Demonstration of How—and Why—the Practices of Corporate Finance in an Organisational Setting are Linked to Financial Markets

The purpose of the Module Project is to apply the concepts and techniques of the module to the analysis of real-world situations or problems. You are expected to carry out an original analysis rather than summarise or rehash existing work.
The integrated Project is designed to tie together your knowledge of financial markets and intermediaries with the study of goods and services markets. Explicit in the Project is the demonstration of how—and why—the practices of corporate finance in an organisational setting are linked to financial markets. Specifically, you must explore and demonstrate (provide evidence or examples) how the following organisational finance practices—or costs—are impacted, or mediated, by financial markets and institutions:
• Weighted average cost of capital (WACC) of an organisation
• Capital structure of an organisation
• Working capital and access to short-term sources of cash and credit (liquidity management)
• Enterprise risk structure and risk-management strategy (hint: investigate enterprise risk management techniques)
• Valuation of an organisation—respond to how an organisation is valued in the marketplace and how readily can its ownership be transferred? What events change value, and how do financial markets impact valuation?
Structure:
Your Project can be a case analysis of an existing business, non-governmental organisation (NGO), or a not-for-profit organisation that has financing characteristics similar to an independent business. Alternately, the Project may be a research project that states a hypothesis, provides evidence, and draws conclusions. In all cases the aforementioned practices and the following themes must be clearly addressed in your Project:
• Contrast how financial practices—or costs—of organisations with access to highly developed financial markets will differ from financial practices of organisations in developing (or underdeveloped) financial markets.
• Demonstrate how innovation/entrepreneurship and financial practices—or costs—are impacted by the government regulation (consider short- and long-term impacts in your Project).
• Illustrate how financial markets are linked.
• Show how institutions affect the financial practices of an organisation.
There are three distinct, yet highly related, products that must be turned in during the course of this module. Each product builds upon the prior product(s), and the grading standard for each subsequent product is increasingly rigorous.
Your task for this Week 6 is to prepare and hand in a first draft of the Module Project. The first draft must adhere to style requirements, but is less rigorous in nature than the Module Project. The Week 6 draft will:
• Be limited to 2,000 words plus bibliography and attachments (limited to models, data, and diagrams that illustrate relationships). At this stage the bibliography and attachments will not be assessed for style.
• Make cogent (professionally valid) conclusions and demonstrate relationships to practices and themes.
• Be considered a draft for grading purposes. It is understood that the project will still require further refinement in content, conclusions, and linking models. However, at Week 6 the basic framework for the Module Project must be developed.
• The professor will provide commentary concerning style, comprehensiveness of conclusions, and proper use of models.
• The Week 6 draft will be assessed (graded) for quality of thought; inclusion of the observations, research, and findings that address the financial practices and themes of the project; and, quality of written expression.

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