Guide Questions
1) What are the investment measures in case Exhibit 3 and what do they
measure?
Investment Measures
IRR
What do they measure?
Measures the profitability of potential
investment.
Measures the length of time that it takes
for a project to recover its initial cost
from the net cash inflows that it
generates. Sometimes referred as the
time that it takes for an investment to
pay for itself.
Payback
2) Prepare to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the various measures of
investment attractiveness as used by Euroland Foods. Will all of the measures
rank the projects identically? Why or Why not?
IRR
Advantages
a) Simplicity
b) The timing of cash flow is considered
Disadvantages
a) Ignores the size of the project
b) Ignores reinvestment rates
c) Ignores Future Costs
d) Hurdle Rate is not required
Payback
Advantages
a) Simplicity
b) Provide information about how long funds
will be tied up in a project
c) Shorter the payback, the greater the
project's liquidity
Disadvantages
a) No risk adjustment
b) Ignores cash flows beyond the
payback period
c) Ignores time value of money
d) Is often important to new
companies that are "cash poor"
3) Please rank the 11 proposals on the basis of purely economic consideration
Ranked by IRR
Acquisition
60M
Effluent Water
6M
Go Southward
30M
Ranked by Payback
15.50
%
15.10
%
9.40
%
Inventory
Control
Effluent Water
Acquisition
Ranked by Profitability
Index
22.5M
Acquisition
60M
6M
Effluent Water
6M
60M
Go Southward
30M
3.39
%
1.67
%
1.5%
Inventory
Control
Total
22.5M
118.5
M
8.20
%
Artificial
Sweetener
Go Southward
27M
Go Eastward
30M
Inventory
Control
Total
30M
22.5M
118.5M
4) Rank the proposals a second time bases on any other considerations that you
believed that important.
Project
1) Effluent Water
2) Replacement and
Expansion of the
Truck Fleet
3) Plant Automation and
Conveyer Systems
Benefits
a) Protecting present
market share
b) Environmental
category
c) Building a good
reputation
a) 15 % increase in
cubic meters of
goods hauled on
each trip
b) The new tractors
would also be more
fuel and
maintenance
efficient
c) The increase in the
number of trucks
would permit it more
flexible scheduling
and more efficient
and will cut delivery
times (possibly
inventories)
d) Support
geographical
expansion over long
term
a) Reduced the chance
of injury by
employees
b) Improved throughout
speed
Investment
Cost
6M
33M
21M
1.15
%
4) Development and
Introduction of New
Artificial Sweetener
5) Inventory Control
TOTAL:
a) Growing demand for
low calorie products
b) Protecting of present
market share
c) Prevent brand
suffering
a) Shorter delays in
ordering and order
processing
b) Better control of
inventory
c) Reduction of
spoilage
d) Faster recognition of
changes in demand
at the customer level
27M
22.5M
109.5M
5) Are the rankings identical? Why or why not?
6) Which set of projects should Verdin recommend to the board of Euroland
Foods for the capital budget of 2001?