Publications

Boris Groysberg is a professor of business administration in the Organizational Behavior unit at the Harvard Business School. Currently, he teaches courses on talent management and leadership in the school's MBA and Executive Education programs. He has won numerous... View Details

Keywords: asset management; banking; brokerage; information technology industry; investment banking industry; professional services

05 Jun 2013
Op-Ed

Corporate Leaders Need to Step Up on Climate Change

Green initiatives are ubiquitous these days, implemented with zeal at companies like Dupont, IBM, Walmart, and Walt Disney. The programs being rolled out—lighting retrofits, zero-waste factories, and carpool incentives—save money and provide a green glow. Most large... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Toffel & Auden Schendler

2016
Working Paper

Alternative Paths of Green Entrepreneurship: The Environmental Legacies of The North Face's Doug Tompkins and Patagonia's Yvon Chouinard

By: Geoffrey Jones and Ben Gettinger

This working paper examines the impact of two entrepreneurs who offered alternative paths to reach their shared goal of a more sustainable world. Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins were respective founders of the prominent outdoor apparel brands Patagonia and The North... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Apparel and Accessories Industry

SSRN

March 2022 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Climate Action in Miami

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

The Miami metropolitan area is a global epicenter of climate risk from heat and sea level rise, but leaders have only recently mobilized for action to respond to this systemic challenge. Resilient 305 began a collaboration across officials in the cities of Miami and... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Climate Impact; Change; Leadership; Cross-sector Collaboration; Coalition; Ecosystem; Greenhouse Gas Emissions; Green Business; Adaptation; Environmental Sustainability; Infrastructure; Green Technology; Environmental Management; Miami

April 1999 (Revised May 2005)
Case

GE's Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch's Leadership

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Meg Wozny

GE is faced with Jack Welch's impending retirement and whether anyone can sustain the blistering pace of change and growth characteristic of the Welch era. After briefly describing GE's heritage and Welch's transformation of the company's business portfolio of the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Global Strategy; Leadership Development; Goals and Objectives; Six Sigma; Management Succession; Service Operations; Quality; Corporate Strategy

Professor Toffel is the Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management. His research examines how companies are addressing climate change (especially decarbonization) and other environmental and working condition issues in their operations and supply... View Details

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

2019
Working Paper

Understanding and Overcoming Roadblocks to Environmental Sustainability. Past Roads and Future Prospects

By: Ann-Kristin Bergquist, Shawn A. Cole, John Ehrenfeld, Andrew A. King and Auden Schendler

This working paper examines key barriers to business sustainability discussed at a multidisciplinary conference held at the Harvard Business School in 2018. Drawing on perspectives from both the historical and business literatures, speakers debated the historical... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Problems and Challenges; History; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Opportunities

20 Jun 2016
Blog Post

Exploring Cleantech at HBS

1.3 billion people around the world lack access to energy, and for everyone else, most of their energy comes from sources that are often unreliable, expensive, and detrimental to the environment. I had worked on sustainable transportation... View Details

12 Sep 2019
News

Harvard Case Studies Show ESG Can Also Generate Alpha

25 Apr 2023
Cold Call Podcast

Using Design Thinking to Invent a Low-Cost Prosthesis for Land Mine Victims

Keywords: Re: Srikant M. Datar; Health; Medical Devices & Supplies

February 2007 (Revised August 2007)
Case

Urban Video Game Academy: Getting in the Game

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Susan Saltrick

Urban Video Game Academy was founded to enhance the academic and career prospects of urban youth. How will its founder grow it into a sustainable business? Provides an opportunity to discuss the challenges of social entrepreneurship and how to create a sustainable... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Social Enterprise; Change Management; Education; Education Industry; Video Game Industry

For the past thirty years David J. Collis has been a professor at the Harvard Business School, where he was only the second ever full-time Adjunct Professor appointed. Previously, he was the Thomas Henry Carroll Ford Foundation Adjunct Professor, the MBA Class... View Details

08 Nov 2021
Blog Post

4 Ways the MS/MBA is Preparing Me for a Career in Health Care and the Life Sciences

such an intuitive fit, one where I could leverage my previous experiences and improve my fluency in both the languages of business and science, to ultimately drive innovation in a sustainable and impactful... View Details

February 2015 (Revised September 2017)
Supplement

Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B)

By: George Serafeim, Rebecca Henderson and Shannon Gombos

The case describes the decision of Omar Selim to set up Arabesque as an independent organization and how he organized Arabesque to use both financial and environmental, social and governance (ESG) data in order to deliver performance for its clients. View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Investing; Investment Management; ESG; Sustainability; Investment Banking; Leadership; Leadership & Corporate Accountability; Leadership Style; Business Model; Asset Management; Business Startups; Social Enterprise

February 2, 2012
Article

Is There an Optimal Degree of Sustainability?

By: Robert G. Eccles, Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim

Corporate sustainability is not a one size fits all concept. A successful strategy balances all business pressures. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Strategy

Find at Harvard

Trang Nguyen is a student at the Ph.D. Business Administration program jointly offered by Harvard Business School and Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Trang is interested in research at the intersection of corporate governance... View Details

05 Dec 2013
What Do You Think?

Is Walmart Defying Economic Gravity?

Summing Up When Does Friction Trump Scale in the Corporate Life Cycle? This month's column raised the issue of size limits on an organization's ability to compete In today's global economy. The specific case in point was Walmart and whether it had become just too big... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail

February 2008 (Revised November 2015)
Case

Danaher Corporation

By: Bharat Anand, David J. Collis and Sophie Hood

Between 1985 and 2007, Danaher has been one of the best-performing industrial conglomerates in the U.S. This case examines the corporate strategy of this diversified, global corporation. It describes the firm's portfolio strategy and the Danaher Business System—a... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Corporate Strategy; Value Creation