Course Improvement Grant Spotlight: “Case Study: Value Implications beyond Shareholders”

Posted by fowlinj on Thursday, March 31, 2022 in Grants.

by Julaine Fowlin

Josh White, Assistant Professor of Finance, talked about his Course Improvement Grant, “Case Study: Value Implications beyond Shareholders,” in an interview with CFT assistant director Julaine Fowlin. Josh’s project involves working with a teaching assistant to create a case study examining making value-creating financial decisions for stakeholders beyond shareholders. The case study will be used in the Corporate Financial Policy course, typically taken by Master of Business and Master of Finance Students. In the video interview, Josh shares that the need for such a case study came about because of a profound shift towards considering value implications beyond shareholders and considering other stakeholders such as employees, the community, and the environment. The change can be encapsulated by a statement made in August 2019 by the Business Roundtable, which compromises of chief executive officers of America’s leading companies. The Business Roundtable redefined their corporate purpose away from shareholder privacy and committed to leading their companies for the benefit of all stakeholders. Josh wanted to address this change in his course and could not find any existing case studies that addressed making value-creating financial decisions for stakeholders beyond shareholders. This case study will give future business leaders tools to create long-term value that better serves everyone. Josh encourages all faculty to take advantage of the internal teaching grant opportunity to allow for continuous improvement. Josh believes that we must alter teaching content as the world changes. This belief mirrors his teaching philosophy as he strives to ground all his courses in finance theory and extant empirical evidence focusing on contemporary issues.