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Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(1,286)
- People (1)
- News (255)
- Research (862)
- Events (5)
- Multimedia (14)
- Faculty Publications (538)
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- 25 Jun 2001
- Lessons from the Classroom
Machiavelli, Morals, and You
butler in a moral sense. He wanted to give his whole life, a life of service—and 'service' is the word he used—to somebody who was serving a larger cause." Unfortunately, the larger cause Stevens believed himself for decades to be... View Details
Keywords: by Martha Lagace
- Article
The Role of Lockups in Initial Public Offerings
By: Alon Brav and Paul A. Gompers
In a sample of 2,794 initial public offerings (IPOs), we test three potential explanations for the existence of IPO lockups: lockups serve as (i) a signal of firm quality, (ii) a commitment device to alleviate moral hazard problems, or (iii) a mechanism for... View Details
Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Quality; Moral Sensibility; Compensation and Benefits; Venture Capital; Problems and Challenges; Stock Shares; Going Public
Brav, Alon, and Paul A. Gompers. "The Role of Lockups in Initial Public Offerings." Review of Financial Studies 16, no. 1 (Spring 2003).
- 21 Jan 2009
- First Look
First Look: January 21, 2009
http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/06-007.pdf Sweatshop Labor Is Wrong Unless the Jeans Are Cute: Motivated Moral Disengagement Authors:Neeru Paharia and Rohit Deshpandé Abstract While many consumers say they care about issues such as... View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace
- August 2017
- Article
Teaching Versus Living: Managerial Decision Making in the Gray
By: Eugene F. Soltes
Preparing students for the consequential ethical decisions that they will face in their careers is among the most difficult tasks of management education. I describe some of these challenges based on my book Why They Do It: Inside the Mind of the White-Collar... View Details
Soltes, Eugene F. "Teaching Versus Living: Managerial Decision Making in the Gray." Special Issue on Behavioral Ethics. Journal of Management Education 41, no. 4 (August 2017): 455–468.
- June 1997
- Background Note
The Normative Foundations of Business
What is the appropriate role for business to play in a capitalist society? In analyzing responses to this question, this note distinguishes two separate dimensions. The first involves the distinctive objective of business as a social institution, considers the pros and... View Details
Dees, J. Gregory, and Jaan Elias. "The Normative Foundations of Business." Harvard Business School Background Note 897-012, June 1997.
- 2019
- Working Paper
Veil-of-Ignorance Reasoning Favors the Greater Good
By: Karen Huang, Joshua D. Greene and Max Bazerman
The “veil of ignorance” is a moral reasoning device designed to promote impartial decision-making by denying decision-makers access to potentially biasing information about who will benefit most or least from the available options. Veil-of-ignorance reasoning was... View Details
Huang, Karen, Joshua D. Greene, and Max Bazerman. "Veil-of-Ignorance Reasoning Favors the Greater Good." Working Paper, October 2019.
- September–October 2013
- Article
The Role of Organizational Scope and Governance in Strengthening Private Monitoring
By: Lamar Pierce and Michael W. Toffel
Governments and other organizations often outsource activities to achieve cost savings from market competition. Yet such benefits are often accompanied by poor quality resulting from moral hazard, which can be particularly onerous when outsourcing the monitoring and... View Details
Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Accountability; Governance Compliance; Policy; Management Practices and Processes; Demand and Consumers; Market Design; Market Entry and Exit; Market Transactions; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Business Processes; Organizational Structure; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Expectations; Practice; Transportation; Transportation Industry; Service Industry; United States; New York (state, US)
Pierce, Lamar, and Michael W. Toffel. "The Role of Organizational Scope and Governance in Strengthening Private Monitoring." Organization Science 24, no. 5 (September–October 2013): 1558–1584. (Winner of the NBS Research Impact on Practice Award from the Academy of Management (AOM) and Network for Business Sustainability (NBS))
- 2016
- Working Paper
Controlling Versus Enabling
By: Andrei Hagiu and Julian Wright
Revenue sharing between principals and agents is commonly used to balance double-sided moral hazard. We provide a theory of how, when such revenue-sharing is optimal, a principal allocates control rights over decisions that either party could make. We show that the... View Details
Keywords: Control Rights; Decision Authority; Employment; Independent Contractors; Organizational Theory; Digital Platforms; Governance Controls; Ethics; Vertical Integration
Hagiu, Andrei, and Julian Wright. "Controlling Versus Enabling." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 16-002, July 2015. (Revised July 2016.)
- September 2012 (Revised August 2013)
- Background Note
A Brief History of the U.S. Tobacco Industry Controversy
By: Sandra J. Sucher and Henry McGee
This history of the U.S. tobacco controversy is a reading for a class on "The Insider," a film about whistleblowing in the U.S. tobacco industry, taught in the course, The Moral Leader. View Details
Sucher, Sandra J., and Henry McGee. "A Brief History of the U.S. Tobacco Industry Controversy." Harvard Business School Background Note 613-044, September 2012. (Revised August 2013.)
- 22 Apr 2002
- Research & Ideas
Profits and Prophets: The Role of Values in Investment
As chair of the investment committee for a college, Sam Hayes was faced with a challenging dilemma: Should the committee invest only in socially responsible funds even though the outcome might mean fewer scholarships and teaching positions, putting the school at a... View Details
Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne
- November 26, 2019
- Article
Veil-of-Ignorance Reasoning Favors the Greater Good
By: Karen Huang, Joshua D. Greene and Max Bazerman
The “veil of ignorance” is a moral reasoning device designed to promote impartial decision-making by denying decision-makers access to potentially biasing information about who will benefit most or least from the available options. Veil-of-ignorance reasoning was... View Details
Huang, Karen, Joshua D. Greene, and Max Bazerman. "Veil-of-Ignorance Reasoning Favors the Greater Good." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116, no. 48 (November 26, 2019).
- Research Summary
Behavioral Hazard and Public Policy
It is well recognized that people overuse low-value medical care due to moral hazard—because copays are lower than costs. Now Professor Schwartzstein has introduced the concept of “behavioral hazard” to explain the opposite: people underuse high-value care because... View Details
- April 2007
- Case
Microfinance in Bolivia: A Meeting with the President of the Republic
By: Michael Chu
Herbert Muller, chair of leading microfinance bank BancoSol, has met with Evo Morales one year after the populist leader's inauguration as president of Bolivia and proceeds to write an email to his fellow board directors. The bank is world famous for pioneering... View Details
Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Race; Government Administration; Business and Government Relations; Microfinance; Poverty; Interest Rates; Banks and Banking; Financial Services Industry; Bolivia; South America
Chu, Michael. "Microfinance in Bolivia: A Meeting with the President of the Republic." Harvard Business School Case 307-107, April 2007.
- 20 Apr 2011
- Research & Ideas
Blind Spots: We’re Not as Ethical as We Think
self-interest and, often, without regard for moral principles—is silent during the planning stage of a decision but typically emerges and dominates at the time of the decision. Not only will your self-interested motives be more prevalent... View Details
Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne
- Forthcoming
- Article
Punitive but Discerning: Reputation Can Fuel Ambiguously-Deserved Punishment, but Does Not Erode Sensitivity to Nuance
By: Jillian J. Jordan and Nour Kteily
The desire to appear virtuous can motivate people to punish wrongdoers, a desirable outcome when punishment is clearly deserved. Yet claims that “virtue signaling” is fueling a culture of outrage suggest that reputation concerns may inspire even potentially unmerited... View Details
Jordan, Jillian J., and Nour Kteily. "Punitive but Discerning: Reputation Can Fuel Ambiguously-Deserved Punishment, but Does Not Erode Sensitivity to Nuance." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (forthcoming).
- 2016
- Article
Vicarious Contagion Decreases Differentiation—and Comes with Costs
By: Ovul Sezer and Michael I. Norton
Baumeister et al. propose that individual differentiation is a crucial determinant of group success. We apply their model to processes lying in between the individual and the group—vicarious processes. We review literature in four domains—attitudes, emotions, moral... View Details
Sezer, Ovul, and Michael I. Norton. "Vicarious Contagion Decreases Differentiation—and Comes with Costs." Behavioral and Brain Sciences 39 (2016): e162.
- Research Summary
The Business of Stem Cells
By: Debora L. Spar
In 2004, the topic of stem cell research made both medical and moral headlines. Buoyed by a series of technological breakthroughs, stem cell scientists grew increasingly convinced that they would eventually be able to use embryonic stem cells -- the pluripotent cells... View Details
- 2014
- Chapter
Corporate Social Responsibility and Multinational Corporations
By: Nien-he Hsieh and Florian Wettstein
A central question that arises from the perspective of global ethics is what standards ought to apply to the activities of multinational corporations (MNCs). This chapter surveys the contemporary theoretical literature on this question. The first section provides... View Details
Keywords: Multinational Corporation; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Standards
Hsieh, Nien-he, and Florian Wettstein. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Multinational Corporations." Chap. 19 in The Routledge Handbook of Global Ethics, edited by Darrel Moellendorf and Heather Widdows, 251–266. London: Routledge, 2014.
- June 2005 (Revised April 2008)
- Case
Whole Foods Market, Inc.
By: John R. Wells and Travis Haglock
Can a short-sleeved, sandal-wearing, college dropout create a company manifesting love, joy, and happiness? Chainsaw John Mackey did. This CEO took a five-month sabbatical to hike the Appalachian Trail. More credentials: Sales-per-square foot of $690 and rising. Hiring... View Details
Keywords: Management Style; Motivation and Incentives; Food; Management Practices and Processes; Groups and Teams; Success; Leadership Style; Management Teams; Business Growth and Maturation; Emerging Markets; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Consumer Products Industry
Wells, John R., and Travis Haglock. "Whole Foods Market, Inc." Harvard Business School Case 705-476, June 2005. (Revised April 2008.)
- July 2017
- Article
Business Responsibilities for Human Rights: A Commentary on Arnold
By: Nien-hê Hsieh
Human rights have come to play a prominent role in debates about the responsibilities of business. In the business ethics literature, there are two approaches to the question of whether businesses have human rights obligations. The “moral” approach conceives of human... View Details
Hsieh, Nien-hê. "Business Responsibilities for Human Rights: A Commentary on Arnold." Business and Human Rights Journal 2, no. 2 (July 2017): 297–309.