Publications

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March 2016 (Revised April 2019)
Technical Note

ESG Metrics: Reshaping Capitalism?

By: George Serafeim

In the past twenty-five years, the world had seen an exponential growth in the number of companies reporting environmental, social and governance (ESG) data. Investor interest in ESG data also grew rapidly. A growing belief that increasing levels of social inequality... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Sustainability; Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility; Responsibilities To Society; Environment; Social Impact Investment; ESG; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Measurement and Metrics; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Corporate Accountability; Accounting; Economic Systems

24 Apr 2019
Research & Ideas

The 'Amazon Effect' Is Changing Online Price Competition—and the Fed Needs to Pay Attention

adjusting much more rapidly, those surging gas prices become more meaningful, he says. “They need to pay more attention to these types of aggregate shocks, even if they are transitory, because they can affect retail prices much faster than was traditionally thought.”... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Retail

October 2010 (Revised July 2013)
Case

ActionAid International: Globalizing Governance, Localizing Accountability

By: Alnoor Ebrahim and Rachel Gordon

As a global NGO working in 45 countries, ActionAid International aims to eradicate poverty by addressing its underlying causes such as injustice and inequality. This case follows a series of radical transformations implemented by the organization's CEO, Ramesh Singh—a... View Details

Keywords: Local Range; Globalized Firms and Management; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Nonprofit Organizations; Power and Influence; Johannesburg; London

August 2023
Article

The 5G Spectrum Auction in Chile

By: Juan Escobar, Rafael Epstein, Jose Correa, Pamela Gidi, Jozsef Markovits, Natalie Epstein, Yerko Montenegro and Abner Turkieltaub

In 2021, the Chilean government implemented a first-price package auction to allocate electromagnetic spectrum for 5G mobile services. The auction was run sequentially for different spectrum bands, allowing firms to exploit band complementarities. It was a... View Details

Keywords: Bids and Bidding; Competition; Revenue; Telecommunications Industry; Chile

03 Apr 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 3, 2018

working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=53681 Surfacing the Submerged State: Operational Transparency Increases Trust in and Engagement with Government By: Buell, Ryan W., Ethan... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2004
Article

Disclosure Practices of Foreign Companies Interacting with U.S. Markets

By: Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu and Suraj Srinivasan

We analyze the disclosure practices of companies as a function of their interaction with the U.S. markets for a group of 794 firms from 24 countries in Asia-Pacific and Europe. Our analysis uses the Transparency and Disclosure scores developed recently by Standard &... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Markets; Investment; Size; Performance; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Corporate Governance; Corporate Disclosure; Trade; United States; Asia; Europe

SSRN

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28 Nov 2023
Book

Economic Growth Draws Companies to Asia. Can They Handle Its Authoritarian Regimes?

leaders have no political competition, or open autocracies like that of Russia, Turkey, and Malaysia, which hold elections but may lack safeguards and transparency that keep them fair. The book investigates the relationship between... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

October 2017 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Improving Worker Safety in the Era of Machine Learning (A)

By: Michael W. Toffel, Dan Levy, Jose Ramon Morales Arilla and Matthew S. Johnson

Managers make predictions all the time: How fast will my markets grow? How much inventory do I need? How intensively should I monitor my suppliers? Which potential customers will be most responsive to a particular marketing campaign? Which job candidates should I... View Details

Keywords: Machine Learning; Policy Implementation; Empirical Research; Inspection; Occupational Safety; Occupational Health; Regulation; Analysis; Forecasting and Prediction; Policy; Operations; Supply Chain Management; Safety; Manufacturing Industry; Construction Industry; United States

07 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovation Corrupted: How Managers Can Avoid Another Enron

or fail to analyze the utter breakdown in board governance and Enron's internal controls, and the failure of credit rating agencies to blow the whistle," he says. "They also overlook the collusion of investment banks in... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

December 2003 (Revised February 2004)
Case

Scott Lawson's Dilemma

By: Thomas R. Piper

The head of SysCom's test equipment division is concerned about how to answer employee and customer questions concerning the possible sale or liquidation of the division. The consequences of alternative approaches (full transparency vs. strong optimism and reassurance)... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Interpersonal Communication; Business Divisions; Corporate Governance; Ethics; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry

June 2012 (Revised March 2014)
Case

I Paid a Bribe (Dot) Com

By: Karthik Ramanna and Rachna Tahilyani

Anti-corruption web platform "ipaidabribe.com" leverages the transparency and anonymity of the Internet to encourage private citizens in India who have been the victims of corruption to self-report details of bribes paid, including the bribe amount, the name of the... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Internet and the Web; Ethics; Service Industry; India

Article

Corporate Social Responsibility and Access to Finance

By: Beiting Cheng, Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim

In this paper, we investigate whether superior performance on corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies leads to better access to finance. We hypothesize that better access to finance can be attributed to a) reduced agency costs due to enhanced stakeholder... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Sustainability; Capital Constraints; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Stakeholder Engagement; Disclosure; Corporate Disclosure; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Capital

SSRN

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25 Sep 2008
Working Paper Summaries

The Cost of Property Rights: Establishing Institutions on the Philippine Frontier Under American Rule, 1898-1918

Keywords: by Lakshmi Iyer & Noel Maurer

2021
Working Paper

Shareholder Activism and Firms’ Voluntary Disclosure of Climate Change Risks

By: Caroline Flammer, Michael W. Toffel and Kala Viswanathan

This paper examines whether—in the absence of mandated disclosure requirements—shareholder activism can elicit greater disclosure of firms’ exposure to climate change risks. We find that environmental shareholder activism increases the voluntary disclosure of climate... View Details

Keywords: Shareholder Activism; Climate Risk; Corporate Accountability; Climate Change; Corporate Disclosure; Corporate Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Shareholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Natural Environment; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Services Industry; United States

SSRN

2014
Working Paper

Monitoring Public Procurement: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design in Chile

By: Maria Paula Gerardino, Stephan Litschig and Dina D. Pomeranz

The government is the biggest buyer in the economy of most countries. At the same time, the public procurement process if often thought to be fraught with corruption and malpractice. However, there is little evidence regarding the impact of audits aimed at reducing... View Details

Keywords: Procurement; Chile; Corruption; Public Finance; Public Procurement; Public Sector; Public Administration Industry; Chile

December 1997 (Revised August 1998)
Case

Shanghai Real Estate (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Harold F. Hogan Jr

An independent consultant from the United States must decide what to do when faced with his client's apparent violation of an agreement with a third party. The consultant is American, the client is a Chinese real estate developer, and the third party is a French... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Contracts; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Law; Agreements and Arrangements; Alliances; Corporate Accountability; Consulting Industry; Real Estate Industry; China; United States; France

April 8, 2025
Article

Creating Workplaces Free of Forever Chemicals

By: Joseph G. Allen, Heather A. Henrikson and Michael W. Toffel

Forever chemicals are toxic and widely used in buildings and yet they remain on the rise globally with little regulation to control them. In the United States, for example, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations currently cover only forever chemicals in... View Details

Keywords: Occupational Health; Safety Regulations; Regulation; Working Conditions; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Safety; Health

February 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Background Note

Note on Measuring Controlling Shareholder's Ownership, Voting, and Control Rights

Founders and their families can raise equity without relinquishing control of their companies through the use of mechanisms such as dual-class stock, pyramidal ownership, voting agreements, and disproportionate board representation. The use of these mechanisms in... View Details

Keywords: Equity; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Measurement and Metrics; Ownership Stake; Business and Shareholder Relations; Valuation