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- 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
Keywords: Investing; Investing For Impact; Ecotourism; COVID-19; Equity Financing; Strategy Formulation; Profitability; Environmental And Social Sustainability; Sustainability; Conservation Planning; Corporate Social Responsibility; Investment; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Strategy; Financing and Loans; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Health Pandemics; Tourism Industry; Africa; Rwanda; Angola
- 2021
- Working Paper
Accounting for Product Impact in the Consumer-Packaged Foods Industry
By: Amanda Rischbieth, George Serafeim and Katie Trinh
We apply the product impact measurement framework of the Impact-Weighted Accounts Initiative (IWAI) in two competitor companies within the consumer-packaged goods industry. We design a methodology that allows us to calculate monetary impact estimates on customer... View Details
Keywords: Product Innovation; Impact; Impact Investing; Impact Measurement; ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Ratings; Social Corporate Responsibility; Corporate Social Responsibility; Social Impact; Nutrition Database; Nutritional Information; CPG; Consumer Packaged Goods; IWAI; Product Design; Product Positioning; Society; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Nutrition; Product; Safety; Consumer Products Industry
- October 2020 (Revised November 2023)
- Case
COVID-19 Testing at Everlywell
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Olivia Hull
In March 2020, as COVID-19 spreads rapidly across the U.S., Everlywell founder Julia Cheek considers how to respond as a small start-up specializing in at-home lab testing. After making dramatic budget cuts, she decides to pivot the organization to address the... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Strategy; Venture Capital; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Leading Change; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy; Science; Adaptation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Crisis Management; Social Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Government Legislation; Health; Health Testing and Trials; Health Pandemics; Consumer Products Industry; Health Industry; Technology Industry; Texas; United States
- October 2020 (Revised March 2022)
- Case
The What Works Centre: Using Behavioral Science to Improve Social Worker Well-being (A)
By: Ashley V. Whillans and Shibeal O'Flaherty
This case describes the experiences of Michael Sanders—the Chief Executive of the What Works Center for Children’s Social Care—as he led the design and implementation of a program of research aimed at improving the social care system in the United Kingdom (UK) at the... View Details
- October 2020 (Revised March 2022)
- Supplement
The What Works Centre: Using Behavioral Science to Improve Social Worker Well-being (B)
By: Ashley V. Whillans and Shibeal O'Flaherty
This case describes the experiences of Michael Sanders—the Chief Executive of the What Works Center for Children’s Social Care—as he led the design and implementation of a program of research aimed at improving the social care system in the United Kingdom (UK) at the... View Details
- 2020
- Book
Le Manifeste travail: Démocratiser, démarchandiser, dépolluer [The Working Manifesto: Democratize, Decommodify, Decarbonize]
By: Isabelle Ferreras, Julie Battilana and Dominique Méda
Authored at the height of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, this book is the result of an international collaboration between twelve female academics who apply their expertise to offer a blueprint for a more resilient, dignified, and sustainable society. The extension of... View Details
- October 2020
- Article
The Elasticity of Science
By: Kyle Myers
This paper identifies the degree to which scientists are willing to change the direction of their work in exchange for resources. Data from the National Institutes of Health are used to estimate how scientists respond to targeted funding opportunities. Inducing a... View Details
- September 2020 (Revised July 2022)
- Technical Note
Algorithmic Bias in Marketing
By: Ayelet Israeli and Eva Ascarza
This note focuses on algorithmic bias in marketing. First, it presents a variety of marketing examples in which algorithmic bias may occur. The examples are organized around the 4 P’s of marketing – promotion, price, place and product—characterizing the marketing... View Details
Keywords: Algorithmic Data; Race And Ethnicity; Promotion; ＂Marketing Analytics＂; Marketing And Society; Big Data; Privacy; Data-driven Management; Data Analysis; Data Analytics; E-Commerce Strategy; Discrimination; Targeting; Targeted Advertising; Pricing Algorithms; Ethical Decision Making; Customer Heterogeneity; Marketing; Race; Ethnicity; Gender; Diversity; Prejudice and Bias; Marketing Communications; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Decision Making; Ethics; Customer Relationship Management; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States
- September 2020 (Revised February 2024)
- Teaching Note
Artea (A), (B), (C), and (D): Designing Targeting Strategies
By: Eva Ascarza and Ayelet Israeli
Teaching Note for HBS No. 521-021,521-022,521-037,521-043. This collection of exercises aims to teach students about 1)Targeting Policies; and 2)Algorithmic bias in marketing—implications, causes, and possible solutions. Part (A) focuses on A/B testing analysis and... View Details
- September 2020 (Revised July 2022)
- Exercise
Artea (D): Discrimination through Algorithmic Bias in Targeting
By: Eva Ascarza and Ayelet Israeli
This collection of exercises aims to teach students about 1)Targeting Policies; and 2)Algorithmic bias in marketing—implications, causes, and possible solutions. Part (A) focuses on A/B testing analysis and targeting. Parts (B),(C),(D) Introduce algorithmic bias. The... View Details
- September 2020 (Revised June 2023)
- Exercise
Artea: Designing Targeting Strategies
By: Eva Ascarza and Ayelet Israeli
This collection of exercises aims to teach students about 1)Targeting Policies; and 2)Algorithmic bias in marketing—implications, causes, and possible solutions. Part (A) focuses on A/B testing analysis and targeting. Parts (B),(C),(D) Introduce algorithmic bias. The... View Details
Keywords: Algorithmic Data; Race And Ethnicity; Experimentation; Promotion; ＂Marketing Analytics＂; Marketing And Society; Big Data; Privacy; Data-driven Management; Data Analytics; Data Analysis; E-Commerce Strategy; Discrimination; Targeted Advertising; Targeted Policies; Targeting; Pricing Algorithms; A/B Testing; Ethical Decision Making; Customer Base Analysis; Customer Heterogeneity; Coupons; Algorithmic Bias; Marketing; Race; Gender; Diversity; Customer Relationship Management; Marketing Communications; Advertising; Decision Making; Ethics; E-commerce; Analytics and Data Science; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States
- September 2020 (Revised June 2023)
- Supplement
Spreadsheet Supplement to Artea Teaching Note
By: Eva Ascarza and Ayelet Israeli
Spreadsheet Supplement to Artea Teaching Note 521-041. This collection of exercises aims to teach students about 1)Targeting Policies; and 2)Algorithmic bias in marketing—implications, causes, and possible solutions. Part (A) focuses on A/B testing analysis and... View Details
- 2020
- Working Paper
Measuring the Cost of Corporate Water Usage
By: DG Park, George Serafeim and T. Robert Zochowski
We develop a methodology that calculates the impact that organizations have on the environment through their water consumption relating to water stress risk. Using the methodology, we derive estimates for four companies that show how assumptions on the geographic... View Details
- Fall 2020
- Article
Climate in the Boardroom: Struggling to Reconcile Business as Usual & the End of the World as We Know It
How does one witness to businesspeople about climate change? Climate change is a problem for the collective and the long term, whereas business often requires a ruthless focus on the individual and the quarter. Climate change is an ethical catastrophe whose solution... View Details
- September 2020
- Article
Creativity, Artificial Intelligence, and a World of Surprises
In recent years, progress has been made toward AI Creativity, which I define as the production of highly novel, yet appropriate, ideas, problem solutions, or other outputs by autonomous machines. I argue that organizational researchers of creativity and innovation... View Details
- 2020
- Article
Research on Corporate Sustainability: Review and Directions for Future Research
By: Jody Grewal and George Serafeim
We review the literature on corporate sustainability and provide directions for future research. Our review focuses on three actions: measuring, managing and communicating corporate sustainability performance. Measurement is the least developed of the three and... View Details
Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainability Reporting; Sustainability Management; Nonfinancial Disclosure; Nonfinancial Information; Nonfinancial Performance; Materiality; ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Disclosure; ESG Disclosure Metrics; ESG Ratings; ESG Reporting; Inequality; Corporate Social Responsibility; Accounting; Finance; Management; Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Climate Change; Diversity; Equality and Inequality; Corporate Disclosure; Measurement and Metrics; Corporate Governance; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact
- September–October 2020
- Article
Social-Impact Efforts That Create Real Value
By: George Serafeim
Until the mid-2010s few investors paid attention to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data—information about companies’ carbon footprints, labor policies, board makeup, and so forth. Today the data is widely used by investors. How can organizations create... View Details
Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainability Management; ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Disclosure; ESG Disclosure Metrics; ESG Ratings; ESG Reporting; Social Impact; Impact Measurement; Social Innovation; Purpose; Corporate Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility; Strategy; Social Enterprise; Society; Accounting; Investment; Environmental Sustainability; Climate Change; Corporate Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Financial Services Industry; Chemical Industry; Technology Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; North America; Europe; Japan; Australia
- August 2020 (Revised September 2020)
- Technical Note
Assessing Prediction Accuracy of Machine Learning Models
The note introduces a variety of methods to assess the accuracy of machine learning prediction models. The note begins by briefly introducing machine learning, overfitting, training versus test datasets, and cross validation. The following accuracy metrics and tools... View Details
- 2021
- Working Paper
Time and the Value of Data
By: Ehsan Valavi, Joel Hestness, Newsha Ardalani and Marco Iansiti
Managers often believe that collecting more data will continually improve the accuracy of their machine learning models. However, we argue in this paper that when data lose relevance over time, it may be optimal to collect a limited amount of recent data instead of... View Details
- August 2020
- Technical Note
Comparing Two Groups: Sampling and t-Testing
This note describes sampling and t-tests, two fundamental statistical concepts. View Details