Short Introduction to Corporate Finance
Cambridge Short Introductions to Management Series

The Short Introduction to Corporate Finance provides an accessibly written guide to contemporary financial institutional practice. Rau deploys both his professional expertise and experience of teaching MBA and graduate-level courses to produce a lively discussion of the key concepts of finance, liberally illustrated with real-world examples. Built around six essential paradigms, he builds an integrated framework covering all the major ideas in finance over the past half-century. Ideal for students and practitioners alike, it will become core reading for anyone aspiring to become an effective manager.

Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Who are the players in corporate finance?; 2. NPV and the investment decision of the firm; 3. Portfolio theory and the discount rate; 4. Capital structure theory; 5. Option pricing theory; 6. Asymmetric information; 7. Market efficiency; 8. Wrapping it up; Index.

Raghavendra Rau is the Sir Evelyn de Rothschild Professor of Finance at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. He is a director of the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, past president of the European Finance Association, and past editor of the journal Financial Management. Professor Rau was Principal at Barclays Global Investors, then the largest asset manager in the world, from 2008–9. His research has frequently been covered by the popular press including the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Economist, among others.