Mission and Purpose - Publications - Faculty & Research

13 Nov 2023
News

4 Strategies to Cultivate an Authentic Corporate Purpose

09 Jan 2023
News

The Pursuit of Profit with Purpose Requires Patience

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

November 2023 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Kickstarter: Crowdfunding for the Arts

By: Rohit Deshpandé and Alexis Lefort

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

Citation

Educators

Purchase

13 Mar 2020
News

Former Best Buy CEO: Companies should 'pursue a noble purpose and good things'

22 Jul 2021
News

What’s the Purpose of the Office – and Do We Still Need It?

Web

Our Mission & Team | Institute for Business in Global Society

Our Mission & Team We are working with scholars, business leaders, and community leaders around the world to advance our understanding of business' role in society and to... View Details

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

27 Apr 2018
HBS Seminar

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

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

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

Citation

Educators

Purchase

30 Sep 2019
News

What Gandhi believed is the purpose of a corporation

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

Find at Harvard

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

07 Feb 2024
News

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

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

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

Find at Harvard

26 Apr 2022
News

What Does Your Business Stand For? Why Building Trust Starts with Purpose

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