Publications

Shawn Cole is the John G. McLean Professor in the Finance Unit at Harvard Business School, where he teaches and conducts research on financial services, impact investing, and Social Enterprise. He serves as faculty chair of the Social Enterprise... View Details

Keywords: banking; financial services; microfinance

April 1995 (Revised April 1995)
Case

Home Shopping Network, Inc. (Abridged)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Home Shopping Network invented the video home shopping industry. It had immediate success in both the product and capital markets, which quickly drew imitators. This case describes the situation as of January 1986, when the company must decide how to sustain successes... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Financing and Loans; Supply and Industry; Product; Strategy; Competition; Valuation; Telecommunications Industry

November 28, 2017
Editorial

Active Investing v.2.0

By: Gabriel Karageorgiou and George Serafeim

Keywords: Investment; Investing; Technology; Big Data; Quantitative Analysis; ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Sustainability; Analytics and Data Science

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09 Nov 2018
News

Mainstreaming Sustainability: What Banks And Business Schools Should Do Next

January 2020 (Revised July 2020)
Case

BlackRock: Linking Purpose to Profit

By: Rohit Deshpandé, Aiyesha Dey and George Serafeim

The case revolves around the actions that Barbara Novick, co-founder and Vice-Chair of Blackrock, and Michelle Edkins, Global Head of Investment Stewardship, would need to take in response to the controversial CEO letters from Laurence (Larry) Fink, Chairman and CEO of... View Details

March 2021 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Making Impact Investing Markets: IFC (A)

By: Shawn A. Cole, John Masko and T. Robert Zochowski

In 2017, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) faced the first big investment decision in its new Scaling Solar project. Founded in 1956, IFC was an international investment body with national governments as shareholders, whose mission was to promote economic... View Details

September 2009 (Revised April 2020)
Case

VIZIO, Inc.

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Elizabeth A. Kind

William Wang, CEO of VIZIO, Inc., was proud of his company's success in providing affordable flat screen TVs. Since its founding in 2002, VIZIO had grown to over $2 billion in revenue and was one of the top three flat panel TV brands, along with Samsung and Sony. Faced... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Financing and Loans; Price; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry

18 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

What Happens When Banks Ditch Coal: The Impact Is 'More Than Anyone Thought'

Consumers who are eager to mitigate climate change can take many actions, such as reducing the number of airline flights they take or installing solar panels on their homes. But the planet is in a race against time, and individual action alone won’t help most countries... View Details

Keywords: by Barbara DeLollis; Financial Services; Mining

Feb 15 2018
Testimonial

Exploring the Human Element of M&A

September 2019
Supplement

Adaptive Platform Trials: The Clinical Trial of the Future? (B)

By: Ariel D. Stern and Sarah Mehta

This case provides an update to the (A) case, which introduces students to adaptive platform trials, an ambitious, more efficient type of clinical trial that increases access to therapies. The (A) case centers on Dr. Brian Alexander’s efforts to launch an adaptive... View Details

Keywords: Clinical Trials; Drug Trials; Drug Testing; Cancer Trials; Glioblastoma; Platform Trials; Adaptive Trials; Adaptive Platform Trials; Health Testing and Trials; Health Care and Treatment; Financing and Loans; Business Strategy; Health Industry; United States

14 Nov 2021
News

Vikram Gandhi—HBS Professor and Managing Partner at Asha Impact Fund

2021
Working Paper

Corporate Environmental Impact: Measurement, Data and Information

By: David Freiberg, DG Park, George Serafeim and T. Robert Zochowski

As an organization’s environmental impact has become a central societal consideration, thereby affecting industry and organizational competitiveness, interest in measuring and analyzing environmental impact has increased. We develop a methodology to derive comparable... View Details

Keywords: Environment; Impact; Measurement; Environmental Ratings; Corporate Valuation; Financial Materiality; Sustainability; Environmental Impact; Environmental Strategy; Impact-Weighted Accounts; IWAI; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Measurement and Metrics; Valuation

SSRN

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February 2015 (Revised September 2017)
Supplement

Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B)

By: George Serafeim, Rebecca Henderson and Shannon Gombos

The case describes the decision of Omar Selim to set up Arabesque as an independent organization and how he organized Arabesque to use both financial and environmental, social and governance (ESG) data in order to deliver performance for its clients. View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Investing; Investment Management; ESG; Sustainability; Investment Banking; Leadership; Leadership & Corporate Accountability; Leadership Style; Business Model; Asset Management; Business Startups; Social Enterprise

September 2021 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Tesla in 2023: 'Electrified' Competition

By: Eric Van den Steen, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

Over its 17 years in existence, Tesla had redefined people’s view of electric cars, and in 2020, the company saw its stock rise by more than 700% to became the most valuable carmaker in the world. In December 2020, Tesla celebrated its fifth consecutive quarter of... View Details

Keywords: Barrier To Entry; Competitive Advantage; Innovation; Tesla; Automotive Industry; Sustainable Competitive Advantage; Values; Vision; Learning By Doing; Economies Of Scale; Electric Vehicle; Scenario Planning; Batteries; Competitive Strategy; Product Positioning; Profit; Competition; Industry Growth; Auto Industry

George Serafeim is the Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he co-leads the Climate and Sustainability Impact Lab within the Digital, Data, and Design Institute. He teaches the MBA course “Risks, Opportunities,... View Details

Keywords: asset management; insurance industry; automobiles; industrial goods; fashion; food; green technology

March 2022
Supplement

Pakistan Rising: Bazaar's Growth Story (B)

By: Paul A. Gompers and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in January 2022 as Hamza Jawaid and Saad Jangda, co-founders of Bazaar technologies (Bazaar), the Pakistani high growth B2B e-commerce marketplace, are looking over the performance of the newly launched “buy now, play later” feature. The traction looks... View Details

Keywords: B2B; Business Model; Emerging Markets; For-Profit Firms; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Value Creation; Globalization; Competition; Expansion; Profit; Resource Allocation; Diversification; Corporate Strategy; Pakistan

June 2005 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Equator Principles, The: An Industry Approach to Managing Environmental and Social Risks

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Aldo Sesia

In June 2003, 10 leading international banks adopted new voluntary guidelines, called the Equator Principles, to promote sustainable development in project finance. In recent years, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) had raised issues about the lenders'... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Competition; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Issues; Environmental Sustainability; Policy; Project Finance; Standards; Projects; Commercial Banking; Non-Governmental Organizations

July 2018
Teaching Plan

Joan Bavaria and Multi-Dimensional Capitalism

By: Geoffrey Jones and Valeria Giacomin

This Teaching Plan accompanies the case HBS No. 317-028, “Joan Bavaria and Multi-Dimensional Capitalism.” It provides guidelines for class discussion, as well as a board plan. The case traces the origins of sustainable finance and investor activism through the career... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Investment; Social Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career