Investment Project Evaluation By Real Option Method: Example of Entrepreneurship Investment

The real option method, which emerged in the 1980s and is based on financial options, has been heavily involved in the literature since the early 2000s. Calculated by adding option value to investments in real assets, this method offers managers opportunities to evaluate the investment project. While the traditional capital budgeting method cannot be changed during the decision project process taken when evaluating the investment project, the real option method can be changed throughout the project process. The reason for this situation is that the real option method does not ignore the managerial flexibility. The reason for this situation is that the real option method does not ignore the managerial flexibility. In this study, these two methods in the literature are examined according to the types of projects.

An Overview of Current Capital Investments in Latin American Port Infrastructure

Port infrastructure development is an important requirement for sustainable economic growth as it allows for the increment of trade, which benefits the countries involved. As occurs with most infrastructure projects, however, this investment requires significant amounts of capital with long term returns under conditions or risk and uncertainty, which frequently cannot be afforded by the host government. To address these challenges, Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) agreements have been widely used to meet the port infrastructure needs in many countries. In this article, we analyze the case of port infrastructure development in Latin America and show that the incorporation of managerial flexibility may help increase the value and reduce the risk in this class of projects. We discuss several port projects in the region and discuss in detail the case of the Terminal Portuario Multipropósito de Salaverry to show how uncertainty can be mitigated by incorporating managerial flexibility into the bid documents and contracts.

Valuation of Wind Energy Turbines Using Volatility of Wind and Price

The limitedness of the nonrenewable local energy resources in Israel, even in background of the later gas fields’ findings, continues to force the state to devote various efforts for the ‘green’ energy development. These efforts include installations both in the solar and in the wind energy, with a purpose to improve the diversity of energy sources. While the standard discounted cash flow (DCF) method using the net present value (NPV) criterion is extensively adopted to evaluate investments, the standard DCF method is inappropriate for the rapidly changing investment climate and for the managerial flexibility in investment decisions. In recent years, the real options analysis (ROA) technique is widely applied in many studies for valuation of renewable energy investment projects. Hence, we apply in this study the real options analysis approach for the valuation of wind energy turbines and apply it to the analysis of wind energy economic potential in Israel.

Valuation of Decision Flexibility and Strategic Value in Coal Gasification Projects with the Option-To-Switch between Different Outputs

Coal gasification has been promoted as a sophisticated clean energy technology alternative to coal burning these days. Aside from the usual technical difficulties, economic issues of such projects—especially valuation challenges—are important problems that practitioners usually struggle with. This is because of the major extent of managerial flexibility linked with specific characteristics of coal gasification projects, in particular, possibilities to mothball/restart manufacturing lines, or change between different outputs. The value of such flexibilities may be well assessed by real options valuations. The aim of this paper is to show that for the coal gasification technologies the real options valuation is more suitable than traditional discounted cash flow technique. This approach was applied to calculate an integrated plant that can produce either electricity or methanol. As the valuation approach the multiplicative stochastic process was used. As a consequence, binomial lattices of end-product (electricity and methanol) were developed. Then, in regard to them (reference instruments), two corresponding lattices of net cash flows (consecutive instruments) were created. In the end, two trees of switching option value were developed—one for electricity production as an initial mode, and the second for methanol production, delivering expanded net present (strategic) value.

To Wait or Not to Wait? Use of the Flexibility to Postpone Investment Decisions in Theory and in Practice

Business sustainability and real options are closely connected, as real options are managerial flexibility that allows organizations to adapt to changes in their environment, thus making the organization more robust and economically sustainable. Studies in real options theory abound, yet there is still a lack of evidence on whether people make decisions consistently with the predictions made by real options models. We run a laboratory experiment to study the role of option value and the laboratory time required to resolve uncertainty in individuals’ decision to price and adopt an option to wait. Specifically, we compare decision makers’ choices in two investment scenarios: One with a short time to maturity (implying a low option value), and another with a longer time to maturity (implying a high option value). In the lab, both scenarios are implemented with the waiting time of twenty and sixty minutes. Our results show that decision makers deviate from the theoretical predictions, recognizing the benefit of waiting, when the value of the option is higher, or when the waiting time is shorter. Our study does not only bring more insights into real options adoption at the individual level, but also emphasizes the great potential of behavioral and experimental approach to bridge the gap between theory and practice in the real options literature.

Using Real Options to Estimate the Pre-commercialisation Value of a Drought Tolerant Wheat Trait

Uncertainty, sunk investment costs and managerial flexibility means standard investment budgeting methods such as net present value are ineffective and undervalue risky investments. Real options attains a more accurate and comprehensive assessment of investments. In this study, we apply a real options analytical framework to investment decisions during the research and development (R&D) process of a drought tolerant wheat trait. The results suggest the option value for investment is positive at each R&D stage and that investors should continue to invest. Biotechnology firms should use a real options analytical framework like the one applied in this paper for investment strategy development and for investment decisions involving uncertainty, sunk costs and decision flexibility.

The real options method applied to decision making – an investment analysis

Goal: This study aims to assess the impact of using the method of real options in investment analysis through a case study on a retail firm. Design / Methodology / Approach: It was targeted the applications of the real options method in a different type of environment and it was compared to another method more commonly used, the discounted cash flow method (DCF). The implementation and assessment of the real options method was investigated by means of a case study conducted in an investment analysis in a retail units firm. Results: The use of the real options method showed a more concise applicability over the DCF method. The results show that the project’s value, after the inclusion of managerial flexibility, increased significantly, which indicates that the analysis of the discounted cash flow undervalued the investment in question, since it disregarded the flexibility to expand or abandon the project. Limitations of the investigation: The presented method is proper to long-term processes where it is possible to make changes during the project. Investments in this sector usually are more related to short and medium-term decisions, making the application difficult due to the short decision-making period available to the managers. Practical Implications: The study provided the incorporation of flexibility through different pathways during the building project in a retail units firm. It was showed different scenarios where practitioners could decide among expanding, proceeding, reducing or abandoning the retail units based on the characteristics of their investments. Originality/value: The results obtained are an indication of this methodology to industrial businesses that are relatively volatile and that need a certain degree of flexibility in order to burgeon, such as the case of the retailing sector.