Publications

October 2003 (Revised January 2016)
Exercise

The BCPC Internet Strategy Team: An Exercise

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Laura Feldman

This short fictional case forms the basis of a team decision-making exercise. The case, inspired by a real decision facing a major telecommunications company, describes a cross-functional management team convened by the CEO for the purpose of developing a... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Decision Making; Risk and Uncertainty; Information Management; Perspective; Product Launch; Internet and the Web; Knowledge Sharing; Telecommunications Industry

23 Dec 2008
First Look

First Look: December 23, 2008

major transformations. New regulatory requirements have raised the bar on compliance and expanded the remit of risk management significantly. The compliance imperative requires banks to implement a firm-wide... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 2010 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Friend Bank: The Time for Hope

By: Clayton S. Rose and Aldo Sesia

In 2010, Friend Bank was entering the fifth year of Hope Harris Johnson's ambitious 20-year growth plan to transform her family's one branch community bank into an institution with a substantial presence in southeastern Alabama. Harris Johnson was pleased, so far, with... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Financial Crisis; Banks and Banking; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk Management; Family Ownership; Competitive Advantage; Banking Industry; Alabama

25 Aug 2022
Research & Ideas

It’s All in a Name: Reputable Investors Help Startups Shine

company off the ground,” says Bernstein, the Marvin Bower Associate Professor in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at HBS. “At the earliest stages, you have no reputation, no brand name, and you're facing significant View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

March 2006
Background Note

Strategic Compliance Management

Explains the construct of strategic compliance management (SCM) and asserts that managers and their firms can perform more effectively, that is, create or capture more value or better manage risk, when they comply with applicable laws, search for innovation... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Risk Management; Governance Compliance

11 Oct 2016
First Look

October 11, 2016

Christopher T. Stanton Abstract—Small business owners and others in self-employment have the option to transition to paid work. If there is initial uncertainty about earnings in entrepreneurship, this option... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

09 Nov 2018
Blog Post

Veterans Day Reflections

an unconventional background, I did not think I had any real shot of getting in. Discovering my unique perspective Despite all the uncertainty in my mind, I decided to sign up for a campus tour and class... View Details

21 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 21

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=44800 Do Strict Capital Requirements Raise the Cost of Capital? Banking Regulation and the Low Risk Anomaly By: Baker, Malcolm, and Jeffrey... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2022
Article

From Proprietary to Collective Governance: How Do Platform Participation Strategies Evolve?

By: Siobhan O'Mahony and Rebecca Karp

When platform leaders change the rules guiding who can access and control a platform, the strategies of those who create value from the platform can be upended. Little research examines how platform participants adapt their strategies when a platform leader changes the... View Details

Keywords: Platform Governance; Access; Crowdsourcing; Applications and Software; Employees; Leadership Style; Cybersecurity; Risk Management

Find at Harvard

2016
Article

The Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet as a Financial-Stability Tool

By: Robin Greenwood, Samuel Gregory Hanson and Jeremy C. Stein

We argue that the Federal Reserve should use its balance sheet to help reduce a key threat to financial stability: the tendency for private-sector financial intermediaries to engage in excessive amounts of maturity transformation—i.e., to finance risky assets using... View Details

Keywords: Central Banking; Policy; Risk Management; Public Administration Industry; United States

Read Now

May 1999 (Revised September 2003)
Case

Advanced Inhalation Research, Inc.

This case presents a look at the early start-up phase and development of Advanced Inhalation Research (AIR), a company engaged in the development of a new drug-delivery technology. Focuses on the risks, the steps taken to manage it, and the manner in which the company... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Risk Management; Valuation; Financing and Loans; Health Care and Treatment; Acquisition; Business Startups; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

14 Jun 2011
First Look

First Look: June 14

always want to hear that a person is struggling, nor do they necessarily reward risk taking, even though they might pay lip service to innovative initiative. The authors outline several steps that individuals can take to shake off fear... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2016 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Dan Gilbert: Crazy or Crazy Like a Fox?

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz

Keywords: Detroit; Rock Ventures; Dan Gilbert; Real Estate; Buildings and Facilities; Demographics; Financial Crisis; Government and Politics; Housing; Risk and Uncertainty; Real Estate Industry; United States

2016
Chapter

Financing Entrepreneurial Experimentation

By: Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

Keywords: Innovation; Investing; Abandonment Option; Failure Tolerance; Risk and Uncertainty; Technological Innovation; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship

September 2009 (Revised November 2021)
Case

OnStar: Not Your Father's General Motors

By: Clayton M. Christensen

After two years of less than stellar performance resulting in sales well below plan, senior management at General Motors (GM) mobile telecommunications service start-up, OnStar, recognized that without a substantial change in their strategy, support for the venture... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Technology; Risk and Uncertainty; Joint Ventures; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Product Positioning; Risk Management; Auto Industry; Telecommunications Industry

December 1980 (Revised January 1992)
Case

Savannah West

By: William J. Poorvu and John H. Vogel Jr.

Allison Porter, a loan officer for Chemical Bank, must decide whether to make a construction loan on a 216-unit apartment building to be built in Savannah, Georgia. In teaching this case, one begins by looking at the economics, marketing data, etc., of the proposed... View Details

Keywords: Credit; Property; Financing and Loans; Banks and Banking; Housing; Risk Management; Valuation; Real Estate Industry; Banking Industry; Georgia (state, US)

May 2024
Supplement

gWorks (A)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

In January of 2019, Joe Heieck, CEO of gWorks, was deciding whether to proceed with his acquisition of Data Tech, that was a business roughly the same size as gWorks. gWorks, which provided geospatial software to small city and rural county governments, was acquired by... View Details