Publications

January 2015
Case

Chevron Under Fire

By: George Serafeim, Rebecca Henderson and Christine Snively

Oil giant, Chevron, faced numerous challenges on environmental, social and governance (ESG) grounds in the first decade of the 21st century, including some major lawsuits and actions by NGOs. The case describes those challenges and raises questions about what is the... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Tax; Oil And Gas; Environment; Drilling; Governance; Business or Company Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Sources; Mining Industry; Energy Industry

01 Jun 2008
News

You Only Thought You Were Republican

lowered your rate and mine all the way to 28 percent. (Things began to right themselves when Clinton put it back up to 39.6 percent.) And then again when George W. Bush cut our long-term gains rate by a... View Details

Keywords: Andrew Tobias; national debt; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services; Government

11 Apr 2022
News

Lessons from the Dustup at Disney: How CEOs Can Stand Up for Their Companies’ Values

2013
Working Paper

FIN Around the World: The Contribution of Financing Activity to Profitability

By: Russell Lundholm, George Serafeim and Gwen Yu

We study how the availability of domestic credit influences the contribution that financing activities make to a firm's return on equity (ROE). Using a sample of 51,866 firms from 69 countries, we find that financing activities contribute more to a firm's ROE in... View Details

Keywords: Domestic Credit; Return Of Equity; Corporate Performance; Financial Statement Analysis; Financial Statements; Valuation; Cost of Capital; Asset Pricing; Economic Growth

SSRN

Web

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Overview Faculty Curriculum Seminars & Conferences Awards & Honors Doctoral Students 2024 Amit Goldenberg : Winner of the 2024 Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions, given View Details

14 Apr 2015
First Look

First Look: April 14

collection of innovative research and management insights that build upon the foundations of the first book but takes the study of brand relationships outside of traditional realms by applying new theoretical frameworks and considering... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2011
Case

Daniel Kim's Dilemma (A)

By: Bill George and Natalie Kindred

Daniel Kim was considering "blowing the whistle" on his friend, the CEO of a fast-growing startup where Kim had spent most of his professional career. When Kim joined the company, called Cardio-Metric, in 2002, it consisted of seven young engineers (including its two... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Fairness; Corporate Accountability; Emotions; Behavior; Leadership Style; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Disclosure

July 2022
Case

David Crane’s Clean(er) Energy Strategy at NRG

By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel and Tom Quinn

In 2015, David Crane was the CEO of NRG, the second-largest energy producer in the United States. NRG got most of its power from fossil fuels, but Crane – hired as CEO in 2003 as NRG emerged from bankruptcy – had invested heavily in alternative energy, loudly... View Details

Keywords: Energy; Leadership; Corporate Governance; Transformation; Alternative Energy; Energy Generation; Climate Change; Corporate Accountability; Renewable Energy; Energy Industry; United States

04 Dec 2008
News

Since Enron, Little Has Changed

November 2011 (Revised June 2012)
Case

The Big 3 Roar Back

By: William W. George

The "Big 3"—Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Chrysler—were all headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. Born between 1903 and 1928, they dominated the automobile industry in the U.S. for decades until they became complacent. In the 1970s they started losing share to... View Details

Keywords: Production; Labor Unions; Labor and Management Relations; Industry Clusters; Competitive Strategy; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Michigan

March 1998 (Revised November 1999)
Case

USA TODAY Online

By: John A. Deighton and Anthony St. George

How should USA TODAY use its brand franchise to build a publishing business on the World Wide Web? Advertising Age described the first steps as "a case study in how not to do it," but by the end of 1997 USA TODAY Online is the most visited news site on the Web. Now the... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Design; Profit; Revenue; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Internet and the Web; Information Industry

Find at Harvard

November 2020 (Revised September 2021)
Case

HP Instant Ink: (Self) Disrupting the Consumer Printing Market

By: Elie Ofek, Marco Bertini, Oded Koenigsberg and George Gonzalez

Seeking to disrupt the consumer printing market (before being disrupted by others), and in response to customer pain points, in 2013 HP Inc. launched an ink replenishment service called Instant Ink, where customers pay a monthly subscription fee based on the number of... View Details

Keywords: Printing; Ink; Subscription Model; Customers; Information Infrastructure; Service Delivery; Business Model; Disruption; Growth and Development Strategy

06 Mar 2018
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, March 6, 2018

forthcoming Financial Analysts Journal Why and How Investors Use ESG Information: Evidence from a Global Survey By: Amel-Zadeh, Amir, and George Serafeim Abstract—Using survey data from a sample of senior... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2021
Working Paper

Science-Based Carbon Emissions Targets

By: David Freiberg, Jody Grewal and George Serafeim

We examine the effect of voluntarily adopting a standard for setting science-based carbon emissions targets on target difficulty and investments to achieve those targets. We find that firms with a track record of setting and achieving ambitious carbon targets are more... View Details

Keywords: Target; Targeting; Target-setting; Target Efficiency; Management Control Systems; Management Accounting; Environment; Environmental And Social Sustainability; Climate Change; Environmental Management; Environmental Accounting; Environmental Sustainability; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

SSRN

Read Now

July 1998 (Revised October 1998)
Case

Jan Eriksson at Novartis Indonesia: Turmoil in the Indonesian Pharmaceutical Industry

By: Carin-Isabel Knoop and Anthony St. George

Jan Eriksson is the country manager of the Indonesian joint venture of Basel-based Novartis (Novartis Indonesia), the world's largest pharmaceutical company, formed by the 1996 merger between Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy. The case describes the actions he has taken since... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Mergers and Acquisitions; Crisis Management; Management Teams; Financial Crisis; Pharmaceutical Industry; Indonesia

March 2013 (Revised May 2013)
Case

Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally

By: Bill George and Natalie Kindred

Omar Ishrak, Medtronic's first non-American CEO, aims to reinvigorate the medical device maker's growth by focusing on emerging markets, therapy innovation, and creative business models. In 2012, budget constraints in mature economies, the lack of new medical therapies... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Medical Devices; Medtronic; Globalization; Innovation; Reverse Innovation; Leadership; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Management Teams; Business Model; Emerging Markets; Global Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Acquisition; Innovation and Invention; Manufacturing Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; China