Publications

April 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Growing Financial Services in India: Aditya Birla Financial Services Group

By: Paul M. Healy and Rachna Tahilyani

Aditya Birla Financial Services Group is a large, broad-based, Indian financial services institution offering products ranging from life insurance and mutual funds to private equity. The company has witnessed a turnaround in recent years and regained lost market share.... View Details

Keywords: Regulatory Environment; Finance; Asset Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Transformation; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Business Processes; Organizational Structure; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Segmentation; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry; India

Educators

February 2022 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Aleph Farms: A New Culture of Meat

By: Elie Ofek and Jeff Huizinga

Aleph Farms, an Israeli food-tech start-up, was hoping to play a major role in disrupting the conventional meat sector. Compared to intensive agricultural practices, Aleph’s cultured (or lab-grown) meat solution held the promise of considerably reducing greenhouse gas... View Details

Educators

March 2018
Supplement

Chewy.com (B)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Matthew G. Preble

Cohen and Chewy’s other board members decided to fully insource order fulfilment and commenced building an order fulfilment center near its 3PL partner’s facility. As soon as the 3PL learned that Chewy would be managing its own order fulfillment; however, it decided to... View Details

Keywords: Pet Food; Pet Products; Retail; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Operations; Decision Choices and Conditions; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Service Industry

2016
Working Paper

The Effect of Shareholder Litigation Risk on the Information Environment: The Case of Cross-Listed Firms

By: Anywhere Sikochi

I document the causal link between shareholder litigation risk and cross-listed firms’ information environment by exploiting a quasi-natural experiment in the form of a reduction in litigation risk resulting from the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in Morrison v. National... View Details

Keywords: Cross-listing; Information Environment; Shareholder Litigation Risk; D＆O Insurance; Risk and Uncertainty; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business and Shareholder Relations

2022
Working Paper

The Issuance and Design of Sustainability-linked Loans

By: Maria Loumioti and George Serafeim

Sustainability-linked loans (i.e., syndicated loans for which pricing is linked to a sustainability performance indicator) have rapidly evolved into a significant private debt product. We find that sustainability-linked lending has been available mostly to borrowers... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainability Management; Credit Products; Loan Contracts; Loans; Corporate Finance; Credit Risk; Environment; ESG; ESG Ratings; Climate Change; Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Risk and Uncertainty; Credit

SSRN

06 Dec 2021
News

Elevator Pitch: Power Sourced

Illustration by Drue Wagner Illustration by Drue Wagner Chaku Foods Nikki Okrah (MBA 2021), CEO and Founder Concept: A snack-food company in Okrah’s native Ghana that is building farming supply chain... View Details

Keywords: agriculture; Africa; food manufacturing; entrepreneurship; startup; Food Manufacturing; Food Manufacturing; Food Manufacturing

2020
Article

Public Sentiment and the Price of Corporate Sustainability

By: George Serafeim

Combining corporate sustainability performance scores based on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data with big data measuring public sentiment about a company’s sustainability performance, I find that the valuation premium paid for companies with strong... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Investment Management; Investment Strategy; Big Data; Machine Learning; Environment; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Governance; Performance; Asset Pricing; Investment; Management; Strategy; Human Capital; Public Opinion; Value; Analytics and Data Science

SSRN

July 2015
Article

The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Investment Recommendations: Analysts' Perceptions and Shifting Institutional Logics

By: Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim

We explore the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) ratings on sell-side analysts' assessments of firms' future financial performance. We suggest that when analysts perceive CSR as an agency cost, due to the prevalence of an agency logic, they produce... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Analysts; Investment Recommendations; Sustainability; Institutional Logics; Environment; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Investment; Corporate Governance; United States

01 Sep 2007
News

Riding It Out

the company’s revenues have increased by leaps and bounds. But the melamine pet food scare last spring could have ruined everything. The bad news came to a place it shouldn’t: Disney World. It was during one... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; dog food; pets; Food Manufacturing; Food Manufacturing; Food Manufacturing; Food Manufacturing

21 Apr 2018
Panel Discussion

Discussion of "Identification of Dynamic Games with Multiple Equilibria and Unobserved Heterogeneity with Application to Fast Food Chains In China," by Yao Luo, Ping Xiao, Ruli Xiao

By: David Hao Zhang

December 1995 (Revised March 1996)
Case

Nestle and the Twenty-First Century

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Elizabeth Ashcroft

A leading food company rethinks its future in the global food system by major geographical areas. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Forecasting and Prediction; Geographic Location; Globalization; Strategy; System; Food and Beverage Industry

July–August 2023
Article

Demand Learning and Pricing for Varying Assortments

By: Kris Ferreira and Emily Mower

Problem Definition: We consider the problem of demand learning and pricing for retailers who offer assortments of substitutable products that change frequently, e.g., due to limited inventory, perishable or time-sensitive products, or the retailer’s desire to... View Details

Keywords: Experiments; Pricing And Revenue Management; Retailing; Demand Estimation; Pricing Algorithm; Marketing; Price; Demand and Consumers; Mathematical Methods

2015
Chapter

Chief Sustainability Officers: Who Are They and What Do They Do?

By: Kathy Miller and George Serafeim

Keywords: Sustainability; Environment; Strategy; Strategy Execution; Corporate Governance; ESG; Organization Design; Change Management; Leadership

SSRN

10 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

The COVID Two-Step for Leaders: Protect and Pivot

restrictions on the public will be lifted, how customers will behave in the aftermath, and how the once-familiar environments in which your company operated will have been impacted for the long-term, if not... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly Baden

14 May 2024
News

Vatican Conference on ‘Climate Resilience’ Is the Latest in a Long Line of Environment Initiatives by Pope Francis and the Catholic Church – 5 Essential Reads

March 2017 (Revised June 2019)
Case

CEO Activism (A)

By: Michael W. Toffel, Aaron K. Chatterji and Julia Kelley

This case introduces CEO activism, a phenomenon in which business leaders engage in political or social issues that do not relate directly to their companies. The case uses several examples to describe why business leaders are engaging in CEO activism and the potential... View Details

Educators

Web

IFC India 2025: Decarbonizing Rice Paddy Farming - Pioneering Sustainability in Indian Agriculture - Blog - Business & Environment

rice strains that require less water and produce lower methane emissions offers a long-term solution to climate risks. Exploring Alternatives to Rice Transitioning from water-intensive paddy farming to alternative crops presents an... View Details

Web

IFC India 2025: Illuminating India’s Solar Future: Reflections on Tata Solar Manufacturing Plant Visit - Blog - Business & Environment

Blog Blog Filter Results Arrow Down Arrow Up Read posts from Author Alumni Author HBS Faculty Author HBS Staff Author Staff Author Students Topics Topics Accelerating Climate Solutions Conference 2023 Alumni Alumni Programs Alumni in Climate Networking Series Business... View Details

2021
Chapter

Leadership in Times of Upheaval: The Rise of the Empathic Leader

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

In times of upheaval, such as in a crisis, leaders often feel compelled to embody a commanding, confident style of leadership that provides answers, eschews dissent and remains aloof. Similarly, followers may be drawn to leaders who provide ready answers, with... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Finance; Environment; Sustainability; Crisis Management; Leadership Style