Publications

Article

The Rise of Synthetic Colors in the American Food Industry, 1870–1940

By: Ai Hisano

This article examines how, starting in the 1870s, food manufacturers in the United States began to use standardized color, achieved by synthetic dyes, as part of their marketing strategies. The emergence of the synthetic dye industry paralleled the growth of mass... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Food; Health; Brands and Branding; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

09 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

How Business Leaders Can Strengthen American Schools

its human capital," says Rivkin. "So if we're really falling down in that arena, we have an economic problem so important that business leaders can't sit on the sidelines." On the positive side, this could be a promising moment for View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education

April 2013 (Revised June 2016)
Case

AIG and the American Taxpayers (A)

By: Karthik Ramanna and Matthew Shaffer

Explores the decision faced by AIG's board on whether to join shareholder and ex-CEO Maurice Greenberg's lawsuit against the U.S. government. The suit, argued by super-lawyer David Boies (of Bush v. Gore and California Gay Marriage fame), claims that in September 2008... View Details

Keywords: Property Rights; Financial Institutions; Financial Markets; Financial Crisis; Property; Insurance Industry; United States

2010
Book

The American Bourgeoisie: Distinction and Identity in the Nineteenth Century

By: Julia Rosenbaum and Sven Beckert

What precisely constitutes an American bourgeoisie? Scholars have grappled with the question for a long time. Economic positions—the ownership of capital, for instance—most obviously defines this group. Control of resources cannot explain, however, the emergence of... View Details

Keywords: Literacy; Income; Identity; Culture; Economics; United States

August 2005 (Revised March 2024)
Background Note

Spotting Institutional Voids in Emerging Markets

By: Tarun Khanna and Krishna Palepu

With the demise of communism, many countries in the world are striving to build their economic activity around markets and to participate in free trade arrangements, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), European Union (EU), and North American Free Trade... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets

January 2002
Case

DeRemate.com: Building a Latin American Internet Auction Site

Analyzes the strategic decision-making process in terms of market forces and short-term growth for an online trading community site in Latin America. A major competitor to E-bay, DeRemate.com is contemplating expansion throughout Latin America. View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Competition; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Auctions; Latin America

17 Jan 2008
Research & Ideas

If Marketing Experts Ran Elections

Editor's Note: Harvard Business School professor John Quelch writes a blog on marketing issues, called Marketing Know: How, for Harvard Business Online. It is reprinted on HBS Working Knowledge.For all the... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch

March 2008
Article

Market Reactions to Export Subsidies

By: M. A. Desai and James R. Hines Jr.

This paper analyzes the economic impact of export subsidies by investigating stock price reactions to a critical event in 1997. On November 18, 1997, the European Union announced its intention to file a complaint before the World Trade Organization (WTO), arguing that... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Trade; Development Economics; Financial Markets; Profit; Taxation; Volume; Value Creation; Market Design; Business Subsidiaries; Utilities Industry; Financial Services Industry; Europe; North and Central America

SSRN

June 2019
Case

The National Museum of African American History and Culture and Lonnie Bunch

By: Steven Rogers and Derrick Jackson

Lonnie Bunch creates the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) with only half the federal support given to the first 17 Smithsonian historical or zoological institutions. Bunch, to borrow from the African American experience of creating “a... View Details

Keywords: Museums; Fundraising; Arts; Buildings and Facilities; Ethnicity; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Strategy; Marketing; Success; Leadership; Entrepreneurship

April 1993 (Revised December 1994)
Case

Lehman Brothers and the Securitization of American Express Charge-Card Receivables

By: Andre F. Perold and Kuljot Singh

In early 1992, Lehman Brothers had received a mandate from its affiliate, American Express Travel Related Services (TRS) Co., to securitize a portion of its consumer charge-card receivables portfolio. It is now July 22, and Lehman and TRS have just returned from a... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Credit Cards; Financial Instruments; Stocks; Asset Pricing

2022
Working Paper

Multinationals and Varieties of Capitalism: When U.S. Giants Stepped into the Swiss Coordinated Labor Market in the 1950s

By: Sabine Pitteloud

This working paper investigates unintended consequences of U.S. FDI in Switzerland in the 1950s-1960s: the increased competition that U.S. firms generated within the national labor market and the challenge their hiring practices constituted for the institutional... View Details

Keywords: Multinationals; Capitalism; Business ＆ Government Relations; Foreign Direct Investment; Immigration Policy; History; Switzerland; Americanization; R＆D; Labor History; Labor Market Institutions; Tax Havens; ＂USA,＂; Business Interest Association; Lobbying; Labor and Management Relations; Business History; Multinational Firms and Management

SSRN

Read Now

25 Oct 2010
HBS Case

Tesco’s Stumble into the US Market

hours. Do you have advice for companies about revisiting original assumptions? Do companies new to the American market have to do this reassessment more frequently or look for different things? A: Tesco has... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

08 Mar 2017
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Can the Proposed American Health Care Act Improve on 'Obamacare'?

Yesterday, President Donald Trump endorsed the American Health Care Act (AHCA), a plan proposed by Republican United States lawmakers to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), more commonly known as “Obamacare.” Democrats rallied against... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch, Dr. Gordon Moore, and Emily Boudreau

12 Nov 2008
Research & Ideas

The Marketing of a President

Editor's Note: Harvard Business School professor John Quelch writes a blog on marketing issues, called Marketing Know: How, for Harvard Business Online. It is reprinted on HBS Working Knowledge. When the... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

December 2005 (Revised March 2010)
Case

William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia

By: Nitin Nohria, Anthony Mayo and Mark Benson

Demand for low-cost housing after World War II far exceeded supply. Was this a profitable new market? New York developer William Levitt had to decide. During World War II, Levitt was eager to build basic housing for the working class—otherwise, Levitt & Sons would have... View Details

Keywords: Demographics; Construction; Business History; Housing; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Business and Government Relations; Construction Industry; Real Estate Industry; United States; New York (state, US)

March 2014 (Revised January 2017)
Case

From Beijing Jeep to ASC Fine Wines: The Story of an American Family Business in China

By: William C. Kirby and Erica M. Zendell

In 1985, Don St. Pierre Sr. became President of Beijing Jeep, the troubled joint venture between American Motor Corporation and the Chinese government to build Jeep Cherokees in China. Just over a decade later in 1996, leveraging contacts from his time in the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship In Emerging Markets; China; Joint Ventures; Wine Industry; International Entrepreneurship; International Business; Exports; Chinese Manufacturing; Business And Government Relations; Ownership Stake; Strategy; Operations; Auto Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; China