- 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.
- 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; 3 Comment(s) posted.
- 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; 4 Comment(s) posted.
- 03 Sep 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Supply Chain Screening Without Certification: The Critical Role of Stakeholder Pressure
Companies are increasingly being held accountable for their suppliers' labor and environmental performance. The reputation of Apple, for example, suffered after harsh working conditions were exposed at Foxconn, one of its key suppliers in China. Despite the possibility of major reputational risk when problems are revealed, however, companies face tough challenges managing this risk because obtaining information about suppliers' labor and environmental practices can be very costly. Furthermore, buyers can seldom discern whether the information suppliers provide a fair representation of their performance or whether it glosses over problem areas. The authors investigate whether and how "commit-and-report" voluntary programs, which require companies to make public commitments and to issue public progress reports (instead of requiring costly third-party audits), can serve as a reliable screening mechanism for buyers. Studying the decisions of 2,043 firms headquartered in 42 countries of whether to participate in the UN Global Compact, the authors find the risk of stakeholder scrutiny deters companies with misrepresentative disclosures from participating in the Global Compact. Moreover, this deterrence effect is especially strong 1) for smaller companies and 2) in countries with stronger activist pressures and stronger norms of corporate transparency. Overall, this research reveals the critical role for stakeholder scrutiny to enable buyers to use "commit-and-report" voluntary programs as a reliable mechanism for screening suppliers. Key concepts include: The potential for stakeholder scrutiny deters companies whose prior reports misrepresent their performance from joining a commit-and-report voluntary program. Smaller companies whose reports are misrepresentative are especially deterred from joining commit-and-report programs. Commit-and-report programs can serve as credible screening mechanisms, especially in countries with more activist pressure and stronger norms of corporate transparency. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
- 14 Nov 2013
- Working Paper Summaries
What Shapes the Gatekeepers? Evidence from Global Supply Chain Auditors
Private gatekeepers, from credit rating agencies to supply-chain auditors, are supposed to provide unbiased, objective assessments of companies' internal operations, and such private assessments play a central role in contemporary regulatory regimes. While the impartiality of gatekeeping organizations has come into question over the past decade, little is known about what drives the decisions of the individual accountants, auditors, analysts, and attorneys who work at these organizations. Using data from a private, third-party social auditing firm that assesses global supply chain factories' adherence to corporate codes of conduct governing workplace conditions, this study reveals that external auditors' findings are shaped by a combination of economic incentives and social factors. The study highlights opportunities to design and staff audits to maximize their impartiality and credibility. Key concepts include: Gatekeepers, such as accountants, attorneys, auditors, and analysts, typically have substantial professional discretion to make vital gatekeeping decisions on the ground. In the supply-chain auditing context, gatekeepers are influenced by conflicts of interest and by social factors, including ongoing relationships with clients, on-the-job experience, professional training, and gender diversity. Companies using auditors and other gatekeepers should consider not only which organization to hire, but also the characteristics of the staff deployed on the gatekeeping teams. Auditing teams can benefit from gender diversity, professional training, and experience, although the marginal benefits of the latter attenuate over time. Regulatory systems reliant on private gatekeepers should be designed to mitigate the effects of conflict of interest and leverage social factors of team compositions to enhance the reliability and integrity of gatekeeping decisions. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
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.