Business and Climate Change
Climate change and its impacts raise momentous concerns. Hundreds of companies worldwide are aggressively getting in front of it, since they are the constituency with the strongest links to climate change: companies are the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions; equally, by deploying R&D, financial resources, technologies, and talent, they will be the ones to provide solutions to address climate change. There is an emerging, multi-trillion dollar ‘climate economy’ that will help to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The main questions we will ask and address in ‘Business and Climate Change’ are: (1) What is climate change, and why should you as an MBA, and the company you work for, care? (2) What does the emerging climate economy mean for your career, your firm, your industry? (3) How do companies measure and manage emissions? (4) What are the tools and frameworks to understand regulatory responses (e.g., a carbon tax or cap-and-trade), and to assess how a company’s business model is exposed to climate change? (5) What do you need to know about the global policy-making process and how it will impact business?
Corporate Valuation
The focus of this course is to answer the question, "what is a real asset worth"? You will define, derive, and estimate cash flows, discount rates, and terminal values to establish intrinsic values for projects, divisions, and firms domestically and across borders using well-known valuation methods. In addition to discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis, you will examine alternative approaches such as real option valuation and relative valuation. The course will explore valuation approaches in such career-relevant settings as IPOs of rapidly-growing businesses, mature cash flow businesses, LBOs, mergers & acquisitions, and project financing. The links between corporate valuation and corporate financial decisions regarding capital structure, corporate performance evaluation, exchange rates, and country risk will also be explored. The course will use a mixture of lectures, cases, projects, and guest speakers. Prerequisite: Corporate Finance or its equivalent.
Professor Sundaram was the Director of the Executive Education program from 2005-08. He was involved in creating, leading, or participating in dozens of client-based and open enrollment programs in the U.S., Asia, Europe, and Latin America. He was also actively involved in business development on behalf of Tuck Executive Education. Here are some examples:
Back in Business: Invest in Your Return
Tuck Executive Education's pioneering program facilitates the learning needs and career-development goals of professionals who seek to re-enter the workforce. This program received wide publicity in the global media such as The New York Times.
Leading-Edge Ideas for the Business Journalist
This five-day program focuses on leading-edge ideas in finance, economics, strategy, CEO mindset, and marketing for business journalists and editors.
Autodesk, Inc.
Tuck Executive Education, led by Faculty Director Professor Anant Sundaram, worked closely with Autodesk’s CFO to create Financial Analysis for Senior Executives. The program was created for the company’s senior managers worldwide—including the CEO and his direct reports. The design features active participation by the CFO, partnering with Tuck faculty to present highly customized teaching materials. During 2006-07, the program was delivered five times in San Francisco, Paris, Hanover, and Boston. Read the Wall Street Journal article, "Just For You."