Publications

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October 2018
Supplement

African Bank Investments Limited (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

Less than a year after joining the board of African Bank Investments Limited (ABIL), the newest director finds himself in difficult discussions with other directors about removing the struggling company’s CEO. The case is set in South Africa in mid-2014 as shares in... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Personal Finance; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Insurance; Leadership; Management; Risk Management; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry; Africa; South Africa

13 Jan 2023
Research & Ideas

Are Companies Actually Greener—or Are They All Talk?

Most companies now account for social good in their financial reports in some way, but with regulation scattershot and evolving, it’s complicated for investors to assess so-called ESG reports. The disclosures, known as Environmental, Social, and Governance reports,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

2021
Working Paper

Regulatory Approval and Expanded Market Size

By: Benjamin Berger, Amitabh Chandra and Craig Garthwaite

Regulatory review of new medicines is often viewed as a hindrance to innovation by increasing the hurdle to bring products to market. However, a more complete accounting of regulation must also account for its potential market expanding effects through quality... View Details

Keywords: New Medicines; Regulatory Approval; Health Care and Treatment; Research and Development; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Markets; Expansion; Pharmaceutical Industry

Find at Harvard

October 2018
Case

African Bank Investments Limited (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

Less than a year after joining the board of African Bank Investments Limited (ABIL), the newest director finds himself in difficult discussions with other directors about removing the struggling company’s CEO. The case is set in South Africa in mid-2014 as shares in... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Personal Finance; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Insurance; Leadership; Management; Risk Management; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry; Africa; South Africa

12 Jul 2016
First Look

July 12, 2016

Case 816-005, "Bigbelly," by Mitchell Weiss and Christine Snively. This case is an example of public entrepreneurship. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51306 Financial Regulation in a Quantitative Model of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Oct 2011
Working Paper Summaries

What Environmental Ratings Miss

Keywords: by Auden Schendler & Michael Toffel

2025
Working Paper

Tax Planning, Illiquidity, and Credit Risks: Evidence from DeFi Lending

By: Lisa De Simone, Peiyi Jin and Daniel Rabetti

This study establishes a plausible causal link between tax-planning-induced illiquidity and credit risks in lending markets. Exploiting an exogenous tax shock imposed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on cryptocurrency gains, along with millions of transactions in... View Details

Keywords: Cryptocurrency; Taxation; Financial Liquidity; Credit; Financing and Loans; Financial Markets

05 Jun 2023
What Do You Think?

Is the Anxious Achiever a Post-Pandemic Relic?

run—too many words, not enough content.” For the record, the ChatGPT response would not score well on an HBS final exam. Several comments concentrated on the regulation of use, not the creation, of AI. David Wittenburg commented,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

22 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 22, 2008

http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=207091 China Netcom: Corporate Governance in China (A) Harvard Business School Case 308-027 With its dual listings on the Hong Kong stock market and New York Stock Exchange,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

21 Jul 2021
Research & Ideas

What Does an ESG Score Really Say About a Company?

Receiving more information can clarify the complex, but not when it comes to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores. A recent study shows that the more information a company discloses about its ESG practices, the more rating agencies disagree on how well... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

20 Aug 2020
Book

From the Plow to the Pill: How Technology Shapes Our Lives

we should turn to governance and regulation and put those measures in place. Gerdeman: We often fret about the downsides of technology, such as children spending too much time on screens, making parents feel... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

September 2022 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Navya: Steering toward a Driverless Future

By: Julian De Freitas, Elie Ofek, Shaun Ingledew and Tonia Labruyere

In 2022, Sophie Desormière arrived at French roboshuttle producer Navya, tasked with charting a new course in a challenging sector. The company, which had recently listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, was burning through cash reserves and needed to transform the promise... View Details

Keywords: Autonomous Vehicles; Market Entry and Exit; Opportunities; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Consumer Behavior; Business Model; Auto Industry; Transportation Industry; France; United States

22 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

Restoring a Global Economy, 1950–1980

1970s, but its governments systematically discouraged wholly owned FDI [foreign direct investment], and restricted it to a low level. During the 1940s and early 1950s only the U.S. dollar was available as a major convertible currency.... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones

September 2009
Article

Virtue out of Necessity? Compliance, Commitment and the Improvement of Labor Conditions in Global Supply Chains

By: Akshay Mangla, Richard Locke and Matthew Amengual

Private, voluntary compliance programs, promoted by global corporations and nongovernmental organizations alike, have produced only modest and uneven improvements in working conditions and labor rights in most global supply chains. Through a detailed study of a major... View Details

Keywords: Working Conditions; Ethics; Supply Chain; Governance Compliance; Globalization

Find at Harvard

November 2019
Case

Hapag-Lloyd AG:Complying with IMO 2020

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej and Emer Moloney

A new environmental regulation known as IMO 2020 was creating what one industry analyst called “the biggest shakeup for the oil and shipping industries in decades.” According to the new regulation, all ocean-going ships would have to limit their sulfur emissions by... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Ship Transportation; Strategic Planning; Game Theory; Pollutants; Supply Chain; Corporate Accountability; Capital Budgeting; Environmental Sustainability; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governance Compliance; Shipping Industry; Transportation Industry; Germany

2011
Report

Nordic Globalization Barometer 2011

By: Christian H.M. Ketels

The Nordic Globalization Barometer 2011, the fourth in its series, builds on the methodology established in previous editions: The first part provides a short overview of the macroeconomic climate in the Nordic countries. The second part tracks the changes in economic... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Macroeconomics; Trade; Globalized Economies and Regions; Policy; Competitive Strategy; Scandinavia

24 Apr 2018
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: What Mark Zuckerberg Can Learn About Crisis Leadership from Starbucks

wasted his opportunity to address data privacy issues; instead, he is inviting government regulators to do it for him. As a result, Facebook’s employees lack direction for using this crisis to rebuild... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Technology; Food & Beverage

October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

KOKO Networks: Bridging Energy Transition and Affordability with Carbon Financing

By: George Serafeim, Siko Sikochi and Namrata Arora

The problem was massive: two million hectares of African forests were lost annually to charcoal production for cooking, an area equivalent to 13 times Greater London, resulting in one billion tons of carbon emissions yearly. At the same time, an estimated 700,000... View Details