Publications

Article

Putting Patients First: Social Marketing Strategies for Treating HIV in Developing Nations

By: Zoe Chance and Rohit Deshpandé

It is more than mere coincidence that the highest rates of HIV occur in the world's poorest countries. Of the over 40 million people currently living with HIV, 95 percent are in the developing world. The first part of this paper explores the economics of HIV and... View Details

Keywords: Health Disorders; Developing Countries and Economies; Poverty; Health Care and Treatment; Social Marketing; Perspective; Customer Focus and Relationships; Profit; Africa; Asia; South America

2020
Working Paper

Social Influence in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Community Establishments’ Closure Decisions Follow Those of Nearby Chain Establishments

By: Abhishek Nagaraj, Mathijs de Vaan, Saqib Mumtaz and Sameer Srivastava

As conveners that bring various stakeholders into the same physical space, firms can powerfully influence the course of pandemics such as COVID-19. Even when operating under government orders and health guidelines, firms have considerable discretion to keep their... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Peer Influence; Closure Decisions; Health Pandemics; Business Ventures; Decisions; Business and Community Relations

2019
Article

The Social Desirability of Offshoring: A Swiss Consensus (1945–1975)

By: Sabine Pitteloud

This article focuses on the evolution of the rhetoric and practice of corporate offshoring in Switzerland from the post-war economic boom to the industrial crisis in the mid-seventies. The virtue of a historical perspective on the issue of offshoring is to show how... View Details

Keywords: Multinationals; Offshoring And Outsourcing; Relocation; Labor Relations; Multinational Firms and Management; Labor and Management Relations; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Switzerland

Register to Read

2009
Working Paper

Social Influence Given (Partially) Deliberate Matching: Career Imprints in the Creation of Academic Entrepreneurs

By: Pierre Azoulay, Christopher C. Liu and Toby E. Stuart

Actors often match with associates on a small set of dimensions that matter most for the particular relationship at hand. In so doing, they are exposed to unanticipated social influences because counterparts have more interests, attitudes, and preferences than would-be... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Patents; Marketplace Matching; Mathematical Methods; Science-Based Business; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Biotechnology Industry

August 2012
Article

From Mind Perception to Mental Connection: Synchrony as a Mechanism for Social Understanding

By: Thalia Wheatley, Olivia Kang, Carolyn Parkinson and Christine E. Looser

Connecting deeply with another mind is as enigmatic as it is fulfilling. Why people ‘‘click’’ with some people but not others is one of the great unsolved mysteries of science. However, researchers from psychology and neuroscience are converging on a likely... View Details

Keywords: Neuroscience; Social Psychology; Interpersonal Communication; Relationships

Web

Social Media Guidelines for Faculty and Staff | About

Social Media Guidelines for Faculty and Staff Faculty and staff members at the School use social media in a variety of capacities, including: related to their roles as member of the HBS community (e.g., a... View Details

20 Jun 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Fame, Faith, and Social Activism: Business Lessons from Bono

escalating, high-profile campaign against Third World debt, poverty, war and disease. “Any CEO who thinks his or her job is about maximizing shareholder value is living in the past.” Koehn, a Harvard Business School historian who has studied View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Entertainment & Recreation

22 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

Social Capital Markets: Creating Value in the Nonprofit World

The Harvard Business School Initiative on Social Enterprise is embarking on a new intellectual endeavor to understand a fast-changing and fertilearena — the Social Capital Markets. For years, money given to... View Details

Keywords: by Anne Kavanagh

July – August 2011
Article

The Enabling Role of Social Position in Diverging from the Institutional Status Quo: Evidence from the U.K. National Health Service

By: Julie Battilana

This study examines the relationship between social position, both within the field and within the organization, and the likelihood of individual actors initiating organizational changes that diverge from the institutional status quo. I explore this relationship using... View Details

Keywords: Status and Position; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Projects; Leading Change; Managerial Roles; Relationships; Power and Influence; Health Industry; United Kingdom

July 2012
Article

iPhones for Friends, Refrigerators for Family: How Products Prime Social Networks

By: Lalin Anik and Michael I. Norton

We show that priming consumers with products associated with specific social networks increases the salience of those networks, influencing both word-of-mouth intentions and consumption. Consumers were exposed to friend- or family-related products (e.g., game consoles... View Details

Keywords: Family and Family Relationships; Product; Customers; Familiarity; Social and Collaborative Networks

March 2019
Article

Consuming Together (versus Separately) Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

By: Ximena Garcia-Rada, Lalin Anik and Dan Ariely

Across three studies, we investigate how consumers in romantic relationships make decisions when choosing an item to share with their partner. We show that consumers will forgo their preferred alternative for an option that is more aligned with the preferences of their... View Details

Keywords: Shared Consumption; Close Relationships; Conflicting Preferences; Spending; Decision Making; Relationships; Motivation and Incentives

March 2022
Case

DealShare: Social E-Commerce for the Indian Mass Market

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Malini Sen

Launched in September 2018, e-retail startup DealShare has created a tech-enabled model for the Indian mass market that allows customers to buy together, save money on good quality goods, and at the same time have fun. It targets customers who are still getting used to... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Disruption; Trends; Talent and Talent Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Value; Cost vs Benefits; Value Creation; Internet and the Web; India

Educators

Web

Impact Stories | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Filter Results: (52) Submit People Alumni Executive Education Faculty MBA Students Topics Business for Social Impact Impact Investing K-12 Education Nonprofit Strategy & Governance Public Sector Social... View Details

2019
Article

Brokerage and Brokering: An Integrative Review and Organizing Framework for Third Party Influence

By: Nir Halevy, Eliran Halali and Julian Zlatev

Brokerage and brokering are pervasive and consequential organizational phenomena. Prevailing models underscore social structure and focus on the consequences that come from brokerage—occupying a bridging position between disconnected others in a network. By contrast,... View Details

Keywords: Brokerage; Brokering; Social Interactions; Organizations; Relationships; Power and Influence; Framework

September 2009
Article

Structural Homophily or Social Asymmetry? The Formation of Alliances by Poorly Embedded Firms

By: Gautam Ahuja, Francisco Polidoro Jr. and Will Mitchell

Recent research shows that preexisting network structure constrains the formation of new interorganizational alliances. Firms that are poorly embedded in a network structure are less likely than richly embedded firms to form alliances, because they lack informational... View Details

Keywords: Interorganizational Networks; Interfirm Collaboration; Embeddedness; Networks; Joint Ventures; Alliances

2004
Article

The Relationship between Peacekeepers and NGO Workers: The Role of Training and Conflict Management Styles in International Peacekeeping.

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan, Katerina Bezrukova, Karen Jehn, Martin Euwema and Nicolien Kop

Keywords: Non-Governmental Organizations; Conflict and Resolution; Management

Web

On Course | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

the social impact generated by their investments. “People were very responsive when they learned we were HBS students,” says So, “and the experience was a great way to build relationships with practitioners... View Details

Article

Multinationale et fermetures de filiales : les conséquences sociales et politiques de décisions économiques

By: Sabine Pitteloud and Leo Grob

À travers l’analyse détaillée de deux cas de fermeture de filiale dans les années 1970, cet article s’intéresse aux conséquences sociales et politiques multiples des décisions de désinvestissement des sociétés multinationales. La première étude de cas porte sur la... View Details

Keywords: Multinationals; Labor Relations; Corporate Citizenship; Business ＆ Government Relations; Disinvestment; Multinational Firms and Management; Business and Government Relations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact