Publications

October 2001 (Revised November 2005)
Case

eBay, Inc.: Stock Option Plans (A)

The footnote disclosure for eBay, Inc. in 2000 indicates that if the company had accounted for employee stock options under the fair value method, its reported profit of $48 million would have been a loss of $91 million. The protagonist is a prospective member of the... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Stock Options; Financial Reporting

August 2000 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Laura Martin: Real Options and the Cable Industry

By: Mihir A. Desai and Peter Tufano

CSFB equity research analyst Laura Martin publishes a report on valuing Cox Communications that introduces an innovative approach to valuation. She contends that EBITDA multiple analysis, typical for the cable industry, is flawed because it overlooks the value of the... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Innovation and Invention; Telecommunications Industry

06 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

Why Expensing Options Doesn’t Solve the Problem

problems at Enron from its reported financial statements. In this regard, current accounting for stock options actually serves as a model for disclosure, in some respects. Investors are given lots of information about stock View Details

Keywords: by William Sahlman

November 2013
Supplement

Larry Steffen: Valuing Stock Options in a Compensation Package, Spreadsheet for Students (Brief Case)

By: William E. Fruhan and Craig Stephenson

19 May 2003
Research & Ideas

Expensing Options Won’t Hurt High Tech

received for those options. Considering that the market systematically puts a higher value on options than employees do, companies are likely to end up with more cash from the sale of externally issued View Details

Keywords: by Zvi Bodie, Robert S. Kaplan & Robert C. Merton

February 2006 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Veridian: Putting a Value on Values

By: Rakesh Khurana, Joel Podolny and Jaan Margus Elias

David Langstaff, the CEO of Veridian, a defense company, struggles with the decision of selling the company. Langstaff has concerned himself with inculcalating his organization with the values necessary for superior achievement over the long term. But as a fiduciary,... View Details

Keywords: Cash; Corporate Governance; Financial Markets; Law; Leadership; Patents; Values and Beliefs; Service Industry; Aerospace Industry

January 2011 (Revised July 2011)
Case

Elizabeth Jacobs: Price-Earnings Ratios and Employee Stock Option Grants

By: David F. Hawkins

Analyst questions the value of accounting measurement of earnings per share and stock option costs for equity valuation purposes. View Details

Keywords: Earnings Management; Business Earnings; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Stock Shares; Employee Ownership; Stock Options; Equity; Accounting Audits; Valuation; Profit Sharing; Accounting Industry

April 2005 (Revised February 2006)
Background Note

Note on Option Valuation

For every option, a fair price has to be established. But how do you actually price an option? Assuming a basic knowledge of options, this note covers two pricing methods: the binominal tree and the Black-Scholes/Merton formula. View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Stock Options

November 2013
Supplement

Larry Steffen: Valuing Stock Options in a Compensation Package, Spreadsheet for Instructors (Brief Case)

By: William E. Fruhan and Craig Stephenson

09 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Stock Options Are Not All Created Equal

achieve its business goals. While option plans can take many forms, I find it useful to divide them into three types. The first two—what I call fixed value plans and fixed number plans—extend over several... View Details

Keywords: by Brian Hall

19 Apr 2016
News

Yahoo Considers Options for a Sale

July 2017
Article

The Impact of 'Display-Set' Options on Decision-Making

By: Uma R. Karmarkar

The way a choice set is constructed can have a significant influence on how individuals perceive and evaluate their options and make decisions between them. Here, I examine whether a “display set” of visible but unavailable options can exert these same types of... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making Process; Heuristics; Similarity; Categorization; Marketing Insight; Marketing; Choice; Choice Architecture; Choice Sets; Display; Retail; Consumer Behavior; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Decision Making; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry

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September 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Timing of Option Grants at UnitedHealth Group (A)

Faced with press allegations that executives' stock options might have been backdated, the Board of UnitedHealth Group needs to determine whether its accounting for the options was proper, and if not, what the restatement amount should be and what... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Ethics; Stock Options; Accounting; Crisis Management; Corporate Governance; Insurance Industry; Health Industry; United States

May 2009
Teaching Note

Nextel Partners: Put Option (TN)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Teaching Note for [207-128] View Details

Keywords: Business and Shareholder Relations; Voting; Price; Public Ownership; Valuation; Financial Liquidity; Stock Options; Management Practices and Processes; Telecommunications Industry

15 May 2017
Blog Post

Exploring Career Options at HBS

functions. Here are few things I think prospective students should know about exploring careers at HBS. View Video 1. HBS will help you you think differently about your career HBS helped me think more broadly about my career aspirations in the context of my View Details

March 1994 (Revised June 1999)
Background Note

Real Options: Valuing Managerial Flexibility

Provides a basic understanding of real options in corporate finance. Traditional discounted cash flow techniques (NPV) do not deal well with managerial flexibility or future response to uncertainty. The value of this flexibility can be significant and is handled well... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Capital Budgeting; Corporate Finance

March 2001
Background Note

Real Options Valuation when Multiple Sources of Uncertainty Exist

This case describes how multiple sources of uncertainty can be incorporated into a real-options-based analysis. It works through an example of a two-stage problem where a company has both an option to explore and an option to develop oil reserves. View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Opportunities; Valuation