Publications

September 2023 (Revised September 2023)
Teaching Note

Roche: Innovation and Access to Healthcare

By: George Serafeim

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 123-075. In May 2022, Roche Group, one of the largest healthcare companies in the world, hosted its first investor event focused exclusively on its efforts to impact access to healthcare. While Roche had recently set an ambitious goal to... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Access To Care; Healthcare; Healthcare Access; Innovation; Social Impact; Affordable; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Product Development; Resource Allocation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Health Industry

09 Feb 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Do Corporate Social Responsibility Ratings Predict Corporate Social Performance?

Keywords: by Aaron K. Chatterji, David I. Levine & Michael W. Toffel

2010
Other Unpublished Work

Hunkering Down and Venturing Out: Network Activation in Response to the Uncertainty of Organizational Restructuring

Uncertain times in organizational life are often accompanied by shifts in resources and power and can trigger a desire for people to affiliate with others. Yet little is understood about which network ties people activate when they feel uncertain about their standing... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Restructuring; Interpersonal Communication; Organizational Structure

November 2005 (Revised December 2005)
Case

County Department of Public Health: Organizing for Emergency Preparedness and Response

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Ajay Vinze and Minu Ipe

The anthrax attacks of 2001 exposed serious inadequacies in the response of the U.S. public health system to meet such grave threats. The public health infrastructure required rebuilding to respond to any type of large-scale health emergency. The Public Health... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Change Management; Crisis Management; Health Care and Treatment; Infrastructure; Public Administration Industry; Health Industry; United States

Educators

2014
Working Paper

Search-Based Peer Firms: Aggregating Investor Perceptions Through Internet Co-Searches

By: Charles M.C. Lee, Paul Ma and Charles C.Y. Wang

Applying a "co-search" algorithm to Internet traffic at the SEC's EDGAR web-site, we develop a novel method for identifying economically-related peer firms and for measuring their relative importance. Our results show that firms appearing in chronologically adjacent... View Details

Keywords: Peer Firm; EDGAR Search Traffic; Revealed Preference; Co-search; Industry Classification; Analytics and Data Science; Internet and the Web; Mathematical Methods; Corporate Finance

SSRN

02 Aug 2013
News

People must take responsibility for managing their careers

May 2011
Article

Race at the Top: How Companies Shape the Inclusion of African Americans on Their Boards in Response to Institutional Pressures

By: Clayton S. Rose and William T. Bielby

Drawing on institutionalist theory, we conceptualize the racial composition of the boards of directors of large American companies as shaped in response to social and political norms. We use new longitudinal and cross-sectional data to test hypotheses about factors... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Governing and Advisory Boards; Race; Mathematical Methods; Government and Politics; Public Ownership; United States

African people, businesses, and nations are becoming increasingly stressed by climate-related perils like droughts, river flooding, extreme heat, and rising sea levels. This is leading not only to... View Details

December 1995 (Revised March 1998)
Case

FOX Venture Partners: Enriching the Private Equity Investor Pool

By: Josh Lerner

FOX Venture Partners (FVP) is a proposed "Fund-of-Funds" that will enable wealthy individuals to invest in venture capital. While several leading venture capitalists are enthusiastic about the concept, FVP's general partners are finding it difficult to invest... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment Funds

Educators

2022
Article

Dynamic Pricing Algorithms, Consumer Harm, and Regulatory Response

By: Alexander MacKay and Samuel N. Weinstein

Pricing algorithms are rapidly transforming markets, from ride-sharing apps, to air travel, to online retail. Regulators and scholars have watched this development with a wary eye. Their focus so far has been on the potential for pricing algorithms to facilitate... View Details

Keywords: Competition Policy; Regulation; Algorithmic Pricing; Dynamic Pricing; Economics; Law And Economics; Law And Regulation; Consumer Protection; Antitrust Law; Industrial Organization; Antitrust Issues And Policies; Technological Change: Choices And Consequences; Competition; Policy; Price; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Microeconomics; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Law

SSRN

14 Apr 2015
News

The Type of Socially Responsible Investments That Make Firms More Profitable

2017
Working Paper

Why and How Investors Use ESG Information: Evidence from a Global Survey

By: Georgios Serafeim

Using survey data from a sample of senior investment professionals from mainstream (i.e., not SRI funds) investment organizations, we provide insights into why and how investors use reported environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information. The primary reason... View Details

Keywords: Investment Management; Sustainability; ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Investment Fund; Investment Strategy; Corporate Accountability; Activist Shareholder; Engagement; Environment; Climate Change; Customers; Customer Satisfaction; Employee Engagement; Global Warming; Investment; Decision Making; Environmental Sustainability; Performance Expectations

SSRN

06 Nov 2017
News

Who is Responsible for the Future of Cities?

November – December 1993
Response

'Is It Too Late for Pacer to Change Course?' A Response to 'When New Products and Customer Loyalty Collide'

By: D. A. Leonard-Barton

Keywords: Change; Product

Article

Human Capital and the Future of Work: Implications for Investors and ESG Integration

By: Sakis Kotsantonis and George Serafeim

Human capital development (HCD) is a key consideration for most companies, but only recently have investors focused on understanding the risks and opportunities related to human capital with the emergence of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment... View Details

Keywords: Future Of Work; ESG; Employee Engagement; Employee Compensation; Human Capital; Human Resources; Employees; Compensation and Benefits; Wages

February 1996
Case

Spartan Stores Incorporated: Reengineering for Efficient Consumer Response

Describes an effort to rationalize operations at a leading grocery wholesaler, enabled by information systems. Spartan Stores, Inc., is cooperatively owned by its 238 retailers and, through training, consulting, systems support, and cost of goods efficiencies, strives... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Restructuring; Information Technology

January 2013
Supplement

The Great East Japan Earthquake (D): Lawson's Response

By: Hirotaka Takeuchi, Victor Stone, Samer Abughannam, Sebastien D'Incau, Jonathan Driscoll, Katharine Hill and Jeffrey Reynolds

CEO Niinami Takeshi (HBS '91) stared out his corner office window as the Tokyo skyscrapers swayed and the concrete trembled. He was in the midst of the largest seismic event to hit Japan in recorded history. Lawson's managers understood earthquake response. They had... View Details

Keywords: East Japan; Earthquake; Lawson's; Natural Disasters; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Japan

Article

Discontinuities and Senior Management: Assessing the Role of Recognition in Pharmaceutical Firm Response to Biotechnology

By: Rebecca M. Henderson, Sarah Kaplan and Fiona Murray

Keywords: Management; Science; Technology; Biotechnology Industry