Publications

2012
Working Paper

Why Every Company Needs a CSR Strategy and How to Build It

By: Kash Rangan, Lisa Chase and Sohel Karim

The authors argue for a strategic and pragmatic, rather than ideological, approach to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) that contrasts sharply with the prevailing Shared Value framework offered by Porter and Kramer (HBR; Jan.-Feb. 2011). We assert that, despite... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Strategy; Values and Beliefs; Profit; Practice

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October 2020 (Revised February 2021)
Case

The Tulsa Massacre and the Call for Reparations

By: Mihir A. Desai, Suzanne Antoniou and Leanne Fan

How should historic social injustices be addressed? Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and their descendants, including Representative Regina Goodwin of Tulsa, believe they should be addressed through reparations and have consequently continued to push the government... View Details

Educators

20 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 20

Society: An Alternative View and Opportunities for Future Research By: Serafeim, George Abstract—A long-standing ideology in business education has been that a corporation is run for the sole interest of its shareholders. I present an... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Feb 2009
First Look

First Look: February 10, 2009

process in the event of failure. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-087.pdf Cases & Course MaterialsAltoona State Investment Board: December 2008 Harvard Business School Case 809-095 Rod Calhoun, the head of the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

26 Jan 2016
First Look

January 26, 2016

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50422 forthcoming Ethical Innovation in Business and the Economy Managerial Responsibility and the Purpose of Business: Doing One's Job Well By: Hsieh, Nien-hê... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2023
Case

Thomas Buberl: Refounding AXA

By: Hubert Joly, Mihir Desai and Amram Migdal

In 2022, AXA and its CEO Thomas Buberl faced new types of challenges, including systemic risks such as climate change, geopolitical instability, public health crises, and social tensions caused by economic risks. AXA was one of the world’s largest insurers. Since... View Details

Educators

26 Sep 2024
HBS Case

If a Car Can Drive Itself, Can It Make Life-or-Death Decisions?

John Stuart Mill, philosophers have wrestled with the age-old questions autonomous vehicles are now raising—in new and urgent ways—for businesses and their leaders. “And by genuine ethical decisions, I mean... View Details

Keywords: by Tom Quinn; Auto; Technology

08 Dec 2015
First Look

December 8, 2015

implications for the basic steps in ethical decision making, and provides a basis for in-depth discussion of the character-versus-situation question. Purchase this case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/316078-PDF-ENG Harvard... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2007
Book

America the Principled: 6 Opportunities for Becoming a Can-Do Nation Once Again

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

This book draws on the author's multiple research projects and field observations to analyze problems facing the United States in recent years and to create an agenda for renewing American strengths through returning to core American principles—but in new ways suitable... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Policy; Leadership; Civil Society or Community; Cooperation; United States

April 2011
Supplement

Daniel Kim's Dilemma (B)

By: Bill George and Natalie Kindred

Daniel Kim was considering "blowing the whistle" on his friend, the CEO of a fast-growing startup where Kim had spent most of his professional career. When Kim joined the company, called Cardio-Metric, in 2002, it consisted of seven young engineers (including its two... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Venture Capital; Revenue; Governance Controls; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Style; Personal Development and Career; Problems and Challenges; Behavior

May 2020 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Amy Klopfenstein and Amram Migdal

In November 2019, Sandra Richter, co-founder and CEO of Soofa, a network of advertising-supported digital bulletin boards, must decide between two different fundraising and expansion plans for her company. One plan entails raising $15 million in a Series A round and... View Details

Educators

21 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 21, 2009

businesses outperform both single-unit firms and multi-unit firms composed of unrelated businesses. Explanations for this relationship between focus and firm performance have largely centered on economies of scope achieved by sharing... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

08 Dec 2009
First Look

First Look: Dec. 8

Author: Michael C. Jensen Abstract There is confusion between integrity, morality, and ethics. In our much longer paper on the topic (see "Integrity: A Positive Model that Incorporates the Normative Phenomena of Morality, Ethics and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

11 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 11

http://hbr.org/search/713073-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 413-073 First Green Bank: Bringing Bloom to Desert Landscapes First Green Bank is a bank start-up in the midst of the financial crisis that aims to promote sustainability... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

24 Feb 2015
First Look

First Look: February 24

definition of profit by changing accounting rules. On one level, this corporate behavior embodies the capitalist spirit articulated by Milton Friedman: "The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits." But the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2015
Article

Competing with Privacy

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Andres Hervas-Drane

We analyze the implications of consumer privacy for competition in the marketplace. We consider a market where firms set prices and disclosure levels for consumer information, and consumers observe both before deciding which firm to patronize and how much information... View Details

Keywords: Information Acquisition; Information Disclosure; Online Privacy; Privacy Regulation; Information; Rights; Internet and the Web; Competition; Internet and the Web; Corporate Disclosure; Ethics; Knowledge Acquisition

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Article

Unconventional Insights for Managing Stakeholder Trust

By: Michael Pirson and Deepak Malhotra

Initiatives to build and maintain trust with various stakeholders, including customers, employees, suppliers and investors, are at the top of the executive agenda at many organizations. But most companies don't really understand how to manage stakeholder trust... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Organizational Culture; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Perspective; Trust; Cooperation