Why do hurdle rates differ from the cost of capital?
利用北美企业数据，发现门槛收益率常偏离资本成本，并证明代理理论和实物期权理论能解释这一现象，对理解投资决策中的行为与战略因素有重要价值。
This article considers the role of hurdle rates in the analysis of investment decisions, analysing a sample of business units from the PIMS (Profit Impact of Marketing Strategy) databank of North American companies, which provides rarely observed data on hurdle rates. Although the standard literature suggests that firms should only invest if the return exceeds the cost of capital, there are several theories that explain the use of investment hurdle rates that differ from discount rates. In fact, our data show that instances where hurdle rates are either above or below the discount rate are common. In a statistical analysis, we find that this behaviour can be explained by a combination of agency theory and real options theory. We take this as important evidence that a full explanation of capital investment cannot be accomplished without a consideration of behavioural and strategic influences on the investment decision