Publications

Fall 2015
Article

Doing Well by Doing Good? Community Development Venture Capital

By: Josh Lerner and Anna Kovner

This paper examines the investments and performance of community development venture capital (CDVC). We find substantial differences between CDVC and traditional venture capital (VC) investments: CDVC investments are far more likely to be in nonmetropolitan regions and... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Venture Capital

Article

Do Group Dynamics Influence Social Capital Gains Among Microfinance Clients? Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Urban India

By: Natalia Rigol, Benjamin Feigenberg, Erica Field, Rohini Pande and Shayak Sarkar

October 2010
Article

The Emerging Capital Market for Nonprofits

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Allen S. Grossman

Many of our largest and most successful companies today did not exist 50 years ago. During this same time interval, companies that ranked among top in the 1960s have disappeared, been merged out of existence, or become much smaller presences in the U.S. industrial... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Investment Funds; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Corporate Accountability; Management Practices and Processes; Infrastructure; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Effectiveness; Nonprofit Organizations

October 2009
Article

Influence and Inefficiency in the Internal Capital Market

By: Julie Wulf

I model inefficient resource allocations in M-form organizations due to influence activities by division managers that skew capital budgets in their favor. Corporate headquarters receives two types of signals about investment opportunities: private signals that can be... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Resource Allocation; Business Processes; Capital Budgeting; Business Headquarters; Investment; Opportunities; Cost; Value; Motivation and Incentives; Equity

Read Now

07 May 2007
Research & Ideas

Rediscovering Schumpeter: The Power of Capitalism

If capitalism was the most influential single economic and social force of the 20th century (and continuing today), there is no better guide to understanding its power and complexity than famed economist... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Education

February 2020 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Prime Coalition: Catalytic Capital for Climate Innovation

By: Ramana Nanda, Benjamin N. Roth and Olivia Hull

With long development timelines and high risk, new energy technologies were often left to languish in the “valley of death,” unable to raise enough funds to bring a product to market. In 2014, Sarah Kearney founded the nonprofit Prime Coalition to solve this problem.... View Details

Keywords: Energy Conservation; Renewable Energy; Social Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Mission and Purpose; Science-Based Business; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Enterprise; Energy Industry; Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States

Educators

28 Feb 2007
Research & Ideas

Capital Rules: The Tensions of Global Finance

What fuels a global economy? Certainly the easy flow of capital across national boundaries would seem near the top of the list. But financial globalization is not an on/off switch, notes Professor Rawi Abdelal. Different countries and... View Details

Keywords: by Rawi Abdelal

January 2006 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Capitalism and Democracy in a New World

By: Bruce R. Scott, Sarah Potvin and Alison Adams

Focuses on the formulation of the Northwestern Ordinance as the core of a development strategy for capitalism and democracy in the United States. A precursor to the Constitution, the Northwestern Ordinance was based on the New England Model to achieve a broad and... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Economic Systems; Income; Laws and Statutes; Government and Politics; Growth and Development Strategy; Power and Influence; United States

Educators

01 Mar 2017
News

Ask the Expert: Capital Architect

business, and social leadership. Similarly, we mandated that respected Zambian private or civil sector leaders chair all negotiating transaction teams. What consideration do you give to the spiritual and ethical components of building a... View Details

July 2011
Case

Edna McConnell Clark Foundation-Enabling a Performance Driven Philanthropic Capital Market

By: Allen Grossman and Aldo Sesia

The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, focused on building the organizational capabilities of nonprofits that served the disadvantaged youth in the United States, has recently been named an intermediary in the federal government's new social innovation fund (SIF), which... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Financial Strategy; Performance Improvement; Capital Markets; United States

Educators

Web

Boston-based alumni discuss income inequality, the merits of capitalism and the social contract at Business & Society “Jeffersonian” Dinner Series | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Web

Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Meaningful progress on complex social issues depends in part on the entrepreneurial ideas and energy of the next generation. In recent years, we have seen a sustained increase in HBS students launching View Details

01 Jun 2009
News

Social Innovation Goes Mainstream

using capital as a source of leverage for social benefit,” he said. Acknowledging his optimism about the future, Greenblatt declared, “Young people are looking for ways to engage. Service is the new greed.”... View Details

Keywords: Social Assistance; Social Assistance; Social Assistance; Social Assistance

Research Summary

Overview

By: Dutch Leonard

Professor Leonard's research focuses on understanding the role of leadership in the development of strategy and processes for execution in private sector and socially-oriented organizations, including an emphasis on innovation, uncertainty, building successful adaptive... View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Leadership; Social Business; Social Capital; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Risk Management; Crisis Management

2012
Article

Organizing for Society: A Typology of Social Entrepreneuring Models

By: Johanna Mair, Julie Battilana and Julian Cardenas

In this article, we use content and cluster analysis on a global sample of 200 social entrepreneurial organizations to develop a typology of social entrepreneuring models. This typology is based on four possible forms of capital that can be leveraged: social, economic,... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Organizational Structure

17 May 2011
News

Sustainable growth is the new incarnation of capitalism

22 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Not Your Father’s State-Run Capitalism

managers. We haven't always understood these changes." Leviathan In Business In a new working paper, Leviathan in Business: Varieties of State Capitalism and Their Implications for Economic Performance, Musacchio and colleague Sergio G.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

October 2002
Article

The Role of Social Capital and Gender in Linking Financial Suppliers and Entrepreneurial Firms: A Framework for Future Research.

By: Candida G. Brush, Nancy M. Carter, Patricia G. Greene, Myra M. Hart and Elizabeth Gatewood

Keywords: Framework; Research; Gender; Capital