Publications

Editorial

What Mark Zuckerberg Understands About Corporate Purpose

By: George Serafeim

Keywords: Leadership; Facebook; Corporate Purpose; Mission; Mission And Purpose; Vision; Employee Engagement; Globalization; Inclusion; Capitalism

September 2023
Article

Corporate Purpose in Public and Private Firms

By: Claudine Gartenberg and George Serafeim

Analyzing data from approximately 1.5 million employees across 1,108 established public and private US companies, we find that the strength of employee beliefs related to purpose is weaker in public companies. Among public companies, those beliefs are stronger for... View Details

Keywords: Purpose; Corporate Purpose; Culture; Corporate Culture; Public And Private Organizations; Hedge Fund; Executive Pay; Corporate Governance; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Culture; Mission and Purpose; Employees; Attitudes; Executive Compensation; Ownership

January–February 2019
Article

Corporate Purpose and Financial Performance

By: Claudine Gartenberg, Andrea Prat and George Serafeim

We construct a measure of corporate purpose within a sample of U.S. companies based on approximately 500,000 survey responses of worker perceptions about their employers. We find that this measure of purpose is not related to financial performance. However, high... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Purpose; Purpose; Employee Motivation; Belief Systems; Corporate Performance; Human Capital; Middle Management; Culture; Corporate Culture; Meaning; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Employees; Perception; Values and Beliefs; Performance Effectiveness

SSRN

Article

The Social Purpose of Corporations

By: Nien-he Hsieh, Marco Meyer, David Rodin and Jens van ‘t Klooster

To think about the purpose of corporations is to think about what corporations are for. In this article, we argue that the concept of a purpose has an important role in thinking about the moral evaluation of corporations. We make three contributions. First, we... View Details

Keywords: Social Purpose; Corporate Purpose; The Corporation; Market Failures; Measurement Of Purpose; Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Ethics

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October 28, 2021
Article

Creating a Meaningful Corporate Purpose

By: Hubert Joly

Today, most company leaders believe that their companies’ larger purpose is to make a positive difference in the world—not just to maximize shareholder value. Defining a corporate why and making sure it guides decisions and operations has therefore become a cornerstone... View Details

Keywords: Corporations; Purpose; Meaningfulness; Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation

October 2024
Module Note

Purpose of the Firm

By: Debora L. Spar and Julia M. Comeau

Purpose of the Firm (PoF) is a short module designed to explore how, and under what circumstances, business leaders can harness the power of capitalism and markets to “make a difference in the world”—that is, to address a significant societal problem as a commercial... View Details

Keywords: Social Accounting; Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Enterprise; Mission and Purpose; Leadership

2007
Report

Compounding Impact: Mission Investing by U.S. Foundations

By: Mark R. Kramer and Sarah E. Cooch

If foundations are to achieve their lofty ambitions for social impact, they must find creative ways to use every resource they possess. Enter mission investing (now more popularly called impact investing), a practice of using financial investments as tools to achieve a... View Details

Keywords: Foundations; Mission Investing; Impact Investing; Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Investment

25 Sep 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate Purpose and Firm Ownership

Keywords: by Claudine Gartenberg and George Serafeim

Article

The Messy but Essential Pursuit of Purpose

By: Ranjay Gulati

Most forward-thinking executives have embraced the notion that purpose-driven companies can solve social and environmental problems while also generating wealth, creating win-win outcomes that benefit everyone. But ideal solutions are rare. Many purpose-driven... View Details

Keywords: Purpose; Sustainability; Mission and Purpose; Social Issues; Environmental Sustainability; Profit; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Decision Making

2019
Working Paper

Rehabilitating Corporate Purpose

By: Malcolm S. Salter

In this paper, I address how the ascendance of the theory of shareholder value maximization into the central consciousness of public corporations and its canonization as the only legitimate expression of corporate purpose has contributed to both a widening breach... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Justice; Corporate Purpose; Shareholder Value Maximization; Ethical Reciprocity; Economic Systems; Business Ventures; Mission and Purpose; Ethics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

SSRN

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11 Oct 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate Purpose and Financial Performance

Keywords: by Claudine Gartenberg, Andrea Prat, and George Serafeim

March 2023 (Revised November 2023)
Module Note

The Social Purpose of the Firm

By: Debora L. Spar and Julia M. Comeau

The Social Purpose of the Firm (SPF) is a short module designed to explore how, and under what circumstances, business leaders can harness the power of capitalism and markets to “make a difference in the world” – that is, to address a significant societal problem as a... View Details

Keywords: Social Accounting; Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Enterprise; Mission and Purpose; United States; Sweden; Kenya; Netherlands

Article

Use Purpose to Transform Your Workplace

By: Leena Nair, Nick Dalton, Patrick Hull and William Kerr

Is keeping pace with the future of work incompatible with using purpose to guide the organization? Unilever is stretching its well-known commitment to purpose for a new and daunting challenge—the transformation of its workforce of more than 149,000 employees. Its... View Details

Keywords: Future Of Work; Purpose; Unilever; Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Talent and Talent Management; Transition; Decision Making; Transformation

May 2020
Article

Tackling Climate Change Requires Organizational Purpose

By: Rebecca Henderson and George Serafeim

Unchecked climate change presents a profound threat to economic growth and political stability but despite widespread public concern about the issue, global emissions of greenhouse gases have not declined. Indeed current “business as usual” predictions imply that... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Purpose; Purpose; Sustainability; Environment; Climate Change; Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Environmental Sustainability; Strategy; Leadership

Article

181 Top CEOs Have Realized Companies Need a Purpose Beyond Profit

By: Claudine Gartenberg and George Serafeim

On August 19, 2019, the Business Roundtable (BR) issued a memo entitled “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation.” The Business Roundtable, one of the most preeminent business lobbies in the United States, includes 192 CEOs of leading U.S. companies from Apple to... View Details

Keywords: Purpose; Corporate Purpose; Stakeholder Management; CEO; Mission and Purpose; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Strategy

December 1995 (Revised November 1996)
Background Note

Corporate Purpose and Responsibility

By: Lynn S. Paine

Presents several conceptions of corporate purpose and responsibility as articulated by a variety of groups and individuals during the period 1970-95. Included are materials from the Business Roundtable, the American Law Institute, the Royal Society of Arts and... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; History; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

January 9, 2023
Editorial

The Pursuit of Profit with Purpose Requires Patience

By: George Serafeim

Keywords: Corporate Purpose; Purpose; Purpose Of Business Schools; Entrepreneur; Mission and Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Profit; Entrepreneurship

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December 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Opportunity International: Measurement and Mission

By: Herman B. Leonard, Marc J. Epstein and Melissa Tritter

After a "first career" in business, HBS graduate Christopher Crane becomes CEO of a worldwide microfinance network. The organization's twin challenges are: 1) developing metrics to give it an accurate picture of its situation and impacts, and 2) generating rapid... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Measurement and Metrics; Problems and Challenges; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Business Model; Nonprofit Organizations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Financial Services Industry

February 2014 (Revised August 2015)
Case

Mission Produce

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Mary Shelman

As the leading distributor of fresh avocados in the U.S., Mission Produce was at a crossroads in late 2013. Avocado consumption was booming and CEO Steve Barnard wanted to acquire additional land in Peru and develop new avocado farms to help fill a projected supply... View Details

Keywords: Fresh Produce; Food; Peru; Vertical Integration; Supply Chain; Agriculture; Agribusiness; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Peru