HARVARD SUMMER SCHOOL

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
COURSE SYLLABUS
MGMT S-2700 CORPORATE FINANCE
Summer Term, 2016
(Draft as of 6/20/2016)
Professor: Hamza Abdurezak, PhD, FRM
Telephone: (617) 851-8406
Email: abdurez@fas.harvard.edu or abdurez@brandeis.edu
Room: Sever Hall 213
Time: Mondays and Wednesdays 6:30PM-9:30PM

COURSE DESCRIPTION
The goal of this course is to develop the analytical skills for making corporate investment
and financial decisions and risk analysis. Topics covered include the concepts of present
value and the opportunity cost of capital, discounted cash flow analysis and other
valuation techniques; and issues of short & long term financial management, risk and
return, capital asset pricing model; capital budgeting and risk analysis; corporate capital
structure and financing decisions; dividend policy, investment and financial decisions in
the international context, including exchange rate/interest rate risk analysis; mergers &
acquisitions and issues of corporate governance and control. The course teaching
methodologies will be based on lectures for conceptual framework which will be
followed up by Harvard Business School cases for real world applications. The course
outline presented below is designed emphasizing the sequences of first lectures & case
applications on each topics of corporate finance.
Prerequisites: Introductory level accounting helpful but not required
Required Text Book and Cases
Corporate Finance, by Ross, Westerfield and Jaffe (RWJ), 10th edition, McGraw-Hill,
2013. You can buy either hard copy or electronic copy. This is a very good textbook with
a good balance between theory and real world examples.
We will use CONNECT, an online platform that comes with book to do assigned
problem sets and exercises. The online edition and CONNET platform are bundled
together are cheaper than buying the hard copy of the book separately and buying
access code of CONNECT separately.

Cases and Reading Packet: The course packet contains Harvard Business School cases
and will be purchased online from Harvard Business School Publishing. All registered
students will receive the access directly from the professor.
Regular reading of the Wall Street Journal, the Economist and Financial Times is
strongly recommended.

Course Requirements
The course workload is equivalent to the full semester course and students are expected
to attend six hours weekly regular class time and a significant amount of time out of class
on readings, problem sets and group case studies.
Attendance: Students are expected to attend and participate in class discussions. We take
class attendance every class.
Assignments and case write-up: There are case write-ups and problem sets to be
completed by the students during the seven weeks summer semester. They constitute
40% of the final grade as indicated below in the course outline. Case write-ups can be
done with a group of 2 to 3 students. The cases and problem sets are designed to reenforce the concepts covered in the readings and class lectures. They are due at the
beginning of the class on their due dates as indicated below.
Mid Term: There will be a mid-term on July 11, 2016 for a 25% course grade
Final Exam: There will be in class final exam on August 1, 2016 for a 35% course
grade.
Grade Determination
Group Case Write-ups
Problem Sets
Mid Term
Final Exam
Total

20%
20%
25%
35%
100%

Academic integrity and other course policies

Students are expected to uphold the academic integrity, rules, policies and student
responsibilities of Harvard Summer School. Please carefully read the details of policies
and student responsibilities which is available at
http://www.summer.harvard.edu/policies/student-responsibilities.
I would also like to remind students on the Harvard Guide to Using Sources, which is
available at http://usingsources.fas.harvard.edu.
Accessibility issues
Students with accessibility issues should get in touch with the Accessibility Services
office at Accessibility@dcemail.harvard.edu or 617-998-9640. Students with disabilities
should make arrangements with the Accessibilities Services Office directly.
2

COURSE OUTLINE
Date

Topics and Readings

06/20 Introduction to Corporate Finance, Corporate Financial Statements and Cash

Flows
Readings: Corporate Finance, by Ross, Westerfield and Jaffe , Chapters 1 & 2.
06/22 Discounted Cash Flow Analysis & Alternative Investment Decision Methods
Readings: Corporate Finance, by Ross, Westerfield and Jaffe, Chapters 4 and 5
06/27 Making Investment Decisions:
Readings: Corporate Finance, by Ross, Westerfield and Jaffe, Chapter 6
Group Assignment 1: Investment Analysis & Lockheed Tristar Case due
06/29 Risk, Return and the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)
Readings: Corporate Finance, by Ross, Westerfield and Jaffe, Chapters 10, 11
and 13
Problem Set 1 Due
07/04 Independence Day- No class
07/06 The Divisional and Company Cost of Capital and An Alternative View of Risk
and Return: Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT)
Readings: Corporate Finance, by Ross, Westerfield and Jaffe, Chapter 12
Group Assignment 2
HBS Case Marriott Corporation: The Cost of Capital (Abridged) HBS 9-289047
07/11 Midterm Exam (20% of the course grade)
07/13 Market Efficiency, behavioral, Finance and Long Term Financing
Corporate Finance, by Ross, Westerfied and Jaffe, Chapter 14, 15 and 20
07/18 Capital Structure & Dividend Policy: Lecture
Readings: Corporate Finance, by Ross, Westerfied and Jaffe, Chapters 16, 17 &
19
Problem Set 2 Due
07/20 Capital Structure & Dividend Policy Applications: HBS Cases Discussions
Group Assignment 3 & 4 (Please note that both cases are due on the same
date)

Winfield Refuse Management Inc.: Raising Debt vs. Equity. HBS 9-913530
b) Dividend Policy at FPL Group, Inc. HBS 9-295-059
a)

:
07/25 Valuation: An Integrated Application of Investing & Financing Decisions
Valuation Models: Bond valuation, Dividend Discount Model, Free Cash Flow
Models, Adjusted Present Value, Valuation using Multiples, Bond Valuation
Readings: Corporate Finance, by Ross, Westerfied and Jaffe, Chapters 8, 9 and
18,
07/27 Risk Management
Readings: Corporate Finance, by Ross, Westerfied and Jaffe, Chapters 7 and 25
(Please read only sections 7.1 through 7.3
Mergers and Acquisitions
Readings: Corporate Finance, by Ross, Westerfied and Jaffe, Chapters 29
Course Wrap-Up
Problem Set 3 due
08/01 Final Exam (35% of the course grade)