Uncertainty - Publications - Faculty & Research

19 Feb 2013
First Look

First Look: Feb. 19

generator, which is facing significant uncertainty regarding the cost and availability of alternative energy sources. Problems with the contracted supply of natural gas and the volatility of oil prices, coupled with pressure from... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Dec 2012
Research & Ideas

Why We Blab Our Intimate Secrets on Facebook

know how to value their own information," John says. "Because of this uncertainty about what the value of privacy is, people don't know when to value their information or how to care about it. And as a consequence, when people are... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

28 Jun 2011
First Look

First Look: June 28

firms that historically issued frequent guidance, breaks in guidance following CEO turnovers are relatively permanent and are potentially attributable to firm-initiated changes in guidance policy. Breaks following CFO turnovers, however, likely reflect View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Harvard Business School Faculty Comment on Crisis in Japan

from the epicenter, the rotating power outages promise to be a significant near term challenge. An e-mail exchange with a good friend at a major Japanese multinational over the weekend highlighted for me the uncertainty that lies ahead.... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

05 Jul 2006
First Look

First Look: July 5, 2006

students to wrestle with the uncertainties of copyright compliance as they decide whether Black Duck should certify that their clients' code is non-infringing. It also raises questions about which growth opportunities Black Duck should... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Jan 2001
Research & Ideas

Can Japan Compete? [Part Two]

the search for best practices. The strategy part is very much more difficult, but it creates the need for choice with the associated uncertainty and anxiety. Strategy requires saying no, rather than empowering everyone in the organization... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace & Hilah Geer

March 2004 (Revised October 2013)
Case

Innocents Abroad: Currencies and International Stock Returns

By: Mihir A. Desai, Kathleen Luchs, Elizabeth A. Meyer and Mark Veblen

What do international stocks contribute to the portfolio of a U.S. investor? How do currencies interact with stock price movements in determining the benefits of international diversification? This case helps students compare the risks and returns of foreign stock... View Details

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November 2003 (Revised May 2016)
Case

Weetman Pearson and the Mexican Oil Industry (A)

By: Geoffrey Jones and Lisa Bud-Freirman

Taught in the MBA Evolution of Global Business course, a business history course on the growth of multinationals. Explores the role of the British entrepreneur Weetman Pearson in developing the Mexican oil industry before 1914. Shows this entrepreneur's evolution from... View Details

Keywords: History; Risk and Uncertainty; Non-Renewable Energy; Growth Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Developing Countries and Economies; Energy Industry; Mexico

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August 2001
Case

Strategic Capital Management, LLC (C)

By: Mark L. Mitchell, Erik Stafford and Todd Pulvino

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Business Subsidiaries; Internet and the Web; Investment Funds; Price; Performance Efficiency; Capital Markets; Auctions; Investment Return; Equity; Planning; Financial Services Industry

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August 2001
Case

Strategic Capital Management, LLC (B)

By: Mark L. Mitchell, Erik Stafford and Todd Pulvino

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Business Subsidiaries; Internet and the Web; Investment Funds; Price; Performance Efficiency; Capital Markets; Auctions; Investment Return; Equity; Planning; Financial Services Industry

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November 1993 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Continental Airlines--1992 (Abridged)

By: Stuart C. Gilson

The CEO is preparing a recommendation to the board regarding several potential outside investments in the company, which is currently operating in bankruptcy. In making his decision, the CEO has to consider various financial and strategic factors, including possible... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Cost of Capital; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Investment; Taxation; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation; Aerospace Industry; United States

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2007
Book

Perspectives on Risk and Regulation: The FDA at 100

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich and Joanna Radin

Perspectives on Risk and Regulation: The FDA at 100 brings together the viewpoints of Food and Drug Administration officials and industry leaders on the future of regulating food, drugs, medical devices, and dietary supplements. In a period of rapid scientific... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Health Care and Treatment; Business and Government Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Cooperation

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02 Jul 2015
Op-Ed

The Future of the Greek Economy

out of the brinkmanship of the past weeks, but not after payments to the International Monetary Fund have been missed, and European funding has ended. These tactics have created high and unnecessary uncertainty that has brought the Greek... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro, Dante Roscini & George Serafeim; Banking

16 Feb 2023
Blog Post

The Rituals of Case Method Teaching

physiological necessity, more than a ritual. Professor Rivkin's board plan. A self-professed obsessive over-preparer, Jan Rivkin, the C. Roland Christensen Professor of Business Administration, says rituals help him enjoy the inevitable, desirable View Details

Web

Policy - Business & Environment

(not fact).” [13] “ Victory will be achieved when average citizens understand (recognize) uncertainties in climate science ” Industry internal document 1998 American Petroleum Institute [14] Example of advertisement used by Informed... View Details

Article

Debt Maturity: Is Long-Term Debt Optimal?

By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk

We model and calibrate the arguments in favor and against short-term and long-term debt. These arguments broadly include: maturity premium, sustainability, and service smoothing. We use a dynamic equilibrium model with tax distortions and government... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Investment Return; Development Economics; Taxation; Risk and Uncertainty; Cost; Interest Rates; Developing Countries and Economies; Welfare; United States; Brazil

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September 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Case

RailTex, Inc. (A)

By: Norman A. Berg and James Weber

By 1992, RailTex, Inc., had acquired and was operating 23 geographically separate short-line railroads (feeder lines for larger railroads) in Mexico, Canada, and primarily in the United States. Founded in 1977 with $500,000 of capital as a railcar leasing company, the... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Divisions; Cost Management; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Systems; Product Marketing; Logistics; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation

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21 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

Is a Gap in Small-Business Credit Holding Back the American Economy?

access to public institutional debt and equity capital markets and the uncertainty of small business profits makes retained earnings a necessarily less stable source of capital. About 48 percent of business owners report a major bank as... View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills; Manufacturing

28 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Responsible Leadership in an Unforgiving World

company-no matter how large-was immune to failure, and that the lessons he was learning from startups could be applied far more broadly. "I realized it wasn't just small companies who were fragile, and whose leaders were facing high View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding