Publications

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January 2020
Case

SK Group: Social Progress Credits

By: George Serafeim, Ethan Rouen and David Freiberg

SK Group was one of the largest companies South Korea. A family-run conglomerate consisting of around 120 subsidiaries and employing more than 100,000, SK was tightly knit into the fabric of Korean society. SK viewed their future success as contingent upon the strength... View Details

30 Oct 2017
Blog Post

How My Engineering and Manufacturing Background Prepared Me for an MBA

I graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 2005 and started working in a chemical manufacturing plant that same year. On my first day on the job, with limited technical competence and organizational awareness, I was assigned... View Details

Web

ARD - Georges F. Doriot : Educating Leaders, Building Companies, Baker Library, Harvard Business School

head of the chemical engineering department at MIT, and Jerome C. Hunsaker, head of the aeronautical engineering department at MIT, served as technical consultants. With Doriot's support, Dorothy Rowe, who started as Doriot's... View Details

21 Nov 2015
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Stella McCartney Combines High Fashion with Environmental Values

chemicals and water that you use to produce the items, but also the waste. People throw away 90 percent of what they are going to buy in the next two years. So it’s just amazing. In the US and in the UK, people throw away about 30 kilos... View Details

Keywords: by Brian Kenny; Fashion

May 2022
Case

Honeywell: Transforming a Century Old Industrial

By: William W. George, Michael Norris and John Masko

In late 2021, Darius Adamczyk, Chairman and CEO of Honeywell is considering the changes he has made to the company since he took over the top leadership position in 2017. The company he had inherited from his predecessor, David Cote, was seen by most as a... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Transformation; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Business Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Organization; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; North Carolina; New Jersey

September–October 2020
Article

Social-Impact Efforts That Create Real Value

By: George Serafeim

Until the mid-2010s few investors paid attention to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data—information about companies’ carbon footprints, labor policies, board makeup, and so forth. Today the data is widely used by investors. How can organizations create... View Details

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July 2020
Case

Amanda and Kristen: Mented Cosmetics

By: Steven Rogers, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Alterrell Mills

The co-founders (Black HBS alumnae) of an e-commerce beauty startup explore the unmet needs within the beauty industry. This case study examines the entrepreneurial opportunities that come from identifying an underserved market, specifically within the Black community... View Details

08 Sep 2008
HBS Case

The Value of Environmental Activists

There are many methods, most financial, to measure the success of companies in meeting goals. But the question becomes a lot harder at Harvard Business School when MBAs are challenged to measure the efforts of environmental organizations like Greenpeace and the World... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

11 Jul 2019
Blog Post

Meet the MBA Class of 2020

View Video Andrew Baxter “YOU BUILD UP PERSONAL CAPITAL BY SHARING COMMON EXPERIENCES.” HOME REGION St. Andrews, UK UNDERGRAD EDUCATION Imperial College London, Chemical Engineering, 2011 PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE Shell, Schlumberger HBS... View Details

26 Jun 2017
Research & Ideas

How Cellophane Changed the Way We Shop for Food

cellophane accounted for 10 percent of DuPont’s sales and 25 percent of its profits. “Between 1925 and 1938, its return on investment averaged 36 percent, over twice that of chemically similar rayon,” says Hisano, citing the book Science... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Food & Beverage; Retail; Advertising

05 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

The Accidental Innovator

Companies spend many hundreds of billions of dollars on R&D each year, but the microwave oven was conceived from a melted candy bar, saccharin from an accidental chemical spill, and the Daguerre photo process via a shattered... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

28 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Coronavirus Could Create a 'Bankruptcy Pandemic'

after Lehman Brothers’ collapse ushered in the Global Financial Crisis. Lyondell was the world’s third-largest diversified chemicals company, with $55 billion in annual revenues and operations in 25 countries. Hit by a one-two punch of... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Financial Services; Banking

14 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restarting Under Uncertainty: Managerial Experiences from Around the World

adjusted to completely new work and personal situations." Case 4: Commitment to employees’ mental well-being and fairness Chemical and materials companies are an essential part of their customers’ supply chains. Guaranteeing business... View Details

Keywords: by Raffaella Sadun, Andrea Bertoni, Alexia Delfino, Giovanni Fassio, and Mariapaola Testa

15 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Remembering Alfred Chandler

Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries. In his lifetime, he produced a range of books, edited collections, and articles covering railways, management, global competition, anthracite coal, the career of Alfred P. Sloan, the nature of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

September 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Background Note

Leadership and Teaming

By: Ethan Bernstein

Small differences in the leadership of teams can have large consequences for the success of their efforts. Many initiatives fail not because of a fatal error in judgment or insufficient ideas, knowledge, motivation, or capabilities to deliver a solution. They fail... View Details