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- Faculty Publications (17)
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- June 2023
- Article
Regulatory Limits to Risk Management
By: Ishita Sen
Variable annuities, the largest liability of U.S. life insurers, are investment products containing long-dated minimum return guarantees. I show that guarantees with similar economic risks are treated differently by regulation and these differences impact insurers’... View Details
- March 2023 (Revised March 2024)
- Case
The Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy: Settling the Opioid Crisis
By: Kristin Mugford, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Susan Pinckney
How to get to a fair outcome for claimants in the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy given its significant role in the U.S. opioid crisis. View Details
Keywords: Regulation; Ethics; Fairness; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Government Legislation; Courts and Trials; Laws and Statutes; Lawsuits and Litigation; Legal Liability; Crime and Corruption; Negotiation Offer; Negotiation Participants; Negotiation Style; Product Design; Product Development; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Trust; Government and Politics; Law; Negotiation; Operations; Ownership; Marketing; Social Psychology; Health Care and Treatment; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States
- December 2022
- Technical Note
Risks and Opportunities from the Transition to a Low Carbon Economy: A Business Analysis Framework
By: George Serafeim
The transition to a low carbon economy introduces many risks and opportunities for businesses. Risks emerge from regulatory actions, such as carbon taxes and cap and trade systems, technological innovation that develop alternatives for customers making existing... View Details
Keywords: Risk Assessment; Opportunities; Environmental Sustainability; Carbon Footprint; Risk Management; Competitive Dynamics; Business Analysis; Climate Change; Accounting; Finance; Valuation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Technological Innovation; Transition; Product Positioning; Renewable Energy; Analysis
- December 2022 (Revised February 2023)
- Case
Daniel Defense: Responding to the Shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher
At 11:33am on May 24, 2022, an 18-year-old man from Uvalde, Texas walked into the Robb Elementary School carrying a semi-automatic "AR-15-style” rifle manufactured by Daniel Defense and killed 19 children and two adults. Three days later, Representative Carolyn Maloney... View Details
Keywords: Gun Violence; Gun Policy; Second Amendment; Legal Liability; Government Legislation; Marketing Strategy; Business or Company Management; Product Marketing; Ethics; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Moral Sensibility; Crime and Corruption; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Manufacturing Industry; Advertising Industry; United States
- Article
To Drive Efforts...Don't Tiptoe Around Your Legal Risk
By: Edward Chang and Bonnie Levine
Many Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are scuttled because DEI leaders and legal teams feel themselves to be at odds over questions of acceptable risk. DEI leaders see lawyers as guardians of the status quo, whereas legal experts, trained to... View Details
- April 2015
- Article
Incentivizing Calculated Risk-Taking: Evidence from an Experiment with Commercial Bank Loan Officers
By: Shawn Cole, Martin Kanz and Leora Klapper
This paper uses a series of experiments with commercial bank loan officers to test the effect of performance incentives on risk assessment and lending decisions. We first show that while high-powered incentives lead to greater screening effort and more profitable... View Details
- October 2014 (Revised March 2015)
- Case
Integrated Reporting at Aegon
By: Robert G. Eccles, George Serafeim, Sydney Ribot and Michael Krzus
In 2011, Aegon adopted integrated reporting—a corporate reporting approach that sought to present company performance in a holistic light by considering medium- to long-term issues, stakeholder opinions, and the relationship between material financial and nonfinancial... View Details
- December 2012 (Revised November 2014)
- Case
W.R. Grace & Co.: Dealing with Asbestos Torts
By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott
A manufacturer of building products and specialty chemicals, W. R. Grace & Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001 in response to a flood of lawsuits alleging that its products contained asbestos, and had caused hundreds of thousands of people to contract... View Details
Keywords: Bankruptcy Reorganization; Business Failures; Environmental Regulations; Class Action Lawsuits; Natural Environment; Valuation; Health Disorders; Capital Structure; Restructuring; Lawsuits and Litigation; Chemicals; Crisis Management; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Legal Liability; Construction Industry; Chemical Industry; United States
- January 2009 (Revised October 2009)
- Case
GLOBALGAP: Food Safety and Private Standards
By: David E. Bell and Mary Louise Shelman
In response to new laws governing liability and several food safety scares in the 1990s, European retailers drove the creation of a universal production standard based on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) for fresh fruit and vegetables and a third-party certification... View Details
- December 2007
- Case
Ruling the Modern Corporation: The Debate over Limited Liability in Massachusetts
By: David A. Moss and Eugene Kintgen
In 1830, Governor Levi Lincoln, Jr. urged the Massachusetts state legislature to introduce a limited liability regime for manufacturing corporations similar to that adopted in neighboring states. At least since 1809, shareholders in the state's manufacturing... View Details
- June 2003 (Revised August 2003)
- Case
Pension Policy at The Boots Company PLC
By: Luis M. Viceira and Akiko M. Mitsui
In early 2000, the trustees of the pension scheme at Boots considered a proposal to move 100% of the pension assets into a bond portfolio, which would be passively managed. The Boots Co. PLC was a leading retailer of cosmetics and toiletries in the United Kingdom, and... View Details
- March 2001 (Revised April 2002)
- Case
Ginzel et al v. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A)
Examines the wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of an infant who died after a portable crib collapsed. The manufacturer, Kolcraft, licensed the Playskool brand name from the co-defendant, Hasbro Industries. Raises difficult questions about what the two... View Details
- May 1995
- Background Note
Note on Product Liability
By: Willis M. Emmons III, Monica Brand and Greg Keller
This note provides an overview to the evolution and current state of product liability law in the United States. View Details
- November 1994
- Case
Dow Corning and the Breast Implant Controversy (A)
By: Willis M. Emmons III, Monica Brand and Greg Keller
In early 1994, Dow Corning Corp. debates whether to participate in a proposed $4.2 billion product liability settlement. Specifically, the firm must decide whether to contribute $2 billion to end a class action suit filed by women suffering from connective tissue... View Details
- March 1993 (Revised July 2008)
- Case
Liability Management at General Motors
By: Peter Tufano
An analyst at General Motors charged with managing the structure of the automaker's debt must decide whether and how to modify the interest rate exposure of the firm's most recent debt offering. The analyst must take into consideration GM's liability management policy... View Details
- February 1979 (Revised December 1983)
- Case
Allied Chemical Corp. (A)
Describes Allied, the chemical industry, and the effects of the Kepone problem (a toxic pesticide dumped into the James River) as of 1976. The executive in the case must decide whether the company should support the passage of the Toxic Substances Control Act and an... View Details
- Research Summary
Risk Management as a Function of Government
By: David A. Moss
Professor Moss's academic work in this area explores how and why governments manage private-sector risks. Based on historical and institutional research, he argues that risk management constitutes a critical function of government with far-reaching implications. ... View Details