Strategy and Business Environment
25th Anniversary Conference
Strategy for the Great Challenges of Our Time:
Climate, Health, Data, and Democracy
May 2-3, 2025
The Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania
Strategy in today’s business environment must increasingly confront and address the great challenges of our time. Progress on the climate transition, public health, the responsible use of big data and artificial intelligence, revitalizing democratic institutions and social justice will require trillions of dollars of investments. Failure to make such investments risks tens of trillions of dollars of losses. The necessary investments are beyond the capacity of the public and philanthropic sectors requiring a tapping of private capital through the demonstration of business cases that realize societal gains while capturing sufficient returns for investors, workers, suppliers, communities and other stakeholders. We invite the submission of rigorous academic papers from across disciplines and methodological traditions that contribute insight into strategy for the great challenges of our time.
This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the founding of the Strategy and the Business Environment Conference series. The conference will return to The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA where it was founded. The lead sponsor will be the ESG Initiative whose mission is to harness the power of business “to solve the social problems incident to our civilization” – Joseph Wharton.
Schedule
Friday, May 2
8:00 AM
Breakfast and Welcome
Dinan Hall 112
9:00 AM
Session 1
Integrated Strategy
Self-regulation and Corruption in Extractive Industries: Integrating Market and Non-Market Strategy to Make Transparency Pay
Shirley Tang, Daniel Elfenbein, Tatenda Pasipanodya
Discussant: Tim Werner
The Role of Business in Solving Grand Challenges: Evidence from Corporate Climate Lobbying
Tom Lyon and Benjamin Leffler
Discussant: Ken Shotts
10:40 AM
Break
11:00 AM
Session 2
Geopolitics
Higher Highs and Lower Lows: Political Connections, Geopolitical Risk, and International Investment
Benjamin Egerod, Jan Stuckatz, Michael Mueller, and Flladina Zilja
Discussant: Aseem Kaul
Global Entry: Reconceptualizing Multinational Investments As Two-Sided Matches Between Governments And Firms
Sinziana Dorobantu, Thomas Lindner, Laurenz Tinhof
Discussant: Leandro Pongeluppe
12:40 PM
Lunch
McNulty Conference Room
1:30 PM
Session 3
Social Pressures
Social Production of Corporate Targets by the ESG Countermovement
Tony He, Kate Odziemkowska, and Witold Henisz
Discussant: Lori Yue
Social Media Boycotts and Stock Market Reactions: The Role of Ideological Connotations and Platform Interactions
Pablo Sanz
Discussant: Kate Odziemkowska
3:10 PM
Break
3:30 PM
Session 4
Ideology
Stakeholder Political Ideology And Responses To Ceo Sociopolitical Activism: The Case For Liberal/Conservative Asymmetries
Krishnan Nair, Marlon Mooijman
Expectations, polarizing social issues, and criticism for corporate silence: Theory and evidence from Georgia’s Election Integrity Act
Christopher Bruno, J. Adam Cobb, Tim Werner, and Tyler Wry
VRscores: A Voter Registration-Based Approach for Measuring Workforce Politics
Max Kagan, Justin Frake, and Reuben Hurst
Discussant: Brayden King
4:45 PM
Rising Scholars Reflections on 25 Years of Strategy and the Business Environment
Sinziana Dorobantu, Kate Odziemkowska, Mae McDonnell, Jiao Luo, Tim Werner, and Vanessa Burbano
6:00 PM
Reception
Arch 208
7:00 PM
Dinner
Arch 208
Saturday, May 3
8:00 AM
Breakfast
Hoover Lounge
9:00 AM
Session 5
Regulatory Scrutiny
Atypical Regulatory Targets, Deviance, and Strategic Interactions with Typical Targets
Min-Seok Pang and Rajiv Kohli
Discussant: Jeff Macher
Innovation, Imitation, and Political Cleavages in International Trade and Patent Protection
Sojun Park
Substitution Over Compliance? Strategic Innovation between Data Privacy and Security Under Regulatory Scrutiny
Albert Roh, Nan Jia and Milan Miric
Reputational Costs of Revealing Political Connections: Evidence from Electoral Bonds In India
Sukrit Puri
Self-enforcing Global Private Governance
Zhizhen Lu
Discussants: Dennis Yao & Nan Jia (2 papers each)
11:30 AM
Break
11:50 AM
Senior Scholars Reflections on 25 Years of Strategy and the Business Environment
Bruce Kogut, Daniel Diermeier, Dennis Quinn, Dennis Yao, Ruth Aguilera, and Witold Henisz
12:30 PM
Lunch
Hoover Lounge
1:20 PM
Session 6
Climate Disclosure
Real, Disclosure and Spillover Effects of U.S. State-Level Climate Change Regulations
Aliya Korganbekova
Discussant: Caroline Flammer
Governance & Governments: The Effects of Shareholder Engagement & Climate Laws on Firm CO2 Emissions
Kevin Chuah, Kenneth Chung and Witold Henisz
Discussant: Tom Lyon
3:00 PM
Break
3:20 PM
Session 7
Climate Risk, National Security Risk, and Firm Strategy
How do Firms Respond to Climate Risks?
Xia Li and Caroline Flammer
Discussant: Magali Delmas
Shielding or Stifling? How Policies Restricting Foreign Acquisitions of Domestic Technologies Affect U.S. Entrepreneurial Innovation
Kenneth Huang, Qing He, and Nan Jia
Discussant: Mike Lenox
5:00 PM
Closing Remarks
Vit Henisz and Mae McDonnell
Program Committee
The Program Committee for the conference will collectively evaluate conference submissions and participate in the event as discussants and audience members.
Vanessa Burbano, Columbia University
Magali Delmas, UCLA
Sinziana Dorobantu, New York University
Caroline Flammer, Columbia University
Vit Henisz, The Wharton School (co-chair)
Nan Jia, University of Southern California
Aseem Kaul, University of Minnesota
Brayden King, Northwestern University
Mike Lenox, University of Virginia
Jiao Luo, University of Minnesota
Tom Lyon, University of Michigan
Jeff Macher, Georgetown University
Mae McDonnell, The Wharton School (co-chair)
Kate Odziemkowska, University of Toronto
Ken Shotts, Stanford University
Michael Toffel, Harvard University
Tim Werner, University of Texas at Austin
Dennis Yao, Harvard University
Lori Yue, Columbia University