Publications

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General Merchants to Commodities Brokers | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

from general merchandisers to cotton commodity brokers, they opened an office in New York in 1858, the center of the commodities trading business. The firm served as brokers... View Details

11 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Merchants to Multinationals: British Trading Companies in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Geoffrey Jones A second major influence on the diversification strategies of the trading companies was the boom in commodity prices. Industrialization in Europe and the United States stimulated a worldwide... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones

December 2018
Case

Soybean Production in Argentina: The Duhau Group

By: José B. Alvarez and Mariana Cal

Crop-planning was affected by macroeconomic factors including international disputes, commodity prices, local tax, and agricultural policies, etc. Enrique and Alejandro Duhau, co-owners of the Duhau Group, analyzed these factors, as well as technical and financial... View Details

Keywords: Trade Negotiations; Soybeans; Production; Trading; Agribusiness; Decision Making; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Economics; Macroeconomics; Goods and Commodities; Government and Politics; International Relations; Trade; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; South America; Argentina

January 2016
Case

COFCO

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

In 2015, COFCO, China's state-owned agribusiness giant, was working to protect China's food security (a key national security priority) by extending its control of the global food system through overseas acquisitions. At the same time, COFCO sought to grow its market... View Details

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Bibliography - A Chronicle of the China Trade

of the China Trade Introduction Doing Business with China Augustine Heard & Co. The Canton Trade Commodities & Currencies Treaty Ports & Compradors Clippers & Steamships... View Details

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Manuscript Collections - A Chronicle of the China Trade

of the China Trade Introduction Doing Business with China Augustine Heard & Co. The Canton Trade Commodities & Currencies Treaty Ports & Compradors Clippers & Steamships... View Details

September 2014
Article

Colonial Institutions, Trade Stocks, and the Diffusion of Elementary Education in Brazil, 1889–1930

By: Aldo Musacchio, Andre C. Martinez Fritscher and Martina Viarengo

We show how the decentralization of fiscal responsibility among Brazilian states between 1889 and 1930 promoted an unequal expansion of public schooling. We document how the variation in state export tax revenues, product of commodity booms, explains improvements in... View Details

Keywords: Institutions; Economic History; Education; Development Economics; Policy; Brazil

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Related Collections - A Chronicle of the China Trade

of the China Trade Introduction Doing Business with China Augustine Heard & Co. The Canton Trade Commodities & Currencies Treaty Ports & Compradors Clippers & Steamships... View Details

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Site Credits - A Chronicle of the China Trade

of the China Trade Introduction Doing Business with China Augustine Heard & Co. The Canton Trade Commodities & Currencies Treaty Ports & Compradors Clippers & Steamships... View Details

January 2013 (Revised April 2017)
Supplement

Maxum Petroleum, Inc.

By: W. Carl Kester

Maxum seeks an oil-price hedging strategy that yields substantial cash during oil price spikes, is affordable under ordinary circumstances, and is easily managed. It is striving to avoid a repeat of the challenging situation encountered in 2008 when spiking oil prices... View Details

Keywords: Hedging; Options; Commodities; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Risk Management; Futures and Commodity Futures; Financial Strategy; Volatility

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Speeding Up the Trade: Clippers and Steamships - A Chronicle of the China Trade

of the China Trade Introduction Doing Business with China Augustine Heard & Co. The Canton Trade Commodities & Currencies Treaty Ports & Compradors Clippers & Steamships... View Details

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Chinese Competition and Emerging Technologies - A Chronicle of the China Trade

of the China Trade Introduction Doing Business with China Augustine Heard & Co. The Canton Trade Commodities & Currencies Treaty Ports & Compradors Clippers & Steamships... View Details

Web

After the Opium War: Treaty Ports and Compradors - A Chronicle of the China Trade

of the China Trade Introduction Doing Business with China Augustine Heard & Co. The Canton Trade Commodities & Currencies Treaty Ports & Compradors Clippers & Steamships... View Details

Web

Augustine Heard & Co.: Building a Family Business - A Chronicle of the China Trade

of the China Trade Introduction Doing Business with China Augustine Heard & Co. The Canton Trade Commodities & Currencies Treaty Ports & Compradors Clippers & Steamships... View Details

Web

Expatriate Traders in the Treaty Port Communities - A Chronicle of the China Trade

of the China Trade Introduction Doing Business with China Augustine Heard & Co. The Canton Trade Commodities & Currencies Treaty Ports & Compradors Clippers & Steamships... View Details

2015
Working Paper

Moving to the Adjacent Possible: Discovering Paths for Export Diversification in Rwanda

By: Ricardo Hausmann and Jasmina Chauvin

How can Rwanda, which currently has one of the lowest levels of income and exports per capita in the world, grow and diversify its economy in presence of significant constraints? We analyze Rwanda's historical growth and trade performance and find that Rwanda's high... View Details

Keywords: Export Diversification; Industrialization; Economic Complexity; International Trade; Rwanda; Diversification; Trade; Transportation; Developing Countries and Economies; Rwanda

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December 2015 (Revised February 2017)
Case

BRF

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

In 2015, BRF's new leadership team is transforming several aspects of the Brazilian protein giant, which had grown sluggish after the 2011 merger that created it. Underlying their reforms are the common goals of reducing bureaucracy, streamlining decision making, and,... View Details