Risk management

Managers should make environmental investments for the same reason they make other investments: because they expect them to deliver positive returns or to reduce risks.

The CFO of a plastics company has been asked to moderate a heated internal debate over a revolutionary technology. The head of R&D thinks the company...

Everyone applauds innovation. At least, they love it in retrospect, after it has worked. Before that, it's just somebody's wild idea that competes with...

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A survey of 50 executives found four strategies for getting the deal done.

Less than a decade after the frantic merger activity of the late 1960s, we are again in the midst of a major wave of corporate acquisitions. In contrast to the 1960s, when acquirers were mainly freewheeling conglomerates, the merger movement in the 1970s includes such long-established giants of U.S. industry as General Electric, Gulf Oil, […]

Any company that strives to be innovative must allow for failure. Making mistakes means you're taking risks, which is critical to innovation.

People aren’t getting dumber, but they’re often treated that way. Politicians, educators, and the media assume the public is uncomfortable with nuance and grateful for prescribed solutions. Business, too, is being progressively dumbed down, not only by book authors who teach management by parable but also by managers themselves. Ironically, the infantilization of work is […]

The CFO of a plastics company has been asked to moderate a heated internal debate over a revolutionary technology. The head of R&D thinks the company...

Last year we heard a chorus of “water is the new oil,” including a memorable BusinessWeek cover depicting oil baron T. Boone Pickens knee-deep in H20. This year the cry is “water is the new carbon” in response to a heightened awareness that resources such as water are more critical and valuable to a company’s […]

Company founders have to be optimistic and resilient. But new research shows that serial entrepreneurs-those who involve themselves in only one project...

The worst-case forecast of most capital expansion projects is rarely pessimistic enough. Staying power analysis can help a company better assess whether...

As China's economy grows and opens further, the opportunity it presents to multinationals is changing. Foreign companies are moving to country development...

In recent years, the leaders of American companies have been barraged with attacks on their investment policies. Critics accuse American executives of shortsightedness and point out that managers in Japan and Europe often fix their vision on more distant horizons. Here, it is claimed, managers pay too much attention to quarterly earnings reports and not […]

Google AI practitioners argue that partnerships with social scientists and community members can deepen understanding of complex problems and lead to...

IT systems increasingly hold the potential to launch cascading disasters, triggered by the most trivial of incidents. A new type of risk-management culture...

Companies should hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Turning the map around on cybersecurity.

Lessons in risk management based on research on Texas businesses affected by Hurricane Harvey.

How can business executives make the best investment decisions? Is there a method of risk analysis to help managers make wise acquisitions, launch new products, modernize the plant, or avoid overcapacity? “Risk Analysis in Capital Investment” takes a look at questions such as these and says “yes”—by measuring the multitude of risks involved in each […]