Publications

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February 2003
Other Article

The Emergence and Sustainability of Abnormal Profits

By: Michael E. Porter and Anita M. McGahan

In this paper, we examine the emergence and the sustainability of abnormal profits among businesses that were part of U.S. public corporations between 1981 and 1994 and that reported financial results for at least six years. Our results reveal strong asymmetries... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; United States

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April 14, 2015
Article

The Type of Socially Responsible Investments That Make Firms More Profitable

By: George Serafeim

Keywords: Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility; Corporate Sustainability; Investing; Investment Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Profit; Investment; Environmental Sustainability

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June 1997 (Revised February 2000)
Case

Walker and Company: Profit Plan Decisions

By: Robert L. Simons and Ramsey Walker

Ramsey Walker, a second-year MBA student, must decide how to control a family business as an absentee owner. After providing background details on the publishing industry, the case requires the reader to: 1) make a product segmentation decision; 2) prepare a profit... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Family and Family Relationships; Market Design; Management Systems; Planning; Profit; Performance Evaluation; Segmentation; Corporate Strategy; Investment Return; Publishing Industry

January–February 2018
Article

Inclusive Growth: Profitable Strategies for Tackling Poverty and Inequality

By: Robert S. Kaplan, George Serafeim and Eduardo Tugendhat

More than a billion people in the developing world remain in extreme poverty and outside the formal economy. Traditional CSR programs have done little to alleviate the situation and rarely produce transformative change.
Instead of trying to fix local problems,... View Details

Keywords: Inclusive Growth; Sustainability; Social Impact; Business Strategy; Shared Value; Impact Investing; Inequality; Corporate Governance; Balanced Scorecard; Strategy Execution; Economic Growth; Developing Countries and Economies; Poverty; Equality and Inequality; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Strategy; Investment

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13 Oct 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Market Competition, Government Efficiency, and Profitability Around the World

Keywords: by Paul M. Healy, George Serafeim, Suraj Srinivasan & Gwen Yu

02 Jul 2010
What Do You Think?

Is Profit as a “Direct Goal” Overrated?

decision-making and even to the future and viability of capitalism. One debate concerned the primacy of profit as a goal. Deaver Brown led this argument by saying, "Profit is the only legitimate goal of a View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

December 2018
Case

Corporate Transformation at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Amy C. Edmondson, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Tonia Labruyere

When Stefan Oschmann became CEO and chairman of the executive board of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, in 2016, the company had started its transformation from a mid-tier traditional German industry player to a global modern science and technology player. The... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance With Family Ownership; Transformation; Change Management; Restructuring; Corporate Governance; Family Ownership

February 1992 (Revised January 1999)
Background Note

Selected Profitability Data on U.S. Industries and Companies

Describes the importance of industry structure and competitive positioning to the profitability of U.S. corporations between 1981 and 1994. Cites recent research indicating that persistent industry differences and persistent competitor differences account for 19% and... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Industry Structures; Profit; United States

15 Nov 2006
Keynote Speech

Profit in Purpose: Can Corporations Make the Connection?" Panelist. "Leading in the Age of Ambiguity

By: Lynn Paine

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Mission and Purpose

2013
Working Paper

FIN Around the World: The Contribution of Financing Activity to Profitability

By: Russell Lundholm, George Serafeim and Gwen Yu

We study how the availability of domestic credit influences the contribution that financing activities make to a firm's return on equity (ROE). Using a sample of 51,866 firms from 69 countries, we find that financing activities contribute more to a firm's ROE in... View Details

Keywords: Domestic Credit; Return Of Equity; Corporate Performance; Financial Statement Analysis; Financial Statements; Valuation; Cost of Capital; Asset Pricing; Economic Growth

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October 2001 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Sarnia Corporation

By: Thomas R. Piper

A division manager must explain why his division failed to meet its budgeted profit performance as well as meet with members of his management team to discuss corrective action. View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Business Divisions; Profit; Management Teams; Managerial Roles; Failure; Performance; Strategy

Article

Making Small Farms More Sustainable—and Profitable

By: Lino Dias, Robert S. Kaplan and Harmanpreet Singh

Smallholder farms provide a large proportion of food supply in developing economies, but 40% of these farmers live on less than U.S.$2/day and their deforestation produces environmental degradation. With a rapidly growing global population, it is imperative to improve... View Details

Keywords: Small Farms; Sustainable Agriculture; Agribusiness; Developing Countries and Economies; Environmental Sustainability

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20 Sep 2022
Cold Call Podcast

Larry Fink at BlackRock: Linking Purpose to Profit

Keywords: Re: George Serafeim; Financial Services

Teaching Interest

Managing Corporate Entrepreneurship

Professors Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble

To stay on top, corporations must learn to continuously create, grow, and profit from completely new ways of doing business. They must simultaneously pursue both excellence in their existing business and... View Details

13 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

3 Ways Firms Can Profit From Environmental Investments

Zipcar approach environmental issues with profit margins in mind. The paper lays out three ways for firms to profit from investing in sustainability: forestalling risk, increasing operational efficiency, and... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Energy; Utilities

January 2002 (Revised September 2002)
Case

Corporate Renewal in America

By: Bruce R. Scott and Thomas S. Mondschean

Discusses various macroeconomic, regulatory, technological, and financial forces that led to increased corporate restructuring in the United States beginning in the mid-1980s. The U.S. financial system is often viewed as the most developed in the world and a model for... View Details

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Corporate Governance; Macroeconomics; Economic Systems; Restructuring; Markets; Private Sector; Corporate Finance; Germany; Japan; United States

December 2014
Article

Market Competition, Earnings Management, and Persistence in Accounting Profitability Around the World

By: Paul M. Healy, George Serafeim, Suraj Srinivasan and Gwen Yu

We examine how cross-country differences in product, capital, and labor market competition, and earnings management affect mean reversion in accounting return on assets. Using a sample of 48,465 unique firms from 49 countries, we find that accounting returns mean... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Performance; Valuation; Equity Valuation; Persistence; Competitive Advantage; Institutions; Earnings Management; Labor Market; Capital Markets; Competition; Profit; Performance; Supply and Industry; Financial Statements; Government and Politics; Globalized Markets and Industries

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