Publications

2022
Working Paper

How Do Investors Value ESG?

By: Malcolm Baker, Mark Egan and Suproteem K. Sarkar

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives have risen to near the top of the agenda for corporate executives and boards, driven in large part by their perceptions of shareholder interest. We quantify the value that shareholders place on ESG using a revealed... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Investment Portfolio; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Shareholder Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Governance; Financial Services Industry; United States

January 2012 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Tough Decisions at Marks and Spencer

By: George Serafeim

In 2007, under the leadership of CEO Stuart Rose, the iconic British retailer Marks and Spencer, with great fanfare, announced its "Plan A" initiative. Based on the five essential pillars of climate change, waste, sustainable materials, fair partnership, and health,... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry

December 2010 (Revised November 2014)
Case

Steven Carpenter at Cake Financial

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

After investing $9 million of venture capital, Cake Financial had failed to reach critical mass. In early 2010 Cake's assets were sold and the company was dissolved. Founded in 2006, the San Francisco-based Internet company allowed users to monitor their investments... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Internet; Financial Services Industry; Web Services Industry

15 May 2019
News

Pour vous transformer, comptez sur vos employés !

summer 2008
Article

Corporate Social Responsibility Through an Economic Lens

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Robert N. Stavins and Richard H.K. Vietor

Business leaders, government officials, and academics are focusing considerable attention on the concept of "corporate social responsibility" (CSR), particularly in the realm of environmental protection. Beyond complete compliance with environmental regulations, do... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Governance Compliance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Shareholder Relations; Environmental Sustainability

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24 Jul 2017
Research & Ideas

People Have an Irrational Need to Complete 'Sets' of Things

hold six. No matter that your favorite craft beer store permits you buy bottles one at a time. Chances are you’d still buy six, just to fill all six spaces in the box. “People really don’t like to leave things incomplete,” says Kate Barasz, an assistant professor of... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

09 May 2023
Research & Ideas

Where to Find Remote Work Now: 250 Million Job Postings Paint a Complex Picture

Remote work is here to stay—but not everywhere, and not in all companies. As the business world emerges from the pandemic, some companies are demanding a full return to the office. Others are embracing remote work options for their... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

Blog

Leading Successful Digital Transformation

efficiency of supply chains, and chat bots are used to cut the cost of call centers. While it is always good to reduce costs and improve efficiency, focusing solely on efficiency implicitly assumes that the current operations and business... View Details

18 Apr 2024
Blog Post

African American Student Union Spotlight on Emerging Markets

you would like to add? The HBS experience is valuable for everyone, no matter where you aim to go after business school. It's all about learning from others and growing into leaders who make a real... View Details

18 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

How Economic Clusters Drive Globalization

(Photo source: iStock) Economic cluster theory has been used to describe the growth of many industries, including the automotive business around Detroit, high tech in Silicon Valley, and digital media in Seoul. These regions benefit by a... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Agriculture & Agribusiness

September 1993
Case

Manufacturing at ALZA: The Right Prescription? (A)

By: Dorothy A. Leonard

ALZA, a company specializing in drug delivery systems such as transdermal patches, considers manufacturing its own products. Until now, the company has conducted research and development on its patented system but has then licensed the technology to client-partner... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Technological Innovation; Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Production; Research and Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Pharmaceutical Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

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2014
Case

Microfinance Services in Rural Areas--Farmers' Self-reliance Branch of CFPA Microfinance in Shangyi County

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Siqun Yang and Meihua Shen

Microfinance is introduced into China in the 1990s. It had gone through 3 phases since the beginning, namely the pilot phase when all Microfinance practices are sponsored by charity funds based on projects, the promotion phase when the government subsidized some... View Details

Keywords: Rural Entrepreneurship; Value Added; China; Risk Management; Microfinance; China

11 Nov 2002
Research & Ideas

Women Entrepreneurs Usher in the Next Generation

Spontaneous responses can often be quite telling. As a member of a panel discussion at the Women, Money, and Power conference, entrepreneur Joline Godfrey posed two simple questions to the mostly-female audience. "How many of you had View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

April 2022
Case

Mastercard: Creating a World Beyond Cash

By: Sunil Gupta, Linda A. Hill, Julia Kelley and Emily Tedards

In late 2021, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach and Chairman and former CEO Ajaypal “Ajay” Banga considered how Mastercard could best position itself for continued success in the years to come. Since Mastercard’s initial public offering in 2006, the company had grown and... View Details

June 2001
Case

AtomFilms

By: Bharat N. Anand and Taslim Pirmohamed

Examines the evolution of AtomFilms--one of the few companies that survived the spate of failures in digital entertainment in 2000--from the time of its founding in 1998 to its merger with Shockwave in December 2000. Within a short period of time, AtomFilms had built... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Resource Allocation; Brands and Branding; Organizational Structure; Problems and Challenges; Alliances; Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

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February 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Mibanco: Meeting the Mainstreaming of Microfinance

By: Michael Chu and Gustavo A. Herrero

Mibanco, Peru's leading microfinance bank, faces intense competition as the banking industry rushes into low income segments. Companion video clips bring into the classroom the contemporary reality of a world-class microfinance institution, where the unpaved streets... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Profit; Business History; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Marketing Strategy; Service Operations; Performance; Competition; Banking Industry; Peru

December 2009 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Woolf Farming and Processing

By: David E. Bell, Laura Winig and Mary Louise Shelman

Woolf Farming Company, a privately owned family farming business in California's Central Valley, found its business threatened by a lack of water, brought on by a combination of drought, poor quality well water and unavailability of surface water due to federally... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Resource Allocation; Quality; Business and Government Relations; Decision Choices and Conditions; Infrastructure; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; California

August 2011 (Revised November 2017)
Case

Adaptive Engineering, LLC

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

The owner and CEO of Adaptive Engineering was facing an important decision: should he focus on rebuilding its core professional services business which had generated significant revenue and cash flow over the past several years, or should he focus on developing and... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Making; Service Industry; Technology Industry

January 2007 (Revised August 2008)
Case

NatuRi Corporation

By: Robert F. Higgins and Virginia Fuller

NatuRi Corporation was a start up, founded in 2005, aiming to manufacture a cholesterol-lowering drug made from the byproducts of rice bran oil production. With operations split between Chennai, India and Boston, Massachusetts, NatuRi faced several challenges,... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Equity; Investment Funds; Growth and Development Strategy; Chennai; Boston