Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Working Knowledge
Business Research for Business Leaders
  • Browse All Articles
  • Popular Articles
  • Cold Call Podcast
  • Managing the Future of Work Podcast
  • About Us
  • Book
  • Leadership
  • Marketing
  • Finance
  • Management
  • Entrepreneurship
  • All Topics...
  • Topics
    • COVID-19
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Finance
    • Gender
    • Globalization
    • Leadership
    • Management
    • Negotiation
    • Social Enterprise
    • Strategy
  • Sections
    • Book
    • Podcasts
    • Managing the Future of Work Podcast
    • HBS Case
    • In Practice
    • Lessons from the Classroom
    • Op-Ed
    • Research & Ideas
    • Research Event
    • Sharpening Your Skills
    • What Do You Think?
    • Working Paper Summaries
  • Browse All
    Filter Results: (203) Arrow Down
    Filter Results: (203) Arrow Down Arrow Up
    • Popular
    • Browse All Articles
    • About Us
    • Newsletter Sign-Up
    • RSS
    • Popular
    • Browse All Articles
    • About Us
    • Newsletter Sign-Up
    • RSS

    ScienceRemove Science →

    New research on science from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including science-based businesses, environmental sustainability, and climate change.
    Page 1 of 203 Results →
    • 22 Feb 2022
    • Cold Call Podcast

    How to Scale a Startup Marketplace for Used Furniture

    Re: Ayelet Israeli

    AptDeco, a peer-to-peer marketplace for used furniture in the New York City area, was growing rapidly in the massive $120 billion furniture market, despite its complexity and high costs. Co-founders Reham Fagiri and Kalam Dennis were considering different options to scale the business, including converting sellers into buyers and vice versa, finding superusers to fuel the supply for their platform, expanding to new markets, and rebranding with a sustainability focus. Professor Ayelet Israeli and AptDeco co-founder Kalam Dennis discuss the best way to scale the business in the case, “AptDeco: Circular Economy Furniture Marketplace.” Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 25 Jan 2022
    • Cold Call Podcast

    How Footwear Startup Allbirds is Decarbonizing Fashion

    Re: Michael W. Toffel

    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.

    • 30 Nov 2021
    • In Practice

    What's the Role of Business in Confronting Climate Change?

    by Lynn Schenk and Dina Gerdeman

    COP26 shined a light on the complexities of addressing the climate crisis. We asked Harvard Business School faculty members to discuss how business leaders can help spur change and what opportunities might emerge. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 13 Sep 2021
    • Research & Ideas

    Science: The Unlikely Frontier for New Business Ideas

    by Avery Forman

    Iterative R&D might get products to market quickly, but innovation grounded in scientific research tends to be more valuable, says research by Joshua Lev Krieger and colleagues. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 07 Sep 2021
    • Research & Ideas

    Who Pays For Wildfire and Hurricane Damage? Everyone.

    by Kristen Senz

    Think only coastal states bear the costs related to rising seas? Research by Ishita Sen and colleagues shows how homeowners everywhere pay for climate change, regardless of location. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 21 Jul 2021
    • Research & Ideas

    What Does an ESG Score Really Say About a Company?

    by Kristen Senz

    A key gauge in the $30 trillion sustainable investment market provides a murky picture of corporate social responsibility. Research by Anywhere Sikochi and George Serafeim probes the underlying factors. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 24 May 2021
    • Op-Ed

    Can Fabric Waste Become Fashion’s Resource?

    by Geoffrey Jones and Shelly Xu

    COVID-19 worsened the textile waste crisis. Now it's time for the fashion industry to address this spiraling problem, say Geoffrey Jones and Shelly Xu. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 04 May 2021
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Accounting for Product Impact in the Telecommunications Industry

    by George Serafeim and Katie Trinh

    A product impact framework is a systematic methodology applicable to different companies across a wide range of industries. This study examines the telecommunications industry, estimating the value of a product’s reach, accessibility, quality, optionality, environmental use emissions, and end-of-life recyclability.

    • 06 Apr 2021
    • Cold Call Podcast

    Disrupting the Waste Industry with Technology

    Re: Shai Benjamin Bernstein

    Rubicon began with a bold idea: create a cloud-based, full-service waste management platform, providing efficient service anywhere in the US. Their mobile app did for waste management what Uber had done for taxi service. Five years after the case’s publication, Harvard Business School Associate Professor Shai Bernstein and Rubicon founder and CEO Nate Morris discuss how the software startup leveraged technology to disrupt the waste industry and other enduring lessons of professor Bill Sahlman’s case about Rubicon. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 16 Feb 2021
    • Research & Ideas

    To Fight Climate Change, Should Green Investors Reconsider Big Oil?

    by Kristen Senz

    Sustainability funds eschew some of the biggest backers of green technology: oil companies. Research by Lauren Cohen offers reasons to re-evaluate the role of traditional energy companies in addressing climate change. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 05 Jan 2021
    • Working Paper Summaries

    The ESG-Innovation Disconnect: Evidence from Green Patenting

    by Lauren Cohen, Umit G. Gurun, and Quoc H. Nguyen

    Energy-producing firms are more likely to produce “blockbuster” green patents than other firms. Yet energy firms are excluded from many environmental, social, and governance (ESG) funds, and are the targets of divestiture campaigns whose stated aims often include green energy innovation.

    • 24 Nov 2020
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Accounting for Product Impact in the Consumer Finance Industry

    by George Serafeim and Katie Trinh

    A framework and method for measuring and monetizing product impact across industries, applying it to two competitors in the consumer finance space.

    • 13 Nov 2020
    • Working Paper Summaries

    The European Commission’s Sustainable Corporate Governance Report: A Critique

    by Mark Roe, Holger Spamann, Jesse Fried, and Charles Wang

    The European Commission commissioned a report on sustainable corporate governance that purports to find serious problems of corporate short-termism. The report is wholly flawed: it conflates time horizon problems with externality problems, mismeasures investment and its financing, and proposes ineffective, possibly harmful reforms.

    • 02 Nov 2020
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Accounting for Organizational Employment Impact

    by David Freiberg, Katie Panella, George Serafeim, and T. Robert Zochowski

    Impact-weighted accounting methodology standardizes previously disparate measures of impact, in this case the impact of employment. This paper’s methodology and analysis of Intel, Apple, Costco, and Merck shows the feasibility of measuring firm employment impact for insight into firm practices and performance. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 20 Sep 2020
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Updating the Balanced Scorecard for Triple Bottom Line Strategies

    by Robert S. Kaplan and David McMillan

    Society increasingly expects businesses to help solve problems of environmental degradation, inequality, and poverty. This paper explains how the Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Map should be modified to reflect businesses’ expanded role for society.

    • 01 Sep 2020
    • Cold Call Podcast

    How to Launch a New Biosciences Product: Start Small or Dive in?

    Re: Jeffrey J. Bussgang

    C16 Biosciences wants to replace palm oil, a major contributor to deforestation, with a lab-grown substitute. But CEO Shara Ticku faces a tough decision in bringing the product to market. Jeff Bussgang discusses his case study. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 29 Jul 2020
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Two Case Studies on the Financing of Forest Conservation

    by Andrew Baxter, Connor Cash, Josh Lerner, and Ratnika Prasad

    Case studies about The Conservation Fund and Sonen Capital highlight three broad lessons about fresh approaches to the ownership and management of forestland.

    • 07 Jul 2020
    • Research & Ideas

    Market Investors Pay More for Resilient Companies

    by Kristen Senz

    During a market collapse, investors will pay up for companies considered resilient in their response, according to George Serafeim. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 30 Jun 2020
    • Book

    Capitalism Is More at Risk Than Ever

    by Martha Lagace

    Almost a decade after writing Capitalism at Risk, Joseph Bower, Herman Leonard, and Lynn Paine argue that not enough companies are stepping up to fix big global problems. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 12 Jun 2020
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Corporate Resilience and Response During COVID-19

    by Alex Cheema-Fox, Bridget LaPerla, George Serafeim, and Hui (Stacie) Wang

    Investors look for evidence during a market crisis that a company is resilient. This study includes findings that challenge the notion that companies need to adopt practices that hurt their employees because investors want them to do so.

    • 1
    • 2
    • …
    • 10
    • 11
    • →
    ǁ
    Campus Map
    Harvard Business School Working Knowledge
    Baker Library | Bloomberg Center
    Soldiers Field
    Boston, MA 02163
    Email: Editor-in-Chief
    →Map & Directions
    →More Contact Information
    • Make a Gift
    • Site Map
    • Jobs
    • Harvard University
    • Trademarks
    • Policies
    • Digital Accessibility
    Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College