Asset Allocation - Publications - Faculty & Research

30 Nov 2021
In Practice

What's the Role of Business in Confronting Climate Change?

The 26th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, also known as COP26, ended with a hard-fought pact that called on businesses and governments to meet their climate change goals faster. The event followed an August report by the Intergovernmental... View Details

Keywords: by Lynn Schenk and Dina Gerdeman

15 Nov 2016
First Look

November 15, 2016

deployment, and management of multiple brands as a coordinated portfolio of meaning-based assets that address the needs of diverse customers in a marketplace and maximize return while minimizing risk. It specifies the optimal portfolio of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2009
Article

Are You Having Trouble Keeping Your Operations Focused?

By: Robert S. Huckman

As a business broadens over time, it can lose the operational edge that led to its original success. Core strengths atrophy, efficiency or quality suffers, and sharper rivals close in to take advantage of the loss of focus. In his classic article "The Focused Factory"... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Business Growth and Maturation; Goals and Objectives; Resource Allocation; Operations; Performance Efficiency

Citation

Find at Harvard

Purchase

04 Sep 2013
What Do You Think?

How Relevant is Long-Range Strategic Planning?

advantage includes such things as smaller, faster, more agile organizations--and where management-by-consensus is a thing of the past. The emphasis is on marshalling rather than owning assets, including talent. In order to ensure the appropriate deployment of these... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

29 Mar 2022
Book

5 Qualities That Help Companies Thrive for Decades—Even Centuries

“In India, you often encounter a really strong set of value-driven businesses. And it’s an interesting question why.” Reputation is an especially strong attribute of long-haul companies, adds Khanna. “I really think of it as an asset that... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

11 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

Is Amazon a Retailer, a Tech Firm, or a Media Company? How AI Can Help Investors Decide

managers wanted to hedge that risk. Well, how can I hedge my risk against a portfolio that has retail stocks and technology stocks? If you have put Amazon into the retail, you're not putting the right notional risk allocation towards that... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Consumer Products; Real Estate; Financial Services; Retail

15 Jul 2019
Book

Many Executives Are Afraid of Finance. Here's How They Can Gain Confidence

have been the preferred method. Is this good or bad? Desai: Much as free cash flow was a little-used metric 30 years ago and is now dominant, the capital allocation problem is now the dominant financial frame on a business. In the book, I... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

06 Oct 2003
Research & Ideas

The Problem with Hedge Funds

fund for management. For a percentage of the assets managed, or a percentage of the investors' gain, the bank places investors' money in other funds for management. The fee the investor pays the bank is for expertise the investor lacks in... View Details

Keywords: by D. Quinn Mills

28 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

Unilever: Transformation and Tradition

products, but they became worldwide brands because of the capabilities of Unilever. Their success rested on the choices made on strategy and organization, on the recruitment and development of managers, on the allocation of spending... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products

15 Nov 2011
First Look

First Look: November 15

selection. It also deals with budget allocation to traditional (Super Bowl, television) and new (viral ads and social) media. Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/512011-PDF-ENG Learning to Negotiate Michael A.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Mar 2005
Research & Ideas

The Tricky Business of Nonprofit Brands

Starbucks. How important is it for NGOs to know what their brand valuation is, and how should they use this information? A: It is important for any organization, for-profit or nonprofit, to know the value of their brand so that they can View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

10 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Retailing Revolution: Category Killers on the Brink

generally is at a tipping point, with category killers being the first significant casualties of the (r)evolution that is occurring. Retail store asset productivity has been in decline since the start of the recession in 2007, and we... View Details

Keywords: by Rajiv Lal & Jose B. Alvarez; Retail

Research Summary

Mastering Strategy Execution

By: Robert Simons

Professor Robert Simons’ research encompasses three areas of management accountability that are the foundation for successful strategy execution: organization design, performance measurement and control, and risk management. In addition, Simons is interested in the... View Details

December 2010 (Revised April 2011)
Supplement

Boston Properties (B)

By: Ryan D. Taliaferro and Aldo Sesia

The B case briefly recounts the action that investment manager Eliza Baena takes in the matter of the Boston Properties (BXP) bonds described in the A case. She must decide what to do next. View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Bonds; Financing and Loans; Investment; Resource Allocation

Citation

Purchase

October 2008
Teaching Note

Grosvenor Group Limited (TN)

By: Arthur I Segel and Ben Creo

Teaching Note for [207064]. View Details

Keywords: Resource Allocation; Market Transactions; Property; Financial Instruments; Assets; Emerging Markets; Real Estate Industry

Citation

Purchase

16 Feb 2021
Research & Ideas

To Fight Climate Change, Should Green Investors Reconsider Big Oil?

allocated to sustainable funds that invest in companies with specific environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors and goals. Since 2015, when the US Department of Labor began allowing pension fund managers to incorporate ESG... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Energy

01 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 1

competing in the new, despite some dramatic early success. We suggest that these difficulties do not arise from cannibalization concerns or from inherited cognitive frames. Instead they reflect diseconomies of scope rooted in assets that... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

03 Feb 2018
Op-Ed

How to Heed BlackRock's Call for Corporate Social Responsibility

Larry Fink recently created a shockwave. As cofounder, chairman, and CEO of BlackRock, one of the world’s largest global asset management firms, in an open letter to CEOs he caught the attention of financial markets and beyond by... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Battilana

16 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 16

Categories on Resource Allocations (revised) Authors:Stephen M. Garcia, Max H. Bazerman, Shirli Kopelman, and Dale T. Miller Abstract This paper explores the influence of social categories on the perceived trade-off between relatively bad... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 1997 (Revised March 1998)
Case

Komatsu Ltd.: Project G's Globalization

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

This case describes the major strategic and organizational transformation at Komatsu aimed at changing it from a Japan-based producer of construction equipment to a truly global company with the ability to leverage its groupwide portfolio of resources and capabilities... View Details