Exploring financial strategies: a multiobjective visual reference point approach

This paper presents a multiobjective financial planning model and a technique for characterizing its solutions through the visual exploration of the reference point space. The financial planning model includes two objectives: (1) to maximize the company's value and (2) to stabilize the company's capital structure. The model also considers other planning issues like the balance of funds, the stabilization of dividend payout over the years and some limitations on debt. A technique of visual exploration of the reference point space is proposed in order to characterize the non-dominated (efficient) model solutions. The underlying idea is not simply to choose a plan or a strategy, but to learn, explore and classify different decision strategies, gaining insight into them according to the preferred model of the decision makers.