Publications

February 2004 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Ockham Technologies: Living on the Razor's Edge

By: Noam T. Wasserman

Describes the issues facing a founder-CEO regarding building a board of directors, assembling an executive team, managing tension between co-founders, and outsourcing system development work. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Conflict Management; Governing and Advisory Boards; Employees; Management Teams; Product Development; Technology Industry

March 2011
Article

Talking Past Each Other?: Cultural Framing of Skeptical and Convinced Logics in the Climate Change Debate

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

This article analyzes the extent to which two institutional logics around climate change—the climate change “convinced” and the climate change “skeptical” logics—are truly competing or talking past each other in a way that can be described as a logic schism. Drawing on... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Values and Beliefs; Cognition and Thinking; News; Conflict and Resolution

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March 2010
Supplement

Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C)

By: V.G. Narayanan, Richard G. Hamermesh and Rachel Gordon

The case describes how the Brigham and Women's Physicians Organization and its corporate parent resolved the issue of how the disputed funds would be distributed and used. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Business Subsidiaries; Organizational Design; Conflict and Resolution; Resource Allocation; Health Industry

June 2008
Case

Starbucks Coffee Company in the 21st Century

By: Nancy F. Koehn, Marya Lisl Hill-Popper Besharov and Katherine Miller

The case explores the opportunities and challenges confronting Starbucks in the early 21st century. For more than 15 years, Starbucks has grown swiftly and successfully, helping create a large, dynamic market for specialty coffee, building one of the world's most... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Economy; Growth Management; Brands and Branding; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Competition

October 2021 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Engine No.1: An Impact Investing Firm Engages with ExxonMobil

By: Mark Kramer, Shawn Cole, Vikram S. Gandhi and T. Robert Zochowski

ExxonMobil, the world's fifth largest source of carbon emissions, remained committed to aggressively expanding its oil & gas business despite global warming. During the COVID pandemic this strategy resulted in massive losses as the price and demand for oil declined. ... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Emissions; Global Warming; Impact Investment Funds; Hedge Fund Activism; Leadership Development; Business Model; Renewable Energy; Resource Allocation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards

27 Nov 2017
Research & Ideas

Beware the Lasting Impression of a 'Temporary' Selfie

that they will disappear quickly from the public eye after having been seen by the intended recipients or after a short period of time. Disappearing selfies are seemingly the ideal solution for people who enjoy life on social media but... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

2016
Working Paper

Delay as Agenda Setting

By: James J. Anton and Dennis A. Yao

We examine a dynamic decision-making process involving unrelated issues in which a decision may be endogenously delayed by the allocation of influence resources. Delay is strategically interesting when decision makers with asymmetric preferences face multiple issues... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Resource Allocation; Conflict of Interests; Power and Influence; Strategy

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April 13, 2021
Article

Misinformation about Science in the Public Sphere

By: Dietram A. Scheufele, Andrew J. Hoffman, Liz Neely and Czerne M. Reid

This is an introduction to a special issue on a colloquium of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine titled, “Advancing the science and practice of science communication: Misinformation about science in the public sphere.” This event was the... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Dissemination; Communication Strategy; Science; Information

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2012
Book

The Handbook for Teaching Leadership: Knowing, Doing, and Being

By: Scott Snook, Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana

The last 25 years have witnessed an explosion in the field of leadership education. This volume brings together leading international scholars across disciplines to chronicle the current state of leadership education and establish a solid foundation on which to grow... View Details

Keywords: Change; Business Education; Leadership; Goals and Objectives; Management Style; Organizational Structure; Perspective; Diversification; Technology

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The recent growth of concern around issues such as social biases implicit in algorithms, economic impacts of artificial intelligence (AI), or potential existential threats posed... View Details

06 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

After Germanwings, More Attention Needed on Employee Mental Health

him fly at all. That discussion is a rare surfacing of an issue too often ignored—the problem of mental health in the workplace. “A very interesting question to ask is whether the tragedy will be good or bad for treatment and management... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health; Air Transportation

13 Sep 2019
Blog Post

An Uncommon Summer: Project Management at an Education Non-Profit

This article is a repost from the Social Enterprise Initiative blog. Prior to Harvard Business School, I spent eight years on active duty military service as an Aviation officer and helicopter pilot in the United States Army. My career... View Details

26 Oct 2021
Blog Post

Tap into Top Talent with the HBS Leadership Fellows Program

When Rob Zeaske (MBA 2002) came to Harvard Business School two decades ago, he was also interested in having an impact at the intersection of business and social enterprise, but he didn’t know exactly how to pursue that career. Fast... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise

2019
White Paper

Impact-Weighted Financial Accounts: The Missing Piece for an Impact Economy

By: George Serafeim, T. Robert Zochowski and Jennifer Downing

Reimagining capitalism is an imperative. We need to create a more inclusive and sustainable form of capitalism that works for every person and the planet. Massive environmental damage, growing income and wealth disparity, stress, and depression within developed... View Details

Keywords: Impact-Weighted Accounts; IWAI; Background; Economic Systems; Economy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Measurement and Metrics; Financial Statements

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27 Jul 2019
Op-Ed

Does Facebook's Business Model Threaten Our Elections?

In the 2012 US presidential election, the Obama campaign deftly used a Facebook app to register voters and have friends message them to get out the vote. But it was 2016 presidential campaign that really changed social media’s impact on... View Details

Keywords: by George Riedel

29 Mar 2019
Blog Post

SEI25 Series: Misan Rewane, MBA 2013, CEO WAVE

This blog was originally published on the SEI Impact Insights blog. This post is part of the Social Enterprise Initiative 25th anniversary blog series, which highlights some of the faculty, staff, students, and alumni who have been a part... View Details

January 2017 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Sales Razor Technologies

By: Paul Gompers and Noam Wasserman

Describes the issues facing a founder-CEO regarding building a board of directors, assembling an executive team, managing tension between co-founders, and outsourcing system development work. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Conflict Management; Governing and Advisory Boards; Employees; Management Teams; Product Development; Technology Industry

April 1999 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Al Dunlap at Sunbeam

By: Brian J. Hall, Rakesh Khurana and Carleen Madigan

Al Dunlap was one of the best-known corporate turnaround artists of the 1990s. In 1996, he was hired at Sunbeam to effect a restructuring, but was fired almost two years later when the company's financial performance and stock price began to decline. Many of the... View Details

Keywords: Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Restructuring; Stock Shares; Performance Evaluation; Leadership Style; Resignation and Termination; Motivation and Incentives; Executive Compensation; Outcome or Result; Consumer Products Industry; United States

July 1993
Case

National Youth Association

One division questions the prices for services provided by other divisions which are higher than bids received from outside contractors. The issue is submitted to senior management for resolution. View Details

Keywords: Operations; Conflict and Resolution