A sports nutrition company is examining whether a new high-performance sports drink should be added to its product line. A preliminary feasibility analysis indicated that the company would need to invest $17.5 million in a new manufacturing facility to produce and package the product. A financial analysis using sales and cost data supplied by marketing and production personnel indicated that the net cash flow (cash inflows minus cash outflows) would be $6.1 million in the first year of commercialization, $7.4 million in year two, $7.0 million in year three, and 5.5 million in year 4.
Senior company executives were undecided whether to move forward with the development of the new product. They requested that a discounted cash flow analysis be performed using two discount rates: 20 percent and 15 percent.