聽力原文:

Shareholder value
股東價值
Analyse this
分析股東價值
The enduring power of the biggest idea in business
商業中最持久的理念
WHAT is the most influential contemporary book about the world economy? An obvious choice is “Capital in the Twenty-First Century”, a 696-page analysis of inequality by Thomas Piketty, a French economist. There is another candidate: “Valuation”, a 825-page manual on corporate finance and shareholder value. Some 700,000 copies of it encumber the bookshelves of MBA students, investors and chief executives around the globe.

重點詞匯：

1 enduring adj. 持久的；耐久的
2 contemporary n. 同時代的人；同時期的東西 adj. 當代的；同時代的；屬于同一時期的
3 inequality n. 不平等；不同；不平均
4 valuation n. 評價，估價；計算
5 encumber vt. 阻塞；妨害；拖累； 大（或重）得難以移動；使負擔沉重

聽力原文:

Inequality and shareholder value are linked in the minds of many folk, who blame investors and managers for stagnant wages and financial crises. Ruthless corporations are a big theme in America’s election campaign. The near-collapse of Valeant, a drugs firm, seems to illustrate a toxic business culture. Its shares have fallen by 73% this year. It is restating its accounts and is in negotiations with its lenders and under investigation by regulators. Valeant describes itself as “bringing value to our shareholders”. While there is no indication of fraudulent or illegal practice, the company could end up joining a pantheon of corporate fiascos that includes Enron (which pledged to “create significant value for our shareholders”), Lehman Brothers, (“maximising shareholder value”) and MCI WorldCom (“a proven record of shareholder value creation”).

重點詞匯：

1 stagnant (經濟、社會等) 停滯不前的（表不滿）
2 ruthlessadj. 無情的，殘忍的　
3 restate 重申，重述
4 indication n. 指示，指出；跡象；象征
5 fraudulent adj. 欺騙性的；欺詐的
6 pantheon（統稱某一領域的）名人，名流
7 fiasco慘敗；可恥的失敗；尷尬的結局
8 enron 安然
9 MCI WorldCom 美國世界通信公司（WorldCom，簡稱世通）

聽力原文:

Yet the sixth edition of “Valuation”, published last year, a quarter of a century after the first, is a reminder of why shareholder value is still the most powerful idea in business and why many criticisms thrown at it are unfair. The origins of the doctrine lie in the 1950s and 1960s, when Franco Modigliani and Merton Miller, two scholars, showed that a firm’s value is independent of its capital structure and dividend policy. That inspired a new framework for analysis, popularised in the 1980s by Joel Stern, a consultant, Alfred Rappaport, another scholar, and McKinsey & Co, a consultancy, among others.

重點詞匯：

1 origin 起源；源頭；起因
2 doctrine 主義；學說；教義；信條
3 dividend policy 股息分配方針

聽力原文:

Company analysis was antediluvian until then. Models were scribbled on paper covered in correction fluid. Profits were cheered, without much regard to the book-cooking done, risks taken and capital used to achieve them. The worth of a firm was estimated by placing its profits or book value on a multiple, whose value was best decided after a three-Martini lunch. “Valuation” and a few books like it, offered new tools. Cashflow, not easy-to-manipulate accounting profit, mattered. An activity only made sense if capital employed by it made a decent return, judged by its cashflow relative to a hurdle rate (the risk-adjusted return its providers of capital expected). Two newish spreadsheet programs, Lotus 123 and Microsoft Excel, let analysts forecast firms’ long-term cashflows and gauge their present value today.

重點詞匯：

1 antediluvian n. 大洪水以前的人；年邁的人；不合時宜的人 adj. 大洪水前的；遠古的；陳舊的；舊式的
2 scribbled n. 混紡紗線 v. 亂畫；潦草地書寫（scribble的過去分詞） scribble
3 fluid n. 流體；液體 adj. 流動的；流暢的；不固定的 correction fluid 修正液
4 cook the book 篡改；偽造；捏造
5 book value（公司資產的）賬面價值
6 manipulate vt. 操縱；操作；巧妙地處理；篡改
7 hurdle n. 障礙；欄；跳欄 vt. 克服 vi. 克服；跳過 hurdle rate 最低預期資本回收率;
8 gauge n. 計量器；標準尺寸；容量規格 vt. 測量；估計；給…定規格
9 newish 稍新的;
10 spreadsheet（計算機）電子表格程序

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