Fin­an­cial Ana­lys­is of In­vest­ment Pro­jects in Emer­ging Mar­kets and De­vel­op­ing Coun­tries - A Prac­tic­al Ap­proach

Course content

This course is specifically designed to equip students to undertake and apply financial analysis of investment projects in emerging markets and developing countries. The course will provide students with a deep understanding of the specific challenges of financial analysis in emerging markets and developing countries. At the end of the course, students are able to understand and critically assess financial analysis theories, methods and tools and to conduct financial analysis of concrete investment projects in emerging markets and developing countries. 

Foreign Direct Investments into developing countries and emerging markets are steadily increasing and now make up about half of global FDI´s. Developing countries and emerging markets are where much of market growth takes place and where abundant, often low cost, resources can be accessed. It is essential for firms and organizations to have a solid understanding of the market, institutional, socio-economic and cultural specificities of emerging markets and developing countries and that they understand how to factor these specificities into the financial analysis.

A highlight of this course is that students will work with a practical approach on real life business cases in close collaboration with the global pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk A/S. This will end up with a group presentation of work done in class with professionals from Novo Nordisk participating and giving feed-back. This will give a unique opportunity to work hands-on with real-life cases and gain insight into real business life in a globally operating company more and more oriented towards emerging markets.

While a thorough financial analysis is important to all investment projects, it is particularly important to investment projects in emerging markets and developing countries. This is due to for instance the market and currency volatility, weak or non-existent financial intermediaries, lacking market intelligence, agency issues, different socio-economic conditions, unstable and unpredictable institutions and taxation regimes. Hence, compared to financial analysis in developed markets, financial analysis in emerging markets and developing countries needs to a much larger extent to emphasize and take into account the specificities of these types of contexts, for example;

• Country risk and country risk premia
• Institutional frameworks (legislation, institutions, government bodies etc.)
• The resource base (human resources, skills etc.)
• Cultural and language barriers
• Infrastructure (transportation, power etc.)
• International project management
• Currency risks and restrictions
• Social return on Investment, Sustainability and governance 

A main aim of the course is to understand these challenges and risks and provide students with instruments to understand and analyze them.

The course will work with strategic investment and finance theory in order to come up with qualified investment analysis and financing plans that can be actually used for project planning, investor pitches and negotiations with financing institutions working with and in emerging markets and developing countries. A particularly interesting and valuable tool in this connection is the relatively new area around real options which specifically takes into account uncertainty and risks in projects.