Publications

March 2022
Article

Carbon Footprinting and Pricing under Climate Concerns

By: Marco Bertini, Stefan Buehler, Daniel Halbheer and Don Lehmann

This article studies how organizations should design a product by choosing the carbon footprint and price in a market with climate concerns. The authors first show how the cost and demand effects of reducing the product carbon footprint determine the profit-maximizing... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Footprint; Carbon Offsetting; Climate Impact; Net-zero Emissions; Pricing; Climate Change; Product Design; Price; Environmental Sustainability; Marketing

Article

Turbulent Stability of Emergent Roles: The Dualistic Nature of Self-Organizing Knowledge Co-Production

By: Ofer Arazy, Johaness Daxenberg, Hila Lifshitz - Assaf, Oded Nov and Irene Gurevych

Increasingly, new forms of organizing for knowledge production are built around self-organizing co-production community models with ambiguous role definitions. Current theories struggle to explain how high-quality knowledge is developed in these settings and how... View Details

Keywords: Wikipedia; Knowledge Production; Organizational Structure; Knowledge; Information Publishing

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Article

The Global Rise of Democracy: A Network Account

By: Magnus Thor Torfason and Paul Ingram

We examine the influence of an interstate network created by intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) on the global diffusion of democracy. We propose that IGOs facilitate this diffusion by transmitting information between their member states and by interpreting that... View Details

Keywords: International Relations; Networks; Society; Transformation; Power and Influence; Country; Globalization

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January 2022 (Revised October 2023)
Case

OneTen: One Million Careers for Black Talent (A)

By: Boris Groysberg, V. Kasturi Rangan, Annelena Lobb and Kerry Herman

The OneTen case study examines the nonprofit organization’s origin story. Its founding team includes a roster of corporate superstars—Ken Chenault (former CEO of American Express), Ken Frazier (former CEO of Merck), Charles Phillips (chair of Infor), Ginni Rometty... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Demographics; Ethics; Organizations; Social Enterprise; Society; Business or Company Management; Nonprofit Organizations

May 2013
Case

Bridgewater Associates

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer and Heidi K. Gardner

Bridgewater Associates was the world's largest hedge fund with approximately $120 billion in assets under management in mid-2012, and its leaders attribute its record-beating performance to the firm's culture of "radical transparency." The founder, Ray Dalio, was... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Motivation and Incentives; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Performance; Leadership Style; Investment; Financial Services Industry

26 Oct 2023
Blog Post

Video: Students Foster Disability Awareness and Access

View Video MBA Class of 2024 students Landon Hollingsworth (MBA/MPA-ID 2024) and Teresa Danso-Danquah (MBA 2024) discuss forming and leading the Disability Advocacy and Affinity Group (DAAG), the challenges and strengths of their own... View Details

2016
Chapter

How Moral Flexibility Constrains Our Moral Compass

By: F. Gino

Cheating, fraud, deception, uncooperative actions, and many other forms of unethical behavior are among the greatest personal and societal challenges of our time. While the media commonly focuses on the most sensational scams (e.g., Enron, Bernard Madoff), less... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Behavior; Organizations; Attitudes

03 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 3

PublicationsTalk, Inc.: How Trusted Leaders Use Conversation to Power Their Organizations Authors:Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind Publication:Harvard Business Review Press, 2012 Abstract How can leaders make their big or growing... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 1999 (Revised January 2000)
Case

Mexican Foundation for Rural Development

By: James E. Austin and Gerardo Lozano

The Mexican Foundation for Rural Development (MFRD) is a nonprofit network of 32 rural development centers servicing low-income farm families. Management plans to expand its operation dramatically, forming 10,000 rural cooperatives in ten years. It faces major issues... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Operations; Cooperative Ownership; Nonprofit Organizations; Society; Strategy; Mexico

12 May 2023
Blog Post

Breaking Barriers and Building Community: Get to Know the HBS Women's Student Association (WSA)

What is the WSA? The WSA, or Women’s Student Association, is a student-led organization at Harvard Business School for anyone who identifies as a woman. We’re the largest student organization on campus. What... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

22 Jan 2018
Blog Post

HBS Peek: Finding a Sense of Purpose

are encouraged to jump into the ring and grab life by the horns. Being part of a community that encouraged diversity of thought and celebrated leadership in its many forms felt surreal. Immersed in such a stimulating environment, I could... View Details

14 Jul 2021
News

Mourning, Management, and Metamorphosis

May 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

Cotopaxi: Managing Growth for Good

By: Andy Wu and Laura Huang

Cotopaxi, an innovative outdoor gear business targeting millennials, focuses on profit and social impact. This registered benefit corporation was formed by Davis Smith who coalesced his experiences as a Wharton MBA student along with professional knowledge from an... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Social Venture; Benefit Corporation; B-Corp; Retail; Consumer Products; Apparel; Social Impact; Social Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Product Positioning; Social Enterprise; Mission and Purpose; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry

15 Jan 2008
First Look

First Look: January 15, 2008

relationship formation based on the characteristics of 'settings', or the places and times where actors meet. We argue that bridging relations form when organizations participate in two types of settings:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Research Summary

The Role of the Internet in Enhancing Service and Reducing Cost

Is delivering service (both internal and external) facilitated by the Internet a zero sum game in which costs associated with delivering superior service must always be passed on to customers in the form of higher prices? Does the quantity and type of service... View Details

18 Jun 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Evaluating the Impact of SA 8000 Certification

Keywords: by Michael J. Hiscox, Claire Schwartz & Michael W. Toffel

December 2022
Article

Fostering Perceptions of Authenticity via Sensitive Self-Disclosure

By: Li Jiang, Leslie K. John, Reihane Boghrati and Maryam Kouchaki

Leaders’ perceived authenticity—the sense that leaders are acting in accordance with their “true self”—is associated with positive outcomes for both employees and organizations alike. How might leaders foster this impression? We show that sensitive self-disclosure, in... View Details

Keywords: Authenticity; Weaknesses; Self-disclosure; Leaders; Impression Management; Leadership Style; Motivation and Incentives

2018
Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 6 The Value Structure of Technologies, Part 1: Mapping Functional Relationships

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Organizations are formed in a free economy because a person or group perceives value in carrying out a technical recipe that is beyond the capacity of a single person. Technology specifies what must be done, what resources must be assembled, what actions taken, and... View Details

Keywords: Language; Information Technology; System; Relationships