George Serafeim is the Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration and the Faculty Chair of the Impact-Weighted Accounts Project at Harvard Business School. He has taught courses in the MBA, executive education, and doctoral programs, and is currently teaching the elective course “Reimagining Capitalism: Business and Big Problems” in the MBA curriculum, which received the Ideas Worth Teaching Award from the Aspen Institute and the Grand Page Prize. He has presented his research in over 60 countries around the world, including to world leaders in government and business at events such as the World Economic Forum at Davos and the Aspen Ideas Festival. He ranks among the top 10 most popular authors out of over 12,000 business authors on the Social Science Research Network.
Professor Serafeim’s research focuses on measuring, driving and communicating corporate performance and social impact. His work is widely cited and has been published in the most prestigious academic and practitioner journals, such as Management Science, The Accounting Review, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of Finance, Organization Science, Journal of Accounting Research, and Harvard Business Review. His research is regularly cited in the media, including The New York Times, Bloomberg, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Economist, BBC, Le Monde, Washington Post, and NPR. He has received multiple awards and recognitions, including the Pericles Leadership Award in recognition of services to the Hellenic Republic and the Kim B. Clark Fellowship on Responsible Leadership at Oxford University, for his research on corporate sustainability and the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in investing. He has been recognized by Barron's as “one of the most influential people in ESG investing” and according to the Financial Times, his research was a turning point for companies and investment managers in integrating ESG issues in business and investment strategies.
Professor Serafeim has held several positions of leadership. He is the co-founder of KKS Advisors, focusing on integrating material sustainability issues in business strategy and investment decisions, and an academic partner at State Street Associates developing practical solutions and thought leadership for market participants. He serves on the steering committee of the Athens Stock Exchange and as the Chairman of Greece’s Corporate Governance Council. Moreover, he has extensive experience in the investment management industry serving on the advisory board of investment firms in the US, Europe and Asia, that focus on ESG issues as catalysts for value creation. He has served on several not-for-profit organizations including the board of directors of the High Meadows Institute, the working group of the Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism, and the Standards Council of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board.
Professor Serafeim earned his doctorate in business administration at Harvard Business School, where his dissertation was recognized with the Wyss Award for excellence in doctoral research. He received a master's degree in accounting and finance from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he was awarded the Emeritus Professors’ Prize for best academic performance. He grew up in Athens, Greece.
How can organizations create real value and impact from their ESG efforts? Too many companies have embraced a "box-ticking" culture and fail to see any value from their ESG efforts. I describe a five-pronged approach for companies to better manage and govern resources allocated to ESG issues. 1) Think ESG as competitive advantage 2) Create accountability for ESG throughout the organisation 3) Identify a corporate purpose and build a culture around it 4) Give ESG responsibilities to core business leaders 5) Use impact weighted accounting metrics for better decision making and to attract aligned investors
Professor George Serafeim explores performance, purpose, and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) issues and how they can meet the challenges of growing income inequality and environmental damage in his Kim B Clark Fellowship Talk, while visiting Oxford University.
To reshape capitalism towards a more inclusive and sustainable system we need to reshape accounting. Professor Serafeim leads the Impact Weighted Accounts Project that revolutionizes measurement of corporate performance. For research on product, employment and environmental impact please see here. You can find an open access dataset of corporate environmental impact for ~13,000 firm-year observations.
The coronavirus pandemic caused a sharp market decline while raising heterogeneous responses across companies related to their employees, supply chain and, repurposing of operations to provide needed products and services. How did companies' stock market performance was affected by these responses?
What can be done to address problems with ESG data?
As the ESG field and the use of ESG data in investment decision‐making continue to grow we shed light on several important aspects of ESG measurement and data.
Over the past few years, there has been a significant increase in the number of initiatives seeking to mobilize investor voice towards positive social impact. This paper, provides a framework outlining the role of investors as stewards of the commons.
What is corporate purpose? Does it matter for financial performance? How do you develop one? New research documents that most organizations are struggling to diffuse a sense of purpose throughout the organization. Those that can, enjoy better financial performance.
For the past 10 years we’ve studied white-collar crime and explored how companies can create an environment that discourages it. We used data from individual companies and from surveys by PwC, Transparency International, the World Bank, executive recruiting firms, and other organizations. All told we looked at data on thousands of organizations and individuals. In addition, we interviewed more than 50 senior and middle managers at 10 organizations that had experienced scandals. And in our research we’ve found time and again that while compliance systems are important, leadership plays a critical role in shaping an organization’s attitudes toward preventing crime and its responses when wrongdoing is detected.
How do we ensure that everyone in society benefits from economic growth? How do we narrow income disparities? If inclusive capitalism at its core means bringing society and business together, what are the strategies to get us there? At the Aspen Ideas Festival, Professor Serafeim provided answers to those questions.
In a Harvard Business Review article Professor Serafeim and co-authors outline a roadmap for companies and investors that seek to create inclusive growth.
How Companies Can Integrate Sustainability to their Core and Why Investors Should Care
By now most companies have sustainability programs. But a mishmash of sustainability tactics does not add up to a sustainable strategy. Professor's Serafeim reseach has shown the value implications of integrating sustainability in a company's strategy and operations, and what are the distinguishing organizational processes that sustainable organizations have. His work on the financial materiality of sustainability investments was the first one to demonstrate the path to financial value. Relatedly, in his work he has outlined a process that can be used to execute a sustainable strategy and extend the boundaries of The Performance Frontier, and how to implement a strategy to achieve organizational change.
In his line of work on sustainable investing he has documented a market interest in nonfinancial information, how sell-side analysts have shifted their perceptions about the value of sustainability, and how firms with better ESG performance have better access to finance.
How Companies Communicate their Sustainability Efforts and What are the Consequences
An increasing number of companies issue sustainability or integrated reports. It is estimated that now more than 10,000 companies do so. In addition, an increasing number of countries now mandate reporting of ESG information. In his work, Professor Serafeim has articulated the functions of corporate reporting, why integrated reporting promises to serve those functions effectively, and an institutional strategy for adoption of integrated reporting globally. Relatedly, he has documented how a company can use integrated reporting to shape a more long-term oriented investor base.
