Publications

SSRN

2014
Working Paper

The Role of the Corporation in Society: An Alternative View and Opportunities for Future Research

A long-standing ideology in business education has been that a corporation is run for the sole interest of its shareholders. I present an alternative view where increasing concentration of economic activity and power in the world's largest corporations, the Global... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Corporate Governance; Environment; Environmental And Social Sustainability; Sustainability; Sustainability Reporting; Sustainability Research; Sustainability Targets; Corporate Performance; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

SSRN

December 2011 (Revised May 2015)
Case

Aviva Investors

The Aviva Investors case describes the challenge of integrating sustainability considerations into the strategy and business practices of companies and into the decision making process of the investment community. Steve Waygood, Chief Responsible Investment Officer at... View Details

Keywords: Investing; Investment Management; Shareholder Activism; Disclosure; Stock Exchanges; Sustainability; Sustainable Development; Sustainability Reporting; ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Social Impact; Activism; Investment; Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Environmental Sustainability; United Kingdom

Educators

22 Feb 2022
Blog Post

Lessons Learned from My HBS Career Journey in Environmental Sustainability

I began my HBS admissions application essay with the following sentence: “I aspire to help build organizations that are advancing sustainability and addressing the issue of climate change.” For the past year and a half, I’ve been trying... View Details

Keywords: Energy / Cleantech

2015
Book

Political Standards: Corporate Interest, Ideology, and Leadership in the Shaping of Accounting Rules for the Market Economy

By: Karthik Ramanna

There are certain institutions underlying our modern market-capitalist system that are largely outside the interest and understanding of the general public—e.g., rulemaking for bank capital adequacy, actuarial standards, accounting standards, and auditing practice. In... View Details

Keywords: Business And Society; Financial Institutions; Financial Reporting; GAAP; IFRS; Lobbying; Capitalism; Sustainability; Accounting; Finance; Business and Government Relations; Leadership; Accounting Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States; China; India

15 Feb 2023
Blog Post

Creating Emerging Markets Sustainability Series - Closing the ‘Intention-Action’ Gap

by a recent study of U.S. consumer habits published by researchers at First Insight and the Baker Retailing Center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The study reported how more than two-thirds of consumers surveyed... View Details

20 Jan 2022
Blog Post

Lessons Learned from My HBS Career Journey in Environmental Sustainability

Lessons Learned from My HBS Career Journey in Environmental Sustainability I began my HBS admissions application essay with the following sentence: “I aspire to help build organizations that are advancing View Details

14 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

Deflategate and the Sustained Success of the New England Patriots

footballs should be.” “I don’t think this is about football at all. I think this is about human nature and organizations and performance” As Iansiti watched the AFC title game in January 2015, and the ensuing uproar, he was hooked. As an author of expert View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Sports

May 2015
Teaching Note

Aviva Investors

Keywords: Responsibility; Responsibilities To Society; Sustainability; Sustainability Reporting; Corporate Social Responsibility; Corporate Sustainability; Activist Investors; Investment Management; Investment Strategy; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Environmental Sustainability; Investment Activism

Spring 2014
Article

Attracting Long-Term Investors Through Integrated Thinking and Reporting: A Clinical Study of a Biopharmaceutical Company

By: Andrew Knauer and George Serafeim

Faced with a large percentage of investors that chase short-term returns, companies could benefit by attracting investors with longer-term horizons and incentives that are more consistent with the long-term strategy of the company. The managers of most companies take... View Details

Keywords: Investing; Asset Management; Long-term Investing; Short-termism; Sustainability; Integrated Reporting; Leadership & Corporate Accountability; Pharmaceuticals; Leadership; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Investment; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Finance; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

Article

The EU's Unsustainable Approach to Stakeholder Capitalism

By: Jesse M. Fried and Charles C.Y. Wang

A recent report by the EU claims that investor-driven short-termism is encouraging firms to return cash rather than invest it, which reduces capital available for investment in growth. The authors show that the data behind the report do not support its claims and... View Details

Keywords: Short-termism; Sustainability; Capital; Investment; Decision Making; Business and Stakeholder Relations; European Union

08 Jul 2021
Blog Post

Managing Sustainable Advantage with Key ESG Co-Founders, Anne-Marie Schoonbeek and Heleen van Poecke

together. Building on the friendship they formed at HBS, their MBAs, and learnings from their careers to date, Schoonbeek and van Poecke founded Key ESG, a software solution that helps businesses measure, manage, and report Environmental,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Technology

2022
Working Paper

ESG: Hyperboles and Reality

ESG has rapidly become a household name leading to both confusion about what it means and creating unrealistic expectations about its effects. In this paper, I draw on more than a decade of research to dispel several myths about ESG and provide answers to important... View Details

Keywords: ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Disclosure; ESG Reporting; ESG Ratings; Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Performance; Corporate Disclosure; Reports

SSRN

September 20, 2024
Article

It’s Time to Unbundle ESG

By: Aaron K. Chatterji and Michael W. Toffel

ESG is at an inflection point. It has come to represent a broad and inchoate aspiration for what business should be doing beyond maximizing shareholder value. With ESG advocates on the defensive, business leaders need a new roadmap to determine which factors to... View Details

Keywords: ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Ratings; ESG Reporting; ESG Disclosure; Sustainability; Climate; Climate Finance; Climate Risk; Social Accounting; Investment; Governance; Safety; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Financial Services Industry

Register to Read

10 Apr 2023
Blog Post

Creating Emerging Markets Sustainability Series - Innovations to Address the Global Water Crisis

Creating Emerging Markets Sustainability Series – Innovations to Address the Global Water Crisis Cover image features Rosario Bazán (left) and Anil Jain (right). Between March 22 – 24th, world and business leaders from sectors spanning... View Details

10 Jun 2021
Blog Post

Managing Sustainable Advantage with Key ESG Cofounders, Anne-Marie Schoonbeek and Heleen van Poecke

together. Building on the friendship they formed at HBS, their MBAs, and learnings from their careers to date, Schoonbeek and van Poecke founded Key ESG, a software solution that helps businesses measure, manage, and report Environmental,... View Details

Editorial

ESG Returns Eventually Will Win Over Critics

Keywords: ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Reporting; Sustainability; Change; Change Management; Innovation; Environment; Climate Change; Sustainable Finance; Investment