Publications

2020
Article

Inconvenient Truths: Interpreting the Origins of the Internet

By: Shane Greenstein

A conventional economic narrative provides intellectual underpinnings for governments to subsidize research and development ("R&D") that coordinates risky research to benefit many in society. This essay compares this narrative with the origins and invention of the... View Details

Keywords: Lead Users; Technology Transfer; Internet and the Web; History; Analysis; Research and Development; Governance; Information Technology; Policy

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August 2010 (Revised September 2010)
Case

Paul Bremer at the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq

By: Robert Steven Kaplan and Nicholas Henri Taranto

Since becoming the President's envoy responsible for post-war Iraq, Paul Bremer endured many sleepless nights, struggling with the decision of how to hand over sovereignty to the Iraqi people. Despite daily assassination attempts, tribal warfare, growing violence, and... View Details

Keywords: Government Administration; International Relations; National Security; Leadership; Crisis Management; Iraq; District of Columbia

03 Sep 2017
News

America's Superstar Companies Are a Drag on Growth

The Academy of Fisticuffs

The terms “capitalism” and “socialism” continue to haunt our political and economic imaginations, but we rarely consider their interconnected early history. Even the eighteenth century had its “socialists,” but unlike those of the nineteenth, they paradoxically... View Details

21 Sep 2009
Research & Ideas

Excessive Executive Pay: What’s the Solution?

was no less emphatic. "This is an unprecedented preemption of state corporate law that will turn boards of more than 15,000 publicly traded companies into political bodies and threaten their ability to... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson

26 Jul 2013
News

Is Tribalism Inevitable?

26 Mar 2009
Working Paper Summaries

The Bloody Millennium: Internal Conflict in South Asia

Keywords: by Lakshmi Iyer

05 Mar 2007
Research & Ideas

Risky Business? Protecting Foreign Investments

to gain much traction and proposes measures that will better protect the rights of property owners. We asked Wells to discuss his research and experiences representing host View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Energy; Utilities

February 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Case

Doing Business in São Paulo, Brazil

By: Hise O. Gibson, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Ruth Costas and Pedro Levindo

The case uses the example of a large investment made by French retail group Carrefour in Brazil to discuss the opportunities and challenges of doing business in the country. It gives readers an overview of Brazil’s economic transformation since its colonial years until... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Development Economics; Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Economic Sectors; Economy; Macroeconomics; Business History; Brazil; Latin America

September 2012 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Doing Business in India

By: Andy Zelleke, Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Saloni Chaturvedi

The case is set in August 2012—a time when India was undergoing policy stasis as several key reforms were stalled and the government faced allegations of misallocation of coal production licenses. The first part of the case provides a brief background on India's... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Market Finance; Emergent Countries; Business History; Economic History; Fieldwork; Emerging Markets; Business Ventures; Strategy

Article

Fixing What Really Ails Japan

By: Michael E. Porter and Hirotaka Takeuchi

Conventional wisdom claims that Japan’s “economic miracle” stemmed from its unique model of government guidance and its revolutionary corporate management techniques. An in-depth study proves this seriously wrong. Rampant government intervention has caused more... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Competition; Innovation and Invention; Business and Government Relations; Japan

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March 2022 (Revised February 2024)
Case

El Salvador: Launching Bitcoin as Legal Tender

By: Laura Alfaro, Carla Larangeira and Ruth Costas

In June 2021, Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s president, surprised the world with the announcement that the country would adopt bitcoin as legal tender, becoming the first nation to do so. Bitcoin was mostly used for trading and had one of the most volatile track records... View Details

Keywords: Bitcoin; Cryptocurrency; Currency; Financial Strategy; Economic Growth; Governance; Macroeconomics; Assets; Latin America; El Salvador

November 1997
Case

Herbert Hoover (B)

By: Louis T. Wells Jr.

Presents a character sketch of Herbert Hoover, along with Hoover's views on the cause of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Illustrates the political economy of the period and presents different interpretations of the course of the Great Depression. A rewritten version... View Details

Keywords: Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Financial Crisis; Government and Politics; Personal Characteristics

January 2006
Book Review

Review of "Icarus in the Boardroom: The Fundamental Flaws in Corporate America and Where They Came From" by David Skeel. Oxford University Press, 2005

By: A. Zelleke

Keywords: Information; Governance; Business Ventures

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April 1997 (Revised February 2001)
Case

Mexico in Debt

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Eilene Zimmerman

Describes Mexico's political and economic system in the 1960s and 1970s. Focuses on: 1) the causes of the debt crisis in 1982; 2) elements of President de la Madrid's restructuring efforts between 1982-88; President Salinas's attempts to complete restructuring and... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Economic Systems; Financial Crisis; Inflation and Deflation; Macroeconomics; Borrowing and Debt; Government and Politics; Mexico

September 2020
Case

Jan Swartz: Steering Princess Cruises Through the COVID-19 Crisis

By: Boris Groysberg and Michael Norris

In the summer of 2020, Jan Swartz, President of Princess Cruises, was persevering to lead her company back from the depths of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Diamond Princess, one of Princess Cruises’ 18 ships was the site of one of the earliest large outbreaks of COVID-19... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; COVID-19; Leading Change; Crisis Management; Ship Transportation; Health Pandemics; Human Resources; Business Strategy; Gender; Personal Development and Career; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Japan; United States

Keywords: Finance

March 2011
Module Note

Varieties of Capitalism

By: J. Gunnar Trumbull

This module, part of the second year HBS course MITI, introduces a political economy approach to analyzing national economic strategies, with a primary focus on German economic policy. View Details

Keywords: Economy; Markets; Curriculum and Courses; Policy; Competitive Advantage; Goals and Objectives; Geographic Location; Strategy; Germany

April 19, 2023
Editorial

Extreme Views Are More Attractive Than Moderate Ones

By: Amit Goldenberg

Do you ever feel like everyone on social media has a more extreme viewpoint than your own? We often blame social media companies for the cacophony of politically extreme opinions around us. After all, these companies are generally motivated to promote the most... View Details

Keywords: Social Media; Networks