Publications

November 2014 (Revised May 2017)
Teaching Note

Fresno's Social Impact Bond for Asthma

By: John A. Quelch

The case desccribes a social impact bond (SIB) to fund home-based remediation programs designed to reduce asthma attacks among Fresno residents (especially children) and thereby save on health care costs (ambulance callouts, emergency room visits etc.). The case... View Details

Keywords: Programs; Social Issues; Investment Return; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; California

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

Keywords: Impact Investing; Social Impact Investment; Inclusive Growth; Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability

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March 2016 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Michael Milken: The Junk Bond King

By: Tom Nicholas and Matthew G. Preble

Michael Milken, an investment banker who dominated the junk bond market in the 1980s, was sentenced to jail in 1990 after pleading guilty to a number of securities and tax-related felonies. In the preceding decade, Milken had helped usher in a new wave of leveraged buy... View Details

Keywords: Junk Bonds; High-yield Bonds; Financial Innovation; Shareholder Value; Bonds; Capital; Capital Structure; Cost of Capital; Crime and Corruption; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Finance; Investment Banking; Leveraged Buyouts; Mergers and Acquisitions; Ownership; Private Equity; Restructuring; United States

2021
Working Paper

The Green Bonding Hypothesis: How Do Green Bonds Enhance the Credibility of Environmental Commitments?

By: Shirley Lu

This paper proposes and provides evidence on a green bonding hypothesis, where green bonds act as a commitment device that subjects firms to institutions holding them accountable to their environmental promises. I find that green-bond issuers face higher climate change... View Details

Keywords: Bonding Hypothesis; Sustainable Finance; Climate Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Bonds; Corporate Accountability

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2021
Working Paper

Impact Investing: A Theory of Financing Social Enterprises

By: Benjamin N. Roth

I present a model of financing social enterprises to delineate the role of impact investors relative to “pure” philanthropists. I characterize the optimal scale and structure of a social enterprise when financed by grants, and when financed by investments. Impact... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Social Entrepreneurship; Finance; Investment; Mathematical Methods

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Clubs

Social Impact Club

Keywords: Nonprofit / Government

20 Mar 2013
News

Sizing Up Social Impact

Web

Social Impact Collaboratory

Mission Statement Led by Harvard Business School Professor Shawn Cole (Finance), the HBS Social Impact Collaboratory is a research-led effort to advance the understanding and practice of View Details

September 2023 (Revised September 2024)
Technical Note

Measuring and Managing Social Impact

By: Brian Trelstad, Gerald Chertavian and Susan Pinckney

A brief overview of how to measure social impact at nonprofits, social organizations, and impact investments. View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Change; Transformation; Decision Making; Cost vs Benefits; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Forecasting and Prediction; Public Sector; Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Fairness; Entrepreneurial Finance; Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Policy; Innovation and Management; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Practices and Processes; Resource Allocation; Measurement and Metrics; Standards; Strength and Weakness; Mission and Purpose; Success; Performance; Performance Evaluation; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Strategic Planning; Programs; Risk and Uncertainty; Social Enterprise; Non-Governmental Organizations; Social Issues; United States

Article

How Social Entrepreneurs Zig-Zag Their Way to Impact at Scale

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Tricia Gregg

This article provides guidance to social entrepreneurs and their funders as they seek to advance the enterprise from startup to scale. It focuses on the evolution of four social entrepreneurs and their decision-making paths as they attempt to scale their respective... View Details

Keywords: Systemic Impact; Scaling; Strategy Process; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy

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

Keywords: Creating Shared Value; Society; Value Creation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

November 2014 (Revised March 2017)
Exercise

Walmart: Segmenting Social Impact

By: Michael Porter, Mark 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

Keywords: Creating Shared Value; Society; Value Creation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Retail Industry

Awards

Paul E. Green Award

By: Leslie K. John

Finalist for the 2018 Paul E. Green Award from the Journal of Marketing Research for "Does 'Liking' Lead to Loving? The Impact of Joining a Brand's Social Network on Marketing Outcomes" (with Oliver Emrich, Sunil Gupta, and Michael I. Norton, February 2017). View Details

June 2019 (Revised April 2020)
Teaching Note

Vox Capital: Pioneering Impact Investing in Brazil

By: Julie Battilana, Marissa Kimsey and Falko Paetzold

Teaching Note for HBS No. 417-051. This Teaching Note provides conceptual foundations and teaching plan recommendations for the case on Vox Capital, a firm that launched one of the first impact investing funds in Brazil. The learning objectives are to understand how an... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Social Performance Measurement; Social Entrepreneurship; Investment Funds; Social Enterprise; Brazil

16 Aug 2023

Industry Spotlight: Social Impact

Wonder what an MBA could do to help with your professional growth? Hear from the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative staff and alumni focused on social enterprise to learn more about how HBS ignites and... View Details

October 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Social Finance, Inc.

By: Shawn Cole and Fanele Mashwama

This case begins in February 2019 as Tracy Palandjian, co-founder and CEO of Social Finance Inc., prepares for a board meeting that will determine the future strategy of the social enterprise. Social Finance is a non-profit in the impact investment space founded in... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investment; Social Enterprise; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions

2021
Working Paper

The Project on Impact Investments' Impact Investment Database

By: M. Diane Burton, Shawn Cole, Abhishek Dev, Christina Jarymowycz, Leslie Jeng, Josh Lerner, Fanele Mashwama, Yue (Cynthia) Xu and T. Robert Zochowski

Impact investing has grown significantly over the past 15 years. From a niche investing segment with only $25 billion AUM in 2013 (WEF 2013), it experienced double-digit growth and developed into a market with an estimated $502 billion AUM (Mudaliapar and Dithrich... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Investment; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis