SP9250 Aksjonsforskning og praksisforskning Emneplan

Passed - Failed

The essay will be graded by the course lectures.

Sidsel Therese Natland and Haavard Aaslund

Admission Requirements: The course is offered only to fellows who are admitted to PhD programs or equivalent (such as førstelektorprogram).

• External applicants, please use Søknadsweb (fsweb.no). (Search for PhD courses, Faculty of Social Sciences)
• Internal candidates, please use Studentweb (fsweb.no) and sign up yourself, or contact the PhD administration.

Required attachments:

• Confirmation of admission to a PhD program, or part of a førstelektorprogram (external applicants).
• The participants must submit a presentation of their projects, their experiences from action research and practice research. The presentation will form the basis for discussion where active participation will be expected, both in presenting one’s ideas and providing feedback on the ideas of others. The presentations must be written (1-2 pages) and submitted to the coordinators by April 30, 2023. The presentations will be accessible for other students on Canvas

We start the course with an introduction to basic theoretical elements needed to understand investment decision rules, corporate policy decisions and capital budgeting/valuation. Then, we move forward to the topic of investment under uncertainty, which provides the main theoretical and methodological insights on portfolio selection, the capital asset pricing model (CAPM model) and the cost of capital. This topic is covered in more depth in the ØABED3500; "Investments" course. The topic of Capital Structure builds on the cost of capital to provide a deep understanding of optimal corporate policy decisions, in regards to capital structure, investment and payout policy, in the presence of market imperfections. We also cover the interlinkages with operating decisions and other investment decisions of the firm by developing the intuition on working capital management, leasing and risk management. The last topic draws on all of the above to cover more advanced valuation with leverage and capital budgeting. This last topic provides the grounds for the ØABED3700/4100; "Valuation" course.

None

After completing the course, the student should have the following overall learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence.

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Knowledge

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After completing this course, students will have

• broad knowledge of key topics in corporate finance, including; theories, tools and methods within the field,
• understanding of the role of corporate finance in society.

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Skills

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After completing this course, students will be able to

• apply professional knowledge and relevant results from research to practical and theoretical issues in order to take informed decisions
• to reflect on their own professional practice (in finance or non-finance profiles)
• to find, evaluate and refer to information and use it to shed light on basic finance issues
• to use basic professional tools and techniques

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General competence

After completing this course, students will;

• have insight into relevant professional and ethical issues related to finance,
• be able to plan and carry out varied work tasks and projects that extend over time, alone and as a participant in a group,
• be able to convey key theories, problems and solutions both in writing, orally and through other relevant forms of expression, and
• be aware of new thinking and innovation trends present in the field.

The course activities will include:

• topics and learning activities that will be covered each week:
  • either at home before the lecture (FLIP) or
  • in the classroom/zoom/streaming (CZS) during the lecture,
• tools/inputs to use (EXCEL)

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As a general idea, students will be asked to prepare some theoretical and/or practical material every week. Then, during the lectures (CZS), students are expected to actively participate and to generate discussion in the different learning activities (e.g., practical exercises, case/paper discussion, presentations, and should be prepared to work in teams as part of the learning process. When cases are discussed during lectures or as part of the coursework (CW), students can expect to get a partial solution to the case when the discussion is over.

In order to be able to register for the exam, the students must have two approved work requirements. First, students will take the tools proposed in the classroom and will adapt those tools to different setups in a practical excel exercise. Second, students will be asked to make a presentation of a given "real-life" financial management challenge using a business case. Students will present the main take-homes to the rest of the class.

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• Coursework 1: Tools, excel templates.
• Coursework 2: "Real-life" case presentation.

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Compulsory activities must be completed and approved by the given deadline in order for the student to take the exam. The approval of the coursework is defined as "Pass". The lack of approval of the coursework is defined as "Fail".

If one or more coursework requirements have not been approved, the student will be given the opportunity to submit an improved version once by a new given deadline. The deadlines for the above mentioned course requirements will be specified at the start of the course.