Publications

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

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

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

Portrait Project

Milly Wang

challenging moments. Even the smallest gestures can have a meaningful daily impact. Instead of discovering anything big and spectacular in space, I want to become someone who others can turn to for comfort and reassurance, who can be trusted to offer support and... View Details

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

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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January 2008 (Revised August 2008)
Case

The Time Warner Center: Mixed-Use Development

By: A. Eugene Kohn, Arthur I Segel and David Lane

Despite the failure of other attempts to bring mixed use development in New York City, Related Companies in 2004 opened Time Warner Center, a huge complex incorporating offices, shops, restaurants, music auditoriums, a hotel, and luxury apartments on Columbus Circle in... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Marketing; Buildings and Facilities; Construction; Development Economics; New York (city, NY)

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

Blog

Leading Successful Digital Transformation

there is a lot of uncertainty about digital future. However, in a global organization, this bottom-up approach often leads to hundreds of experiments that unfortunately do not add up to much. Although new projects drive a sense of... View Details

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

01 Dec 2004
News

Marquis Jet Takes Off

ownership, or charter. The first two came with seven-figure price tags, and charter posed uncertainties about planes and pilots. From outside the private-jet business looking in, Allard — who at the time was president and COO of SFX... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; 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

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

Web

Technology & Operations Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

(MIT). Frances X. Frei : Received multiple HBS Student Association Faculty Teaching Awards. Karim R. Lakhani : Finalist for the 2013 Best Paper in Management Science from the Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Society for “Incentives and Problem 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

January 2001
Case

Abgenix and the XenoMouse

By: Robert J. Dolan

Abgenix has a unique method for generating antibodies useful in treating a number of diseases, including cancer. In early 2000, the company's cancer has performed very well in animal testing and is moving to early stage human testing. Abgenix must decide whether to... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Marketing Strategy; Health Testing and Trials; Risk and Uncertainty; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Science-Based Business; Biotechnology Industry

May 2021 (Revised September 2021)
Case

Accounting for Bitcoin at Tesla

By: Charles C.Y. Wang and Siyu Zhang

On February 8, 2021, Tesla revealed, through its 10-K filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that it had purchased $1.5 billion of Bitcoin, totaling 7.5% of the company’s cash, and that it planned to accept payments in the cryptocurrency soon. These... View Details

Keywords: Bitcoin; Accounting; Currency; Communication Intention and Meaning; Strategy; Investment Portfolio; Emerging Markets; Risk and Uncertainty; Value Creation

July 2022 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Call of Fiduciary Duty: Microsoft Acquires Activision Blizzard

By: Jonas Heese, Joseph Pacelli and James Barnett

In January 2022, Microsoft announces its acquisition of the video game company Activision Blizzard, in a deal valued at $68.7 billion, which would make Microsoft the world’s third largest video game company. The deal came as Activision Blizzard faced gender pay... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Goodwill Accounting; Analysis; Decision Making; Talent and Talent Management; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Ethics; Leadership; Risk and Uncertainty; Mergers and Acquisitions; Lawsuits and Litigation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Video Game Industry; North America; California