social impact investing - Publications - Faculty & Research

05 Sep 2006
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: Porsche’s Risky Roll on an SUV

of Germany, stakeholder value, and Germany's social market economy. The Cayenne inspired yet more controversy when one of Germany's leading economists argued that it did not deserve its "Made in Germany" label. A good... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Auto; Manufacturing

13 Oct 2010
Research & Ideas

How Government can Discourage Private Sector Reliance on Short-Term Debt

that financial institutions in the past ten years have relied excessively on short-term financing. The investment bank Lehman Brothers, for example, collapsed because it could not roll over its short-term financing. More broadly, if we... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Financial Services

26 Feb 2001
Research & Ideas

Evolving for Success [Part One]

next logical stage of development in terms of how we manage, how we lead. It also means evolving ourselves so that we are better suited for a world of networked communications. Q: What inspired you to begin exploring this kind of evolution? A: When I started to pay... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

09 Jul 2018
Research & Ideas

Overcoming the Challenges of Selling Brand New Technology (Hey, Need a 3-D Printer?)

you should approach a product launch as an organizational process, and start with the buyers, not the product.” The good news is that there are now a multiplicity of ways for new companies to contact customers through the web, social... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Technology; Consumer Products; Electronics; Industrial Products; Information Technology; Manufacturing; Medical Devices & Supplies; Retail

24 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

Tax Reform is on the Front Burner Again. Here’s Why You Should Care

all it provides. Second, we redistribute to a large degree through the tax system, and that's a really important set of social decisions. Finally, we create a set of incentives for behavior and that's incredibly important. The other way... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

06 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

After Germanwings, More Attention Needed on Employee Mental Health

work. "When it comes to mental health, the main issue for organizations is 'presenteeism' more than absenteeism," says Quelch. And that cost is borne not just by the employee suffering from mental illness. "If I am bringing a mental health problem to the office, I am... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health; Air Transportation

03 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 3, 2007

implications for the efficient targeting of social programs more generally. A key issue in this debate is whether higher purchase prices lead to more intensive product use and, therefore, greater health benefits. We present results from... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

27 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

The Most Popular Stories and Research Papers of 2015

boil under the wealth gap heat up or cool down? Will the climate change accord catalyze investment in alternative energy? What impact will international terrorism have on business? Please add your comments... View Details

28 Jan 2015
Research & Ideas

Ground Game, Air Wars, and Other Marketing Lessons From Presidential Elections

various types of people? Candidates have been investing heavily in both mass advertising and personal selling. For the 2012 election, for instance, the Democratic and Republican candidates, together with their allies, spent over $2... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

29 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

How Economics May Lead to Better Football Games

find, and woo, the best ones. Q: You and your colleagues studied the postseason matchups of college bowl games and their impact on television viewership. What were your key findings? A: Having a good match between teams is a big... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Sports

09 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 9, 2015

and policy change block his fledgling startup, solo entrepreneur Alex Holt evaluates his options. Should he double-down with a major investment in new servers, rewriting his app from scratch, and charging users for a service that he had... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Nov 2008
Research & Ideas

Harvard Business School Discusses Future of the MBA

complain that MBAs don't understand the practice of leadership or have sufficient awareness of their impact on others. Reflecting on these findings, Garvin concluded, "Business as usual isn't good enough." The Ford Foundation... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson & HBS Bulletin; Education

23 Dec 2014
First Look

First Look: December 23

thwart its Level II opponents. Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/14-091_6caacd58-20c1-4257-9be5-204972ad4b4c.pdf December 2014 International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences Negotiations:... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

27 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

The Coffee Economy That Bloomed Out of Nowhere

direct social connections," Lurtz says. "There was just a general sense of 'This is going to work, so we'll push it forward.' " Along with neighboring Guatemala, the Soconusco is still a major exporter of high-end coffee today. Coffee... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Food & Beverage; Agriculture & Agribusiness

30 Nov 2011
Research & Ideas

Only Capitalists Can Save Capitalism

that can turn these problems into opportunities. The book provides examples of business efforts that promote social good without sacrificing profit: a mobile communications rollout in rural China that "extended the benefits of... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

30 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 30, 2007

they can adapt and adopt institutional practices already legitimized by counterpart industries in other parts of the world. The paper builds on existing community ecology and social movement perspectives on industry emergence and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

02 Jan 2001
Research & Ideas

Can Japan Compete? [Part One]

margin. [Our book] was first and foremost an effort to influence thinking in Japan. Because Japan has such an impact on thinking, we were also very anxious to set the record straight about what actually happened there. The preface... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace & Hilah Geer

24 Apr 2020
Op-Ed

Lessons from the NFL: Virtual Hiring, Leadership, Building Teams and COVID-19

Their fit within a team matters. Groysberg, Sant, and Abrahams looked at this question of how NFL player performance was impacted by changing teams—focusing particularly on wide receivers and punters. They found that while punters saw no... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Abbott , Boris Groysberg, Tali Groysberg, and Abhijit Naik; Sports

15 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

Are the Most Talented Employees the Highest Paid? Yes—If They’re Bankers

between measurable talent and its impact on wages. In part, Vallée and Célérier wanted to study talent to challenge the idea that bankers are paid according to how hard they work. "That's silly," says Vallée, who worked in View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Banking

January 2017 (Revised March 2017)
Case

Royal DSM: From Continuous Transformation to Organic Growth

By: William W. George, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Amram Migdal

Royal DSM CEO Feike Sijbesma was pondering the challenges of shifting DSM’s global organization from the constant transformations of the past 100 years to creating organic growth. When Sijbesma took the helm as CEO in 2007, he further pushed and completed the company’s... View Details