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- September 2023
- Article
Stock Price Reactions to ESG News: The Role of ESG Ratings and Disagreement
By: George Serafeim and Aaron Yoon
We investigate whether ESG ratings predict future ESG news and the associated market reactions. We find that the consensus rating predicts future news, but its predictive ability diminishes for firms with large disagreement between raters. Relation between news and... View Details
Keywords: ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Disclosure; ESG Ratings; ESG Reporting; ESG Disclosure Metrics; Sustainability; Investments; Disagreement; Rating Disagreement; Ratings; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance; News; Investment; Financial Markets; Stocks; Price
- September 2023
- Article
The Changing Role of Managers
By: Letian Zhang
This study argues that the increase in middle management in recent decades was
accompanied by a major shift in managerial roles. Increased task complexity and a
new management philosophy have reduced the need for direct supervision but generated
a much greater... View Details
- September–October 2023
- Article
The New Era of Industrial Policy Is Here
By: Willy C. Shih
Governments around the world are increasingly intervening in the private sector through industrial policies designed to help domestic sectors reach goals that markets alone are unlikely to achieve. Companies in targeted sectors—such as automakers, energy companies, and... View Details
- 2023
- Working Paper
Mapping Organizational-Level Networks Using Individual-Level Connections: Evidence from Online Professional Networks
By: Shelley Xin Li, Frank Nagle and Aner Zhou
Organization-level networks facilitate the flow of information and business activities in the
economy. Prior research relies solely on high-level connections to measure these networks. Therefore, to
understand the role of employee connections at all job levels in... View Details
- August 2023
- Case
Stay or Go? Sarah Reynolds at Kensington Partners
By: David G. Fubini, Amr Seifeldin and Patrick Sanguineti
Sarah Reynolds, a Partner at the global Kensington Partners strategy consulting firm, has headed the firm's Telecommunications Group for a few years. Thanks to her stellar track record with clients, she has brought the group, and herself, a range of accolades and... View Details
- August 2023
- Teaching Note
Kunshan, Incorporated: The Making of China’s Richest Town
By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 313-103. The case is designed to give the students an understanding of the local Chinese entrepreneurial state and how foreign and Chinese firms have worked with it to create China’s richest small city. The major themes are—local state... View Details
- August 2023
- Background Note
Pricing and Customer Psychology
By: Elie Ofek
This note provides an overview of how psychological principles may be used as part of a seller’s pricing strategy. The note defines the concept of psychological pricing and explains the motivations for firms to engage in it. Prominent practices and tactics, with... View Details
- August 2023
- Case
The Ethical Tightrope: When to Disclose the AI Shortcut
By: David G. Fubini, William Fubini and Patrick Sanguineti
In this short vignette on ethics in consulting, John Child, a new Associate at a prestigious firm who is eager to impress, decides to use an AI tool to expedite his analysis and craft his presentation due to a short project timeframe. Feeling uneasy about his decision... View Details
- August 2023 (Revised January 2025)
- Case
The Gift Card Swap
By: David G. Fubini, William Fubini, Patrick Sanguineti and Amy Chambers
In this short vignette on ethics in consulting, Brenda Thompson, a new Associate at a prestigious consulting firm, learns that a fellow Associate is using the firm's meal expense benefits to pocket the difference between the maximum daily allowance and his actual... View Details
- August 2023
- Article
Anti-Corruption, Government Subsidies, and Innovation: Evidence from China
By: Lily Fang, Josh Lerner, Chaopeng Wu and Qi Zhang
We leverage an exogenous shock—the crackdown on corrupt Chinese officials beginning in 2012—and examine how the allocation of research subsidies and innovative outcomes were affected. We argue that the staggered removal of provincial heads on corruption charges during... View Details
- 2023
- Working Paper
Much Ado About Nothing? Overreaction to Random Regulatory Audits
By: Samuel Antill and Joseph Kalmenovitz
Regulators often audit firms to detect non-compliance. Exploiting a natural experiment in the lobbying industry, we show that firms overreact to audits and this response distorts prices and reduces welfare. Each year, federal regulators audit a random sample of... View Details
- August 2023
- Article
Status and Mortality: Is There a Whitehall Effect in the United States?
By: Tom Nicholas
The influential Whitehall studies found that top-ranking civil servants in Britain experienced lower mortality than civil servants below them in the organizational hierarchy due to differential exposure to workplace stress. I test for a Whitehall effect in the United... View Details
- 18 Jul 2023
- Interview
Jeffrey Rayport on Product Market Fit, Profit Market Fit and Whiplash, and More
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Doug Levin
This episode of "Lessons from Startup Life" podcast features Jeffrey Rayport, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. Jeffrey specializes in teaching and researching growth-stage technology ventures and their scalability. Prior to... View Details
- July 2023
- Teaching Note
Belden and Digital Transformation: From Product Sales to Solutions Sales
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 823-002. Belden manufactures devices such as switches, cables, adapters, and connectors. Faced with market changes, the firm initiated a new Enhanced Solutions Delivery (ESD) initiative. In November 2022 executives are evaluating the... View Details
- July 2023
- Supplement
Reimagining Enel: Enabling Sustainable Progress (A)
By: Michael Tushman and Kerry Herman
This case describes the transformation of Enel from a traditional “brown” or fossil fuel energy firm to a sustainable and green firm focused on renewables, and finally to an energy supplier and integrated energy services firm. It describes a set of capabilities... View Details
- July 2023
- Case
Schuberg Philis: From Success to Significance
By: Thomas J. DeLong and Daniela Beyersdorfer
The founders of Dutch professional services firm Schuberg Philis, and the new leadership team entrusted with the day-to-day management, must set the path forward in 2019. The company has grown into a €70 million revenue strong IT provider with top ranks in the... View Details
- July 2023
- Supplement
Schuberg Philis: From Success to Significance (B)
By: Thomas J. DeLong and Daniela Beyersdorfer
Three years into their “Ambition” growth plan, in 2022, the management team of Dutch professional service firm Schuberg Philis is taking stock. The global COVID-19 pandemic and other headwinds required adjustments to their growth targets, but they believe that their... View Details
- July–August 2023
- Article
Case Study: How Should a Start-Up Cut Its Burn Rate?
By: Nitin Nohria, Katie Josephson, Sophia Wronsky and Elizabeth Rha
Tyler Smith, the founder and CEO of the enterprise software firm Puck.io, is facing a hard decision. Just three months earlier the company laid off 20% of its employees to reduce its burn rate amid growing economic uncertainty and a suddenly unattractive funding... View Details
- July 2023
- Article
Design and Analysis of Switchback Experiments
By: Iavor I Bojinov, David Simchi-Levi and Jinglong Zhao
In switchback experiments, a firm sequentially exposes an experimental unit to a random treatment, measures its response, and repeats the procedure for several periods to determine which treatment leads to the best outcome. Although practitioners have widely adopted... View Details
- 2023
- Working Paper
Firm Visibility and Acquisition Likelihood: Evidence from Seeking Alpha Coverage
By: Pu Gu, Benjamin Yost and Yuan Zou
This study investigates whether social media coverage influences a firm’s likelihood of being acquired. Specifically, we hypothesize that coverage of a firm on the Seeking Alpha platform raises its visibility to potential acquirers and M&A advisers (i.e., investment... View Details