Publications

20 Jun 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Fame, Faith, and Social Activism: Business Lessons from Bono

escalating, high-profile campaign against Third World debt, poverty, war and disease. “Any CEO who thinks his or her job is about maximizing shareholder value is living in the past.” Koehn, a Harvard Business School historian who has studied View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Entertainment & Recreation

10 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

The Hard Numbers on Social Investments

For years an important debate has been raging in the social investing community about the potential of social purpose companies to deliver satisfactory returns to investors.... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

18 Sep 2017
Research & Ideas

'Likes' Lead to Nothing—and Other Hard-Learned Lessons of Social Media Marketing

funny—but remember your brand’s purpose Social media is a place where people appreciate humor—as long as it fits with the brand image, Avery says. Squatty Potty does an excellent job of engaging its audience... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Advertising; Technology

23 May 2019
Book

These Entrepreneurs Take a Pragmatic Approach to Solving Social Problems

responsibility which goes with that.” The purpose of business, Gay said, was to make “a decent profit decently.” In the 111 years since then, many HBS alumni have taken the school’s emphasis on social... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Green Technology

January 2019
Case

AIME High: A Social Entrepreneur's Moon Shot

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Describes the entrepreneurial leadership of Jack Manning Bancroft (JMB), a young Indigenous Australian university student who created the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME), a nonprofit organization he formed to respond to the problem of Indigenous high... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Mission; Organization Culture; Non-profit; NGO; Social Entrepreneurship; Leadership; Global Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Secondary Education; Organizational Culture; Education Industry; Service Industry; Australia; United States

2008
Other Unpublished Work

From Public Purpose to Financial Economics: The Linked Ecologies of Economics and Business in Twentieth Century America

By: Marion Fourcade and Rakesh Khurana

As the main producers of managerial elites, business schools represent strategic research sites for understanding the formation of economic practices and representations. This article draws on historical material to analyze the changing place of economics in American... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Business Education; Finance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business History; Chicago

November 2017 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Summa Equity: Building Purpose-Driven Organizations

By: George Serafeim

In 2015, Reynir Indahl left top Nordic private equity firm Altor Equity Partners to found Summa Equity (Summa). After long contemplation following the financial crisis, Indahl was convinced the financial system was producing negative externalities and that the current... View Details

2009
Book

Supercorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Opportunity, Profits, Growth, and Social Good

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

Supercorp is based on a 3-year study involving more than 350 interviews in 20 countries to identify the leadership practices and operating methods of major companies seeking profitable growth through innovation that benefits society. For example, when the tsunami and... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Opportunities; Welfare

Find at Harvard

September 2021 (Revised June 2023)
Case

Mission edX: Balancing Social Good and Financial Sustainability

By: John J-H Kim, David J. Collis and James Barnett

In March 2021, online education platform edX considers how to achieve financial sustainability without compromising its mission to provide universal access to high-quality education. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Education; Values and Beliefs; Internet and the Web; Financial Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Education Industry; United States

May–June 2023
Article

Should Your Start-up Be For-profit or Nonprofit?: A Guide for Social Entrepreneurs

By: Cait Brumme and Brian Trelstad

Years ago the line between nonprofit and for-profit enterprises was clear, but that has changed. Nonprofits now offer products that compete with those of the best for-profits, and for-profits can deliver as much social value as charities. Despite the blurred... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Social Entrepreneurship; Mission and Purpose; Nonprofit Organizations; For-Profit Firms; Decision Choices and Conditions

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October 2010
Teaching Note

Whole Foods: Balancing Social Mission and Growth (TN)

By: Christopher Marquis and Bobbi Thomason

Teaching Note for 410023. View Details

Keywords: Food; Growth and Development; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Supply Chain; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Integration; Management Practices and Processes; Labor Unions; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

2014
Article

The Governance of Social Enterprises: Mission Drift and Accountability Challenges in Hybrid Organizations

By: Alnoor Ebrahim, Julie Battilana and Johanna Mair

We examine the challenges of governance facing organizations that pursue a social mission through the use of market mechanisms. These hybrid organizations, often referred to as social enterprises, combine aspects of both charity and business at their core. In this... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Hybrid Organizations; Nonprofit; Performance Measurement; Legal Form; Agency Theory; Stakeholder Management; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Corporate Accountability

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2023
Book

Deeply Responsible Business: A Global History of Values-Driven Leadership

By: Geoffrey Jones

Corporate social responsibility has entered the mainstream, but what does it take to run a successful purpose-driven business? This book examines leaders who put values alongside profits to showcase the challenges and upside of deeply responsible business. Should... View Details

20 Aug 2014
Research & Ideas

Why the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is a Social Media Blockbuster

increasingly by individuals. People who use Facebook and Twitter are for all practical purposes running little media houses, and face the problem of their much larger brethren, where will the next story come from? Originality is too... View Details

Keywords: by John Deighton

04 Apr 2023
Book

Two Centuries of Business Leaders Who Took a Stand on Social Issues

While shareholders still reign supreme at many companies, a widespread shift toward more responsible business practices is driving more leaders to take a stand on social and environmental issues today, says Harvard Business School Professor Geoffrey Jones. Jones... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Consumer Products; Fashion; Retail; Green Technology

May 2014 (Revised March 2017)
Case

Unilever's Lifebuoy in India: Implementing the Sustainability Plan

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Unilever's new Global Brand VP must not only revitalize Lifebuoy soap's sagging market performance, but simultaneously impact the health of one billion people worldwide. The latter challenge comes from Unilever's new CEO who has introduced the Unilever Sustainable... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Management; Corporate Social Responsibility; Strategy Implementation; Marketing Strategy; Mission And Purpose; Change Management; International Business; Global; Fast-moving Consumer Goods; Soap; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Health Care and Treatment; Environmental Sustainability; Global Strategy; Developing Countries and Economies; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Health Industry; India

April 2022 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Stalin’s Capitalists: American Business and Soviet Industrialization

By: Jeremy Friedman, Jingyu Liu and Christine Riggle

In the late 1920s and early 1930s when Joseph Stalin, leader of the world’s first Communist state, sought to industrialize his largely peasant country on an unprecedented scale, he turned for help to those who had the most experience constructing on such a scale:... View Details

Keywords: Communism; Industrialization; Socialism; History; Industry Growth; Economic Systems; Soviet Union

May 2024 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Choosing the Course of Passion: Brooke Boyarsky Pratt at knownwell

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz and Alexis Lefort

Brooke Boyarsky Pratt (HBS ’13) enjoyed considerable success in her early career, quickly climbing the ranks to associate partner at McKinsey, and later becoming an executive vice president at Berkadia, a Berkshire Hathaway portfolio company. Throughout these years,... View Details

Keywords: Passion; Career; Career Planning; Purpose; Personal Development and Career; Mission and Purpose; Identity; Business Startups; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Health Industry; United States

January 31, 2019
Article

The Backlash to Larry Fink's Letter Shows How Far Business Has to Go on Social Responsibility

By: Mark R. Kramer

Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest investor with $6 trillion under management, evoked heated controversy with his remarks last week that his company would change its hiring and potentially its compensation structure to advance diversity and ensure that... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose