Publications

January 2018
Case

Environmental Technology Fund Partners and E-Leather

By: Vikram S. Gandhi and Aldo Sesia

It is 2014 and Environmental Technologies Fund (ETF) Partners, a UK-based venture capital firm, has an opportunity to invest in a privately held UK company that manufactured engineered composition leather extracted from waste leather using an environmentally friendly... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Venture Capital; Investment Strategy; Investment; Strategy; Ownership; Valuation; Energy Conservation; Equity; Technological Innovation; Environmental Sustainability; Performance Efficiency; Manufacturing Industry; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom

26 Aug 2002
Research & Ideas

High-Stakes Decision Making: The Lessons of Mount Everest

about why they wish to make additional investments in a particular initiative. Managers should be extremely wary if they hear responses such as: "Well, we have put so much money into this already. We don't want to View Details

Keywords: by Michael A. Roberto

12 Aug 2019
Research & Ideas

How Scale Changes a Manager's Responsibilities

can’t, consider how much time you may be wasting trying to force a situation that’s just not going to turn around. To lead or not to lead. Pay attention to first-time managers who hate or are bad at... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

February 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Greening Walmart: Progress and Controversy

By: Rebecca Henderson and James Weber

In 2005, Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, launched a sustainability initiative aimed at reducing waste and making the company more environmentally and socially conscious. By 2015, the company had made progress on multiple dimensions: energy efficiency in its... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management; Motivation and Incentives; Reputation; Environmental Sustainability; Retail Industry; United States

18 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

It’s Not Nagging: Why Persistent, Redundant Communication Works

wheel” In a paper forthcoming in Organization Science, professor Tsedal B. Neeley and coauthors delve into why many managers tend to send the same message, over and over, via multiple media to team members. At first blush, this strategy... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

07 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

What Drives Supply Chain Behavior?

[when a fluctuation becomes exaggerated along the supply chain -ed.] and its related stretches of wasted inventory and unmet demand. Q: What are some of the behavioral dynamics that supply chain managers... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston

2013
Working Paper

Do Display Ads Influence Search?: Attribution and Dynamics in Online Advertising

By: Sunil Gupta

As firms increasingly rely on online media to acquire consumers, marketing managers feel comfortable justifying higher online marketing spend by referring to online metrics such as click-through rate (CTR) and cost per acquisition (CPA). However, these standard online... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Digital Marketing

March 2006
Case

The Whitesides Lab

By: H. Kent Bowen and Francesca Gino

A significant part of the long-term economic growth in developed economies depends on the translation of scientific research into new products and processes. Focuses on the front end of this value creation stream. The laboratory of George Whitesides has a 30-year... View Details

Keywords: Research; Performance Productivity; Economic Growth; Infrastructure; Creativity; Groups and Teams; Value Creation; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Leadership; Resource Allocation

Article

To Drive Efforts...Don't Tiptoe Around Your Legal Risk

By: Edward Chang and Bonnie Levine

Many Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are scuttled because DEI leaders and legal teams feel themselves to be at odds over questions of acceptable risk. DEI leaders see lawyers as guardians of the status quo, whereas legal experts, trained to... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Risk Management; Legal Liability

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October 1991 (Revised September 1998)
Case

Maxwell Appliance Controls

By: Robert S. Kaplan

A profitable manufacturing division of a large company is looking for new ways to identify sources of productivity improvements. Led by its senior finance officer, an activity-based cost system is developed to identify activities performed for its highly varied product... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Management Teams; Quality; Performance Improvement; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Production; Manufacturing Industry

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2005
Chapter

Environmental Federalism in the European Union and the United States

By: David Vogel, Michael W. Toffel and Diahanna Post

The United States (US) and the European Union (EU) are federal systems in which the responsibility for environmental policy-making is divided or shared between the central government and the (member) states. The attribution of decision-making power has important policy... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Government Legislation; Natural Environment; Pollutants; Climate Change; European Union; United States

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09 Feb 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Do Corporate Social Responsibility Ratings Predict Corporate Social Performance?

Keywords: by Aaron K. Chatterji, David I. Levine & Michael W. Toffel

19 Jan 2016
First Look

January 19, 2016

forthcoming Cambridge, MA: MIT Press Revolutionizing Innovation: Users, Communities, and Open Innovation By: Harhoff, Dietmar, and Karim R. Lakhani, eds. Abstract—The last two decades have witnessed an extraordinary growth of new models of View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2016
Article

Do Display Ads Influence Search?: Attribution and Dynamics in Online Advertising

By: Pavel Kireyev, Koen Pauwels and Sunil Gupta

As firms increasingly rely on online media to acquire consumers, marketing managers feel comfortable justifying higher online marketing spending by referring to online metrics such as click-through rate (CTR) and cost per acquisition (CPA). However, these standard... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Digital Marketing

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2021
Chapter

Sostenibilidad y negocios verdes en América Latina

By: Geoffrey Jones

This chapter in the first-ever business history textbook on Latin America examines the impact of modern business enterprise on the natural environment of the region between the 19th century and the present day. It argues that although global capitalism created much... View Details

Keywords: Environment; Business History; Environmental Sustainability; Latin America; North and Central America

2018
Working Paper

Sustainability and Green Business in Latin America During Globalization Waves

By: Geoffrey Jones

This working paper examines the impact of modern business enterprise on the natural environment of Latin America during the globalization waves between the 19th century and the present day. It argues that although global capitalism created much wealth for the region,... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Natural Environment; Outcome or Result; Business History; Pollutants; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Tourism Industry; Latin America

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25 Jul 2005
Research & Ideas

Fool vs. Jerk: Whom Would You Hire?

jerk. Things got a lot more interesting, though, when people faced the choice between competent jerks and lovable fools. Ask managers about this choice—and we've asked many of them, both as part of our research and in executive education... View Details

Keywords: by Tiziana Casciaro & Miguel Sousa Lobo

December 2020 (Revised February 2021)
Case

Kerry Group: Inspiring Food, Nourishing Life

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, José B. Alvarez, Damien McLoughlin, Tonia Labruyere and Tonia Junker

The Irish company Kerry Group, one of the leading global players in the taste and nutrition industry, wants to ensure its future growth in developing and developed markets. Founded in 1972 as a dairy cooperative, it had grown into a provider of taste and nutrition... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Environmental Sustainability; Food; Nutrition; Growth and Development Strategy; Global Range; Market Entry and Exit; Customer Relationship Management; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

June 30, 2020
Article

Bipartisan Tax-Free Solution to Health Care Financing: Coupling HRAs With a Public Option

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Richard Boxer and James Wallace

A combination of health insurance initiatives by the presumptive 2020 Democratic and Republican presidential nominees could expand health care coverage and significantly reduce costs, without raising taxes. Along the way, the combination could revitalize private... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Financing; Public Option; Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA); Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Cost Management