Publications

January 2019 (Revised July 2019)
Case

New Balance: Managing Orders and Working Conditions

By: Michael W. Toffel, Eileen McNeely and Matthew Preble

New Balance Athletics, Inc., a major U.S.-based athletic footwear and apparel brand, sources most of its footwear products from independent suppliers whose factories are located in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Monica Gorman, vice president of responsible leadership... View Details

Keywords: Footwear; Athletic Footwear; Manufacturing; CSR; Sustainability; Quality Management; Supply Chains; Operations; Management; Production; Working Conditions; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Labor and Management Relations; Supply Chain Management; Supply Chain; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry

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Courses & Case Studies - Social Impact Collaboratory

Courses & Case Studies Shawn Cole and Vikram Gandhi teach courses at Harvard Business School on impact investing and sustainable finance. The case list below highlights case... View Details

June 2008
Case

From xiaonei to hainei: The Quest for the Social Networking Service Market in China

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Michael Shih-Ta Chen and Keith Chi-ho Wong

Wang Xing, the founder of Hainei.com, one of the fastest growing social networking service (SNS) providers in China, was preparing to raise funds from venture capitalists. Since late 2003, Wang had established several Internet startups in China. Xiaonei.com, which he... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Social and Collaborative Networks; Competition; Internet; China

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09 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

How Social Entrepreneurs Can Increase Their Investment Impact

companies, that's too simple because it ignores the cost on the firms you’re supporting,” says Roth, author of the new working paper Impact Investing: A Theory of Financing Social Entrepreneurship. Decisions on how best to support View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

Web

For Organizations | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Social Enterprise Executive Education programs, designed for nonprofit and social enterprise leaders. Develop the strategic knowledge, practical tools, View Details

16 Jul 2024
Blog Post

Advancing Health Equity: Social Enterprise Summer Fellow Simona Stancov (MBA 2025)

organization website and resource center. References [1] Over 40 countries have achieved malaria-free certification as of January 2024 (WHO) [2] Children under five years of age constituted 76% of 608,000 deaths from malaria in 2022... View Details

2015
Book

Political Standards: Corporate Interest, Ideology, and Leadership in the Shaping of Accounting Rules for the Market Economy

By: Karthik Ramanna

There are certain institutions underlying our modern market-capitalist system that are largely outside the interest and understanding of the general public—e.g., rulemaking for bank capital adequacy, actuarial standards, accounting standards, and auditing practice. In... View Details

Keywords: Business And Society; Financial Institutions; Financial Reporting; GAAP; IFRS; Lobbying; Capitalism; Sustainability; Accounting; Finance; Business and Government Relations; Leadership; Accounting Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States; China; India

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May 2016 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Olivia Lum: Wanting to Save the World

By: Geoffrey Jones and Essie Alamsyah

This case considers the entrepreneurial career of Olivia Lum, who founded the Singaporean water company Hyflux in 1989. An orphan born in Malaysia, Lum provides a rare case of an entrepreneurial success in a country whose economic success has primarily rested on... View Details

17 Nov 2022
Blog Post

Creating Emerging Markets Sustainability Series - The Future of Green Building

Creating Emerging Markets Sustainability Series – The Future of Green Building Cover image features Christoph Schiess (left) and Jim Damalas (right). Over the course of the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference... View Details

March 2014 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Teach For China and the Chinese Nonprofit Sector

By: William C. Kirby and Erica M. Zendell

Teach For China was founded in 2008 with the mission of expanding educational opportunity across China. By 2013, Andrea Pasinetti's lofty dream had taken flight: over 300 graduates from top American and Chinese universities were participating in its 2-year teaching... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit; China; Business And Government Relations; Business And Poverty; Business And Society; Emerging Market Entrepreneurship; Emerging Market; NGO; Education; Entrepreneurship; Social Enterprise; Emerging Markets; Non-Governmental Organizations; Nonprofit Organizations; Education Industry; China

June 2022 (Revised November 2022)
Case

The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Sweden's Utopia at a Crossroads

By: Debora L. Spar and Julia M. Comeau

Sweden’s model of capitalism rests on a unique social contract, in which social welfare priorities can co-exist within a vibrant capitalist system. In 2022, however, contemporary pressures were growing on the traditional Swedish model, including mounting calls for... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Social Welfare; Policy; Privatization; Immigration; Social Issues; Civil Society or Community; Government and Politics; Sweden

September 2000
Background Note

Professional Services Module Two: External Strategy for Sustained Competitive Advantage

By: Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda and Scot H. Landry

Concerns itself with the strategic dynamics which influence organizations externally. View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Business Plan; Service Operations; For-Profit Firms; Power and Influence; Measurement and Metrics; Business Processes; Management Practices and Processes; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

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30 Jun 2009
Research Event

Business Summit: The Role of Business Leaders in Sustaining Market Capitalism

environmental issues, inadequate governance, and lack of transparency. But these same leaders have very different perspectives on the most appropriate path forward. Some feel the sole focus of business... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

August 2018
Teaching Note

Wilderness Safaris: Ecotourism Entrepreneurship

By: James E. Austin, Megan Epler Wood and Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard

Teaching Note for HBS No. 318-040. View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Conservation Planning; Corporate Social Responsibility; Ecotourism; Strategy; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Africa; Botswana

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Blog | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

looking back at some of our top Impact Insights blog posts of the ... Social Enterprise Fall in Review Margot Dushin 05 Dec 2019 For the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative, fall went by in a flash. The fall... View Details

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Building Bridges to Sustainable Infrastructure with Allied Climate Partners - Recruiting

Insights & Advice 15 Jan 2025 Building Bridges to Sustainable Infrastructure with Allied Climate Partners Ousmane Sacko Author MBA Students tag All Industries All Locations Student & Alumni Stories Summer Internships The summer between my... 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

Keywords: Water; Water Management; Environment; Sustainability; Environmental Impact; Impact-Weighted Accounts; IWAI; Organizations; Environmental Sustainability; Valuation