Publications

January – February 2011
Article

Benchmarks as Limits to Arbitrage: Understanding the Low-Volatility Anomaly

By: Malcolm Baker, Brendan Bradley and Jeffrey Wurgler

Contrary to basic finance principles, high-beta and high-volatility stocks have long underperformed low-beta and low-volatility stocks. This anomaly may be partly explained by the fact that the typical institutional investor's mandate to beat a fixed benchmark... View Details

Keywords: Volatility; Stocks; Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Risk Management; Performance Expectations

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29 May 2020
Op-Ed

How Leaders Are Fighting Food Insecurity on Three Continents

Despite public- and private-sector efforts to feed the most vulnerable, the number of people at risk of food insecurity and malnutrition is projected to increase from 17 million to 50 million between June and August 2020. Ndidi Okonkwo... View Details

Keywords: by Howard Stevenson and Shirley Spence; Agriculture & Agribusiness

11 Dec 2007
First Look

First Look: December 11, 2007

primary goals are to (a) develop and validate an interdisciplinary multidimensional model, which focuses on the complex interrelationships among requirements workflow related risk factors, individual, team and organizational competencies,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

05 Aug 2002
Research & Ideas

Five questions for Regina E. Herzlinger

risks of consumer-driven health care: Overall, relative to the current system, the risk of consumer-driven health care is low. After all, the current system has led to quality problems, double-digit cost... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

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

February 2003 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Safe to Say at Prudential Financial

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Corey B. Hajim

The CEO initiated a cultural change process at Prudential Financial to support a major business reorientation. Prudential, historically a privately held ("mutual") insurance company, went public in 2001. The cultural change was intended to prepare the organization to... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Risk and Uncertainty; Private Ownership; Going Public; Transformation; Organizational Culture

February 1988
Case

Crown Cork & Seal Co., Inc. (Condensed)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Richard S. Rosenbloom

A condensed version of Crown Cork & Seal Co., Inc. The principal changes are the elimination of details about the early history of the company and condensation of the final section, Outlook for the Future. View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Industry Growth; Environmental Sustainability; Business Strategy; Trends; Manufacturing Industry

August 2017
Supplement

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in Motion: Video Supplement

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

Evan Siddall, newly appointed CEO of Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation, a governmental organization focused on the residential housing market, is charged with leading change at the organization. The case follows this process of change step by step and looks at the... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Organization Behavior; Government; Performance; Leadership; Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Nonprofit Organizations; Government Administration; Restructuring; Risk Management; Financial Services Industry; Canada

02 Jun 2011
What Do You Think?

Is it Time for a National Bankruptcy?

question this raises is which lenders, nations or commercial institutions? Shann Turnbull, citing some of his own work on the subject, argued that the risks of allowing insolvency "can no longer be reliably View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Rapid Response: Inside the Retailing Revolution

to demand uncertainty." To accommodate real-time demand and diminish the risks inherent in "perishable" inventories, retailers depend on timely information gleaned from technologies such as product bar codes, point-of-sale scanners at the... View Details

Keywords: by James E. Aisner; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Consumer Products; Manufacturing; Retail

December 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Blockbuster Inc. & Technological Substitution (B): Confronting New Digital Formats

Investigates how the rise of digital video formats threatens to make videocassette technology obsolete; how this technological substitution might alter the economics and structure of the video rental and retail industries; and how Blockbuster Inc., the industry leader,... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Decisions; Technological Innovation; Competition; Change Management; Service Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

23 Jan 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 23, 2018

Journal of Econometrics Scenario Generation for Long Run Interest Rate Risk Assessment By: Engle, Robert F., Guillaume Roussellet, and Emil N. Siriwardane Abstract—We propose a statistical model of the term structure of U.S. treasury... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 May 2012
Research & Ideas

Breaking the Smartphone Addiction

business services team effectiveness, and overall case experience. It is becoming part of the culture—the future of BCG." The Cycle Of Responsiveness: The Root Of The 24/7 Habit The reason PTO can be so effective for both individuals' work-lives and the work... View Details

Keywords: by Leslie A. Perlow

20 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 20

Japanese staff could function in English. The stakes are high: those who do not reach their target score by the deadline risk being demoted. As Englishnization progresses, loss of productivity, lack of time to study, and conflicted views... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Nov 2015
Research & Ideas

Can Consumers be Trusted with Their Own Health Care?

Consumers today have more control than ever over the way they choose goods and services—from browsing freely at grocery stores to managing their own financial assets. Perhaps consumers should also have a greater sense of empowerment when... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Health

03 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

The Competitive Advantage of Global Finance

Dow, General Motors, Nestlé, and Petrobras) and smaller entrepreneurial firms (such as the U.K.'s AIFS and China's BabyCare) undertake critical financing, investment, risk management, and incentive View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Right from the Start: Common Traps for the New Leader

fairness; others are motivated by arrogance ("I can make these people") or hubris ("All it takes is hard work, support, and leadership"). Whatever the rationale, retaining managers with a history of mediocre... View Details

Keywords: by Dan Ciampa & Michael D. Watkins

September 2011 (Revised March 2012)
Case

KKR: Leveraging Sustainability

The case describes KKR's Green Portfolio Program, one of the firm's environmental initiatives, which has achieved $160 million in cost savings. While pleased with its progress in achieving greater energy efficiency and reduced carbon emissions, the firm is looking for... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment Portfolio; Energy Conservation; Cost Management; Supply Chain Management; Risk Management; Social Enterprise; Growth and Development; Performance Efficiency; Financial Services Industry