Publications

30 Oct 2014
Blog Post

Alumni: Where are they now? Featuring Robert Leke...

investment firm targeting businesses in the consumer-driven and agriculture-based sectors. My time with Tana has been nothing short of a thrill. I am grateful for the exposure and experiences gained over the past 2+ years, evaluating and... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail

02 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

10 Trends to Watch in 2024

The lightning-fast ascent of generative AI isn’t the only sea change on the horizon for businesses in the new year. The global economy is in flux as war, climate change, trade issues, and infrastructure problems demand attention. Many companies continue to struggle to... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

2022
Working Paper

How Do Investors Value ESG?

By: Malcolm Baker, Mark Egan and Suproteem K. Sarkar

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives have risen to near the top of the agenda for corporate executives and boards, driven in large part by their perceptions of shareholder interest. We quantify the value that shareholders place on ESG using a revealed... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Investment Portfolio; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Shareholder Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Governance; Financial Services Industry; United States

September 2003 (Revised May 2004)
Case

New Partnership for Africa's Development, The

By: Laura Alfaro, Debora L. Spar and Cate Reavis

In a world context of international institutions such as the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund and their interaction with developing countries, this case looks at an African development initiative to address its own problems: The New Economic... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Developing Countries and Economies; International Finance; Investment; Poverty; Africa

Program

Disruptive Innovation

works and determine when to invest in core versus disruptive business models. As you gain insight into the ways that evolving industries, technologies, and competitive forces can affect your business, you will be better prepared to... View Details

30 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 30

Working PapersWellsprings of Creation: How Perturbation Sustains Exploration in Mature Organizations (revised) Authors:David James Brunner, Bradley R. Staats, Michael L. Tushman, and David M. Upton Abstract Organizations struggle to... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

December 2019 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Impossible Foods

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

Impossible Foods founder and CEO Pat Brown started the company out of concern over livestock production’s impact on climate change. Impossible’s mission is to end consumption of animals by 2035, and its strategy is to develop and market plant-based foods so similar to... View Details

2008
Book

On Competition

By: M. E. Porter

Competition is one of society's most powerful forces for making things better in many ﬁelds of human endeavor. The study of competition and the creation of value, in their full richness, have preoccupied me for several decades. Competition is pervasive, whether it... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Practice; Competitive Strategy; Theory; Value Creation

Find at Harvard

June 2010 (Revised July 2011)
Case

China Environment Fund: Doing Well by Doing Good

By: Christopher Marquis and Nancy Dai

In early 2010, cleantech investment pioneer Tsing Capital was planning for the China Environment Fund IV and considering how to maintain its commitment to social and environmental practices. Tsing Capital embraced its philosophy of "Doing Well by Doing Good" and... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business Strategy; Balance and Stability; Environmental Sustainability; Climate Change; Energy Conservation; Business Organization; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; China

07 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 7

http://hbr.org/product/Google-Inc--in-2014/an/915004-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 714-520 Investing in Online Marketplaces Simon Rothman had recently been promoted from executive-in-residence to partner at esteemed venture capital... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Podcast - Business & Environment

Claudine Blamey, Group Director of Sustainability at Aviva, describes how climate change evokes both transition risks and physical risks for insurance companies, and affects how insurance companies are assessing and pricing risk in their... View Details

21 Feb 2013
HBS Seminar

Rodrigo Wagner, Tufts University

Building A Culture of Health

This ambitious volume sets out to understand how every company impacts public health and introduces a robust model, rooted in organizational and scientific knowledge, for companies committed to making positive contributions to health and wellness. Focusing on four... View Details

14 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 14, 2010

http://www.people.hbs.edu/ffoley/IPRImit.pdf Venture Capital Investment in the Clean Energy Sector Authors:Shikhar Ghosh and Ramana Nanda Publication:In America's Energy Innovation Problem Abstract We examine the extent to which venture... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Placement - Doctoral

University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Dissertation: Equity Market Views and Digital Technology Investment in Non-IT Firms Advisors: Suraj Srinivasan (Chair), Paul M. Healy , Charles C.Y. Wang , and Shane M. Greenstein Hashim Zaman... View Details

2001
Chapter

Publicly Funded Science and the Productivity of the Pharmaceutical Industry

By: Rebecca Henderson and Ian Cockburn

U.S. taxpayers funded $14.8 billion of health related research last year, four times the amount that was spent in 1970 in real terms. In this paper we evaluate the impact of these huge expenditures on the technological performance of the pharmaceutical industry. While... View Details

Keywords: Public Sector; Science-Based Business; Research and Development; Sovereign Finance; Pharmaceutical Industry

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Read Now

21 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Solving the Marketing Resources Allocation Puzzle

example, how well consumers were able to recall a brand name after commercials have been run—but not much more. The effectiveness of marketing investments was rarely directly tied back to sales. This has completely changed with the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

19 Jan 2016
First Look

January 19, 2016

available materiality classifications of sustainability topics, we develop a novel dataset by hand-mapping sustainability investments classified as material for each industry... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September–October 2023
Article

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats: The Effects of Common Ownership on Corporate Social Responsibility

By: Mark R. DesJardine, Jody Grewal and Kala Viswanathan

Common owners face an incredible investment challenge: managing systematic risk. Because common owners hold shares in multiple firms across an industry, an action (or inaction) by one firm that affects industry peers is felt more severely by common owners than by... View Details

Keywords: Common Ownership; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Institutional Investing; Corporate Governance; Risk and Uncertainty; Investment Return