Publications

05 Nov 2019
Blog Post

Environmental Change and Ground-level Impact

looking through their investment portfolios is an interesting way to find early-stage companies working in the clean energy space. It’s also easier to reach out and ask questions as a student—people are... View Details

September 2010 (Revised April 2017)
Case

Aspen Skiing Company (A)

By: Michael W. Toffel and Stephanie van Sice

Having begun improving the environmental performance of its own operations, Aspen Skiing Company is considering "greening" its supply chain and lobbying for greenhouse gas regulations. A world renowned ski resort vulnerable to global climate change, Aspen's activities... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Supply Chain Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Government Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Climate Change; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Aspen

Web

Climate Impact - Business & Environment

Alumni Climate Impact Alumni Climate Impact Alumni Founders: How is Your Company Accelerating Climate Solutions? Eric Adamson MBA 2013 | Co-Founder & CEO, Tortuga AgTech “At... View Details

August 2022 (Revised November 2024)
Case

Boston Impact Initiative: Investing in Local Change

By: Emily R. McComb, Amy Klopfenstein and Mel Martin

In fall 2021, Aliana Piñeiro, impact director at Boston Impact Initiative (BII) discovered that an entrepreneur the organization was considering for an investment had failed to disclose pre-existing debt with another lender. Although the business scored highly on BII’s... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Finance; Investment; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Relationships; Business and Community Relations; Society; Social Issues; Wealth and Poverty; Wealth; Poverty; Risk Management; Financial Services Industry; North and Central America; United States; Massachusetts; Boston

Fast Answer

Field Course: Investing for Impact

[Applicable for: Coils to Locs, GLOU Beauty, Bohio Clean] Statista - Statista is a statistics portal that integrates thousands of diverse topics of data and facts from a wide range of sources onto a single platform. [Applicable for: most industries] View Details

14 Nov 2019
Video

Health Minute: The Real Impact of Coupons on Drug Pricing

28 Apr 2022
Blog Post

Harvard Team Wins Second Place in MIINT Impact Investing Competition

On March 24, five teams of Harvard students came together to pitch innovative impact investment opportunities in early-stage social enterprises. The students were participants in a hands-on impact investing... View Details

November 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Hormel Foods

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

In 2019, CEO Jim Snee is weighing how to shape the image of Hormel Foods, one of the largest U.S. meat and food companies, at a time when the industry faces unprecedented scrutiny. Based in the small town of Austin, Minnesota, the nearly 130-year-old firm is best known... View Details

Keywords: Brand Portfolio Strategy; Brands and Branding; Product; Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Risk Management; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; China

2011
Working Paper

The Impact of Forward-Looking Metrics on Employee Decision Making

By: Pablo Casas-Arce, F. Asis Martinez-Jerez and V.G. Narayanan

This paper analyzes the effects of providing forward-looking metrics on employee decision making. We use data from a southern European bank that, in April 2002, started providing its branch managers with customer lifetime value (CLV) information about mortgage... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Decision Choices and Conditions; Mortgages; Employees; Information; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Service Delivery; Banking Industry; Europe

16 Jul 2020
News

Crisis offers a chance to rewrite accounting to include impact

2022
Article

Regulatory Treatment of Changes in Fair Value and the Composition of Banks' Investment Portfolios

By: Michael Iselin, Jung Koo Kang and Joshua Madsen

In their implementation of Basel III, U.S. bank regulators are again including changes in the fair value of available-for-sale (AFS) debt securities in Tier 1 capital, but only for the largest U.S. banks. This paper investigates a potential impact of expanding this... View Details

Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; SFAS 115; Basel III; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Banks and Banking; Debt Securities; Credit; Risk and Uncertainty; Investment Portfolio; Decision Making; Banking Industry; United States

SSRN

Find at Harvard

November 2011
Article

How Great Companies Think Differently

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Corporate leaders have long subscribed to the belief that the sole purpose of business is to make money. That narrow view, deeply embedded in the American capitalist system, molds the actions of most corporations, constraining them to focus on maximizing short-term... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Profit; Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Shareholder Relations; Behavior; Social Issues; Competitive Advantage

Find at Harvard

05 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

How Anchor Investors Help Impact Funds Succeed

investors. Did you learn anything unexpected about who they are, the impact they have? Shawn Cole and Rob Zochowski: Impact investors seek to create impact, and many investors viewed seeding new funds as an... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

2009
Chapter

Evaluating the Impact of SA8000 Certification

By: Michael J. Hiscox, Claire Schwartz and Michael W. Toffel

SA 8000, along with other types of certification standards and corporate codes of conduct, represents a new form of private governance of working conditions, initiated and implemented by companies, labor unions, and non-governmental activist groups. Whether these codes... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Working Conditions; Standards; Performance Evaluation

Read Now

23 Aug 2010
Research & Ideas

The Drive to Acquire’s Impact on Globalization

as when a U.S. auto company builds a parts plant in Mexico, has come into prominence only in the past few decades. Cutting costs is fair enough, unless it is done by paying less-than-living wages, creating unsafe working conditions, or... View Details

Keywords: by Paul R. Lawrence

December 2014
Supplement

Aspen Skiing Company Video Supplement

By: Michael W. Toffel

Having begun improving the environmental performance of its own operations, Aspen Skiing Company is considering "greening" its supply chain and lobbying for greenhouse gas regulations. A world renowned ski resort vulnerable to global climate change, Aspen's activities... View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Climate Change; Supply Chain Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Tourism Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Aspen