Publications

November 2017
Case

Passion and Strategy: Novozymes' Embrace of the UN Sustainable Development Goals

By: Andy Zelleke and Emilie Billaud

This case explores the sustainability efforts at Novozymes, the world's largest and oldest producer of industrial enzymes. In 2015, the Danish company became the world’s first company known to have crafted a new corporate strategy based on the United Nations... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Transformation; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Business Strategy; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Biotechnology Industry; Europe; Denmark

2025
Chapter

Sustainability and Green Business in Latin America

By: Geoffrey Jones

This chapter argues that since the nineteenth century capitalism has created much wealth, but at the cost of massive ecological destruction, which has been particularly severe in Latin America. During the first global economy before 1929, considerable wealth was... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Business History; Globalization; Economic Growth; Latin America

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February 2013
Article

Sustaining Innovation When Outsourcing Components in Multi-technology, Multi-component Systems

By: Ian Mackenzie and Casimer DeCusatis

Firms producing multi-technology, multi-component systems are increasingly outsourcing selected components to achieve both reduced cost and enhanced innovation benefits. Given typical inter-dependence between innovation at the system and component levels, an important... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Alignment; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology Industry

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March 2022
Teaching Note

Sustainable Product Management at Solvay

By: George Serafeim

This teaching note is designed to be used in conjunction with the case “Sustainable Product Management at Solvay,” HBS No.120-081 and its related products to help faculty deepen students’ comprehension of business issues and energize classroom discussion. View Details

November 2011 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Allied Electronics Corporation Ltd: Linking Compensation to Sustainability Metrics

Robert Venter, second-generation Chief Executive (CE) of family-owned Allied Electronics Corporation Ltd (Altron), considered the pros and cons of more clearly linking the firm's compensation system to sustainability performance. In June 2011, Altron, a conglomerate... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Environmental Sustainability

July 1997
Background Note

Sustaining Superior Performance: Commitments and Capabilities

By: Pankaj Ghemawat and Gary P. Pisano

Presents evidence on the unsustainability of many competitive advantages, reviews the typical threats to the sustainability, and discusses ways in which those threats can be combatted. View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage

June 2008
Teaching Note

Amanco: Developing the Sustainability Scorecard (TN)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Teaching Note for [inse107038]. View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Strategy; Performance; Groups and Teams; Management Systems; Market Entry and Exit; Competition; Social Enterprise; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives; Manufacturing Industry; Latin America; Brazil

20 Sep 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Historical Origins of Environmental Sustainability in the German Chemical Industry, 1950s-1980s

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones & Christina Lubinski; Chemical

2019
Book

Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation

By: Gary P. Pisano

Creative Construction tackles the myth that larger enterprises are inherently incapable of transformative innovation and are doomed to be disrupted by nimble start-ups. If larger enterprises seem incapable of transformative innovation, it is due to how we design... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Business Growth and Maturation; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Culture; Management Systems; Creativity; Leading Change

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April 2025 (Revised June 2025)
Case

Governing Sustainability in a Shifting Context (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

In early 2025, boards of directors had to rethink corporate responsibility and sustainability efforts amid rapidly-shifting social, legal, regulatory, and economic forces. While just a few years earlier, calls to address racial justice and climate change reached into... View Details

23 May 2011
Op-Ed

Leading and Lagging Countries in Contributing to a Sustainable Society

reporting is the combination in a single document of the material measures of financial and nonfinancial—environmental, social, and governance (ESG)—performance and the relationships between them. Sustainable View Details

Keywords: by Robert G. Eccles & George Serafeim

1985
Book

The Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance

By: M. E. Porter

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Performance Consistency

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January 2013 (Revised April 2013)
Technical Note

Relational Contracts and the Roots of Sustained Competitive Advantage

By: Rebecca M. Henderson

This note focuses on organizational "competencies" or "capabilities" as a potential source of sustained competitive advantage. Research in this area hypothesizes that some firms outperform their competition because they can do things that their rivals cannot. View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Performance

March 2015 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Shanghai: GDP Apostasy

By: George Serafeim

Balancing economic growth alongside environmental sustainability and social inclusion was becoming increasingly important in China. The case describes Shanghai's decision to abandon growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as its primary metric of measuring success.... View Details

Keywords: China; Gdp; Measurement; Measurement Problems; Accountability; Sustainability; Sustainable Development; Strategy Execution; Strategy; Balanced Scorecard; Strategy Map; Macroeconomics; Measurement and Metrics; Corporate Accountability; Accounting; Environmental Sustainability; Development Economics; Corporate Governance; Shanghai

January 2014
Case

Emirates Airline: Connecting the Unconnected

By: Juan Alcacer and John Clayton

Narrates the story of Emirates, an airline founded in 1985 in Dubai that by 2013 was among the three largest commercial airlines in the world. The case emphasizes how Emirates capitalized on its location—a small city–state strategically located to reach ¾ of the world... View Details

Keywords: Sustainable Competitive Advantage; Airlines; Multinational; Location Strategies; Geographic Location; Multinational Firms and Management; Air Transportation; Competitive Advantage; Business Strategy; Air Transportation Industry; Middle East; Dubai

11 Jan 2010
Research & Ideas

Mixing Open Source and Proprietary Software Strategies

strategies that managers can take into consideration when setting the course for their own firms. A Q&A with Llanes follows. Julia Hanna: How did you come to be interested in this particular area of research? Gaston Llanes: We started... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Web Services

March 2001 (Revised April 2001)
Case

Sustainable Development & Socially Responsible Investing: ABB in 2000

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

Several investment firms and mutual funds position themselves as providers or facilitators of opportunities for socially responsible investment. This case addresses the impact of these firms on publicly traded companies. Focuses on managers at ABB, a large... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Social Enterprise; Corporate Governance; Business Strategy; Capital Markets; Management Teams; Business and Community Relations; Trade; Electronics Industry; Switzerland

October 2011 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Novo Nordisk: A Commitment to Sustainability

By: Robert G. Eccles and Michael P. Krzus

The case describes the early commitment of a European pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk, to integrated reporting. Novo Nordisk is one of the pioneers of integrated reporting and it emerged out of its commitment to a "Triple Bottom Line approach to managing the... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Business Ventures; Business or Company Management; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Business Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry