Publications

2017
Chapter

Corporate Moral Agency, Positive Duties, and Purpose

By: Nien-hê Hsieh

A long-standing question in business ethics is whether business enterprises are themselves moral agents with distinct moral responsibilities. To date, the debate about corporate moral agency has focused on responsibility for past wrongdoing that involves violating... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Moral Sensibility; Mission and Purpose

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Research Summary

Overview

Matthew's research examines how entrepreneurial organizations and their managers create social and institutional change. His latest project focuses on hybrid organizations that combine aspects of non-profits and companies to create innovative organizational forms. In... View Details

Keywords: Organization Theory; Hybrid Organizations; Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Corporate Social Responsibility; Innovation

2014
Chapter

Can For-Profit Corporations Be Good Citizens? Perspectives from Four Business Leaders

By: Nien-he Hsieh

This chapter serves an epilogue, turning to ask practitioners how they would answer the question, "Can for-profit corporations be good citizens?" In reflecting on their answers, the chapter puts forward an account that grounds the purpose and responsibilities of... View Details

June 2017 (Revised August 2018)
Supplement

Making Target the Target: Boycotts and Corporate Political Activity (B)

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Victor Wu

Supplements the (A) Case. View Details

2021
Working Paper

Disclosure-Driven Social Engagement in Supply Chains

By: Caleb Kwon and Andrew Di Wu

Keywords: Disclosure; Supply Chain; Corporate Social Responsibility

March 2008 (Revised December 2011)
Case

IBM Values and Corporate Citizenship

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

IBM's transformation into a globally integrated enterprise (GIE) began with a conviction about what should never change. Since its founding in 1911, the company operated under a set of principles articulated by founder Thomas Watson and became known for a strong... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Globalized Firms and Management; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Integration

September – October 2011
Article

The Rise and Consequences of Corporate Sustainability Reporting

By: Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim

For many decades the cornerstone of corporate reporting has been financial information that is presented in a company's annual, semi-annual, and quarterly reports. These comprehensive financial reports—required by law for public companies in most countries... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; ESG Reporting; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Annual Reports; Operations; Strategy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Performance; Business Model; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Disclosure

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April 2012
Article

Proposing a Welfare Framework for the Society and Local Community Stakeholders: A Mixed Method Study

By: Shashank Shah

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Community Engagement; Philanthropy; India

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18 Nov 2002
Research & Ideas

Where Morals and Profits Meet: The Corporate Value Shift

with HBS Working Knowledge's Carla Tishler, Paine explains why this shift has occurred, and why now. Tishler: Your research on corporate values and ethics dates back to the 1980s, including much work done for Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: by Carla Tishler

December 2012 (Revised October 2013)
Case

Developing the Materiality Matrix at Telefónica

By: Robert G. Eccles, George Serafeim and Asun Cano-Escoriaza

Telefónica, one of the largest telecommunication companies in the world and headquartered in Spain, has been issuing a corporate sustainability report since 2002. In its 2011 Sustainability report, the company included a "materiality matrix," and was one of only five... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainability Reporting; Sustainable Strategy; CSR; Corporate Social Responsibility; Communication Technology; Environmental Accounting; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Telecommunications Industry; Spain

Article

Democratizing Work: Redistributing Power in Organizations for a Democratic and Sustainable Future

By: Julie Battilana, Julie Yen, Isabelle Ferreras and Lakshmi Ramarajan

Environmental destruction and social inequalities are increasingly urgent challenges. How can corporations, which have played a key role in creating and reproducing these problems, be part of the solution? In this paper, we advance that a shift to more democratic forms... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Citizenship; Corporate Social Responsibility; CSP; CSR; Domination; Industrial Relations; Power; Resistance; Work; Corporate Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Governance; Power and Influence; Environmental Management; Social Issues

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08 Mar 2022
Cold Call Podcast

France Telecom: Corporate Restructuring and Employee Well-Being

Keywords: Re: Cynthia A. Montgomery & Ashley V. Whillans

December 2023 (Revised August 2024)
Case

Monsters in the Machine? Tackling the Challenge of Responsible AI

By: Paul M. Healy and Debora L. Spar

In November of 2022, the small tech company OpenAI released ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot which quickly captured the public’s imagination—becoming the world’s fastest-growing consumer application within months of its release. Though observers from across... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; AI and Machine Learning; Ethics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Technology Adoption; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Technology Industry; United States; European Union; China

19 Apr 2022
Cold Call Podcast

What Role Do Individual Leaders Play in Corporate Governance?

Keywords: Re: Aiyesha Dey

Research Summary

Building a Corporate Culture of Health

By: Robert S. Huckman

This stream of Professor Huckman's work involves developing and implementing a survey of U.S. corporations regarding their commitments to developing a “culture of health” aimed at improving well-being for employees, consumers, communities, and the environment. This... View Details

June 2023
Article

Can Purpose Foster Stakeholder Trust in Corporations

By: Ranjay Gulati and Franz Wohlgezogen

As part of institutional changes toward more responsible capitalism, firms increasingly articulate a purpose beyond simply profit as a central tenet of their governance. Management scholarship has noted the potential advantages of such purpose-focus for stakeholder... View Details

Keywords: Stakeholder Management; Moral Identity; Mission and Purpose; Trust; Corporate Governance; Business and Stakeholder Relations

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