More from these Authors

• Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2019 (Revised April 2020)

  Mãe Terra and Unilever (A)

  Lynn S. Paine, Ruth Costas and Priscilla Zogbi

  The case concerns the sale of Mae Terra, one of Brazil's leading brands for packaged organic foods, to the consumer goods giant Unilever in 2017. Working with Unilever management, Mae Terra’s CEO Alexandre Borges must determine whether and how to keep Mae Terra's B Certification, which attests to its commitment to having a positive social and environmental impact, and what internal governance mechanisms will enable MaeTerra to maintain its mission, values, and practices even as it is integrated into a large volume-driven multinational whose governance follows standard listed company principles.

  Keywords: Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; brand management; sustainability; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Environmental Sustainability; Organizational Culture; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Brazil; Latin America;

  Citation:

  Paine, Lynn S., Ruth Costas, and Priscilla Zogbi. "Mãe Terra and Unilever (A)." Harvard Business School Case 320-075, December 2019. (Revised April 2020.)  View Details

  CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase

  Related

• Book | 2020

  Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Drive Performance and Productivity

  Joseph Allen and John D. Macomber

  By the time you reach 80, you will have spent 72 years of your life indoors. Like it or not, humans have become an indoor species. This means that the people who design, build, and maintain our buildings can have a major impact on our health.
  Ever feel tired during a meeting? That’s because most offices and conference rooms are not bringing in enough fresh air. When that door opens, it literally breathes life back into the room. But there is a lot more acting on your body that you can’t feel or see. From our offices and homes to our schools and hospitals, the indoor spaces where we work, learn, play, eat, and heal have an outsized influence on our performance and well-being. They affect our creativity, focus, and problem-solving ability and can make us sick—dragging down profits in the process.
  Charismatic pioneers of the healthy building movement who have paired up to combine the cutting-edge science of Harvard’s School of Public Health with the financial know-how of the Harvard Business School, Joseph Allen and John Macomber lay out the science of healthy buildings and make the business case for owners, developers, and CEOs. They reveal the 9 Foundations of a Healthy Building and show how tracking health performance indicators with smart technology can boost performance and create economic value. While the “green” building movement tackled energy, waste, and water, the new healthy building movement focuses on the most important (and expensive) asset of any business: its people.

  Keywords: architecture; real estate development; air pollution; air quality; public health; Productivity gains; Buildings and Facilities; Health; Pollutants; Performance Productivity; Construction Industry;

  Citation:

  Allen, Joseph, and John D. Macomber. Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Drive Performance and Productivity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2020.  View Details

  CiteView DetailsPurchase

  Related

• Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2019 (Revised April 2020)

  The Dutch East India Company in 1612 (A)

  Lynn S. Paine and Giuseppe Dari-Mattiacci

  The Dutch East India Company’s board of directors must decide what to do about an impending legal requirement to liquidate the company’s assets and return to shareholders their capital and any profits earned during a ten-year lock-up period. The charter granted to the company in 1602 by the Dutch Estates General (legislature) required the liquidation and accounting to shareholders after the initial ten-year period and again at the end of a second ten-year period. However, the company’s directors believe that more time is needed to reap the benefits of shareholders’ initial investments and that liquidating the company’s assets after the initial ten-year lock-up would make it impossible to raise capital for the second ten-year term. The case describes the origins of the Dutch East India Company, the world’s first publicly-traded multinational company, and traces key aspects of the company’s governance and development during its first ten years, including the emergence of disagreement among shareholders about corporate strategy and dividend policy.

  Keywords: Corporate Governance; Globalized Firms and Management; Organizational Structure; Laws and Statutes; Financial Markets; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Government Relations; Business History; Shipping Industry; Netherlands;

  Citation:

  Paine, Lynn S., and Giuseppe Dari-Mattiacci. "The Dutch East India Company in 1612 (A)." Harvard Business School Case 320-047, December 2019. (Revised April 2020.)  View Details

  CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase

  Related