ABSTRACT
This chapter serves as an overview of how finance is used both in the economy and within the corporate structure. Within a business, the role of finance is to determine how money is to be raised, spent and invested. The ability to raise money quickly and at a reasonable cost directly impacts other decisions the firm will make, from what markets to enter to how many people to hire. This chapter discusses the role of finance in determining the choice among the firm’s strategic options. Stakeholder theory and the theory of corporate sustainability are introduced and used as the basis for how managers can make decisions that benefit all of the firm’s stakeholders, not just the common shareholders.
