Public Good - Publications - Faculty & Research

08 Mar 2021
In Practice

COVID Killed the Traditional Workplace. What Should Companies Do Now?

A year ago, COVID-19 forced many companies to send employees home—often with a laptop and a prayer. Now, with COVID cases subsiding and vaccinations rising, the prospect of returning to old office routines appears more possible. But will employees want to flock back to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Research Summary

Profitable Souls: Foreign Investment and the Fate of Human Rights

By: Debora L. Spar

This is a project about foreign investment, about what happens when big multinational firms invest in small, poor, and often nasty places. Typically, most observers assume that this is a largely negative relationship: that multinationals exploit the local population,... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl

My academic research centers on uncovering and closing gaps between the theory and reality of tax policy. My main contribution has been to identify and address a mismatch between the goals for taxation typically assumed in theory and the goals the public and... View Details

29 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

Is There a Method to Musk’s Madness on Twitter?

that Musk and his co-investors like Peter Thiel and others really wanted to build and protect a vision of Twitter as a public forum or a town square for free speech. Their preconception of free speech is politically and ideologically... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Technology

16 Feb 2023
HBS Case

ESG Activists Met the Moment at ExxonMobil, But Did They Succeed?

The impact-investment hedge fund Engine No. 1 made a big splash in May 2021 when it managed to get three nominees elected to the ExxonMobil board of directors. It was an open effort to prod the oil giant toward renewable energy and test whether activist investing could... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Financial Services

04 Oct 2010
Research & Ideas

Introverts: The Best Leaders for Proactive Employees

named interim White House chief of staff, replacing the extraverted Rahm Emanuel. Barely known outside of Washington circles, Rouse is a quiet politician who seems to eschew the public eye, preferring instead to hunker down and deal with... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

05 Dec 2022
What Do You Think?

How Would Jack Welch’s Leadership Style Fare in Today’s World?

process heavily influenced in previous years by resident scholar Peter Drucker. GE ran a business school. Managers both taught and learned just as their CEO did. But in Gelles’ opinion, the school and the company turned out some real duds. Welch fancied himself a View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Industrial Products; Media & Broadcasting; Medical Devices & Supplies; Manufacturing

27 Jun 2005
Research & Ideas

Asian and American Leadership Styles: How Are They Unique?

business leaders adopted already, and which styles are likely to be most successful in the future? In a talk in Kuala Lumpur on June 15 at the invitation of The Star/BizWeek publication and the Harvard Club of Malaysia, Mills explained... View Details

Keywords: by D. Quinn Mills

03 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

When Showing Know-How Backfires for Women Managers

Sometimes, trying to prove yourself in one task takes away time from doing other important tasks. “Women experience the fear that people are going to think they’re not good at, competent in, or capable in their roles.” Especially women... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Retail; Consumer Products

21 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

People Trust Business, But Expect CEOs to Drive Social Change

Public trust in business remains relatively unshaken amid economic turbulence and a lingering pandemic, even as faith in the media and government falters, but leaders could do more to address social issues, a new global opinion survey shows. However, not everyone... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

16 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Seven Tips for Managing Price Increases

sticker shock? 1. Understand Your Customers. There are at least four ways in which customers can respond to higher gas prices: downgrade from premium to regular; take fewer trips by car, consolidate errands, switch to public... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

04 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Navigating Consumer Data Privacy in an AI World

be forgotten.” So, if someone asks a company to delete their records because they don't want to be part of any data analysis or algorithms, the company needs to act fast and get it done. Sticking to the usual way of doing things isn't a View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology; Information Technology

23 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 23, 2018

social issues unrelated to their core business, ranging from environmental issues to LGBT rights and race relations. In the first study of this phenomenon, we implement two field experiments to provide evidence on how CEO activism can influence View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

19 Sep 2023
Research & Ideas

What Chandrayaan-3 Says About India's Entrepreneurial Approach to Space

to me the greatest form of public goods. Now digital public goods are the modern equivalent. Do you know that India uses more data per capita than any country in the world? If... View Details

Keywords: by Clea Simon, Harvard Gazette; Aerospace

16 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

How the Coronavirus Is Already Rewriting the Future of Business

Edmondson: Leadership will engage people to work together creatively I hope we will come to learn that hiding bad news is never a good idea. That will mean recommitting ourselves to mastering the leadership skills to tell the truth and... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

28 Mar 2012
What Do You Think?

Are Factory Jobs Important to the Economy?

Summing Up: What Next, If Manufacturing Proves Not To Be A Creator Of Those Good "factory Jobs" Of The Past? Manufacturing is essential to the health of an economy. It both fuels and results from innovation. It is natural in the course of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Manufacturing

31 Aug 2021
Book

Feeling Powerless at Work? Time to Agitate, Innovate, and Orchestrate

shantytowns. But in an effort to grow her organization and help more people, she eventually began courting private donors, public authorities, and the general public. By 2016, her nonprofit had helped 70,000 people. As her own position of... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

20 Dec 2016
First Look

December 20, 2016

strengths and limitations of this method, and address two misconceptions about ABMs: reductionism and “you get out what you put in.” We also offer maxims for good and bad ABMs, give practical tips for beginner modelers, and include a list... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

28 Jun 2016
First Look

June 28, 2016

Abstract—Several CEOs are receiving significant media attention for taking public positions on controversial social and environmental issues largely unrelated to their core business, ranging from LGBT rights to race relations to gender... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

27 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 27, 2007

Working PapersPublic Action for Public Goods Authors:Abhijit Banerjee, Lakshmi Iyer, and Rohini Somanathan Abstract This paper focuses on the relationship between public... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Publications