Multinational Firms - Publications - Faculty & Research

09 May 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas, May 9

adoption of feed-in tariffs, subsidies, and tax credits in the 1980s. However the poor technological capabilities of U.S.-based firms meant that it was Danish and other foreign companies that benefitted most. Subsequently the combination... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2015 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Amazon.com, 2021

By: John R. Wells, Benjamin Weinstock, Gabriel Ellsworth and Galen Danskin

In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit 2), but not all... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Retail; E-commerce; Amazon; Internet; Amazon.com; AmazonFresh; Jeff Bezos; Cloud Computing; Marketplaces; Streaming; E-reader Market; Digital Media; Mobile App; Online Retail; Shipping; Database; Tablet; Kindle; Kindle Fire; Smartphone; Delivery; Digital Platforms; Competition; Internet and the Web; Corporate Strategy; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Profit; Revenue; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Taxation; Business History; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Books; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Practices and Processes; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Product Development; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Organizational Culture; Public Ownership; Work-Life Balance; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Integration; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Price; Applications and Software; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Working Capital; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; Advertising Industry; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Music Industry; Publishing Industry; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry; Video Game Industry; Web Services Industry; United States; Washington (state, US); Seattle

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30 May 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, May 30

diverse methodology to understand the relationships between firm boundaries, firm activities, and geographic borders. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52688 2017 Geography,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 17

in goods, services, investments, and ideas led by multinational firms. Extensive research has sought to understand the geographic patterns of foreign direct investment (FDI). This chapter reviews existing theories and evidence... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2014 (Revised February 2014)
Teaching Note

Rana Plaza: Workplace Safety In Bangladesh (A) and (B)

By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez

On April 24, 2013 the Rana Plaza factory building collapsed in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Over 1,100 people were killed in the worst industrial accident since the Union Carbide plant gas leak in Bhopal, India. Most of the victims worked for garment factories,... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Multinational Firms and Management; Labor Unions; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Working Conditions; Corporate Accountability; Crisis Management; Manufacturing Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Bangladesh

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06 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 6

with firm value and operating performance persisted. Read the paper: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1589731 Does Management Really Work? Authors: Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun, and John Van Reenen Publication:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 26

rates to those facing high tax rates. Evidence from the worldwide operations of U.S. multinational firms indicates that affiliates in low-tax jurisdictions use trade credit to lend, whereas those in high-tax... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2005 (Revised October 2022)
Case

The Octopus and the Generals: The United Fruit Company in Guatemala

By: Geoffrey Jones and Marcelo Bucheli

Examines the overthrow of President Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala in 1954 in a U.S.-backed coup in support of the United Fruit Co. Over the previous half century, United Fruit had built a large vertically integrated tropical fruit business that owned large banana... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Multinational Firms and Management; Policy; International Relations; Business History; Business and Government Relations; Central America; Guatemala; United States

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20 Mar 2012
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First Look: March 20

Market Governments—Qualitative Evidence from a Biotechnology Multinational Authors:Prithwiraj Choudhury, James Geraghty, and Tarun Khanna Publication:Global Strategy Journal 2, no. 1 (February 2012) Abstract We build on the emerging... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2013 (Revised October 2014)
Case

Novartis: Leading a Global Enterprise

By: William W. George, Krishna G. Palepu and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Novartis, the world's leading healthcare company, was formed in 1996 out of a merger of two very different, mid-tier Switzerland-based pharma companies. The case traces the company's evolution over the past 17 years, as it transformed into a truly global enterprise... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Talent and Talent Management; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Success; Globalized Markets and Industries; Management Teams; Change Management; Business History; Mergers and Acquisitions; Global Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry; Switzerland

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28 Oct 2014
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First Look: October 28

Designed around the course at Harvard Business School, Collis' new text takes the firm that operates across borders as a unit of analysis and the senior manager in a multinational as the typical decision... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

16 Sep 2014
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First Look: September 16

innovation performance such as firm productivity and profitability, (d) mergers, and (e) divestments as providing context or "shocks" to an activity system and their value as an empirical source of exogenous variation.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

The Lessons of Business History: A Handbook

firms globalize would only be much later formalized in the economic theory of the multinational enterprise, and it would take a further 20 years before the mainstream economics profession would identify... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

06 Jun 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: June 6, 2017

forthcoming American Economic Journal: Economic Policy Selection and Market Reallocation: Productivity Gains from Multinational Production By: Alfaro, Laura, and Maggie X. Chen Abstract—Assessing the productivity gains from View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Sep 2006
First Look

First Look: September 12, 2006

productivity externalities in the host country generated by foreign multinational companies. We propose a mechanism that emphasizes the role of local financial markets in enabling foreign direct investment (FDI) to promote growth through... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Oct 2021
Research & Ideas

What Companies Want Most in a CEO: A Good Listener

involvement in mergers and acquisitions. Larger firms were more likely to include social skills in their job-search requirements. Being a multinational corporation was associated with a 4.7 percentage point... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

23 Dec 2008
First Look

First Look: December 23, 2008

commitments for repayment. Research suggests that a common commitment mechanism is to borrow U.S. securities laws, which involves listing the emerging economy firm's shares on a U.S. exchange. This paper uses a quasi-natural experiment from Mexico to examine the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

War in Ukraine: Soaring Gas Prices and the Return of Stagflation?

multinational firms from IKEA to Netflix have curtailed or suspended operations in the country, and many airlines and shipping companies have severed links connecting people and goods, as western nations... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Energy

06 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

How South Africa Challenges Our Thinking on FDI

these conglomerates shed their non-core assets—which left them cash-rich. What resulted remained fairly concentrated industries, but the companies weren't necessarily the inefficient companies that had characterized the apartheid era. So South African View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

May 2020
Case

M-Lab: Enabling Innovation at Mitsubishi Corporation

By: Krishna Palepu and Allison M. Ciechanover

M-Lab’s founding goals were to infuse an innovation mindset into Mitsubishi Corporation; to catalyze new business opportunities; and to enable a dialogue between Japanese business and Silicon Valley. M-Lab housed representatives from each of Mitsubishi Corporation’s... View Details