Publications

September 2018 (Revised June 2019)
Case

THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS: Selecting Impact Funds

By: Vikram Gandhi, Caitlin Reimers Brumme and Nathaniel Schwalb

After much internal debate, THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS of Denmark have decided to allocate a small percentage of their investment portfolio to impact investments. Cambridge Associates, one of the leading investment advisory firms in the world, has been engaged to assist... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Mission-Related Investing; Foundations; Investment; Venture Capital; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Strategy; Investment Funds; Decision Making; Consulting Industry; Financial Services Industry; Denmark; Europe

May 2024 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Together for Sustainability

By: Ranjay Gulati, David Shin and Emily Tedards

This case documents the origin and development of Together for Sustainability (TfS), a chemical industry initiative dedicated to raising sustainability standards throughout the industry’s supply chains. In 2011, six Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) from some of the... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Standards; Supply Chain Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Partners and Partnerships; Nonprofit Organizations; Corporate Accountability; Chemical Industry

01 Oct 2000
News

Laura Scher of Working Assets

socially responsible Working Assets Money Market Fund. Working Assets Funding Service emerged from the fund entity in 1988 and now operates various enterprises, with telecommunications as its core service.... View Details

Keywords: Marguerite Rigoglioso

04 Apr 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 4

practitioners. My belief is that the most fruitful work thus far has recognized that corporate boards are dynamic social systems, has identified all the forces that shape those systems, and has acknowledged... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 18

used in the literature. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=46750 Speaking of Corporate Social Responsibility By: Liang, Hao, Christopher... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2020
Case

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation: Accelerating a Circular Economy for Plastic Packaging

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Plastic has become essential to global day-to-day activities, yet it is also causing extreme environmental degradation. Many leaders in the plastics industry are starting to question its sustainability. This case presents insights into the future of the plastic... View Details

Keywords: Plastic Waste; Environmental Sustainability; Cooperation; Supply Chain Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Consumer Products Industry

Web

Harvard Business School

Science, 1936. Henderson, Alexa Benson. Atlanta Life Insurance Company: Guardian of Black Economic Dignity . Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 1990. Hill, Laura Warren, and Julia Rabig, eds. The Business of Black Power: Community Development, Capitalism, and... View Details

October 2024
Case

GLIN Impact Capital

By: Ethan Rouen and Akiko Saito

In 2024, the co-founders of the venture capital fund GLIN Impact Capital face a critical inflection point as they consider launching a second, significantly larger impact investment fund in Japan. Founded in 2021 by the three Harvard Business School alumni, GLIN is one... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment Funds; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Power and Influence; Japan

30 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

Mapping Your Board’s Effectiveness

In the aftermath of such highly public and grossly damaging business debacles as Enron, Tyco, and WorldCom, much attention and plenty of criticism have been directed at those companies' corporate boards. Traditionally, board View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan

13 May 2020
Blog Post

Crisis Leadership with Nikhil Patel: The Critical Importance of Trust

drivers, nursing homes, and homeless shelters. “We’re running twelve-to-sixteen hours a day, seven days a week.” Lessons in Leadership For Patel, both the intensity and the complexity of the pandemic response offer important lessons in... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Social Enterprise

30 Jun 2020
What Do You Think?

Is a Business School-Industry Collaboration Needed to Attract Black Talent to Campus?

SUMMING UP Do We Need Business School Courses On Inclusion and ‘Voice’? Responses to this month’s column suggest that the issue it raised—recruitment of minority talent into business careers—was somewhat narrow and off-target. Kristin... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Education

01 Mar 2009
News

A New Approach to Health-Care Reform

far-reaching. Your prescription calls for widespread, coordinated change. Who is responsible for leading the way? We hope policymakers in Washington will give our approach consideration, but to transform a complicated industry like this,... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; Health, Social Assistance

10 Mar 2011
What Do You Think?

To What Degree Does the Job Make the Person?

retired." This led Illysa to comment, "One more reason we must choose not only our careers but our work places carefully: who do we want to become?" Heidi Olson wondered "if the change in hormones when gaining power is View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

2003
Article

BMW Group's Sustainability Management System: Preliminary Results, Ongoing Challenges, and the UN Global Compact

By: Michael W. Toffel, Natalie Hill and Kellie McElhaney

This article describes preliminary results and ongoing challenges faced by Designworks/USA, an industrial design subsidiary of BMW Group, in its sustainability management efforts since it implemented the world's first certified Sustainability Management System (SMS).... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Management Systems; Standards; Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Outcome or Result; Auto Industry

Read Now

27 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

New Cluster Mapping Project Helps Companies Locate Facilities

Too often corporations decide to locate facilities based solely on cost savings. And that's shortsighted, argues Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter. Instead, business leaders should look for locations that gather... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

02 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2011

Responsibility and Access to Finance (1,179) http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6766.html http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/11-130.pdf Published: July 22, 2011 Paper Released: June 2011 Corporate View Details

Keywords: by Staff

December 2019
Supplement

Mãe Terra and Unilever (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Ruth Costas and Mariana Cal

Unilever is making strides to integrate the operations of Mãe Terra—one of Brazil's leading brands for packaged organic foods—into its own structures, after acquiring the company in 2017. Mãe Terra’s CEO, Alexandre Borges, must decide whether to implement his original... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Sustainability; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Environmental Sustainability; Organizational Culture; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Brazil; Latin America