Publications

Read Now

March 2021 (Revised November 2022)
Case

Blue Meridian Partners (A): Scaling for Impact

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

In 2018, Edna McConnell Clark Foundation in a bold move transferred all its assets to a fund pooled with other General Partners and Limited Partners, called Blue Meridian Partners, to focus substantial long range investments in a few carefully chosen nonprofits.The... View Details

Keywords: Venture Philanthropy; Scaling; COVID-19 Pandemic; Social Justice; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Venture Capital; Business Model; Social Issues; Poverty; Values and Beliefs; Decisions; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Nonprofit Organizations; Investment Portfolio

Web

The Future of Impact Investing | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

The Future of Impact Investing Ronald Cohen, MBA 1969 Topics Business for Social Impact Impact Investing More View Details

Web

Rising Leaders for Social Impact Forum: Class of 2023 Perspectives | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

May 19, 2021
Article

Measuring the Impact of #MeToo on Gender Equity in Hollywood

By: Hong Luo and Laurina Zhang

The #MeToo movement has brought issues of sexual harassment and gender inequities to the forefront around the world. But how much of a tangible impact has it had on the experiences of women in the workplace? In this piece, the authors discuss their research that... View Details

Keywords: #MeToo Movement; Gender Equity; Creative Industries; Impact; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Film Entertainment; Social Issues

Find at Harvard

Register to Read

2019
Working Paper

The Impact of Technology Procurement Regulations on Social Value and National Competitiveness

By: Frank Nagle

Web

Measuring Success in Impact Investing | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Measuring Success in Impact Investing Multiple Alumni Topics Business for Social Impact Impact Investing More View Details

2014
Chapter

The Elusive Quest for Impact: The Evolving Practice of Social Impact Measurement

By: Brian Trelstad

Find at Harvard

Web

Alumni Initiatives in Impact Investing | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Alumni Initiatives in Impact Investing Multiple Alumni Topics Business for Social Impact Impact Investing More View Details

May 2025
Case

'Net Zero in Action': Impact Investing at the McKnight Foundation

By: Lauren Cohen, Christina R. Wing and Sophia Pan

Elizabeth McGeveran, Vice President of Investments at the McKnight Foundation, reflected on how to effectively advance the organization’s net-zero strategy. The foundation had committed 10% of its endowment to building a portfolio of impact investments and was among... View Details

June 2016 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Boys & Girls Clubs of America: Driving Impact

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Lisa C. Cox

With $1.8 billion in 2015 revenues, Boys & Girls Club of America had evolved over its 155-year-old history to occupy the lead position in the Youth Development space in the United States. Its new CEO Jim Clark had initiated yet another change process in 2015 to ensure... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Strategy; Planning Process; Transformative Impact; Nonprofit Organizations; Strategic Planning; Change Management; Growth Management

Web

Impact Investments

Mission Statement The Project on Impact Investments is dedicated to studying the universe of impact investors and portfolio companies that seek to generate social benefits... View Details

October 2024
Case

GLIN Impact Capital

By: Ethan Rouen and Akiko Saito

In 2024, the co-founders of the venture capital fund GLIN Impact Capital face a critical inflection point as they consider launching a second, significantly larger impact investment fund in Japan. Founded in 2021 by the three Harvard Business School alumni, GLIN is one... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment Funds; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Power and Influence; Japan

December 2012
Article

What Drives Corporate Social Performance? The Role of Nation-level Institutions

By: Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim

Based on Whitley's "National Business Systems" (NBS) institutional framework (Whitley 1997, 1999), we theorize about and empirically investigate the impact of nation-level institutions on firms' corporate social performance (CSP). Using a sample of firms from 42... View Details

Keywords: Environment; Environmental Performance; Corporate Social Responsibility; Sustainability; Institutions; Institutional Theory; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Governance

November 2007 (Revised September 2010)
Exercise

Social Identity Profile

By: Sandra J. Sucher

This survey asks students to identify their various social identities and the impact these identities have on how they behave and are treated in HBS and in other settings. View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Behavior; Identity; Culture; Social Issues

2019
Article

Reflections on 25 Years of Building Social Enterprise Education

By: James E. Austin and V. Kasturi Rangan

Purpose—This paper aims to reflect on 25 years of the Social Enterprise Initiative at the Harvard Business School, examining the processes and thinking involved at key stages of this pioneering Initiative’s implementation and... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise Initiative; Harvard Business School; Social Enterprise; Education; Programs