Publications

Web

Impact on a Global Scale | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Impact on a Global Scale “We are living at an extraordinary point in the arc of history,” says Tom Tierney (MBA 1980). “Countless leaders, from social entrepreneurs to corporate executives to public servants, are aggressively committing... View Details

Web

Breaking the Cycle of Intergenerational Poverty | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

are a bundle of strengths and assets. And if we help people, and give them the resources they need, and the social networks and the connections they need, the education they need, they can lead whatever life... View Details

2014
Working Paper

Friends with Close Ties: Asset or Liability? Evidence from the Investment Decisions of Mutual Funds in China

By: Xinzi Gao, T.J. Wong, Lijun Xia and Gwen Yu

When fund managers have close ties to their investees, it can facilitate efficient information sharing but can also increase the possibility of favoritism. Using the investment choices of mutual funds in China, we test whether funds with close ties to their investees... View Details

Keywords: Social Ties; Conflict of Interests; Asset Management; Investment Portfolio; Networks; Financial Services Industry; China

June 2017
Case

Maggie Wilderotter: The Evolution of an Executive

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott and Robin Abrahams

In a career that spanned over 30 years, Maggie Wilderotter served as CEO of two publicly traded companies and served on 32 corporate and 9 association and nonprofit boards of directors. As CEO of Frontier Communications, a U.S. telecom company with over $25 billion in... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Managing People; Networks; Strategy And Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Personal Characteristics; Leadership Style; Social and Collaborative Networks; Gender; Power and Influence; Telecommunications Industry; United States

September 2019 (Revised September 2019)
Case

Facebook Fake News in the Post-Truth World

By: John R. Wells, Carole A. Winkler and Benjamin Weinstock

In August 2019, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, was surrounded by controversy. The first major storm of protest followed the surprise election of Donald Trump as President of the United States on November 8, 2016; many put the blame at the door of fake... View Details

Keywords: Facebook; Fake News; Mark Zuckerberg; Donald Trump; Algorithms; Social Networks; Partisanship; Social Media; App Development; Instagram; WhatsApp; Smartphone; Silicon Valley; Office Space; Digital Strategy; Democracy; Entry Barriers; Online Platforms; Controversy; Tencent; Agility; Social Networking; Gaming; Gaming Industry; Computer Games; Mobile Gaming; Messaging; Monetization Strategy; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Business Ventures; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Headquarters; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Trends; Communication; Communication Technology; Forms of Communication; Interactive Communication; Interpersonal Communication; Talent and Talent Management; Crime and Corruption; Voting; Demographics; Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Initial Public Offering; Profit; Revenue; Geography; Geographic Location; Global Range; Local Range; Country; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government and Politics; International Relations; National Security; Political Elections; Business History; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Information Management; Information Publishing; News; Newspapers; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Dissemination; Human Capital; Law; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Practices and Processes; Management Style; Management Systems; Management Teams; Managerial Roles; Marketing Channels; Social Marketing; Network Effects; Market Entry and Exit; Digital Platforms; Marketplace Matching; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Monopoly; Media; Product Development; Service Delivery; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Groups and Teams; Networks; Rank and Position; Opportunities; Behavior; Emotions; Identity; Power and Influence; Prejudice and Bias; Reputation; Social and Collaborative Networks; Status and Position; Trust; Society; Civil Society or Community; Culture; Public Opinion; Social Issues; Societal Protocols; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Diversification; Expansion; Horizontal Integration; Segmentation; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Applications and Software; Information Infrastructure; Valuation; Advertising Industry; Communications Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Industry; Information Technology Industry; Journalism and News Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Service Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Video Game Industry; United States; California; Sunnyvale; Russia

01 Sep 2007
News

To The Rescue

need to seek medical care, although cultural differences still persist. “One man called us in the middle of the night and said, ‘I need a lady now.’ To him, that was an emergency, to us it wasn’t,” Changavalli laughs. Raju has been a strong backer of corporate View Details

Keywords: Garrett M. Graff; emergency response networks; Health, Social Assistance; Health, Social Assistance; Health, Social Assistance; Health, Social Assistance

October 2017
Supplement

Maggie Wilderotter: The Evolution of an Executive: Video Supplement

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott and Robin Abrahams

In a career that spanned over 30 years, Maggie Wilderotter served as CEO of two publicly traded companies and served on 32 corporate and nine association and non-profit boards of directors. The case looks at the progression of Wilderotter’s career; the decisions she... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Managing People; Networks; Strategy And Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Personal Characteristics; Leadership Style; Social and Collaborative Networks; Gender; Power and Influence; Telecommunications Industry; United States

2024
Working Paper

Sharing Models to Interpret Data

By: Joshua Schwartzstein and Adi Sunderam

To understand new data, we share models or interpretations with others. This paper studies such exchanges of models in a community. The key assumption is that people adopt the interpretation in their community that best explains the data, given their prior beliefs. An... View Details

Keywords: Social Learning Theory; Theory; Social Issues; Cognition and Thinking; Social and Collaborative Networks; Attitudes

Research Summary

Managing the Advantages and Tradeoffs of Collaborative Structures

By: Ethan S. Bernstein

To solve complex problems, organizations must both collect facts and use them to solve problems. In one study, my coauthors and I show that increased connectivity—measured as network... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Human Behavior; Performance; Virtual Work; Hybrid Work; Office Space; Workplace Design; Communication; Social and Collaborative Networks; Behavior; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Leadership; Management

2012
Article

When Does the Glue of Social Ties Dissolve? Syndication Ties and Performance Cues in Withdrawals from Venture Capital Syndicates, 1985-2009

By: Pavel Zhelyazkov

The present study integrates the economic and social perspectives on the stability of collaboration by exploring how performance cues interact with interorganizational embeddedness in affecting firms' withdrawals from venture capital coinvestment syndicates. It finds... View Details

Keywords: Social and Collaborative Networks; Venture Capital; Performance; Cooperation

Web

Providing Scholarships for Impact on a Sector | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

the speed and quality of reform through improved leadership capacity. Indeed, this network of attendees has played a critical role in advocating for reform at both the state and national levels. Building on that success, this year the... View Details

November 2013 (Revised December 2013)
Case

Endeavor: Miami Heats Up

By: William A. Sahlman, Ramana Nanda, David Lane and Lisa Mazzanti

Endeavor Global was a nonprofit that for 15 years had worked to nurture entrepreneurship in emerging markets by selecting local high-impact entrepreneurs for mentoring and aid in scaling up their businesses from committed local business leaders. In summer 2012,... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Entrepreneurs; Scaling; Emerging Market Entrepreneurship; Not For Profit; Entrepreneurial Finance; Mentoring; Business Networks; Hybrid Nonprofit Funding; Mission and Purpose; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Entrepreneurship; Emerging Markets; Problems and Challenges; Finance; Miami

2023
Working Paper

What Do Impact Investors Do Differently?

By: Shawn Cole, Leslie Jeng, Josh Lerner, Natalia Rigol and Benjamin N. Roth

In recent years, impact investors – private investors who seek to generate simultaneously financial and social returns – have attracted intense interest and controversy. We analyze a novel, comprehensive data set of impact and traditional investors to assess how the... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Socially Responsible Investing; Investment Decisions; Public Goods; Impact Investment; Investment; Private Equity; Venture Capital

SSRN

2021
Working Paper

Does Who Helps You Impact Your Behavior? Examining the Effects of Social Interactions on Knowledge Sharing in Online Communities

By: Eunkwang Seo, Frank Nagle and Sonali K. Shah

Online communities provide vibrant forums for knowledge sharing and are increasingly being used by individual users and firms to source knowledge and create and capture value. Yet, there is much to learn about how the actions of community members affect other members,... View Details

Keywords: Online Communities; Knowledge Development; Innovation; Reciprocity; Knowledge Sharing; Networks; Innovation and Invention; Interpersonal Communication

SSRN

2021
Working Paper

Accounting for Product Impact in the Telecommunications Industry

By: George Serafeim and Katie Trinh

We apply the product impact measurement framework of the Impact-Weighted Accounts Initiative (IWAI) in two competitor companies within the telecommunications industry. We design a monetization methodology that allows us to calculate monetary impact estimates of network... View Details

SSRN

December 2018
Case

Choosy

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Julia Kelley

Founded in 2017, Choosy is a data-driven fashion startup that uses algorithms to identify styles trending on social media. After manufacturing similar items using a China-based supply chain, Choosy sells them to consumers through its website and social media pages.... View Details

August 28, 2018
Article

How Intermittent Breaks in Interaction Improve Collective Intelligence

By: Ethan Bernstein, Jesse Shore and David Lazer

People influence each other when they interact to solve problems. Such social influence introduces both benefits (higher average solution quality due to exploitation of existing answers through social learning) and costs (lower maximum solution quality due to a... View Details