Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(2,240)
- Faculty Publications (325)
- 2019
- Working Paper
Improving Working Conditions in Global Supply Chains: The Role of Institutional Environments and Monitoring Program Design
By: Jodi L. Short, Michael W. Toffel and Andrea R. Hugill
Activism seeking to improve labor conditions in global supply chains has led transnational corporations to adopt codes of conduct and monitor suppliers for compliance, but it is unclear whether these formal organizational structures raise labor standards. Drawing on... View Details
Keywords: Monitoring; Supplier Relationship; Sustainability; Sustainability Management; Sustainable Operations; Sustainable Supply Chains; NGO; Globalization; Corporate Accountability; Operations; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Labor; Working Conditions; Business Processes; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Evaluation; Safety; Risk and Uncertainty; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Electronics Industry; China; Indonesia; India; Bangladesh
- 2016
- Working Paper
Shareholder Activism on Sustainability Issues
By: Jody Grewal, George Serafeim and Aaron Yoon
Shareholder activism on sustainability issues has become increasingly prevalent over the years, with the number of proposals filed doubling from 1999 to 2013. We use recent innovations in accounting standard setting to classify 2,665 shareholder proposals that address... View Details
Keywords: Sustainability; Activism; Activist Investors; Activist Shareholder; Corporate Social Responsibility; Environment; Corporate Performance; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Governance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Investment Activism
- June 2016 (Revised January 2018)
- Case
World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Jordan Mitchell
Nearly all environmental organizations have a similar aim: to stop the degradation of the natural environment. However, the strategies that environmental organizations choose to employ are sometimes starkly different. This case compares the models of two dissimilar... View Details
- 2016
- Book
Strategy Beyond Markets
By: John de Figueiredo, Michael Lenox, Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Rick Vanden Bergh
Strategy beyond markets has been an active area of research inquiry since the early 1990s. Since its inception, the scholarship emanating from this research stream has grown substantially in quantity, quality, and breadth. Likewise, firms across the world have... View Details
Keywords: Strategy
- May 2016
- Article
When Performance Trumps Gender Bias: Joint Versus Separate Evaluation
By: Iris Bohnet, Alexandra van Geen and Max Bazerman
We examine a new intervention to overcome gender biases in hiring, promotion, and job assignments: an "evaluation nudge," in which people are evaluated jointly rather than separately regarding their future performance. Evaluators are more likely to focus on individual... View Details
- March 2016 (Revised June 2016)
- Case
Gotong Royong: Toward Sustainable Palm Oil
By: Rebecca Henderson, Hann-Shuin Yew and Monica Baraldi
In late 2015, Jeff Seabright, chief sustainability officer at Unilever, had to report to Unilever CEO Paul Polman on the effort to transform palm oil cultivation. Historically, palm oil was produced using unsustainable methods that included burning large tracts of... View Details
- February 2016 (Revised October 2017)
- Case
Nuclear Energy: An Answer to Climate Change?
By: Michael W. Toffel, Glen W. S. Dowell and James Weber
Environmental activist groups have traditionally opposed nuclear energy. However, the growing environmental problems associated with global climate change require major changes to reduce the carbon intensity of electricity generation. Should environmental groups... View Details
- January 2016
- Case
SAP SE: Autism at Work
By: Gary P. Pisano and Robert D. Austin
This case describes SAP's "Autism at Work" program, which integrates people with autism into the company's workforce. The company has a stated objective of making 1% of its workforce people with autism by 2020. SAP's rationale for the program is based on the belief... View Details
- January 2016
- Case
Haiti Hope: Innovating the Mango Value Chain
By: Amy C. Edmondson and Jean-François Harvey
This case study examines a market-based approach to economic development through the eyes of NGO TechnoServe's project manager, implementing a US$9.5 million five-year public-private partnership between Coca-Cola, IDB, and USAID. The case ends at the beginning of the... View Details
Keywords: Sustainability; Economic Development; Corporate Social Responsibility; Emerging Country; Teaming; Public-private Partnership; Inter-organizational Relationships; Collaboration; Strategy Implementation; Agricultural Commodity; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Public Sector; Supply Chain Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Learning; Partners and Partnerships; Private Sector; Developing Countries and Economies; Social Enterprise; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Haiti
- 2016
- Article
Does volunteering improve well-being?
By: A.V. Whillans, Scott C. Seider, Lihan Chen, Ryan J. Dwyer, Sarah Novick, Kathryn J. Gramigna, Brittany A. Mitchell, Victoria Savalei, Sally S. Dickerson and Elizabeth W. Dunn
Does volunteering causally improve well-being? To empirically test this question, we examined one instantiation of volunteering that is common at post-secondary institutions across North America: community service learning (CSL). CSL is a form of experiential learning... View Details
- December 2015
- Article
Harnessing Productive Tensions in Hybrid Organizations: The Case of Work Integration Social Enterprises
By: Julie Battilana, Metin Sengul, Anne-Claire Pache and Jacob Model
We examine the factors that influence the social performance of hybrid organizations that pursue a social mission, and sustain their operations through commercial activities, by studying work integration social enterprises (WISEs). We argue that social imprinting and... View Details
- 2015
- Case
Advanced Leadership Pathways: Paul Lee and Asian Americans Advancing Justice
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Frank Jerome LaNasa and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone
Paul Lee and Asian Americans Advancing Justice
2013 AL Fellow, 2014 Senior AL Fellow
Two years after the formation of the Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ), a national affiliation of four independent Asian American civil rights groups, Paul Lee, who... View Details
Two years after the formation of the Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ), a national affiliation of four independent Asian American civil rights groups, Paul Lee, who... View Details
Keywords: Leadership Skills; Asian; Asian Americans; Asian Americans Advancing Justice; Civil Rights; Asian Law Caucus; Asian Pacific American Legal Center; Asian American Institute; Asian American Justice Center; Immigration Issues; Immigration Reform; Affirmative Action; Coalition; Asian American Activism; Japanese; Chinese; Korean; Indian; Pakistani; Hmong; Cambodian; Laotians; Filipino; Vietnamese; Pacific Islanders; Ethnic Group; Model Minority; Anti-asian Prejudice; Pan-asian; Discrimination; Immigrants; Immigration Acts; Alien Land Laws; Sei Fujii; Naturalize; Interracial; Immigration And Nationality Act Of 1965; Refugees; War; Warfare; Vincent Chin; Bigotry; Chinatown; Boston; Social Impact; Asian American Lawyers Association; National Asian Pacific Bar Association; Asian Community Development Corporation; Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence; Southeast Asia; Mee Moua; Change Management; Demographics; Prejudice and Bias; Rights; Immigration; Leadership; Problems and Challenges; Society; North and Central America
- October 2015
- Article
Global Teams That Work
By: Tsedal Neeley
Many companies today rely on employees around the world, leveraging their diversity and local expertise to gain a competitive edge. However, geographically dispersed teams face a big challenge: physical separation and cultural differences can create social distance, or... View Details
- 2019
- Working Paper
The Wisdom of Crowds in Operations: Forecasting Using Prediction Markets
By: Achal Bassamboo, Ruomeng Cui and Antonio Moreno
Prediction is an important activity in various business processes, but it becomes difficult when historical information is not available, such as forecasting demand of a new product. One approach that can be applied in such situations is to crowdsource opinions from... View Details
- September 2015
- Article
Codes in Context: How States, Markets, and Civil Society Shape Adherence to Global Labor Standards
By: Michael W. Toffel, Jodi L. Short and Melissa Ouellet
Transnational business regulation is increasingly implemented through private voluntary programs—like certification regimes and codes of conduct—that diffuse global standards. But little is known about the conditions under which companies adhere to these standards. We... View Details
- September 2015
- Article
Speaking of the Short-Term: Disclosure Horizon and Managerial Myopia
By: Francois Brochet, Maria Loumioti and George Serafeim
We study conference calls as a voluntary disclosure channel and create a proxy for the time horizon that senior executives emphasize in their communications. We find that our measure of disclosure time horizon is associated with capital market pressures and executives'... View Details
- 2015
- Working Paper
Social Is the New Financial: How Startups' Social Media Activities Influence Funding Outcomes
By: Andy Wu, Fujie Jin and Lorin Hitt
- Article
Integrated Reporting and Investor Clientele
By: George Serafeim
In this paper, I examine the relation between Integrated Reporting (IR) and the composition of a firm's investor base. I hypothesize and find that firms that practice IR have a more long-term oriented investor base with more dedicated and fewer transient investors.... View Details
- May 2015
- Teaching Note
Aviva Investors
By: George Serafeim
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
- May 2015
- Teaching Note
Walmart: Segmenting Social Impact
By: Michael E. Porter, Mark R. Kramer and Pamela Sud
This case provides a sample of Walmart's social engagement activities and asks students to categorize each as philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, or creating shared value. View Details