Publications

October 16, 2019
Article

We are entering a new stage of understanding of the linkage between investment performance and social impact. Previous approaches, such as socially responsible investing and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) screening, have obscured the opportunities for... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Sustainability; Environment; Social Impact; Impact Investing; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Reporting; Shared Value; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Investment; Value; Strategy

Read Now

March 2020 (Revised May 2020)
Case

Redefining Mogul

By: Ethan C. Rouen

Tiffany Pham taught herself to code and created a technology platform, Mogul, with the goal of providing girls and women around the world with information and opportunities. After several years Mogul had reached more than 146 million women around the world and had... View Details

Keywords: Women; Inclusion; Technology; Branding; Social Impact; Entrepreneurship; Internet and the Web; Information; Knowledge Dissemination; Gender; Diversity; Brands and Branding; Expansion; Strategy; Media; Personal Development and Career; Technology Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

2006
Chapter

Leadership Through Social Purpose Partnering

By: James E. Austin

Keywords: Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Partners and Partnerships

October 2008 (Revised October 2009)
Case

Shaklee Corporation: Corporate Social Responsibility

By: Christopher Marquis, V. Kasturi Rangan and Alison Comings

Having bought Shaklee Corporation from Yamanouchi, Roger Barnett, its owner and CEO, wrestled with the question of how to grow the company and its reputation for environmental sustainability. In addition to preserving the "network marketing" nature of its sales channel... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Channels; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Reputation

03 Feb 2018
Op-Ed

How to Heed BlackRock's Call for Corporate Social Responsibility

Larry Fink recently created a shockwave. As cofounder, chairman, and CEO of BlackRock, one of the world’s largest global asset management firms, in an open letter to CEOs he caught the attention of financial markets and beyond by insisting on the importance of... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Battilana

22 Jul 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate Social Responsibility and Access to Finance

Keywords: by Beiting Cheng, Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim

13 Nov 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Long-Run Returns to Impact Investing in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies

Keywords: by Shawn Cole, Martin Melecky, Florian Mölders, and Tristan Reed; Financial Services

February 2018
Article

The Impact of a Surprise Donation Ask

By: Christine L. Exley and Ragan Petrie

Individuals frequently exploit "flexibility" built into decision environments to give less. They use uncertainty to justify options benefiting themselves over others, they avoid information that may encourage them to give, and they avoid the ask itself. In this paper,... View Details

Keywords: Charitable Giving; Prosocial Behavior; Self-serving Biases; Excuses; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Behavior

Find at Harvard

Read Now

02 Aug 2022
Research & Ideas

6 Strategies for Building Socially Responsible—and Profitable—Companies

A dozen years ago, Harvard Business School Professor George Serafeim wondered why some companies operated with an eye toward the greater good, while most did not. Back then, he always got the same response: Corporate leaders thought social and environmental practices... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

April 2009 (Revised September 2009)
Teaching Note

Shaklee Corporation: Corporate Social Responsibility (TN)

By: Christopher Marquis and V. Kasturi Rangan

Teaching Note for [509031]. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

Teaching Interest

Managing Global Health: Applying Behavioral Economics to Create Impact (MBA)

Health, and development more broadly, is not something we give to people: it is something they produce themselves, interacting with supply-side and institutional factors. This course trains students to see through the lens of the end-user and to use the levers of... View Details

Research Summary

How a Multicultural Social Environment Influences Creativity and Innovation

My second stream of research draws on my first stream of work to examine how a multicultural social environment influences individuals’ creative thinking and performance at a global workplace. In an on-going project, I found that individuals high in cultural... View Details

February 2007 (Revised November 2011)
Case

Esquel Group: Integrating Business Strategy and Corporate Social Responsibility

By: F. Warren McFarlan, William C. Kirby and Tracy Manty

Focuses on the experience of China's largest shirt manufacturer in managing various aspects of government relations in China. Identifies a wide variety of social initiatives it has undertaken. View Details

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

10 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

COVID-19 Lessons: Social Media Can Nudge More People to Get Vaccinated

broader social impact of their products and platforms,” says Luca. In his years at HBS, Luca has focused his research on, among other things, ways to tackle discrimination in online platforms, coming up with... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis; Health; Technology

2006
Chapter

Social Entrepreneurship: It's for Corporations, Too

By: Dutch Leonard, Ezequiel Reficco, Jane Wei-Skillern and James E. Austin

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

18 Sep 2017
Research & Ideas

'Likes' Lead to Nothing—and Other Hard-Learned Lessons of Social Media Marketing

effective. Graphic by Blair Storie-Johnson (Source: “The CMO Survey 2017”) Is this ever-increasing focus on social paying off? Forty-three percent of respondents said in the CMO Survey that they have not been able to show the View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Advertising; Technology

March 2020
Case

The Working Circle: Wolves, Ranchers, and Karin Vardaman's Pursuit of the ‘Radical Middle’

By: Francesca Gino and Jeffrey Huizinga

Karin Vardaman, a lifelong conservationist now committed to protecting wolves in the American West, finds herself unexpectedly allied with the one of the species' most fervent opponents: cattle ranchers. View Details

Keywords: Non-profit; Conservation Intervention; Agriculture; Environment; Social Impact; Leadership; Nonprofit Organizations; Alliances