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Should Companies Retain "Strategic" Cash?

Harvard Business Review

Strategic cash usually is invested in high quality short-term securities; this ensures safety and liquidity, but produces a meager return on investment—especially in a low interest rate environment—and does not achieve the company's cost of capital. How Should You Approach Strategic Cash?

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Even for Companies, the U.S. Is Split Between Haves and Have-Nots

Harvard Business Review

Companies in the top one-fifth of profitability earn, in aggregate, about 70 times more economic profit (accounting profit less cost of capital) than those in the middle three-fifths combined, according to McKinsey’s database of 3,000 large, publicly listed, nonfinancial U.S. companies have enjoyed supernormal rates of return.

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The Comprehensive Business Case for Sustainability

Harvard Business Review

Fostering innovation. Investing in sustainability is not only a risk management tool; it can also drive innovation. Nike embedded sustainability into its innovation process and created the $1 billion-plus Flyknit line, which uses a specialized yarn system, requiring minimal labor and generating large profit margins.