Publications

spring 1990
Article

Earnings and Risk Changes Surrounding Primary Stock Offers

By: Paul M. Healy and Krishna G. Palepu

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Business Earnings; Change; Stocks

October 2008
Article

Risk Frameworks and Biomonitoring: Distributed Regulation of Synthetic Chemicals in Humans

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

The ability to detect and measure the presence of synthetic chemicals at trace levels in humans coupled to increased environmental NGO mobilization concerning chemical exposure has challenged risk and regulatory frameworks built up over the past quarter-century. This... View Details

Keywords: Chemicals; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Risk Management; Natural Environment; Pollutants; Non-Governmental Organizations; United States

31 Jul 2018
Working Paper Summaries

How Does Product Liability Risk Affect Innovation? Evidence from Medical Implants

Keywords: by Alberto Galasso and Hong Luo

December 1998 (Revised December 2014)
Background Note

A Note on Identifying Strategic Risk

By: Robert L. Simons

Outlines: 1) the sources of business risk, 2) how to assess internal risk pressures, and 3) the antecedents of misrepresentation of fraud. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Risk and Uncertainty

Educators

2002
Chapter

Strategic Uncertainty and the Future of Electronic Consumer Interaction: Developing Scenarios, Adapting Strategies

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Eric K. Clemons

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategy

2025
Working Paper

Navigating Choppy Waters: How U.S. Trade Policy Uncertainty Affects Small Businesses

By: David Atkin, Zoë Cullen and Ebehi Iyoha

This paper explores the impact of recent changes in the US trade policy environment on small businesses. Drawing on a survey of more than 4,000 small businesses conducted between March 22 and 31, 2025, we examine firms’ knowledge, expectations, and decisions during... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Risk and Uncertainty; Government Legislation; Globalization; International Relations; Small Business

Sep 2011 - 2011
Interview

Capitalism at Risk

By: Lynn S. Paine and Herman B. Leonard

Keywords: Economic Systems

01 Mar 2012
News

Competitiveness at Risk

Rivkin and Porter: HBS alumni are in a position to help put America back on a more competitive footing in the world economy. View the survey results Watch Professors Michael Porter and Jan Rivkin introduce... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Educational Support Services; Educational Services

Jan 2012
Survey

Prosperity at Risk

economy. The survey results provide strong evidence that America faces a deepening competitiveness problem and help pinpoint where the roots of the problem lie. The survey findings inform the March 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review,... View Details

October 2006 (Revised March 2008)
Case

2006 Hurricane Risk

By: Andre F. Perold and Erik Stafford

In May 2006, a resident of Key West, Florida had to decide whether to renew his policy to insure against hurricane damage. The policy would cost $13,000 for one year, $5,000 more than what he paid in 2005. At the same time, a wealthy California resident was... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Cost; Insurance; Price; Risk Management; California; Key West

Educators

November 2019
Article

Procedural Justice and the Risks of Consumer Voting

By: Tami Kim, Leslie John, Todd Rogers and Michael I. Norton

Firms are increasingly giving consumers the vote. Eight studies demonstrate that when firms empower consumers to vote, consumers infer a series of implicit promises—even in the absence of explicit promises. We identify three implicit promises to which consumers react... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Empowerment; Procedural Justice; Promises; Customer Relationship Management; Voting; Perception; Fairness; Risk Management

Article

The Allure of Unknown Outcomes: Exploring the Role of Uncertainty in the Preference for Potential

By: Daniella Kupor, Zakary L. Tormala and Michael I. Norton

Influence practitioners often highlight a target's achievements (e.g., "she is the city's top-rated chef"), but recent research reveals that highlighting a target's potential (e.g., "she could become the city's top-rated chef") can be more effective. We examine whether... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Forecasting and Prediction; Performance Evaluation

The spread of capitalism worldwide has made people wealthier than ever before and raised living standards to new heights. But capitalism’s future is far from assured. The global financial meltdown of 2008 came within a hair’s breadth of triggering another Great... View Details

Research Summary

International business and political risk in West Africa

This project, based on confidential corporate archives, explores the response of foreign companies to political decolonization and the threat of expropriation in Ghana and Nigeria. Foreign companies in Ghana and Nigeria, especially those from Britain, had a... View Details

Strategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs

How does an entrepreneur, aspiring manager, or CEO become a master of strategy? In this book, we argue that everyone can learn from three of the greatest strategist of modern time, Bill Gates, Andy Grove and Steve Jobs, who also built three of the most valuable... View Details

07 Jan 2015
News

Taking on risk

Having worked as an engineer at SpaceX and as an analyst at Oaktree Capital, Zach Lupei (MBA 2015) is now building a startup in the personal-finance space. (Published January 2015) View Details

July 2008 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Enterprise Risk Management at Hydro One (A)

By: Anette Mikes

An early adopter of Enterprise Risk Management, energy giant Hydro One anticipated new threats and opportunities in an industry that faced climate change and carbon legislation, the deregulation of electricity markets, and the greater adoption of renewable... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Knowledge Sharing; Managerial Roles; Risk Management; Strategic Planning; Situation or Environment; Environmental Sustainability; Renewable Energy; Energy Industry

Educators

16 Dec 2014
News

H-1B work visa full of uncertainties for immigrants

2016
Working Paper

Options-Pricing Formula with Disaster Risk

By: Robert J. Barro and Gordon Y. Liao

A new options-pricing formula applies to far-out-of-the money put options on the overall stock market when disaster risk is the dominant force, the size distribution of disasters follows a power law, and the economy has a representative agent with Epstein-Zin utility.... View Details

Keywords: Option Pricing; Rare Disaster; Price; Stock Options; Financial Crisis