Strategic Finance

The Certificate in Strategic Finance is designed for executives, high performers, and finance professionals who aim to acquire in-depth knowledge and practical skills in key areas related to strategic finance. The program focuses on cutting-edge tools and techniques to analyze the major events in the life of a company, such as mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, leveraged and management buy-outs, and initial public offerings, both from a financial and a strategic perspective. It provides a thorough analysis of the strategic issues facing entrepreneurs and financiers in connection with regulation, sustainability, climate, AI, macroeconomics, and FinTech. The certificate relies on world-class teaching by outstanding HEC Paris faculty, including renowned researchers with executive-education experience and high-level investment bankers and consultants. It provides access to the extensive HEC Paris Alumni network and to successful and dedicated EMiF alumni.

The program is comprised of a 10-day module with regular courses, courses, and the completion of a 2-day certificate project either in person or online. The certificate project gives participants the opportunity to apply the investing tools learned during the module on a challenging individual project. The project is done under the supervision of an experienced, world-class HEC faculty tutor.

New markets and franchising, joint ventures, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), divestitures, Leveraged Buy-Out (LBO) and Management Buy-Out (MBO), Initial Public Offering (IPO), restructuring and financial distress.

Value-based strategies, distributive vs. integrative negotiations, multi-issue negotiations, advanced integrative negotiations, ethical dilemmas, negotiation via agents, dispute resolution, emotions, negotiation styles and culture, coalitional games in negotiation.

Business evaluation and valuation, venture capital method, deal structure, financial contracts, information and incentives, angel investors, venture capital, corporate VC, social venture capital, exit (remain private, sell, go public).

Dodd-Frank, commercial vs. investment banking, European Banking Union, bank capital/liquidity requirements, Basel III, Sarbanes-Oxley, high-frequency trading (HFT), OTC derivatives, financial transactions taxes, short-selling bans, “too big to fail”, political economy of financial regulation, financial crises, regulatory capture.

Corporate social responsibility, pro-social preferences, corporate governance, managerial incentives, integrated capital budgeting, internal carbon price.

Ledgers and keys, blockchains, economics of money, cryptocurrencies, decentralized finance (DeFi).

Learning methods: Most courses in this program are delivered by alternating between lectures, case studies, exercises, simulations, applications, group work, and in-class presentations. Most courses require preparation before class: reading case studies or articles, answering preparatory questions, or solving a pre-class assignment. In the certificate project part, each participant chooses a tutor (supervisor) from the HEC Paris faculty to work on a certificate project. The project gives participants the opportunity to specialize in a particular area of strategic finance by applying what they have learned during the certificate on an original individual project. In this process they capitalize on the input and guidance of faculty and field experts from the world of finance who act as tutors.

Evaluations: Participants are evaluated along several dimensions: group writing or presentations on projects or case studies, quizzes, in-class or home exercises, multiple-choice quizzes, final exams, post-class analyzes and class participation. The weightings that instructors choose from all of these dimensions vary for each class.

The program is intended for finance directors in all sectors, current and aspiring corporate executives, bankers and financial services experts, and other experienced professionals: managers who wish to move to a more senior role (CEO, CFO, CIO, COO), executive board members, senior leaders, or private equity/venture capital/startup/family office founders.

Our certificate is designed for all executives, senior managers, and functional or operational leaders with at least 5 years of professional experience who wish to develop, enhance, or update their skills in the field of finance.