Publications

SSRN

Research Summary

Markets of Progress: Coffee, Commerce, and Community in the Soconusco, Chiapas, 1867-1920

Markets of Progress presents a new holistic story of rural development in Mexico at the turn of the century. In the Soconusco, as in regions throughout the world, the accelerating circulation of commodities and capital, ideas and immigrants reshaped society... View Details

Keywords: Commodities; Coffee; Mexico; Foreign Investment; Institutions; Immigration; Developing Agriculture; Development; Export Crop; Emerging Market; Property Rights; Labor History; History; Capital Markets; Business History; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Latin America; Mexico; Central America

2022
Article

Climate Change Vulnerability and Currency Returns

By: Alex Cheema-Fox, George Serafeim and Hui (Stacie) Wang

Using measures of physical risk from climate change, we develop a methodology to allocate currency pairs according to a country’s vulnerability and construct portfolios with decreasing vulnerability to physical risk. We show that non-G10 currencies are more vulnerable... View Details

Keywords: Climate Finance; Vulnerabilities; Currencies; Foreign Exchange; Climate Change; Currency; Natural Disasters

2022
White Paper

Building from the Bottom Up: What Business Can Do to Strengthen the Bottom Line by Investing in Front-line Workers

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Manjari Raman

A significant number of American workers—44%—are employed in low wage jobs at the front line of industries. Despite undertaking some of the most tedious, dirtiest, and most dangerous jobs, low-wage workers are—and have long been—the most likely to be overlooked by... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Labor Market; Low-wage Workers; Worker Welfare; Churn/retention; Morale; Jobs and Positions; Employees; Wages; Retention; Well-being; Human Resources

July 2018 (Revised July 2018)
Teaching Note

Argentina Power—Don’t Cry for Me Argentina

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Sayiddah Fatima McCree

Teaching Note for HBS No. 218-041. This case concerns a complex potential energy infrastructure investment in Argentina by a global conglomerate shortly after Mauricio Macri (“Macri”) became President of Argentina in 2015. The central issues are (i) why was a country... View Details

Keywords: Argentina; Argentine Exceptionalism; Infrastructure Finance; Investing; Finance; Inflation and Deflation; Government and Politics; Energy Generation; Infrastructure; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry; Financial Services Industry; Argentina; South America

06 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

How South Africa Challenges Our Thinking on FDI

More than one decade after the fall of apartheid, and despite ambitious economic reforms by the ANC government, foreign direct investment flows into South Africa averaged... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Research Summary

Overview

My research aims to understand how prosperity is created in poor countries. My first “chapter” in this larger quest has focused on how rich-country actors have managed to be a force for change in poor-country economies. I have investigated the various attempts of... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Aid; Africa; Private Sector Development; Economic Development; Political Economy; Fragile States; Governance; Private Sector; Emerging Markets; Development Economics; Non-Governmental Organizations; Natural Disasters; Africa; Liberia

February 2016 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Mohamed Azab and Seha Capital

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Sarah McAra

In January 2011, Mohamed Azab, founder and CEO of health care investment firm Seha Capital, made his first health care investment in Hassab Labs, a diagnostic lab in Alexandria, Egypt. Weeks later, a revolution erupted across the country as the Arab Spring swept... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health; Pan-Africa; Health Care Investment; Financing; Developing World; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Investment; Financing and Loans; Developing Countries and Economies; Egypt; Africa

September 2017
Article

The Real Effects of Capital Controls: Firm-Level Evidence from a Policy Experiment

By: Laura Alfaro, Anusha Chari and Fabio Kanczuk

Emerging-market governments adopted capital control taxes to manage the massive surge in foreign capital inflows in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Theory suggests that the imposition of capital controls can drive up the cost of capital and curb... View Details

Keywords: Capital Controls; Discriminatory Taxation; International Investment Barriers; Exports; Debt; Cost of Capital; Taxation; Investment; Borrowing and Debt; Equity; Brazil

28 Jan 2008
Research & Ideas

Billions of Entrepreneurs in China and India

often provided in a top-down manner. The second difference is the nature and extent of openness to outside influence and foreigners. Foreign direct investment pours into China.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

April 2010
Case

Metabical: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting Recommendations for a New Weight Loss Drug

By: John A. Quelch and Heather Beckham

Metabical is a new weight loss drug from Cambridge Sciences Pharmaceuticals intended for moderately overweight individuals. In anticipation of final FDA approval, the senior director of marketing, Barbara Printup, prepares for the product launch and must make several... View Details

Keywords: Return On Investment; Forecasting; Pricing Policies; Demand Planning; Marketing Strategy; Price; Consumer Behavior; Investment Return; Forecasting and Prediction; Product Launch; Planning; Brands and Branding; Pharmaceutical Industry

September 2016 (Revised September 2016)
Case

The Tavistock Group and the Australian Agricultural Company

By: Dante Roscini and Matthew Preble

In late 2015, Dr. Shehan Dissanayake, a managing director and board member of Bahamian investment firm The Tavistock Group (Tavistock), the largest shareholder in the Australian Agricultural Company (AACo), one of the country's largest agribusinesses, faces a... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Foreign Direct Investment; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Business and Government Relations; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Australia; Bahamas

2010
Article

Has the Shift to Stronger Intellectual Property Rights Promoted Technology Transfer, FDI, and Industrial Development?

By: Lee Branstetter, C. Fritz Foley and Kamal Saggi

This article reviews recent research conducted by the authors that finds that intellectual property rights reform increases technology transfers, foreign direct investment inflows, and industrial development. It also places the findings of this work in the broader... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property; Rights; Information Technology; Body of Literature; Foreign Direct Investment; Industry Growth

July 2003
Background Note

Expropriation in International Business

By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Meghan Gallagher-Kernstine

Covers several important expropriation cases in international business from the 20th century and highlights the legal and political difficulties these companies faced. Serves to explain expropriation, to stress the vulnerability of foreign direct investments to... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Global Strategy; Government and Politics; Common Law; Risk Management; Property; Risk and Uncertainty

Article

Can India Overtake China?

By: Yasheng Huang and Tarun Khanna

What's the fastest route to economic development? Welcome foreign direct investment (FDI), says China, and most policy experts agree. But a comparison with long-time laggard India suggests that FDI is not the only path to prosperity. Indeed, India's homegrown... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Foreign Direct Investment; China; India

2009
Book

Merchants to Multinationals

By: G. Jones

Merchants to Multinationals examines the evolution of multinational trading companies from the eighteenth century to the present day. During the Industrial Revolution, British merchants established overseas branches which became major trade intermediaries and... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Foreign Direct Investment; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Alliances; Groups and Teams; Distribution Industry; Africa; Asia; Great Britain; Latin America

March 2003 (Revised November 2005)
Case

Botswana: A Diamond in the Rough

By: Laura Alfaro, Debora L. Spar, Faheen Allibhoy and Vinati Dev

In the years since independence, tiny, landlocked Botswana has gone from being one of the world's poorest nations to becoming a stable, prosperous state, blessed with the highest sustained growth rate in the world. This case highlights the role that foreign direct... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Economic Growth; Natural Environment; Developing Countries and Economies; Botswana

13 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 13, 2007

deployment of their technology abroad. The paper demonstrates that when firms want to exploit technologies abroad, multinational firm (MNC) activity and foreign direct View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 2001 (Revised June 2003)
Case

FDI in China

China is one of the most popular investment destinations in the world. Throughout much of the 1990s, China accounted for 50% of foreign direct investment (FDI) going into developing countries, and between 1994 and 1997, China was the second-largest recipient of FDI in... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Foreign Direct Investment; China