Publications

March 2010 (Revised May 2012)
Case

Myelin Repair Foundation: Accelerating Drug Discovery Through Collaboration

By: Karim R. Lakhani and Paul R. Carlile

This case presents the Myelin Repair Foundation's accelerated research collaboration model for drug discovery. It highlights the challenges of building a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional research collaboration that is attempting to create a treatment for... View Details

Keywords: Research and Development; Intellectual Property; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategic Planning; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Health Disorders; Pharmaceutical Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Health Industry

01 Dec 2012
News

Corruption 101

Corruption doesn't announce itself with a capital C. It is subtler and thornier than that—as one HBS student learned the hard way during a recent summer internship in Tanzania. In a new case detailing his experience, the student struggles to navigate the systemic... View Details

Keywords: Crop Production; Agriculture; Credit Intermediation and Related Activities; Finance

Fast Answer

FIELD Global Immersion Resources: Ghana

href="https://viewpoint-eiu-com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/analysis/geography/XN/GH" id="LPlnk979420" target="_blank">Economist Intelligence Unit Useful for: In-depth country information covering recent economic and politicalt developments, View Details

22 May 2017
News

Two On-Track Investments

Photo via the Baltimore Sun Photo via the Baltimore Sun There are no sure bets in Thoroughbred racing—but for many, the thrill of watching a horse thundering down the track far outweighs the risk of loss, whether the stake is a $2 bet or... View Details

Keywords: horse racing; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment

13 Nov 2014
Blog Post

Finance Conference Recap

Regulation, Impact Investing, and Careers in Finance. Attendees also had the opportunity to engage in coffee chats with recruiting representatives from select firms. The day ended with the closing speaker, Roger Altman, Founder and Executive Chairman at Evercore. Roger... View Details

21 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

How to Sink a Startup

forks in the road, Rich options directly conflict with King options. For example, on the one hand, founders who do not raise money risk handicapping their venture if money dwindles or dries up completely. On the other hand, founders who... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

14 Mar 2007
Op-Ed

Government’s Misguided Probe of Private Equity

jointly underwriting public corporate offerings. Nor is this unique to the United States. Britain's Financial Services Authority has announced that it is increasing its scrutiny of private-equity firms. Among the problems or risks... View Details

Keywords: by Josh Lerner; Financial Services

October 1991 (Revised November 1993)
Case

Play Time Toy Co.

By: Thomas R. Piper

The president of a toy company is considering the adoption of level production in a business characterized by highly seasonal sales. The issues include balancing the cost savings and the inventory risk, estimating the seasonal financing need, and determining the... View Details

Keywords: Production; Cost Management; Banks and Banking; Sales; Goods and Commodities; Financial Management; Risk Management; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

January 2023 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Adams + Beasley Associates

By: Dennis Campbell and Iuliana Mogosanu

This case illustrates how a strong culture, founder-led SME designed and used a unique performance metric—the job security index—to manage through periods of economic uncertainty. The case centers specifically on how the job security index was used in an interactive... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Measurement and Metrics; Employee Ownership; Risk and Uncertainty; Small Business; Leadership; Organizational Culture

January 2013 (Revised April 2017)
Supplement

Maxum Petroleum, Inc.

By: W. Carl Kester

Maxum seeks an oil-price hedging strategy that yields substantial cash during oil price spikes, is affordable under ordinary circumstances, and is easily managed. It is striving to avoid a repeat of the challenging situation encountered in 2008 when spiking oil prices... View Details

Keywords: Hedging; Options; Commodities; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Risk Management; Futures and Commodity Futures; Financial Strategy; Volatility

April 2011
Teaching Note

Carbon Trading Simulation: Green Cement Inc. (TN)

By: Peter A. Coles

Teaching Note for 911051. View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Trade; Decisions; Risk and Uncertainty; Production; Pollutants; Price; Sales; Profit

May 2011
Article

Overconfidence by Bayesian Rational Agents

By: Eric J. Van den Steen

This paper derives two mechanisms through which Bayesian-rational individuals with differing priors will tend to be relatively overconfident about their estimates and predictions, in the sense of overestimating the precision of these estimates. The intuition behind one... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Forecasting and Prediction; Knowledge Acquisition; Risk Management; Prejudice and Bias