Publications

Web

Option Pricing in Theory & Practice: The Nobel Prize Research of Robert C. Merton

HBS Quick Links HBS Home MBA Executive Education Doctoral Programs Faculty and Research Alumni Publishing Site Index HBS Home Contact Us Map/Directions Option Pricing in Theory & Practice: The Nobel Prize... View Details

Research Summary

Valuation Theory and Practice

Timothy A. Luehrman's primary research interest is in the application of valuation methods to companies, businesses, and individual assets. Some of his work involves applications of tools originally developed for valuing derivative securities to the valuation of other... 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

Educators

September–October 2016
Article

Growing New Corporate Businesses: From Initiation to Graduation

By: Sebastian Raisch and Michael Tushman

Large companies initiate many new businesses, but few of them reach scale. The ambidexterity literature describes how companies create exploratory businesses, but says little about how they subsequently scale these businesses. The strategy literature uses real option... View Details

Keywords: Ambidexterity; Comparative Case Study; Corporate Venturing; Exploration; Organization Design; Real Option Theory; Organizational Design; Corporate Strategy; Corporate Entrepreneurship

August 2016
Teaching Note

The Role of Real Estate in Endowment Portfolios: The Case of Christ Church College

By: Arthur I. Segel and Alexander W. Schultz

The case centers on Christ Church’s Treasurer, James Lawrie, who is contemplating his options for investing a portion of the College’s endowment in real estate. Approximately 1/3 of the total $690 million endowment was allocated towards real estate, much higher than... View Details

Keywords: Portfolio Allocation; Oxford; England; Real Estate; University Endowment; Higher Education; Investment Portfolio; Property; Corporate Finance; Financial Services Industry; England

June 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

The Role of Real Estate in Endowment Portfolios: The Case of Christ Church, Oxford

By: David Chambers, Elroy Dimson, Arthur I Segel and Eva Steiner

The case centers on Christ Church's Treasurer, James Lawrie, who is contemplating his options for investing a portion of the College's endowment in real estate. Approximately 1/3 of the total $690 million endowment was allocated towards real estate, much higher than... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Endowment Management; Endowments; United Kingdom; Oxford; Portfolio Allocation; Higher Education; Investment Portfolio; Property; Corporate Finance; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom

Educators

06 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

Why Expensing Options Doesn’t Solve the Problem

option grants, though not as liberal as many others. In fact, expensing options in Enron's accounts would have changed reported profits by only about 10%, whereas the change would have been around 30% for... View Details

Keywords: by William Sahlman

18 Jun 2007
Op-Ed

Leveling the Executive Options Playing Field

subcommittee delivered June 5, Desai detailed his view of this "dual-reporting system" and the implications on how executive stock options are treated. The hearing was titled "Executive Stock Options: Should the IRS and... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir Desai

Web

The Spread and Adoption of Option Pricing Models - Option Pricing in Theory & Practice: The Nobel Prize Research of Robert C. Merton - Exhibits - Historical Collections

HBS Quick Links HBS Home MBA Executive Education Doctoral Programs Faculty and Research Alumni Publishing Site Index HBS Home Contact Us Map/Directions Option Pricing in Theory & Practice: The Nobel Prize... View Details

Teaching Interest

DESIGN THEORY AND PRACTICE ES285

By: Roberto Verganti

Any organization, business or venture grounds its value on how “meaningful” are its products (functionally, symbolically and emotionally). Design Theory and Practice (DTP) empowers students to create products that are meaningful, to people who use them and to... View Details

Keywords: Integrated Design; Leadership; User Experience Design; Design; Strategy; Technology; Product Design

2025
Working Paper

A Cognitive Theory of Reasoning and Choice

By: Pedro Bordalo, Nicola Gennaioli, Giacomo Lanzani and Andrei Shleifer

We present a theory of decisions in which attention to the features of choice options is determined by the decision maker's categorization of the current choice problem in a set of problems she solved in the past. Categorization depends on goal-relevant as well as... View Details

Keywords: Cognition and Thinking; Perception; Decision Choices and Conditions

Register to Read

October 2012
Supplement

Aqua Bounty Courseware

By: Lucy White and Steve Burn-Murdoch

Valuation of a pre-revenue biotech company at IPO using probability trees and real option techniques. Company is based in Massachusetts and lists in London on AIM. Products are genetically-modified fast-growing salmon for fish farmers and disease-prevention drugs and... View Details

Keywords: IPO; Valuation; Real Options; Decision Tree; Biotech; Genetically Modified; Salmon; Entrepreneurship; Finance; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Biotechnology Industry; North and Central America; Europe; South America

Web

Prelude - Option Pricing in Theory & Practice: The Nobel Prize Research of Robert C. Merton - Exhibits - Historical Collections

HBS Quick Links HBS Home MBA Executive Education Doctoral Programs Faculty and Research Alumni Publishing Site Index HBS Home Contact Us Map/Directions Option Pricing in Theory & Practice: The Nobel Prize... View Details

Web

Introduction - Option Pricing in Theory & Practice: The Nobel Prize Research of Robert C. Merton - Exhibits - Historical Collections

HBS Quick Links HBS Home MBA Executive Education Doctoral Programs Faculty and Research Alumni Publishing Site Index HBS Home Contact Us Map/Directions Option Pricing in Theory & Practice: The Nobel Prize... View Details

Web

Bibliography - Option Pricing in Theory & Practice: The Nobel Prize Research of Robert C. Merton - Exhibits - Historical Collections

HBS Quick Links HBS Home MBA Executive Education Doctoral Programs Faculty and Research Alumni Publishing Site Index HBS Home Contact Us Map/Directions Option Pricing in Theory & Practice: The Nobel Prize... View Details

01 Mar 2009
News

My Real Career

admission of my real career elicited the greatest conversations. Gone were the pretense and the ego. Many of my classmates — even some men — had also put their careers on hold to raise their children. I reveled in the intimate discussions... View Details

Keywords: Liesl Pike Moldow; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

24 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Value Maximization and Stakeholder Theory

communities, governmental officials, "and, under some interpretations, the environment, terrorists, blackmailers, and thieves.") But by failing to specify how managers should make the necessary tradeoffs among competing interests, writes Jensen, advocates of... View Details

Keywords: by Michael C. Jensen

February 1995
Teaching Note

Corporate Financial Management: Options Exercises (TN)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Teaching Note for (9-293-095). View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Price; Stock Options; Theory; Investment; Corporate Finance

June 1977
Article

An Analytic Derivation of the Cost of Deposit Insurance and Loan Guarantees : An Application of Modern Option Pricing Theory

By: Robert C. Merton

Keywords: Cost; Insurance; Financing and Loans; Price; Theory