Publications

December 1982 (Revised April 1983)
Background Note

Management Issues in State-Owned Enterprises

By: James E. Austin

Keywords: Business Ventures; State Ownership; Management

1994
Book

Managing Business Enterprises after Communism

By: Gary W. Loveman, Simon Johnson and David T. Kotchen

March 2012
Article

Managing Political Risk in Global Business: Beiersdorf 1914-1990

By: Geoffrey Jones and Christina Lubinski

This article is concerned with business strategies of political risk management during the twentieth century. It focuses especially on Beiersdorf, a pharmaceutical and skin care company in Germany. During World War I, the expropriation of its brands and trademarks... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Government and Politics; Risk Management; Brands and Branding; Problems and Challenges; Communication Technology; Cost; Trademarks; Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Germany

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23 Apr 2024
News

AI-Related Risks Test the Limits of Organizational Risk Management

2011
Working Paper

Managing Political Risk in Global Business: Beiersdorf 1914-1990

By: Geoffrey Jones and Christina Lubinski

This working paper examines corporate strategies of political risk management during the twentieth century. It focuses especially on Beiersdorf, a German-based pharmaceutical and skin care company. During World War I the expropriation of its brands and trademarks... View Details

Keywords: History; Risk Management; Business History; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Strategy; Intellectual Property; Cooperation; Business and Government Relations; Germany

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2025
Report

High Stakes: A Framework for Geopolitical Risk Management

By: Meg Rithmire and David Fagan

This report provides a data-based assessment of how U.S. companies perceive geopolitical risk and articulates a recommended decision-making process and framework to manage such risk. The research reflected in the report indicates that various concerns related to China... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; International Relations; Business or Company Management; Risk Management

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Forthcoming
Article

How Central Banks Manage Climate and Energy Transition Risks

By: Esther Shears, Jonas Meckling and Jared Finnegan

Central banks have begun to examine and manage climate risks, including both transition risks of moving from fossil fuels to clean energy and physical climate risks. Here we provide a systematic assessment of how and why central banks address climate risks on the basis... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Risk and Uncertainty; Climate Change; Transition; Risk Management

2021
Article

Internment as a Business Challenge: Political Risk Management and German Multinationals in Colonial India (1914–1947)

By: Christina Lubinski, Valeria Giacomin and Klara Schnitzer

Internment in so-called “enemy countries” was a frequent occurrence in the 20th century and created significant obstacles for multinational enterprises (MNEs). This article focuses on German MNEs in India and shows how they addressed the formidable challenge of the... View Details

Keywords: Internment; Political Risk; International Business; Multinational Firms and Management; Employees; War; History; Outcome or Result; India; Germany

16 Aug 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Managing Political Risk in Global Business: Beiersdorf 1914-1990

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones & Christina Lubinski; Beauty & Cosmetics

December 2007
Article

Applying Modern Risk Management to Equity and Credit Analysis

By: Robert C. Merton

Traditional conventions of accounting and actuarial science distort the valuation of capital risk in corporations with pension plans because under these conventions, pension assets and liabilities are not included in balance sheet calculations. The modern risk... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Valuation; Financial Reporting; Decision Making; Credit; Financial Statements; Capital; Equity; Compensation and Benefits

February 1994 (Revised February 1996)
Case

Union Carbide Corporation: Interest Rate Risk Management

By: Peter Tufano

Union Carbide's board of directors is asked to evaluate a proposal from the staff treasurer's that would articulate policies to manage its debt portfolio. The staff proposes that shareholder value will be maximized if the firm manages its exposure to interest rates by... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Interest Rates; Corporate Finance; Chemical Industry

Educators

September 2009
Case

The Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions, Inc.

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Stephen P. Bradley and Natalie Kindred

Through its uniquely proactive approach to medical malpractice risk management, the Risk Management Foundation (RMF) has decreased claims—and premiums—for the Harvard hospitals it insures. The RMF is the captive medico-legal insurer of the Harvard medical institutions... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Risk Management; Performance Improvement; Safety; Health Industry; Insurance Industry; Boston

Educators

June 2011
Article

Stepping into the Unknown: How Companies Learn through Risk Management

By: Anette Mikes

Risk management can add value through the continuous questioning of existing controls, strategies, and scenarios. The article outlines a new framework for risk management predicated on the notion of organizational learning, and illustrates it by a case study of a... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Framework; Governance Controls; Risk Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation

Article

You Can Manage Construction Risk

By: John D. Macomber

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Construction; Management

April 2006
Background Note

Legal Aspects of Management: Anticipating and Managing Risk

Describes the sixth and final module of the Harvard Business School MBA second-year elective course Legal Aspects of Management. This module deals with the way firms should approach business risks in order to avoid legal liability and how firms can use contracts to... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Contracts; Legal Liability

Educators

Research Summary

Measuring and Managing Risk in the Supply Chain

Understanding risk factors associated with supply chain decisions and how to appropriately model and quantify those factors. View Details

2022
Chapter

Measuring Compliance Risk and the Emergence of Analytics

By: Eugene F. Soltes

Corporate compliance manages a diverse set of regulatory and reputational concerns ranging from fraud to privacy to discrimination. However, effectively managing such risks has often been hampered by a lack of adequate information about when, where, and why misconduct... View Details

Keywords: Compliance; Risk; Analytics; Governance Compliance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Risk Management; Analytics and Data Science

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November–December 2020
Article

The Risks You Can't Foresee: What to Do When There's No Playbook

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Herman B. Leonard and Anette Mikes

No matter how good their risk management systems are, companies can’t plan for everything. Some risks are outside people’s realm of experience or so remote no one could have imagined them. Some result from a perfect storm of coinciding breakdowns, and some materialize... View Details

Keywords: Novel Risks; Risk Management; Crisis Management