- 25 Jan 2022
- Cold Call Podcast
How Footwear Startup Allbirds is Decarbonizing Fashion
In 2021, the footwear startup Allbirds was extending its product range into apparel and expanding beyond its online store to open more retail stores around the world. It was also freely sharing its know-how and material innovations with its competitors to try to scale its efforts to decarbonize fashion, by substituting natural materials for conventional petroleum-based materials and leather. But the company also had to find ways to remain differentiated, based on design and comfort. Professor Mike Toffel and Allbirds co-founder and CEO Joey Zwillinger discuss the growing environmental impact of the fashion industry and how the company managed the tension between advancing its environmental mission and staying ahead of competitors in the case, Allbirds: Decarbonizing Fashion. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 18 May 2021
- Cold Call Podcast
How Georgia State University Increased Graduation Rates
Georgia State University was facing a growing "summer melt" problem, where nearly 20 percent of incoming students never actually enrolled. The university used a data-based approach to retain students of all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds and help them graduate. Professor Mike Toffel> and Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative fellow Robin Mendelson discuss what the university learned about improving student success, while scaling its efforts to help other universities, in their case, “Student Success at Georgia State University.” Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 23 Feb 2021
- Research & Ideas
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; 0 Comments.
- 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; 0 Comments.
- 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; 0 Comments.
- 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; 0 Comments.
- 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; 0 Comments.
- 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; 0 Comments.
- 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; 0 Comments.
- 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; 0 Comments.
- 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; 0 Comments.
- 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.
This Workplace Certification Made Already Safe Companies Even Safer
New research by Michael Toffel and colleagues confirms what workplace safety advocates have long claimed: Adopting OHSAS 18001 reduces worker injuries and improves a brand's image. Open for comment; 0 Comments.