IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v12y2001i6p772-777.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Real Options Analysis and Strategic Decision Making

Author

Listed:
  • Edward H. Bowman

    (formerly at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania)

  • Gary T. Moskowitz

    (Edwin L. Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University, P.O. Box 750333, Dallas, Texas 75275-0333)

Abstract

The real options approach is frequently advocated as an approach that offers a positive and radical reassessment of the value of risk and exploration. We examine a recent case where Merck used the real options approach to justify an investment in an R&D project. This case is used to highlight some of the problems associated with using real options. We note that the assumptions incorporated in most standard option valuation models can conflict with the conclusions reached by strategic analysis. As a result, users of real options models should understand the quantitative aspects of these models, and may often need to create a customized model for each situation. The difficulty of developing customized models may explain, in part, the limited use of the real options approach in strategic analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Edward H. Bowman & Gary T. Moskowitz, 2001. "Real Options Analysis and Strategic Decision Making," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(6), pages 772-777, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:12:y:2001:i:6:p:772-777
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.12.6.772.10080
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.12.6.772.10080
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.12.6.772.10080?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bruce Kogut & Nalin Kulatilaka, 2001. "Capabilities as Real Options," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(6), pages 744-758, December.
    2. Lander, Diane M. & Pinches, George E., 1998. "Challenges to the Practical Implementation of Modeling and Valuing Real Options," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(3, Part 2), pages 537-567.
    3. Stewart C. Myers, 1984. "Finance Theory and Financial Strategy," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 14(1), pages 126-137, February.
    4. Nicolas P. B. Bollen, 1999. "Real Options and Product Life Cycles," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(5), pages 670-684, May.
    5. Bruce Kogut, 1991. "Joint Ventures and the Option to Expand and Acquire," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 37(1), pages 19-33, January.
    6. Black, Fischer & Scholes, Myron S, 1973. "The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 637-654, May-June.
    7. Bruce Kogut & Nalin Kulatilaka, 1994. "Operating Flexibility, Global Manufacturing, and the Option Value of a Multinational Network," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(1), pages 123-139, January.
    8. E. H. Bowman, 1963. "Consistency and Optimality in Managerial Decision Making," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(2), pages 310-321, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li, Yong & James, Barclay & Madhavan, Ravi & Mahoney, Joseph T., 2006. "Real Options: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead," Working Papers 06-0114, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    2. Arvids A. Ziedonis, 2007. "Real Options in Technology Licensing," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(10), pages 1618-1633, October.
    3. Douglas A. Bodner & William B. Rouse, 2007. "Understanding R&D value creation with organizational simulation," Systems Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(1), pages 64-82, March.
    4. Jan Vlachý, 2009. "Strategie podniku a finanční teorie [Corporate strategy and financial theory]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2009(2), pages 147-162.
    5. Ulrich Pape & Stephan Schmidt-Tank, 2005. "Valuing Joint Ventures Using Real Options," Finance 0503030, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Bellalah, Mondher, 2016. "Issues in real options with shadow costs of incomplete information and short sales," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 45-56.
    7. Estrada, Isabel & de la Fuente, Gabriel & Martín-Cruz, Natalia, 2010. "Technological joint venture formation under the real options approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 1185-1197, November.
    8. Sharon Belenzon & Victor Manuel Bennett & Andrea Patacconi, 2019. "Flexible Production and Entry: Institutional, Technological, and Organizational Determinants," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(3), pages 193-216, September.
    9. Jan Hendrik, Fisch, 2011. "Real call options to enlarge foreign subsidiaries - The moderating effect of irreversibility on the influence of economic volatility and political instability on subsequent FDI," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 517-526, October.
    10. Cuypers, I.R.P., 2009. "Essays on equity joint ventures, uncertainty and experience," Other publications TiSEM 8dc79e86-c625-467f-a450-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    11. Lim, Terence & Lo, Andrew W. & Merton, Robert C. & Scholes, Myron S., 2006. "The Derivatives Sourcebook," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 1(5–6), pages 365-572, April.
    12. David Ford & Diane Lander & John Voyer, 2002. "A real options approach to valuing strategic flexibility in uncertain construction projects," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(4), pages 343-351.
    13. Hart E. Posen & Michael J. Leiblein & John S. Chen, 2018. "Toward a behavioral theory of real options: Noisy signals, bias, and learning," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 1112-1138, April.
    14. Sears, Joshua B., 2019. "A real options model of market entry: Endogenous uncertainty and exogenous uncertainty," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 1-1.
    15. Hunt, Richard A. & Song, Yue & Townsend, David M. & Stallkamp, Maximilian, 2021. "Internationalization of entrepreneurial firms: Leveraging real options reasoning through affordable loss logics," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 194-207.
    16. Driouchi, Tarik & Leseure, Michel & Bennett, David, 2009. "A robustness framework for monitoring real options under uncertainty," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 698-710, June.
    17. Ghosh, Suvankar & Troutt, Marvin D. & Thornton, John H. & Felix Offodile, O., 2010. "An empirical method for assessing the research relevance gap," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 201(3), pages 942-948, March.
    18. Rodolphe Durand & Robert M. Grant & Tammy L. Madsen & Lenos Trigeorgis & Jeffrey J. Reuer, 2017. "Real options theory in strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 42-63, January.
    19. Puay Khoon Toh & Shiva Agarwal, 2023. "The option value in complements within platform‐based ecosystems," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 576-609, February.
    20. Lander, Diane M. & Pinches, George E., 1998. "Challenges to the Practical Implementation of Modeling and Valuing Real Options," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(3, Part 2), pages 537-567.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:12:y:2001:i:6:p:772-777. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.