Risk - Publications - Faculty & Research

17 Nov 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

Managing the Family Business: Are Optimists or Pessimists Better Leaders?

office or leading the family are less likely to foster a culture of growth, risk taking, and wealth creation. According to Jeremy Dean, a researcher at University College London, optimists prefer to think about how they and others can... View Details

02 Feb 2012
Op-Ed

Once a Castle, Home is Now a Debtors’ Prison

advantage of this maneuver is real: strategic defaulters save money. Sometimes they can rent a comparable home. But they risk a lower credit rating, which could bar them from buying another home for up to seven years. Understandably, most... View Details

Keywords: by Nicolas P. Retsinas; Financial Services; Construction; Real Estate

25 Jul 2019
Blog Post

Advancing a More Sustainable World with an MBA/MPA-ID

School. I wanted to pursue a joint degree that would help me address the dichotomy of my intended field, where climate investment cannot be an arena for governments alone and where impact involves navigating supply chain risks as much as... View Details

25 Jun 2018
News

An Unfinished Story

ancestors—were willing to make to seek something better. Think about, especially, those early immigrants. They had no idea what they were setting forth into when they left their homes. They got on a ship, and they didn't know if they were going to fall off the end of... View Details

Keywords: April White

01 Jun 1997
News

A Better Way to Go on Strike

costs at $200 million a day. What's more, a strike would cost the pilots and other employees their salaries. The airline would lose tens of millions of dollars daily and risk losing market share to its competitors. Yet the pilots were... View Details

Keywords: David Lax and Professor James K. Sebenius

01 Mar 2011
News

Alumni Books

their stunning achievements. Klein discusses what distinguishes these unusual and innovative enterprises from their many competitors. The Dressmaker of Khair Khana: Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Woman Who Risked Everything... View Details

23 Apr 2019
Blog Post

Propel Your Career Forward with Some of Our Favorite Books

reflect on your values and motivations, build an effective team, and stay grounded. Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd How can your company stand out to consumers? Youngme Moon suggests that the key is to think differently and take View Details

July 2020
Case

Michael Solomonov: Jerusalem in a Bowl

By: Boris Groysberg, Evan M.S. Hecht and Katherine Connolly Baden

Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook had begun to wonder whether it might be time to rethink their opportunistic approach to the expansion of their small restaurant empire in Philadelphia, CooknSolo. The pandemic, however, caused an... View Details

Keywords: Restaurant Industry; Entrepreneur; COVID-19; Crisis; Crisis Response Plans; Entrepreneurship; Food; Health Pandemics; Crisis Management; Innovation and Invention; Leadership; Creativity; Strategy; Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Situation or Environment; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

Citation

Educators

Purchase

27 Aug 2007
Op-Ed

Mattel: Getting a Toy Recall Right

million toys manufactured in China with lead paint and/or loose, potentially dangerous magnets. Clearly Mattel did not have sufficiently tight quality control procedures in its supply chain to compensate for the extra risks of outsourcing... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Consumer Products

13 May 2020
Blog Post

Crisis Leadership with Nikhil Patel: The Critical Importance of Trust

has enduring consequences. “In good times, it feels okay to take a risk on who you get behind as a leader. But when things go wrong, it’s important to think about who you trust. The impact of our leadership, for good or ill, will remain... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit / Government; Social Enterprise

Portrait Project

Tony Deifell

reminded, though, of my original intention to work more directly within the media and entertainment industry. I have been afraid to depart from the social-enterprise work which has become so familiar and comfortable over the years. I need to re-read my essay more often... View Details

Fast Answer

Field Course: Investing for Impact

ratios: RMA Annual Statement Studies Offers industry default risk and cash flow measures for 400 lines of business whose total assets are less than $250 million. Available in IBISWorld: (Search for an industry using keywords or... View Details

Web

Buy Now, Pay Later: Pre-Industrial Credit in Practice

their needs, and on terms they were prepared to negotiate.” 8 Retailers continually struggled with the tradeoffs between extending credit and increasing risk of nonpayment, and tightening credit and seeing business decline. The ingenuity... View Details

Web

Hold ourselves accountable to meaningful, measurable progress. - Advancing Racial Equity

Action Plan Hold ourselves accountable to meaningful, measurable progress. Like many of the organizations we study, Harvard Business School is at risk of declaring a lot of good intentions and goals and then failing to follow through on... View Details

15 Nov 2017
Research & Ideas

How Does a Social Startup Decide to Commercialize? It May Depend on the Founder's Gender

donations or grants, hybrid organizations generate their own commercial revenues that sustain their pursuit of a social mission. While hybrid models can enhance financial sustainability, they also pose new challenges for entrepreneurs. Hybrids run the View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

24 Feb 2015
First Look

First Look: February 24

persistent but can also be associated with firms' risk or growth characteristics, implying that ICC regressions are likely confounded by spurious correlations. Moreover, I document that biases in GLS' measurement errors are driven not... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Activist CEOs Are Rising Up—and Their Customers Are Listening

the risk of alienating employees and potential recruits who don’t hold the same beliefs. Activism can present an even more significant risk in terms of how customers will respond. Lessons for managers The... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

25 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 25

on those less familiar with the reporting standards. Publisher's link: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1430589 Working Papers Monetary Policy Drivers of Bond and Equity Risks By: Campbell, John Y., Carolin E.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2023 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Building Resiliency in McDonald's Supply Chain

By: David E. Bell, Damien McLoughlin and David Lane

Considers McDonald’s efforts to build resilience into its global supply chain so that the company and its suppliers can better navigate the increasing pressures and pace of climate change and regulatory change, including a focus on supplying sustainable beef, while the... View Details