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BMGT43800

Academic Year 2024/2025

Strategic Resource Allocation (BMGT43800)

Subject:
Business Management
College:
Business
School:
Business
Level:
4 (Masters)
Credits:
10
Module Coordinator:
John Kelly
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This module is designed to provide students in the MSc in Strategic Management & Planning programme with the skills necessary to analyse strategic investment opportunities from a financial perspective. In other words put numbers on the “Strategic Story”. Finance theory suggests the objective of a firm’s management is to maximise shareholder wealth. In this module we will show how this in congruent with meeting ESG objectives for a business.

The fundamental goal of strategy is to maximize firm performance. Translating this goal into action entails both initiating long-ranging and prescient decisions on direction, while remaining simultaneously agile and tactical in navigating near-term horizons.

While strategy may design and craft the anatomy of a firm, finance irrigates the blood stream for survival, sustainability, growth and success. Finance is also the scorecard used to measure success at the senior corporate level. Investor Relations presentations are as CFO-centric as they are led by the CEO.

Consequently, it is critical to understand how financial flows measure the day-to-day status of a firm, and subsequently, how strategic investments decisions can build and transform the future performance of a firm. To do this you need an understanding of accounting (the scorecard) and finance (the metrics that measure value creation). This module is structured to focus along multiple learning pathways, including financial accounting, management accounting and of course finance.

How should firms make these investment decisions?
Examples of strategic investments that could potentially improve a firm’s performance include launching new products, building new facilities, investing in R&D and innovation, or acquiring other companies. However, evaluating whether to pursue these or any investment opportunities requires estimating their financial impact on firm performance.

However, the driving objective of this course is to equip you with a grounded understanding of the principles of investment finance, and to set this learning holistically within the context of the firm and of capital market dynamics.

There is no requirement for participants to have prior knowledge of accounting or finance.




About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this module students should be able to:
- Analyse basic financial statements;
- Apply DCF techniques to evaluate different investment proposals;
- Determine whether a strategic investment opportunity adds value to a firm;
- Recognize the real options embedded in potential investment opportunities;
- Explain the Financial performance metrics to a senior management audience;
- Evaluate the fundamental properties of capital markets.

Indicative Module Content:

This module will cover the following Finance topics:
1) Accounting: How (& why) it works - Balance Sheet / P&L
2) Value: sources and drivers
3) Risk: WACC, Opportunity Cost of Capital
4) Investment Decisions
5) Financing Decisions
6) Debt Policy
7) Dividend (Payout) Policy
8) Financial Analysis & Planning
9) M&A
10) Options (Financial & Real)

The intereaction between strategy and accounting/finance will be a key element of this module.

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

36
Specified Learning Activities

72
Autonomous Student Learning

132
Total

240

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This module will be research led as it is essentially imparting knowledge of the subject area to students with no prior knowledge of finance. However, the assessments are designed to promote enquiry based learning by the students themselves. The group assignment is designed to encourage students to mix and develop their knowledge of current issues in finance/strategy. This module attracts students with varied backgrounds and the group assignment is an excellent way for peer learning.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Quizzes/Short Exercises: Create 2 questions to support the UCD Team competing in the CFA Challenge. There is a tight turnaround for this assignment you MUST be in the preceeding lecture. Week 4 Graded No

20

 No
Group Work Assignment: A presentation demonstrating the interaction between finance & strategic mgt. There is a Q&A after your presentation.

I may award an Individual grade.

Details on Brightspace		 Week 11 Graded No

40

 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Terminal Assignment:
A 2,000 word (MAX.) essay on the theme of how "the yarn of finance is woven into the cloth of strategy".
The title of your essay to be agreed with lecturer- c.week 5.		 Week 12 Graded No

40

 No

Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Summer No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Peer review activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

In addition to group/class feedback, individual feedback will be given on a 1 to 1 basis as appropriate.

Main Text (finance):
Brealey, Myers & Marcus (2020) Fundamentals of Corporate Finance (10th ed.), McGraw Hill
This book is now in an 11th edition. In reality any edition of this text will be fine for this module.

Supplemental text (strategy):
Grant & Jordan (2015) Foundations of Strategy (2nd ed.), Wiley

Supplemental text (management accounting):
Drury (2021) Management & Cost Accounting 11th ed., Cengage

Supplemental text (general business):
Magretta (2003) What Management Is: How it Works and Why it's Everyone's Business, Profile
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