Publications

2008
Working Paper

Organizational Design and Control across Multiple Markets: The Case of Franchising in the Convenience Store Industry

By: Dennis Campbell

Many companies operate units which are dispersed across different types of markets, and thus serve significantly diverging customer bases. Such market-type dispersion is likely to compromise the headquarters' ability to control its local managers' behavior and... View Details

Keywords: Business Headquarters; Customer Focus and Relationships; Geographic Location; Governance Controls; Organizational Design; Franchise Ownership; Retail Industry

December 2008 (Revised March 2009)
Case

The World Food Programme during the Global Food Crisis (A)

By: Anette Mikes, Peter Tufano, Eric D. Werker and Jan-Emmanuel De Neve

Rising food prices threatened an unprecedented number of people around the world with malnutrition or starvation in 2008. The new Executive Director of the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP)—the world's largest food relief agency—must not only address this... View Details

Keywords: Food; Globalized Firms and Management; Nutrition; Crisis Management; Business and Government Relations; Nonprofit Organizations; Welfare

18 Aug 2014
Research & Ideas

Have a Better Idea To Improve Health Care?

eager to unearth and promote the best innovations in health care, the bigger goal is to get other industry organizations to follow suit. "Our biggest hope is that this challenge will generate enough buzz that it will get others thinking... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

November 2005 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Cutter & Buck (A)

By: William A. Sahlman and Victoria Winston

Only three short months into her new position as CEO of publicly traded golf apparel manufacturer Cutter & Buck, Fran Conley discovers accounting irregularities that call into question the reliability of this company's financial statements. Working closely with her... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Crime and Corruption; Corporate Disclosure; Governing and Advisory Boards; Lawsuits and Litigation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Going Public

July–August 2012
Article

A Better Way to Tax U.S. Businesses

By: Mihir Desai

The article argues that U.S. taxation reform should reduce corporate taxes, incorporate an awareness of the global marketplace, and generate revenue-neutral incentives for innovation. According to the article, a reduction in corporate tax rates would be offset by a tax... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Taxation; Globalization; Labor; Innovation and Invention; United States

Read Now

May 1992 (Revised May 1993)
Case

World Bank: Mission Uncertain

By: George C. Lodge

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Mission and Purpose; Business and Government Relations

Find at Harvard

06 May 2015
News

Recruiting the next generation of leaders

Shari Hubert (MBA 2000) is bringing her career full circle as associate dean of Admissions at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business. (Published May 2015) View Details

01 Dec 2003
News

Rural Renewal

she herself is an organic farmer, Reade is not here to sell the blueberries, asparagus, beef, or lamb she raises at Neptune Farm. She’s here to support the other farmers, and they are here, in large part, because of her. Reade View Details

Keywords: Susan Young; Crop Production; Agriculture

29 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 29, 2019

aggregation of citizens’ preferences, government preferences are present biased, resulting in over-accumulation of debt. Calibrating this parameter with values in the literature, the model can reproduce debt levels and frequency of... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

14 Jun 2011
First Look

First Look: June 14

decide if the risk governance process is adequate to uncover mega-risks, based on reflections on the risk assessment and sanctioning of a $1 billion credit proposal. Students are invited to assess and review the risks in the proposal,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2012
Working Paper

A Framework for Research on Corporate Accountability Reporting

By: Karthik Ramanna

This paper provides an accounting-based conceptual framing of the phenomenon of corporate accountability reporting. Such reporting is seen as arising from a delegator's (e.g., a citizenry) demand to hold a delegate (e.g., shareholders) to account. When effective,... View Details

Keywords: Integrated Corporate Reporting; For-Profit Firms; Framework; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Research; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues

SSRN

October 2021
Case

Esquel Group: Turning Crises into Transformation

By: William C. Kirby, Adina Wong, Noah B. Truwit and John McHugh

Focuses on a Hong Kong-based, globally-established textile and apparel manufacturer and its experience in navigating turbulent geopolitical environments. Identifies ways the company has pursued business priorities while upholding its sustainability values. View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Government Relations; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Manufacturing Industry; China; Hong Kong

March–April 2016
Article

Scrutiny, Norms, and Selective Disclosure: A Global Study of Greenwashing

By: Christopher Marquis, Michael W. Toffel and Yanhua Zhou

Under increased pressure to report environmental impacts, some firms selectively disclose relatively benign impacts, creating an impression of transparency while masking their true performance. We identify key company- and country-level factors that limit firms' use of... View Details

Keywords: Disclosure Strategy; Disclosure; Environmental Performance; Environmental Strategy; Environment; Symbolic; Reporting; Corporate Disclosure; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

01 Dec 2017
News

Pencils Up: Taking Note of New Courses

of years out of business school?” Management challenges include turnarounds, transactions, global expansion, reinvention, scaling growth, and career management. Field Course: US Behavioral Insights Professor Max Bazerman, Negotiation, View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

05 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 5, 2010

and recovery to be associated with increases in orders from Hugo Boss's retailer customers Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/11-034.pdf A Comparative-Advantage Approach to Government Debt Maturity Authors:Robin... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2009 (Revised January 2014)
Case

Sustainability at Millipore

By: Michael W. Toffel and Katharine Lee

This case describes Millipore Corporation's approach to becoming a more environmentally sustainable company. As he prepared for his quarterly meeting with the CEO, the Director of Sustainability needed to develop positions on several issues. Tactically, he needed to... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Corporate Disclosure; Operations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Structure; Natural Environment; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants