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This technical note provides step-by-step instructions for leveraging social network analyses to understand a team's dynamics and thereby enhance a team's collective effectiveness. More precisely, this note explains the basic terminology of social networks, the mapping of social relationships in an adjacency matrix, and the use of an adjacency matrix to create a graph that represents social interactions. This note also explains how to derive further insights into a team's interpersonal relations by exploring the unique characteristics and personal situations of each actor.

This technical note provides step-by-step instructions for leveraging social network analyses to understand a team’s dynamics and thereby enhance a team’s collective effectiveness. More precisely, this note explains the basic terminology of social networks, the mapping of social relationships in an adjacency matrix, and the use of an adjacency matrix to create a graph that represents social interactions. This note also explains how to derive further insights into a team’s interpersonal relations by exploring the unique characteristics and personal situations of each actor.

This note explains the fundamentals of neural networks that are used for classification and prediction systems, with a primary focus on feed-forward back-propagation neural networks.

This note explains the fundamentals of neural networks that are used for classification and prediction systems, with a primary focus on feed-forward back-propagation neural networks.

This note provides general information about climate change and its implications for business. Included is an overview of climate change science and a number of its impacts, including rising sea levels, changing weather patterns and extreme weather, pressure on water and food, political and security risks, human health risks, and impact on wildlife and ecosystems. Next, responses to climate change are outlined, including improvements in energy efficiency, moving away from fossil fuels, changes in land use and agriculture practices, and geoengineering. The note concludes with the debate over how much should be spent to mitigate and adapt to climate change, who should pay, and the implications for the private sector.

This Technical Note provides an introduction to Bayes' Rule and the statistical intuition that stems from it. In this note, we review the concepts that underlie Bayesian statistics, and we offer several simple mathematical examples to illustrate applications of Bayes' Rule. Instructors can assign this note either as a standalone reading to familiarize students with Bayesian statistics or as a supplement to accompany "Adaptive Platform Trials: The Clinical Trial of the Future?" (HBS Case No. 618-025). This case introduces the concept of an adaptive platform clinical trial, in which Bayesian statistical methods are used to expedite the investigation and regulatory approval of promising new therapies, such as cancer treatments.

In April 2016, Mark Parker, an experienced private-equity investor, is considering an investment in MedMetric, LLC (MedMetric), a seed-stage health care information technology company. The company has a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product that facilitated reimbursement for Medicare Advantage companies (MAs), private firms that provided an alternative way for senior citizens in the United States to receive Medicare coverage. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reimbursed these companies using risk-adjusted metrics submitted by the MAs that increased their payments for higher-risk patients. Since 2012, CMS had been transitioning from a simpler data-entry process to a more complex data system called the Encounter Data Processing System (EDPS). Smaller and medium-sized MAs struggled to adjust to EDPS and MedMetric's product targeted these MAs to facilitate the transition to EDPS and ensure accurate reimbursement from CMS. MedMetric's product is in development and has several contracts pending, but no revenues are expected until July 2016. Based on the difficulty of valuing the company at this stage, Parker is considering making a $1 million convertible note offering to bridge the company to a later Series A venture round. The terms of the note seem relatively standard to Parker, but he is unsure whether they will provide him with the equity stake and influence he is seeking from the company. Students are asked to evaluate whether the terms of the note are sufficient to grant him the 10%-to-15% equity ownership he is seeking. Seed-stage convertible notes have increased in recent years as a form of financing for early-stage companies. This case provides an introduction to convertible note offerings, their terms and structure, and how the equity ownership can be estimated when the valuation of the company is delayed until a later round of financing.

A primary requirement for managing water effectively and sustainably is an accounting framework that registers the water that is available for use (supply) and the water that is being used (demand). A common accounting analogy is a water budget, or a water account. This note focuses on the water budgets of individual countries, defining concepts including renewable water, watershed, water withdrawal, water consumption, and dependency ratio. The note also includes data on the water budgets of Myanmar and Egypt.

When left unattended, natural resources tend to inch toward depletion, overuse, spoilage, or pollution. Common pastures get overgrazed; lakes are overfished; rivers are polluted, and so on. In the case of water, some may wonder how overuse or depletion is possible, as water is a renewable natural resource. In spite of this, depletion and overuse can occur in a practical sense and on a local level. The reasons for this overuse are often related to the "tragedy of the commons," a situation where individual users of a common resource pursue their self-interest without coordination and thus behave collectively in ways that are not optimal for the resource as a whole. This note explores the concept of the tragedy of the commons in relation to water, considering especially the implications of water's status as an unprotected open-access resource.

There are numerous restrictions against trading on material, nonpublic information (MNPI)-typically called "insider trading." This note describes the limitations facing managers and investors as enforced civilly and criminally within the United States.

This research note provides an understanding of income inequity, which is a component of broader income inequality. It begins by describing the difference between inequality and inequity before examining inequity within the workplace. Using the firm as the unit of analysis, the note discusses possible causes of inequity and the challenges of identifying and measuring inequity. It concludes by focusing on attempts to address inequity and discussing academic research that examines the impact of addressing inequity.

Convertible notes are often used to raise early-stage financing for start-up companies, frequently due to their advantages related to delayed valuation, greater speed, and lower cost of completion compared to venture capital financing. As a result, there has been a large increase in the number of early-stage companies raising capital through convertible notes over the past decade. Investors have made this form of financing more available, believing that small amounts of money can significantly advance the development of young companies. Entrepreneurs often find that convertible notes are easier to raise than a first round of venture capital. The ease of convertible note financing, however, sometimes belies the hidden risks and costs associated with its use. This technical note discusses the most frequently used terms and arrangements of early-stage convertible notes, the estimation of the noteholder's equity ownership from delayed valuation, and the costs and risks of this form of financing to both entrepreneurs and investors. The case "MedMetric, LLC: Seed-Round Convertible Note Financing" (UV7929) can be assigned with the note as an application of this form of financing.