Mission and Purpose - Publications - Faculty & Research

November 2023 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Kickstarter: Crowdfunding for the Arts

Kickstarter was a virtual crowdfunding platform and community that allowed creators of all kinds to raise funding for creative projects. The executive team was wrestling with a tension in its business model: the organization earned the majority of its revenue from... View Details

Keywords: Fundraising; Mission; Crowdfunding; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Arts; Web Services Industry; United States

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20 Aug 2019
News

181 Top CEOs Have Realized Companies Need a Purpose Beyond Profit

09 Jan 2023
News

The Pursuit of Profit with Purpose Requires Patience

2023
Article

Turn Your Purpose Into a Superpower for Growth

By: Ranjay Gulati

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Culture; Success

Citation

Read Now

January 2021
Case

Rio Tinto Aluminum: Can Purpose Lead to Profit?

By: David Fubini and Agastya Muthanna

This case describes the tradeoffs Rio Tinto faces as it considers investments to ensure environmentally friendly, sustainability produced aluminum with the potential risks of competitive pricing and profit loses. View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Investment; Price; Competition; Profit; Cost vs Benefits; Mining Industry

Citation

Educators

January 2018
Teaching Note

Still Leading (B1): Hon. Bob McDonald—Profiting from Purpose

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

This case is included in the Still Leading series, which is part of an opening series of cases used in the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University. This case can also be taught as a standalone case as it is rich with many key leadership lessons that fall... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Values and Beliefs; Transition

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13 Nov 2023
News

4 Strategies to Cultivate an Authentic Corporate Purpose

21 Mar 2022
Blog Post

The Impact of Career Coaching | When Mission Meets Passion

CPD interviewed Nancy M. Williams (MBA 1992) to share how she leveraged career coaching to make a career switch, launch a venture and find true fulfillment in her professional and personal endeavors. Tell us... View Details

2024
Working Paper

When Batteries Meet Hydrogen: Dual-Storage Investments for Load-Shifting Purposes

By: Christian Kaps and Simone Marinesi

Power systems account for nearly 40% of global emissions. As the world tries to reduce emissions by increasing renewable penetration, storage technologies are playing an increasingly important role in matching variable renewable supply with demand. Batteries have... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Renewable Energy; Transition; Utilities Industry; Battery Industry

Citation

SSRN

27 Apr 2018
HBS Seminar

Helen Riley, Moonshot Mission Controller at X (formerly Google [x])

07 Feb 2024
News

Best Buy’s Hubert Joly on Redefining Your Company’s Purpose

1998
Chapter

Changing the Role of Top Management: Beyond Strategy to Purpose

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Sumantra Ghoshal

Keywords: Management Teams; Strategy; Mission and Purpose

Citation

December 1988 (Revised May 1989)
Background Note

PROFORMA: An Aid for Analyzing Accounting Statements for the Purposes of Constructing Proformas and Forecasting

By: John E. Bishop

Keywords: Accounting; Forecasting and Prediction

Citation

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Web

Figuring Out Her Mission | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Figuring Out Her Mission Ming Min Hui (MBA 2015) had a very specific intention in mind when she applied to HBS. After an early career in investment banking and corporate strategy, “I wanted to apply my... View Details

May 2004 (Revised August 2004)
Case

Enron Odyssey (A), The: The Special Purpose of "SPEs"

The board has asked Ron Tolbert, an employee in the Risk Assessment and Control Group, to analyze three SPE transactions executed by Enron executives: the Destec, Rhythms, and Fishtail/Bacchus transactions, which were prominently featured in the Examiner's Report in... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Financial Instruments; Analysis; Accounting; Financial Strategy; Energy Industry

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30 Sep 2019
News

What Gandhi believed is the purpose of a corporation

November–December 1994
Article

Changing the Role of Top Management: Beyond Strategy to Purpose

By: C. A. Bartlett and S. Ghoshal

Keywords: Management; Change; Strategy; Mission and Purpose

Citation

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March 2022 (Revised May 2022)
Case

Reclaiming the Land of Purple: Purpl’s Mission to Unlock Finance in Lebanon

By: Lauren Cohen and Grace Headinger

Karl Naim, Co-Founder and CEO of Purpl, embarked on a venture to lower remittance costs for his native Lebanon. Since October 2019, the Lebanese economy had entered a free fall as its banking sector collapsed and large swathes of its population were plunged into... View Details