Publications

Educators

Research Summary

Environmental Policy and Competitiveness

By: Michael E. Porter

Michael E. Porter has been exploring (with Claas van der Linde of St. Gallen University, Switzerland) the relationship between environmental regulation, industry competition, and international competitiveness. He finds that many forms of environmental pollution... View Details

2008
Working Paper

Learning Processes in Environmental Policy Making and Implementation

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

This paper explores how "learning" occurs in the context of environmental policy formulation and implementation. Rather than viewing policy learning as a rational and technocratic process, the emphasis here is on the political and institutional contexts within which... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Business and Government Relations; Natural Environment; Power and Influence; South Africa; Brazil

March 2014
Module Note

Implementing Environmentally Sustainable Operations

By: Michael W. Toffel

2016
Working Paper

Executive Compensation and Environmental Harm

By: Dylan Minor

We explore the relationship between managerial incentives and environmental harm. We find that high-powered executive compensation packages can increase the odds of environmental law breaking by 40%–60% and the magnitude of environmental harm by over 100%. We document... View Details

Keywords: Misconduct; Environmental Performance; Accounting Scandal; Sustainable Finance; Crime and Corruption; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Executive Compensation; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Governance

SSRN

1980
Book

Environmental Politics and the Coal Coalition

By: Richard Vietor

Keywords: Environmental Regulation; Coal Mining; Industrial Policy; United States; United States

November 2014
Article

Government Green Procurement Spillovers: Evidence from Municipal Building Policies in California

By: Timothy Simcoe and Michael W. Toffel

We study how government green procurement policies influence private-sector demand for similar products. Specifically, we measure the impact of municipal policies requiring governments to construct green buildings on private-sector adoption of the U.S. Green Building... View Details

Keywords: Public Procurement; Green Building; Quality Certification; Environmental Policy; Buildings and Facilities; Environmental Sustainability; Policy; Government and Politics; Green Technology Industry; Public Administration Industry; California

2008
Chapter

Learning in Environmental Policymaking and Implementation

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

This paper explores how "learning" occurs in the context of environmental policy formulation and implementation. Rather than viewing policy learning as a rational and technocratic process, the emphasis here is on the political and institutional contexts within which... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Corporate Accountability; Policy; Government and Politics; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Natural Environment; Power and Influence; South Africa; Brazil

08 Sep 2008
HBS Case

The Value of Environmental Activists

There are many methods, most financial, to measure the success of companies in meeting goals. But the question becomes a lot harder at Harvard Business School when MBAs are challenged to measure the efforts of environmental organizations like Greenpeace and the World... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

Article

Market Failure and the Environmental Policies of Firms: Economic Rationales for 'Beyond Compliance' Behavior

By: F. L. Reinhardt

Keywords: Failure; Policy; Business Ventures; Behavior; Economics

July 2023
Article

Political Strategies for Climate and Environmental Solutions

By: Jonas Meckling and Valerie Karplus

Many of the barriers to progress in addressing environmental problems, such as climate change, are political. We argue that politics should not be seen only as a constraint but be recognized as a target of intervention to advance environmental solutions. We use the... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Management; Government and Politics; Problems and Challenges

Register to Read

November 2021
Article

Making Industrial Policy Work for Decarbonization

By: Jonas Meckling

Industrial policy has begun to move into the center of debates on climate policy. This represents a shift away from climate policy as we know it—as classic environmental policy. Industrial policy and environmental policy differ in their policy goals, policy... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Regulation; Policy; Government and Politics; Climate Change

May 2024
Article

Housing Policies and Energy Efficiency Spillovers in Low and Moderate Income Communities

By: Omar Isaac Asensio, Olga Churkina, Becky D. Rafter and Kira E O'Hare

Housing policies address the human dimensions of increasing urban density, but their energy and sustainability implications are hard to measure due to challenges with siloed civic data. This is especially critical when evaluating policies targeting low- and... View Details

Keywords: Energy Efficiency; Public Policy; Climate Change; Energy Conservation; Housing; Analytics and Data Science; Policy; Income; Environmental Sustainability; Real Estate Industry; United States

May 1992 (Revised August 1993)
Case

Forest Policy in Malaysia

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

The governments of Malaysia and the Malaysian State of Sarawak need to assess possible changes in forest policy. Environmentalist pressure threatens traditional market relationships and patterns of business-government interaction. Harvest regulations, subsidies, trade... View Details

Keywords: Natural Environment; Policy; Government and Politics; Environmental Sustainability; Trade; Business and Government Relations; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Forestry Industry; Forest Products Industry; Malaysia

Educators

19 Jun 2018
Research Event

Has Environmental Sustainability Lost its Relevance?

stellar cast of practitioners, management researchers, and business and environmental historians. As co-organizer of the event with HBS Professor Amy Edmondson and Swedish business historian Anki Bergquist, I was thrilled as the... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey G. Jones; Energy

2002
Book

Organizations, Policy and the Natural Environment: Institutional and Strategic Perspectives

By: Andrew J. Hoffman and Marc Ventresca

This book brings together emerging perspectives from organization theory and management, environmental sociology, international regime studies, and the social studies of science and technology to provide a starting point for discipline-based studies of environmental... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Regulation

15 Dec 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Cognitive Barriers to Environmental Action: Problems and Solutions

Keywords: by Lisa L.Shu & Max H. Bazerman

28 Apr 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Environmental Federalism in the European Union and the United States

Keywords: by David Vogel, Michael Toffel, Diahanna Post & Nazli Z. Uludere Aragon

1996
Chapter

Zum Konflikt zwischen intrinsischer Motivation und umweltpolitischer Instrumentenwahl [The Conflict Between Intrinsic Motivation and the Choice of Environmental Policy Instruments]

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Bruno S. Frey

2011
Article

Regulatory Uncertainty and Corporate Responses to Environmental Protection in China

By: Christopher Marquis, Jianjun Zhang and Yanhua Zhou

We develop a framework to analyze the closing gap between regulation and enforcement of environmental protection in China and present a number of resulting implications for doing business there. We identify three major dimensions that characterize change in regulatory... View Details

Keywords: Framework; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Law Enforcement; Growth and Development Strategy; Emerging Markets; Business Ventures; Alignment; Risk and Uncertainty; Natural Environment; Motivation and Incentives; Management Practices and Processes; Competitive Strategy; China