Publications

July 1993
Case

Genzyme Corporation: A Financing History

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Andrew D. Regan

Genzyme Corp.'s financing history is unusual compared to most biotech companies. This case presents the sequence of financings employed by Genzyme, along with the product--market and corporate-development strategies adopted by Henri Termeer, Genzyme's CEO. As such, the... View Details

Keywords: History; Marketing Strategy; Financing and Loans; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Biotechnology Industry

Educators

03 Jul 2019
Cold Call Podcast

The Controversial History of United Fruit

Keywords: Re: Geoffrey G. Jones; Food & Beverage

2018
Introduction

Introduction: History and Political Economy

By: Sophus A. Reinert and Robert Fredona

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

Article

Organizational Innovation in the Multinational Enterprise: Internalization Theory and Business History

By: Teresa da Silva Lopes, Mark Casson and Geoffrey Jones

This article engages in a methodological experiment by using historical evidence to challenge a common misperception about internalization theory. The theory has often been criticized for maintaining that it assumes a hierarchically organized MNE based on knowledge... View Details

Keywords: Internalization; Multinational Strategy; Business History; Organization And Management Theory; Globalization; Entrepreneurship; Governance; History; Organizations; Theory; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; North and Central America

Read Now

2021
Chapter

International Business History and the Strategy of Multinational Enterprises: How History Matters

By: Geoffrey Jones and Teresa da Silva Lopes

This chapter provides an overview of the evolution of international business over the long-run as well as the strategies of MNEs. It highlights how strategies became more complex over time with MNEs moving from being coordinators of resources and managers of... View Details

Keywords: Multinational; International Business; Internalization; Globalization; Theory; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; Middle East; North and Central America

December 2016
Article

Impact Investing: A Brief History

By: Brian Trelstad

Over the last decade, impact investing has become an increasingly-discussed topic in the realms of both business and public policy. Impact investors are motived by a desire to advance social or environmental goals and an intuition that pursuing two goals at once -... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Investment; Ethics; Strategy

SSRN

Web

Courses - Business History

Courses Since 1927, Harvard Business School has been a pioneer in teaching business history. The Business History Initiative continues this tradition and seeks to facilitate and promote course development in business View Details

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 "Rethinking Entrepreneurial History."... View Details

31 Oct 2018
News

Building on History

History and Culture. This museum documents the story of a country that adopted a set of values in the 18th century that it lived up to over the next 200 years, slowly but consistently, and continues to follow in a very dramatic and... View Details

26 Oct 2009
News

Lessons from history

Web

Projects - Business History

histories of accounting, strategy, international competition, competitive advantage, protectionism and state capitalism, the nature of cross-cultural commercial encounters, and the very long history of... View Details

2008
Book

The Oxford Handbook of Business History

By: G. Jones and Jonathan Zeitlin

The Handbook of Business History contains 25 original chapters from around the world to present a comprehensive, critical and interdisciplinary examination of current research in business history. The Handbook reveals business history as a wide-ranging and... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Research; Economics; Government and Politics

Research Summary

A History of Green Entrepreneurship

By: Geoffrey G. Jones

This research recovers the history of the entrepreneurs and firms who developed green or “sustainable” businesses, identifies the multiple motivations behind their strategies, explores the clustering of green business in specific locations, and shows how the concept of... View Details

26 May 2008
News

Making health-care history

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

01 Dec 2019
News

Turning Point: Living History

was no museum to learn about this period in history, and nowhere for those affected to record their experiences for the benefit of others. I grew up with my maternal grandparents—the generation that lived through Partition—and saw that many of their friends were dying.... View Details

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

08 Mar 2024
Blog Post

History of the HBS Women's Student Association

In celebration of Women's History Month, we want to highlight the remarkable history and evolution of the Women's Student Association (WSA) at Harvard Business School. Established in the early 1970s, the WSA... View Details

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