Energy →
- 19 Dec 2014
- Research & Ideas
China’s Complicated Relationship With Mother Nature
Bill Kirby discusses how a historic international accord on reducing environmental emissions might signal a greener future for the world's most populous nation. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Sep 2014
- Research & Ideas
The Business of Climate Change
What is the role of business and its leaders in creating positive climate change? In the middle of Climate Week, Six Harvard Business School faculty provide different perspectives. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Sep 2014
- Op-Ed
The ABCs of Addressing Climate Change (From a Business Perspective)
How can business leaders cut through the noise and actively address climate change from an economic perspective? John Macomber proposes a list of ABCs. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Sep 2014
- Op-Ed
Stop Thinking of Climate Change as a Religious or Political Issue
Private and public innovation around cleaning up our environment will be motivated only if prices reflect the true state of the world, says Forest Reinhardt. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Sep 2014
- Op-Ed
Tackling Climate Change Will Cost Less Than We Think
Yes, addressing climate change will be expensive, but not nearly as much as the costs of delaying action, argues Rebecca Henderson. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Sep 2014
- Op-Ed
The Climate Needs Aggressive CEO Leadership
History will judge CEOs not just on their stewardship of firm growth, but also on whether they effectively used their clout to address one of the greatest societal challenges of our time, say Michael Toffel and Auden Schendler. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Sep 2014
- Op-Ed
Take a Trim Tab Approach to Climate Change
Often depicted as greedy and shortsighted, business leaders face a crucial opportunity on the issue of climate change to change that perception, says Amy Edmondson. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Sep 2014
- Op-Ed
We Need a Miracle. New Nuclear Might Provide it.
New nuclear power technology could be the miracle we need to combat dangerous carbon emissions, says Joe Lassiter. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 Sep 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Chief Sustainability Officers: Who Are They and What Do They Do?
A number of studies document how organizations go through numerous stages as they increase their commitment to sustainability over time. However, we still know little about the role of the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) in this process. Using survey and interview data, the authors of this paper analyze how CSOs' authority and responsibilities differ across organizations that are in different stages of sustainability commitment. The study documents the increased authority that CSOs have in companies that are in more advanced stages of sustainability. But while CSOs assume more responsibilities initially as the organization's commitment to sustainability increases, CSOs decentralize decision rights and allocate responsibilities to the different functions and business units. Furthermore, the authors document that a firm's sustainability strategy becomes significantly more idiosyncratic in the later stages of sustainability, a factor that influences significantly where in the organization responsibility for sustainability issues is located. The study also reflects on the best avenues for future research about CSOs and transformation at the institutional, organizational, and individual levels. This article is a chapter of the forthcoming book Leading Sustainable Change (Oxford University Press). Key concepts include: As a CSO gains more authority, she becomes less central in in the organization by allocating decision rights and responsibilities to the functions and business units. While most companies have fairly generic sustainability strategies in the initial stages, it is in the latter Innovation stage that different organizations more closely customize their sustainability strategy to the needs of the organization. The sustainability strategy is driven by the demands of the markets where an organization has a presence or plans to expand in the future. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 21 May 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
The Role of the Corporation in Society: An Alternative View and Opportunities for Future Research
Neoclassical economics and several management theories assert that the corporation's sole objective is maximizing shareholder wealth. Despite these theoretical approaches, however, actual corporate conduct in some cases is inconsistent with shareholder value maximization as the sole objective of the corporation. In fact, corporations are now engaging in environmental and social causes with multiple stakeholders in mind and this is especially true for the world's largest corporations. Overall, the author presents an alternative view of the role of the corporation in society where the objective of the corporation is a function of its size. Specifically, the largest corporations are forced to balance different stakeholders' interests instead of simply maximizing shareholder wealth. The author attributes this change in the role of the corporation to the increasing concentration of economic activity and power in a few corporations which has resulted in 1) a few companies having a very large impact on society, 2) corporations and influential actors which are easier to locate, and 3) increasing separation of ownership and control. These events have led to what scholars Berle and Means (1932) predicted more than 80 years ago: both owners and "the control" accepting public interest as the objective of the corporation. Further research on the topics outlined in this paper may increase our understanding of corporate behavior and the role of these corporations in society. Key concepts include: The role of the corporation in society can be a function of the broader economic, social, and political context and as a result evolves over time. Corporations are not a homogeneous group as it is assumed by profit maximization theories. Not all corporations have the same role in society. Increasing corporate engagement on environmental and social goals has redefined the relation between business and society. It remains to be seen whether this trend will continue. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 08 May 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Corporate and Integrated Reporting: A Functional Perspective
Corporate reporting plays two functions. The first is an "information function" that enables counterparties, such as investors, employees, customers, and regulators, to enter into an exchange of goods and services under specific terms. Companies also benefit from the information function by comparing their performance against peers, thereby informing internal resource allocation decisions. The second is a "transformation function," the result of a company engaging with stakeholders to get their input on the company's resource allocation decisions. The authors argue that integrated reporting is more likely to perform effectively these two functions than separate financial and sustainability reporting. Moreover, as the authors argue, these two functions vary in terms of how important the role of regulation is. Regulation and standard setting is likely to improve the information function but could well impede the transformation function. If regulation is too prescriptive and "rules-based," the risk is that integrated reporting becomes more of a compliance exercise. Key concepts include: Investors need a better understanding of how companies are managing the relationships between financial and nonfinancial performance. Separate financial and sustainability reports are no longer adequate for performing either the information function or the transformation function. Companies need integrated reporting in order to make sure that their corporate reporting process effectively performs the information and transformation functions. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 Apr 2014
- Research & Ideas
Calderón: Economic Arguments Needed to Fight Climate Change
Former President of Mexico Felipe Calderón says the United States Congress and Chinese coal plants are the biggest obstacles to fixing climate change. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 01 Apr 2014
- Research & Ideas
When Do Alliances Make Sense?
Analyzing drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico, John Beshears explores a question as old as business itself: When does it pay to make an alliance? Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 21 Mar 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Speaking of Corporate Social Responsibility
While many scholars have observed that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a deeply cultural process, there are inconsistent findings on the specific cultural mechanisms by which culture affects CSR. This paper suggests that the way in which corporations use language is a strong predictor of their CSR and sustainability practices. It addresses two questions: 1) Why do CSR practices vary significantly across countries? And 2) How does the future-time orientation of companies' working languages affect their adoption of, compliance to, and engagement in corporate social responsibility programs? Building on the future-time criterion of scholars Dahl (2000) and Chen (2013), which separates languages into two broad categories-those languages that require future events to be grammatically marked when making predictions, and those that do not-the authors examine thousands of global companies across 59 countries from 1999 to 2011. The empirical results support the hypothesis that languages that grammatically separate the current tense from the future tense can significantly affect how corporations perceive future-oriented strategies, and so make corporate behavior less future-oriented. Overall, the authors introduce a new way to think about underlying variation in global CSR practices. As they show in this paper, it is crucial to examine language as an important underlying feature that shapes cultural values and the norms in a society. The study also builds on research into the ways in which perceptual category systems focus the attention, and subsequently, the behaviors, of corporate leaders. Key concepts include: Research in linguistics and economics has shown that one of the most important factors that shapes culture and creates variation across countries is spoken language. This study contributes to understanding international variation of CSR. Differences in cross-national commitment to CSR arise from characteristics of the languages spoken across the globe. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 03 Mar 2014
- HBS Case
Decommoditizing the Canned Tomato
Most commodity producers look to cut costs aggressively. So why is Mutti S.p.a, an Italian producer of tomato products, paying farmers more than competitors? Mary Shelman discusses her case study. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 12 Feb 2014
- Research & Ideas
Private Sector, Public Good
What role, if any, does business have in creating social good? A new seminar series at Harvard Business School tackles this complex question. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 04 Dec 2013
- Research & Ideas
The Fantastic Horizon: How to Invest in a New City
Rapid urbanization and resource scarcity pose problems—and opportunities—for businesses and governments all over the world. Senior Lecturer John Macomber writes about his recent investigative visits to nascent privately-funded municipalities in Saudi Arabia and Vietnam. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 16 Oct 2013
- Op-Ed
Response to Readers: Combating Climate Change with Nuclear Power and Fracking
Following a contentious online debate, Professor Joe Lassiter expands his argument that nuclear power and fracking are the lesser evils when stacked up against coal power, and presents a way forward. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 07 Oct 2013
- Research & Ideas
The Case for Combating Climate Change with Nuclear Power and Fracking
Joseph B. Lassiter explains why he believes that nuclear power and shale gas are on the right side of the fight against climate change, and why markets have a better shot at winning the fight than governments do. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
Oil Price Fallout: What Happens Next?
Oil producers are in shock, and consumers are shockingly happy. Richard Vietor discusses the geopolitical changes around dropping oil prices—and how long this all might last. Open for comment; 0 Comments.