Publications

SSRN

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September 1995 (Revised March 1999)
Teaching Note

Canadian Airlines: Reservations About Its Future (A) and (B) TN

By: F. Warren McFarlan

Keywords: Air Transportation; Risk and Uncertainty; Air Transportation Industry; Canada

Web

Business and Climate Change Course | HBS Online

organization for the business risks and opportunities created by climate change. 5 weeks 5-6 hours per week 3 modules Self-Paced with regular deadlines This course earns you a Certificate of Completion from... View Details

01 Feb 1998
News

Women at the Top

maintaining a vibrant organization requires cultivating an environment that supports risk taking. Asking participants to recall situations in which their organizations succeeded and failed at being creative,... View Details

Keywords: Marguerite Rigoglioso and Susan Young

January 2010
Journal Article

A Choice Prediction Competition: Choices from Experience and from Description

By: Ido Erev, Eyal Ert, Alvin E. Roth, Ernan E. Haruvy, Stefan Herzog, Robin Hau, Ralph Hertwig, Terrence Steward, Robert West and Christian Lebiere

Erev, Ert, and Roth organized three choice prediction competitions focused on three related choice tasks: one-shot decisions from description (decisions under risk), one-shot decisions from experience, and repeated decisions from experience. Each competition was based... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Decision Choices and Conditions; Forecasting and Prediction; Mathematical Methods; Risk and Uncertainty; Competition

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December 2016
Article

Through the Mud or in the Boardroom: Examining Activist Types and Their Strategies in Targeting Firms for Social Change

By: Charles Eesley, K. A. DeCelles and Michael Lenox

We examine the variety of activist groups and their tactics in demanding firms’ social change. While extant work does not usually distinguish among activist types or their variety of tactics, we show that different activists (e.g., social movement organizations vs.... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Tactics; Investment Activism

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March 2022 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Innovation at Moog Inc.

By: Brian J. Hall, Ashley V. Whillans, Davis Heniford, Dominika Randle and Caroline Witten

This case focuses on the challenges of incentivizing innovation within Moog, an engineering company based in New York state that designs and builds guidance systems for space, air, and land-based travel. The case enables students to grapple with the challenges of using... View Details

February 2022 (Revised April 2022)
Case

BUA Group

By: John D. Macomber, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Wale Lawal

BUA Group must decide between investments in cement, road building, power generation, or sugar. Private businesses are important to economic development in Africa. Students must assess the competitive nature of each of these industries, the magnitude of capital... View Details

Keywords: Investing; Transportation; Strategy; Project Finance; Agribusiness; Construction; Infrastructure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Nigeria; Africa

December 2004 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Innovation Corrupted: The Rise and Fall of Enron (B)

By: Malcolm S. Salter

Presents a brief historical overview of Enron's rise, its strategic successes and failures, the evolution of its business model, and the organizational processes relied upon by Enron's management to drive and monitor the business. A rewritten version of an earlier... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Risk Management; Management Practices and Processes; Success; Business Model; Strategy; Business History; Governance Controls; Innovation and Management; Failure; Business Processes; Energy Industry; United States

13 Jun 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, June 13

Abstract—Antisocial behavior is often assumed to reflect aberrant risk processing. However, many of the most significant forms of antisocial behavior, including crime, reflect the outcomes of decisions made under conditions of ambiguity... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2018 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Capital Allocation at HCA

By: W. Carl Kester and Emily R. McComb

In early 2017, HCA Holdings, an investor-owned hospital management company, faced a strategically important capital allocation decision. After the exit of its private equity sponsors in 2016, HCA had to determine how best to allocate its substantial annual free cash... View Details

Keywords: Capital Allocation; Cash Distribution Policy; Dividends; Share Repurchases; Growth Strategy And Execution; Growth Investing; Capital Expenditures; Debt Management; Debt Reduction; Debt Policy; Hospital Management; Investor-owned Hospital Chains; Capital Budgeting; Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Corporate Finance; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Industry; United States

April 1993 (Revised December 1994)
Case

Lehman Brothers and the Securitization of American Express Charge-Card Receivables

By: Andre F. Perold and Kuljot Singh

In early 1992, Lehman Brothers had received a mandate from its affiliate, American Express Travel Related Services (TRS) Co., to securitize a portion of its consumer charge-card receivables portfolio. It is now July 22, and Lehman and TRS have just returned from a... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Credit Cards; Financial Instruments; Stocks; Asset Pricing

Web

Capitalism and the State (CATS) - Course Catalog

fundamental connections between the market structures of capitalism and the political structures of the states that seek to support and nourish this system. What are the political prerequisites of a working... View Details

April 2012
Article

Broadening Focus: Spillovers, Complementarities and Specialization in the Hospital Industry

By: Jonathan R. Clark and Robert S. Huckman

The long-standing argument that focused operations outperform others stands in contrast to claims about the benefits of broader operational scope. The performance benefits of focus are typically attributed to reduced complexity, lower uncertainty, and the development... View Details

Keywords: Performance Capacity; Operations; Advertising; Production; Corporate Strategy; Relationships; Medical Specialties; Complexity; Risk and Uncertainty; Experience and Expertise; Diversification; Quality; Health Industry

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16 May 2017
First Look

First Look at New Ideas and Research, May 16

in Eastern and Central Europe, has suffered significant declines in its financial performance, is at risk of defaulting on its debt, and is under pressure from its largest... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

01 Feb 1997
News

Conversing in Cyberspace: Students and Alumni Talk Management

Does a new general manager who delegates decisions run the risk of appearing indecisive? Is an "open-door" policy a good way for a general manager to get information, or a terrible waste of time? What happens when a manager asks employees... View Details

Keywords: Daniel Penrice

27 Sep 2019
Blog Post

HBS Alumni and Students Take On the Climate Crisis

Talking About Climate Change in the MBA Classroom Cause or solution? Risk or opportunity? How business leaders should own up to and tackle climate change is at the forefront of the MBA classroom at Harvard... View Details

01 Feb 1997
News

Made, Not Born: HBS Courses and Entrepreneurial Management

teaches VCPE, maintains a strong financial orientation in the course, because he believes that the valuation of young growth companies - a complex issue often skirted in entrepreneurial education - is even more important when it involves the View Details

2008
Working Paper

Finding Missing Markets (and a disturbing epilogue): Evidence from an Export Crop Adoption and Marketing Intervention in Kenya

By: Nava Ashraf, Xavier Gine and Dean Karlan

In much of the developing world, many farmers grow crops for local or personal consumption despite export options which appear to be more profitable. Thus many conjecture that one or several markets are missing. We report here on a randomized controlled trial conducted... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Developing Countries and Economies; Trade; Profit; Product Marketing; Standards; Failure; Risk and Uncertainty; Non-Governmental Organizations; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Kenya; Europe