Differences between financial options and real options

Abstract

Real option valuation is often presented to be analogous with financial options valuation. The majority of research on real options, especially classic papers, are closely connected to financial option valuation. They share most of the same assumption about contingent claims analysis and apply close form solutions for partial difference equations. However, many real-world investments have several qualities that make use of the classical approach difficult. This paper presents many of the differences that exist between the financial and real options. Whereas some of the differences are theoretical and academic by nature, some are significant from a practical perspective. As a result of these differences, the present paper suggests that numerical methods and models based on calculus and simulation may be more intuitive and robust methods with looser assumptions for practical valuation. New methods and approaches are still required if the real option valuation is to gain popularity outside academia among practitioners and decision makers.