Publications

November 1997 (Revised April 2017)
Teaching Note

Compagnie du Froid, S.A.

By: Robert Simons, Antonio Dávila, Kathryn Rosenberg and Jennifer Packard

Teaching Note for (9-197-085). View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Strategy And Execution; Variance Analysis; Performance Measurement; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe

2017
Other Article

Designing an Agile Software Portfolio Architecture: The Impact of Coupling on Performance

By: Alan MacCormack and Robert Lagerstrom

The modern industrial corporation encompasses a myriad of different software applications, each of which must work in concert to deliver functionality to end-users. However, the increasingly complex and dynamic nature of competition in today’s product-markets dictates... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Design; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Effectiveness

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Article

Gender Bias, Social Impact Framing, and Evaluation of Entrepreneurial Ventures

By: Matthew Lee and Laura Huang

Recent studies find that female-led ventures are penalized relative to male-led ventures due to role incongruity, or a perceived “lack of fit,” between female stereotypes and expected personal qualities of business entrepreneurs. We examine whether social impact... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Gender; Prejudice and Bias; Framework; Perception; Performance Evaluation

October 2022
Case

Sustainable Finance at Itau BBA

By: George Serafeim, Maria Loumioti and Benjamin Maletta

As of August 2022, the Itau BBA had structured dozens of sustainability linked bonds, which made future interest payments a function of the borrower meeting a target for a sustainability metric, and had solidified its reputation as a pioneer of sustainable finance in... View Details

Keywords: Sustainable Finance; Corporate Social Responsibility; Environmental Sustainability; Growth Strategy; Debt Contracting; Performance Metrics; Risk Assessment; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Financial Instruments; Risk Management; Debt Securities; Measurement and Metrics; Banking Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Latin America

Educators

February 2022
Article

How Global Leaders Gain Power Through Downward Deference and Reduction of Social Distance

By: Tsedal Neeley and Sebastian Reiche

We theorize about how people with positional power enact downward deference—a practice of lowering oneself to be equal to that of lower power workers—based on a study of 115 top global leaders at a large U.S. company. These leaders were charged with advancing... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Leadership Style; Global Range; Relationships; Rank and Position; Power and Influence; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

Article

Clogs to Clogs in Three Generations? Explaining Entrepreneurial Performance in Britain Since 1850

By: Tom Nicholas

Research into culture and entrepreneurship in Britain has been dominated by casual empiricism. This article shows the benefits of using a new method. Lifetime wealth accumulation is specified as a measure of entrepreneurial performance, and applied to data collected... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Performance Evaluation; Biography; Culture; Education; Wealth; Research; Great Britain

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15 Mar 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Initiating Divergent Organizational Change: The Enabling Role of Actors’ Social Position

Keywords: by Julie Battilana

August 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

C3.ai—Driven to Succeed

By: Robert Simons and George Gonzalez

CEO Tom Siebel navigates his artificial intelligence (ai) startup through a series of pivots, market expansions, and even an elephant attack to become a leading platform ad service provider. The case describes his unusual management approach emphasizing employee... View Details

Educators

Web

Social Progress Index - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

needs of its citizens, establish the building blocks that allow citizens and communities to enhance and sustain the quality of their lives, and create the conditions for all individuals to reach their full potential. Our research supports the development of effective... View Details

Web

Eligibility | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

public sector organization, or for-profit social enterprise are eligible to apply to the Program. Eligible Organizations An approved tax-exempt organization in the United States with 501(c) (3) status of the Internal Revenue Code which... View Details

Web

Blog | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Impact Measurement Inclusive Finance International Development K-12 Education Leadership Fellows Leadership in Challenging Times MBA Programs Microfinance Non Profit Management Nonprofit Supportive Services Public Sector Public-Private... View Details

Web

Criteria | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

evaluate that there is a practical approach to milestones and organizational outcome measurement, and a clear plan to deliver high performance and measurable social impact.]... View Details

22 Feb 2021
Working Paper Summaries

Private and Social Returns to R&D: Drug Development and Demographics

Keywords: by Efraim Benmelech, Janice Eberly, Dimitris Papanikolaou, and Joshua Krieger; Pharmaceutical

Web

Executive Education | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Innovation - Virtual MAR 20-28, 2025 | Virtual Designed to help nonprofit leaders use performance measurement to enhance their organization's ability to achieve their mission, this program explores how... View Details

2016
Working Paper

Shareholder Activism on Sustainability Issues

By: Jody Grewal, George Serafeim and Aaron Yoon

Shareholder activism on sustainability issues has become increasingly prevalent over the years, with the number of proposals filed doubling from 1999 to 2013. We use recent innovations in accounting standard setting to classify 2,665 shareholder proposals that address... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Activism; Activist Investors; Activist Shareholder; Corporate Social Responsibility; Environment; Corporate Performance; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Governance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Investment Activism

SSRN

2017
Working Paper

Seeking to Belong: How the Words of Internal and External Beneficiaries Influence Performance

By: Paul Green, Francesca Gino and Bradley R. Staats

In this paper, we examine how connecting to beneficiaries of one’s work increases performance and argue that beneficiaries internal to an organization (i.e., one’s own colleagues) can serve as an important source of motivation, even in jobs that—on the surface—may seem... View Details

Keywords: Prosocial Motivation; Belongingness; Motivation; Job Design; Field Experiment; Motivation and Incentives; Strategy; Job Design and Levels