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- November–December 2024
- Article
How Robust Is Your Climate Governance?
By: Lynn S. Paine and Suraj Srinivasan
During the past few years, as evidence of climate change and its effects has mounted, many corporate boards have added climate governance to their agendas. But the maturity of boards’ climate-oversight processes and activities varies widely.
To better... View Details
To better... View Details
- 2024
- Working Paper
Catalysts for Climate Solutions: Corporate Responses to Venture Capital Financing of Climate-tech Startups
By: Shirley Lu, George Serafeim and Simon Xu
We study whether incumbent firms increase their product focus on climate solutions in response to venture capital (VC) financing of climate-tech startups. Using large language models to measure a firm's focus on climate solutions, we find that incumbents in similar... View Details
- Fall 2024
- Article
The Problem of Good Conduct Among Financial Advisers
By: Mark Egan, Gregor Matvos and Amit Seru
Households in the United States often rely on financial advisers for investment and savings decisions, yet there is a widespread perception that many advisers are dishonest. This distrust is not unwarranted: approximately one in fifteen advisers has a history of... View Details
- 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
- October 2024
- Case
Parexel: Scaling Up and Industry Dynamics
By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Ben Creo
Through the lens of biopharmaceutical contract research organization (CRO) PAREXEL, this case traces the evolution of the firm as it reinvents itself in response to the transformation of the CRO sector from a small, secondary cluster of firms into a major player with... View Details
- October 2024 (Revised October 2024)
- Case
Citizens of the World: The International Legacy of Gloria von Thurn und Taxis
By: Lauren Cohen, Sophia Pan and Maximilian Form
When her husband passed away and inheritance taxes struck, Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis took decisive action to preserve her family’s fortune and legacy. The Thurn und Taxis family, one of Europe’s oldest aristocratic dynasties, had built their wealth through... View Details
- 2024
- Working Paper
Priors, Experiments, Learning and Persuasion in (Bayesian) Entrepreneurial Finance
By: Ramana Nanda
At the heart of entrepreneurial finance lies a persuasion challenge: regardless of
the strength of an entrepreneur’s belief in the potential of their idea, they typically
need to convince investors to provide the financial capital required for its... View Details
- Fall 2024
- Article
The Case for Climate Alliances
Business leaders are under pressure to address the climate crisis, but they can’t do so alone. Climate alliances can help leaders and firms be more ambitious, responsible, and effective in driving the systems change necessary to save the planet. View Details
- September 26, 2024
- Article
A Better Way to Measure Social Impact
By: Robert S. Kaplan and Constance Spitzer
All impact investors report the financial returns from their funds and investments, and many provide metrics on intended social outcomes, such as numbers of individuals served, or quality jobs created. But investors do not supply metrics about their impacts on... View Details
- September 2024
- Supplement
Allbirds: Decarbonizing Fashion (B)
By: Michael W. Toffel, Kenneth P. Pucker and Stacy Straaberg
The Allbirds: Decarbonizing Fashion (B) case encourages students to assess Allbirds’ product development and go-to-market strategies now that Allbirds is a publicly listed company. The (B) case provides a 2024 update on Allbirds including its initial public offering,... View Details
Keywords: Financial Markets; Initial Public Offering; Global Strategy; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation Strategy; Knowledge Sharing; Distribution; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Going Public; Performance; Diversification; Stocks; Transformation; Fashion Industry; United States; San Francisco; California; Europe; Asia; New Zealand
- September 20, 2024
- Article
It’s Time to Unbundle ESG
By: Aaron K. Chatterji and Michael W. Toffel
ESG is at an inflection point. It has come to represent a broad and inchoate aspiration for what business should be doing beyond maximizing shareholder value. With ESG advocates on the defensive, business leaders need a new roadmap to determine which factors to... View Details
Keywords: ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Ratings; ESG Reporting; ESG Disclosure; Sustainability; Climate; Climate Finance; Climate Risk; Social Accounting; Investment; Governance; Safety; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Financial Services Industry
- 2024
- Working Paper
Igniting Innovation: Evidence from PyTorch on Technology Control in Open Collaboration
By: Daniel Yue and Frank Nagle
Many companies offer free access to their technology to encourage outside addon
innovation, hoping to later profit by raising prices or harnessing the power of the crowd
while continuing to steer the direction of innovation. They can achieve this balance by
opening... View Details
- September 2024
- Case
Carrie Wang: Choosing Between the Family Firm and the Family Spirit
By: Lauren Cohen, Fei Wu and Sophia Pan
Carrie Wang, Investment Head of the Wang’s single-family office, contemplated her next career steps. As one of the first businessmen who had risen from China’s industrial rise, her father had grown his wealth to a considerable level, eventually requesting that his... View Details
Keywords: Family Office; Investment; Interests Of Consumers; Family Business; Business Growth and Maturation; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Financial Markets; Investment Portfolio; Investment Return; Private Equity; Customer Relationship Management; Interests; Reputation; Real Estate Industry; China
- September 2024
- Case
Topaz: Navigating Governance, Legacy, and Change
By: Christina R. Wing and Carla Larangeira
Since its founding in 2011, the Garza Sada brothers and their father positioned Topaz among leading family offices in Monterrey, Mexico, with several assets under management. Topaz aspired to have a transformative impact across multiple Mexican industries. An industry... View Details
- September 2024
- Module Note
Governance for Non-Profit Social Enterprises
By: Brian Trelstad, Gerald Chertavian and Alexis Lefort
An overview of the various roles a non-profit board of directors plays, including the board’s principal responsibilities and how those evolve as organizations grow and scale. Looks closely at the overall role in setting the mission of the organization; supervising and... View Details
- September 2024
- Article
Activist Directors: Determinants and Consequences
By: Ian D. Gow, Sa-Pyung Sean Shin and Suraj Srinivasan
This paper examines determinants and consequences of hedge fund activism, focusing on activist directors, i.e., directors appointed in response to activist demands. Using a sample of 3,259 activism events from 2004 to 2016, we identify 1,623 activist directors.... View Details
- August 2024
- Case
Novo Nordisk Foundation
By: Debora L. Spar and Julia Comeau
In 2024, Novo Nordisk A/S was one of the most profitable firms in the world, thanks largely to just two GLP-1-based drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy. Unusually, this incredibly profitable firm was controlled not by individual private shareholders, but by a non-profit... View Details
- 2024
- Working Paper
The Wade Test: Generative AI and CEO Communication
By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Bart S. Vanneste and Amirhossein Zohrehvand
Can generative artificial intelligence (AI) transform the role of the CEO by effectively automating CEO
communication? This study investigates whether AI can mimic a human CEO and whether employees’
perception of the communication’s source matter. In a field... View Details
- 2024
- Working Paper
CSR Under the Pressure of Financial Shocks
By: Monica Kabutey, Syrena Shirley and Anywhere Sikochi
This study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced firms' interactions with customers and suppliers. Customer-supplier relationships are essential because the success of interconnected firms affects the sustainability of the entire supply chain. We use the... View Details
- 2024
- Working Paper
How Real Is Hypothetical?: A High-Stakes Test of the Allais Paradox
By: Uri Gneezy, Yoram Halevy, Brian Hall, Theo Offerman and Jeroen van de Ven
Researchers in behavioral and experimental economics often argue that only
incentive-compatible mechanisms can elicit effort and truthful responses from participants.
Others argue that participants make less-biased decisions when the stakes
are sufficiently high.... View Details