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101 Things I Learned in Business School

Leading Blog

Moral hazards can result from a positive feedback loop: for example, a lender insured by the government against loan default may make very risky, high-interest loans to uncreditworthy customers because it will do no worse than break even, and may realize a very high rate of return.

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Failure Isn't Enough

Harvard Business Review

The notion that innovation and failure go hand-in-hand has become popular of late. It begins with the argument that many important innovations involved taking risks with potentially large costs but, most critically, completely unknown upsides. That is, allowing more failure should increase the overall rate of return.

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The Disruption of Venture Capital

Harvard Business Review

An organization's capabilities become its disabilities when disruption is afoot." – Clayton Christensen, The Innovator's Solution. Over the years, venture capitalists have been some of the most ardent students of disruptive innovation. They are acutely attuned to disruptive innovation, and their size makes them nimble.

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How the Next Generation Is Approaching Society’s Biggest Problems

Harvard Business Review

Wendy Kopp, who founded Teach For America , and Linda Rottenberg, who founded Endeavor are just two well-known examples. Finally, innovation in the financial markets are funding novel approaches to address these problems. A relatively new instrument called a social impact bond is a powerful example of how this might be done.

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The Comprehensive Business Case for Sustainability

Harvard Business Review

Hoping to alleviate their concerns, this article also provides concrete examples of how sustainability benefits the bottom line. For example, Bunge, an agribusiness firm, reported a $56 million quarterly loss in its sugar and bioenergy segments due to drought in 2010. Fostering innovation. ” Improving risk management.

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Most Industries Are Nowhere Close to Realizing the Potential of Analytics

Harvard Business Review

An examination of the telecom industry , for example, shows that the analytics leaders have posted three to five times higher returns on their big data investment than the typical telecom company. Lower returns cannot be simply chalked up to the fact that companies are not investing at scale.

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Should Companies Retain "Strategic" Cash?

Harvard Business Review

For example, a market downturn is a great time to repurchase stock or to introduce a new marketing campaign against weakened competitors. Strategic cash provides protection against downsides (such as disruptive technologies, economic recessions, and market turmoil) and also offers the opportunity to capture upsides.

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