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- 2020
- Working Paper
Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 7 The Value Structure of Technologies, Part 2: Strategy without Numbers
Functional analysis as set forth in the last chapter decomposes a technical system into functional components that do things to advance the system’s purpose and the goals of its designers. Functional analysis in turn can be used to construct value structure maps... View Details
- September 2020
- Teaching Plan
Harlem Capital: Changing the Face of Entrepreneurship
By: George Serafeim
Jarrid Tingle and Henri Pierre-Jacques had spent the summer between their first and second years of their MBA program fund raising for their start-up venture capital (VC) firm, Harlem Capital Partners. Harlem Capital was founded upon the principle that addressing the... View Details
Keywords: Venture Capital Firm Compensation; Entrepreneurial Finance; Entrepreneurial Financing; Black Entrepreneurs; Black Leadership; Black Inventors; Inclusion; Minority-owned Businesses; Race And Ethnicity; Race Characteristics; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Diversity; Race; Gender; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Financial Services Industry; United States
- Fall 2020
- Article
Climate in the Boardroom: Struggling to Reconcile Business as Usual & the End of the World as We Know It
How does one witness to businesspeople about climate change? Climate change is a problem for the collective and the long term, whereas business often requires a ruthless focus on the individual and the quarter. Climate change is an ethical catastrophe whose solution... View Details
- 2020
- Working Paper
Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 2 Transactions in a Task Network
From the 1930s through today, many economists have conceived of large technical systems for the production of goods and services as a series of transactions. This point of view has led eminent economists to assert that transactions are the fundamental unit of analysis... View Details
- 2020
- Working Paper
Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 3 Transaction Free Zones
In Chapter 2 we saw that the most economical locations for transactions in a task network are the so-called thin crossing points—places where transfers are easy to define, count and pay for. However, in many places in the task network, transfers of material, energy,... View Details
- 2020
- Working Paper
Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 4 The Mirroring Hypothesis: Linkages Inside and Across Transaction Free Zones
A technology is a specific way to achieve a material goal. It describes a feasible path—a recipe—by which a group of people can arrive at a goal that none could achieve individually. Technical recipes thus require linkages between and among the various contributors to... View Details
- 2020
- Working Paper
Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 5 Ecosystems and Complementarities
The purpose of this chapter is to introduce two new building blocks to the theory of how technology shapes organizations. The first is a new layer of organization structure: a business “ecosystem.” The second is the economic concept of “complementarity.” Ecosystems are... View Details
- 2020
- Article
Research on Corporate Sustainability: Review and Directions for Future Research
By: Jody Grewal and George Serafeim
We review the literature on corporate sustainability and provide directions for future research. Our review focuses on three actions: measuring, managing and communicating corporate sustainability performance. Measurement is the least developed of the three and... View Details
Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainability Reporting; Sustainability Management; Nonfinancial Disclosure; Nonfinancial Information; Nonfinancial Performance; Materiality; ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Disclosure; ESG Disclosure Metrics; ESG Ratings; ESG Reporting; Inequality; Corporate Social Responsibility; Accounting; Finance; Management; Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Climate Change; Diversity; Equality and Inequality; Corporate Disclosure; Measurement and Metrics; Corporate Governance; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact
- September–October 2020
- Article
Social-Impact Efforts That Create Real Value
By: George Serafeim
Until the mid-2010s few investors paid attention to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data—information about companies’ carbon footprints, labor policies, board makeup, and so forth. Today the data is widely used by investors. How can organizations create... View Details
Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainability Management; ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Disclosure; ESG Disclosure Metrics; ESG Ratings; ESG Reporting; Social Impact; Impact Measurement; Social Innovation; Purpose; Corporate Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility; Strategy; Social Enterprise; Society; Accounting; Investment; Environmental Sustainability; Climate Change; Corporate Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Financial Services Industry; Chemical Industry; Technology Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; North America; Europe; Japan; Australia
- August 2020
- Teaching Note
Sesame Workshop (B): Celebrating 50 Years of Helping Kids Grow Smarter, Stronger, and Kinder
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Joyce J. Kim
Teaching Note for Case No. 321-015. In 2019, Sesame Workshop celebrated its 50th anniversary while on a winning streak of social impact, innovation, and peak media and financial results. Over the past four years, CEO Jeff Dunn and his turnaround team exhibited... View Details
- August 2020
- Teaching Note
Sesame Workshop (C): Mission Critical Responses to Global and National Crises
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Joyce J. Kim
Teaching Note for Case No. 321-016. Beginning in March 2020, Sesame Workshop navigated a global pandemic, which caused unemployment, businesses shutdowns, school closures, and remote work environments along with a racial justice crisis, with a renewed mission that led... View Details
- August 2020 (Revised May 2021)
- Case
PayPal: The Next Chapter
By: Michael Porter, Mark Kramer and Annelena Lobb
Can a social purpose and stakeholder capitalism confer a powerful competitive advantage in the age of COVID-19? For PayPal, the answer is yes. After spinning off from eBay in a 2015 IPO, the company declared its purpose as "democratizing financial services" by ensuring... View Details
- August 2020
- Supplement
Mary Guerrero and the Advancement of Latinx Talent: Developing an Employee Resource Group at a Top Tier Bank (B)
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Amy Hernandez Turcios
Mary Guerrero decided to pursue the challenging road and kicked off Hispanic/Latinx Advancement and Career Engagement (HACE) at her Bulge Bracket Bank (BBB). For Mary, her larger purpose was to advance Latinx talent in the U.S. because she believed it was important for... View Details
- August 6, 2020
- Article
Companies Must Go Beyond Random Acts of Humanitarianism
By: Frank Cooper and Ranjay Gulati
Any organization can write a check or mobilize resources when confronted with a crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic or a social movement such as Black Lives Matter. But corporate crisis response becomes much more meaningful when stakeholders know that the organization... View Details
- August 2020
- Case
This Old House of Worship: St. Anthony Shrine (A)
By: Ryan Raffaelli
This multimedia case asks students to consider how leaders of non-profit organizations manage difficult financial, operational, and cultural turnarounds. Since its founding in 1947, St. Anthony Shrine had been a central partner in serving the Downtown Boston community.... View Details
- August 2020
- Article
Strategies for Managing the Privacy Landscape
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Andres Hervas-Drane
Firms use consumer personal information to improve their products and services. Personal information is open to misuse, however, and when exploited for undesired or unexpected purposes reduces consumer’s trust in the firm and their willingness to provide personal... View Details
- July 2020
- Case
Amanda and Kristen: Mented Cosmetics
By: Steven Rogers, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Alterrell Mills
The co-founders (Black HBS alumnae) of an e-commerce beauty startup explore the unmet needs within the beauty industry. This case study examines the entrepreneurial opportunities that come from identifying an underserved market, specifically within the Black community... View Details
Keywords: Brands and Branding; Competition; Customers; Disruption; Disruptive Innovation; Distribution Channels; Entrepreneurship; Finance; Macroeconomics; Marketing; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Product Design; Product Development; Product Positioning; Sales; Social Issues; Social Marketing; Business Startups; Strategic Planning; Strategy; Supply Chain Management; Venture Capital; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Advertising Industry; Public Relations Industry; Chemical Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Retail Industry; North and Central America; United States; New York (city, NY); New York (state, US)
- July 2020
- Supplement
Sesame Workshop (B): Celebrating 50 Years of Helping Kids Grow Smarter, Stronger, and Kinder
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Joyce J. Kim
In 2019, Sesame Workshop celebrated its 50th anniversary while on a winning streak of social impact, innovation, and peak media and financial results. Over the past four years, CEO Jeff Dunn and his turnaround team exhibited values-driven leadership, instituted... View Details
- July 2020
- Case
Sesame Workshop (C): Mission Critical Responses to Global and National Crises
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Joyce J. Kim
Beginning in March 2020, Sesame Workshop navigated a global pandemic and racial justice crisis, which caused unemployment, business shutdowns, school closures, and remote work. The CEO and team responded with new partnership using its assets and reinforcing its... View Details
- July 2020 (Revised September 2020)
- Case
The Honor Foundation: Accessing Special Operations Talent
By: Boris Groysberg and John Masko
In 2020, The Honor Foundation (THF), a nonprofit dedicated to helping U.S. military special operators to transition into civilian careers, was facing a series of strategic challenges. THF had been founded in 2013 by former Navy SEAL trainee Joe Musselman, who observed... View Details
Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Talent and Talent Management; Curriculum and Courses; Executive Education; Social Entrepreneurship; National Security; Recruitment; Retention; Job Interviews; Job Search; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Crisis Management; Mission and Purpose; Retirement; Nonprofit Organizations; War; Education Industry; San Diego; Virginia