Publications

June 2023 (Revised July 2023)
Case

Social Media Background Screening at Fama Technologies

By: Joseph Pacelli, Jillian Grennan and Alexis Lefort

Fama Technologies is an online screening company that uses AI to analyze job applicants' publicly available online content for signs of risk and culture fit. The case opens with Ben Mones, founder and CEO, looking to secure funding from venture firms. He is running... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Organizational Culture; Talent and Talent Management; AI and Machine Learning; Social Media; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; United States

August 2019
Case

ClearScore, 2018

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In October 2017, Experian, one of the “Big Three” consumer credit reporting agencies in the United Kingdom made an offer to acquire ClearScore for a total consideration of £293 million. Founded by Justin Basini, Dan Cobley, and Nigel Morris in 2014, ClearScore was the... View Details

February 2001 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Apax Partners and Dialog Semiconductor: March 1998

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner, Antonio Alvarez-Cano and Borja Martinez

Apax Partners is considering a complex buyout of a semiconductor manufacturer. The firms must assess in a compressed timeframe the complex technological, financial, and operational risks that the proposed transaction poses. View Details

Keywords: Market Transactions; Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Time Management; Production; Risk Management; Financial Services Industry; Semiconductor Industry

06 Oct 2015
First Look

October 6, 2015

Giving: The Role of Risk By: Exley, Christine L. Abstract—Decisions involving charitable giving often occur under the shadow of risk. A common finding is that potential donors give less when there is greater View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Apr 2020
Video

Crisis Management for Leaders - Program 4, Session 1

September 1998 (Revised July 1999)
Case

Costco Companies, Inc.

By: David E. Bell and Ann Leamon

Costco Companies, one of the major players in the wholesale club industry, has developed a new class of membership that offers discounted services--auto, health, and home insurance, business credit card processing, real estate services--in exchange for a higher annual... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Cost Management; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Supply and Industry; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Risk and Uncertainty; Retail Industry

August 2017
Article

Relationship Between Labor and Delivery Unit Management Practices and Maternal Outcomes

By: Avery C. Plough, Grace Galwin, Zhonghe Li, Stuart R. Lipsitz, Shehnaz Alidina, Natalie J. Henrich, Lisa R. Hirschhorn, William R. Berry, Atul A. Gawande, Doris Peter, Rory McDonald, Donna L. Caldwell, Janet H. Muri, Debra Bingham, Aaron B. Caughey, Eugene R. Declercq and Neel T. Shah

OBJECTIVE: To define, measure, and characterize key competencies of managing labor and delivery units in the United States and assess the associations between unit management and maternal outcomes. METHODS: We developed and administered a management measurement... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Evaluation; Outcome or Result; United States

Find at Harvard

January 1997 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Value-At-Risk

Introduces the student to the recently developed concept of value-at-risk (VAR) in risk analysis. By working through a stylized example using spreadsheet tools, the student learns the conceptual framework of VAR and its implementation mechanics. View Details

Keywords: Risk Management

The link between measures of risk and return within the equity market has been very weak over the past 47 years: in the United States, returns on high-risk stocks have cumulatively fallen short of the returns on low-risk stocks, during a period when the equity market... View Details

February 2000 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Pepcid AC: Racing to the OTC Market

By: Charles King III, Alvin J. Silk, Ernst R. Berndt and Lisa R. Klein

Pepcid management must decide whether to risk all in a race to be first in the over-the-counter market with a new heartburn remedy. View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Product Positioning; Markets; Research; Marketing Strategy; Product Development; Decision Choices and Conditions; Pharmaceutical Industry

We argue that stock market pressure to generate earnings encourages banks to increase risk. We measure risk using confidential supervisory ratings as well as financial information released in regulatory filings. We document that there is an increase in the risk-taking... View Details

April 2023
Article

Are Intermediary Constraints Priced?

By: Wenxin Du, Benjamin Hebert and Amy Wang Huber

Violations of no-arbitrage conditions measure the shadow cost of intermediary constraints. Intermediary asset pricing and intertemporal hedging together imply that the risk of these constraints tightening is priced. We describe a “forward CIP trading strategy” that... View Details

Keywords: Asset Pricing; Investment Return; Risk and Uncertainty; International Finance

Find at Harvard

02 Feb 2004
What Do You Think?

Leadership: A Matter of Sustaining or Eliminating Groupthink?

doers at the senior levels of management." Advice to leaders in formulating decisions was provided by Keith Pinto, who opined that "Encouraging mavericks, risk takers, and soul searching questions is part of the chaos that... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

18 May 2023
Video

Rachel Arnett presents "Navigating the Spotlight: Hidden Challenges of Minority Racial-Identity Management"

July 2005 (Revised September 2020)
Case

The U.S. Current Account Deficit

By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael Di Tella, Ingrid Vogel, Renee Kim, Sarah Jeong, Matthew Johnson and Jonathan Schlefer

Investors and policymakers throughout the world were confronted with the risk of painful economic consequences arising from the large U.S. current account deficit. In 2007, the U.S. current account deficit was $731 billion, equivalent to 5.3% of GDP. The implications... View Details

Keywords: World Economy; Macroeconomics; Borrowing and Debt; Currency; Foreign Direct Investment; Business and Government Relations; United States

March 2014
Teaching Note

E-Cigarettes: Marketing Versus Public Health

By: John A. Quelch

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) were heralded by some as a healthcare game changer, enabling smokers to switch to a new product which carried lower risk of cancer. However, there were concerns about the public health risk of e-cigarettes, particularly the chance... View Details