Publications

Educators

03 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 3

had grown both in revenues and profitability. Part of his secret was his decentralized and empowering management style. In 2008, in the midst of the economic downturn following the credit crunch crisis, Polet learned that after four years... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

July 2021
Case

Bessemer Venture Partners: Century Fund

By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

In July of 2021, Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) contemplated the future of its growth investing practice, known as “Century.” While still relatively new as a focused initiative, BVP’s growth investing already had significant momentum. The fund’s investment pace had... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Financial Institutions; Growth and Development Strategy; Investment Banking; Competitive Strategy; Public Sector; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Acquisition

Educators

2014
Book

Empire of Cotton: A Global History

By: Sven Beckert

The epic story of the rise and fall of the empire of cotton, its centrality to the world economy, and its making and remaking of global capitalism. Cotton is so ubiquitous as to be almost invisible, yet understanding its history is key to understanding the origins... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Globalized Markets and Industries; Society; Manufacturing Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

April 2012 (Revised June 2012)
Case

HP Labs in Singapore

By: Willy Shih, Pankaj Agarwal and Christine Chi

When HP established a branch of its corporate research lab in Singapore, the government played a key role through its Economic Development Board (EDB). Chris Whitney, the lab's director, sought to generate revenue from the lab's innovations, making it financially... View Details

Keywords: Research and Development; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Development Economics; Government and Politics; Motivation and Incentives; Innovation and Invention; Revenue; Technology Industry; Singapore

Educators

13 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

What Would It Take to Unlock Microfinance's Full Potential?

In the 50 years since modern microfinance was introduced as a tool to fight poverty, institutions have distributed hundreds of millions of loans to people in developing countries. Such loans are repaid at rates often as high as 98... View Details

Keywords: by Jen McFarland Flint; Financial Services

October 2006
Background Note

China's Financial Markets: 2006

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Li Jin and Tracy Manty

Provides an overview of capital markets in mainland China, evaluating the up-to-date performance of key components of the markets, highlighting concerns as China strives to modernize its financial system to meet global competition and support its fast growing economy. View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Capital Markets; Financial Markets; Financial Strategy; Global Strategy; Markets; Competition; China

4 May 2013
Keynote Speech

Opening Keynote

By: Euvin Naidoo

Towards a 21st Century African Renaissance: Sowing the seeds of success. The conference, in recognition of Africa's emerging outlook as a promising hub for growth, will include diverse speakers like Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba, Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth,... View Details

01 Feb 2021
What Do You Think?

Has the New Economy Finally Arrived?

into the economy to maintain low interest rates, supporting business growth and lower borrowing costs—help? Should we be surprised that economic growth, at least in terms of how we measure it, increased... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

2019
Report

A Recovery Squandered: The State of U.S. Competitiveness 2019

By: Michael E. Porter, Jan Rivkin, Mihir Desai, Katherine M. Gehl, William R. Kerr and Manjari Raman

In this report, the authors synthesize their views on U.S. competitiveness and unveil the findings of the 2019 HBS surveys on U.S. competitiveness. Specifically, this report—built on the survey findings and eight years of prior research on the competitiveness of the... View Details

Keywords: U.S. Competitiveness; Competitive Strategy; Macroeconomics; Government and Politics; United States

Read Now

September 2006
Article

Dynamic Scoring: A Back-of-the-Envelope Guide

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl and N. Gregory Mankiw

This paper uses the neoclassical growth model to examine the extent to which a tax cut pays for itself through higher economic growth. The model yields simple expressions for the steady-state feedback effect of a tax cut. The feedback is surprisingly large: for... View Details

Keywords: Revenue Estimation; Taxation; Economic Growth

Read Now

11 Sep 2012
First Look

First Look: September 11

capital shortages, distributed urban territory to assuage losers of reform and promote economic growth. The findings suggest that 1) growth strategies, and the territorial politics they produce, are products... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Eugene F. Soltes

Eugene Soltes is a Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School where his work focuses on corporate integrity and risk management. His research utilizes data analytics to identify organizational cultures and compliance systems that can effectively... View Details

2018
Book

New Perspectives on the History of Political Economy

By: Robert Fredona and Sophus A. Reinert

This volume offers a snapshot of the resurgent historiography of political economy in the wake of the ongoing global financial crisis and suggests fruitful new agendas for research on the political-economic nexus as it has developed in the Western world since the end... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Government and Politics; History

Research Summary

National Innovative Capacity and the Ideas Production Function

By: Michael E. Porter

Joint research with Scott Stern (MIT) is exploring the determinants of innovative capacity across countries using time series/cross-section data ("Measuring the "Ideas" Production Function: Evidence from International Patent... View Details

14 Aug 2007
First Look

First Look: August 14, 2007

stimulates greater use for a given buyer). We find that higher prices screen out those who use the product less. The amount paid does not have a psychological effect on use, but there is some evidence that the act of paying increases use. We use our data to estimate an... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Research Summary

Making Markets Work: An Executive Education Program for Africa

By: Debora L. Spar

In the last decades of the 20th century economic growth was distributed unevenly across the world. While some countries experienced sustained and unprecedented prosperity, others fell further and further behind. This widening gap was particularly evident in Africa,... View Details

29 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

Do Disasters Rally Support for Climate Action? It's Complicated.

Environmental disasters like wildfires can ignite awareness of climate change and boost eco-friendly politicians’ careers. But do voters perceive a tradeoff between environmental policies and local economic growth? In Brazil, home to a majority of the Amazon tropical... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

2014
Chapter

The Intensive Margin of Technology Adoption

By: Diego A. Comin

We present a tractable model for analyzing the relationship between economic growth and the intensive and extensive margins of technology adoption. The "extensive" margin refers to the timing of a country's adoption of a new technology; the "intensive" margin refers to... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Microeconomics; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Analytics and Data Science; Growth and Development Strategy; Relationships; Technology Adoption

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April 1990 (Revised January 1994)
Case

Mexico: Escaping from the Debt Crisis?

Explores how Mexico found itself in the debt crisis that exploded in 1982 and how the de la Madrid administration (1982-88) followed by the Salinas government (1988 on) devised policies by which to resolve the macroeconomic imbalances. Describes the economic and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Macroeconomics; Mexico