History By Inference - Publications - Faculty & Research

12 May 2021
Book

The Hard Truth About Being a CEO

subordinates, just by virtue of the hierarchy of organizations,” says Fubini, who led McKinsey’s Boston office for 10 years and also co-founded a global unit within the firm that aided mergers of some of the world’s top companies. To help... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

20 Sep 2017
Research & Ideas

The Three Types of Leaders Who Create Radical Change

changes that diverge from taken-for-granted norms. “Although history remembers some individual actors as highly influential, single leaders rarely change the course of society on their own.” The Agitator stirs the pot View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

01 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Encouraging Dissent in Decision-Making

which, after all, is at the heart of continuous improvement. Many observers note that one of the factors contributing to the preeminence of Toyota, arguably the world's most successful company, is its openness to learning, driven by... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

29 Nov 2017
Research & Ideas

How to Succeed in Business (According to a 15th Century Trade Merchant)

issue of responsibility to the community and who you are as a person.” Written in 1458 in Italy by trade merchant Benedetto Cotrugli, The Book of the Art of Trade recently received its first English translation. Baker Library at HBS and... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

10 Nov 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Crony Capitalism, American Style: What Are We Talking About Here?

Keywords: by Malcolm S. Salter

02 Sep 2002
Research & Ideas

The Role of Government When All Else Fails

to the following phase? Would you be able to predict what the fourth phase might be? A: One thing that I noticed in exploring the history of these risk management policies is that the basic goals policymakers were pursuing changed rather... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard

21 Aug 2000
Research & Ideas

Inside the OR: Disrupted Routines and New Technologies

technology. Much of the research to date on innovation has focused on factors in an organization—timing of adoption decisions, overall organizational support of innovation, and an organization's history of innovation—that are one step... View Details

Keywords: by Hilah Geer

25 Aug 2014
HBS Case

Starbucks Reinvented

Administration. "As a brand, leadership, and entrepreneurship scholar, I've been dogging Starbucks for a long time." On a 1995 trip to Seattle, Koehn visited a Starbucks store for the first time and was struck by what she saw... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Food & Beverage

08 Aug 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Entrepreneurship and Business History: Renewing the Research Agenda

Keywords: by Geoffrey G. Jones & R. Daniel Wadhwani

29 Mar 2022
Book

5 Qualities That Help Companies Thrive for Decades—Even Centuries

years. That’s a lot of war, natural disaster, and political turmoil to survive. The new book Leadership to Last: How Great Leaders Leave Legacies Behind looks at the ingredients of long-lasting businesses in South Asia, focusing specifically on companies in India.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

07 May 2007
Research & Ideas

Rediscovering Schumpeter: The Power of Capitalism

personality. Something of a dandy, Schumpeter (1883-1950) was a hit with women, adored by students, and both made and lost a fortune in a matter of years. He also once initiated a sword fight with a librarian—and won. McCraw, the Isidor... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Education

25 Jun 2012
Research & Ideas

Collaborating Across Cultures

a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, the idea was nixed on grounds that the treatment was too sympathetic toward the general, An Lushan, portrayed in Chinese history as a villain who ultimately betrayed the emperor. The script was... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

19 Oct 2022
Op-Ed

Cofounder Courtship: How to Find the Right Mate—for Your Startup

entrepreneurs I know who are looking for cofounders, yet many don’t appreciate that this is a similar courtship to mating and partnership. Many entrepreneurs believe they must have a cofounder, and some are pressured by investors to have... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

29 Sep 2017
Working Paper Summaries

International Business and Emerging Markets: A Long-Run Perspective

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones

21 Aug 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Traveling Agents: Political Change and Bureaucratic Turnover in India

Keywords: by Lakshmi Iyer & Anandi Mani

08 Sep 2008
HBS Case

The Value of Environmental Activists

There are many methods, most financial, to measure the success of companies in meeting goals. But the question becomes a lot harder at Harvard Business School when MBAs are challenged to measure the efforts of environmental organizations like Greenpeace and the World... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

27 Jan 2023
Op-Ed

Have We Lost Sight of Integrity?

the willingness to speak up, even when the truth paints you in a bad light. History has continually shown that a lack of integrity can lead to dire consequences. Not infrequently, entire organizations get caught up in their inability to... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

14 Mar 2023
In Practice

What Does the Failure of Silicon Valley Bank Say About the State of Finance?

single day, leaving the bank with a $1 billion negative balance, according to a regulatory filing by the company. While financial regulators have announced that the US will guarantee all deposits at SVB, its collapse has spooked customers... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Financial Services; Banking

07 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

Banning Big-box Stores Can Hurt Local Retailers

regulations by opening small stores instead. And while their giant superstores generally sit on the outskirts of a city, their smaller chain stores are often located downtown, creating more direct competition against the mom-and-pops.... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail

27 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

The Hidden Cost of a Product Recall

patients. “The extremely high profit margins in medical devices offers a setting in which the risks are often overwhelmed by the potential rewards to innovate, especially when competitors face their own product failures,” according to the... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Auto; Medical Devices & Supplies

Publications