Publications

January 2018 (Revised March 2019)
Teaching Note

Jumia Nigeria: from Retail to Marketplace (A) and (B)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

Founded in 2012, Jumia Nigeria, a startup effort by Germany-based Rocket Internet, aimed to become an African Amazon. The company entered the nascent market and immediately enjoyed an uptick in consumer spending fueled by the strength of Nigeria’s oil-based economy. By... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Marketplace; Inventory; Ecommerce; Funding; Business Ecosystems; Competition; Business Model; Globalization; Emerging Markets; Expansion; Logistics; E-commerce; Retail Industry; India; Nigeria; Africa

04 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

Shackleton: An Entrepreneur of Survival

turbulence. There's been change in the stock market; there's an uncertain economy that seems to be recovering—but we're not quite convinced that it's recovering, we're not sure it won't implode again. There's been turbulence in the world... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

28 Mar 2012
What Do You Think?

Are Factory Jobs Important to the Economy?

not necessarily more of those good "factory jobs" of the past. They may not have the desired results if the goal is to create more jobs. That's some of the wisdom from respondents to this month's column. Gary Higgins argues that the right kind of manufacturing drives... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Manufacturing

17 Jul 2023
Blog Post

Sustainability Career Advice from the Career & Professional Development Office

about energy storage or carbon dioxide removal? Or perhaps the circular economy or changing consumer behavior is better aligned with your interests. Get to know the space, get to know yourself, and enjoy the process of discovery. This... View Details

01 Dec 2023
News

Venturing Forth

Illustration by Adam McCauley Venture capital is a heady industry: Big bets mean big checks when the deals hit right. And for most of the last decade, those taking part in the funds were riding high: Capital was abundant, valuations were soaring, and the stock market... View Details

Keywords: Janelle Nanos; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles; Finance

05 Jun 2009
What Do You Think?

What Does Slower Economic Growth Really Mean?

economy without continued expansion." P. Maxson, assuming also that growth has limits, asked, "will we manage this change, or will we let ourselves be mauled by it?" A more basic question may be whether a stable View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Financial Services; Construction; Real Estate

29 May 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, May 29, 2018

for firms from industrialized economies and negative effects for firms in other emerging economies, which are less export-intensive and more import-intensive. Motivated by these facts, we build a dynamic model in which real depreciations... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

01 Sep 2023
News

Global Outposts Expand HBS’s Intellectual Footprint

Since taking over as CEO of Tata Steel in 2013, T. V. Narendran had sought to transform India’s oldest steel manufacturing firm to ready it for a rapidly evolving business world. He instilled financial discipline, acquired new businesses, and launched digital... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

Web

Our Curriculum - Business History

government in the country’s economy are investigated as well. In addition, the course examines the relation between capital market innovation and economic development and surveys the long-term impact of entrepreneurship, technological... View Details

2018
Book

Markets, Morals, Politics: Jealousy of Trade and the History of Political Thought

By: Béla Kapossy, Isaac Nakhimovsky, Sophus A. Reinert and Richard Whatmore

When Istvan Hont died in 2013, the world lost a giant of intellectual history. A leader of the Cambridge School of Political Thought, Hont argued passionately for a global-historical approach to political ideas. To better understand the development of liberalism, he... View Details

Keywords: Morals; Politics; Istvan Hont; Jealousy Of Trade; Enlightenment; Economic Nationalism; Markets; Moral Sensibility; Government and Politics; Trade; History

Article

Ignore June 30: Time is on the Side of a Better Iran Deal

By: James K. Sebenius

Prior to the "interim deal" reached in November 2013, Iranian nuclear negotiators could—and did—play for time while the regime rapidly added more centrifuges and increased production of enriched uranium. That is no longer the case. For the first time in years, the... View Details

Keywords: International Relations; Negotiation Tactics; Negotiation Deal; Iran; United States; Iran; United States

Read Now

November 2015 (Revised February 2016)
Case

Allianz Turkey: Focus on the Customer (A)

By: W. Earl Sasser and Gamze Yucaoglu

At the age of 39, Solmaz Altın took over the helm at Allianz Turkey. Solmaz quickly realized that, although the insurance market was thinly penetrated in Turkey, the company was operating in a very competitive environment with pressure on prices and, hence, cost... View Details

Keywords: Service Excellence; Customer Experience; Customer Service; Emerging Market; Customer Focus; Net Promoter Score; Customer Relationship Management; Competition; Leading Change; Service Operations; Emerging Markets; Customer Satisfaction; Insurance Industry; Turkey

Educators

The last two decades have witnessed an extraordinary growth of new models of managing and organizing the innovation process that emphasizes users over producers. Large parts of the knowledge economy now routinely rely on users, communities, and open innovation... View Details

09 Jan 2020
Book

Rethinking Business Strategy in the Age of AI

is going to feel it in some way. It’s changed the shopping experience. We don’t interact with humans anymore. Shopping malls are empty because we’re all shopping online. So what will happen to the overall jobs economy? Will this shrink the number of jobs or not? So... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Research Summary

The State of Small Business Lending: Innovation and Technology and the Implications for Regulation

By: Karen Mills

Small businesses were among the hardest hit in the Great Recession, accounting for more than 60% of the total jobs lost. The economic crisis was one focused on the banking sector, which is one reason for the disproportionately high impact on America’s small businesses,... View Details

2018
Introduction

Introduction

By: Sophus A. Reinert

BOOK ABSTRACT: When Istvan Hont died in 2013, the world lost a giant of intellectual history. A leader of the Cambridge School of Political Thought, Hont argued passionately for a global-historical approach to political ideas. To better understand the development of... View Details

Keywords: Markets; Moral Sensibility; Government and Politics; Trade; History

2018
Chapter

Britain: Global Legacy and Domestic Persistence

By: Geoffrey Jones

This chapter explores the British experience in a volume which examines the historical evolution of business groups in developed Western economies. The chapter argues that during the nineteenth century British merchant houses established business groups with... View Details

Keywords: Business Groups; Conglomerates; Globalization; Entrepreneurship; Business History; Organizations; Business Conglomerates; United Kingdom

March 2012
Article

Fixing What's Wrong with U. S. Politics

By: David A. Moss

In America today there's a growing sense that the political system is broken and that its ineffectiveness is a major threat to U.S. competitiveness. Why do so many think the political system is not working? Research shows that in Congress, Republicans and Democrats are... View Details

Keywords: Government and Politics; System; Conflict Management; Performance Productivity; Policy; Public Administration Industry; United States