Publications

Web

Case Studies - Social Impact Collaboratory

investors as well as trustees of leading nonprofits had expressed uncertainty about whether MRIs were compatible with a board’s fiduciary duties. Darren wondered if his board held the same view. This case will explore the process and... View Details

2009
Book

Financial Economics

By: Zvi Bodie, Robert C. Merton and David L. Cleeton

This book seeks to explain finance through its functions rather than its institutions, concentrating on the three pillars of finance: optimization over time, asset valuation, and risk management. View Details

Keywords: Economics; Finance; Assets; Risk Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation

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HBS - Financials | Supplemental Financial Information

2022, compared with $46 million in the prior year Net Capital Expenses Given continued uncertainty about the pandemic heading into fiscal 2022, capital spending was limited to select projects. These included the renovations of Cash House... View Details

07 Jan 2019
Research & Ideas

The Better Way to Forecast the Future

Whether it’s booking a hotel, renting a movie, or buying a car, many of us consult multiple reviews before deciding. It’s called aggregating opinions, and we do it without even thinking about it. Crowdsourcing works so well, in fact, says Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Air Transportation; Transportation

March 1999 (Revised April 1999)
Case

Environmental Risk Management at Chevron Corporation

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Monica M Mandelli and Jennifer Burns

Chevron Corp., headquartered in San Francisco, manages a worldwide, vertically integrated value chain from the oil well to the gasoline station. Mishandling of oil at any stage of production can damage the natural environment, human health, corporate profitability, or... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Generation; Supply Chain Management; Metals and Minerals; Management Systems; Management Teams; Trade; Vertical Integration; Energy Industry; Mining Industry

14 Sep 2023
Blog Post

MBAs Accelerate Their Social Enterprise Ventures

potential co-founders. This phase has provided critical insights that will inform my next entrepreneurial endeavor. Sophy: It is also because of this responsibility for my and my team’s time and energy that I decided I will pivot going forward. The risks and View Details

Web

Strategy Execution Online Course | HBS Online

Part II Featured Exercises Identify which opportunities your organization should and should not pursue Propose a system you can use to focus organizational attention on emerging threats and uncertainties Apply course-wide knowledge by... View Details

November 2010 (Revised May 2014)
Case

Dow's Bid for Rohm and Haas

By: Benjamin C. Esty and David Lane

This case analyzes Dow Chemical Company's proposed acquisition of Rohm and Haas in 2008. The $18.8 billion acquisition was part of Dow's strategic transformation from a slow-growth, low-margin, and cyclical producer of basic chemicals into a higher-growth,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Financial Condition; Financial Management; Contracts; Lawsuits and Litigation; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation; Chemical Industry

June 2009
Case

Midland Energy Resources, Inc.: Cost of Capital

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Joel L. Heilprin

The senior vice president of project finance for a global oil and gas company must determine the weighted average cost of capital for the company as a whole and each of its divisions as part of the annual capital budgeting process. The case uses comparable companies to... View Details

Keywords: Risk Assessment; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Cost of Capital; Cash Flow; Capital Structure; Valuation; Capital Budgeting; Energy Industry

11 Feb 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

10 Rules Entrepreneurs Need to Know Before Adopting AI

moving target, potential customers are wary of costs and implementation complexities, and use cases, while powerful, are still lacking in many areas. Take advantage of uncertainty All this uncertainty is a... View Details

Keywords: by Rocio Wu

27 Mar 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Novel Risks

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan, Dutch Leonard, and Anette Mikes

02 Dec 2010
What Do You Think?

Making Right Choices: Art or Science?

make your decisions nonreversible; regret less; control expectations; and learn to love constraints in order to cope with uncertainty and avoid depression." Now the genre includes another book, which has made several Top Ten of 2010... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

January 2021 (Revised August 2021)
Case

ByteDance: TikTok and the Trials of Going Viral

By: William C. Kirby and John P. McHugh

In 2020, TikTok became the most valuable start-up ever. The short-form, video-sharing social media platform emerged as the crown jewel of the Chinese technology firm ByteDance, realizing 850 million monthly users and an estimated worth of $180 billion. However, a... View Details

04 Feb 2010
What Do You Think?

What’s the Best Way to Make Careful Decisions?

Summing Up What is the right mix between intuition and analysis? Several clear themes characterized responses to this month's column. Dominant among these was that the best way to reach a decision depends on a number of factors, including the nature of the decision,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

13 Sep 2021
Research & Ideas

Science: The Unlikely Frontier for New Business Ideas

intensity,” followed by patent filings that didn’t cite papers but referenced another patent that did. The least science-based products offered no connections to past research in their filings. "The added uncertainties and costs of tough... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

June 2005 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Amazon.com's European Distribution Strategy

By: Janice Hammond and Claire Chiron

Describes how Amazon's distribution system evolved from the company's inception. In 2003, Amazon Europe must decide how to reconfigure its distribution network in light of expected growth, products proliferation, and geographical expansion in Europe. Examines how... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Supply and Industry; Distribution; Supply Chain; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; Web Services Industry

21 May 2019
Working Paper Summaries

rTSR: When Do Relative Performance Metrics Capture Relative Performance?

Keywords: by Paul Ma, Jee-Eun Shin, and Charles C. Y. Wang; Financial Services

October 2023
Case

Prime Coalition: Estimating Climate Impact

By: Natalia Rigol, Benjamin N. Roth, Brian Trelstad and Amram Migdal

A case on CRANE, a tool to help investors and green technology companies estimate the future climate impact of new technologies and products, called emissions reduction potential (ERP). The case includes material on CRANE’s methodology for estimating future carbon... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Emissions; Environmental Accounting; Analysis; Climate Change; Green Technology; Innovation and Invention; Measurement and Metrics; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Risk and Uncertainty; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Enterprise