Corporate Profits - Publications - Faculty & Research

06 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Consumers Blame Business for Global Health Problems. Can Business Become the Solution?

to appeal to young would-be smokers. But corporate distrust runs so deep for some consumers that constructive dialogue is virtually impossible; consider vaccination skeptics who criticize Big Pharma’s influence, despite considerable... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Health

18 Jul 2005
Research & Ideas

Identify Emerging Market Opportunities

which it has opened up to the outside world—shapes those markets, and companies must consider those factors, too. The five contexts framework places a superstructure of key markets on a base of sociopolitical choices. Many multinational View Details

Keywords: by Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu & Jayant Sinha

June 1987
Supplement

B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video

By: David B. Yoffie

B-W Footwear's CEO and his son discuss questions of management succession and recent moves to bolster their profitability. View Details

Keywords: Profit; Management Succession; Corporate Strategy

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24 Jul 2018
Op-Ed

4 Ways Managers Can Exercise Their 'Agency' to Change the World

proven business tactic. For every newsworthy instance of a corporation putting profit ahead of social good, there are multiple unheralded examples of companies using social good-oriented initiatives to... View Details

Keywords: by George Serafeim

09 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

How Social Entrepreneurs Can Increase Their Investment Impact

can be profitable while doing good, suggests new research from Benjamin N. Roth, a Harvard Business School assistant professor in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit. “This idea that you're increasing your impact by leveraging capital,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

10 May 2004
Research & Ideas

Rethink the Value of Joint Ventures

markets offer without incurring the costs of collaborating. Two examples stick out. First, if your production processes are fragmented all around the world, then a relationship with a local partner is rife with conflict as the multinational is interested in maximizing... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

01 Oct 2020
What Do You Think?

Are CEOs the Wrong Leaders for Stakeholder Capitalism?

excessive influence (by any stakeholder) Scott believed that the role of government was to establish reasonable rules and to enforce them.” Nongovernmental organizations bear some responsibility, too. As Jim W pointed out: “Delaware’s narrow charter that View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

23 May 2019
Book

These Entrepreneurs Take a Pragmatic Approach to Solving Social Problems

In 1908, Harvard Business School’s first dean, Edwin Francis Gay, welcomed the School’s inaugural class of 59 students by saying that HBS was challenged with encouraging its students to have the “intellectual respect for business as a profession, with the social... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Green Technology

10 Jan 2008
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Operations Management

resource allocation lead to strategy failures? Can operations become a competitive advantage? Can "lean" Productions Methods Improve Service Industries? Bringing 'Lean' Principles to Service Industries Toyota and other top manufacturing companies have embraced,... View Details

05 Aug 2002
What Do You Think?

Is Platform Leadership Old Hat or the Wave of the Future?

conflicts of interest most effectively), these organizations have taken different paths to build competitive positions that are hard for others to attack. They can force suppliers, consumers, competitors, and complementors to bend to their will in the hope of obtaining... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

November 7, 2023
Article

How Courage Can Help Leaders Stay the Course

By: Ranjay Gulati

Keywords: Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Profit; Food and Beverage Industry

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18 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 18

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=46779 Working Papers An Analysis of Firms' Self-Reported Anticorruption Efforts By: Healy, Paul M., and George Serafeim Abstract—We use Transparency International's ratings of self-reported anticorruption efforts for 480... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 1

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/download.aspx?name=Marketplace_Reseller_HBS%20WP%2001312014.pdf August 2013 Corporations and Citizenship Can For-Profit Corporations Be Good Citizens? Perspectives from Four... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

11 Oct 2010
Research & Ideas

It Pays to Hire Women in Countries That Won’t

Call it corporate alchemy. New research finds that multinational companies can spin gender bias into gold by recruiting and hiring well-educated female managers in countries that traditionally discriminate against women. Employing women... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

11 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

The Business of Saving the Planet

Roundtable, 200 powerful CEOs said corporations should widen their missions beyond just maximizing profits for shareholders. These Entrepreneurs Take a Pragmatic Approach to Solving Social ProblemsUsing... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Energy; Green Technology

17 Dec 2001
Research & Ideas

Risks and Rewards of the Intrapreneur

for him, Levine said, was that the company's CEO backed the project, and allowed the group to operate outside the usual corporate boundaries. Levine was even able to move the start-up off campus. Once the group had developed its product,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

01 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

What to Do When Your Organization Has Dueling Missions

commercial revenue to fund its social mission. As such, hybrids combine typical aspects of both corporations and social organizations. “Hybrids have to simultaneously pursue commercial and social objectives” Managing a hybrid is no easy... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

27 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

Take Responsibility for Rising Stars

Many executives believe that leadership development is a job for the HR department. This may be the single biggest misconception they can have. As corporations have broken down work into manageable activities and then consolidated... View Details

Keywords: by Jeffrey M. Cohn, Rakesh Khurana & Laura Reeves

04 Mar 2002
Research & Ideas

Don’t Lose Money With Customers

Investors diligently manage financial portfolios to maximize returns on their assets; yet corporate managers who invariably proclaim their business customers to be "valuable assets" rarely manage their relationships with them... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs

04 Apr 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 4

capitalist Shibusawa Eiichi in a global historical perspective. The chapter reviews the similarities and differences over time and between countries of proponents of corporate responsibility, including Andrew Carnegie and Robert Anderson... View Details