Publications

20 Jan 2015
First Look

First Look: January 20

Brazil, and then finally India. We also show that autonomous government schools (i.e., government funded but with substantial independence like UK academies and U.S. charters) have significantly higher... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

Searching for Better Practices in Social Investing

In order to garner the capital necessary to foot the bill for social change, nonprofits need to think less about traditional grants and more in terms of innovation--and so do the organizations that fund them. This was a key message from... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

19 Dec 2005
Research & Ideas

Public Education Goes to School

and local governments will reach approximately $450 billion. Although per-pupil spending has more than doubled in real dollars over the last thirty years, student achievement has remained stagnant. U.S. students look mediocre, or worse,... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark; Education

July 2006 (Revised August 2007)
Case

Charles Veillon, S.A. (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Aldo Sesia

The top management team at Charles Veillon, a Swiss mail-order company, is considering whether to work with a human rights organization to monitor the labor practices of its suppliers. A particular concern is avoiding child labor and other forms of workplace coercion.... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Governance Controls; Labor; Rights; Nonprofit Organizations; Switzerland

23 Nov 1999
Research & Ideas

Bringing the Environment Down to Earth

groups are the company's adversaries. At times, that view is justified; some regulators and advocates are indeed hostile to business. But government and nonprofit organizations will always play a role in... View Details

Keywords: by Forest Reinhardt

30 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 30, 2008

(forthcoming) Abstract This paper analyzes the association between ownership, top management incentives, and expenditures on accounting information. We argue that organizations with privately appointed boards of directors such as for-profit and non-governmental View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

26 Jun 2013
Op-Ed

A Roadmap for Afghanistan’s Economic Future

the United States isn't the only or even the most significant player in extending a helping hand to Afghanistan. Wealthy Europeans are assisting government agencies considerably. Roshan itself was coaxed into being by the Aga Khan... View Details

Keywords: by Tarun Khanna

April 1991 (Revised April 1992)
Case

Hospital Sector in 1992

Examines the major issues facing the hospital sector in 1992. The environment surrounding the industry is one of great uncertainty and rapid change, and involves significant public policy questions. Describes recent trends, issues and new types of competitors that... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Nonprofit Organizations; Competition; Health Care and Treatment; Policy; Change; Health Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

01 Jun 2010
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Social Reporting

conflicting demands, rapidly evolving rules, and changing opportunities for finding resources. How can organizations stay focused? Harvard Business School professor Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard discusses today's challenges and his Executive Education program on... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

29 Jan 2019
Research & Ideas

'Green Bonds' May Be Our Best Bet for Environmental Damage Control

George Serafeim and Malcolm Baker have long been interested in investor motivations that go beyond pure financial return to include environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria. With the recent uptick in green bonds, they wondered... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Energy; Utilities; Construction; Green Technology; Public Administration

2010
Working Paper

From Bench to Board: Gender Differences in University Scientists' Participation in Commercial Science

This paper examines gender differences in the participation of university life science faculty in commercial science. Based on theory and field interviews, we develop hypotheses regarding how scientists' productivity, co-authorship networks, and institutional... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; For-Profit Firms; Gender Characteristics; Higher Education; Entrepreneurship; Governing and Advisory Boards; Science-Based Business; Nonprofit Organizations; Biotechnology Industry

Read Now

28 Apr 2011
Op-Ed

While Waiting for Japan’s Recovery, Let’s Enhance Supplier Competitiveness at Home

coming off welfare to avert a potentially large national problem (and a political problem for President Clinton). Intermediary organizations such as local and national nonprofits provided training and helped identify job-ready candidates.... View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

22 Sep 2003
Research & Ideas

How Businesses Can Respond to AIDS

with it within those confines." You have to allow for dynamism, for feedback loops, for lots of mid-course corrections.— John Ruggie, Kennedy School Ruggie said it's troubling when people in business, government or NGOs become overly... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

November 2008 (Revised October 2009)
Case

American Cancer Society: Access to Care

By: Robert L. Simons and Kathryn Rosenberg

CEO John Seffrin decides to radically change the strategy of the American Cancer Society. The new Access to Care strategy relies on advocacy to change public policy and increase the number of Americans eligible for cancer prevention and treatment. The new strategy... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Governance Controls; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Nonprofit Organizations; Business Strategy; Health Industry; United States

15 Nov 2016
First Look

November 15, 2016

modified to incorporate quasi-hyperbolic preferences. For reasons of political economy or aggregation of citizens’ preferences, government preferences are present biased, resulting in an over-accumulation of debt. Calibrating this... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 31, 2006

industry in the United States. Explores the interaction between the growth of a company and an overall industry. Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=406082 Fundamentals of Family Business System View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2015 (Revised August 2019)
Background Note

Higher Education in China: Internationalization in Turbulent Times

By: William C. Kirby, Joycelyn W. Eby and Yuanzhuo Wang

The rapid growth in quantity and quality of universities in China since 1978 is the most recent evolution in a long history of higher education. From as early as the Tang Dynasty, academies existed to prepare scholars for the civil service examination, but by the... View Details

Keywords: Non-profit Management; University Administration; University Faculty; University Curriculum; Education Reform; Nonprofit Organizations; Management; Higher Education; History; Governance; Education Industry; China