Publications

Educators

Awards

Newcomen-Harvard Book Award

Winner of the Newcomen-Harvard Award for the most outstanding book published in business history in the United States 1998–2000 for Merchants to Multinationals (Oxford University Press, 2000). View Details

Teaching Interest

Overview

I currently teach the history of global entrepreneurship over the last 200 years. The 28-session course called Entrepreneurship and Global Capitalism has become one of the most popular second year electives in the MBA program at the Harvard Business School. The cases,... View Details

July 2005 (Revised April 2007)
Teaching Note

Brazil at the Wheel (TN)

Teaching Note to (9-804-080). View Details

Keywords: Brazil

July 2005
Teaching Note

Multinational Corporations in Apartheid-Era South Africa: The Issue of Reparations (TN)

Teaching Note to (9-804-027). View Details

Keywords: Lawsuits and Litigation; Globalized Firms and Management; South Africa

July 2005 (Revised August 2007)
Teaching Note

Making China Beautiful: Shiseido and the China Market (TN)

Teaching Note to (9-805-003). View Details

Keywords: China

Research Summary

Evolution of the Global Beauty Industry

This research examines the global beauty industry, which includes cosmetics, deodorants, fragrances, hair care, oral hygiene and skin care. Today global sales of cosmetics and toiletries are in excess of U.S. $380 billion. This research examines the growth of this... View Details

July 2005
Teaching Note

Globalizing Consumer Durables: Singer Sewing Machine before 1914 (TN)

Teaching Note to (9-804-001). View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Investment; Sales; Entrepreneurship; Success; Production; Marketing; Manufacturing Industry; United States; Russia; Scotland

January 2003 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Multinationals as Engines of Growth?

Reviews the issues surrounding estimating the impact over time of multinationals on host economies. Uses a series of short historical case studies, including the role of United Fruit in the "banana" republics of Central America, oil and banking in Iran before the... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Multinational Firms and Management; Trade; Growth and Development; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Globalized Economies and Regions; Iran; United States; Malaysia; Japan

Find at Harvard

01 Mar 2008
News

Faculty Books

Entrepreneurship and Global Capitalism edited by Geoffrey Jones and R. Daniel Wadhwani (Edward Elgar Inc.) This selection of articles includes historical research on the role of entrepreneurship in creating... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

01 Jun 2008
News

Faculty Books

The Oxford Handbook of Business History edited by Geoffrey Jones and Jonathan Zeitlin (Oxford University Press) This handbook surveys research in business history, a broad area of study generating empirical... View Details

Keywords: Educational Services; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information; Management

28 May 2014
Research & Ideas

Building Histories of Emerging Economies One Interview at a Time

Professor Geoffrey Jones, faculty chair of the Business History Initiative, and Chilean shipping entrepreneur Sven von Appen (HBS AMP 76). "I was talking to Sven about the role of history at HBS," Jones... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

Research Summary

A History of Green Entrepreneurship

This research recovers the history of the entrepreneurs and firms who developed green or “sustainable” businesses, identifies the multiple motivations behind their strategies, explores the clustering of green business in specific locations, and shows how the concept of... View Details

Web

Courses by Faculty Unit - Course Catalog

and Entrepreneurial Management) Geoffrey Jones Fall 2025 Q1Q2 3.0 Global Climate Change (also listed under Strategy) Gunnar Trumbull Fall 2025 Q1Q2 3.0 Globalization and Emerging Markets Reshmaan Hussam... View Details

22 Apr 2013
Research & Ideas

Earth Day: Recent Research on Sustainability

lie in research by Robert G. Eccles, Ioannis Ioannou, Shelley Xin Li, and George Serafeim. Power from Sunshine: A Business History of Solar EnergyThis paper by Geoffrey Jones and Loubna Bouamane provides a... View Details

2023
Working Paper

El Dorado Lost: Local Elites, Real Estate and the Education Business in China

By: Geoffrey Jones and Yuhai Wu

This working paper examines the evolving, complex and multifaceted relationship between the real estate industry and the education sector in China. The current crises in the private education and real estate sectors caused by policy shifts reflect the inter-meshing of... View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Policy; Government and Politics; Economic Sectors; Education Industry; Real Estate Industry; China

SSRN

Read Now

January 2022
Teaching Plan

Elia Nuqul and the Making of a Middle Eastern Business Group (A)

By: Geoffrey Jones and Mona Rahmani

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 813-052. View Details

July 2021 (Revised October 2023)
Case

K.C. Li: The Tungsten King

By: Geoffrey Jones and Casey Verkamp

This case examines the business career of Kuo-Ching Li, who was born in China in 1892, and built a successful minerals trading business called Wah Chang in the United States during the interwar years. He acquired a prominent role in tungsten, the strongest natural... View Details

Keywords: Immigration Acts; Racial Bias; Globalization; Government and Politics; Business History; Entrepreneurship; Business and Government Relations; Mining Industry; China; United States; Latin America

Educators