a. Use the information provided to calculate the strategic? NPV, NPVstrategic, for Asor? Products' proposed equipment expenditure.

b. Judging on the basis your findings in part?(a?),what action should Jenny recommend to management with regard to the proposed equipment? expenditure?

c. In? general, how does this problem demonstrate the importance of considering real options when making capital budgeting? decisions?

Real options and the strategic NPV Jenny Rene, the CFO of Asor Products, Inc., has just completed an evaluation of a proposed capital expenditure for equipment that would expand the firm's manufacturing capacity.

Using the traditional NPV methodology, she found the project unacceptable because: traditional $2,19 0 NPV Before recommending rejection of the proposed project, she has decided to assess whether there might be real options embedded in the firm's cash flows. Her evaluation uncovered three options and their probability:

Option 1: Abandonment The project could be abandoned at the end of 3 years, resulting in an addition to NPV of $1,200.

Option 2: Growth If the projected outcomes occurred, an opportunity to expand the firm's product offerings further would occur at the end of 4 years. Exercise of this option is estimated to add $3,730 to the project's NPV

Option 3: Timing Certain phases of the proposed project could be delayed if market and competitive conditions caused the firm's forecast revenues to develop more slowly than planned. Such a delay in implementation at that point has an NPV of $10,300.

Jenny estimated that there was a 30% chance that the abandonment option would need to be exercised, a 35% chance that the growth option would be exercised, and only a 10% chance that the implementation of certain phases of the project would affect timing.