Study Programmes 2015-2016
FINA0059-1  
Multinational Financial Management
Duration :
30h Th
Number of credits :
Master in management (120 ECTS)5
Master in management (120 ECTS)5
Master in business engineering (120 ECTS)5
Master in business engineering (120 ECTS)5
Lecturer :
Marie Lambert
Language(s) of instruction :
English language
Organisation and examination :
Teaching in the second semester
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Course contents :
The course of "Multinational Financial Management" provides students with a comprehensive framework for understanding multinationals' key economic decisions. After a small introduction on the complexities of financial management, the course is organized in three parts. 


Part I: Exchange rates and global markets 
 
Part one lays the foundations of international finance such as exchange rate dynamics, the underlying mechanisms of international parity relationships and international investment concepts and theories. 
 
Part II: Exchange rates, global markets, and firm value

Part two then examines how firms are impacted by global markets and discusses firm risk exposures and hedging decisions.

Part III: Financial Management of a multinational firm

Part three provides a thorough discussion of the key economic decisions multinationals must make. Part three is structured in different modules. Module 1 evaluates how segmented capital markets create financial opportunities to firms and presents the mechanisms to take advantage of these opportunities. Module 2 presents the incentives for foreign direct investments and cross-border acquisitions as well as the potential risks (exchange, political, ...) involved in these transactions. Module 3 evaluates cross-border investment opportunities using capital budgeting techniques (Adjusted Present Value, Weighted Average Cost of Capital) in an international context.
Learning outcomes of the course :
At the end of the Multinational Financial Management course, students will









  • strengthen their knowledge and understanding in firm performance management. The course is designed to provide students with the analytical tools and theoretical foundations required to address multinationals' key economic decisions;
  • develop their ability to professionally team work and their critical sense by proposing, in group, concrete solutions to a selection of key financial management problems for multinationals;
  • master key skills for their future professional career. Through problem-based learning, students will be asked to research autonomously information, apply modelization tools as well as professionally present and defend, in English, their transversal view selection on a selection of key financial management problems for multinationals.
This course contributes to the following Intended Learning Outcomes :










  • ILO-2 : Gaining the knowledge and understanding of one of the proposed fields of concentration or to gain deep knowledge in the field of the management being already specialized through a first University Master Degree . 
  • ILO-4 : To acquire the capacity to research autonomously and methodically the information needed to solve a complex, transversal management problem.
  • ILO-5 : Integrate autonomously researched information, tools, knowledge and context to build and propose, either individually or as part of a team, original, creative and viable solutions to concrete complex management problems, whether real or simulated, taking into account, when necessary, the human, social and legal context.
  • ILO-6 : Ability to speak 2 foreign languages: C1 in English and B2 in one other language.
  • ILO-7 : Being capable of professional team work 
  • ILO-9 : Developing a critical sense (arguing) 
  • ILO-10 : Developing a transversal, global vision 
  • ILO-11 : Creative conception of solutions 
  • ILO-12 : Professional capacity for oral communication
Prerequisite knowledge and skills :
The course objective is to strengthen students' knowledge in financial markets and corporate finance. Basic knowledge of these disciplines is necessary to follow the class.


 
Students who need to acquire the prerequisites are invited to read the following chapters:

- Accounting statements and cash flows: working knowledge of key financial statements, i.e. income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement 
Please read Chapters 2 and 3 - Ross, Westerfield and Jaffe. 2008. Corporate Finance. New York: McGraw-Hill, 8th edition;

- Basics in capital budgeting: working knowledge of discounting/compounding, of Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) concepts
Please read Chapters 4 to 7 - Ross, Westerfield and Jaffe. 2008. Corporate Finance. New York: McGraw-Hill, 8th edition;

- Mean-variance analysis: working knowledge of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)
Please read Chapter 5 - Hillier, Grinblatt and Titman. 2012. Financial Markets and Corporate Strategy. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2nd European edition.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
Modules will be sequenced with lectures and discussions on a selection of case studies illustrating financial decision making in an international setting.

Lectures will introduce the theoretical concepts and analytical tools, while case study analyses will enable students to practice their knowledge on real examples.
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
The course is composed of face-to-face lectures, exercise sessions and case discussions. Exercise sessions and case study analyses will be prepared through distance learning.
The course is organized in the second semester, from February to May.
Recommended or required readings :
Mandatory readings:
Eun and Resnick, International Financial Management, McGraw-Hill

These readings will enable students to deepen their understanding of the key concepts seen throughout the course. Students' understanding will be tested at the written exam.

Recommended readings from Bekaert and Hodrick, International Financial Management, Pearson International Edition will be announced during the course.

The course material (slides, references to case studies and exercises) will be available on the course web page on lol@. Students can acquire the case studies at the following address: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/access/40417532
Assessment methods and criteria :
Students will be graded on the basis of a continuous evaluation made of the works assigned during the course (60% of the final grade) as well as on the basis of a final written exam (40%).

The exam (40%) will assess students individual ability to




  • make capital budgeting decisions in an international context;
  • identify the consequences of exchange rate dynamics, international parity relationships, and international investment diversification on multinationals' key economic decisions;
  • design sound financing strategies for multinationals.

The case studies (60%) will assess students' ability to




  • research autonomously and methodically information;
  • apply modelization tools 
in order to build concrete and creative solutions to complex financial management problems, taking into account the human, social, legal and international context.

The group work on the case studies will make up 30% of the continuous evaluation. The students will also receive an individual grade making up 30% of their continuous evaluation on the basis of their oral presentations, the answers provided to questions during presentations and their active participation to other group presentations.

Relative weighting of individual assessment : 70%


Students who fail the first session exam, do not present themselves at the exam or do not participate to the class assignments will have to retake the exam in the second session organized in August/September.
Work placement(s) :
none
Organizational remarks :
Assigned readings and exercise preparations of the problem sets enable students to be properly prepared for the exam. 60% of the course grade is composed of a continuous evaluation: students should therefore actively participate to the class and the assigned works to succeed in this course.




Students are invited to regularly check the lol@ platform for announcements regarding the course.
Contacts :
Professor :
Marie Lambert - marie.lambert@ulg.ac.be
Teaching assistant :
Joachim Davoli - joachim.davoli@ulg.ac.be
Items online :
Slides, exercises and case studies
Slides, exercises and questions on case studies are available under "documents" on lol@ platform.These documents and the reference textbooks are the mandatory material. Case studies will be handed out in class.