Publications

March 1999 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Cross Country Group, The: A Piece of the Rock (A)

By: Robert L. Simons and Indra Reinbergs

A new MBA graduate joins a privately held family business and sets ambitious growth goals for the next five years. To enhance motivation, he proposes a new incentive plan that will grant him a share of the wealth he creates. However, the family owners have a more... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Decisions; Motivation and Incentives; Business Strategy; Performance Efficiency; Risk and Uncertainty; Growth and Development; Planning; Accounting Industry; Employment Industry

27 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

A Politician's Investment Portfolio Might Tip Off Corruption Potential

School’s Dylan Minor, visiting assistant professor in the Strategy unit. But before you rise up tall in the saddle against politicians, consider another of Minor’s findings: The connection between risk taking View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

08 Feb 2011
First Look

First Look: Feb. 8

estimates. The goal of the framework is to focus the analysts' work on critical uncertainties and model a limited number of scenarios relevant to key investment debates. By outlining a bear, base, View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 1992
Teaching Note

Communications Satellite Corporation TN

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Teaching Note for (9-276-195). View Details

Keywords: Cost of Capital; Equity; Risk and Uncertainty; Communications Industry

November 2007
Background Note

Event Arbitrage

By: Joshua D. Coval and Erik Stafford

The event arbitrage module includes two simulation sessions. The first simulation focuses on analyzing and evaluating individual merger transactions, while the second simulation emphasizes managing a portfolio of individual positions and the limitations of arbitrage... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Capital Markets; Financial Management; Investment Portfolio; Risk Management

2012
Article

The Excess Burden of Government Indecision

By: Francisco J. Gomes, Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Luis M. Viceira

Governments are known for procrastinating when it comes to resolving painful policy problems. Whatever the political motives for waiting to decide, procrastination distorts economic decisions relative to what would arise with early policy resolution. In so doing, it... View Details

Keywords: Saving; Risk and Uncertainty; Investment Portfolio; Decision Choices and Conditions; Retirement; Policy; Government and Politics

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08 Jan 2001
Research & Ideas

Can Japan Compete? [Part Two]

new industries in Japan are things like highly skilled specialist personnel; a lack of risk capital because of heavily controlled financial markets; barriers to commercializing university research; and... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace & Hilah Geer

February 1995 (Revised April 1996)
Case

MW Petroleum Corporation (B)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman, Peter Tufano and Barbara Wall

Amoco Corp. is negotiating to sell a wholly-owned subsidiary, MW Petroleum, to Apache Corp. MW owns large reserves of oil and gas comprising many properties at different stages of engineering, development, and production. The proposed acquisition is a large one for... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Mergers and Acquisitions; Risk Management; Financing and Loans; Mining Industry; Energy Industry

October 1993
Supplement

The Analyst's Dilemma (B)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Jerry Useem

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Investment Banking; Ethics; Risk and Uncertainty; Problems and Challenges; Financial Services Industry

Article

When Hiring CEOs, Focus on Character

By: Aiyesha Dey

The author, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, has studied the ways in which the lifestyle behaviors of CEOs—in particular, materialism and a propensity for rule breaking—may spell trouble for a company. Her research, which includes looking at... View Details

Keywords: CEOs; Lifestyle; Risk Management; Recruitment; Ethics

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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

27 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 27

where the firm chooses capacities in two technologies in stage one, demand uncertainty resolves between stages (as does emissions price uncertainty under cap-and-trade), and... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

November 1999 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Financing the Mozal Project

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Fuaad Qureshi

It is June 1997, and a team from the International Finance Corp. (IFC) is recommending that the board approve a $120 million investment in a $1.4 billion aluminum smelter in Mozambique, known as the Mozal project. Four factors make the investment controversial: it... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Capital Markets; Emerging Markets; Projects; Financial Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Developing Countries and Economies; Metals and Minerals; Financial Strategy; Government and Politics; International Finance; Infrastructure; Mozambique

December 2012 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Olam: On a New Course

By: David E. Bell, Forest Reinhardt and Mary Shelman

From modest beginnings as a cashew trader in Nigeria, Olam, founded by Indian nationals in 1989, has grown into a leading global agricultural trading company, with annual revenues of $14 billion. The company recently has begun investing in farms and in the production... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Leadership; Customer Value and Value Chain; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Culture; Environmental Sustainability; Expansion; Competitive Advantage; Agribusiness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Nigeria

June 2010 (Revised January 2017)
Teaching Note

Continental Media Group: Business Highlights

By: Robert Simons

Teaching Note for 110087. View Details

Keywords: Execution; Management Control Systems; Performance Measurement; Informal Management; Emergent Strategy; Management; Profit; System; Opportunities; Strategy; Risk and Uncertainty; Media and Broadcasting Industry

23 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Market Research Meets the “People Factor”

managers were not likely to embrace research results that caught them off-guard. "If the purpose of research information is to reduce uncertainty (and thereby the risk associated with making a hitherto... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

November 2003 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Dow Chemical's Bid for the Privatization of PBB in Argentina

By: Mihir A. Desai and Alexandra de Royere

What price should Dow Chemical bid for PBB, a petrochemical complex that is being privatized by the Argentine government? To answer this question, students are forced to consider the role of country risk, the underlying currency exposure of the business, and how to... View Details

Keywords: Bids and Bidding; Privatization; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Cash Flow; Emerging Markets; Valuation; Business and Government Relations; Multinational Firms and Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Energy Industry; Argentina