Publications

Find at Harvard

15 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

The Coming Transformation of Social Enterprise

sector. In a way they become the catalysts for internal change. Q: Many alumni get involved with corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Critics of CSR often cite Milton Friedman, who famously said that "the social... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson

November 1999 (Revised July 2001)
Case

New Profit Inc.: Governing the Nonprofit Enterprise

By: Robert S. Kaplan

New Profit, Inc. (NPI) is an innovative venture philanthropy fund. Founded by social entrepreneur Venessa Kirsch, NPI intends to raise large donations from individuals who wish to invest in nonprofit enterprises that could have a significant social impact and the... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Nonprofit Organizations; Venture Capital; Social Entrepreneurship; Corporate Governance; Performance Evaluation; Financial Statements; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Service Industry

July 2020 (Revised January 2021)
Case

Vineet Nayar and Sampark Foundation: Frugal Innovation at Scale (A) (Abridged)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Tedards

In 2005, Vineet Nayar, the former CEO and Vice Chairman of HCL Technologies, and his wife, Anupama Nayar, committed $100 million of their personal wealth to found Sampark Foundation—a grant-making philanthropy with a mission to transform learning outcomes for 20... View Details

July 2020 (Revised January 2021)
Case

Vineet Nayar and Sampark Foundation: Frugal Innovation at Scale (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Tedards

In 2005, Vineet Nayar, the former CEO and Vice Chairman of HCL Technologies, and his wife, Anupama Nayar, committed $100 million of their personal wealth to found Sampark Foundation — a grant-making philanthropy with a mission to transform learning outcomes for 20... View Details

September 2009 (Revised May 2011)
Supplement

Acumen Fund: Measurement in Impact Investing (B)

By: Alnoor Ebrahim and V. Kasturi Rangan

As Acumen Fund, a global venture philanthropy firm, moves forward with an investment portfolio exceeding $22 million, it runs into two critical measurement problems. First, how should it track the performance of each investment when its interest is not just the bottom... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment Portfolio; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Standards; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Evaluation; Social Enterprise; Competition; Financial Services Industry; Kenya

04 Dec 2012
First Look

First Look: December 4

http://www.people.hbs.edu/jsebenius/articles_scans/12_IS_NuclearDealWithIran.pdf Punctuated Generosity: Events, Communities, and Corporate Philanthropy Authors:Andras Tilcsik and Christopher Marquis... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

January 2004 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version)

By: James E. Austin and James Quinn

When Jeffrey Swartz became the third generation in his family to lead the Timberland Co., he made community involvement an integral part of the company's strategy. Under Swartz's leadership, Timberland formed a close partnership with City Year, the national corps of... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Business and Community Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Strategy; Manufacturing Industry

November 2002 (Revised January 2003)
Case

SBC Foundation, The

By: Diana Barrett, Sarah Aaron and Cassandra Hanley

Examines the role of the corporation as it makes philanthropic donations. Questions raised include the connection between corporate strategy and giving, the degree to which grant making should be decentralized, and the size and focus of grants. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

Find at Harvard

20 Nov 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, November 20, 2018

different methods of selecting peers, sampling, different proxies and estimation techniques. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55265 Corporate Legal Structure and Bank Loan Spreads By: Sikochi,... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

20 Nov 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Entrepreneurship and Business Groups: An Evolutionary Perspective on the Growth of the Koç Group in Turkey

Keywords: by Asli M. Coplan & Geoffrey Jones

14 Dec 1999
Research & Ideas

From Spare Change to Real Change: The Social Sector as a Beta Site for Business Innovation

equipment, and tired executives on their way out. Such arm's-length models of corporate philanthropy have not produced fundamental solutions to America's most urgent domestic problems of public education,... View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

12 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

Global Poverty Needs a Global Answer

to be published by Princeton University Press. In this recent interview conducted by e-mail, Lodge is hopeful that the World Development Corporation will be formed. He explains why nonprofits aren't the answer to ending poverty and asks... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

November 2014 (Revised March 2017)
Exercise

Walmart: Segmenting Social Impact

By: Michael Porter, Mark Kramer and Pamela Sud

This case provides a sample of Walmart's social engagement activities and asks students to categorize each as philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, or creating shared value. View Details

Keywords: Creating Shared Value; Society; Value Creation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Retail Industry

May 2015
Teaching Note

Walmart: Segmenting Social Impact

By: Michael E. Porter, Mark R. Kramer and Pamela Sud

This case provides a sample of Walmart's social engagement activities and asks students to categorize each as philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, or creating shared value. View Details

Keywords: Creating Shared Value; Society; Value Creation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

February 2022
Case

Paul Polman

By: Elizabeth A. Keenan, Youngme Moon and Susie Ma

Over his 40-year career, Paul Polman had led some of the world’s largest consumer goods companies, making his biggest mark as CEO of Unilever—a multi-national corporation that produced everything from soap to soup. Polman was also well-regarded as a leader in corporate... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Leadership; Corporate Accountability; Personal Development and Career; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Ethics; Values and Beliefs; Social Issues; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

10 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Motivation and the Cross-Sector Alliance

society through a cultural change that had solidarity as its core value. In our sample alliances, this motivation was associated with a specific company type: family-owned businesses. These are companies controlled by an individual or a family, despite the existence of... View Details

Keywords: by James Austin, Ezequiel Reficco & SEKN research team

November 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

AT&T Foundation, The

By: Diana Barrett, Cassandra Hanley and Sarah Aaron

Explores the corporate philanthropic activities at AT&T, formed in 1983. Addresses the difficulty of making centralized decisions after the break-up for the four new entities, each with a diverse and sometimes cross-competitive strategy. View Details

Keywords: Goals and Objectives; For-Profit Firms; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Telecommunications Industry