Future-proofing—Valuing Adaptability, Flexibility, Convertibility and Options: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach

Future-proofing—Valuing Adaptability, Flexibility, Convertibility and Options: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach
ISBN-10
9811507236
ISBN-13
9789811507236
Category
Technology & Engineering
Pages
175
Language
English
Published
2019-11-27
Publisher
Springer Nature
Author
David G. Carmichael

Description

This book presents a unifying approach to the valuation of incorporated flexibility. Flexibility, in general terms, recognizes future uncertainty and refers to being proactive now so as to secure the future possibility of being able to adapt, convert, or generally introduce a change, if it is worthwhile to do so at the time. That is, deliberate provision is made now in order to have the ability (but not the obligation) to adapt, convert, or change in the future; this change is discretionary, and depends on future circumstances. The applications demonstrated here cover engineering, building, housing, finance, economics, contracts, general management, and project management. The examples are as follows: designing/building features in infrastructure (including buildings and houses) such that the infrastructure can be adapted in response to future changes in climate, demographics, or usage; incorporating features in contracts such that the terms and conditions can be changed in response to changing situations; purchasing rights now such that options exist to buy or sell an asset in the future; structuring a financial investment agreement so that its terms and conditions can be changed in the future; structuring project payments to provide future guarantees of revenue if needed; and designing an operation such that it can be expanded, contracted, abandoned, switched, changed, delayed, or deferred in the future. The level of required mathematics is kept at a very modest level: an undergraduate knowledge of algebra and probability is all that is required. Numerical examples, accompanied by readily understandable diagrams, illustrate the methods outlined. The formulations are kept straightforward and accessible for practitioners and academics alike.

Similar books

  • Animal Sciences: The Biology, Care, and Production of Domestic Animals, Fourth Edition
    By John R. Campbell, M. Douglas Kenealy, Karen L. Campbell

    Timberlake claimed in 1980 that a fundamental problem with Singer's work is the lack of an adequate definition of suffering ...

  • Resilient Agriculture: Cultivating Food Systems for a Changing Climate
    By Laura Lengnick

    3. D. Layne. 2013. Tree Fruit: Protecting Your Investment. American/Western Fruit Grower, September/October. 4. R. Snyder and J. Melu-Abreu. 2005. Frost ...

  • Biodesign: The Process of Innovating Medical Technologies
    By Stefanos Zenios, Josh Makower, Paul Yock

    At that time, these were in the low $10s of millions. ... be a good partner going forward, even though it takes longer to get the deal done," offered Chess.

  • Advanced Signal Processing: A Concise Guide
    By Amir-Homayoon Najmi, Todd Moon

    [ 59 ] S. Kotz , T. J. Kozubowski , and K. Podgorski , The Laplace ... valued signal processing : The proper way to deal with impropriety , ” IEEE Trans .

  • Resources for Technical Communication
    By Pearson Education, Pearson Education Staff, David P Pearson Education

    Some documents are annotated; some are left without annotations to provide more flexibility for instructors. This booklet can be packaged at no additional cost with any Longman title in technical communication.

  • Chemistry: An Introduction to General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry; Chemistry Study Pack Version 2.0 CD-ROM; The Chemistry of Life CD-ROM;...
    By Karen C. Timberlake

    Chemistry: An Introduction to General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry; Chemistry Study Pack Version 2.0 CD-ROM; The Chemistry of Life CD-ROM;...

  • Poultry Science: Fifth Edition
    By Colin G. Scanes, Karen D. Christensen

    The emission rates for ammonia (Casey et al., 2006): • Layers: 116 g NH3 per AU (AU or animal unit or 500 kg). • Broilers: 135 g NH3 per AU (AU or animal unit or 500 kg). Emission rates in different reports vary from less than either 10 ...

  • Solid State Materials Chemistry
    By Patrick M. Woodward, Pavel Karen, John S. O. Evans

    [45] B.F. Hoskins, R. Robson, “Design and construction of a new class of scaffolding-like materials comprising infinite polymeric frameworks of 3D-linked molecular rods. A reappraisal of the zinc cyanide and cadmium cyanide structures ...

  • Abbreviations Dictionary
    By Dean A. Stahl, Karen Landen

    ... Tallest Mountain Mount Robson—12,972 feet or 3,954 meters—in the Canadian Rockies Canada's Westernmost City Dawson, Yukon Canada's Westernmost Point in Yukon Territory just east of Alaska's Demarcation Point Canary Islands' Largest ...

  • Agriculture: A Very Short Introduction
    By Paul Brassley, Richard Soffe

    ACCOUNTING Christopher Nobes ADVERTISING Winston Fletcher AFRICAN AMERICAN RELIGION Eddie S. Glaude Jr AFRICAN HISTORY ... Hugh Bowden ALGEBRA Peter M. Higgins AMERICAN HISTORY Paul S. Boyer AMERICAN IMMIGRATION David A. Gerber AMERICAN ...