READOS / Business
Investment Appraisal and Business Cases
Testing whether an investment is worth making: needs, costs, benefits, NPV, scenarios and financing.
Start reading →Contents
- 01Before you buy: challenge the need, then judge the whole-life commitmentThe cheapest and greenest purchase may be the one you avoid. How to test whether a need can be removed, shared or met by repair, then compare remaining options on whole-life cash flows.
- 02Feasibility is more than the numbers: six tests before you commitA strong spreadsheet can still fail on technology, operations, suppliers, cash, strategy or rules. How to test all six, compare fair alternatives and settle make-or-break questions first.
- 03Cost-benefit analysis for business decisions: a practical method with a worked equipment exampleHow to compare all the costs and benefits of a decision, including hidden, opportunity and intangible ones, then test it with payback, NPV and sensitivity, using a worked machine purchase.
- 04NPV, IRR and payback answer different questions: reading investment measures when they disagreeOne option has the higher return percentage and faster payback; another creates more value. How to read NPV, IRR and payback together, spot when IRR misleads and make the trade-off visible.
- 05What the NPV spreadsheet hides: timing, incremental cash and the assumptions behind the numberNet present value turns future cash into today's dollars, but it is only as good as its inputs. How to check incremental cash flows, timing, the discount rate and how fragile the answer is.
- 06Sensitivity and scenario analysis: testing a business case before you trust itHow to find which assumptions really drive an investment decision, using one-at-a-time sensitivity, tornado charts, switching values and coherent scenarios, with a fully worked equipment example.
- 07Testing the numbers you are given: who produced the estimate, and can it actually be true?Forecasts and recovery plans usually come from people who need a yes. How to treat an estimate as testimony, check the rate it depends on against the record and separate facts from hopes.
- 08What would have happened anyway? The counterfactual behind every business caseBusiness cases describe the future with a project, but rarely the future without it. How to set a realistic base case, separate new value from shifted sales and measure what really changed.
- 09Not every return is financial: whose value, who pays and how it is capturedAn investment can look weak to the party paying for it and strong for others. How to map who receives value, who pays and how benefits are captured, without hiding weak economics.
- 10Buying for the whole life of equipment: spares, support and supplier dependenceA purchase ends at handover, but you live with it for years. How to plan spares, maintenance, documentation, skills, software and supplier dependence before you sign the order.
- 11The best long-term technology may not be your next investment: sequencing a transitionA preferred future technology can depend on supply, infrastructure or skills that are not ready yet. How to separate the destination from the next move, fund enablers and plan exits.
- 12Decide the investment before the financing: an affordable repayment is not a business caseFinance, leases and subscriptions change when you pay, not whether an investment is worthwhile. How to decide the investment first, then the financing, and keep fixed commitments in view.
- 13Value first, financing second: separating the investment from the funding and choosing the right testCheap finance can make a weak project look good, and the wrong method answers the wrong question. How to judge an investment before its funding, pick the right test and keep analysis honest.
These topic-based reading collections are organised alphabetically; chapters may be read in any order.
← All books