Publications

23 Aug 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

Has the Corporate Mission Just Been Disrupted?

prioritize social benefits over shareholder reward. CEOs adding their signature to the pledge included Apple's Tim Cook, JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, IBM's Ginni Rometty, and GM's Mary Barra. Moving View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Green Technology

March 2004 (Revised May 2006)
Background Note

Corporate Reform in the United States

By: Lynn S. Paine and Kim Bettcher

The spate of corporate misdeeds revealed to the American public in 2001 to 2002 prompted corrective action in many quarters of the U.S. economy. The note summarizes some of the steps taken by lawmakers, regulators, law-enforcement officials, companies, investors,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Capital Markets; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Trust; United States

Web

Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Meaningful progress on complex social issues depends in part on the entrepreneurial ideas and energy of the next generation. In recent years, we have seen a sustained increase in HBS students launching View Details

11 Jan 2012
News

Business the solution to social inequities

10 Jun 2015
Research & Ideas

The Transparency Revolution in Corporate Reporting

exponentially increasing the speed and flow of that information, making the system that much more transparent. And we have social media restoring democracy with free speech. Before all of this, the information flow was much more... View Details

Keywords: Re: George Serafeim

September 2017 (Revised August 2018)
Supplement

The Ready-Made Garment Industry: A Bangladeshi Perspective (D)

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Saloni Chaturvedi

This supplements the (A) case by summarizing key developments in the Bangladesh ready-made garment industry after the fire at Tazreen Fashions factory, including formation of the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Accord (“Accord”) and the Alliance for Bangladesh... View Details

Keywords: Apparel; Bangladesh; Corporate Responsibility; Human Rights; Supply Chains; Labor; Working Conditions; Supply Chain; Safety; Rights; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Bangladesh

October 2020 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Wilderness Safaris: Impact Investing and Ecotourism Conservation in Africa

By: James E. Austin, Megan Epler Wood and Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard

In 2018 the majority ownership of publicly owned Wilderness Safaris, the leading high-end ecotourism company in Africa with safari operations in eight countries, was acquired by The Rise Fund, one of the world’s largest private social impact investing funds, and by FS... View Details

02 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

Secrets to a Successful Social Media Strategy

not benefit the company, individuals will undertake the task, but it will not have any effect on corporate performance. In contrast, when the task benefits the company but does not help the individuals, they will simply refuse to... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

September 2010 (Revised January 2016)
Case

Grameen Danone Foods Ltd., a Social Business

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Katharine Lee

Grameen Danone is a joint venture between the Grameen Group (a sister company of Grameen Bank) and Groupe Danone, a $2 billion (revenues) French food company. The company's goal was to provide nutritional yogurt (brand name Shoktidoi) for the nearly 50 million... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Social Entrepreneurship; Food; Distribution; Supply Chain Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Food and Beverage Industry; Bangladesh; France

30 May 2018
News

The corporate sustainability Twitterati 2018

Web

Meet HBS Leadership Fellows: Katie Rae Mulvey, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

26 Nov 2001
Op-Ed

Why Corporate Budgeting Needs To Be Fixed

Corporate budgeting is a joke, and everyone knows it. It consumes a huge amount of executives' time, forcing them into endless rounds of dull meetings and tense negotiations. It encourages managers to lie and cheat, lowballing targets and... View Details

Keywords: by Michael C. Jensen

22 Jan 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate Sustainability: A Strategy?

Keywords: by Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim

February 2019
Case

Halliday's OASIS

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Nicole Tempest Keller

Wade Watts has won control of the OASIS – a futuristic, immersive virtual reality game world. He must decide on rules, rights, and marketplace design, balancing the founding principles of the OASIS with the platform’s potentially negative externalities. View Details

Keywords: Managing Markets; Corporate Responsibility; Virtual Reality; Digital Platforms; Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Media; United States

May 2020
Case

M-Lab: Enabling Innovation at Mitsubishi Corporation

By: Krishna Palepu and Allison M. Ciechanover

M-Lab’s founding goals were to infuse an innovation mindset into Mitsubishi Corporation; to catalyze new business opportunities; and to enable a dialogue between Japanese business and Silicon Valley. M-Lab housed representatives from each of Mitsubishi Corporation’s... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Disruption; Transformation; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Multinational Firms and Management; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Japan; United States

1998
Working Paper

Social Enterprise Series No. 6: The Collaboration Challenge: Making the Most of Strategic Alliances between Nonprofits and Corporations

By: James E. Austin