THE PROGRAM THAT FOCUSES ON COMPANIES’ FINANCIAL ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

Johan Graaf, Associate Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics.

– Many managers and leaders face financial challenges in their businesses – challenges that sometimes need to be resolved under considerable time pressure. The aim of this program is to give them the knowledge of financial techniques and instruments required to handle such issues efficiently and well, says Johan.

Who could benefit from taking this course?

– The program is relevant for anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of financial issues in today’s trade and industry sector. But if I were going to highlight a few concrete examples, I’d say managers and leaders of small and medium-sized companies, and Members of the Boards of these companies. CFOs, financial directors and corporate lawyers would probably also find the program hugely useful.

"THE PROGRAM IS RELEVANT FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO GAIN A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF FINANCIAL ISSUES IN TODAY’S TRADE AND INDUSTRY SECTOR"

How would managers and leaders benefit from taking a course like this?

– There are multiple reasons why they’d benefit, obviously, but one thing I’d particularly like to stress is the incredibly rapid development in the financial sector in the last few decades. Today’s financial landscape is totally different to the one that decision makers faced, say, a couple of decades ago. Deregulation, globalization, and digitalization have combined to totally change a sector that’s been relatively stable for several hundred years in just a very short space of time. And the rate of change has not levelled off: if anything, the reverse is true. Keeping up with this development as a generalist – which is what the majority of today’s trade and industry leaders are – is challenging, to put it mildly. And this is where our program comes in. It offers an intensive knowledge lift, with a particular focus on financial issues and decision-making situations, and has been specifically developed for today’s Swedish trade and industry sector, says Johan.

What’s the program about?

– We start by creating an understanding of how the financial market works and the financial instruments of which companies can make use. Then we build frameworks by discussing overall strategic issues. After which we take a deep dive into three connected themes, namely equity financing, loan financing and financial risk, and financial risk management. And finally, we apply the knowledge we’ve acquired to a real-life case. The participants read up on a concrete case study that we then discuss and from which we learn lessons in a webinar that wraps up the course.

"KEEPING UP WITH THIS DEVELOPMENT AS A GENERALIST – WHICH IS WHAT THE MAJORITY OF TODAY’S TRADE AND INDUSTRY LEADERS ARE – IS CHALLENGING, TO PUT IT MILDLY"

What do the participants take away from the program?

– The aim is, as I mentioned, to enhance the participants’ ability to manage concrete financial issues in their operations. And I’m very keen to stress that the teaching methods we use in this program are interactive. We endeavor to adapt the content and the discussion in line with the issues that the participants are currently facing in their everyday working lives, which enables us to make the program as applicable as possible to companies’ concrete situations. And finally, I’d also like to mention that the participants will naturally have numerous opportunities to share experiences with other experienced managers and leaders, both inside and outside the classroom. A lot of people state that this is an important reason why they chose to take a course with us, here at SSE Executive Education.

From the program content

• Which financial instruments are used in financial management and how do the markets in which they are traded work?
• Overall strategic issues: how can we finance our growth? What are the consequences of a corporate merger or acquisition? What happens if we’re inadequately profitable? And how do you actually define “inadequate profitability”?
• Equity financing and owner relationships: how do you acquire new equity capital? How might different types of owner relationship affect the company’s scope for action? About the advantages and disadvantages of different types of ownership structure.
• Loan financing and financial risk: what are the potential consequences of high indebtedness levels? What requirements do banks place on us? Does it matter how we structure our loans? How do we resolve an urgent capital requirement?
• Financial risk management, with a special focus on currency risks and interest risks: how can companies manage their currency risks? Can currency risks be eliminated completely or are they something you just have to live with? When should you change your interest rate sensitivity, and how do you do it?