- 22 Feb 2021
- Working Paper Summaries
Auditor Independence and Outsourcing: Aligning Incentives to Mitigate Shilling and Shirking
Firms use external auditors to monitor the quality of difficult-to-observe aspects of their business partners’ performance, including the working conditions of their suppliers. Firms can improve monitoring accuracy by having their own employees conduct some audits, and by rotating across third-party auditing firms.
- 01 May 2020
- In Practice
COVID-19’s Hard Lessons Might Prepare Business for Climate Change
We asked experts from the HBS Business and Environment Initiative how the coronavirus crisis might change the way companies think about sustainability. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 22 Apr 2020
- Research Event
How Investors Are Sizing Up Climate Change’s Risks—and Opportunities
What are the financial implications of rising seas and extreme weather? Asset managers and risk experts gathered at Harvard Business School to discuss how they’re evaluating climate risk in their portfolios. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 13 Nov 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Shareholder Activism and Firms’ Voluntary Disclosure of Climate Change Risks
Shareholder resolutions typically fail, and often by a wide margin. So why do active investors bother? It turns out that resolutions nonetheless can influence corporate transparency. Specifically, after being targeted with shareholder resolutions on environmental topics, this research shows that companies are more likely to publicly disclose their climate change risks—and that such disclosure increases these companies’ valuation.
- 20 May 2019
- Research & Ideas
Activist CEOs Are Rising Up—and Their Customers Are Listening
Are product sales affected by the CEO's stance on political and social issues? Michael Toffel and Aaron Chatterji study how consumers react to vocal chief executives. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 09 May 2018
- Research & Ideas
A Simple Way for Restaurant Inspectors to Improve Food Safety
Basic tweaks to the schedules of food safety inspectors could prevent millions of foodborne illnesses, according to new behavioral science research by Maria Ibáñez and Michael Toffel. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 21 Jul 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Organizational Structures and the Improvement of Working Conditions in Global Supply Chains: Legalization, Participation, and Economic Incentives
Suppliers face increasing pressure from the institutional environment as well as demands from buyers to improve working conditions. This study analyzes the internal organizational dynamics of more than 3,000 supplier firms in 55 countries. Findings call for looking beyond the symbolism of organizational structures and attending to how they can be linked with real implementation and improvement.
- 18 Jul 2017
- First Look
First Look at New Research and Ideas, July 18, 2017
The creative habits of ordinary people ... Pursuing innovation at Polaroid ... Do we know how to improve bad working conditions?
- 30 May 2017
- First Look
First Look at New Research and Ideas, May 30
Advice for those seeking advice ... Should CEOs become social activists? ... What companies don’t know about location.
- 26 Apr 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Assessing the Quality of Quality Assessment: The Role of Scheduling
Accurate inspections enable companies to assess the quality, safety, and environmental practices of their business partners, and enable regulators to protect consumers, workers, and the environment. This study finds that inspectors are less stringent later in their workday and after visiting workplaces with fewer problems. Managers and regulators can improve inspection accuracy by mitigating these biases and their consequences.
- 15 Mar 2017
- Lessons from the Classroom
More Than 900 Examples of How Climate Change Affects Business
MBA students participating in Harvard Business School’s Climate Change Challenge offer ideas on how companies can negate impacts from a changing environment. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 19 Sep 2016
- Research & Ideas
Why Isn't Business Research More Relevant to Business Practitioners?
There’s a pervasive paradox in academia: Research conducted at business schools often offers no obvious value to people who work in the world of business. Professors and practitioners weigh in on how to enhance the relevance of research. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 12 Sep 2016
- Research & Ideas
What Brands Can Do to Monitor Factory Conditions of Suppliers
For better or for worse, it’s fallen to multinational corporations to police the overseas factories of suppliers in their supply chains—and perhaps make them better. Michael W. Toffel examines how. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 18 Jul 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Beyond Symbolic Responses to Private Politics: Examining Labor Standards Improvement in Global Supply Chains
Global supply chain factories improve their working conditions to a greater extent when their buyers take a cooperative approach to monitoring them, when the auditors are more highly trained, and when the factories face greater risk of poor conditions being exposed, according to findings in this research.
- 20 Apr 2016
- Research & Ideas
When CEOs Become Activists
More and more, CEOs are promoting social causes that lie far outside their core business interests. Research by Mike Toffel and Aaron Chatterji explores the rise of CEO activists and the effects on their companies. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 29 Mar 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Do CEO Activists Make a Difference? Evidence from a Field Experiment
Corporate leaders are speaking out on social and environmental issues that are largely unrelated to their companies’ core businesses. Does such CEO activism actually change citizens’ opinions about these public issues—or their consumer attitudes toward these CEOs’ companies? Focusing on Apple CEO Tim Cook’s denunciation of potential discrimination resulting from Indiana’s proposed religious freedom law, this study finds that CEO activists can frame issues in ways that do influence public opinion, and to the same extent as political leaders. Moreover, while CEO activism risks alienating consumers who disagree with the CEO’s public stance, this study finds that Cook’s statements increased consumers’ intent to purchase Apple products, especially among those who agreed with Cook’s statements.
- 12 Feb 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Enhancing the Practical Relevance of Research
Research is relevant when it has the potential to improve the decision making of managers or policymakers. Elaborating on his remarks at the 2015 Production and Operations Management Society conference, Toffel explains why research relevance matters and how scholars can increase the relevance of their research. Journals, professional societies, and doctoral programs can also foster research that is more useful and influential in society at large.
- 05 Jan 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
The Integrity of Private Third-party Compliance Monitoring
Michael Toffel and Jodi Short examine how conflict of interest and other risks lead to inaccurate monitoring of health, labor, and environmental standards.
- 19 Oct 2015
- Research & Ideas
Business Research that Makes for Smarter Public Policy
Just as researchers in the life sciences often target their work to tackle the most dangerous diseases, business scholars are using their research to make a difference in government policy. Open for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
COVID-19 Shines New Light on Working Conditions in Supply Chains
Michael Toffel discusses how the coronavirus pandemic has renewed concerns about how suppliers treat employees, and how a new online resource can help. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.