Although, the name might imply an academic emphasis the seminar provides the participants with “real” business skills that can be applied to their everyday work tasks. One of the major skills being the ability to think “concretely” about ROI and to actually calculate it for all types of investments, for example, investments in new or existing products, marketing or sales programs, new manufacturing equipment, information technology software and systems, etc..

In addition, although the participants will learn how to evaluate the balance sheet, income and cash flow statements the financial focus is not on “debits and credits” or “accounting mechanics.” The emphasis is on understanding financial objectives and analysis techniques.

The focus of the seminar is that successful companies understand the buyers they are selling to and why those buyers buy (i.e., Market Planning).

Using this information, they develop innovative products and services that preempt their competitors' products and services (i.e., Product Planning) and they accomplish this objective within the context of limited financial resources (i.e., Financial Planning).

Effectively, the seminar focuses on the fact that companies must provide a return on investment (ROI) to both their stockholders and their customers.

To provide a ROI to stockholders, management has to continually increase the value of the business through producing significant profitable annual sales growth that generates a sufficient level of free cash flow. Although, profitability is the necessary condition of a business or product it is not sufficient, because contrary to conventional business wisdom profits are not cash. The necessary and sufficient condition of a successful business or product is free cash flow which is the real measure of generated economic value.

In addition, the generated free cash flow must be at a sufficient level to cover the weighted average cost of capital (WACC), the risk adjusted cost of capital or the opportunity cost of capital. In other words, before a company can increase the value of the business the company has to invest capital and achieve a ROI greater than the cost of the capital itself.

Therefore, looking upon a business as a collection of investment projects, for example, investments in new or existing products, new manufacturing equipment, sales programs, information technology software and systems, etc., the goal of a business has to be to have every investment project generate or save a significant level of free cash flow and thereby achieve a sufficient ROI. Accordingly, every investment project can and has to be measured on a free cash flow basis.

To accomplish the above, companies have to measure the correct financial value “drivers” with the correct “tools.” In addition, the companies have to use the same “tools” to measure all the various types of investment projects, as well as, measuring the business as a whole and utilize the identical “tools” employed by professional investors to assist them in making their investment decisions vis-à-vis the company.

Consequently, companies cannot use standard accounting methods to measure ROI such as return on equity (ROE) or return on assets (ROA), which measure less than optimal value-producing activities. Additionally, ROE and ROA cannot be used to measure all the various types of investment projects and professional investors cannot use them to make successful debt and/or equity investment decisions.

To provide a ROI to customers, companies have to continually increase the delivered value of their products and services. This delivered ROI has to be greater than that provided by the competitors' products and services.

If a company is successful at exceeding the delivered ROI of their competitors the company can deny customers and thereby revenue to their competitors. The company can also deny investors and the investors' capital to their competitors.

One of the major financially related stratagems that companies employ to provide a continually increasing ROI to their customers is to conscientiously perform value engineering, that is, find ways to perform the same and new valued product functions at continually lower costs. Accordingly, if a company is to understand the ROI it is delivering to its customers it must understand the value delivered by the major features and benefits of its' products and services.

A related strategy is to target value-producing market segments which can be exploited with cost effective marketing and sales programs and which permit a company's prices to be optimized between the targeted buyers, the competitors' prices and the company's internal financial requirements.

Amongst, the specific topics presented are: 1) how to identify the value producing market segments for a product, 2) how to quickly evaluate new product or business opportunities before performing a detailed evaluation, and 3) why you should and how to calculate the free cash flow and the return on investment (ROI) generated from a new or existing product investment, a marketing or sales program, an information technology system or a manufacturing automation investment.

On this site, we list the major product and financial questions answered in the seminar. These questions are especially informative in respect to the overall content presented in the program.

If you or your people can answer these questions today don't attend the seminar. However, if you or they cannot answer these questions then please register for one of our sessions.