Publications

September 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

BP's Macondo: Spill and Response

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

This case starts by reporting various factors that may have contributed to the massive Macondo oil spill, noting that BP, its partners and the government all made decisions that helped cause the accident. It then discusses the response to this spill by BP and the... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Metals and Minerals; Crisis Management; Infrastructure; Trade; Pollutants; Risk and Uncertainty; Business and Government Relations; Finance; Multinational Firms and Management; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Technology Adoption; Energy Industry; Mining Industry; United Kingdom; United States

11 May 2010
First Look

First Look: May 11

Author:Jay W. Lorsch Publication:Executive Counsel 7, no. 1 (February/March 2010) An abstract is unavailable at this time. Preview the Article: http://www.executivecounsel.info/v7/i1/lessons-from-the-crisis-about-governing-financial-institutions/ View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

23 Jun 2016
Op-Ed

Brexit: Should Britain Stay or Go?

Harvard Business School faculty offer their views: Isidor Straus Professor of Business History Geoff Jones, who researches the evolution, impact, and responsibility of global business and has authored numerous books on these topics, including View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey G. Jones & Dante Roscini

14 Nov 2011
Research & Ideas

Creating a Global Business Code

interest among multinational firms, including, Margolis observes, those that hesitated to participate in the initial survey. In focusing on the perceived differences between what a company should do and what it actually does do, this... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

09 Feb 2010
First Look

First Look: Feb. 9

of real-world systems. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-059.pdf Quality Provision, Expected Firm Altruism and Brand Extensions Author:Julio J. Rotemberg Abstract This paper studies quality choice in a model where... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

15 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 15

that have ownership and control rights in the SOE. Building on Vernon, we argue that the SOE can break free from this power imbalance and establish resource independence from other state actors by becoming a multinational View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

19 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

Do I Dare Say Something?

recent working paper, Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson and Penn State professor James Detert explored the challenges employees face speaking up to internal authorities. Their research focused on behavior in large, View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

July 2005
Teaching Note

Globalizing Consumer Durables: Singer Sewing Machine before 1914 (TN)

By: Geoffrey G. Jones

Teaching Note to (9-804-001). View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Investment; Sales; Entrepreneurship; Success; Production; Marketing; Manufacturing Industry; United States; Russia; Scotland

November 2003 (Revised May 2016)
Case

Weetman Pearson and the Mexican Oil Industry (A)

By: Geoffrey Jones and Lisa Bud-Freirman

Taught in the MBA Evolution of Global Business course, a business history course on the growth of multinationals. Explores the role of the British entrepreneur Weetman Pearson in developing the Mexican oil industry before 1914. Shows this entrepreneur's evolution from... View Details

Keywords: History; Risk and Uncertainty; Non-Renewable Energy; Growth Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Developing Countries and Economies; Energy Industry; Mexico

December 2001 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Nestle S.A.

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Hal Hogan

Peter Brabeck wants to focus Nestle as a wellness company in the global food system and do so in a way that provides both growth in sales and margins in both developed and developing countries. View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Product Development; Supply Chain Management; Food; Multinational Firms and Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Sales; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Switzerland

12 Aug 2002
Op-Ed

Using Big Business to Fight Poverty

result of such despondency, children are not encouraged to go to school; many fail to attend at all or drop out early. Yet many multinational corporations, while undertaking their regular profit-making activities, have managed to change... View Details

Keywords: by George C. Lodge

September 20, 2004
Comment

How Consumers Value Global Brands

By: Douglas Holt, John A. Quelch and Earl L. Taylor

In 2002, we carried out a two-stage research project in partnership with the market research company Research International/USA to find out how consumers in different countries value global brands. First, we conducted a qualitative study in forty-one countries to... View Details

Keywords: Global Brands; Brand Value; Multi-national Brands; Social Responsibility; Global Range; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Brands and Branding; Social Marketing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

Read Now

April 1998
Case

Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team (Abridged)

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Becton Dickinson's Vacutainer business was largely based in the United States, but in 1980 management determined to grow the business aggressively first in Europe and then Japan. These areas demanded new products that were tailored to local markets. Despite the change... View Details

Keywords: Resource Allocation; Growth and Development Strategy; Change Management; Product Development; Global Strategy; Expansion; Innovation and Invention; Multinational Firms and Management; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States; Europe; Japan

08 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 8

opacity and agility. Clients find it very difficult to judge a firm's performance in advance, because they are usually hiring it for specialized knowledge and capability that they themselves lack. Price becomes a proxy for quality. And the top consulting (or law) View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Nov 2014
Research & Ideas

Corrupting Silence: Companies Must Speak Up Against Bribes

discovered that many of these problem contracts were not very profitable," says Healy. The results were more stark for Montreal-based engineering and construction firm SNC-Lavalin, which Healy is researching for an upcoming case study. In... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

25 Feb 2002
Research & Ideas

The Country Effect: Does Location Matter?

loyalty, tradition and internal maintenance, are the monkeys. Organizations frequently show aspects of different cultures, making for dragons. Competitive and entrepreneurial firms consistently perform better than do more bureaucratic and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

February 5, 2009
Comment

In Praise of Marketing

By: John A. Quelch

Many dismiss marketing as manipulative, deceptive, and intrusive. Marketing, they argue, focuses too much of our attention on material consumption. More recently, Benjamin Barber, in his 2007 book Consumed, claims that marketing is "sucking up the air from every other... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Consumer Loyalty; Local Vs. Global Branding; Multi-national Brands; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Customer Value and Value Chain; Customer Satisfaction; Globalized Economies and Regions; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning