Witold Henisz

• Anne Spencer Jamison and Witold Henisz (2025), Competing demand-side explanations and populism: Cross-national variation in a recursive ideational system, Democratization, 32 (3), pp. 759-787. Abstract

  This article models the rise of populism in a country as a sequential recursive system driven by the interaction of voters’ contextual demands and the supply of populist political responses. We introduce to this literature high-frequency media event data extracted from a corpus of two terabytes of articles drawn from 72 countries over six years using natural language processing. Further, we introduce vector autoregression to the study of populism, which allows us to model the way voters’ grievances and politicians’ rhetoric and policy responses influence each other bidirectionally over time. Our analysis reveals that voter demands and political responses are best modelled as a recursive system. Given the positive feedback loop, efforts to curb the growth of populism and limit democratic backsliding will require both addressing underlying grievances (i.e. demand) and weakening or substituting for the efficacy of existing populist rhetoric (i.e. supply).

• Anne Spencer Jamison, Witold Henisz, Doron Tadmor (2025), Indigenous Land Claims and Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence of Conflict Impacts from Geo-Spatial Media Event Data, Journal of International Business Studies, 56 (6), pp. 720-738. Abstract

  A growing body of literature highlights that large-scale investments in sensitive contexts can undermine both firm financial performance and peace-positive development. We investigate whether and under what conditions foreign direct investment (FDI) proximate to Indigenous land claims increases or decreases conflict. Drawing on social movement theory’s identification of powerful frames and political opportunity structures as drivers of mobilization, we predict that FDI proximate to Indigenous land claims will promote conflict. We leverage novel data on the global location of Indigenous land claims and a global corpus of more than 4 billion news articles. We find that when locations with Indigenous land claims are treated with FDI, we observe an increase in media-reported armed conflict events. We further argue and find this effect to be driven by rebels acting on behalf of Indigenous people who target (multinational) corporations and the governments who offer them the formal license to operate. These negative effects are found across a wide range of industries. Our results underscore that for investments in sensitive socio-political contexts, such as Indigenous lands, firm performance and the livelihoods of community members are heavily influenced by conflict risk mitigation efforts.

• Lauren Ferry, Anne Spencer Jamison, Witold Henisz (2025), Sustainability, Political Risk and Sovereign Credit Risk: Pricing High Frequency Environmental, Social and Governance News, Economics & Politics, Forthcoming (). Abstract

  Environmental, social and governance (ESG) components are critical inputs of long-term growth and affect sovereigns’ ability and willingness to repay their debts. In this paper, we argue that the media provides information on extra-financial factors and ESG-related news coverage allows investors to update their expectations about the likelihood of repayment. Drawing on a global corpus of more than four billion news articles to identify the frequency and tone with which ESG factors are discussed daily, we show that reporting on ESG factors affects creditors’ assessment of sovereign creditworthiness, even after accounting for political and macroeconomic conditions. By revisiting previous work with a broader scope and fine-grained data, we advance our understanding of how and based on what information creditors form expectations of sovereign creditworthiness.

• Christopher Bruno and Witold Henisz (2024), Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Outcomes and Municipal Credit Risk, Business & Society, 63 (8), pp. 1709-1756. Abstract

  We investigate the association between a wide range of community-level environmental, social, and governance (ESG) outcomes and the credit risk of U.S. municipal finance fixed-income securities. We develop a novel dataset of multiple ESG outcomes for U.S. counties and connect it to a 2001-2020 panel of municipal bonds issued within those counties. Overall, we find supportive evidence that collective increases in community-level ESG factors (i.e., ESG outcomes) are associated with reductions in credit risk for U.S. municipal finance instruments over time. We theorize that these associations arise from variations in investor perceptions and manifested changes in fiscal health over time as a function of changing ESG outcomes. Post hoc analyses leveraging quasi-exogenous shocks to uncertainty, as well as connecting ESG outcomes to various measures of fiscal health at the county-year level, and credit ratings at the bond-year level, help validate this theory. Our research suggests that even socially agnostic investors should investigate the environmental and social performance of a municipality as part of their credit due diligence.

• Courtney Rickert McCaffrey, Witold Henisz, Oliver Jones, Geostrategy by Design: How to Identify, Assess and Manage Geopolitical Risk to Inform Corporate Strategy in the Next Era of Globalization (New York, NY: Disruption Books, 2024) Description
  From leading geostrategy experts comes an indispensable guide for executives seeking to thrive and create long-term value in the next era of global competition. How do executives position a company for growth when the geopolitical future is uncertain? Recent events in Ukraine and the Middle East and tightening restrictions on international trade and investment are reshaping the global business environment. History shows that any such era of change presents both challenges and opportunities. The C-suite’s ability to implement a geostrategy will determine which executives lead their companies into successful futures—and which get left behind. Learn from the ultimate authorities on geostrategic management. The authors behind Geostrategy by Design represent the best of real-world experience and respected academic research. From professional services firm EY, Oliver Jones and Courtney Rickert McCaffrey provide insight and analysis on how geopolitics is affecting companies around the world and how they are managing it. From the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Professor Witold J. Henisz’s research examines the impact of political hazards as well as environmental, social, and governance factors more broadly on the strategy and valuation of global corporations. Together, the authors use examples, from historical global turning points to recent political disruptions, to illustrate how geostrategy is essential to surviving and succeeding in the next era of globalization. A proven framework to embed geopolitical strategy into a company’s DNA. Learn how to implement four distinct activities required for a proactive geostrategy—and how to create a governance structure that weaves them together for long-term effectiveness.

  • Scan: identify and dynamically monitor geopolitical, country, regulatory, and societal risks
  • Focus: assess how these risks could affect the company
  • Manage: integrate the political risks that are most material to the company into connected risk approaches
  • Strategize: incorporate geopolitical considerations and other political risks into strategic decisions
  • Govern: execute via a cross-functional geostrategic team and create a culture that embraces geostrategy

  Tomorrow’s companies need a geostrategy today. With the right geostrategy in place, executives will be better equipped to navigate geopolitical volatility and uncertainty—no matter what lies ahead.  
• Sinziana Dorobantu, Witold Henisz, Lite Nartey (2024), Firm-Stakeholder Dialogue and the Media: The Evolution of Stakeholder Evaluations in Different Informational Environments, Academy of Management Journal, 67 (1), pp. 92-125. Abstract

  We propose that the informational environment in which firm–stakeholder interactions are embedded shapes the effect of firm–stakeholder dialogue on a stakeholder’s evaluation of a firm. How much stakeholders know about a firm (information availability), what stakeholders know about a firm (information content), and how much they trust the media that informs them (information reliability) vary across countries, firms, and time. We theorize and assess how these three dimensions of the informational environment shape the effects of firm–stakeholder dialogue on the evolution of a stakeholder’s evaluation of a firm. We illustrate our arguments with insights from field interviews conducted to understand stakeholders’ evaluations of the Rosia Montana gold mine in Romania, and we analyze them using original, manually coded stakeholder-level data that capture 2,454 stakeholders’ evaluations of 26 gold-mining operations around the world.

• Kevin Chuah, Mark DesJardine, Maria Goronova, Witold Henisz (2024), Shareholder Activism Research: A System’s Level View, Academy of Management Annals, 18 (1), pp. 82-120. Abstract

  Shareholder activism is an important driver of corporate change. Yet, the phenomenon has primarily been studied within disciplinary silos, providing only a partial understanding of the overarching process, the actors involved, the engagement approaches used, and the tangible outcomes of activism. Noting these limitations, the purpose of this review is threefold. First, we present an integrated account of the current state of cross-disciplinary knowledge on shareholder activism to identify what we know about different aspects of activist–firm engagements. Second, we use that account to develop a detailed map of the shareholder activism process, including how activists identify target firms, the engagement approaches used, the role of stakeholders’ varied reactions, and outcomes of activism campaigns. Third, after mapping this process, we propose that the cumulative interdependencies identified by shareholder activism researchers can be more fully understood as a complex, dynamic, and adaptive system. This system accounts for activists’ interdependence on other stakeholders, dynamic feedback loops whereby current campaigns affect future engagements, and strategic adaptive behaviors by firms and stakeholders over time. We use our system-level view of activism to identify a roadmap for future research that can more fully unpack the implications of shareholder activism on organizational and societal outcomes.

• Lite Nartey, Witold Henisz, Sinziana Dorobantu (2023), Reciprocity in Firm Stakeholder Dialogue: Timeliness, Valence, Richness, And Topicality, Journal of Business Ethics, 183 (2), pp. 429-451. Abstract

  Scholars of stakeholder management have long grappled with the question of how to communicate with stakeholders to enhance cooperation and reduce conflict. We build on insights from the literature on stakeholder dialog to highlight the importance of four elements of firm–stakeholder dialog processes: timing, valence, richness, and topicality of firms’ responses to stakeholder engagements. We demonstrate a link between these elements of the firm–stakeholder dialog process and changes in stakeholder cooperation or conflict with the firm, as well as contingent tradeoffs among them. Specifically, we show that the relative importance of these elements is contingent upon stakeholder type and status. Government actors prioritize richness and topicality over timeliness and valence. Economic actors, by contrast, prioritize timeliness and valence. Civil society stakeholders prioritize timeliness, valence, and topicality over richness. Low-status actors across sectors deprioritize topicality and richness while high-status actors demand attentiveness to all four elements.

• Witold Henisz (2023), The Value of Organizational Purpose, Strategy Science, 8 (2), pp. 159-169. Abstract

  Broadening the organizational purpose of a firm beyond narrow short-term profit maximization may enhance long-term shareholder value. This result obtains when firms generate unpriced externalities and face difficulties in achieving ex ante incentive alignment with stakeholders through contract or have the ex post possibility of altering stakeholders’ perceptions through virtue signaling (i.e., cheap talk or greenwash). As each of these conditions is ubiquitous in practice, discussion of organizational purpose (beyond narrow short-term profit maximization to encompass stakeholder’s harmonious pursuit of a common higher goal or meaning) should shift from why management might pursue it to how managers obtain and maintain it as well as the value creation and distribution implications of doing so. Drawing on a value-based stakeholder theory of strategic management, I argue that attentiveness to the most salient issues of a firm’s most powerful stakeholders related to the attainment of this higher goal more closely aligns stakeholder and shareholder value in the long term, thereby building and sustaining relational contracts with stakeholders. A firm with strong relational contracts across its nexus of stakeholder relationships increases the likelihood of harmony among its stakeholders, including shareholders. An important challenge to realizing this outcome is that of measurement. As a result, research on organizational purpose should turn its attention from legal and moral foundations to empirical research on externalities, stakeholder opinions, and managers’ self-representations of their organization’s purpose. The availability of such data lowers the transaction costs associated with a nexus of relational contracts and enhances societal welfare.

• Brian Ganson, Tony He, Witold Henisz (2022), ’Us’ and ‘Them’: Firm Strategy, Horizontal Inequalities, and Society’s Capacity to Address Its Grand Challenges, Global Strategy Journal, 12 (3), pp. 520-542. Abstract

  Divisions into an “us” and a “them” across racial, ethnic, economic, geographic, and other demographic divides impede society’s capacity to address grand challenges. Firms have an impact on such divisions—whether positively or negatively, intentionally or not—through the dual mechanisms of rents and relationships. Firms may contribute to horizontal inequalities that underlie intergroup conflict through the distribution of the benefits, costs, and risks of firm activities. Through their relational strategies, firms also shape the willingness and ability of different groups to work together for positive change. Firm behaviors emerging from their daily operations can thus change society’s capacity to address its grand challenges, necessitating corporate activism that encompasses market and nonmarket strategies, as well as a broader understanding of the strategy-setting process itself.

• All Research from Witold Henisz »

Past Courses

• INTS7210 - Gbl Bus through Humanities

  Drawing on theories within the fields of international relations, international law, and international political economy, plus history, this course equips students with insight into the legal, economic, and historical legacies that are important to understanding the nature of global business today.

• MGMT2090 - Pol & Soc Environ of Mm

  The financial significance of stakeholder opinions of the acceptability of a firm’s operations and geopolitical risk is mounting, yet the data, frameworks, and tools informing investors, consultants, and corporates are unreliable. The course provides students with novel data, frameworks, and tools that can link and aid in the alignment of stakeholder opinions of corporate impact on natural, social, and human capitals, financial valuation, strategy, and sustainable business. Estimates of the capital expenditures necessary to achieve a net-zero emissions and the 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming target exceed $50 Trillion over the next 30 years. The cost of inaction is, however, much higher, with $10-$25 Trillion dollars in annual losses forecast for GDP from the physical risks of climate change alone. Despite this simple financial calculus, we continue to debate whether climate change is real, and whether policies to achieve a climate transition are justified, and whether the allocation of the costs necessary to do so is fair. Such discussions are made more difficult by the reemergence of geopolitical rivalries between great powers as well as the strengthening of political divisions within many countries. Populism, nationalism, and nativism have moved from the fringes of political systems to the corridors of power. These international and national forces have led to a pause in globalization and increasingly threaten global growth. Which firms or investors are best poised to navigate these risks and seize related opportunities? This course provides students the latest tools to assess and map stakeholder opinions as well as integrate them into financial valuation. It also offers behavioral skills critical for external stakeholder engagement including communications as well as for the engagement of stakeholders inside the firm. In short, it prepares students to engage in geostrategy.

• MGMT6110 - Managing Est Enterprise

  This course is about managing large enterprises that face the strategic challenge of being the incumbent in the market and the organizational challenge of needing to balance the forces of inertia and change. The firms of interest in this course tend to operate in a wide range of markets and segments, frequently on a global basis, and need to constantly deploy their resources to fend off challenges from new entrants and technologies that threaten their established positions. The class is organized around three distinct but related topics that managers of established firms must consider: strategy, human and social capital, and global strategy.

• MGMT7150 - Pol & Soc Environ of Mm

  All successful firms go global. This course provides a broad introduction to international business. You will learn about who loses and who gains from trade, what are the effects of tariffs and non-tariff barriers, the World Trade Organization (WTO), regional trading blocs, and NAFTA. The course then turns to the international financial architecture, focusing on exchange rate risk. We then move to multinational firm strategies, including a discussion of the reasons for why firms choose to do business globally through trade or FDI, international tax strategy, joint ventures, technology transfer, different ways to be a multinational firm, and ethical dilemmas. The class is a mix of lectures and cases that allow students to synthesize the extensive materials on multinational management, international institutions, economic policies, and politics with a goal towards formulating multinational firm strategy.

• MGMT7200 - Corporate Diplomacy

  The financial significance of stakeholder opinions of the acceptability of a firm’s operations and geopolitical risk is mounting, yet the data, frameworks, and tools informing investors, consultants, and corporates are unreliable. The course provides students with novel data, frameworks, and tools that can link and aid in the alignment of stakeholder opinions of corporate impact on natural, social, and human capitals, financial valuation, strategy, and sustainable business. Estimates of the capital expenditures necessary to achieve a net-zero emissions and the 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming target exceed $50 Trillion over the next 30 years. The cost of inaction is, however, much higher, with $10-$25 Trillion dollars in annual losses forecast for GDP from the physical risks of climate change alone. Despite this simple financial calculus, we continue to debate whether climate change is real, and whether policies to achieve a climate transition are justified, and whether the allocation of the costs necessary to do so is fair. Such discussions are made more difficult by the reemergence of geopolitical rivalries between great powers as well as the strengthening of political divisions within many countries. Populism, nationalism, and nativism have moved from the fringes of political systems to the corridors of power. These international and national forces have led to a pause in globalization and increasingly threaten global growth. Which firms or investors are best poised to navigate these risks and seize related opportunities? This course provides students the latest tools to assess and map stakeholder opinions as well as integrate them into financial valuation. It also offers behavioral skills critical for external stakeholder engagement including communications as well as for the engagement of stakeholders inside the firm. In short, it prepares students to engage in geostrategy.

• MGMT8950 - Global Business

  Please see EMBA office for details.

• MGMT9550 - Foundations Mult Mgmt.

  The goal of the course is to provide you with a foundation in some of the major research areas that underpin the study of Multinational Management. International Business (and the study of MNCs) is an interdisciplinary field. As such, our survey of the seminal articles in the field will span a number of different theoretical and empirical approaches (i.e., economic, managerial, organizational and institutional). Much of our seminar discussions will focus on identifying and developing interesting research questions raised by this interdisciplinary literature, which offers many opportunities for systematic empirical study.

• MGMT9600 - Non-Market Strategy

  This course builds on the foundational material presented in MGMT 955 with a deeper focus on current research examining institutional influences on multinational management. These include regulative supports (e.g., laws, regulations, contracts and their enforcement through litigation, arbitration of incentive compatible self-regulation) but also normative (e.g., socially shared expectations of appropriate behavior, and social exchange processes) and cognitive (e.g., creating shared identity to bridge differences in values, beliefs and framing) elements of the institutional environment. We will examine not only strategic responses in the market environment but also influence strategies of multinational and domestic firms that seek to alter the institutional environment in which they operate. We will draw not only upon the international business literature but also related literatures including political economy, sociology, law, finance, communications, institutional theory, strategic corporate social responsibility, social movements, network theory and the management of extractive industries.

• MGMT9700 - Research Methods in Mgmt

  Students taking the course will be introduced to the seminal readings on a given method, have a hands-on discussion regarding their application often using a paper and dataset of the faculty member leading the discussion. The goal of the course is to make participants more informed users and reviewers of a wide variety of methodological approaches to Management research including Ordinary Least Squares, Discrete Choice, Count Models, Panel Data, Dealing with Endogeneity, Survival/failure/event history and event studies, experiments, factor analysis and structural equation modeling, hierarchical linear modeling, networks, comparative qualitative methods, coding of non-quantitative data, unstructured text and big data simulations.

• Excellence in Teaching Award, 2021
• Excellence in Teaching Award, 2020
• Aspen Institute Ideas Worth Teaching Award, 2020
• Excellence in Teaching Award, 2019
• Industry Studies Association Ralph Gomory Best Industry Studies Paper Award, 2019
• Iron Prof, 2019
• Excellence in Teaching Award (Electives), Wharton MBA Program, 2018
• Fellow of Academy of International Business, 2018
• Teaching Commitment and Curricular Innovation Award, Wharton MBA Program, 2015
• Best Conference Paper Prize at Strategic Management Society Annual Meeting, 2013
• Helen Kardon Moss Anvil Award Nomination, 2013
• Helen Kardon Moss Anvil Award Nomination, 2012
• Excellence in teaching award, MBA Division (elective), 2012
• Nominated for Best Paper for Practical Implications at the 2011 Strategic Management meeting, 2011
• Teaching Commitment and Curricular Innovation Award, 2011
• Helen Kardon Moss Anvil Award Nomination, 2011
• Finalist, Best Applied Paper in International Management (The Robert H. Schaffer Award) at the 2011 Academy of Management meeting, San Antonio TX, 2011
• Best Paper 2010 Engineering Project Organization Conference, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 2010
• Excellence in teaching award, Wharton Undergraduate Division, May, 2008
• Excellence in teaching award, Wharton Undergraduate Division, May, 2007
• Finalist, Aspen Institute’s 2006 Faculty Pioneer Award (one of eight finalists out of 100 nominees), 2006
• Faculty teaching award (electives), MBA for Executives Program, Class 31East, 2006
• Bronze Prize ($10,000) in International Finance Corporation / Financial Times 2006 Essay Competition on Topic of “Business and Development: The Private Path to Prosperity” (one of six prize winning essays out of over 500 submissions in total), 2006
• First Runner Up, Haynes Prize for Outstanding Scholar in International Business under the age of 40 at 2005 Academy of International Business Annual Conference, 2005
• Outstanding Reviewer Award, International Management Division, Academy of Management (one of 38 out of 656 reviewers so recognized), 2005
• Faculty teaching award (electives), MBA for Executives Program, Class 28East, 2004
• Finalist, Haynes Prize for Best Paper by a scholar under the age of 40 at 2002 Academy of International Business Annual Conference, 2002
• Finalist, Best Paper at 2002 Academy of International Business Annual Conference, 2002
• Outstanding Reviewer Award, International Management Division, Academy of Management, 2000 (one of 8 out of 250 reviewers so recognized), 2000
• Richard N. Farmer Award for best dissertation in International Business, Academy of International Business, 1999
• Finalist, The Free Press Doctoral Dissertation Award, Business Policy and Strategy Division, Academy of Management, 1999
• Best Doctoral Student Paper, Telecommunications Policy Research Conference, 1998

• Companies Quietly Water Down Climate Claims in Latest Investor Reports, Wall Street Journal - 06/05/2025
• Climate: U.S. Clean Energy Investment Boom Is Winding Down, Forbes - 06/02/2025
• Meet The Net Zero Leaders 2025, Forbes - 05/29/2025
• Greening your 401(k) is easier said than done, Marketplace - 05/02/2025
• Make dollars make sense, Financial Times - 01/22/2025
• How CFOs can drive growth amid geopolitical uncertainty, CFO - 11/21/2024
• Are Critiques of Sustainable Investing Moderating?, Morningstar - 10/09/2024
• Billionaires are endorsing Trump – but is that a bad bargain for them?, Guardian - 09/06/2024
• How Wharton and Other Top Business Schools Are Training MBAs for the Climate Economy, Inside Climate News - 08/14/2024
• Shareholders Keep It Simple to Score Rare Climate Proxy Wins, Bloomberg - 08/02/2024
• What is divestment? And does it work?, CNN - 04/28/2024
• ‘DIVEST’: College endowments turn into flash point of student protests, Washington Post - 04/26/2024
• College Protesters Make Divestment From Israel a Rallying Cry, New York Times - 04/24/2024
• Protesters demand McGill divest in companies linked to Israel. What does that mean?, Montreal Gazette - 03/30/2024
• How “Woke Capitalism” Became a Right-Wing Obsession, Mother Jones - 01/30/2024
• Why are investments in ESG funds falling?, Marketplace - 01/19/2024
• Facing pushback and government scrutiny, ESG investing may be headed for change, Marketplace - 11/30/2023
• The Value of Corporate Purpose, Harvard Business Review - 11/20/2023
• Knowledge of ESG, Integration and Greenwashing Remains Low, CIO - 11/16/2023
• Projects funded by the World Bank Group’s private sector arm fuel armed conflict – it’s time to reform the system, The Conversation - 11/14/2023
• Navigating ESG: Surveying the Landscape, PlanAdviser - 11/11/2023
• Letter: ESG’s role in never-ending quest for alpha is central, Financial Times - 11/09/2023
• New Majors and Concentrations at Wharton, Pennsylvania Gazette - 08/24/2023
• CEOs Sharpen ESG Positions as Conservative Backlash Intensifies, Bloomberg Law - 08/16/2023
• Bloomberg Equality Full Show (06/29/2023), Bloomberg - 06/29/2023
• States shrug off warnings, plow ahead with anti-ESG laws, E&E News - 06/22/2023
• Ohio, like other GOP-led states, would limit considering climate change in pension investments, WOSU - 06/20/2023
• What are companies for?, BBC Radio - 06/12/2023
• NYC’s Financial Boss Denounces Politicization of ESG Investing, Bloomberg Law - 06/09/2023
• Anti-ESG Funds Growing, Fail to Draw Major Investor Interest (1), Bloomberg Law - 06/09/2023
• A hazy picture for shareholders, Politico - 06/08/2023
• ESG Must Evolve Into Something Less Politically Explosive Than ESG, RealClearMarkets - 06/06/2023
• How climate activists are working to shift trillions of dollars away from fossil fuels and into renewables, WHYY - 06/05/2023
• OHIO, LIKE OTHER GOP-LED STATES, WOULD LIMIT CONSIDERING CLIMATE CHANGE IN PENSION INVESTMENTS, Allrghany Front - 06/02/2023
• Climate activists arrested at Vanguard headquarters in Chester County, WHYY - 04/19/2023
• Companies that walk the talk on workforce investments reaping 4% higher return on invested capital: report, Benefits Canada - 04/13/2023
• After DEI, Conservatives Attack ESG, Inside Higher Ed - 04/05/2023
• Opinion: Biden’s veto supports free markets, not ‘woke’ capitalism, CNN Opinion - 03/22/2023
• Wharton Global Forum draws international crowd of leaders, alumni, and faculty to Singapore, Daily Pennsylvanian - 03/16/2023
• The battle over Biden's 'woke' investing rule is far from over, Washington Post - 03/06/2023
• Republicans taking page from Democrats when talking about effect of investing rule that allows retirement funds to consider climate risks, Boston Globe - 03/05/2023
• What is ESG investing and why are some Republicans criticizing it?, ABC News - 02/15/2023
• Wharton announces new ESG online executive program, Daily Pennsylvanian - 01/30/2023
• 3 new executive leadership certificate programs from Wharton to check out, Fortune - 01/26/2023
• Wharton Launches New ESG Programs For Executives, Poets & Quants - 01/24/2023
• Wharton Announces ESG Executive Certificate Programming, Know ESG - 01/20/2023
• Wharton Launches ESG Certificate Programs For Executives, Business Because - 01/20/2023
• GOP thrusts gas stoves, Biden's green agenda into the culture wars, Washington Post - 01/12/2023
• Republicans plan more attacks on ESG. Investors still plan to focus on climate risk, National Public Radio - 12/29/2022
• Anti ‘woke’ ESG policies are already costing taxpayers millions, Fast Company - 12/28/2022
• House GOP likely to begin inquiries into environmental, social and governance issues, NPR Morning Edition - 12/28/2022
• The secret money fueling the conservative anti-ESG push, Fast Company - 12/19/2022
• ESG: It’s Not Ideology, It’s Economics, Forbes - 12/05/2022
• Wharton School’s New MBA DEI Majors Offers Glimpse of Changes in Corporate Realm, Delco Today - 12/02/2022
• Have the Anticapitalists Reached Harvard Business School?, New York Times - 11/28/2022
• ‘ESG isn’t about ideology, it’s about economics’: Mapping the next ESG frontier, CityWire - 11/15/2022
• Exploring ESG Investing: What Is ESG?, PlanSponsor - 11/10/2022
• As States Escalate Resistance, ESG Backlash Could Come At A Cost To Investors, Bisnow - 10/26/2022
• Stakeholders' role in greater ESG accountability, Financial Times - 10/19/2022
• Making funding flows fair: Must ESG be bad news for emerging markets?, Financial Times - 10/19/2022
• Vanguard, Baird, Ariel Labelled ESG Laggards, FundFire - 10/18/2022
• Wharton hosts Climate Prof event for Climate Week, Daily Pennsylvanian - 10/14/2022
• Exxon’s Exodus: Employees Have Finally Had Enough of Its Toxic Culture, Bloomberg - 10/13/2022
• Anti-ESG: the rise of ‘InfoWars investors’, CityWire - 10/11/2022
• Wharton to offer new Environmental, Social, and Governance concentration, major, Daily Pennsylvanian - 10/10/2022
• Banks and business leaders who use ESG aren’t ‘woke.’ They’re protecting their bottom lines, Fortune - 09/28/2022
• How Americans' investment accounts are being pulled into culture wars, National Public Radio - 09/22/2022
• Vit Henisz on National Public Radio, National Public Radio - 09/22/2022
• Business Schools Are Beginning to Embrace Stakeholder Inclusion, Bloomberg News - 09/19/2022
• Utah’s state treasurer pulls millions from investment firm over its climate and social agenda, Salt Lake Tribune - 09/18/2022
• Poilievre’s next move? Attacking ESG, Canada's National Observer - 09/15/2022
• How to confront the anti-ESG campaign, Net Zero Investor - 09/14/2022
• How ESG investing got tangled up in America's culture wars, NPR - 09/12/2022
• "‘Fringe’ Anti-ESG Proposals Hit Proxies in Record Numbers", Agenda Week - 09/06/2022
• Inside Texas' attempt to turn ESG upside down, Politico Pro - 09/06/2022
• Inside Texas' attempt to turn ESG upside down, E&E News - 09/06/2022
• More corporate pledges. Where's the beef?, Politico - 09/06/2022
• Opinion: How to confront the anti-ESG campaign, Investor Relations Magazine - 09/05/2022
• The EU’s sustainable finance rule book comes under fire, Financial Times - 09/02/2022
• Anti-ESG Investing Comes With A Cost, Global Finance Magazine - 09/01/2022
• The Anti-ESG Rhetoric and Actions of Republican Politicians Are Bad for Investors and Business, Morningstar - 08/29/2022
• MassPrim Gears Up ESG Committee, FundFire - 08/26/2022
• Red states giving the boot to ‘woke’ firms seeking government business, Washington Times - 08/16/2022
• Power Moves: Why this former Nerd Street Gamers director pivoted to clean energy, Techical.ly Philly - 08/08/2022
• Banks far from hitting Paris climate targets, groups warn, AP News - 07/27/2022 Description

  The world’s most influential banks need to substantially accelerate climate efforts if global temperature rise is to be kept within the targets of the Paris Agreement, an assessment released Thursday by an institutional investors group warned.

• The Secret Weapon for Sustainable Business? AI, The Atlantic - 07/11/2022
• Report sheds light on Fidelity’s little-known fossil fuel ties, Grist - 06/01/2022
• ESG ACADEMIC NETWORK ROUNDTABLE PART II: FOCUS ON STAKEHOLDERS, Factset - 05/19/2022
• EARTH DAY AND ESG: THE STAKEHOLDER VIEW OF TOP FIRMS, Factset - 04/19/2022 Description

  Earth Day and Earth Week in 2022 are starkly different from the annual holiday in past decades: this is no time to simply plant a tree, pick up some roadside trash, and call it a day.

  Investors today must focus on climate and environmental risk as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) pushes for mandated carbon footprint disclosures. At the same time, risks to corporations mapped out by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), including reputational, legal, and policy risk, are increasingly in focus.

• Following the exodus of global companies from Russia, experts begin to discuss: Is China next?, The BL - 03/27/2022
• French firms hesitate amid growing pressure to leave Russia, ABC News - 03/24/2022
• Global pharma industry weighs Russian operations, Marketplace - 03/21/2022
• Citigroup to cover travel expenses for abortions as U.S. states curb access, Reuters - 03/16/2022
• Executive Pay Tied to ESG Goals Grows as Investors Demand Action, Bloomberg Law - 03/14/2022
• Will the Russia conflict reshape the world economy as we know it?, CNBC - 03/11/2022
• After unprecedented Russia boycotts, corporate boardrooms will face a much trickier, longer-term global end game, CNBC - 03/08/2022
• Tesla loses its approval from the left, Axios - 02/11/2022
• Here’s What Companies Can Return When They Don’t Just Focus on Shareholders, Institutional Investor - 01/18/2022 Description

  Companies that make decisions based on the effect on local communities or the labor force may suffer in the short term — but they’re better performers in the long run.

• Big businesses are siding against Texas in mandate fight, The Hill - 10/15/2021
• Engine No. 1 Unveils Its Total Value Framework, Which Ties ESG Impacts Directly to Financial Value Creation, BusinessWire - 09/13/2021
• Corporate Taxes Increasingly Seen as Social Obligation (Podcast), Bloomberg Tax - 08/06/2021
• ESG Push for Corporate Tax Disclosures Gaining Momentum in U.S., Bloomberg Law - 07/06/2021
• Fiscal Justice Rating Firm Will Judge Cities’ Inequity Risks, Bloomberg Law - 05/19/2021
• Why America's CEO Are Turning Vocal on Political Issues, Mint - 04/23/2021
• FactSet Research : Three Reasons Why Fixed-Income Investors Rely on ESG Factors, Market Screener - 11/23/2020
• Wharton professor wins Aspen Institute award for teaching corporate diplomacy class, Daily Pennsylvanian - 10/14/2020
• Has Corporate Activism Turned a Corner?, BRINK News - 07/19/2020
• Resilience In Crisis: Coronavirus Reveals Why Businesses Must Do Good To Do Well, Forbes - 06/08/2020
• First the pandemic hit them. Now retailers and restaurants have to rebuild after protests, CNBC - 06/01/2020
• Walmart CEO Doug McMillon took bold stances in 2019. Next year he’ll have an even bigger platform, CNBC - 12/30/2019
• Blizzard suspends 'Hearthstone' esports athlete after his pro-Hong Kong plea on livestream, USA Today - 10/08/2019
• NBA commissioner Adam Silver at center of China controversy and has no winning play, USA Today - 10/07/2019
• Study finds poor ESG performance leads to increased credit risk, ETF Stream - 08/09/2019
• Wharton School research using Truvalue Labs data spots link between ESG, credit events, credit risk, Investment Europe - 08/07/2019
• Truvalue Labs' Dataset Offers Link Between ESG, Material Credit Events and Credit Risk, Wharton Researchers Find, Yahoo Finance - 08/07/2019
• When controversies hit, wait-and-see no longer works, U.S. companies find, Reuters - 06/28/2019
• Q&A WITH WITOLD HENISZ: EXPLOITING BIG DATA FOR A FINANCIAL REVOLUTION, HEC - 05/29/2019
• A New Way to Teach Management, Forbes - 01/23/2019
• A new measure to assess companies’ external engagement, London School of Economics Blogs - 01/12/2019
• The Power of Corporate Diplomacy, Brink News - 03/13/2018
• Boards need to address globalisation fears, Sky News Australia - 03/09/2018 Description

  Boards need to address globalisation fears

  Sky News’ Ticky Fullerton spoke with Professor Witold Henisz from The Wharton School on the demand for corporate diplomacy.

• New Balance, Under Armour, and the Year that Sneakers Got Political, GQ - 12/22/2017
• Don’t let Russia get too much inside our heads, San Francisco Chronicle - 11/11/2017
• Uber is the latest U.S. tech company to face regulatory backlash in Europe, Los Angeles Times - 11/10/2017
• Fast food workers rally for higher wages, USA Today - 05/15/2014
• Corporate diplomacy and stakeholder engagement: Five questions for Witold Henisz, The Smarter Business Blog - 04/24/2014
• Social License is the New Normal, The Vancouver Sun - 04/24/2014
• The Social Responsibility of Business is to Save the Planet, Bloomberg - 06/20/2013
• Setting the Standard for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainable Development, AccountAbility.org - 02/09/2012
• Mining for Stakeholder Cooperation, The Pennsylvania Gazette - 01/10/2012
• The Rise of Stakeholder Capitalism, The Motley Fool - 08/04/2011
• Stakeholder engagement improves valuation, Investor Relations Web Report - 08/04/2011
• Stakeholder Engagment in Mining Operations, TriplePundit - 08/01/2011
• Creating the Ties That Grow, Wharton@Work - 07/13/2011
• Stakeholders Drive Stock Values, Brunswick Review - 02/08/2011
• Financial returns on stakeholder management, Sinclair Knight Merz - 02/04/2011
• When Opportunities Lie in Risky Markets, Wharton@Work - 11/10/2010
• Managing Risk: Public Affairs and Enterprise Risk Management, Public Affairs Council - 06/23/2010
• The Hidden Risks in Emerging Markets, Harvard Business Review - 04/28/2010
• Doing Business in a Volatile World, Treasury & Risk Magazine - 05/28/2009
• How to Bungle Political Risks, CFO.com - 05/24/2006

Knowledge @ Wharton

• Inside Time’s Best Inventions and Innovation Selection Process, Knowledge @ Wharton - 12/18/2025
• Free Versus Fair Trade in a Changing Global Economy, Knowledge @ Wharton - 12/17/2025
• Breaking Down the College Football Playoff With Advanced Metrics, Knowledge @ Wharton - 12/17/2025
• Decoding the AI Bubble: Tulips, Dot-Coms, or Something Else?, Knowledge @ Wharton - 12/16/2025
• Can Reminders Help You Save More Money?, Knowledge @ Wharton - 12/15/2025
• How Banks Can Be Change Agents in Climate Consciousness, Knowledge @ Wharton - 12/15/2025
• Why Today’s AI Bubble May Fuel Tomorrow’s Economic Growth, Knowledge @ Wharton - 12/12/2025
• Best of 2025, Knowledge @ Wharton - 12/12/2025
• Understanding the True Costs Behind Credit Card Lending, Knowledge @ Wharton - 12/10/2025
• Best of 2025, Knowledge @ Wharton - 12/09/2025