History By Inference - Publications - Faculty & Research

04 Aug 2011
What Do You Think?

How Dangerous Is Common Sense to Managers?

Summing Up Does Common Sense Impede Change? Common sense is the decision-maker's friend when the decision has to be made rapidly, with a minimum of research or formal theory, with no more than moderate risk or consequences, and by... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

12 Jul 2020
Book

The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2020

features racial violence and the quest for justice in the South. I also recommend Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and the Decline of the American Dream by Nicholas Lemann, which provides insight into how American capitalism got into... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

15 Nov 2022
Op-Ed

Why TikTok Is Beating YouTube for Eyeball Time (It’s Not Just the Dance Videos)

solution was to track audiences, use information about their browsing choices, and infer their interests. But tracking was challenged by privacy policies, as Google proposed restriction on the use of... View Details

Keywords: by John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

08 Sep 2009
Research & Ideas

The Height Tax, and Other New Ways to Think about Taxation

me the key to explaining the disconnect between theory and intuition starts with the particular goal for tax policy assumed in the standard framework. As I said earlier, that goal is to minimize the total sacrifice borne by those who pay... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

07 Aug 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Debating the Responsibility of Capitalism in Historical and Global Perspective

Keywords: by Geoffrey G. Jones

22 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

The Silo Lives! Analyzing Coordination and Communication in Multiunit Companies

paper, "Communication (and Coordination?) in a Modern, Complex Organization," written by Harvard Business School postdoctoral fellow Adam M. Kleinbaum, and professors Toby E. Stuart and Michael L. Tushman. In an unnamed company with over... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

December 2014 (Revised March 2018)
Case

John D. Rockefeller: The Richest Man in the World

By: Tom Nicholas and Vasiliki Fouka

By the late nineteenth century scale and managerial hierarchies had extended to several major industrial sectors of the U.S. economy. Although the precise mechanisms often varied, this process mainly involved horizontal integration, some form of legal or administrative... View Details

Keywords: Horizontal Integration; Wealth; Business History; Vertical Integration; Consolidation; Personal Development and Career; Energy Industry; United States

Citation

Educators

Purchase

12 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurship and Multinationals Drive Globalization

In a new book on the origins and impacts of globalization, Harvard Business School's Geoffrey Jones focuses on the role played by a vital but often ignored actor in this conversation: business entrepreneurs and the multinational... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Pharmaceutical

12 Mar 2007
Research & Ideas

The New Real Estate

relative to all asset classes have been enormous. Let's take a moment on this last point, high returns relative to other investments. The public real estate markets as recorded by the Dow Jones Wilshire Real Estate Securities index for... View Details

Keywords: by Arthur I. Segel; Construction; Real Estate

14 Dec 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Regulating for Legitimacy: Consumer Credit Access in France and America

Keywords: by Gunnar Trumbull

23 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

China’s 60-Year Road from Revolution to World Power

simply not sustainable today if we take seriously any of the solid economic history done by historians in China or the West in recent decades. Rather, we have a picture of sustained, reasonably high economic... View Details

Keywords: by William C. Kirby

27 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

The Dynamics of Standing Still: Firestone Tire & Rubber and the Radial Revolution

In the decades prior to the advent of radial tires," writes Donald Sull in Business History Review, "Firestone Tire & Rubber was viewed by some observers as the best managed U.S. tire... View Details

Keywords: by Donald N. Sull; Manufacturing; Transportation

27 Sep 2004
Research & Ideas

IBM Finds Profit in Diversity

Like many companies, IBM took big strides to eliminate discrimination by attempting to ignore cultural, racial, and other differences among its vast worldwide workforce. That ended when Lou Gerstner became CEO. Gerstner initiated a... View Details

Keywords: by David A. Thomas

January 2004 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Johnson & Johnson's Corporate Credo

By: Thomas R. Piper

No corporate credo is better known than that of Johnson & Johnson. Describes the history of the credo, including the credo challenge initiated by the CEO, James Burke, in 1975 and the role the credo played during the Tylenol poisoning crisis. View Details

Keywords: History; Mission and Purpose; Goals and Objectives; Corporate Accountability; Reputation; Crisis Management; Corporate Governance; Management Teams

Citation

Educators

12 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

What Great American Leaders Teach Us

the database? A: The database provides a rich history of the changing business landscape in America. Among other categories, readers can access business leaders through sorting by their place of birth, their... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

13 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

Why Your Company Wants to be a 'Cognitive Referent' (Hint: SpaceX)

wanted something better. “These stories ended up being a real kind of consistent touchpoint throughout their history that they tried to share as often as possible. The nice thing about it is it not only conveys authenticity and why these... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Aerospace; Food & Beverage; Retail

12 Oct 2017
HBS Seminar

Dennis Zhang, Washington University, St. Louis

02 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

Coronavirus Careers: Cloud Kitchens Are Now Serving

The restaurant industry is one of those most devastated by COVID-19, and social distancing will continue to make many small restaurants unviable. Reduced revenue flows will never cover the rent. But not all is lost. In our research, one... View Details

Keywords: by Lena Ye and Geoffrey Jones; Food & Beverage

01 Mar 2024
News

Game On

pointing out the features that are designed to convert the casual player, who might otherwise be joining the crowds at the neighborhood rec center, into a club member. Getting out of the rain and not having to wait for court time just scratch the surface of it. Over... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; photographed by Edward Linsmier; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Arts, Entertainment

17 Aug 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate Governance and Networks: Bankers in the Corporate Networks of Brazil, Mexico, and the United States circa 1910

Keywords: by Aldo Musacchio

Publications