Publications

July – August 2011
Article

Managing the Multiple Dimensions of Risk: Part I

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Anette Mikes

Based on an extensive program of case-writing and teaching on risk management, we identify three categories of risk and elaborate on the ways companies can identify and mitigate them, with particular emphasis on strategy execution risks. View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategy

August 1970
Case

Hawthorne Plastics

An "imperfect tester" problem involving the decision of how to produce batches of plastic strapping, given uncertainty about the length of the molecular chain in the raw material. A decision on whether to test the raw material and a choice of production process must be... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Mathematical Methods

Educators

Article

Managing the Unknowable: The Effectiveness of Early-stage Investor Gut Feel in Entrepreneurial Investment Decisions

By: Laura Huang and Jone L. Pearce

Using an inductive theory-development study, a field experiment, and a longitudinal field test, we examine early-stage entrepreneurial investment decision making under conditions of extreme uncertainty. Building on existing literature on decision making and risk in... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Risk and Uncertainty; Decision Making; Emotions; Performance Effectiveness

17 Apr 2025
Blog Post

From Tech to Coaching: Empowering Women and Minority Leaders with Yue Zhao (MBA 2013)

learning directly from VCs and experienced entrepreneurs. Being surrounded by people taking risks and building companies reinforced my belief that I wanted to work at the... View Details

22 Feb 2022
News

New Urban Order

greatest risk from the disastrous effects of sea-level rise. Yet cities also have the ability to act without waiting for state and federal action, adds Raphael Carty (MBA 1983), former CEO of Callida Energy,... View Details

April 1992 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Biotechnology Strategies in 1992

Describes the strategies of biotechnology companies which face similar uncertainties and illustrates different types of strategic responses to uncertainty. Each firm faces the strategic issues of which end-use industries to choose, how broad their product line should... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Business Strategy; Biotechnology Industry

March 1984 (Revised June 1998)
Case

MCI Communications Corp.--1983

MCI Communications Corp. is faced with a large need for external financing to support rapid growth and substantial uncertainty due to the AT&T antitrust settlement. The case illustrates the value of convertible debt as a financing instrument in these circumstances. View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Emerging Markets; Financing and Loans; Telecommunications Industry; United States

Educators

June 2023
Teaching Note

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited: Global Leadership in Chipmaking

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 321-126. The general purpose of this case is to explore the evolving nature of business relations across the Taiwan strait, focusing on the prominence of Taiwan's high-tech industry. After the legendary founder of Taiwan Semiconductor... View Details

Keywords: Geopolitical Units; Government and Politics; Competition; Production; Disruption; Semiconductor Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Taiwan; Taiwan Strait; China

Fall 2022
Book Review

Book review of 'Havoc and Reform: Workplace Disasters in Modern America,' by James P. Kraft

By: Melanie Sheehan

Keywords: Safety; Policy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Risk and Uncertainty

01 Sep 2023
News

That Was Then, This Is Now

It started with a question. But before that, it started in the classroom. Tony Deifell (MBA 2002) loved the discussions in his LEAD course, taught by Professor (and now former Dean) Nitin Nohria; wanting to make them more tangible, Deifell adapted the idea of... View Details

Keywords: Photographed by Tony Deifell (MBA 2002); edited by Julia Hanna. Above: Heidi Brooks, photographed in 2003 and 2023.; life experience; family; leadership

21 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

Buy Now, Pay Later: How Retail's Hot Feature Hurts Low-Income Shoppers

Online shopping features that let consumers pay for goods in interest-free installments exploded during the pandemic, but new research questions the riskiness of such services: Are people getting in over their heads? Buy now, pay later (BNPL) financing has snowballed... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Retail; Financial Services; Technology

01 Apr 1996
News

Stewards of the Seventh Generation

lowers the risk of infestation, thereby reducing the need for fertilizers and pesticides. Chemicals that are required are delivered in water that circulates and is recycled.... View Details

Keywords: Marguerite Rigoglioso, Garry Emmons, Linda Goodspeed, and Elaine Gottlieb

June 2008
Article

Bringing the Context Back In: Settings and the Search for Syndicate Partners in Venture Capital Investment Networks

Most existing network-based theories of relationship formation, whether based on homophily or structural constraint, imply that actors form highly cohesive, homogenous clusters. Yet real networks also include many "bridging" ties—isolated links between parties that... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Networks; Theory; Partners and Partnerships; Investment; Risk and Uncertainty; Business Growth and Maturation; Size; Geographic Location

February 2003 (Revised October 2004)
Background Note

Antamini Simulation Model

By: Peter Tufano

Antamini is a simulation of the value of an investment project whose outcome is uncertain. This case describes the situation facing a natural resource firm as it contemplates bidding on a copper mine in Peru. The bidder faces uncertainties about the ore deposit size... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Auctions; Investment; Mining; Mining Industry; Peru

13 Feb 2025
Blog Post

IFC India 2025: The Coal Dichotomy: Balancing Economic Growth and Decarbonization in India

Pollution and Climate Risks In Mumbai, where Tata Power has implemented strong pollution controls at Trombay, the air remains thick with smog, exacerbated by construction dust, vehicular emissions, View Details

Emil N. Siriwardane

Emil Siriwardane is an associate professor of business administration in the Finance Unit.

Professor Siriwardane’s research studies the ways in which financial intermediaries influence capital markets, how perceptions of risk impact business cycles,... View Details

04 Aug 2021
News

How Companies Can Repair Trust Post-COVID

May 2005 (Revised November 2005)
Background Note

Note on Credit Derivatives

Provides the basic underlying model for credit risk analysis, as well as covers basic credit risk derivatives, such as asset swaps, credit default swaps, total return of rate swaps, and credit spread options. View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Risk and Uncertainty; Credit

Educators