Repartir o Agrandar

The chief executive of a fictional listed Spanish maker of heat-pump compressors receives a letter from an activist fund that holds 6.2 percent and demands a debt-financed buyback, cost and research cuts and higher earnings per share within a year. Stage 1: the capital, the workforce and the reply to the activist. Stage 2: suppliers, research and the community.

Stage 3: the half-year EPS dip - how to explain it, prices and executive pay. Stage 4: the extraordinary general meeting - the board, the surplus cash and an old loss-making plant.

Every decision offers a split option that lifts reported EPS and calms the activist today by taking value from employees, suppliers, customers or the future, a grow option that passes the multiplication, comparative-advantage and materiality tests, and a status-quo or well-meant option that fails them.

The model is deterministic: fixed effects on a value-created index, stakeholder trust, activist pressure, net debt and reported EPS; value created drives EBITDA, the five-year shareholder return and stakeholder value together, and pressure sets the probability that the activist wins its board seats.

The score combines the quality of each decision with four outcomes and is capped when a decision breaks market-abuse law (a misleading adjusted EPS, a private tip to the activist). Inspired by published research on corporate purpose and stakeholder value. Spanish (primary, peninsular register) and English.

An advanced simulation for participants used to working with the main frameworks and trade-offs of the subject, designed for executive education and experienced professionals.