Publications

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2007
Working Paper

The Political Economy of 'Natural' Disasters

By: Charles Cohen and Eric D. Werker

Natural disasters occur in a political space. Although events beyond our control may trigger a disaster, the level of government preparedness and response greatly determines the extent of suffering incurred by the affected population. We use a political economy model... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Government and Politics; Strategic Planning; Mathematical Methods; Natural Disasters; Welfare or Wellbeing

December 2008
Article

The Political Economy of 'Natural' Disasters

By: Charles Cohen and Eric D. Werker

Natural disasters occur in a political space. Although events beyond our control may trigger a disaster, the level of government preparedness and response greatly determines the extent of suffering incurred by the affected population. We use a political economy model... View Details

Keywords: History; Demographics; Natural Disasters; Policy; Economy; Government and Politics

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Person Page

Course Development

By: Debora L. Spar

Managing International Trade and Investment

Despite the ease with which it is often conducted, doing business across borders is not the same as doing it at home. Rather, it entails a whole new set of managerial challenges: re-assessing competitive... View Details

Research Summary

Privatization, Regulatory Reform and Management Strategy

Alexander Dyck's research illustrates why privatization and deregulation often improve performance and factors that separate success from failure. A simplistic model of privatization and regulatory reform assumed that the shift from government to private sector... View Details

26 Nov 2012
News

“Indispensable: When Leaders Really Matter”

June 2007 (Revised September 2021)
Case

Thomas J. Watson, IBM and Nazi Germany

By: Geoffrey Jones, Grace Ballor and Adrian Brown

Considers the strategy of U.S.-owned IBM, then a manufacturer of punch cards, in Nazi Germany before 1937. Opens with IBM CEO Thomas J. Watson meeting Adolf Hitler in his capacity as President of the International Chamber of Commerce. IBM had acquired a German company... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Values and Beliefs; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Investment; Business and Government Relations; Germany; United States

Educators

2023
Working Paper

Data Governance, Interoperability and Standardization: Organizational Adaptation to Privacy Regulation

By: Sam (Ruiqing) Cao and Marco Iansiti

The increasing availability of data can afford dynamic competitive advantages among data-intensive corporations, but governance bottlenecks hinder data-driven value creation and increase regulatory risks. We analyze the role of two technological features of data... View Details

Keywords: Organizations; Information Technology; Performance Productivity; Growth and Development; Transformation

SSRN

James Riley is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches LEAD in the MBA required curriculum.

Professor Riley is an economic sociologist. He conducts ethnographic research to... View Details

Andy Zelleke

Andy Zelleke is the MBA Class of 1962 Senior Lecturer of Business Administration. A member of the General Management unit, he is the Faculty Chair of HBS’ Middle East & North Africa Research Center.

Since Spring 2021, Dr. Zelleke has taught “Unpacking... View Details

Keywords: federal government; federal government; federal government; federal government

April 2002 (Revised September 2002)
Background Note

Capital Controls

By: Rawi E. Abdelal and Laura Alfaro

Only in the waning years of the 20th century did international financial markets begin to enjoy the freedom from government regulation that they had experienced before the first world war. By 2002, international capital markets had grown to be enormous--$1.2 trillion... View Details

Keywords: History; Policy; Business and Government Relations; Change Management; Cost vs Benefits; Governance Controls; Governance Compliance; Emerging Markets; Financial Markets; Network Effects; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry

Educators

20 Apr 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate Misgovernance at the World Bank

Keywords: by Ashwin Kaja & Eric Werker

2016
Working Paper

What Factors Drive Director Perceptions of Their Board's Effectiveness?

By: Boris Groysberg, Paul M. Healy and Richard Ellis Crum

We use a survey of directors to collect data on their ratings of board effectiveness as well as board internal dynamics and key processes. Controlling for many of the governance metrics examined by prior research, we find that directors’ ratings of their boards’... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Corporate Governance; Performance Effectiveness; Perception; Risk Management

SSRN

Editorial

Zeroing Out on zero-COVID

By: William C. Kirby

China’s culture reveres science, yet operates under a government that often defines what “science” is and is not. China’s “zero-COVID” policy has created a bifurcated scientific community that threatens international collaboration in science and technology. A... View Details

Keywords: COVID; Scientific Community; World Health Organization; Pseudoscience; Governance; Government and Politics; Health; Research and Development; Social Media; China

2019
Report

Peer Review of the Danish Research & Innovation System: Ten Steps, and a Leap Forward: Taking Danish Innovation to the Next Level

By: Christian H.M. Ketels, Magareta Drzeniek Hanouz, Jackie Hunter, Stefan Kuhlmann, Tony Raven, Pieter Heringa, Uri Gabai, Göran Marklund and Christopher Palmberg

This report provides recommendations to the Danish government on improving the country's research and innovation system. It was prepared by a group of international peers under the umbrella of the European Commission's Horizon 2020 Policy Support Facility View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Entrepreneurial Ecosystems; Research And Development; Public Policy; Innovation and Invention; Research; Denmark

Dr. Austin holds the Eliot I. Snider and Family Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus at the Harvard Business School. Previously he held the John G. McLean Professorship and the Richard P. Chapman Professorship. He has been a member of the Harvard... View Details

Keywords: agribusiness

2020
Working Paper

HBS COVID-19 Global Policy Tracker

By: Alberto Cavallo and Tannya Cai

The HBS COVID-19 Global Policy Tracker is an initiative by the Business, Government and the International Economy (BGIE) unit at Harvard Business School (HBS) to collect and standardize economic policies implemented as a response to the coronavirus pandemic around the... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Economics; Policy; Health Pandemics; Government and Politics; Global Range

Sophus Reinert is T.J. Dermot Dunphy Professor of Business Administration and of History in the Business, Government, and the International Economy Unit at Harvard Business School and in the History Department and Harvard University. He has won numerous awards... View Details

Keywords: banking; defense; education industry; fashion; food; manufacturing; wine

June 1983 (Revised March 1985)
Supplement

EMI and the CT Scanner (B)

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Describes the development of the first CT Scanner by EMI, a company new to the medical industry, and EMI's entry into the U.S. market. The company's early success is threatened by the entry of a dozen competitors (some very large and experienced), by government... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Technological Innovation; Market Entry and Exit; Industry Structures; Product Development; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

November 2003 (Revised September 2021)
Case

Ivar Kreuger and the Swedish Match Empire

By: Geoffrey Jones and Ingrid Vargas

Taught in Evolution of Global Business. Globalization and corporate fraud are the central themes of this case on the international growth of Swedish Match in the interwar years. Between 1913 and 1932, Ivar Kreuger, known as the "Swedish Match King," built a small,... View Details

Keywords: History; International Finance; Globalized Firms and Management; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Monopoly; Business and Government Relations; Sweden

Educators