Publications

16 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

Adam Smith, Behavioral Economist?

activity. Q: What do you think Adam Smith's advice to business leaders would be concerning corporate ethics given what he writes about trust? A: This is a great question. Smith believed that there were... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen

01 Mar 2016
News

What if we had a Secretary of the Future?

27 Nov 2016
News

This is what separates honest executives from white-collar criminals

01 Oct 2021
News

Employees’ Online Comments Can Predict Corporate Misconduct, Study Says

21 Jun 2018
News

Former Intel board member who left a month ago was totally surprised by the CEO's resignation

October 2022
Case

Cost Plus Drugs

By: Alexander MacKay and James Barnett

In September 2022, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs Company CEO Alex Oshmyansky considered the future of the company. Cost Plus Drugs was a retailer for more than 340 generic oral medications, selling their drugs at significantly lower prices than typical pharmacies.... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Health; Markets; Social Enterprise; Society; Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Business Divisions; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; Texas

05 Jan 2022
News

Venture Capitalist Tim Draper Continues to Stand by Elizabeth Holmes after Guilty Verdict

September 1983 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Allen Lane

By: Howard H. Stevenson and Michael J. Roberts

Describes Allen Lane's search for a business to buy. The case explores several failed attempts and the ethical, business, and tax issues that surround the acquisition business. Ends with a description of a new acquisition candidate, an independent valuation report of... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Ethics; Taxation; Failure; Valuation

04 Jan 2022
What Do You Think?

Firing McDonald’s Easterbrook: What Could the Board Have Done Differently?

Harvard Business School, the outcome doesn't mean the decision made was a good one. Knowing doesn't lessen the value of discussing the issues. "Executives fired for cause rarely go quietly. They usually sue to keep the money they... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

14 Jan 2019
News

Bernie Madoff’s Lesson: Beware ‘Just This Once’

06 Mar 2018
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, March 6, 2018

provide insights into why and how investors use reported environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information. Relevance to investment performance is the most frequent motivation for use of ESG data followed by client demand and product strategy, bringing change in... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2007
Article

Learning to Live with Governments: Unilever in India and Turkey, 1950-1980

By: G. Jones

A noteworthy characteristic of the contemporary global economy is the uneven distribution of world foreign direct investment (FDI). In 2007 three-quarters of world FDI was located in developed countries. The residual was concentrated in a small number of emerging... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Ethics; Foreign Direct Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Consumer Products Industry; India; Turkey

Find at Harvard

01 Jun 2024
News

Leveraging Generative AI

Four decades after HBS became the first business school in the country to require the use of personal computers in the MBA Program, the School is undergoing a different kind of technological transformation, one that leverages generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

February 2022
Case

Paul Polman

By: Elizabeth A. Keenan, Youngme Moon and Susie Ma

Over his 40-year career, Paul Polman had led some of the world’s largest consumer goods companies, making his biggest mark as CEO of Unilever—a multi-national corporation that produced everything from soap to soup. Polman was also well-regarded as a leader in corporate... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Leadership; Corporate Accountability; Personal Development and Career; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Ethics; Values and Beliefs; Social Issues; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

02 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

George C. Lodge

In 1961, at the invitation of Dean Stanley F. Teele, George Lodge came to Harvard Business School to complete his first book, Spearheads of Democracy: Labor in the Developing Countries. He didn't have a master's or a Ph.D. and never... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

31 Jan 2017
News

Murdochs, Sons of Immigrant, Wade Into Debate on Trump Order

November 2012 (Revised August 2013)
Case

A Politician in a Leather Suit and the Paradox of Japanese Capitalism

By: Karthik Ramanna and Matthew Shaffer

Two lost decades later, capitalism in Japan embodies peculiar contradictions—preserving wealth and social stability in the face of declining economic power. Scant transparency in Japanese corporate practices plays an important role in this phenomenon. Sometimes... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Economic Systems; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Fairness; Values and Beliefs; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Civil Society or Community; Japan; Tokyo