Publications

May 13, 2021
Article

How to Lead in the Stakeholder Era

By: Hubert Joly

The world is clearly facing multifaceted crises: a health crisis, an economic crisis, a societal crisis, a racial crisis, an environmental crisis, and rising geopolitical tensions. In the face of these challenges, there is a growing realization that business and... View Details

Keywords: Business And Society; Stakeholder Capitalism; Leadership; Business and Stakeholder Relations

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02 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 2

such rifts, language training must include cross-cultural education. Publisher's link: http://hbr.org/2014/09/whats-your-language-strategy/ar/1 September 2014 Journal of Environmental Economics and Management Government Green Procurement... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Rowan Clarke

Rowan Clarke is a PhD candidate at Harvard Business School in the Strategy Unit. He researches entrepreneurship and technology/AI for economic development and social impact. His work assists small business entrepreneurs, and high-growth technology... View Details

Keywords: energy; financial services; green technology; retail financial services; microfinance; management consulting; high technology

17 Jun 2015
Research & Ideas

Michael Porter on America’s Historic Energy Opportunity

A new report from experts Michael E. Porter, David S. Gee, and Gregory J. Pope at Harvard Business School and The Boston Consulting Group outlines a strategic approach for improving United States competitiveness while reducing environmental impact and making progress... View Details

Keywords: Re: Michael E. Porter; Energy; Utilities

05 Jun 2013
Op-Ed

Corporate Leaders Need to Step Up on Climate Change

Green initiatives are ubiquitous these days, implemented with zeal at companies like Dupont, IBM, Walmart, and Walt Disney. The programs being rolled out—lighting retrofits, zero-waste factories, and carpool incentives—save money and provide a green glow. Most large... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Toffel & Auden Schendler

06 Sep 2018
Cold Call Podcast

Should US Companies Still Care About the Paris Climate Change Agreement?

Keywords: Re: Vincent Pons; Manufacturing; Mining

September 1991 (Revised August 1996)
Case

Procter & Gamble Co., The: Lenor Refill Package

By: John A. Quelch

The assistant brand manager for Lenor, Procter & Gamble Germany's fabric softener brand, was preparing a presentation on the national launch of an environmentally friendly refill package. View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Environmental Sustainability; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry; Germany; United States

21 Sep 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Public Procurement and the Private Supply of Green Buildings

Keywords: by Timothy Simcoe & Michael W. Toffel

22 Jan 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate Sustainability: A Strategy?

Keywords: by Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim

March 1996 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Freeport Indonesia

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

In 1996, PT Freeport Indonesia, the mining subsidiary of Freeport McMoRan, had just completed an expansion of its copper and gold mine in the western half of New Guinea. The mine, which had dealt with numerous environmental and sociocultural problems over the past... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Mining; Environmental Sustainability; Business Strategy; Expansion; Social Issues; Mining Industry; Indonesia

June 2001 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Plum Creek Timber (B)

By: Max H. Bazerman, Jack Troast, Hannah Bowles and Nicole Nasser

Plum Creek Timber Co. decides to go ahead with negotiations for a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) on its Pacific Northwest properties. HCP represents a new form of public-private-sector collaboration and innovation to improve upon command-and-control environmental... View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Participants; Environmental Sustainability; Business and Government Relations; Forest Products Industry; United States

Video

Adenike Ogunlesi

Adenike Ogunlesi, Founder and Chief Responsibility Officer of Ruff 'n' Tumble, addresses the complexities and opportunities for incorporating environmental and social responsibility in businesses, particularly in the context of Nigeria. View Details

28 Apr 2022
Blog Post

Harvard Team Wins Second Place in MIINT Impact Investing Competition

Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School joined together in teams of 5-6 students, sourced investments in high-impact startups, and conducted due diligence on the business opportunity, financial returns, and social and View Details

September 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Dream: Impact Through Real Estate

By: Michael Chu and John Masko

The Canadian city of Toronto had one of the largest housing affordability problems of any city in the developed world. One company trying to address this problem was Dream, one of the largest real estate groups in Canada. In 2021, Dream had just launched a new system... View Details

2021
Working Paper

Shareholder Activism and Firms’ Voluntary Disclosure of Climate Change Risks

By: Caroline Flammer, Michael W. Toffel and Kala Viswanathan

This paper examines whether—in the absence of mandated disclosure requirements—shareholder activism can elicit greater disclosure of firms’ exposure to climate change risks. We find that environmental shareholder activism increases the voluntary disclosure of climate... View Details

Keywords: Shareholder Activism; Climate Risk; Corporate Accountability; Climate Change; Corporate Disclosure; Corporate Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Shareholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Natural Environment; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Services Industry; United States

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30 Nov 2018
What Do You Think?

What’s the Best Administrative Approach to Climate Change?

Summing Up: Should a 'Montreal Protocol' for Administering Global Warming Be Pursued? Climate change and how to manage it is a daunting subject. Nevertheless, several readers of this month’s column were willing to venture a model or two for administering a system... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Energy

11 Jan 2016
Blog Post

Meet the Business and Environment Initiative

other curriculum materials on environmental topics such as climate change, sustainable cities, clean energy, and integrated reporting. We feature the latest cases in our research update, which is emailed to... View Details

September 1993 (Revised October 1994)
Case

Environment and International Trade

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

During the 1990s, environmental activists became interested in trade issues for the first time. Whereas GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, had previously been the province of trade specialists, a new poster popular among environmentalists depicted the... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Environmental Sustainability; Science-Based Business; Policy; Government and Politics; Agreements and Arrangements; Alliances; Globalization; International Relations; Conflict of Interests

2022
Case

Can Salesforce Compete in the Carbon Accounting Market?

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

This case describes Salesforce's development of Sustainability Cloud, a suite of software tools built to help companies measure, track, and report carbon emissions and other sustainability metrics. The goal of this case is to provide students with a background and... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Accounting; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Accountability; Applications and Software