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September 2002 (Revised August 2003)
Case

Genzyme's Gaucher Initiative: Global Risk and Responsibility

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Andrew N. McLean

In Egypt, Genzyme's humanitarian commitment to treat all sufferers of the rare Gaucher disease worldwide first confronts its commercial imperative to recoup the huge investment required to bring the drug Cerezyme to market. Here Tomye Tierney must decide how to balance... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Investment; Emerging Markets; Negotiation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Government Relations; Sales; Commercialization; Expansion; Value Creation

September 2011 (Revised February 2013)
Case

Trucost: Valuing Corporate Environmental Impacts

By: Michael W. Toffel and Stephanie van Sice

Trucost provided corporate environmental performance data and analysis to institutional investors and corporate managers, but after operating for a decade had yet to achieve profitability. Trucost was struggling to effectively differentiate its high quality products... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Distribution Channels; Investment; Measurement and Metrics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Information; Value; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Services Industry

15 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

The Coming Transformation of Social Enterprise

sector. In a way they become the catalysts for internal change. Q: Many alumni get involved with corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Critics of CSR often cite... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson

September 1999 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Charles Schwab Corporation (B)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Nicole Tempest

Catches the situation facing Charles Schwab Corp. in late August 1999 in the dramatically changing brokerage industry. Their bold moves in January 1998 have created a new industry competitive pattern and provoked aggressive response by companies like Merrill Lynch. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Business Strategy; Situation or Environment; Competition; Financial Services Industry

2025
Working Paper

Corporate Actions as Moral Issues

By: Zwetelina Iliewa, Elisabeth Kempf and Oliver Spalt

We examine nonpecuniary preferences across a broad set of corporate actions using a representative sample of the U.S. population. Our core findings, based on large-scale online surveys, are that (i) self-reported nonpecuniary concerns are large both for stock market... View Details

Keywords: Public Opinion; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Moral Sensibility

October 2000 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Z Corporation

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Matthew C. Lieb and Tom Clay

Tom Clay, president of Z Corp., and founder/CEO Marina Hatsopolous must decide between using a direct sales force or using a value-added reseller to begin selling the company's new 3-D printing prototype manufacturing system. View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Salesforce Management; Distribution Channels; Conflict and Resolution; Technology Industry

2022
Article

Which Corporate ESG News Does the Market React To?

By: George Serafeim and Aaron Yoon

Using a dataset that classifies firm-level ESG news as positive and negative, we examine how stock prices react to different types of ESG news. We analyze 111,020 firm-day observations for 3,126 companies and find that prices react only to issues identified as... View Details

Keywords: ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Ratings; Social Capital; Environment; Sustainability; CSR; Stock Price; Stock Market Expectations; Materiality; Market Reaction; Environmental Sustainability; Governance; Social Issues; Performance; News

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Article

Olfactory Cues from Romantic Partners and Strangers Moderate Women's Responses to Stress

By: Marlise Hofer, Hanne Collins, Ashley V. Whillans and Frances Chen

The scent of another person can activate memories, trigger emotions, and spark romantic attraction; however, almost nothing is known about whether and how human scents influence responses to stress. In the current study, 96 women were randomly assigned to smell one of... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Personal Characteristics; Perception

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March 2006 (Revised November 2007)
Case

Manchester Bidwell Corporation (A)

By: James L. Heskett

The head of Manchester Bidwell Corp. ponders what it will take to replicate its social services in 100 cities across North America and internationally--an effort that ultimately would cost several hundred million dollars. View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Social Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Growth Management; Welfare; North and Central America

28 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Shareholders Key to Corporate Reform

separating these two roles is vital for maintaining balance in the boardroom. Companies that fuse the roles of CEO and chairman collapse the governance triangle, undermining the system of checks and balances that is essential to View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia A. Montgomery & Rhonda Kaufman

28 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

The Profit Power of Corporate Culture

Corporate culture is often thought of as a hard-to-define, or soft concept in management circles. Soft not in the sense that it isn't important—most CEOs will tell you that their ability to inculcate values and mission into the DNA of a... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

14 Jun 2010
Research & Ideas

The Hard Work of Measuring Social Impact

what that spending achieved. Yet there has been little agreement on a set of hard-and-fast metrics to measure social performance. How should a nonprofit manager respond when a significant donor asks for proof of his or her contribution's... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

05 Oct 2009
Research & Ideas

The Vanguard Corporation

that are more responsible socially and environmentally. Q: How prevalent are vanguard companies? A small parade? A: It's a growing parade, but it's not clear yet whether they are the exception or the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

January 2010 (Revised February 2011)
Case

The Random House Response to the Kindle

By: Bharat N. Anand and Peter Olson

In early 2010, e-readers, like Amazon's Kindle and Apple's impending iPad, threatened to disrupt the book publishing industry. The case provides an overview of the industry, describes the broader trends regarding e-readers, and asks: how should major publishers like... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Trends; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Consumer Behavior; Industry Structures; Corporate Strategy; Hardware; Publishing Industry

March 1998 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Teradyne: Corporate Management of Disruptive Change

By: Joseph L. Bower

Two cases deal with the introduction of a new product to Teradyne's line of semiconductor test equipment. This case deals with the problems facing the head of a start-up division responsible for developing and bringing to market a new product based on technology deemed... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Disruption; Management; Market Entry and Exit; Product; Problems and Challenges; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Technology

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2011
Article

Bias in Search Results?: Diagnosis and Response

By: Benjamin Edelman

I explore allegations of search engine bias, including understanding a search engine's incentives to bias results, identifying possible forms of bias, and evaluating methods of verifying whether bias in fact occurs. I then consider possible legal and policy responses,... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Motivation and Incentives; Outcome or Result; Markets; Legal Liability; Policy; Search Technology; Performance Evaluation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

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May 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

Cotopaxi: Managing Growth for Good

By: Andy Wu and Laura Huang

Cotopaxi, an innovative outdoor gear business targeting millennials, focuses on profit and social impact. This registered benefit corporation was formed by Davis Smith who coalesced his experiences as a Wharton MBA student along with professional knowledge from an... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Social Venture; Benefit Corporation; B-Corp; Retail; Consumer Products; Apparel; Social Impact; Social Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Product Positioning; Social Enterprise; Mission and Purpose; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry

April 2024
Article

How Our Ideological Out-Group Shapes Our Emotional Response to Our Shared Socio-Political Reality

By: Julia Elad-Strenger, Amit Goldenberg, Tamar Saguy and Eran Halperin

What shapes our emotional responses to socio-political events? Following the social identity approach, we suggest that individuals adjust their emotional responses to socio-political stimuli based on their ideological out-group's responses, in a manner that preserves... View Details

Keywords: Political Ideology; Emotions; Identity; Groups and Teams; Israel