Publications

October 2003 (Revised February 2004)
Case

Cape Wind

By: John T. Gourville and Kerry Herman

Cape Wind has proposed placing a 170-tower wind farm, with each tower more than 400-feet tall, in Nantucket Sound. Not surprisingly, public reaction is mixed. Some view the wind farm as clean, renewable energy. Others view it as an eyesore and a desecration of a valued... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Renewable Energy; Consumer Behavior; Problems and Challenges; Natural Environment; Behavior; United States

22 Jan 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate Sustainability: A Strategy?

Keywords: by Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim

24 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

Tackling Climate Change Will Cost Less Than We Think

No one knows how much it will cost to keep the risks of significant climate disruption to a reasonable level. One commonly cited estimate puts the cost at roughly 1 percent of world GDP a year, or about $840 billion. This is a large number, but it seems smaller when... View Details

Keywords: by Rebecca Henderson; Energy; Utilities

May 2011
Article

The Growing Power of Non-financial Reports

By: Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim

We are exploring the value of forcing corporations to issue sustainability reports, which provide information about corporate performance in terms of social, environmental and governance issues. In a breakthrough study they asked, what is the effect of mandatory... View Details

Keywords: Value; Reports; Performance; Management Practices and Processes; Globalization; Power and Influence; Natural Environment; Governance; Social Issues

2005
Chapter

Environmental Federalism in the European Union and the United States

By: David Vogel, Michael W. Toffel and Diahanna Post

The United States (US) and the European Union (EU) are federal systems in which the responsibility for environmental policy-making is divided or shared between the central government and the (member) states. The attribution of decision-making power has important policy... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Government Legislation; Natural Environment; Pollutants; Climate Change; European Union; United States

Read Now

2008
Simulation

DEC v. Riverside

By: David A. Lax, James K. Sebenius, Lawrence Susskind and Thomas Weeks

Riverside Lumber is a pulp manufacturer in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. Riverside regularly dumps effluent into a nearby river. The Division of Environmental Conservation (DEC) claims that the effluent is toxic and jeopardizes the local salmon catch.... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Conflict Management; Cooperation; Courts and Trials; Decision Choices and Conditions; Natural Environment; Negotiation; Pulp and Paper Industry; Northwestern United States

06 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Consumers Blame Business for Global Health Problems. Can Business Become the Solution?

Every public health crisis—whether it’s the availability of highly addictive opioids or junk food marketing to children—prompts consumers to question how far companies will go for profit. It’s not an unwarranted concern. After all, cigarette makers once used... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Health

15 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

Going Green Makes Good Business Sense

depletion of natural resources. He thinks one of the main reasons people in the United States are more concerned about the environment is that incomes are higher. "Although people who think of... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

01 Oct 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Responding to Public and Private Politics: Corporate Disclosure of Climate Change Strategies

Keywords: by Erin M. Reid & Michael W. Toffel

06 Jan 2012
Op-Ed

Where Green Corporate Ratings Fail

Are Influential Corporate sustainability rankings are an influential tool that guides consumers' spending decisions, helps jobseekers select employers, improves workplace environment and morale, and informs socially-conscious investments... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Toffel & Auden Schendler; Information; Publishing

10 Jun 2015
Research & Ideas

The Transparency Revolution in Corporate Reporting

enormous impact on the very big problems we're facing in the world today: natural resource scarcity, social inequality, and poverty, as well as on governance issues like product safety and corruption. More and more CEOs are leading their... View Details

Keywords: Re: George Serafeim

22 Aug 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Sustainability and Green Business in Latin America During Globalization Waves

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones

02 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

Ray A. Goldberg

At the beginning of January, over two hundred senior executives and government officials from around the globe met at Harvard Business School for the fortieth annual Agribusiness Seminar. They represented every facet of the "global food system"—from... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Agriculture & Agribusiness

January 2023
Case

Crow Holdings Development: Mass Timber Construction

By: John D. Macomber, Robert Hernandez and Kyle MertensMeyer

Jim McCaffery and Cody Armbrister of Crow Holdings Development evaluate the pros and cons of committing to mass timber construction instead of conventional concrete or steel for a new 260,000 SF multi-story office building in Texas. Benefits include substantially... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate Development; Architecture; Air Quality; Health ＆ Wellness; Office Property; Sustainability; Carbon Abatement; Natural Environment; Environmental Accounting; Green Buildings; Design; Construction; Cost vs Benefits; Environmental Sustainability; Construction Industry; Real Estate Industry; Texas

20 Oct 2010
Research & Ideas

HBS Workshop Encourages Corporate Reporting on Environmental and Social Sustainability

trust we have lost with society," Nohria told some 100 attendees. "It is an extraordinarily promising idea as important a topic as we have at this time." The workshop, the first conference sponsored by HBS's new Business and View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Accounting

06 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

Renewable Energy: Winds at Our Back?

off Massachusetts' coastline is the subject of HBS professor Richard Vietor's case study "Cape Wind: Offshore Wind Energy in the USA." The case highlights the challenges and opportunities that face green businesses as they attempt to harness energy from View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

09 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

The Challenge of the Multi-site Nonprofit

between local and national leaders. Wide use of volunteer labor makes worker motivation more of an issue. Up to 60 percent of a nonprofit CEO's time is spent fundraising, time that could be spent building a more effective organization. The strong emotional View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

April 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A)

By: Christopher Marquis, Pooja Mehta Shah, Amanda Elizabeth Tolleson and Bobbi Thomason

At the end of 2009, The Dannon Company was considering pro actively communicating its CSR efforts to consumers. With the strong connection between Dannon's production of health foods and its commitment to health and nutrition-based CSR activities, communicating these... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Nutrition; Marketing Communications; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Natural Environment; Food and Beverage Industry

May 1992 (Revised August 1993)
Case

Forest Policy in Malaysia

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

The governments of Malaysia and the Malaysian State of Sarawak need to assess possible changes in forest policy. Environmentalist pressure threatens traditional market relationships and patterns of business-government interaction. Harvest regulations, subsidies, trade... View Details

Keywords: Natural Environment; Policy; Government and Politics; Environmental Sustainability; Trade; Business and Government Relations; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Forestry Industry; Forest Products Industry; Malaysia