Publications

08 Sep 2016
News

Monitoring global supply chains

2008
Working Paper

Extending Producer Responsibility: An Evaluation Framework for Product Take-Back Policies

By: Michael W. Toffel, Antoinette Stein and Katharine Lee

Manufacturers are increasingly being required to adhere to product take-back regulations that require them to manage their products at the end of life. Such regulations seek to internalize products' entire life cycle costs into market prices, with the ultimate... View Details

Keywords: Product; Cost; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability

SSRN

28 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

The FDA’s Speedy Drug Approvals Are Safe: A Win-Win for Patients and Pharma Innovation

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the US Food and Drug Administration faced the task of convincing a skeptical public of the safety of new vaccines when the agency began authorizing them for emergency use less than a year after the pandemic... View Details

Keywords: by Kasandra Brabaw; Pharmaceutical

2020
Working Paper

Improving Regulatory Effectiveness Through Better Targeting: Evidence from OSHA

By: Matthew S. Johnson, David I. Levine and Michael W. Toffel

We study how a regulator can best target inspections. Our case study is a US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) program that randomly allocated some inspections. On average, each inspection averted 2.4 serious injuries (9%) over the next five years.... View Details

Keywords: Government Administration; Working Conditions; Safety; Quality; Production; Analysis; Resource Allocation; Manufacturing Industry; United States

SSRN

10 Dec 2021
Research & Ideas

Truth Be Told: Unpacking the Risks of Whistleblowing

complaint, but the class discussion turned to the motivations of the man who revealed the wrongdoing. Have you ever thought about blowing the whistle? Dey asked her students. Their response: We’ve thought about it, but it is so costly. At a time when View Details

Keywords: by April White

19 Jun 2018
News

When Technology Gets Ahead of Society

06 Nov 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Extending Producer Responsibility: An Evaluation Framework for Product Take-Back Policies

Keywords: by Michael W. Toffel, Antoinette Stein & Katharine L. Lee; Chemical

17 Jun 2016
Op-Ed

Companies Need to Start Marketing Security to Customers

children. Volvo's latest goal is that no one should die in a Volvo car after 2020. Most firms just quietly test their products and services, receiving the blessing of Underwriters Laboratories, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, or... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch; Entertainment & Recreation

September 2019
Supplement

Keroche (B): Considering Entry into the Kenyan Beer Market

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pippa Tubman Armerding

This case discusses the situation of the Kenyan alcoholic drinks producer Keroche in July 2004, when co-founder Tabitha Karanja was debating whether to enter the Kenyan beer market. Doing so would mean direct competition with the multinational EABL in an industry and... View Details

Keywords: Keroche; Alcohol; Alcoholic Drinks; Alcoholic Beverages; Beverages; Drinks; Wine Industry; Wine; Fortified Wine; Viena; Beer; Beer Market; Manufacturing; Production Capacity; Capacity; Growth; Regulated; Unregulated; Informal; Informal Market; Regulation; Illicit; Illegal; Substandard; Dangerous; Shutdown; Factory; Safe; Affordable; Low-income Consumers; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Production; Investment; Safety; Quality; Small Business; Family Business; Crime and Corruption; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decisions; Income; Demographics; Geographic Scope; Geographic Location; Goods and Commodities; Government Legislation; Growth and Development; Business History; Lawsuits and Litigation; Laws and Statutes; Lawfulness; Goals and Objectives; Consumer Behavior; Market Entry and Exit; Problems and Challenges; Social Issues; Poverty; Strategy; Competition; Entrepreneurship; Marketing; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Kenya; Nairobi; Africa

January 2020 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Governing PG&E

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

The five commissioners of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) listened intently at a public forum in April 2019 as PG&E Corporation’s out-going chairman Richard Kelly described the company’s proposed new board. PG&E, which provided electricity and natural... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

By: Michael W. Toffel

My research examines how companies manage environmental issues, occupational safety, and working conditions in global supply chains. More recently, I have also begun researching the drivers and implications of CEO activism, where organizational leaders speak out on... View Details

27 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

Manly Men, Oil Platforms, and Breaking Stereotypes

interview, Ely discusses the origins of the research, her experiences aboard an oil platform, and how this research can improve safety at other job sites. Sarah Jane Gilbert: How do you define masculine identity and what led you to study... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

2007
Article

Pharmacovigilance and the Missing Denominator: The Changing Context of Pharmaceutical Risk Mitigation

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

In the wake of Vioxx, Avandia, and other recent prominent cases of drugs found to cause side effects after marketing, the safety of pharmaceuticals has come to the forefront of American public policy. Press attention, congressional investigations, and legislative... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Policy; Risk Management; Government Legislation; Risk and Uncertainty; Goals and Objectives; Customers; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

2010
Chapter

From Visible Harm to Relative Risk: Centralization and Fragmentation of Pharmacovigilance

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

Adverse drug reactions pose distinct but potentially catastrophic risks to patients, physicians, pharmaceutical firms, and regulators. Between the early 1960s and the present, national systems were built to collect, standardize, and respond to individual reports of... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Testing and Trials; Business and Government Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

2024
Working Paper

Product Liability Litigation and Innovation: Evidence from Medical Devices

By: Alberto Galasso and Hong Luo

We examine the relationship between product liability litigation and innovation by systematically combining data on product liability lawsuits with data on new product introductions in a panel dataset of leading medical device firms. We first document a decline in... View Details

Keywords: Lawsuits and Litigation; Product Development; Technological Innovation; Safety; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

September 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

BP's Macondo: Spill and Response

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

This case starts by reporting various factors that may have contributed to the massive Macondo oil spill, noting that BP, its partners and the government all made decisions that helped cause the accident. It then discusses the response to this spill by BP and the... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Metals and Minerals; Crisis Management; Infrastructure; Trade; Pollutants; Risk and Uncertainty; Business and Government Relations; Finance; Multinational Firms and Management; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Technology Adoption; Energy Industry; Mining Industry; United Kingdom; United States

June 2010 (Revised February 2013)
Background Note

The Precautionary Principle

By: Michael W. Toffel and Nazli Z. Uludere Aragon

This note describes the precautionary principle and its key tenets, highlights challenges associated with its use, and includes many examples of its application, primarily within the realm of regulating activities based on the risk of harm to human health and the... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Health Disorders; Business and Government Relations; Safety; Natural Environment; Pollutants; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Chemical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry