Planning the Portfolio

If you want to be sure something is left when you die, here s a plan that will work for you. Harvard University s endowment fund developed a spending guideline in 1973 to ensure a person wouldn t prematurely run out of money. The rule assumes a balanced portfolio allocated half to stocks and half to bonds and cash equivalents. It limits the first-year withdrawal to four percent of the portfolio s total value. Then, in each following year, increase this amount by the previous year s rate of inflation. Continue in this manner from year to year. For example, if you have a 500,000 portfolio, you could withdraw 20,000 in the first year. If the rate of inflation were 3.5 percent that year, you could withdraw 20,700 the second year. 

The plan for the coming year requires that work be done on four separate projects. The total budget that has been agreed with the Business Manager allows for nine people to be allocated across the portfolio of projects. The agreed allocation of the nine people to each project is as shown in Table A3. 

Once the portfolio has been designed, planned, and managed for optimization, it is the project team s job to make it happen. 

One of the most talked-about dietary plans is the Garden of Eden concept (also called the Portfolio diet), which combines all the foods shown in scientific studies to lower levels of blood cholesterol. Key ingredients are soy products (fortified soy milk, tofu), phytosterol sources (banana, flaxseeds, strawberry seeds), prebiotic fiber (oatmeal, barley, psyllium, tofu, strawberries, banana), and nuts (almonds). 

It is evident from Figure 5.4 that although ORP is not so detailed as MRPII the key steps of the process are similar. From the business plan, a sales and operations plan which covers key products and resources needed to deliver the business plan. The monthly sales and operations planning meeting by senior managers approves the master operations plan. The operations team will review the product portfolio, supplier stams and the capacity of own resources, and ensure that purchase orders are raised to procure appropriate resources or services from suppliers. If the capacity of own resources are adequate then an internal control document for the customer order is processed. But a partnership with customers and with suppliers can and will achieve very obvious benefits to... 

Effective mentors have a portfolio of models that they can draw upon to help mentees understand the issues they face. These models can be self-generated (i.e. the result of personal experience), drawn from elsewhere (e.g. models of company structure, interpersonal behaviours, strategic planning, career planning) or -... 

The rapid movement in the global phthalates market away from using plasticisers 2-ethylhexanol (2-EH) and diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) in favour of alternative products was underscored recently when BASF revealed plans to close its 2-EH and DEHP plants in Germany. The restructuring in Europe will have no effect on BASF s plasticiser portfolio in Nafta and Asia, however, where the company will continue to offer 2-EH and DEHP. About 70% of the plasticiser maiket volume is phthalates, and plasticisers make up about 60% of the plastic additives maiket. PVC accounts for 80-90% of global plasticiser consumption. In October 2003, California added DEHP to the state s list of more than 750 chemicals known to cause birth defects or reproductive harm. Previous studies had shown that the chemical can leach from plastic bags that contain intravenous fluids, blood, tube feedings or other medical treatment, and thereby enter the bodies of patients. 

These plans envision assembling a portfolio of in-licensed drug candidates for which collective development risk is deemed to be relatively low. The idea is to in-license molecules that either are too specialized (small market potential) for large pharma or are not visible to their radar because they come from places like Eastern Europe. These stories are favorites of professional investors, because rNPVs can be calculated with relatively low development risk on the basis of demonstrated clinical utility and/or pipeline diversity. Examples include Dura Pharmaceuticals, who marketed prescription products that treat infectious and respiratory diseases, and Gilead who marketed antiviral nucleotides discovered in the Czech Republic. 

On Treacherous Ground, 50 of the world s biggest pharmaceutical companies are challenged to perform in the most difficult environment ever, Med. Ad News, September 1, 2002. Haspeslagh, P, Portfolio planning Uses and limits. Harvard Business Review, January-February, 1982, p. 58. 

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