Publications

March 1998
Book Review

Review of 'Globalizing Capital: A History of the International Monetary System' by Barry Eichengreen

By: Huw Pill

2013
Chapter

Capturing History: The Case of the Federal Radio Commission in 1927

By: David Moss and Jonathan Lackow

In the study of regulation (and political economy more generally), there is a danger that historical inferences from theory may infect historical tests of theory. It is imperative, therefore, that historical tests always involve a vigorous search not only for... View Details

Keywords: Capture; History By Inference; Economic Theory Of Regulation; Federal Radio Commission; Theory; Economics; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

Purchase

Book Review

Review of Consuming Power: A Social History of American Energies, by David E. Nye

By: Nancy F. Koehn

Keywords: Society; History; United States

Summer 2021
Book Review

Review of Music and Capitalism: A History of the Present by Timothy D. Taylor

By: Scott Duke Kominers

Web

Fellowships - Business History

identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions, or any other characteristic protected by law. Apply Online “ HBS shows how business history can be a viable and thriving field of... View Details

29 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

The History and Influence of Andy Grove

biographer Richard S. Tedlow puts it, Grove was "one of the master managers in the history of American business." A new biography, Andy Grove: The Life and Times of an American, will debut next week, written View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Computer

16 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

Reintroducing Intellectual Ambition to the Study of Business History

The 85-year-old Business History Review, published quarterly by Harvard Business School, is the acknowledged leading peer-reviewed journal in the field. (BHR has recently been made available online through... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones & Walter Friedman

Article

How History Shaped the Innovator's Dilemma

By: Tom Nicholas

In 1993, four years prior to the publication of Clayton Christensen’s highly influential book, The Innovator’s Dilemma, the Business History Review (BHR) published an article by Christensen titled “The Rigid Disk Drive Industry: A History of... View Details

Keywords: Clayton Christensen; Impact; Innovation and Invention; Disruptive Innovation; Research

Web

Events - Business History

Events Events Upcoming Events Business History Seminar The Fall 2025 Business History Seminar, co-organized by Geoffrey Jones and Christina Lubinski, explores the theme... View Details

18 Aug 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Emerging Markets and the Future of Business History

Keywords: by Gareth Austin, Carlos Dávila, and Geoffrey Jones

Web

About - Business History

About History has played a vital role at Harvard Business School since the School’s founding. The School’s first Dean, Edwin F. Gay, was an economic historian. In “The Rhythm of History” (1923), Gay wrote, “The self-centered, active... View Details

12 Aug 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Case Histories of Significant Medical Advances

Keywords: by Amar Bhidé, Srikant M. Datar, and Katherine Stebbins

2009
Article

An Evolutionary Approach to Financial History

Financial history is not conventionally thought of in evolutionary terms, but it should be. Traditional ways of thinking about finance, dating back to Hilferding, emphasize the importance of concentration and economies of scale. But these approaches overlook the rich... View Details

Keywords: History; Transformation; Finance

01 Dec 2019
News

Turning Point: Living History

a deep need to honor my family’s history and the memories of thousands of others by creating a place for them to tell their stories. In the beginning, the Partition Museum was just an idea. We had no money,... View Details

Keywords: museums; India; nonprofits; career paths; leadership; Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions; Arts, Entertainment

Web

Projects - Business History

projects are done in collaboration with Special Collections at Baker Library. Creating Emerging Markets Creating Emerging Markets explores the evolution of business leadership in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. At its core are over 150 interviews... View Details

July 2006
Article

Bringing History (Back) into International Business

By: G. Jones and Tarun Khanna

We argue that the field of international business should evolve its rhetoric from the relatively uncontroversial idea that 'history matters' to exploring how it matters. We discuss four conceptual channels through which history matters, illustrating each with a major... View Details

09 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

Come Fly with Me: A History of Airline Leadership

1978, U.S. airlines were one of the most government-regulated businesses, when suddenly full deregulation changed the competitive landscape once again. How individual executives both shaped the industry and were shaped by it is the... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Air Transportation

2019
Book

VC: An American History

By: Tom Nicholas

An exploration of venture financing in America, from its origins in the whaling industry to the rise of Silicon Valley, that shows how venture capital (VC) created an epicenter for the development of high-tech innovation. The VC industry arose from the United States’... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Venture Capital; Innovation and Invention; Entrepreneurship; History; United States