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Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(923)
- News (87)
- Research (699)
- Events (3)
- Multimedia (3)
- Faculty Publications (254)
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- August 2023
- Article
Do Rating Agencies Behave Defensively for Higher Risk Issuers?
By: Samuel B. Bonsall IV, Kevin Koharki, Pepa Kraft, Karl A. Muller III and Anywhere Sikochi
We examine whether rating agencies act defensively toward issuers with a higher likelihood of default. We find that agencies' qualitative soft rating adjustments are more accurate as issuers' default risk grows, as evidenced by the adjustments leading to lower Type I... View Details
Keywords: Credit Rating Agencies; Soft Rating Adjustments; Default; Credit; Performance Evaluation; Measurement and Metrics; Financial Institutions; Risk Management
Bonsall, Samuel B., IV, Kevin Koharki, Pepa Kraft, Karl A. Muller III, and Anywhere Sikochi. "Do Rating Agencies Behave Defensively for Higher Risk Issuers?" Management Science 69, no. 8 (August 2023): 4864–4887.
- October 2021
- Article
Shareholder Activism and Firms' Voluntary Disclosure of Climate Change Risks
By: Caroline Flammer, Michael W. Toffel and Kala Viswanathan
This paper examines whether—in the absence of mandated disclosure requirements—shareholder activism can elicit greater disclosure of firms’ exposure to climate change risks. We find that environmental shareholder activism increases the voluntary disclosure of climate... View Details
Keywords: Transparency; Reporting; Shareholder Engagement; Shareholder Activism; Climate Change; Risk and Uncertainty; Environmental Management; Investment Activism; Corporate Disclosure; Communication Strategy; Information Publishing; Measurement and Metrics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Problems and Challenges; United States
Flammer, Caroline, Michael W. Toffel, and Kala Viswanathan. "Shareholder Activism and Firms' Voluntary Disclosure of Climate Change Risks." Strategic Management Journal 42, no. 10 (October 2021): 1850–1879. (Featured in Harvard Business Review.)
- 30 Jun 2020
- Book
Capitalism Is More at Risk Than Ever
The book Capitalism at Risk first appeared in 2011. The problems it identified with social inequality, global trade strife, and environmental degradation have only accelerated by 2020. The new edition of Capitalism at Risk, subtitled How Business Can Lead, is expanded... View Details
Keywords: by Martha Lagace
- 09 May 2005
- Research & Ideas
Hold or Fold? Sizing Up Business Risk
results we are likely to get if we stick with Option A and stay in the current game as active players. We use the same definition for the currency of the future results as we did with the Satisfaction dimension, and again we use a very simple View Details
- Research Summary
Overview
By: Shikhar Ghosh
I am focused on exploring the human side of developing early stage entrepreneurial ventures. These enterprises are characterized by the pursuit of opportunity, shortage of resources to pursue their goals and uncertainty at every step of the journey. Some of the... View Details
- 2024
- Article
Financial Constraints and Short-term Planning are Linked to Flood Risk Adaptation Gaps in U.S. cities
By: Shirley Lu and Anya Nakhmurina
Adaptation is critical in reducing the inevitable impact of climate change. Here we study cities’ adaptation to elevated flood risk by introducing a linguistic measure of adaptation extracted from financial disclosures of 431 US cities over 2013–2020. While cities with... View Details
Keywords: City; Natural Disasters; Climate Change; Adaptation; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategic Planning
Lu, Shirley, and Anya Nakhmurina. "Financial Constraints and Short-Term Planning Are Linked to Flood Risk Adaptation Gaps in U.S. Cities." Art. 43. Communications Earth & Environment 5 (2024).
- 2023
- Working Paper
Design-Based Confidence Sequences: A General Approach to Risk Mitigation in Online Experimentation
By: Dae Woong Ham, Michael Lindon, Martin Tingley and Iavor Bojinov
Randomized experiments have become the standard method for companies to evaluate the performance of new products or services. In addition to augmenting managers’ decision-making, experimentation mitigates risk by limiting the proportion of customers exposed to... View Details
Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Research and Development; Analytics and Data Science; Consumer Behavior
Ham, Dae Woong, Michael Lindon, Martin Tingley, and Iavor Bojinov. "Design-Based Confidence Sequences: A General Approach to Risk Mitigation in Online Experimentation." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 23-070, May 2023.
- Teaching Interest
Business Opportunties in Climate Adaptation
By: John D. Macomber
This is a Short Intensive Program or SIP at Harvard Business School. It’s an optional student offering prior to the formal start of the Spring semester the following week. SIPs tend to cover new material on current topics, to be less formal than the HBS Case Study... View Details
- 2022
- Article
Missing Novelty in Drug Development
By: Joshua Krieger, Danielle Li and Dimitris Papanikolaou
We provide evidence that risk aversion leads pharmaceutical firms to underinvest in radical innovation. We introduce a new measure of drug novelty based on chemical similarity and show that firms face a risk-reward trade-off: novel drug candidates are less likely to... View Details
Keywords: Drug Development; Risk Aversion; Research and Development; Innovation and Invention; Investment; Pharmaceutical Industry
Krieger, Joshua, Danielle Li, and Dimitris Papanikolaou. "Missing Novelty in Drug Development." Review of Financial Studies 35, no. 2 (February 2022): 636–679.
- October 2019
- Article
Does Political Uncertainty Increase External Financing Costs? Measuring the Electoral Premium in Syndicated Lending
By: Olivia S. Kim
This article investigates the impact of political uncertainty on contractual lending terms using a large sample of syndicated loans and a within-firm estimation approach to achieve identification. Firms pay 7 basis points (bps) more on loans originated when their... View Details
Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Political Elections; Financing and Loans; Developing Countries and Economies
Kim, Olivia S. "Does Political Uncertainty Increase External Financing Costs? Measuring the Electoral Premium in Syndicated Lending." Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 54, no. 5 (October 2019): 2141–2178.
- 2020
- Working Paper
Capital Regulation and Product Market Outcomes
By: Ishita Sen and David Humphry
We present evidence of product market adjustments and asset reorganizations from the largest ever shift in risk regulation in a developed insurance market. Using proprietary data on insurance risk exposures from the Bank of England, we develop a measure of regulatory... View Details
Keywords: Non-traditional-non-insurance; Risk Regulation; Product Market Concentration; Small Vs. Large Insurers; Insurance Risk Exposure; Insurance; Risk and Uncertainty; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms
Sen, Ishita, and David Humphry. "Capital Regulation and Product Market Outcomes." Working Paper, January 2020.
- October 2019
- Article
Limited Investment Capital and Credit Spreads
Using proprietary credit default swap (CDS) data, I investigate how capital shocks at protection sellers impact pricing in the CDS market. Seller capital shocks—measured as CDS portfolio margin payments—account for 12% of the time-series variation in weekly spread... View Details
Keywords: Credit Risk; Derivatives; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Capital Markets; Credit; Financial Institutions
Siriwardane, Emil N. "Limited Investment Capital and Credit Spreads." Journal of Finance 74, no. 5 (October 2019): 2303–2347.
- 2018
- Working Paper
Managing Through Organizational Change: Employee Alignment in the Presence of Unexpected Career Concerns
By: Ohchan Kwon and Jee-Eun Shin
This study examines performance consequences due to unexpected career concerns – layoff risks due to institutional reasons. Exploiting a company-wide announcement of a merger decision by management as a trigger event for unexpected career concerns, we examine employee... View Details
- June 2005 (Revised January 2007)
- Case
Equator Principles, The: An Industry Approach to Managing Environmental and Social Risks
By: Benjamin C. Esty, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Aldo Sesia
In June 2003, 10 leading international banks adopted new voluntary guidelines, called the Equator Principles, to promote sustainable development in project finance. In recent years, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) had raised issues about the lenders'... View Details
Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Competition; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Issues; Environmental Sustainability; Policy; Project Finance; Standards; Projects; Commercial Banking; Non-Governmental Organizations
Esty, Benjamin C., Carin-Isabel Knoop, and Aldo Sesia. "Equator Principles, The: An Industry Approach to Managing Environmental and Social Risks." Harvard Business School Case 205-114, June 2005. (Revised January 2007.)
- October 7, 2021
- Article
Carbon Might Be Your Company’s Biggest Financial Liability
By: Robert G. Eccles and John Mulliken
The price of carbon may be zero in many places today, but it’s unlikely to remain zero for long. That means that many companies have hidden liabilities on their books. To cover their carbon short position, executives can take several steps: Measure the position in... View Details
Keywords: Climate Risk; Climate Finance; Risk Management; Governance; Environmental Accounting; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability
Eccles, Robert G., and John Mulliken. "Carbon Might Be Your Company’s Biggest Financial Liability." Harvard Business Review (website) (October 7, 2021).
- July 2022
- Article
The Pass-Through of Uncertainty Shocks to Households
By: Marco Di Maggio, Amir Kermani, Rodney Ramcharan, Vincent Yao and Edison Yu
Using new employer-employee matched data, this paper investigates the impact of uncertainty, as measured by idiosyncratic stock market volatility, on individual outcomes. We find that firms provide at best partial insurance to their workers. An increase in firm-level... View Details
Keywords: Employment Risk; Consumption; Employment; Risk and Uncertainty; System Shocks; Insurance; Household; Spending
Di Maggio, Marco, Amir Kermani, Rodney Ramcharan, Vincent Yao, and Edison Yu. "The Pass-Through of Uncertainty Shocks to Households." Journal of Financial Economics 145, no. 1 (July 2022): 85–104. (2023 Fama-DFA Prize for the Best Paper Published in the Journal of Financial Economics in Asset Pricing, 2nd place.)
- November 2016 (Revised December 2016)
- Module Note
Strategy Execution Module 11: Using Diagnostic and Interactive Control Systems
By: Robert Simons
This module reading introduces diagnostic and interactive control systems. Diagnostic control systems are the management-by-exception systems that managers use to monitor the achievement of their business strategy. Interactive control systems are the systems that top... View Details
Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Performance Measurement; Diagnostic Control Systems; Interactive Control Systems; Emergent Strategy; Goal Setting; Incentives; Strategy; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives; Management Systems; Performance Evaluation
Simons, Robert. "Strategy Execution Module 11: Using Diagnostic and Interactive Control Systems." Harvard Business School Module Note 117-111, November 2016. (Revised December 2016.)
- 2017
- Report
The American Angel: The First In-Depth Report on the Demographics and Investing Activity of Individual American Angel Investors
By: Laura Huang, Andy Wu, Min Ju Lee, Jiayi Bao, Marianne Hudson and Elaine Bolle
Early-stage financing from angel investors is critical to the success of high-growth startups. Recent estimates suggest that annual US angel investment activity may total as much as $24 billion each year, contributing to the growth and success of more than 64,000... View Details
Keywords: Angel Investors; Geography; Risk; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Demographics; Geographic Location; Decision Making; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; United States
Huang, Laura, Andy Wu, Min Ju Lee, Jiayi Bao, Marianne Hudson, and Elaine Bolle. "The American Angel: The First In-Depth Report on the Demographics and Investing Activity of Individual American Angel Investors." Report, Overland Park, KS, November 2017.
- October 2022
- Case
Sustainable Finance at Itau BBA
By: George Serafeim, Maria Loumioti and Benjamin Maletta
As of August 2022, the Itau BBA had structured dozens of sustainability linked bonds, which made future interest payments a function of the borrower meeting a target for a sustainability metric, and had solidified its reputation as a pioneer of sustainable finance in... View Details
Keywords: Sustainable Finance; Corporate Social Responsibility; Environmental Sustainability; Growth Strategy; Debt Contracting; Performance Metrics; Risk Assessment; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Financial Instruments; Risk Management; Debt Securities; Measurement and Metrics; Banking Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Latin America
Serafeim, George, Maria Loumioti, and Benjamin Maletta. "Sustainable Finance at Itau BBA." Harvard Business School Case 123-036, October 2022.
- 2021
- Article
Decarbonizing Everything
By: Alex Cheema-Fox, Bridget LaPerla, George Serafeim, David Turkington and Hui (Stacie) Wang
We analyze how the use of different climate risk measures leads to different portfolio carbon outcomes and risk-adjusted returns. Our findings are synthesized in a rules-based investment framework, which selects a different type of climate metric across industries and... View Details
Keywords: Climate Risk; ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Disclosure; ESG Disclosure Metrics; ESG Ratings; Investing; Investing For Impact; Investment Strategy; Environment; Decarbonization; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Environmental Management; Environmental Accounting; Investment; Strategy; Investment Portfolio; Investment Return
Cheema-Fox, Alex, Bridget LaPerla, George Serafeim, David Turkington, and Hui (Stacie) Wang. "Decarbonizing Everything." Financial Analysts Journal 77, no. 3 (2021): 93–108.