Publications

2010
Chapter

Taking Sustainability Seriously: The Time Has Come for Integrated Reporting

By: Robert G. Eccles Jr. and Michael P. Krzus

Keywords: Integrated Corporate Reporting; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

02 May 2023
Blog Post

Sustainability Career Advice from the Career & Professional Development Office

Hillary Mann is a Corporate Relations Director in the Career and Professional Development Office covering Consumer Products, Retail & Luxury Goods, Hospitality, Agribusiness, and Sustainability. She enjoys helping students and alumni... View Details

January 2023
Case

EKI Energy Services: One Billion Carbon Credits

By: George Serafeim

Within nine months from the time of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in April of 2021, EKI Energy Services (EKI) shares had increased by more than 8,000%. Equally explosive was the growth of the company’s revenues and Earnings Before Interest, Taxes and Depreciation... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Credits; Carbon Emissions; Growth; Business Analysis; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Valuation; Climate Change; Accounting; Valuation; Transition; Renewable Energy; Analysis; Product Positioning; India

21 May 2014
Working Paper Summaries

The Role of the Corporation in Society: An Alternative View and Opportunities for Future Research

Keywords: by George Serafeim

10 Jun 2015
News

The Transparency Revolution in Corporate Reporting

1990
Chapter

From Cross-Border Corporate Transactions to Environmental Accords

By: James K. Sebenius

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Agreements and Arrangements; Environmental Sustainability

November 29, 2011
Article

The Role of The Board in Creating a Sustainable Strategy

By: Robert G. Eccles, Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim

While conceptually elegant, the belief that a corporation's role is to maximize value for shareholders is under increasing challenge as society's expectations for companies change. An equally elegant new concept that takes account of these dual pressures has yet to... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Strategy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Expectations; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Practices and Processes; Decisions; Risk and Uncertainty; Cost vs Benefits; Information

Read Now

September 2012 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Integrated Reporting in South Africa

This case presents a 20-year history of the evolution of corporate governance and corporate reporting in South Africa starting in 1992 with a focus on the three King codes of corporate governance (King I in 1994, King II in 2000, and King III in 2009). From a reporting... View Details

Keywords: Integrated Reporting; Sustainability Reporting; Stock Exchanges; South Africa; Corporate Reporting; Regulation; Nonfinancial Performance; History; Corporate Disclosure; Markets; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Performance; Corporate Governance; South Africa

Research Summary

Overview

Yanhua Bird's research encompasses two streams: (1) entrepreneurship and social innovation — how the design and structure of alternative forms of enterprises influence their activities and success, with a focus on peer-to-peer markets and social enterprises, and (2)... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Strategy; Social Evaluation; Entrepreneurship; Social Innovation; Social Movements; Non-market Strategy; Corporate Sustainability

August 2018
Teaching Note

Wilderness Safaris: Ecotourism Entrepreneurship

By: James E. Austin, Megan Epler Wood and Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard

Teaching Note for HBS No. 318-040. View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Conservation Planning; Corporate Social Responsibility; Ecotourism; Strategy; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Tourism Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Travel Industry; Africa; Botswana

17 Nov 2022
Blog Post

Creating Emerging Markets Sustainability Series - The Future of Green Building

sustainable development, but how they also represent wise business decisions. Christoph Schiess is Chairman of TANICA, a Chilean business group founded in 1954 with diversified activities that include real estate and tourism. Schiess... View Details

March 2016 (Revised April 2019)
Technical Note

ESG Metrics: Reshaping Capitalism?

By: George Serafeim

In the past twenty-five years, the world had seen an exponential growth in the number of companies reporting environmental, social and governance (ESG) data. Investor interest in ESG data also grew rapidly. A growing belief that increasing levels of social inequality... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Sustainability; Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility; Responsibilities To Society; Environment; Social Impact Investment; ESG; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Measurement and Metrics; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Corporate Accountability; Accounting; Economic Systems

March 2020 (Revised May 2020)
Case

Generation Investment Management

By: Vikram S. Gandhi and Sarah Mehta

By January 2020, sustainable investment firm Generation Investment Management (Generation), founded in London in 2004, had grown from a shared vision among seven founders to a 90-person firm managing $27 billion in public and private equity. Throughout its history,... View Details

March 2015
Case

Statoil: Transparency on Payments to Governments

By: George Serafeim

The Statoil case describes the challenge of increasing transparency, in extractive industries, around host county government payments. The case describes Statoil's reasoning behind voluntarily disclosing host country government payments, and the events that led to this... View Details

Keywords: Corruption; Disclosure; Disclosure Strategy; Regulation; Industry Self-regulation; Corporate Governance; Corporate Accountability; Bribery; Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility; Government Legislation; Cost vs Benefits; Corporate Disclosure; Mining; Mining Industry; United States

03 Feb 2018
Op-Ed

How to Heed BlackRock's Call for Corporate Social Responsibility

do so, investment funds will need to collect new data. The good news is that over the past decades, many initiatives have contributed to developing standards to assess companies’ social performance. The Sustainability Accounting Standards... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Battilana

November 2010
Supplement

Esquel Group: Building a Sustainable Partnership with Cotton Farmers in Xinjiang (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Jason Cheng Qian

Details and evaluates results in Esquel's 2002 initiative to negotiate long-term partnerships with often-exploited farmers in Xinjiang (western China) to procure a superior cotton variety. View Details

Keywords: Contracts; Agreements and Arrangements; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Outcome or Result; Leasing; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Partners and Partnerships; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Hong Kong; Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu