Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(3,274)
- Faculty Publications (601)
- 2017
- Book
Profits and Sustainability: A History of Green Entrepreneurship
By: Geoffrey Jones
This book explores whether profits and environmental sustainability are compatible through the lens of a global history of green entrepreneurship between the nineteenth century and today. It tells the story of the extraordinary and often eccentric men and women who... View Details
Keywords: Environmental Entrepreneurship; Green Business; Sustainability; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Business History; Religion; Environmental Sustainability; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Banking Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Alternative Energy Industry; Financial Services Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Green Technology Industry; Tourism Industry; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; North and Central America; Oceania
- 2017
- Chapter
Entrepreneurship, Policy, and the Geography of Wind Energy
By: Geoffrey Jones
This study examines the geography of the global wind energy industry before 2000. Between 1980 and 2000, the global generating capacity of wind power grew from 13 megawatts to 17,400 megawatts, but two-thirds of that capacity was in Denmark, Germany, Spain, and the... View Details
- April 2017
- Case
Imprimis (A)
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karen Elterman and Marc Appel
This case examines the strategic choices and evolving business model of Imprimis Pharmaceuticals from the perspective of CEO Mark Baum. The (A) case provides a brief history of the company and of the compounding business, outlining the challenges faced by Imprimis in... View Details
- March 2017 (Revised February 2025)
- Case
Edwin Land: The Art and Science of Innovation
By: Tom Nicholas, Christopher T. Stanton and Matthew G. Preble
Throughout the second half of the 20th century, Polaroid first invented—and then continuously reinvented—the field of instant photography. Under the leadership of its mercurial founder Edwin Land, the company regularly released new instant cameras and films, often... View Details
Keywords: Instant Photography; Company History; Change Management; Disruption; Forecasting and Prediction; Entrepreneurship; Business History; Innovation Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Management; Intellectual Property; Patents; Product Marketing; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Product Development; Chemical Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States
- March 2017
- Case
A. Lange & Söhne
By: Stefan Thomke and Daniela Beyersdorfer
The case describes how A. Lange & Söhne became one of world's leading watch companies. Its obsession with quality and innovation were behind its initial rise in the 19th century and, after a 40-year involuntary hiatus under the East German regime, again at the end of... View Details
- 2017
- Working Paper
Explaining the Vertical-to-Horizontal Transition in the Computer Industry
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
- March 2017
- Case
Intellectual Ambition at Harvard Business School: Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger
By: Jan W. Rivkin and Amram Migdal
This case, set in the 1920s and 1930s, discusses the contributions of Harvard Business School (HBS) Professors Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger to management research and to the Human Relations Movement in management scholarship. The case focuses on their research... View Details
Keywords: Education; Business Education; Curriculum and Courses; Executive Education; Higher Education; Interdisciplinary Studies; Learning; History; Business History; Human Resources; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizations; Practice; Relationships; Groups and Teams; Labor and Management Relations; Rank and Position; Research; Social Psychology; Attitudes; Behavior; Emotions; Motivation and Incentives; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Status and Position; Trust; Society; Social Issues; Theory; Education Industry; United States; Massachusetts; Illinois
- March 2017 (Revised December 2019)
- Case
Boris Berezovsky, Vladimir Putin and the Russian Oligarchs
By: Geoffrey Jones, Rachael Comunale and Kate Lazaroff-Puck
This case examines the career of the Russian business oligarch Boris Berezovsky. Berezovsky was one of a small group of business tycoons that became fabulously rich after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, as the new Russian government, advised by prominent... View Details
- Article
Creating Ecotourism in Costa Rica, 1970–2000
By: Geoffrey Jones and Andrew Spadafora
Between the 1970s and the 2000s, Costa Rica became established as the world’s leading ecotourism destination. This article argues that although Costa Rica benefited from biodiversity and a pleasant climate, the country’s preeminence in ecotourism requires more than a... View Details
- 2017
- Chapter
Gapponshugi in Global Perspective: Debating the Responsibility of Capitalism
By: Geoffrey Jones
This chapter places the concepts of ethical capitalism developed by the 19th century Japanese venture capitalist Shibusawa Eiichi in a global historical perspective. The chapter reviews the similarities and differences over time and between countries of proponents of... View Details
- February 2017 (Revised May 2018)
- Case
The Flint, Michigan Sit-Down Strike
By: Tom Nicholas, Christopher T. Stanton and Matthew Preble
For roughly six weeks between late December 1936 and February 1937, a major strike at several critical General Motors (GM) plants in Flint, Michigan, essentially halted the corporation’s U.S. production and resulted in significant gains for the nascent United... View Details
Keywords: Industrial Unionism; Craft Unionism; Welfare Capitalism; General Motors; Labor; Labor Unions; Labor and Management Relations; Wages; Working Conditions; Government Legislation; Business History; Business and Government Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Business and Community Relations; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Mining Industry; Steel Industry; United States; Michigan
- Article
Understanding Boards of Directors: A Systems Perspective
By: Jay W. Lorsch
In this essay, my goal is to explore why, despite the tireless efforts of talented people, research on corporate governance has been slow and uneven, and where that research should turn to next to be most valuable to practitioners. My belief is that the most fruitful... View Details
- January 2017 (Revised May 2020)
- Case
Sesame Workshop (A): Bringing Big Bird Back to Health
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ryan Raffaelli and Jonathan Cohen
Sesame Workshop was transforming in 2016. CEO Jeff Dunn had reorganized and shifted the iconic institution to respond to digital disruption and a consensus culture. This case examines his efforts to turn Sesame Workshop around. It notes Sesame's storied history and the... View Details
- January 2017 (Revised January 2019)
- Case
The Rise and Fall of Lehman Brothers
By: Stuart C. Gilson, Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott
With nearly $700 billion in assets, Lehman was the largest U.S. bankruptcy in history. In 2007, Lehman achieved record earnings of over $4 billion on revenues of $60 billion. By September 2008 the fourth largest investment bank in the world was bankrupt. How had a... View Details
Keywords: Bankruptcy; Financial Distress; Accounting Policies; Business Ethics; Financial Reporting; Volatility; Judgments; Financial Crisis; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Liquidity; Investment Banking; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Disclosure; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Risk Management; Failure; Business and Government Relations; Ethics; Banking Industry; New York (city, NY)
- 2017
- Chapter
Globalization in Historical Perspective
By: Pankaj Ghemawat and Geoffrey Jones
This chapter explores the role that firms have played over time in promoting international trade and investment. It takes a chronological perspective and is organized around a first wave of globalization from the mid-nineteenth century until the 1920s and a second wave... View Details
- January 2017 (Revised January 2017)
- Case
Sesame Workshop: Bringing Big Bird Back to Health
By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Ryan Raffaelli and Jonathan Cohen
Sesame Workshop was transforming in 2016. CEO Jeff Dunn had reorganized and shifted the iconic institution to respond to digital disruption and a consensus culture. This case examines his efforts to turn Sesame Workshop around. It notes Sesame's storied history and the... View Details
- 2016
- Working Paper
Overcoming Institutional Voids: A Reputation-Based View of Long Run Survival
By: Cheng Gao, Tiona Zuzul, Geoffrey Jones and Tarun Khanna
Emerging markets are characterized by underdeveloped institutions and frequent environmental shifts. Yet they also contain many firms that have survived over generations. How are firms in weak institutional environments able to persist over time? Motivated by 69... View Details
- 2017
- Book
Managing Risk in Reinsurance: From City Fires to Global Warming
By: Niels Viggo Hauter and Geoffrey Jones
This is the first book to provide a comprehensive history of the reinsurance industry from the nineteenth century to the present day. Reinsurance developed at the fringe of financial services and, for most of its existence, was largely unnoticed outside the expert... View Details
- 2016
- Working Paper
Historical Change and the Competitive Advantage of Firms: Explicating the 'Dynamics' in the Dynamic Capabilities Framework
By: Geoffrey Jones and R. Daniel Wadhwani
This working paper aims to deepen the scholarly dialogue between strategy and history. It does so by examining how historical models of change can contribute to theory and research on the competitive advantage of firms during periods of rapid innovation. Focusing on... View Details
- December 2016
- Article
Impact Investing: A Brief History
By: Brian Trelstad
Over the last decade, impact investing has become an increasingly-discussed topic in the realms of both business and public policy. Impact investors are motived by a desire to advance social or environmental goals and an intuition that pursuing two goals at once -... View Details