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27 Sep 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Large-Scale Demand Estimation with Search Data

Keywords: by Tomomichi Amano, Andrew Rhodes, and Stephan Seiler; Retail

20 Oct 2014
Blog Post

Create Buzzworthy Industry Education Events at HBS

targeting. And all of us are more responsive to personal invitations compared to generic ones, right? Those firms who send personalized email invitations View Details

14 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 14, 2010

activity. We examine the responses of U.S.-based MNEs and domestic industrial production to a set of IPR reforms in the 1980s and 1990s. Following reform, MNEs expand the scale of their activities. MNEs that... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Sep 2021
Blog Post

Alumni Spotlight: Career Advice from Alums Working in Climate

around the world adapt and lead. Climate jobs have never more robust or exciting. From transportation to tech to agriculture, regardless of your experience, I’d encourage all MBAs View Details

May 2012
Technical Note

Frameworks for Dialogue and Research about Social Impact Investing

By: Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard

Social Impact Investment is a rapidly expanding field, but terminology in the field is poorly defined and imprecise. This note suggests frameworks that help to clarify important dimensions of SII projects, distinguishing and clarifying key differences in approaches to... View Details

Keywords: Development Stage Enterprises; Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurial Finance; Financial Instruments; Performance Measurement; Balanced Scorecard; Investment Funds; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Research; Framework; Entrepreneurship; Financial Services Industry

30 May 2007
Research & Ideas

Health Care Under a Research Microscope

particular segment of the population." HBS is also training current and future health care leaders. The School's executive education program offers custom programs to boost the management skills of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Health; Biotechnology

January 2007 (Revised October 2008)
Case

H&R Block 2006

By: Peter Tufano

Mark Ernst, the Chairman, CEO and President of H&R Block, has to decide how to respond to a competitive threat posed by a competitor's refund-lending product. Block is the largest U.S. tax preparation firm, which competes not only on its tax preparation services, but... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Financing and Loans; Personal Finance; Taxation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Competition; Financial Services Industry

21 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 21, 2015

Across three studies, we show that gift givers mis-predict appreciation for socially responsible gifts and that their mis-predictions depend on the nature of their relationship to the recipient. Drawing on... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2010 (Revised July 2021)
Case

Gone Rural

By: Andre F. Perold

Gone Rural employs 750 women in rural communities across Swaziland to produce handwoven baskets and other hand-crafted items. The women are mostly grandmothers caring for children orphaned as a result of the country's high AIDS-related death rate. The company has a... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Growth and Development; Buildings and Facilities; Business Growth and Maturation; Corporate Finance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Swaziland

May 2022 (Revised May 2024)
Case

The Freedom Fund (A): Ending Modern Slavery

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Courtney Han

The Freedom Fund founded in 2013 to end modern slavery had raised more than half its intended target (by 2025) of $200 million. In 2021, impressed by its decentralized-partnering style of operations, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott awarded the Fund a gift of $35 million... View Details

Keywords: Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Spending; Decisions; India; Thailand; Ethiopia

September 2016 (Revised February 2019)
Case

KaBOOM!: Play at Scale (A)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sarah Appleby

A case on scaling social impact for nonprofits. Founded in 1995, KaBOOM! quickly became a nationally recognized nonprofit in building playgrounds with strong corporate partnerships and volunteer-organizing capabilities. Over the years, KaBOOM! developed new programs,... View Details

Keywords: Scaling Social Impact; Scaling; Nonprofit Scaling; Nonprofit Organizations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Enterprise; Growth and Development Strategy; United States

December 2004 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Nestle: Sustainable Agriculture Initiative

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

Swiss food giant Nestle attempts to improve the performance of its suppliers of agricultural commodities to raise quality, lower costs, and contribute to sustainable development. Its initiatives focus first on coffee, cocoa, and milk. Nestle managers assert that the... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Business and Community Relations; Corporate Strategy; Agribusiness; Supply Chain Management; Marketing Strategy; Value Creation; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

July 2020
Article

Exploring the Effect of Environmental Orientation on Financial Decisions of Businesses at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Evidence from the Microlending Context

By: Anton Shevchenko, Xiaodan Pan and Goran Calic

Existing research has accumulated substantial evidence on the effect that an environmental orientation has on businesses' economic performance. Yet this research does not cover small businesses from bottom‐of‐the‐pyramid (BOP) markets. In fact, despite increasing... View Details

Keywords: Micro-lending; Environmental Sustainability; Financing and Loans; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Small Business

June 2020
Case

MOD Pizza: A Winning Recipe? (Abridged)

By: Boris Groysberg, John D. Vaughan and Matthew Preble

This is an abridged version of “MOD Pizza: A Winning Recipe?” HBS Case No. 416-004. Scott and Ally Svenson, the founders of MOD Pizza, had to make a number of decisions in planning how to scale their small company. They wanted to grow MOD from 45 stores as of May 2015... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Selection and Staffing; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Service Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

Keywords: Pulp and Paper

01 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 1

channel offers potential benefits in selling to customer segments that value the convenience of online shopping, but it also raises new challenges. These include the higher likelihood of costly product... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2008 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Affinity Plus (A)

By: Dennis Campbell and Peter Tufano

The executive team at Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union has pushed the concept of members first deeply throughout the organization, empowering employees to put member-owners' interests ahead of either the organization's interests or their own interests. As a result of... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Financial Institutions; Financing and Loans; Profit; Cooperative Ownership; Conflict of Interests; Strategy

December 2021
Case

Bunge: Building a Sustainable Future?

By: Forest Reinhardt, David E. Bell, Pedro Levindo and Ruth Costas

Bunge, one of the world’s leading agribusiness traders and processors, strives to comply with its commitment to having a deforestation-free value chain by 2025 while it considers potential new business growth areas. After a complex turnaround, which involved one of the... View Details

Keywords: Deforestation; Value Chain; Agribusiness; Values and Beliefs; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry