Hi Colin, my name is Michael and I’m busy with my MBA at GIBS.
Part of our prescribed reading is a book on corporate finance – “Turning Vision into Value”.
Imagine my surprise when I saw that Goalfix owns the copyright.
I always associate Goalfix with financial modelling – so how do you own the book – especially as Prof. Mike Ward and Allan Price are the authors?
Care to satisfy my curiosity, please?
Regards, Mike.
Colin’s Response
Hi Mike, thanks for your email.
Yes, this is one of those strange but true stories. Some years ago I bought Goalfix Pty. Ltd. and the book was part of the assets I acquired.
Actually, I first came across the book early in the 2000s and thought it was a really “easy” read – written by an architect for non-financial managers. Little did I realise that I would soon thereafter own it!
Van Schaik is the publisher and I’ve asked Prof. Ward to pen a new edition. I, in turn, have suggested one or two additional chapters.
My suggestion relates to introducing a “how to” element into, what is currently an excellent educational work, in the form of an additional chapter – entitled Applying the Theory.
The book as it stands provides a highly informative tour of the theory of turning corporate vision into actual shareholder value – and in that sense the contents, explanations and examples are enlightening, comprehensive and invaluable to non- financial executives. It also includes a powerful analytical tool, the ValueDriver XL model.
The purpose of the additional chapter is to expand on the practical application of these principles in a wider and more varied business environment, specifically answering:
- How do I apply the principles in this book to my company, given its specific structure and characteristics?
- What can I do to develop a reliable, predictive tool to quantify the effects of making specific changes to the key drivers of my business?
The answers to these questions can, of course, be provided by the application of efficient financial models. So, the wheel turns full circle – back to my passion.
Hope your curiosity is satisfied!
All my best, Colin.
