Publications

January 2001 (Revised May 2010)
Case

BP Amoco (A): Policy Statement on the Use of Project Finance

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Michael Kane

Following the BP/Amoco merger in December 1998, CFO David Watson asked Bill Young to recommend when and under what circumstances the firm should use external project finance instead of internal corporate funds to finance new capital investments. As part of this... View Details

Keywords: Project Finance; Mergers and Acquisitions; Policy; Capital Budgeting

11 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Globalizing the Beauty Business Before 1980

Keywords: by Geoffrey G. Jones

October 2008
Article

Organizational Responses to Environmental Demands: Opening the Black Box

By: Magali Delmas and Michael W. Toffel

This paper combines new and old institutionalism to explain differences in organizational strategies. We propose that differences in the influence of corporate departments lead their facilities to prioritize different external pressures and thus adopt different... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Management Practices and Processes; Decisions; Adoption

Find at Harvard

Read Now

From Apple to Merck to Wikipedia, more and more organizations are turning to crowds for help in solving their most vexing innovation and research questions, but managers remain understandably cautious. It seems risky and even unnatural to push problems out to vast... View Details

July 2008
Course Overview Note

The Devil Wears Prada (HBS Version) (TN)

By: Howard H. Stevenson and Shirley Spence

The Devil Wears Prada is used to facilitate a discussion of the role of communities in people's lives. It is used in a second year MBA elective at HBS called Building a Business in the Context of a Life (BBCL). BBCL is primarily designed for students who plan to be... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Planning; Civil Society or Community; Organizational Culture; Power and Influence

January 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Should a Pension Fund Try to Change the World? Inside GPIF's Embrace of ESG

By: George Serafeim

In the fall of 2018, Hiro Mizuno, the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of GPIF, the Japanese Government Pension Fund, was reflecting on his efforts to integrate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues into every aspect of GPIF’s portfolio. His efforts ranged... View Details

Keywords: Pension Funds; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Investment Funds; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Governance; Leading Change; Economy; Performance Improvement; Japan

01 Dec 2022
News

Singing to the Corn

role in society surfaces throughout Keen’s story. He wrote his HBS application essay about wanting to learn the tactics of corporate business for the good of tribal peoples—to... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; photographed by Vance Jacobs; Agriculture

25 Aug 2022
News

Up on the Corner

Dlodlo’s university education, a loss that can still bring Dlodlo to tears. After earning a degree in finance at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Dlodlo remained in South Africa, working... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; photographed by Melissa Golden; Real Estate

February 1987 (Revised January 1989)
Case

SmithKline Consumer Products: The Contac Relaunch

In March 1986, a tamperer contaminated CONTAC Cold Capsules, SmithKline Consumer Product's most popular product. To relaunch CONTAC after withdrawing it from the market, the management team had to present a plan of action to the corporation board. They knew CONTAC's 25... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Crisis Management; Product Launch; Pharmaceutical Industry

Find at Harvard

01 Jun 2023
News

The Exchange: The Tech Leader’s Tightrope

Leadership and Corporate Accountability (LCA),” recalls McGee. They ultimately decided to focus on Apple, because of the company’s emphasis on consumer privacy, and their 2016 case, “Apple: Privacy vs.... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities; Government

17 Mar 2022
News

The Companies Boycotting Russia Are Demonstrating Six Key Values

2018
Working Paper

When to Take the Leap: The Antecedents and Consequences of Leapfrog CEOs

By: J. Yo-Jud Cheng

Much of the prior research on CEO successions focuses on differences between CEOs appointed from within the firm and those appointed from outside; however, this dichotomy neglects significant heterogeneity in CEOs’ career trajectories. In this study, I examine the... View Details

Keywords: Management Succession; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Innovation and Management

03 Oct 2018
News

Why Is The Number Of Female CEOs Declining?

November 2021
Case

Tommy Hilfiger Adaptive: Fashion for All

By: Elizabeth A. Keenan, Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta

In Fall 2017, Tommy Hilfiger launched Tommy Hilfiger Adaptive, a line of adaptive and inclusive fashion apparel intended to make dressing easier. Now, Tommy Hilfiger is planning to launch Tommy Hilfiger Adaptive internationally in early 2020. The prospect of making... View Details

06 Oct 2003
Research & Ideas

The Problem with Hedge Funds

markets. Most sell short as well as buy long. Until recently they were the arena of wealthy individuals, but now college endowments, corporate pension funds, and moderately wealthy people have much money... View Details

Keywords: by D. Quinn Mills

01 Apr 2015
News

Sustainability Reporting: The Lawyer’s Response

23 Aug 2010
Research & Ideas

The Drive to Acquire’s Impact on Globalization

corporate abuses or (2) less-developed nations roughly equal in power and with some control of corporate abuses. Unfortunately, much of today's international trade does not meet these conditions. Under View Details

Keywords: by Paul R. Lawrence

Report on Racial Inclusion in the Boardroom

While many efforts are underway to add more demographically diverse directors to boards, very few are focused on inclusion—creating an environment where differences are valued, and all members have equal opportunity to exercise influence and move into leadership... View Details

2008
Working Paper

The Contingent Nature of Public Policy and Growth Strategies in the Early Twentieth-Century U.S. Banking Industry

By: Christopher Marquis and Zhi Huang

While effects of public policy are one of the foundations of organizational theory, less explored is how these effects may depend on other external environmental factors. We focus on how policy is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition to understand the growth... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Business History; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry; United States