Publications

Article

Turning Waste into By-Product

By: Deishin Lee

This paper studies how a firm can create and capture value by converting a waste stream into a useful and saleable by-product (i.e., implementing by-product synergy [BPS]). We show that BPS creates an operational synergy between two products that are jointly produced.... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Innovation and Invention; Cost Management; Opportunities; Market Participation; Framework; Profit; Competition; Wastes and Waste Processing; Product; Business Processes

Find at Harvard

Career Coach

Okan Okutgen

students. Okan has personal interest in environmental sustainability and angel investing as well and is happy to share his experiences with students and alumni discovering these paths. Finally as a parent in a dual career household with a... View Details

07 Jul 2021
Book

Good News for Disgraced Companies: You Can Regain Trust

providing a warm, welcoming, personalized experience at every level, from executives and managers to housekeeping and wait staff. And Patagonia has demonstrated its pro-environment stance by continually re-examining its practices—from... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

January 2020 (Revised July 2020)
Case

BlackRock: Linking Purpose to Profit

By: Aiyesha Dey

The case revolves around the actions that Barbara Novick, co-founder and Vice-Chair of Blackrock, and Michelle Edkins, Global Head of Investment Stewardship, would need to take in response to the controversial CEO letters from Laurence (Larry) Fink, Chairman and CEO of... View Details

11 Apr 2023
Cold Call Podcast

A Rose by Any Other Name: Supply Chains and Carbon Emissions in the Flower Industry

Keywords: Re: Willy C. Shih & Michael W. Toffel; Agriculture & Agribusiness

30 Mar 2023
Blog Post

Amager Bakke: A Look into the Future of Waste Incineration

Amager Bakke, a waste incinerator in Copenhagen, Denmark. The plant was built in 2016 by Amager Resource Center, a management company owned by the five municipalities the incinerator serves. The project replaced an outdated, 47-year-old... View Details

07 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 7

2017 New York: Oxford University Press Managing Risk in Reinsurance: From City Fires to Global Warming By: Hauter, Niels Viggo, and Geoffrey Jones, eds. Abstract—This is the first book to provide a comprehensive history of the reinsurance... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jun 2023
News

Curb Appeal

solid waste is managed in the Big Apple. “I think you have with her a very creative and innovative public servant,” says Steven A. Cohen, an authority on waste management in New York City who is the former... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; photography by Vance Jacobs; Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities; Government

03 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Transforming Manufacturing Waste into Profit

It's been said that "one man's trash is another man's treasure." HBS Assistant Professor Deishin Lee, however, has taken that old adage a step further in her recent working paper Turning Waste into By-Product by showing how it's possible for companies to turn... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Manufacturing

30 Apr 2020
Book

Fighting Climate Change Requires a New Capitalism

Rebecca Henderson spent her young adult years living two lives. At work, she preached the risks of resisting change to MBA students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, drawing on lessons she learned while watching factories close as a management consultant.... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Energy

July 2008 (Revised January 2009)
Case

Londolozi: Towards a Sustainable Business Model and Ecological Integrity in Southern Africa

By: Rawi E. Abdelal and Thomas Koelble

The Londolozi game viewing reserve in South Africa became a defining icon of ecotourism during the 1990s and early 2000s-that is, a tourist business promoting ecological land management and, at the same time, local economic development. The reserve was in a region in... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Tourism Industry; South Africa

02 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2011

the trends of yesteryear, we ask that you also turn your thoughts to 2012. What do you think will be the top areas of concern for managers in the coming months? Please share your thoughts in the comments section, and have a happy new... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

April 2025
Article

Corporate Ownership and ESG Performance

By: Belen Villalonga, Peter Tufano and Boya Wang

Using a sample of 3083 firms from 62 countries over 18 years, we analyze how the structure and identity of firms' material owners influence their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance. We find that firms with founding families or other individual... View Details

Keywords: ESG; CSR; Family Firms; Social Responsibility; Environment; Sustainability; Ownership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Governance; Environmental Sustainability

Read Now

01 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 1

http://www.people.hbs.edu/liyer/BCCI_JEBO_Final_Sept2013.pdf August 2013 Contemporary Accounting Research The Role of Performance Measures in the Intertemporal Decisions of Business Unit Managers By: Bouwens, Jan, Margaret A. Abernethy,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2015 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Nestle's Creating Shared Value Strategy

By: Michael E. Porter, Mark R. Kramer, Kerry Herman and Sarah McAra

This case considers Nestlé’s creating shared value (CSV) strategy, which focused on the three categories of nutrition, water, and rural development. In the packaged food and beverage industry, pressure had mounted since the 1990s to improve supply chain sustainability... View Details

Keywords: Shared Value; Health And Wellness; Nutrition; Health; Labor; Environmental Sustainability; Strategy; Operations; Food and Beverage Industry; Switzerland; Europe; Africa; Latin America; North America; Asia