Publications

Educators

November 2023 (Revised August 2024)
Background Note

Life Cycle Assessment: An Overview

By: Willy C. Shih, Michael W. Toffel and Kelsey Carter

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a holistic approach to quantifying the environmental impacts—including resources consumed and wastes produced—associated with the entire life cycle of a product, from the production or extraction of the raw materials used in its creation,... View Details

Keywords: Life-cycle; Environmental Performance; Design; Environmental Management; Environmental Sustainability; Climate Change; Measurement and Metrics; Standards; Accounting; Environmental Accounting

Educators

March 2023 (Revised March 2025)
Module Note

LCA Module Overview: Society

Leadership and Corporate and Accountability (LCA) is a required course in the first-year MBA curriculum at Harvard Business School to help managers determine and deliver on their economic, legal, and ethical responsibilities. This note summarizes the cases and outlines... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

February 2023 (Revised March 2025)
Module Note

LCA Module Overview: Employees

This note provides an overview of key questions, themes, and concepts to be covered in the module and provides a brief description of each case and how it relates to these questions, themes, and concepts. View Details

January 2023 (Revised July 2025)
Technical Note

LCA Action Planning: Responsibility and Accountability

By: Sandra J. Sucher, Nien-he Hsieh and Marilyn Morgan Westner

LCA action plans integrate responsibility and accountability into decision-making and planning. This module note was designed for the LCA course and reviews six steps leaders can follow to develop a practical LCA action plan for their business. It shows how integrating... View Details

Keywords: Responsibility; Accountability; Management Challenges; Corporate Accountability; Leadership; Planning; Decisions; Strategy

Educators

January 2023 (Revised February 2025)
Module Note

LCA Module Overview: Customers

This note provides an overview of key questions, themes, and concepts to be covered in the module and provides a brief description of each case and how it relates to these questions, themes, and concepts. View Details

December 2022 (Revised November 2024)
Module Note

LCA Module Overview: Investors

This Note provides an overview of cases, key concepts, and overall arc for the module on responsibilities to investors in Leadership and Corporate Accountability (LCA). View Details

Keywords: Corporate Accountability

December 2014 (Revised December 2020)
Course Overview Note

The Basic LCA Framework

By: Joseph L. Badaracco and Rebecca Henderson

Keywords: Leadership & Corporate Accountability; Values; Responsibility; Leadership; Corporate Accountability; Values and Beliefs