Publications

Educators

April 2011
Case

Shell Nigeria: The WikiLeaks Cables

By: Sandra J. Sucher, Rebecca M. Henderson and Matthew Preble

In November 2010, WikiLeaks began releasing the first of hundreds of thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables that it had obtained. Among the thousands of cables published by early 2011, were several that shed light on Royal Dutch Shell's operations in Nigeria and its... View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Energy Generation; Operations; Communication Technology; Crime and Corruption; Metals and Minerals; Ethics; Energy Industry; Nigeria

April 2017
Teaching Plan

CLP: Powering Asia

By: George Serafeim, Rebecca Henderson and David Freiberg

Teaching Note for HBS No. 115-038. View Details

June 2015 (Revised February 2017)
Teaching Note

Shanghai: GDP Apostasy

By: George Serafeim, Rebecca Henderson and David Freiberg

Article

Why Do Firms Have 'Purpose'? The Firm's Role as a Carrier of Identity and Reputation

By: Rebecca Henderson and Eric Van den Steen

Why do so many firms publicly espouse a "purpose" beyond simple profit maximization? And why do so many managers and employees appear to care deeply about this purpose and to believe that it is critically important? In this paper we argue that the conventional answers... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Identity; Reputation

20 Mar 2013
Research & Ideas

How CEOs Sustain Higher-Ambition Goals

encouraging them to participate in case studies and other research. The School hopes that highlighting these higher-ambition efforts could act as a template for other companies to follow. "I do think you are very important," HBS Professor View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

14 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Water, Electricity, and Transportation: Preparing for the Population Boom

Infrastructure, and Resources"—tackled three giant subjects: water, energy, and transportation. The conference was sponsored by Harvard Business School's Business and Environment Initiative and co-chaired by professors Rebecca M.... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

March 2018
Article

Making the Numbers? 'Short Termism' and the Puzzle of Only Occasional Disaster

By: Hazhir Rahmandad, Rebecca Henderson and Nelson P. Repenning

Much recent work in strategy and popular discussion suggests that an excessive focus on "managing the numbers"—delivering quarterly earnings at the expense of longer-term investments—makes it difficult for firms to make the investments necessary to build competitive... View Details

Keywords: Capability; Short-termism; System Dynamics; Tipping Point; Business or Company Management; Earnings Management; Resource Allocation

28 Aug 2017
Research & Ideas

Should Industry Competitors Cooperate More to Solve World Problems?

collaborations become effective, an increasing number of companies will be able to engage in activities that create a more positive social impact. Professor Rebecca Henderson is writing a fascinating book on... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Manufacturing; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Mining

2012
Chapter

Schumpeterian Competition and Diseconomies of Scope: Illustrations from the Histories of Microsoft and IBM

By: Timothy F. Bresnahan, Shane Greenstein and Rebecca M. Henderson

We address a longstanding question about the causes of creative destruction. Dominant incumbent firms, long successful in an existing technology, are often much less successful in new technological eras. This is puzzling, since a cursory analysis would suggest that... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Opportunities; Competition; Information Technology; Innovation and Management; Organizations; Relationships; Information Technology Industry

23 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

This Crisis Loan Program Preserved Jobs—and Made Money

Pandemic Coverage from Around Harvard and Beyond COVID-19 Business Impact Center (Harvard Business School) How to Manage Coronavirus Layoffs with Compassion (Harvard Business Review) Organizational Responses to COVID-19 and Climate Change: A Conversation with View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

2022
Book

A Political Economy of Justice

By: Danielle Allen, Yochai Benkler, Leah Downey, Rebecca Henderson and Joshua Simons

Defining a just economy in a tenuous social-political time.
If we can agree that our current social-political moment is tenuous and unsustainable—and indeed, that may be the only thing we can agree on right now—then how do markets, governments, and people... View Details

Keywords: Political Economy; Social Justice; Capitalism; Business And Society; Economy; Society; Fairness; Economic Systems; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; United States

28 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 28

'Short Termism' & the Puzzle of Only Occasional Disaster By: Rahmandad, Hazhir, Nelson P. Repenning, and Rebecca Henderson Abstract—Much recent work in strategy and popular discussion suggests that an... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Article

Knowledge Spillovers, Geographic Location, and the Productivity of Pharmaceutical Research

By: Jeffrey Furman, Margaret K. Kyle, Iain Cockburn and Rebecca M. Henderson

Keywords: Geographic Location; Knowledge; Health; Research