Publications

20 Jan 2020
News

Larry Fink Isn’t Going to Read Your Sustainability Report

June 2016
Teaching Note

Filene's Basement: Inside a Fired Customer's Relationship

By: Jill Avery and Susan Fournier

How, in a business climate in which building relationships with customers has dominated both managerial thought and marketing budgets, could Filene's Basement have fired a loyal customer, one who was formally and informally recognized as a best customer? This case... View Details

Keywords: CRM; Customer Profitability Analysis; Customer Lifetime Value; Consumer Behavior; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Brands and Branding; Customer Relationship Management; Retail Industry; United States

12 Oct 2017
News

What Trump could learn from polar explorer Ernest Shackleton

Web

Browse All Articles, Research, & Case Studies - HBS Working Knowledge

Eisenhower, and Robert McNamara. 08 Nov 2024 Op-Ed How Private Investors Can Help Solve Africa's Climate Crisis by John Macomber Africa faces escalating climate risks that threaten its people and businesses.... View Details

28 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

Earth Day Reflections

has to drive over 70 miles to work each day. Meanwhile, the Copenhagen climate conference ended with no agreement, and the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, proposed by Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

October 2018
Case

Innovation at the Utility: Consolidated Edison's Experience

By: Martha Crawford, Andrew Serpa and Jon Wofsy

In 2014, regulators in New York State released a bold vision for the future of the electric utility industry to try and stay ahead of larger trends of rising customer expectations, stagnant load growth, and climate change. In response, Con Edison created a Utility of... View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; Utilities; Consolidated Edison; Regulated Monopolies; Electricity Distribution; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Design; Energy; Energy Generation; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry

06 Mar 2019
News

Reimagining Capitalism

Lynn S. Paine

Lynn Sharp Paine is a Baker Foundation Professor and John G. McLean Professor of Business Administration, Emerita, at Harvard Business School. A member and former chair of the General Management unit, she has served in numerous leadership positions including Senior... View Details

12 Jul 2016
News

The Fastest-Growing Cause for Shareholders Is Sustainability

April 2020 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Middlebury College: Energy2028

By: Brian Trelstad, Michael Norris and John McKinley

In 2018, Middlebury College’s board of trustees is considering a proposal called Energy2028 that would push the small, liberal arts and sciences college in Vermont to become a net zero carbon emitter, decrease energy usage by 25%, divest fossil fuels from its... View Details

Keywords: Divestment; Energy; Higher Education; Energy Conservation; Climate Change

November 2018 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Bangladesh: Into the Maelstrom

By: Reshmaan Hussam, Sophus A. Reinert and Namrata Arora

In the fall of 2018, Rohima Begum considered her options as the small island, or “char,” on which her family’s house rested slowly but inescapably eroded into the mighty Brahmaputra River in northern Bangladesh. The country, once unceremoniously dubbed a “basket case”... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Adaptation; Environmental Management; Problems and Challenges; Immigration; Bangladesh

07 Oct 2011
Working Paper Summaries

What Environmental Ratings Miss

Keywords: by Auden Schendler & Michael Toffel

December 2022
Case

Taylor Farms: Adding Value to Fresh Produce

By: José B. Alvarez, Forest L. Reinhardt, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Pedro Levindo

In October 2022, Bruce Taylor (HBS MBA, 1981), Chairman and CEO of Taylor Farms, the leading producer of salads and healthy fresh foods in the United States, wondered whether this was the right time for Taylor Farms to venture into the Controlled Environment... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Cost vs Benefits; Logistics; Environmental Sustainability; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

2018
Book

Re-engaging with Sustainability in the Anthropocene Era

By: Andrew J. Hoffman and P. Devereaux Jennings

Re-engaging with Sustainability in the Anthropocene Era applies organization theory to a grand challenge: our entry into the Anthropocene era, a period marked not only by human impact on climate change, but on chemical waste, habitat destruction, and despeciation. It... View Details

Keywords: Organization Theory; Environmental Management; Policy; Social Issues; Social Entrepreneurship; Pollutants

Find at Harvard

06 Oct 2020
News

Extremely Transparent and Incredibly Remote

2024
Article

Financial Constraints and Short-term Planning are Linked to Flood Risk Adaptation Gaps in U.S. cities

By: Shirley Lu and Anya Nakhmurina

Adaptation is critical in reducing the inevitable impact of climate change. Here we study cities’ adaptation to elevated flood risk by introducing a linguistic measure of adaptation extracted from financial disclosures of 431 US cities over 2013–2020. While cities with... View Details

Keywords: City; Natural Disasters; Climate Change; Adaptation; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategic Planning

Read Now

May 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Exercise

Endeca Negotiation, The: Steve Papa

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Students play the role of Steve Papa, the CEO and founder of a venture-backed enterprise software company. In the challenging financing climate of the fall of 2001, he knows that two different groups are about to submit term sheets for his company's C-round. He is... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Negotiation Offer; Management Teams; Venture Capital; Valuation; Software; Information Technology Industry; Web Services Industry