This is a humorous commercial (“moment of clarity”) where the protagonist chooses not to buy an option (that might appear valuable to some) because of his vision of the possible downside risk. In theory, downside risk should not be a … Continue reading
Click here for a video that illustrates a Real Option to Defer. How to use the last photos on a role of film… Contributed by Russ Coff
Google has brought many products and ideas to market that have been unsuccessful and ultimately pulled back. Forbes recently published an infographic that illustrates many of these. This is valuable to point out the uncertainty surrounding new products and services … Continue reading
Often strategy is geared toward upside scenarios that may not be particularly realistic. This can be ok when using tools like real options (e.g., the strategy is part of a portfolio of options). However, one would have to make a … Continue reading
Jay Barney describes a coin flip exercise to make the point that innovation might be modeled as an outcome of pure luck. If so, how can firms manage such processes? The exercise is simple: Distribute coins to the class and … Continue reading
This is an old video depicting the process for a $20M investment in the laserdisk division. It has two uses in class. First it illustrates some limits of “core competence” (as the term is usually used) as a guiding principle … Continue reading
You may have followed the debate about HBR’s policy prohibiting professors from linking suggested HBR readings to their own library’s paid subscriptions (see Joshua Gans’ blog posts on this and his Financial Times article on HBR and their journal list). … Continue reading
The essence of this exercise is simple. Teams must build a device that will catch an egg dropped from 25 feet (e.g., a stairwell). The trick is that they must build it from items purchased in an auction. As such, … Continue reading
Carpenter Strategy Toolbox 