Publications

01 Apr 2024
In Practice

Navigating the Mood of Customers Weary of Price Hikes

volume) would fall in response to a price increase. Understanding broad trends in elasticities and underlying demand is critical for making companywide decisions about whether to change prices, or where on the premium-to-value spectrum to View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Retail; Consumer Products

March 2013
Case

Currency Wars

By: Laura Alfaro and Hilary White

In February 2013, the G-20 finance ministers met in Moscow, Russia to discuss the rising anxieties over a potential international currency war. It was speculated that certain countries were purposely devaluing their currencies in order to improve their competitiveness... View Details

Keywords: Currency; Competitiveness; Trade Policy; Devaluation; Exchange Rate; Monetary Policy; Quantitative Easing; Inflation Targeting; Capital Flows; Central Banking; Currency Exchange Rate; Competitive Strategy; Emerging Markets; Policy; Trade; Conflict and Resolution; Banking Industry; Public Administration Industry; Moscow

02 Jun 2020
Working Paper Summaries

HBS COVID-19 Global Policy Tracker

Keywords: by Alberto Cavallo and Tannya Cai; Health

March 2008 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Microsoft's Unlimited Potential (A)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

In April 2007, Bill Gates announced Microsoft Unlimited Potential. Its mission was to enable social and economic opportunity for the next five billion people. To deliver against this mission, Microsoft sought to focus its citizenship efforts and its product development... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Emerging Markets; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Growth and Development Strategy

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Research Summary

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS:

Corporate Restructuring and Governance in East Asia

Economic Development and Political Change in China: village elections, grassroots governance, and township finance and fiscal politics View Details

February 2008 (Revised July 2008)
Case

Wanxiang Group: A Chinese Company's Global Strategy

By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan, Keith Chi-ho Wong and Tracy Manty

With an almost forty-year history as a business in China, the Wanxiang Group has navigated through the significantly different political and economic changes in China to succeed as a global leader in the auto parts industry and to develop into a broad business... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Global Strategy; Business History; Growth and Development Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Hangzhou; United States

April 1998 (Revised March 1999)
Case

Chile: The Latin American Tiger?

Examines Chile's development strategy since 1973. Following a series of domestic economic reforms, the country must decide whether to join a regional trading block. Considers the advantages and disadvantages of regional trade agreements and examines the differences... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Developing Countries and Economies; Macroeconomics; Chile

February 1998 (Revised November 2002)
Case

Meadowlands

By: Arthur I Segel and William J. Poorvu

In February 1998, developers Ted Leonard and Charlie Sexton are attempting to acquire and develop a large multifamily site in Maryland, north of Washington, D.C. They are attempting to win financing and government approvals to develop a new kind of product for the... View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; Maryland

2010
Report

Vietnam Competitiveness Report 2010

By: Christian H.M. Ketels, Nguyen Dinh Cung, Nguyen Thi Tue Anh and Do Hong Hanh

The 2010 Vietnam Competitiveness Report contains a broad assessment of Vietnam's current competitiveness, an analysis of the key challenges and opportunities ahead, and a proposal for an economic strategy to enable Vietnam to reach a higher level of sustainable growth.... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Trade; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Labor; Industry Clusters; Performance Capacity; Performance Productivity; Competitive Strategy

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Spring 2013
Article

China's Quest to Adopt Electric Vehicles

By: Christopher Marquis, Hongyu Zhang and Lixuan Zhou

The Chinese government's effort to create an electric vehicle industry is a bold experiment in local and system-level innovation. It also provides a window into understanding the promise and peril of economic development policies, both for China and for the rest of the... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Development Economics; Emerging Markets; Green Technology Industry; Auto Industry; China

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April 1999 (Revised June 1999)
Case

1-800 Buy Ireland

By: Willis M. Emmons III, Adele S. Cooper and J. Richard Lenane

After decades of poor economic performance, the Irish government adopted major changes in economic policy in 1987. By the end of the 1990s, Ireland's real GDP growth rate of almost 10% per year exceeds that of all member nations of the European Union (EU). A key... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Development Economics; Supply and Industry; Policy; Foreign Direct Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Macroeconomics; Republic of Ireland

10 May 2015
Conference Presentation

Building a Competitive Jerusalem

By: Michael E. Porter and Christian H.M. Ketels

Jerusalem 2020 is a five-year growth plan for Jerusalem's economic development based on Professor Michael E. Porter's theory of competitive advantage. The plan was presented to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the goal of significant investment by the... View Details

Keywords: Israel; Economics; Israel

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29 Jun 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Infrastructure and Finance: Evidence from India's GQ Highway Network

Keywords: by Abhiman Das, Ejaz Ghani, Arti Grover, William R. Kerr, and Ramana Nanda

05 Jun 2009
Research Event

Business Summit: Niall Ferguson and the Certainty of Uncertainty

a major financial crisis, they should consider history when developing their strategies, plans, and models, and should keep in mind that outlier events occur. When such events do occur, the consequences are often immediate and... View Details

Keywords: Re: John A. Quelch

December 2014 (Revised July 2021)
Case

Discovery Limited

By: Michael E. Porter, Mark R. Kramer and Aldo Sesia

Discovery Ltd. is a South Africa-based insurance company. Started in the early 1990s, Discovery used behavioral economics and data collection to innovate in the health care insurance industry. Its founder Adrian Gore believed that the company's products needed to not... View Details

Keywords: Shared Value; Health Care; Financial Services; Strategy; Value Creation; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Health Industry; Insurance Industry; South Africa

March 2008 (Revised April 2009)
Case

The Xiamen PX Project: The Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today

This case examines the effect of environmental activism on China's investment climate, focusing on the petrochemical sector. It shows how tensions between a country's national economic development goals and political constraints make for a more unpredictable investment... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Conflict and Resolution; China

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01 Oct 2018
Book

Is the US Losing its Ability to Attract Highly Skilled Migrant Workers?

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Food & Beverage; Service

September 2003 (Revised May 2004)
Case

New Partnership for Africa's Development, The

By: Laura Alfaro, Debora L. Spar and Cate Reavis

In a world context of international institutions such as the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund and their interaction with developing countries, this case looks at an African development initiative to address its own problems: The New Economic... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Developing Countries and Economies; International Finance; Investment; Poverty; Africa