Risk Taking - Publications - Faculty & Research

12 Oct 2016
Research & Ideas

Break the Rules of How Business is Done

Taking a risk by breaking with standard operating procedure can make your company more innovative. Credit: maxsattana In addition to creating a new company that is disrupting the status quo, many founders... View Details

Keywords: by Julia B. Austin

11 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

The Business of Saving the Planet

"The fact that the benefits of addressing the problem of climate change almost certainly outweigh the costs ... does not make concerted global action to address the problem easy." —Climate Change in 2018: Implications for Business If there is one positive... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Energy; Green Technology

20 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 20

Strategies and Multi-location Firms: The Role of Internal Linkages Authors:Juan Alcácer and Minyuan Zhao Publication:Management Science (forthcoming) Abstract This study looks at the role of firms' internal linkages in highly competitive technology clusters, where much... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Sep 2007
Op-Ed

Building Sandcastles: The Subprime Adventure

the subprime lenders—willing to take the risk on riskier borrowers, for a price. Thus far the tale testifies to America's entrepreneurial spirit. New mortgage banks specializing in subprime loans sprang up.... View Details

Keywords: by Nicolas P. Retsinas; Banking; Construction; Real Estate

30 Nov 2018
What Do You Think?

What’s the Best Administrative Approach to Climate Change?

Summing Up: Should a 'Montreal Protocol' for Administering Global Warming Be Pursued? Climate change and how to manage it is a daunting subject. Nevertheless, several readers of this month’s column were willing to venture a model or two for administering a system... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Energy

08 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

How to Hire a Millennial

looser, more accommodating working relationships. Rather than fighting the “gig economy,” companies should embrace it. That might mean bringing in some promising part-time employees to take hard-to-fill positions rather than flounder... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Fuller

03 Dec 2001
Research & Ideas

Healthcare Conference Looks At Ailing Industry

in a way that they never were. Twenty years ago, said Lander, information was a trivial component of biomedical research. Most of what a scientist did was based on work taking place in his or her own lab or in a few other labs. Now, of... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Health

13 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

3 Ways Firms Can Profit From Environmental Investments

Walmart was such a big deal. But then of course it became the largest firm in the world." Forestalling Risk, Increasing Operational Efficiency, And Targeting A Niche In terms of environmental sustainability, forestalling risk can mean... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Energy; Utilities

12 Jul 2016
First Look

July 12, 2016

relevant facts, but if directly asked, they are more likely to respond honestly. Watch for dodging. Don't let your counterparts sidestep your questions—write them down in advance, take notes on the answers, and make sure you get the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Motivation and the Cross-Sector Alliance

Such motives spring from the humanitarian values possessed by the organizations or individuals involved. Utilitarian motives, on the other hand, cater to the partners' organizational needs, focusing on issues like risk management or the... View Details

Keywords: by James Austin, Ezequiel Reficco & SEKN research team

28 Aug 2014
Op-Ed

Government Can Do More to Unfreeze Small Business Credit

regulators and bank examiners are inconsistent, which leads to confusion and an aversion to taking on more risk from bankers. During the most difficult part of the crisis, the Federal Deposit Insurance... View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills; Banking

15 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

A New Model for Business: The Museum

many ways Facebook is taking over big chunks of what we used to do using more open technologies: web search, content consumption, even e-mail. Increasingly, Facebook is valuable to many people because it represents a more orderly... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

13 Oct 2010
Research & Ideas

How Government can Discourage Private Sector Reliance on Short-Term Debt

School PhD candidate Samuel Hanson, and Harvard University Professor Jeremy C. Stein take on this question in a recent working paper titled A Comparative Advantage Approach to Government Debt Maturity. Their paper asks how the government... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Financial Services

08 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

Women Negotiating in the New Millenium

hand, while being told by her boss, "I'm taking a risk on you," with the implication that she needs more experience to capably handle it. (See Jane's Dilemma below for more). "People put you... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

11 Apr 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 11

theoretical and empirical investigation of the risks of globally diversified portfolios of stocks and bonds and of optimal intertemporal global portfolio choice for long horizon investors in the presence of permanent cash flow shocks and... View Details

18 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

Big Deals: Financing Large-Scale Investments

that there is an incentive to manage these risks efficiently is the key to success," he notes. With billions of dollars on the line and five to ten parties involved—ranging from sponsors and contractors to suppliers and host... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

24 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

Stop Thinking of Climate Change as a Religious or Political Issue

You sometimes hear people say things like, "I believe in global warming" or "I don't believe in climate change." It seems odd to approach climate change in this way, as though it were a question of belief, like religion. Most of the time when we confront uncertainty in... View Details

Keywords: by Forest Reinhardt; Energy; Utilities

27 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 27

two-person venture into a global company valued at $1 billion, Rickenbach's willingness to take calculated risks has kept it at the leading edge of the CRO sector. Now, despite slowing demand for CRO... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

11 Jun 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching the Next Generation of Energy Executives

You may think that being an energy executive—especially a manager in a leading oil company—might be the easiest job around. Just flip the production switch, and watch gas prices head toward $4 a gallon. But students enrolled in Harvard Business School professor Forest... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Energy; Utilities

17 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

The Business Case for Diabetes Disease Management

Management" that Beaulieu co-wrote to launch the discussion, works like this: "In a carve-out arrangement, a private disease management vendor typically takes on full risk for the care of patients... View Details