacob (Co-author) / Alam, Mustafa (Co-author) / Nguyen, Mong (Co-author) / Zhang, Zihan (Co-author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Hertzel, Michael (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Culture (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
This paper examines the qualitative and quantitative effects of the 2008 financial crisis on the current landscape of the investment banking industry. We begin by reviewing what occurred during the financial crisis, including which banks took TARP money, which banks became bank holding companies, and significant mergers and acquisitions. We then examine the new regulations that were created in reaction to the crisis, including the Dodd-Frank Act. In particular, we focus on the Volcker Rule, which is a section of the act that prohibits proprietary trading and other risky activities at banks. Then we shift into a quantitative analysis of the changes that banks made from the years 2005-2016. To do this, we chose four banks to be representative of the industry: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, and Bank of America. We then analyze four metrics for each bank: revenue mix, value at risk, tangible common equity ratio, and debt to equity ratio. These provide methods for analyzing how banks have shifted their revenue centers to accommodate new regulations, as well as how these shifts have affected banks' risk levels and leverage. Our data show that all four banks that we observed shifted their revenue centers to flatter revenue areas, such as investment management, wealth management, and consumer banking operations. This was paired with fairly flat investment banking revenues across the board when controlling for overall market changes in the investment banking sector. Additionally, trading-focused banks significantly shifted their operations away from proprietary trading and higher risk activities. These changes resulted in lower value at risk measures for Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley with very minor increases for J.P. Morgan and Bank of America, although these two banks had low levels of absolute value at risk when compared to Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. All banks' tangible common equity ratios increased and debt to equity ratios decreased, indicating a safer investment for shareholders and lower leverage. We conclude by offering a forecast of our expectations for the future, particularly in light of a Trump presidency. We expect less regulation going forward and the potential reversal of the Volcker Rule. We believe that these changes would result in more revenue coming from trading and riskier strategies, increasing value at risk, decreasing tangible common equity ratios, and increasing debt to equity ratios. While we do expect less regulation and higher risk, we do not expect these banks to reach pre-crisis levels due to the significant amount of regulations that would be particularly difficult for the Trump administration to reverse.
ContributorsPatel, Aashay (Co-author) / Goulder, Gregory (Co-author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Hertzel, Michael (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The following thesis discusses the primary drivers of value creation in a leveraged buyout. Value creation is defined by two broad criteria: enterprise value creation and financial value creation. With enterprise value creation, the company itself may be improved, which in turn may have positive implications on the economy at large. As the analysis of enterprise value creation is outside the scope of publicly available information and data, the core focus of this thesis is financial value creation. Financial value creation is defined as the financial returns to a given private equity firm. Amongst this segment of value creation, there are roughly three primary categories responsible for generating returns: financial engineering, governance improvements, and operational improvements. The attached literature review and subsequent chapters of this thesis discuss the academic drivers of value creation and the outputs of a leveraged buyout model conducted on a public company, Schnitzer Steel, that has been determined to be an ideal candidate for a buyout.
ContributorsAlivarius, Chadwick (Author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Stein, Luke (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This paper discusses the development of the mobile gaming industry and analyzes a mobile game acquisition to provide context to the entire market. By discussing the history and growth of the industry, I discovered that mobile gaming was a massive opportunity for companies to generate lucrative earnings. The discussion revolving around the evolution of the mobile gaming business model serves to provide context on the industry’s unique opportunities and risk factors. Candy Crush’s developer King is the main focus in this paper as they were the highest-performing public company in the market. The company is the greatest example of the mobile gaming phenomenon, experiencing rapid growth due to the success of its games, faltering in financial performance after going public, and finally becoming a subsidiary of a larger video game company that recognized King’s potential. King’s acquirer, Activision-Blizzard (ATVI), is an industry veteran of the overall video game industry that bought out King in an attempt to capitalize on the rising popularity of mobile games and to improve their strategic position in the larger video game market. The mergers & acquisitions (M&A) analysis between ATVI and King serves to determine whether or not the acquisition was an appropriately priced deal and if King represented a worthy buy. A discounted cash flows model is the basis for the analysis using a wide range of assumptions to account for the volatility of the industry. Finally, an event study and post-acquisition analysis are conducted to determine if any financial synergies were achieved in the ATVI-King acquisition. While the analyses do not offer a definitive conclusion on King’s post-acquisition performance, it can be said that the company has managed to achieve some measure of longevity. In the context of the entire mobile gaming market, the potential of mobile games should make developers attractive in the eyes of investors and acquirers, provided they understand the mobile gaming industry’s unique risks.
ContributorsDai, Yongjun (Author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Geoffrey, Smith (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
We gathered and analyzed key data from a wide-range of competitors in the foundry, fabless, and Integrated design manufacturing business. After detecting a downward trend in the return of invested capital (ROIC) and higher capital intensity of Company X, we searched for alternatives to turn this around. We conclude that, to decrease the net PPE of Company X, a sale-leaseback transaction would help Company X reduce their balance sheet and provided financing to advance their manufacturing capabilities.
ContributorsBhat, Arjun Khandige (Co-author) / Brock, Ethan (Co-author) / Gamperl, Max (Co-author) / Gupta, Viraj (Co-author) / Macha, Sanketh (Co-author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Duran, Juan Carlos (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The purpose and goal of this project is to pinpoint a potential use case for Company X to invest in to sell their 5G modems. As 5G technology is growing to be a dominant force in global markets, Company X is looking to capitalize on the emerging technology by selling their 5G modems for Internet of Things applications. Research and gathering of information involved understanding cellular connectivity, modem operations and applications, companies in related industries, the history of the wireless spectrum, the pillars of 5G technology, and the plethora of use cases enabled by 5G. Looking at smart street lights as a potential use case for Company X, analyses were conducted to recommend whether Company X should invest in smart street lights. These analyses ranged from researching Company X’s competitors to performing a pro forma financial analysis to see if it is financially viable for Company X to enter the smart street light industry. The final recommendation is for Company X to not invest in smart street lighting.
ContributorsPannala, Ishan R (Co-author) / Alcaron, Sandra (Co-author) / Nilles, Robert (Co-author) / Wells, Dwight (Co-author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Reber, Kevin (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
As more countries move toward renewable energy sources, universal acceptance is only a matter of time. It is no longer a question of if, but of when. For now, these types of energy sources can be too expensive or too complex for the average homeowner to acquire. A considerable financial investment and logistical specifications are required. My goal for this project is to create an analysis that will convey the most efficient and cost-effective way to move to a solar energy system without sacrificing output. There are many factors that go into the most practical and efficient strategy. These may include: solar tax credits, subsidies, rebates, panel type, utility company, among others. I hope to create an analysis that will enable anyone interested in taking advantage of solar power. The process outlined here will permit subjects to determine the best option for them, based on personal preferences and other related mitigating factors.
ContributorsStanley, John Richard (Author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Ikram, Atif (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05