Publications

2019
Working Paper

Intelligent Design of Inclusive Growth Strategies

By: Robert S. Kaplan, George Serafeim and Eduardo Tugendhat

Improving corporate engagement with society, as advocated in the Business Roundtable’s 2019 statement, should not be viewed as a zero-sum proposition where attention to new stakeholders detracts from delivering shareholder value. Corporate programs for sustainable and... View Details

Keywords: Inclusion; Sustainability; Performance Measures; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Strategy; Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Stakeholder Relations

SSRN

Research Summary

Multinational Firms, Labor Market Discrimination, and the Capture of Competitive Advantage by Exploiting the Social Divide

The organizational theory of the multinational firms holds that foreignness is a liability, and specifically that lack of embeddedness in host-country social networks is a source of competitive disadvantage; meanwhile the literature on labor market discrimination... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firm; Multinationals; Labor Market Discrimination

2022
Article

‘American Management’ vs ‘Swiss Labour Peace’. The Closure of the Swiss Firestone Factory in 1978

By: Sabine Pitteloud

This article focusses on the closure of the Firestone’s Swiss subsidiary in 1978. It contributes to the existing literature dealing with the ‘nationality’ of multinational companies and the impact of U.S. management style on local capitalist systems. Drawing on a... View Details

Keywords: Americanization; Capitalism; Corporate Nationality; Industrial Relations; Multinational; Narratives; Multinational Firms and Management; Nationality; Economic Systems; Labor and Management Relations; Switzerland

Register to Read

July 2014
Article

Network Effects in Countries' Adoption of IFRS

By: Karthik Ramanna and Ewa Sletten

If the differences in accounting standards across countries reflect relatively stable institutional differences (e.g., auditing technology, the rule of law, etc.), why did several countries rapidly, albeit in a staggered manner, adopt IFRS over local standards in the... View Details

Keywords: International Accounting; Financial Reporting; Network Effects

December 2012
Article

The Microwork Solution: A New Approach to Outsourcing Can Support Economic Development—and Add to Your Bottom Line

By: Francesca Gino and Bradely R. Staats

What's the best way to lift people out of poverty? The social entrepreneurs in the new "impact sourcing" industry believe the answer is providing work, not aid. Their organizations hire people at the bottom of the pyramid to perform digital tasks such as transcribing... View Details

Keywords: Outsourcing; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Nonprofit Organizations; Partners and Partnerships; Development Economics; Social Entrepreneurship; Welfare; Cooperation; San Francisco

September 2021 (Revised November 2022)
Case

MAYA Capital

By: Robert F. White, Carla Larangeira and Pedro Levindo

MAYA Capital co-founders Lara Lemann and Monica Saggioro raised $41.5 million through a series of closings for their early-stage Latin American venture capital fund. The two women had met for the first time in mid-2016 when Lemann was contemplating scaling her angel... View Details

Keywords: Early Stage; Portfolio Construction; Fund Management; Investment; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment Portfolio; Strategy; Business Startups; Management; Investment Funds; Latin America

2014
Working Paper

Multinational Firms, Labor Market Discrimination, and the Capture of Competitive Advantage by Exploiting the Social Divide

By: Jordan I. Siegel, Lynn Pyun and B.Y. Cheon

The organizational theory of the multinational firm holds that foreignness is a liability, and specifically that lack of embeddedness in host-country social networks is a source of competitive disadvantage; meanwhile the literature on labor market discrimination... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Human Capital; Selection and Staffing; Multinational Firms and Management; Competitive Advantage; Markets; Profit; Gender; South Korea

SSRN

February 2011
Supplement

The Fox Islands Wind Project (B)

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Evan Richardson

Fox Island Wind Cooperative faces criticism from local residents. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Renewable Energy; Social Entrepreneurship; Cooperative Ownership; Business and Community Relations; Conflict and Resolution; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology Industry; Maine

08 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

Will the Japan Disaster Remake the Landscape for Green Energy in Asia?

relatively cost efficient and scalable source of electricity. The reviews will happen across the world and each country will consider their own energy mix characteristics together with local sentiment."... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Energy; Utilities

October 2020 (Revised July 2023)
Case

UCK Partners: Gong Cha

By: Victoria Ivashina and Sangyun Lee

In the Spring of 2017, Soomin Kim, Founding Partner of UCK Partners, and his team were debating the potential exit of UCK Partner’s investment in Gong Cha Korea, the sole local franchisor of the premium milk tea brand that they proprietarily sourced three years ago.... View Details

Keywords: Exit; Strategic Decision Making; Private Equity; Investment; Strategy; Investment Return; Decision Making; Bids and Bidding

February 2018
Case

Infrastructure in Nigeria: Unlocking Pension Fund Investments

By: John Macomber and Pippa Tubman Armerding

The so-called “infrastructure finance gap” was a problem in Nigeria as in many parts of the world. Infrastructure projects like power plants and dams were very large capital investments that could generate long-term consistent cash flows, but their financing and... View Details

Keywords: Pension Fund Investing; Infrastucture; Power/Energy; Credit Enhancement; Infrastructure; Project Finance; Investment Funds; Emerging Markets; Nigeria; Africa

Research Summary

Overview

Dr. Sheth's research focuses on Indian political economy and social history from the sixteenth century to the contemporary, concentrating on the relationship between business households, financial capital, landed rights, and the dissolution and formation of states.... View Details

08 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

Building Effective R&D Capabilities Abroad

"Building Effective R&D Capabilities Abroad," Walter Kuemmerle looks at changes in the research & development function in the global economy. A centralized R&D approach will no longer suffice, says Kuemmerle, for two reasons: "First, as more... View Details

Keywords: by Walter Kuemmerle

Research Summary

Strategy and Location

An increasing number of companies finds that their individual success is more and more not only a function of their own decisions but also of the local business environment they operate in. In a globalized world economy, these geographically bound factors are among the... View Details

January 2009
Article

Spatial Diversity in Invention: Evidence from the Early R&D Labs

By: Tom Nicholas

This article uses historical data on inventor and firm R&D lab locations to examine the technological and geographic structure of corporate knowledge capital accumulation during a formative period in the organization of US innovation. Despite the localization of... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Geographic Location; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Knowledge Acquisition; Research and Development; United States

Article

Surviving Radical Technological Change through Dynamic Capability: Evidence from the Typesetter Industry

Recent work in the field of management has focused on "dynamic capability," the ability of a firm to develop new capabilities in response to shifts in its external environment, as a significant source of competitive advantage. This paper enhances our understanding of... View Details

Keywords: Management; Technology; History; Competition; Competency and Skills; Investment; Technological Innovation; Business Ventures; Geographic Location; Knowledge Acquisition; Competitive Advantage; Change

06 Aug 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Buy Local? The Geography of Successful and Unsuccessful Venture Capital Expansion

Keywords: by Henry Chen, Paul A. Gompers, Anna Kovner & Josh Lerner

August 2022 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Fresh Food Generation

By: Brian Trelstad, Amy Klopfenstein and Mel Martin

This case highlights one of five BIPOC entrepreneurs in the Boston area as part of the HBS Impact Investment Fund. In fall 2021, a team of HBS students reviewed the financial statements of Fresh Food Generation (FFG), a Dorchester, Massachusetts-based food service... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Investment; Entrepreneurial Finance; Entrepreneurship; Race; Food and Beverage Industry; Boston

Forthcoming
Article

Organizational Emplacement as a Response to Digital Threat: The Novel Resurgence of Independent Bookstores

By: Ryan Raffaelli and Ryann Noe

This study reveals how incumbent actors leverage physical place as source of differentiation in response to the threat of digital commoditization. Through a longitudinal, qualitative analysis of the U.S. independent bookselling industry from 1995 to 2019, we outline... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Place Making; Bookstores; Industry Evolution; Digital; Commoditization; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Digital Transformation; E-commerce; Distribution Channels; Civil Society or Community; Value Creation; Retail Industry