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.

Risk heat maps can miss critical weaknesses.

When given a choice between getting $1,000 with certainty, or having a 50% chance of getting $2,500, most people will choose the certain $1,000 — even though the expected value (the average value over repeated trials) of the uncertain option is $1,250. Most people would reject a gamble where they would gain $100 if a […]

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

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, […]

Leaders are feeling disoriented and concerned about the new technology. Here are four key risks to understand — and advice on how to address them.

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 great volcanic eruption in Iceland has stranded seven million travelers and is costing airlines at least $1 billion in lost revenue this week. This...

High-definition televisions (HDTVs) should, by now, be a huge success. Philips, Sony, and Thompson invested billions of dollars to develop TV sets with...

Probably not.

Quantitative trader and controversialist Espen Haug uploaded a very interesting little paper to the Social Science Research Network in April (thanks to Felix Salmon for tipping me off to it). After Thursday’s brief insanity on Wall Street, I couldn’t help but go back to it. The paper is charmingly titled “When Will God Destroy Our […]

One corporate drama playing out in the news is the fate of Saab — a now-orphan division of General Motors that appears will narrowly escape extinction by last-minute buyer Spyker. For owners, employees, dealers, and suppliers of Saab, the potential death of such an iconic brand was probably hard to fathom. After all, the Swedish […]

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 […]

Lessons from Switzerland's electricity network.

To accelerate your search for a viable new growth model, start with the two-pizza rule.

It’s not just a few bad apples; some entire bushels are tainted.

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

39% of all data breaches come from the inside.

Over 60% of cyberattacks involve suppliers or third parties.

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 […]