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- Faculty Publications (150)
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- All HBS Web (660)
- Faculty Publications (150)
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- Research Summary
Portfolio Betas Do Not Make for Better Asset Pricing Tests
Many papers claim that because using portfolios instead of individual stocks as test assets minimizes idiosyncratic volatility, their use also yields more precise estimates of risk premia. I show that while portfolio formation does lead to more efficient beta... View Details
- 2010
- Working Paper
Crashes and Collateralized Lending
By: Jakub W. Jurek and Erik Stafford
This paper develops a parsimonious static model for characterizing financing terms in collateralized lending markets. We characterize the systematic risk exposures for a variety of securities and develop a simple indifference-pricing framework to value the systematic... View Details
Keywords: Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Cost of Capital; Credit; Financing and Loans; Interest Rates; Investment; Framework; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Services Industry
Jurek, Jakub W., and Erik Stafford. "Crashes and Collateralized Lending." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 11-025, September 2010.
- Article
Portfolio Value-at-Risk Optimization for Asymmetrically Distributed Asset Returns
By: Joel Goh, Kian Guan Lim, Melvyn Sim and Weina Zhang
We propose a new approach to portfolio optimization by separating asset return distributions into positive and negative half-spaces. The approach minimizes a newly-defined Partitioned Value-at-Risk (PVaR) risk measure by using half-space statistical information. Using... View Details
Goh, Joel, Kian Guan Lim, Melvyn Sim, and Weina Zhang. "Portfolio Value-at-Risk Optimization for Asymmetrically Distributed Asset Returns." European Journal of Operational Research 221, no. 2 (September 1, 2012): 397–406.
- September 1992 (Revised October 1992)
- Case
Acid Rain: The Southern Co. (B)
In addition to the issues of expected cost minimization elucidated in Acid Rain: The Southern Co. (A), problems involving regulatory uncertainty are critical to the firm's Clean Air Act compliance strategy. The regulatory uncertainty affects, and is affected by, the... View Details
Keywords: Energy Generation; Business Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Cost vs Benefits; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategic Planning; Investment Return; Government Legislation; Wastes and Waste Processing; Business and Government Relations; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry; United States
Reinhardt, Forest L. "Acid Rain: The Southern Co. (B)." Harvard Business School Case 793-040, September 1992. (Revised October 1992.)
- January 2007
- Article
Introducing the First Management Control Systems: Evidence from the Retail Sector
By: Tatiana Sandino
Focusing on a sample of US retailers, I study the management control systems (MCS) that firms introduce when they first invest in controls, and identify four categories of initial MCS, which are defined in terms of the purposes these MCS fulfill. The first category,... View Details
Keywords: Management Control Systems; Entrepreneurial Organizations; Firm Growth; Corporate Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Management Systems; Growth and Development Strategy
Sandino, Tatiana. "Introducing the First Management Control Systems: Evidence from the Retail Sector." Accounting Review 82, no. 1 (January 2007): 265–293. (Awarded the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award, 2005, Management Accounting Section, American Accounting Association;
Awarded the Emerging Scholar Competitive Manuscript Award, 2011, Foundation for Applied Research, Institute of Management Accountants.)
- January 2010 (Revised February 2010)
- Case
IFP, Indonesia
By: Roy D. Shapiro
IFP, Ltd. is a Europe-based multinational mining and minerals company contemplating an investment to produce forest products in Indonesia. The primary case decisions are 1) how to assess political and operating risk, 2) how to integrate economic and political risk... View Details
Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Investment; Geographic Location; Risk Management; Supply Chain Management; Business and Government Relations; Forest Products Industry; Indonesia
Shapiro, Roy D. "IFP, Indonesia." Harvard Business School Case 610-052, January 2010. (Revised February 2010.)
- 2022
- Working Paper
Heterogeneous Investors and Stock Market Fluctuations
By: Odhrain McCarthy and Sebastian Hillenbrand
We introduce a heterogeneous agent model which features extrapolative beliefs and time-varying risk aversion. The model leads to an empirical framework which we estimate with stock prices, survey data and risk aversion measures. We find that extrapolative beliefs and... View Details
McCarthy, Odhrain, and Sebastian Hillenbrand. "Heterogeneous Investors and Stock Market Fluctuations." Working Paper, January 2022.
- 28 Jul 2008
- Research & Ideas
Making the Decision to Franchise (or not)
demographic characteristics. Motivated Managers That is one of the biggest decisions a business can make, Campbell says. Franchising creates a strong motivation for local managers to maximize performance, since they're rewarded with a residual profit from revenues. The... View Details
- February 1989
- Background Note
Note on Attracting Stakeholders
By: Amar Bhide and Howard H. Stevenson
Acquiring resources--or to put it more broadly, attracting stakeholders--is a basic entrepreneurial task. While every enterprise needs employees, customers, suppliers, and financiers who are willing to risk their time and money, attracting these "stakeholders" to an... View Details
Keywords: Business Ventures; Customers; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Human Resources; Organizational Design; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty
Bhide, Amar, and Howard H. Stevenson. "Note on Attracting Stakeholders." Harvard Business School Background Note 389-139, February 1989.
- January – March 2012
- Article
Bond Risk, Bond Return Volatility, and the Term Structure of Interest Rates
By: Luis M. Viceira
This paper explores time variation in bond risk, as measured by the covariation of bond returns with stock returns and with consumption growth, and in the volatility of bond returns. A robust stylized fact in empirical finance is that the spread between the yield on... View Details
Keywords: Bonds; Volatility; Forecasting and Prediction; Interest Rates; Inflation and Deflation; Investment Return; Risk and Uncertainty; Currency Exchange Rate; Cash Flow; Stocks
Viceira, Luis M. "Bond Risk, Bond Return Volatility, and the Term Structure of Interest Rates." International Journal of Forecasting 28, no. 1 (January–March 2012): 97–117.
- 01 Dec 2006
- What Do You Think?
How Important Is Quality of Labor? And How Is It Achieved?
maintains that differences in labor efficiency justify large differences in labor costs. By extension, this argument minimizes the long-term threat of outsourcing to developed economies. If this is true, it may help explain why the U.S.... View Details
Keywords: by by Jim Heskett
- June 2008 (Revised May 2017)
- Case
Cook Composites and Polymers Co.
By: Deishin Lee, Michael W. Toffel and Rachel Gordon
This case describes how a company improves resource efficiency and process quality in its manufacturing process by developing a waste by-product into a new product. The case describes how CCP cleans production equipment between batches using styrene, which becomes a... View Details
Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Product Development; Business Processes; Performance Efficiency; Natural Environment; Wastes and Waste Processing; Pollutants; Environmental Sustainability; Chemical Industry; Manufacturing Industry
Lee, Deishin, Michael W. Toffel, and Rachel Gordon. "Cook Composites and Polymers Co." Harvard Business School Case 608-055, June 2008. (Revised May 2017.)
- July 2018 (Revised August 2018)
- Case
Project Helios: Harvesting the Sun
By: Mark Egan and E. Scott Mayfield
Aware of the impact that modern society was having on the environment, Ashley Telkes had always tried to be cognizant of her own impact on the environment and to take reasonable steps to mitigate her own effects. Having already implemented a number of passive measures... View Details
Egan, Mark, and E. Scott Mayfield. "Project Helios: Harvesting the Sun." Harvard Business School Case 219-009, July 2018. (Revised August 2018.)
- 15 Aug 2022
- Book
University of the Future: Finding the Next World Leaders in Higher Ed
Today the United States is considered the world leader in higher education. Yet the country could risk losing that top spot, particularly with China opening some of the most innovative educational centers across the globe in recent years,... View Details
- April 2002
- Article
The Determination of Unemployment Benefits
By: Rafael Di Tella and Robert J. MacCulloch
While much empirical research exists on labor market consequences of unemployment benefits, there is remarkably little evidence on the forces determining benefits. We present a simple model where workers desire insurance against unemployment risk and benefits increase... View Details
Di Tella, Rafael, and Robert J. MacCulloch. "The Determination of Unemployment Benefits." Journal of Labor Economics 20, no. 2 (April 2002): 404–34.
- June 1995 (Revised June 1996)
- Case
White Nights and Polar Lights: Investing in the Russian Oil Industry
By: Debora L. Spar
In the latter half of the 1980s, the collapse of the Soviet empire created an unprecedented opportunity for Western businesses. Among those most attracted were the oil firms, who rushed to investigate Russia's vast petroleum reserves. But, as they soon discovered,... View Details
Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Market Entry and Exit; Foreign Direct Investment; Energy Sources; Energy Industry; Russia
Spar, Debora L., William W. Jarosz, and Julia Kou. "White Nights and Polar Lights: Investing in the Russian Oil Industry." Harvard Business School Case 795-022, June 1995. (Revised June 1996.)
- 2014
- Article
Psychological Safety: The History, Renaissance, and Future of an Interpersonal Construct
By: Amy C. Edmondson and Zhike Lei
Psychological safety describes people's perceptions of the consequences of taking interpersonal risks in a particular context such as a workplace. First explored by pioneering organizational scholars in the 1960s, psychological safety experienced a renaissance starting... View Details
Edmondson, Amy C., and Zhike Lei. "Psychological Safety: The History, Renaissance, and Future of an Interpersonal Construct." Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior 1 (2014): 23–43.
- February 2018
- Article
Retention Futility: Targeting High-Risk Customers Might Be Ineffective.
By: Eva Ascarza
Companies in a variety of sectors are increasingly managing customer churn proactively, generally by detecting customers at the highest risk of churning and targeting retention efforts towards them. While there is a vast literature on developing churn prediction models... View Details
Keywords: Retention/churn; Proactive Churn Management; Field Experiments; Heterogeneous Treatment Effect; Machine Learning; Customer Relationship Management; Risk Management
Ascarza, Eva. "Retention Futility: Targeting High-Risk Customers Might Be Ineffective." Journal of Marketing Research (JMR) 55, no. 1 (February 2018): 80–98.
- August 2023
- Article
Can Security Design Foster Household Risk-Taking?
By: Laurent Calvet, Claire Célérier, Paolo Sodini and Boris Vallée
This paper shows that securities with a non-linear payoff design can foster household risk-taking. We demonstrate this effect empirically by exploiting the introduction of capital guarantee products in Sweden from 2002 to 2007. The fast and broad adoption of these... View Details
Keywords: Financial Innovation; Household Finance; Structured Products; Stock Market Participation; Finance; Innovation and Invention; Household; Personal Finance; Risk and Uncertainty; Behavior; Market Participation
Calvet, Laurent, Claire Célérier, Paolo Sodini, and Boris Vallée. "Can Security Design Foster Household Risk-Taking?" Journal of Finance 78, no. 4 (August 2023): 1917–1966.
- 2015
- Working Paper
The Probability of Rare Disasters: Estimation and Implications
By: Emil Siriwardane
I analyze a rare disasters economy that yields a measure of the risk neutral probability of a macroeconomic disaster, p*t. A large panel of options data provides strong evidence that p*t is the single factor driving option-implied jump risk measures in the cross... View Details
Siriwardane, Emil. "The Probability of Rare Disasters: Estimation and Implications." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 16-061, November 2015.