Publications

April 2021 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Mahatma Gandhi: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Max Saffer

This case traces the rise of Mohandas Gandhi from his early days in British-controlled India to the inspirational martyr who, through personal deprivation and leadership, inspired millions and became the catalyst for India to break away from Britain. The case describes... View Details

Keywords: Mission And Purpose; Values And Beliefs; Personal Characteristics; Power And Influence; Diversity; Leadership Development; Work-life Balance; History; Leadership Style; Leading Change; India

2021
Working Paper

From Immigrants to Americans: Race and Assimilation During the Great Migration

By: Vasiliki Fouka, Soumyajit Mazumder and Marco Tabellini

How does the arrival of a new minority group affect the social acceptance and outcomes of existing minorities? We study this question in the context of the First Great Migration. Between 1915 and 1930, 1.5 million African Americans moved from the U.S. South to Northern... View Details

Keywords: Assimilation; Great Migration; Group Identity; Immigration; Race; History; United States

SSRN

Read Now

April 2008
Supplement

The Historical Development of the Harvard Business School (B)

By: Richard S. Tedlow

Keywords: Growth and Development; Higher Education; History; Education Industry

June 2021
Case

One Family Textiles: Stepping Back to Move Forward?

By: V.G. Narayanan, Alpana Thapar and Fares Khrais

This case explores how a family business builds a board that includes independent directors that helps to professionalize and strengthen governance in the company. The case relates to One Family Textiles, an Abu Dhabi-headquartered manufacturer of garments. The company... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Growth and Development Strategy; Operations; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business History; Decision Making; Accounting

Article

From Immigrants to Americans: Race and Assimilation During the Great Migration

By: Vasiliki Fouka, Soumyajit Mazumder and Marco Tabellini

How does the arrival of a new minority group affect the social acceptance and outcomes of existing minorities? We study this question in the context of the First Great Migration. Between 1915 and 1930, 1.5 million African Americans moved from the U.S. South to Northern... View Details

Keywords: Assimilation; Great Migration; Group Identity; Immigration; Race; History; United States

Find at Harvard

January 2013 (Revised March 2022)
Case

The Origins and Development of Silicon Valley

By: Tom Nicholas and James Lee

On October 1, 1891, as Senator Leland Stanford cut the ribbon at the ceremony gifting 8,000-acres of his Palo Alto, California, stock farm to a new, 559-student university bearing his name and seeking to produce "useful" in addition to "cultured" graduates, the... View Details

Keywords: Silicon Valley; History; Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; United States

01 Jun 2007
News

Up from the Ashes

mechanism, progressively raises the standard of life of the masses.” As James Tobin, one of Schumpeter’s best Harvard students and himself a Nobel laureate, later wrote, “I have always thought that Schumpeter’s ambition was to develop a theory of View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

2017
Working Paper

Explaining the Vertical-to-Horizontal Transition in the Computer Industry

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

This paper seeks to explain the technological forces that led to the rise of vertically integrated corporations in the late 19th century and the opposing forces that led to a vertical-to-horizontal transition in the computer industry 100 years later. I first model the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Design; Business History; Vertical Integration; Horizontal Integration; Digital Platforms; Computer Industry

Read Now

November 2007 (Revised February 2011)
Case

The Ice King

By: Tom Nicholas and Sandra Nicholas

Provides an opportunity to examine the risk-reward tradeoff and the travails of entrepreneurial venturing in the nascent U.S. economy. Traces the origins and development of Frederic Tudor's Ice Company, a business which developed during the 19th century to hack chunks... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Cost vs Benefits; Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Business History; Operations; Risk and Uncertainty; United States

August 2006 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Jamnalal Bajaj, Mahatma Gandhi, and the Struggle for Indian Independence

By: Geoffrey Jones, Prabakar 'PK' Kothandaraman and Kerry Herman

Describes the role of a leading Indian business leader in the campaign for independence before 1947 and his close relationship with the legendary Mahatma Gandhi. Provides the opportunity to consider the impact of colonialism on shaping Indian entrepreneurship and the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Government and Politics; Business History; Leadership; Business and Government Relations; Power and Influence; India

January 2004 (Revised August 2015)
Case

Weetman Pearson and the Mexican Oil Industry (B)

By: Geoffrey Jones and Lisa Bud-Freirman

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Business History; Entrepreneurship; Multinational Firms and Management; Business and Government Relations; Energy Industry; United Kingdom; Mexico; Arizona

spring 1990
Article

Contrived Competition: Airline Regulation and Deregulation, 1925-88

By: R. H.K. Vietor

Keywords: Competition; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business History; Air Transportation Industry

Find at Harvard

June 2010 (Revised January 2019)
Case

The Guggenheims and Chilean Nitrates

By: Geoffrey Jones and Felipe Tamega Fernandes

The case describes the growth of Guggenheim Brothers as one of the largest mining companies in the world in the early twentieth century. Global expansion led the firm to Chile, first in copper and later in natural nitrates. Chile's economic growth was driven by the... View Details

Keywords: History; Venture Capital; Business History; Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Foreign Direct Investment; Financial Crisis; Mining Industry; Chile

Throughout my life as a student, from elementary school to undergrad, I was fond of my history classes. I have always been fascinated by how past events shape our present. I read all of my history books in... View Details

Platform for Dialogue

My year at Harvard Business School as the Newcomen Fellow in Business History was transformative for my research, teaching, and outlook on scholarship for the twenty-first century. The fellowship not only provided me with unparalleled... View Details

Alumni WDYDWYD

Sarah Bucknell Treco

colleagues, fewer female role models, and no female mentors. When I started working with the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in 2005, I realized that similar career issues confronted women in the arts, in history and today. I... View Details

2010
Chapter

Business Groups in Historical Perspectives

By: Geoffrey Jones and Asli M. Colpan

Business groups-collections of legally independent firms interconnected by multiple economic and social linkages that exhibit widely diversified product portfolios-are viewed as the prototypical large-enterprise form in contemporary emerging economies. By exploring the... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Management Skills; Emerging Markets; Alliances; Groups and Teams; Competitive Advantage; Great Britain