摘要:It has long been an accepted precept that the
purpose of management is the maximization of shareholder wealth. Few would
dispute the notion that projects requiring long-term capital investments should
be subjected to capital budgeting. Numerous authors have, however, questioned
the appropriateness of subjecting non-capital expenditures, such as advertising,
research or product development, to capital budgeting analysis. These studies
have suggested that it is inappropriate to evaluate expenditures with uncertain
outcomes, such as advertising, research and product development, with a
technique as rigorous as net present value. The present study contends that it
is not only appropriate to evaluate non-capital expenditures using capital
budgeting techniques but it is essential for firm survival. Furthermore, despite
difficulty in applying capital budgeting to advertising or R&D expenditures,
no other analytical technique is superior to capital budgeting in determining
the effect of expenditures on the financial performance of the
firm.