Publications

October 18, 2021
Article

To Regulate Network-Based Platforms, Look at Their Data

By: Chiara Farronato and Daniel Björkegren

Historically, antitrust authorities have taken a laissez-faire approach under the assumption that it is better to err on the side of not intervening when there is uncertainty. This has allowed companies like Google and Facebook to go on a shopping spree to acquire... View Details

Keywords: Antitrust Issues And Policies; Risk and Uncertainty; Digital Platforms; Competitive Advantage; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology Industry

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January 2014 (Revised June 2014)
Supplement

23andMe: Genetic Testing for Consumers (B)

By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez

Following the FDA's letter in November 2013, which ordered 23andMe to cease sales of its DNA test kits, observers wondered how co-founder and CEO, Anne Wojcicki, would guide the company in the presence of uncertainty. View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Genetics; Crisis Management; Health Care and Treatment; Product Development; Business and Government Relations; Biotechnology Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

July 2003
Background Note

Expropriation in International Business

By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Meghan Gallagher-Kernstine

Covers several important expropriation cases in international business from the 20th century and highlights the legal and political difficulties these companies faced. Serves to explain expropriation, to stress the vulnerability of foreign direct investments to... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Global Strategy; Government and Politics; Common Law; Risk Management; Property; Risk and Uncertainty

February 2025
Tutorial

Preparing Business Leaders for an Era of Climate Instability: Understanding and Managing Physical Climate Risk

By: Michael W. Toffel and Spencer Glendon

In this compelling video, Spencer Glendon, founder of Probable Futures and Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School, describes the profound implications of climate change for businesses, the economy, and societies around the world. Drawing from his background in... View Details

Keywords: Modeling; Climate Change; Adaptation; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Forecasting and Prediction

12 Feb 2013
First Look

First Look: Feb. 12

Preannouncements under Market Uncertainty Authors:Ofek, Elie, and Ozge Turut Publication:Marketing Science Abstract A firm may want to preannounce its plans to develop a new product in order to stimulate future demand. But given that such... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Feb 2022
News

Launch Codes

capitalized, loss-making technology company is what it took for me to learn that! —Steve Papa (MBA 1999) founder of Endeca; founder and current CEO at Parallel Wireless; longtime NVC judge and mentor Tenacity Amid Uncertainty I applied to... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell; illustrations by Alvaro Dominguez

1971
Chapter

Risk, the Pricing of Capital Assets, and the Evaluation of Investment Portfolios

By: Michael Jensen

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Risk and Uncertainty; Capital; Asset Pricing; Performance Evaluation

March 1968 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Basic Industries

By: Joseph L. Bower and John W. Rosenblum

Policy problems, mainly organizational issues, face a young middle manager in the context of capital budgeting in a highly technological conglomerate firm with high market uncertainty. View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Capital Budgeting; Policy; Managerial Roles; Risk and Uncertainty

01 Dec 1999
News

New Jakurski Chair Supports Research in Global Finance

endow a chair at the School. After graduating from HBS as a Baker Scholar, he worked for a number of years at Unibanco, Brazil's third largest bank, including service as executive director. In 1983, he and three partners founded Pactual, a Rio brokerage firm. During a... View Details

01 Sep 2004
News

Books

productivity. Professor Lerner and his coauthor show how legal changes initiated in the 1980s converted the system from a stimulator of innovation to a creator of litigation and uncertainty that threatens the innovation process itself. View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

April 2017 (Revised May 2017)
Case

GE Capital After the Crisis

By: John C. Coates, John D. Dionne and David S. Scharfstein

Keith Sherin, CEO of GE Capital, faced a decision on which hinged billions of dollars and the fate of one of America’s most storied companies. On his desk sat two secret analyses: Project Beacon, a proposal to spin off most of GE Capital to GE shareholders, and... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Institutions; Strategy

August 1988
Background Note

Close Encounters of the Four Kinds: Managing Customers in a Rapidly Changing Environment

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Describes four kinds of selling: 1) transaction, 2) systems, 3) major account management, and 4) strategic account relationships. Explains the advantages, disadvantages, and risks of each. The second half is devoted to a discussion of strategic account relationships... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Social Psychology

2002
Working Paper

Legal Risk as a Determinant of Syndicate Structure in the Project Finance Loan Market

By: Benjamin C. Esty and William L. Megginson

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Project Finance; Financing and Loans; Legal Liability

05 Apr 2016
First Look

April 5, 2016

paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50873 Economic Uncertainty and Earnings Management By: Stein, Luke C.D., and Charles C.Y. Wang Abstract—In the presence of managerial short-termism and asymmetric information about... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthlorne

2025
Working Paper

Climate Risk and the U.S. Insurance Gap: Measurement, Drivers and Implications

By: Parinitha Sastry, Tess Scharlemann, Ishita Sen and Ana-Maria Tenekedjieva

In a world with rising risk, how much are U.S. households willing to pay for homeowners insurance, and what does their demand imply for the future of insurance markets? We provide the first estimates of household willingness to pay for homeowners insurance and the... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Risk and Uncertainty; Insurance; Personal Finance; Consumer Behavior; Mortgages

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January 2021
Teaching Note

Shellye Archambeau: Becoming a CEO

By: Tsedal Neeley

Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 420-071 and 420-073. View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Race; Gender; Leadership Style; Risk and Uncertainty; Change; Prejudice and Bias; Decision Making; Personal Development and Career; Technology Industry; California

2013
Working Paper

Return Predictability in the Treasury Market: Real Rates, Inflation, and Liquidity

By: Carolin E. Pflueger and Luis M. Viceira

Estimating the liquidity differential between inflation-indexed and nominal bond yields, we separately test for time-varying real rate risk premia, inflation risk premia, and liquidity premia in U.S. and U.K. bond markets. We find strong, model independent evidence... View Details

Keywords: Expectations Hypothesis; Term Structure; Real Interest Rate Risk; Inflation Risk; Inflation-Indexed Bonds; Financial Crisis; Inflation and Deflation; Financial Liquidity; Bonds; Investment Return; Risk and Uncertainty; United Kingdom; United States