Publications

Article

Caste and Entrepreneurship in India

By: Lakshmi Iyer, Tarun Khanna and Ashutosh Varshney

It is now widely accepted that the lower castes have risen in Indian politics. Has there been a corresponding change in the economy? Using comprehensive data on enterprise ownership from the Economic Censuses of 1990, 1998, and 2005, we document substantial caste... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Income; Entrepreneurship; Rank and Position; India

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15 Oct 2019
News

Fellowship Enables Opportunity in Africa

Yeboah (not pictured) from the Class of 2018, are the first recipients of the GO: Africa Fellowship. (photo by Susan Young) To support MBA students who want to make a difference in Africa, HBS created the... View Details

2025
Chapter

Institutional Entrepreneurship and Climate Change

By: Ann-Kristin Bergquist and Geoffrey Jones

This chapter explores when and why private regulatory governance systems became the primary form of global environmental governance. The chapter explores two different historical paths in such private regulation and how they came about. The first path involved... View Details

Keywords: Institutional Entrepreneurship; Environment; Climate Change; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Environmental Regulation; Standards; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

07 Jul 2010
News

Innovation in Entrepreneurship Pedagogy Award

September 2012 (Revised August 2018)
Case

Doing Business in South Africa

By: Rawi Abdelal, Catherine S. M. Duggan and Ian McKown Cornell

Keywords: South Africa

November 2000
Case

WARDA: Leading a Rice Revolution in West Africa

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Cate Reavis

The West Africa Rice Development Association, along with various national and international partners, was developing and transferring new rice technologies to farmers throughout West and Central Africa. While production in West Africa was growing faster than any other... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Government and Politics; Technological Innovation; Leadership; Performance Effectiveness; Problems and Challenges; Research and Development; Nonprofit Organizations; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Africa

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01 Jun 2001
News

Modupe Akinola: Outreach In Africa

student clubs, Akinola cochaired this year’s Africa Business Conference, which brought more than five hundred people to campus to discuss entrepreneurial ventures in Africa. She is also writing a case study... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; UNICEF; Educational Services

February 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Taffi: Entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia

By: Paul A. Gompers and Fares Khrais

Taffi was a tech-enabled fashion styling startup founded by Shahad Geoffrey in Saudi Arabia in 2020. Within three years of operating, Geoffrey had pivoted the business multiple times. In 2023, Geoffrey was attempting the business’s most ambitious pivot yet, shifting... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Disruption; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; AI and Machine Learning; Fashion Industry; Technology Industry; Saudi Arabia; Arabian Peninsula

April 2011 (Revised May 2013)
Case

South Africa (A): Stuck in the Middle?

By: Richard H. K. Vietor and Diego Comin

Fifteen years after ending apartheid, formal unemployment in South Africa was still at 24%. While the country had grown at 4 to 5% annually during the 2000s, the financial crisis set it back by 1 million more unemployed. Moreover, it seemed as if the nation were stuck... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Inflation and Deflation; Policy; Employment; Wages; Competition; South Africa

01 Oct 2001
News

Courage and Hope in Africa

the country's economy and infrastructure in shambles and with its enormous social problems (Sierra Leone has the highest infant mortality rate in the world), Van Gerpen is seeking aid for UNICEF from Western... View Details

Keywords: Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support; Government

February 2023
Teaching Note

Harambe: Mobilizing Capital in Africa

By: Anywhere Sikochi

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 122-021. View Details

2007 View Details

03 Dec 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Performance Persistence in Entrepreneurship

Keywords: by Paul A. Gompers, Anna Kovner, Josh Lerner & David S. Scharfstein

28 May 2015
Interview

Building Infrastructure in Southern Africa

By: Chris Bishop, Mohan Vivekanandan, Euvin Naidoo, Olivier Fortuin and Linda Olagunju

21 Nov 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Caste and Entrepreneurship in India

Keywords: by Lakshmi Iyer, Tarun Khanna & Ashutosh Varshney

October 2019
Case

Agility Africa

By: Juan Alcacer, Caroline M. Elkins and Esel Çekin

This case illustrates the challenge and opportunities that firms face when developing and executing new business models in high-risk, low-infrastructure, low-trust countries. It features a global logistics group, Agility, that aimed to become the leader in supplying... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Expansion; Emerging Markets; Decision Choices and Conditions; Real Estate Industry; Distribution Industry; Africa