Publications

11 Aug 2022
Research & Ideas

When Parents Tell Kids to ‘Work Hard,’ Do They Send the Wrong Message?

who have less, you might assume they didn’t work hard enough—as opposed to recognizing the systems and institutions we know can stand in the way.” Whillans explored these questions in a trio of studies of parents and children along with... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Education

Summer 2018
Article

CSR needs CPR: Corporate Sustainability and Politics

By: Thomas Lyon, Magali A. Delmas, John W. Maxwell, Pratima Bansal, Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, Patricia Crifo, Rodolphe Durand, Jean-Pascal Gond, Andrew King, Michael Lenox, Michael W. Toffel, David Vogel and Frank Wijen

Corporate sustainability has gone mainstream, and many companies have taken meaningful steps to improve their own environmental performance. But while corporate political actions such as lobbying can have a greater impact on environmental quality, they are ignored in... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Communication; Policy; Business and Government Relations

March 2023 (Revised November 2023)
Module Note

The Social Purpose of the Firm

By: Debora L. Spar and Julia M. Comeau

The Social Purpose of the Firm (SPF) is a short module designed to explore how, and under what circumstances, business leaders can harness the power of capitalism and markets to “make a difference in the world” – that is, to address a significant societal problem as a... View Details

Keywords: Social Accounting; Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Enterprise; Mission and Purpose; United States; Sweden; Kenya; Netherlands

March 2013
Article

Financial Development, Fixed Costs and International Trade

Exporting firms face significant up-front costs in product design, marketing, and distribution, which likely would be difficult to finance externally. We argue that a developed financial system can facilitate exports, and we test three implications. First, a more... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Finance

October 2013 (Revised November 2015)
Case

Southwire and 12 For Life: Scaling Up? (A)

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Ryan Lee

Southwire, a leading maker of cable based in rural Georgia, has partnered with the local school system to staff a factory with at-risk high school students. The positive impact on student outcomes has been remarkable, and the factory makes a profit for the company. Now... View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Production; Education; Business and Community Relations; Manufacturing Industry; Education Industry

Educators

04 Jan 2022
News

The Elizabeth Holmes Verdict: Silicon Valley’s Reckoning or a Single Bad Apple?

Feng Zhu

Feng Zhu is the MBA Class of 1958 Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he leads the Platform Lab within the Digital, Data, and Design Institute, co-chairs the Harvard Business Analytics Program, and serves as the course head for the... View Details

July 2021
Article

Energy Efficiency and Electricity Reliability

By: Eliana Carranza and Robyn C. Meeks

Overloaded electrical systems are a major source of unreliable power. Using a randomized saturation design, we estimate the impact of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) on electricity reliability and household electricity consumption in the Kyrgyz Republic. Greater... View Details

Keywords: Energy; Technology Adoption; Green Technology; Consumer Behavior; Utilities Industry; Kyrgyzstan

2014
Working Paper

Firm Competitiveness and Detection of Bribery

By: George Serafeim

Using survey data from firms around the world I analyze how detection of bribery has impacted a firm's competitiveness over the past year. Managers report that the most significant impact was on employee morale, followed by business relations, and then reputation and... View Details

Keywords: Competitiveness; Corruption; Bribery; Employee Engagement; Reputation; Regulation; Competition; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Performance

SSRN

January 2009 (Revised December 2017)
Case

Who Broke the Bank of England?

By: Niall Ferguson and Jonathan Schlefer

In the summer of 1992, hedge fund manager George Soros was contemplating the possibility that the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) would break down. Designed to pave the way for a full-scale European Monetary Union, the ERM was a system of fixed exchange rates... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Currency Exchange Rate; Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Services Industry; European Union

Educators

12 Aug 2020
Research & Ideas

Why Investors Often Lose When They Sue Their Financial Adviser

Years of bull market bliss gave brokerage clients few reasons to open their account statements—until March. Within one month, stocks in the United States notched their biggest one-day losses—and gains—as mounting fears about COVID-19’s economic View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Financial Services

Levers of Organization Design

The design of an organization—the accountability system that defines roles, rights, and responsibilities throughout the firm—has a direct impact on the performance of every employee. Yet, few leaders devote focused attention to how this design is chosen, implemented,... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

By: Peter Tufano

Tufano’s research has focused on financial innovation and financial engineering—and for more than two decades, household finance. While he continues to study these topics, his current primary research is on the role of business in addressing climate change. With... View Details

2014
Chapter

Mergers and Acquisitions and Innovation

By: Gautam Ahuja and Elena Novelli

This article (a) identifies the different theoretical perspectives and abstractions used to conceptualize the M&A–Innovation relationship; (b) reviews the literature on antecedents, consequences, and integration of M&A in the context of innovation; and (c) identifies... View Details

Keywords: Mergers; Acquisitions; Innovation; Knowledge-bases; Knowledge; Mergers and Acquisitions; Innovation and Invention

September–October 2020
Article

A New Model for Ethical Leadership

By: Max Bazerman

Rather than try to follow a set of simple rules (“Don’t lie.” “Don’t cheat.”), leaders and managers seeking to be more ethical should focus on creating the most value for society. This utilitarian view, Bazerman argues, blends philosophical thought with business school... View Details

Keywords: Social Value; Leadership; Moral Sensibility; Ethics; Decision Making; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Society