IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mfj/journl/v14y2010i1-2p29-71.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Real Options Analysis and the Assumptions of Corporate Finance: A Non-Technical Review

Author

Listed:
  • Tom Arnold

    () (University of Richmond, USA)

  • Richard Shockley

    (Indiana University, USA)

Abstract

This paper provides a non-technical presentation of the theoretical foundations of corporate financial decision making and the net present value (NPV) rule. Our objective is to show that the concepts of value and value creation arise from a single, unified framework that is firmly rooted in neoclassical microeconomic theory. This, in turn, allow us to demonstrate that the corporate valuation approach generically known as real options analysis is perfectly justifiable – without further qualification – in any situation when investors want managers to maximize NPV.

Suggested Citation

  • Tom Arnold & Richard Shockley, 2010. "Real Options Analysis and the Assumptions of Corporate Finance: A Non-Technical Review," Multinational Finance Journal, Multinational Finance Journal, vol. 14(1-2), pages 29-71, March-Jun.
    • Handle: RePEc:mfj:journl:v:14:y:2010:i:1-2:p:29-71
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.mfsociety.org/modules/modDashboard/uploadFiles/journals/MJ~779~p170213p4u1o66ub51na227jl2i4.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.mfsociety.org/modules/modDashboard/uploadFiles/journals/googleScholar/800.html
    Download Restriction: no

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Grossman, Sanford J & Hart, Oliver D, 1979. "A Theory of Competitive Equilibrium in Stock Market Economies," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(2), pages 293-329, March.
    2. Darrell Duffie & Chi-Fu Huang, 2005. "Implementing Arrow-Debreu Equilibria By Continuous Trading Of Few Long-Lived Securities," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Sudipto Bhattacharya & George M Constantinides (ed.),Theory Of Valuation, chapter 4, pages 97-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    3. Roy Radner, 1974. "A Note on Unanimity of Stockholders' Preferences among Alternative Production Plans: A Reformulation of the Ekern-Wilson Model," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 5(1), pages 181-184, Spring.
    4. Hayne E. Leland, 1974. "Production Theory and the Stock Market," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 5(1), pages 125-144, Spring.
    5. Eugene F. Fama, 1972. "Perfect Competition and Optimal Production Decisions under Uncertainty," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 3(2), pages 509-530, Autumn.
    6. Stephen A. Ross, 1976. "Options and Efficiency," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 90(1), pages 75-89.
    7. Summers, Lawrence H, 1985. "On Economics and Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(3), pages 633-635, July.
    8. Harrison, J. Michael & Kreps, David M., 1979. "Martingales and arbitrage in multiperiod securities markets," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 381-408, June.
    9. Michael C. Jensen & John B. Long Jr., 1972. "Corporate Investment under Uncertainty and Pareto Optimality in the Capital Markets," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 3(1), pages 151-174, Spring.
    10. Ross, Stephen A, 1987. "The Interrelations of Finance and Economics: Theoretical Perspectives," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(2), pages 29-34, May.
    11. Grossman, Sanford J & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1977. "On Value Maximization and Alternative Objectives of the Firm," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 389-402, May.
    12. Steinar Ekern & Robert Wilson, 1974. "On the Theory of the Firm in an Economy with Incomplete Markets," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 5(1), pages 171-180, Spring.
    13. Baron, David P, 1979. "On the Relationship between Complete and Incomplete Financial Market Models," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 20(1), pages 105-117, February.
    14. Dybvig, Philip H. & Ross, Stephen A., 2003. "Arbitrage, state prices and portfolio theory," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.),Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 10, pages 605-637, Elsevier.
    15. Cox, John C. & Ross, Stephen A. & Rubinstein, Mark, 1979. "Option pricing: A simplified approach," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 229-263, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hervé Crès & Mich Tvede, 2001. "Proxy fights in incomplete markets: when majority voting and sidepayments are equivalent," Sciences Po publications 726/2001, Sciences Po.
    2. Ait-Sahalia, Yacine & Lo, Andrew W., 2000. "Nonparametric risk management and implied risk aversion," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1-2), pages 9-51.
    3. Lim, Terence & Lo, Andrew W. & Merton, Robert C. & Scholes, Myron S., 2006. "The Derivatives Sourcebook," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 1(5–6), pages 365-572, April.
    4. Suresh M. Sundaresan, 2000. "Continuous‐Time Methods in Finance: A Review and an Assessment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1569-1622, August.
    5. Duffie, Darrell, 2003. "Intertemporal asset pricing theory," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.),Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 11, pages 639-742, Elsevier.
    6. Li, Jing & Rugman, Alan M., 2007. "Real options and the theory of foreign direct investment," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 687-712, December.
    7. Constantinides, George M. & Jackwerth, Jens Carsten & Perrakis, Stylianos, 2005. "Option pricing: Real and risk-neutral distributions," CoFE Discussion Papers 05/06, University of Konstanz, Center of Finance and Econometrics (CoFE).
    8. Bejan, Camelia, 2008. "Production and financial decisions under uncertainty," MPRA Paper 11033, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5374 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. GALE, Douglas; GOTTARDI, Piero, 2017. "Equilibrium theory of banks’ capital structure," Economics Working Papers ECO2017/02, European University Institute.
    11. Camelia Bejan, 2020. "Investment and financing in incomplete markets," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 69(1), pages 149-182, February.
    12. Azar, José & Vives, Xavier, 2018. "Oligopoly, Macroeconomic Performance, and Competition Policy," CEPR Discussion Papers 13000, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Michael Magill, 2000. "Equity, Options and Efficiency in the Presence of Moral Hazard," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1845, Econometric Society.
    14. Perrakis, Stylianos, 1989. "Les contributions de la théorie financière à la solution de problèmes en organisation industrielle et en microéconomie appliquée," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 65(4), pages 518-546, décembre.
    15. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/10282 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Tomas Philipson, 1991. "Dynamic information release," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 205-213, June.
    17. Douglas Gale & Piero Gottardi, 2018. "A General Equilibrium Theory of Capital Structure," 2018 Meeting Papers 264, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    18. Gale, Douglas & Gottardi, Piero, 2020. "A general equilibrium theory of banks' capital structure," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    19. Weidong Tian & Junya Jiang & Weidong Tian, 2017. "Model Uncertainty Effect on Asset Prices," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 17(2), pages 205-233, June.
    20. Mark Britten-Jones & Anthony Neuberger, 1996. "Arbitrage pricing with incomplete markets," Applied Mathematical Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(4), pages 347-363.
    21. George Yungchih Wang, 2012. "Evaluating an Investment Project in an Incomplete Market," The Review of Finance and Banking, Academia de Studii Economice din Bucuresti, Romania / Facultatea de Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori / Catedra de Finante, vol. 4(1), pages 055-073, June.
    22. David M. Kreps, 1982. "Multiperiod Securities and the Efficient Allocation of Risk: A Comment on the Black-Scholes Option Pricing Model," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Information and Uncertainty, pages 203-232, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mfj:journl:v:14:y:2010:i:1-2:p:29-71. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Theodossiou Panayiotis). General contact details of provider: http://edirc.repec.org/data/mfsssea.html .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.