Financial Dynamics Case Study: The Brick House

Test your financial acumen as HEC Paris Professor of Finance, Denis Gromb, walks us through a case study in which participants confront a series of increasingly challenging real business situations.

In this class, we examine a fairly simple case: The Brick House, a small, owner-managed, fast growing company, is seeking a new, larger bank loan.

We will begin by analyzing the business itself, leaving aside finance issues: What are the key success drivers in this business? Is The Brick House successful?

Next, we will turn to The Brick House’s financial challenges. Why do they need to borrow so much? What are alternative sources of finance?

In the process, we will develop new analytical tools and conclude by extrapolating to other, larger companies, and by raising some issues that will be discussed in the rest of the course.

This case study is an example from the Executive MSc in Finance program at HEC Paris, where participants prepare in teams of 4 or 5, and come back to class ready to defend their analysis and discuss those of other teams.

Denis Gromb is Professor of Finance at HEC Paris. He graduated from Ecole Polytechnique, where he also obtained a Ph.D. in Economics while visiting the London School of Economics.

His principal research interests include corporate finance, corporate governance, banking, the economics of organizations and the limits to arbitrage in financial markets. His articles have been published in leading academic journals in Economics and Finance.