Publications

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2021
Working Paper

Science-Based Carbon Emissions Targets

By: David Freiberg, Jody Grewal and George Serafeim

We examine the effect of voluntarily adopting a standard for setting science-based carbon emissions targets on target difficulty and investments to achieve those targets. We find that firms with a track record of setting and achieving ambitious carbon targets are more... View Details

Keywords: Target; Targeting; Target-setting; Target Efficiency; Management Control Systems; Management Accounting; Environment; Environmental And Social Sustainability; Climate Change; Environmental Management; Environmental Accounting; Environmental Sustainability; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

SSRN

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18 Mar 2024
Research & Ideas

When It Comes to Climate Regulation, Energy Companies Take a More Nuanced View

Common wisdom holds that oil and gas companies, electric utilities, and other industries known for their large carbon emissions generally oppose clean energy policies. Now, a study of corporate advocacy spanning 30 years reveals that many companies are more flexible... View Details

Keywords: by Desmond Dodd; Energy; Utilities

15 Aug 2023
HBS Case

(Virtual) Reality Check: How Long Before We Live in the 'Metaverse'?

internet, but email hasn't been invented yet.” What exactly is the metaverse again? People view the metaverse in different ways. Some associate it with a “massive participatory videogame inspired by science fiction,” while others see it... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Technology; Computer; Information Technology

01 Nov 2022
Cold Call Podcast

Marie Curie: A Case Study in Breaking Barriers

Keywords: Re: Robert Simons

15 Mar 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

More Than 900 Examples of How Climate Change Affects Business

This word cloud is composed of blog posts by more than 900 students describing how individual organizations are likely to be affected by climate change. Image by Patrick Clapp Last fall, first-year MBA students at Harvard Business School received a new assignment in... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Green Technology

12 Feb 2013
First Look

First Look: Feb. 12

Preannouncements under Market Uncertainty Authors:Ofek, Elie, and Ozge Turut Publication:Marketing Science Abstract A firm may want to preannounce its plans to develop a new product in order to stimulate future demand. But given that such... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2008
Case

Novartis AG: Science-Based Business

By: H. Kent Bowen and Courtney Purrington

Novartis is a science-based drug company, which has important implications for its business strategy. It is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world with over $38B in sales in 2007. Pharmaceuticals account for slightly over $24B of that total. In 2007,... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Resource Allocation; Product Development; Partners and Partnerships; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Pharmaceutical Industry

28 Aug 2007
First Look

First Look: August 28, 2007

Poverty Authors: James E. Austin and Michael Chu Periodical: Art. 1. Social Enterprise: Making a Difference. ReVista 6, no. 1 (fall 2006): 3-5 Consumers' Price Sensitivities across Complementary Categories Authors: Sri Devi Deepak, Asim Ansari, and Sunil Gupta... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2014
Case

The Weather Company

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

New CEO David Kenny transformed The Weather Company in less than two years from a primary identity as a cable television channel to a multi-platform digital company innovating in the uses of weather data. He assesses progress and considers strategic choices and... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Strategy; Strategic Change; Change Management; Expansion; Weather; Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Technology Industry

November 2015 (Revised August 2016)
Case

Unilever's New Global Strategy: Competing through Sustainability

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

In January 2009, when Paul Polman was appointed CEO of Unilever, he inherited a company in long-term decline at the beginning of a major global financial crisis. As the first outsider ever recruited to lead the company, Polman lost little time in challenging the... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Competitive Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Consumer Products Industry

March 2023
Case

Azenta Life Sciences: The Road to Transformation

By: Gary P. Pisano and Catherine Piner

When the Board brought Steve Schwartz in as President of Brooks Automation in 2010, they gave him a clear mission: strengthen the company’s core semiconductor equipment business and find a new industry to enter. Over the course of the next decade, Schwartz and the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Market Entry and Exit; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Segmentation; Technology Industry

19 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Birth of the American Salesman

Electric, and Carnegie Steel were all founded in the 1880s; in the following decade came Wrigley's Chewing Gum, General Electric, Burroughs, and Pepsico. These companies developed modern sales techniques, created procedures for management that paralleled those of the... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard

20 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 20

Nonverbal Displays Affect Neuroendocrine Levels and Risk Tolerance Authors: Dana R. Carney, Amy J.C. Cuddy, and Andy J. Yap Publication: Psychological Science (forthcoming) Abstract Humans and other animals express power through open,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

11 Aug 2022
Research & Ideas

When Parents Tell Kids to ‘Work Hard,’ Do They Send the Wrong Message?

political orientation of respondents. “That’s not too surprising in the context of the United States, where we conducted the study, where there are strong beliefs about the importance of hard work.” In a second study, the researchers asked parents and children in View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Education

26 Sep 2023
Research & Ideas

Unpacking That Icky Feeling of 'Shopping' for Diverse Job Candidates

the pseudonym ShopCo. Her ethnographic study of the company, which was regarded as progressive and engaged in DEI, is detailed in a new paper in the September issue of Administrative Science Quarterly. A progressive tech firm shuns a... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

27 Oct 2009
First Look

First Look: October 27

and Karim R. Lakhani Publication: Organization Science (forthcoming). Abstract We examine who the winners are in science problem-solving contests characterized by open broadcast of problem information,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2022
Article

Gender Inequality in Research Productivity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

By: Ruomeng Cui, Hao Ding and Feng Zhu

We study the disproportionate impact of the lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak on female and male academics' research productivity in social science. The lockdown has caused substantial disruptions to academic activities, requiring people to work from home.... View Details

Keywords: Gender Inequality; Research Productivity; Telecommuting; COVID-19 Pandemic; Research; Performance Productivity; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Health Pandemics

Find at Harvard

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2009
Case

What People Want (and How to Predict It)

By: Thomas H. Davenport and Jeanne G. Harris

Historically, neither the creators nor the distributors of cultural products such as books or movies have used analytics -- data, statistics, predictive modeling -- to determine the likely success of their offerings. Instead, companies relied on the brilliance of... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Creativity; Customer Satisfaction; Forecasting and Prediction; Markets; Business Model; Publishing Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry