Publications

November 2017
Case

The 'Wonder Drug' That Killed Babies

By: Joshua Lev Krieger, Tom Nicholas and Matthew Preble

In the early 1960s, a popular drug taken by patients worldwide for a range of maladies was found to cause severe birth defects and other health problems in babies born to mothers who had taken it during a certain stage of fetal development. As many as 10,000 children... View Details

Keywords: Regulation; Business and Government Relations; Business and Community Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Product Marketing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business History; Health; Government Legislation; Corporate Accountability; Ethics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Pharmaceutical Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States; United Kingdom; Australia; Germany; Europe

10 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

Corporate Responsibility and the Environment: What is the Right Thing To Do?

by Harvard Business School professor Forest Reinhardt, considered whether firms should and do engage extensively in CSR. This essay, in other words, considered empirical evidence. Reinhardt found that relatively few firms do engage in real CSR, and those that do can do... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

10 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Motivation and the Cross-Sector Alliance

simply a question of "doing the right thing" from an ethical standpoint. In the opinion of Manuel Ariztia, renowned Chilean businessman and owner of Empresas Ariztía, his company's responsibility to collaborate in solving... View Details

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

19 Nov 2013
First Look

First Look: November 19

transparency is customarily trained on elected officials as a means of ethical oversight, our research documents the benefits of increased transparency into the delivery of government services. Download working paper:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2021 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Sarah Breedlove: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Max Saffer

This case describes the rise of Sarah Breedlove, who later called herself Madam C.J. Walker, from the cotton fields of Louisiana to the head of a successful, nationwide beauty company providing opportunity and hair care products to Black women. The case describes how... View Details

Keywords: Brands; African-american Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; Values and Beliefs; Personal Characteristics; Success; Work-Life Balance; Business Startups; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Personal Development and Career; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States

September 2017 (Revised February 2018)
Case

Becton Dickinson: Global Health Strategy

By: Mark R. Kramer and Sarah Mehta

Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) was a medical technology firm headquartered in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, with 43,000 employees and 2016 revenues of $12.5 billion. For several years, the company had pursued developing products that created shared value, defined as... View Details

Keywords: Shared Value; Creating Shared Value; Odon Device; Medical Technology; Value Creation; Values and Beliefs; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Health Testing and Trials; Emerging Markets; Social Issues; Competitive Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Africa; Asia; Middle East

24 Apr 2012
First Look

First Look: April 24

market responsiveness and to improve accountability and morale. Has flattening delivered on its promise to push decisions downward? In this article, I present evidence suggesting that while firms have delayered, flattened firms can... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

01 Feb 2000
News

The Future Is Now: 21st-Century Business Pondered at HBS Forum

remarks, Porter noted two potential threats to America in its current role as the standard bearer of global commerce: U.S. capital markets could get too near-term oriented, and basic research might not receive sufficient investment. In a... View Details

01 Jun 2003
News

Books

firms large enough to finance their own laboratories could create a “virtuous cycle” where staying on the leading edge of science got them first to market with new products, in turn delivering higher profits to fund still more research.... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; Laura Singleton; Donald; Sull; Henry; Chesbrough; Rob; Austin; Leslie; Perlow; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

08 Dec 2015
First Look

December 8, 2015

market failures that may arise. We explore these challenges and suggest an updated regulatory framework that is sufficiently flexible to allow software platforms to operate and deliver their benefits, while ensuring that service... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 23, 2008

of the modern neo-liberal regime. No PDF is available for download at this time. Social Categories and Minimizing Joint Gains: An Ethical Dilemma? Authors:Stephen M. Garcia, Max H. Bazerman, and Dale T. Miller Abstract People prefer... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

November 1995 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Massachusetts General Hospital: CABG Surgery (A)

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and James Weber

A cross-functional team at Massachusetts General Hospital tries to reengineer the service delivery process (the "care path") for heart bypass surgery (CABG) in order to shorten hospital stays (and lower costs) while maintaining/enhancing the quality of care provided. View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Business Processes; Mission and Purpose; Product Positioning; Product Marketing; Management Practices and Processes; Customer Satisfaction; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Fair Value Accounting; Ethics; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry; Massachusetts

24 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: Jan. 24

expertise, defensible turf, and organizational support. We demonstrate that these elements must be combined in specific pathways for knowledge-based innovative structures to emerge and embed. These pathways emerge from practitioner networks, View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Oct 2007
First Look

First Look: First Look: October 10

Economics and Ethics (Zeitschrift fur Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik) 8, no. 1 (2007): 29-32 No abstract available. The Art of Designing Markets Author:Alvin E. Roth Periodical:Harvard Business Review... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

The Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy: Settling the Opioid Crisis

By: Kristin Mugford, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Susan Pinckney

How to get to a fair outcome for claimants in the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy given its significant role in the U.S. opioid crisis. View Details

January 2024
Case

ECOALF: Fashion for the Future

By: Elizabeth A. Keenan, Diego Aparicio, Carlota Moniz and María José Satrústegui

ECOALF, a Spanish fashion brand and sustainability pioneer, aimed to tackle the industry's challenges of excessive consumption and production. The brand's mission was to create timeless apparel exclusively from recycled and eco-responsible materials, matching the... View Details