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Publications
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- 2022
- Working Paper
The Evolution of ESG Reports and the Role of Voluntary Standards
By: Ethan Rouen, Kunal Sachdeva and Aaron Yoon
We examine the evolution of ESG reports of S&P 500 firms from 2010 to 2021. The
percentage of firms releasing these voluntary disclosures increased from 35% to 86%
during this period, although the length of these documents experienced more modest
growth. Using a...
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- June 2022 (Revised August 2022)
- Case
Sustainability Reporting at Dollar Tree, Inc.
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni
The cases discusses the ESG strategy of Dollar Tree Inc., a U.S. Fortune 500 company in the deep discount retail industry and the and shareholder pressure faced by the company. In 2022, the company faced a shareholder resolution from a renowned shareholder advocacy...
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Keywords:
ESG;
Sustainability;
Shareholder Activism;
Dollar Tree;
Sustainability Reporting;
ESG Reporting;
Board Of Directors;
Shareholder Engagement;
GHG;
Environmental Accounting;
Integrated Corporate Reporting;
Trends;
Communication;
Announcements;
Voting;
Environmental Management;
Climate Change;
Environmental Sustainability;
Values and Beliefs;
Corporate Accountability;
Corporate Disclosure;
Corporate Governance;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Policy;
Reports;
Business or Company Management;
Risk Management;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Outcome or Result;
Strategic Planning;
Business and Stakeholder Relations;
Situation or Environment;
Opportunities;
Civil Society or Community;
Social Issues;
Public Opinion;
Strategy;
Adaptation;
Alignment;
Business Strategy;
Corporate Strategy;
Value Creation;
Retail Industry;
United States;
Virginia
- Other Article
Sustainable Strategies and Net-Zero Goals
By: Mark L. Frigo, Robert S. Kaplan and Karthik Ramanna
In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Kaplan and Ramanna describe a rigorous approach, the E-liability method, for companies’ ESG reporting, especially as it pertains to GHG emissions measurements. They argue that the current standards for measuring...
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- March 2022
- Case
Natura: Weathering the Pandemic at Brazil's Cosmetic Giant
By: Brian Trelstad, Pedro Levindo and Carla Larangeira
Brazil's Natura, a purpose-driven, multi-brand cosmetics group, closed the acquisition of iconic rival Avon just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The deal more than doubled Natura's revenues to over $7 billion and cemented its position as Latin America's biggest...
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Keywords:
COVID-19 Pandemic;
ESG Reporting;
Acquisition;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Decision Making;
Social Entrepreneurship;
Environmental Sustainability;
Environmental Management;
Climate Change;
Ethics;
Moral Sensibility;
Values and Beliefs;
Global Strategy;
Corporate Governance;
Health Pandemics;
Human Resources;
Human Capital;
Crisis Management;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Marketing;
Distribution Channels;
Supply Chain;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Mission and Purpose;
Organizational Culture;
Customer Ownership;
Relationships;
Business and Community Relations;
Business and Stakeholder Relations;
Networks;
Partners and Partnerships;
Science-Based Business;
Reputation;
Human Needs;
Social Issues;
Strategy;
Equality and Inequality;
Beauty and Cosmetics Industry;
Brazil;
Latin America
- 2022
- Working Paper
ESG: Hyperboles and Reality
By: George Serafeim
ESG has rapidly become a household name leading to both confusion about what it means and creating unrealistic expectations about its effects. In this paper, I draw on more than a decade of research to dispel several myths about ESG and provide answers to important...
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- 2021
- Working Paper
How to Fix ESG Reporting
By: Robert S. Kaplan and Karthik Ramanna
Investors, advocacy groups, academics, and the 200 CEOs of the US Business Roundtable have asked corporations to take on an added purpose beyond a narrow pursuit of shareholder value. In response, many companies now issue ESG (Environmental, Societal, and Governance)...
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Keywords:
ESG Reporting;
Sustainability;
Corporate Purpose;
Greenhouse Gas;
Activity-Based Costing;
Environmental Sustainability;
Environmental Management;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Measurement and Metrics;
Goals and Objectives;
Agreements and Arrangements;
Corporate Accountability
- Editorial
Why ESG Funds Fail to Scale
By: Gabriel Karageorgiou and George Serafeim
You’ve seen the headlines about the growth in environmental, social, and governance funds. Many investment professionals might read these and believe that launching a new ESG investment firm or ESG offering will be an automatic success. Our analysis of the data shows...
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Keywords:
ESG;
ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance;
ESG Disclosure;
ESG Disclosure Metrics;
ESG Ratings;
ESG Reporting;
Investment Management;
Investment Strategy;
Investments;
Investment Fund;
Sustainability;
Sustainable Finance;
Sustainable Investing;
Investment;
Management;
Strategy;
Investment Portfolio;
Finance;
Growth and Development;
Failure
- September 7, 2020
- Article
Where ESG Ratings Fail: The Case for New Metrics
By: Mark R. Kramer, Nina Jais, Erin E. Sullivan, Carina Wendell, Kerry Rodriguez, Carlo Papa, Carlo Napoli and Filippo Forti
One agency’s A+ is another’s “laggard” — and neither links to financial performance. Hybrid metrics will change everything, argue Harvard Business School’s Mark Kramer and leaders in the shared-value movement.
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- 2020
- Article
Research on Corporate Sustainability: Review and Directions for Future Research
By: Jody Grewal and George Serafeim
We review the literature on corporate sustainability and provide directions for future research. Our review focuses on three actions: measuring, managing and communicating corporate sustainability performance. Measurement is the least developed of the three and...
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Keywords:
Sustainability;
Sustainability Reporting;
Sustainability Management;
Nonfinancial Disclosure;
Nonfinancial Information;
Nonfinancial Performance;
Materiality;
ESG;
ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance;
ESG Disclosure;
ESG Disclosure Metrics;
ESG Ratings;
ESG Reporting;
Inequality;
Corporate Social Responsibility;
Accounting;
Finance;
Management;
Strategy;
Environmental Sustainability;
Climate Change;
Diversity;
Equality and Inequality;
Corporate Disclosure;
Measurement and Metrics;
Corporate Governance;
Corporate Accountability;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact
- September–October 2020
- Article
Social-Impact Efforts That Create Real Value
By: George Serafeim
Until the mid-2010s few investors paid attention to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data—information about companies’ carbon footprints, labor policies, board makeup, and so forth. Today the data is widely used by investors. How can organizations create...
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Keywords:
Sustainability;
Sustainability Management;
ESG;
ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance;
ESG Disclosure;
ESG Disclosure Metrics;
ESG Ratings;
ESG Reporting;
Social Impact;
Impact Measurement;
Social Innovation;
Purpose;
Corporate Purpose;
Corporate Social Responsibility;
Strategy;
Social Enterprise;
Society;
Accounting;
Investment;
Environmental Sustainability;
Climate Change;
Corporate Strategy;
Mission and Purpose;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Financial Services Industry;
Chemical Industry;
Technology Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
Pharmaceutical Industry;
North America;
Europe;
Japan;
Australia
- 2020
- Working Paper
A Framework for Product Impact-Weighted Accounts
By: George Serafeim and Katie Trinh
While there has been significant progress in the measurement of an organization’s environmental and social impacts from its operations, metrics to evaluate the impact of products once they come to market lag far behind. In this paper, we provide a framework for...
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- October 16, 2019
- Article
Where ESG Fails
We are entering a new stage of understanding of the linkage between investment performance and social impact. Previous approaches, such as socially responsible investing and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) screening, have obscured the opportunities for...
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- 2019
- White Paper
Impact-Weighted Financial Accounts: The Missing Piece for an Impact Economy
By: George Serafeim, T. Robert Zochowski and Jennifer Downing
Reimagining capitalism is an imperative. We need to create a more inclusive and sustainable form of capitalism that works for every person and the planet. Massive environmental damage, growing income and wealth disparity, stress, and depression within developed...
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- Article
Four Things No One Will Tell You About ESG Data
By: Sakis Kotsantonis and George Serafeim
As the ESG finance field and the use of ESG data in investment decision-making continue to grow, the authors seek to shed light on several important aspects of ESG measurement and data. This article is intended to provide a useful guide for the rapidly rising number of...
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Keywords:
ESG;
ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance;
ESG Reporting;
Data Analytics;
Sustainability;
Sustainability Reporting;
CSR;
Transparency;
Investment Management;
Socially Responsible Investing;
Sustainable Finance;
Sustainable Development;
Inclusion;
Inclusive Growth;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Corporate Accountability;
Investment;
Management;
Climate Change;
Corporate Governance;
Diversity;
Integrated Corporate Reporting
- January 2019 (Revised February 2020)
- Case
Should a Pension Fund Try to Change the World? Inside GPIF's Embrace of ESG
In the fall of 2018, Hiro Mizuno, the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of GPIF, the Japanese Government Pension Fund, was reflecting on his efforts to integrate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues into every aspect of GPIF’s portfolio. His efforts ranged...
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- October 2018
- Supplement
JetBlue: Relevant Sustainability Leadership (B)
By: George Serafeim and David Freiberg
The case outlines JetBlue's decision to disclose according to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards and the ESG metrics they began reporting. Data on resulting changes in institutional ownership are also provided.
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- Third Quarter 2018
- Article
Why and How Investors Use ESG Information: Evidence from a Global Survey
By: Amir Amel-Zadeh and George Serafeim
Using survey data from a sample of senior investment professionals from mainstream (i.e., not SRI funds) investment organizations, we provide insights into why and how investors use reported environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information. Relevance to...
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- November 2017 (Revised April 2019)
- Case
Summa Equity: Building Purpose-Driven Organizations
By: George Serafeim and David Freiberg
In 2015, Reynir Indahl left top Nordic private equity firm Altor Equity Partners to found Summa Equity (Summa). After long contemplation following the financial crisis, Indahl was convinced the financial system was producing negative externalities and that the current...
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Keywords:
Corporate Purpose;
ESG;
ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance;
Social Impact;
Investment Management;
Management Practices;
Innovation;
Voice;
Environmental Impact;
Private Equity;
Social Enterprise;
Finance;
Capital Markets;
Management Practices and Processes;
Innovation Leadership;
Leadership;
Innovation and Management;
Entrepreneurship;
Mission and Purpose;
Value Creation;
Financial Services Industry;
Norway;
Sweden;
Scandinavia
- October 2017 (Revised October 2022)
- Case
JetBlue: Relevant Sustainability Leadership (A)
By: George Serafeim and David Freiberg
In 2017, JetBlue, the airline founded on the mission to “bring humanity back to air travel,” was considering becoming one of the first companies to report its sustainability performance according to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards. SASB...
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Keywords:
Sustainability;
Metrics;
Leadership And Change Management;
Airlines;
Innovation;
Purpose;
ESG;
ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance;
Sustainability Reporting;
Change Management;
Leadership;
Financial Reporting;
Environmental Sustainability;
Mission and Purpose;
Reports;
Competitive Strategy;
Measurement and Metrics;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Air Transportation Industry;
United States