Publications

August 2003 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Multinational Corporations in Apartheid-era South Africa: The Issue of Reparations

By: Geoffrey Jones and Cate Reavis

Considers the lawsuits filed on behalf of victims of apartheid against multinationals who operated in South Africa prior to 1994. Reviews the debates about divestment from and sanctions against South Africa from the 1950s. Includes case studies of companies that... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Multinational Firms and Management; Government Legislation; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business and Government Relations; Prejudice and Bias; South Africa

11 Jul 2012
News

In China, big opportunities for investors, if mutual funds can find a way in

March 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Case

Doing Business in Kigali, Rwanda

By: Andy Zelleke, A. Zelleke, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Wale Lawal

This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Rwanda. It highlights Rwanda's economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2023 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case gives an overview of some of the main... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Business and Government Relations; Technological Innovation; Foreign Direct Investment; Economic Growth; Transportation Industry; Tourism Industry; Rwanda

April 2024
Case

Qualcomm, Inc. in 2024

By: David B. Yoffie and Sarah von Bargen

Qualcomm was facing a new era in 2024. After a judge’s adverse anti-trust decision almost destroyed Qualcomm’s business model, the company was victorious on appeal. The new CEO was optimistic about new growth opportunities in technologies such as 5G, AI, and augmented... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Lawsuits and Litigation; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Valuation; Business Strategy; Technology Industry; United States; China

Research Summary

Overview

I am currently working on a series of projects that focus on three questions: (1) how currency fluctuations affect different types of firms across countries; (2) how various macroeconomic policies affect manufacturing growth in developing countries; (3) the... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Africa; Development Economics; International Trade; Industrial Policy; India; Indonesia; Ethiopia

August 2011 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Boardroom Battle Behind Bars: Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings—A Corporate Governance Drama

By: William C. Kirby and Tracy Yuen Manty

Despite widespread news of the incarceration of Gome Electronics' CEO, Huang Guangyu, Bain Capital felt they carefully undertook due diligence before making a significant investment in the company. The venture capital firm was confident that it and the current... View Details

Keywords: China; Legal Aspects Of Business; Corruption; Risk; Corporate Governance; Crime and Corruption; Power and Influence; Risk Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Venture Capital; Ethics; Governing and Advisory Boards; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Values and Beliefs; Private Equity; China

Article

Business Investment in Education in Emerging Markets Since the 1960s

By: Valeria Giacomin, Geoffrey Jones and Erica Salvaj

This article examines non-profit investments by business in education in emerging markets between the 1960s and the present day. Using a sample of 110 interviews with business leaders from an oral history database, the study shows that more than three-quarters of such... View Details

Keywords: Economic History; Oral History; Education; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Business History; Emerging Markets; Reputation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Education Industry; Africa; Asia; Latin America; Middle East; India; Chile; Colombia; Sri Lanka; Kenya

Find at Harvard

Book Review

Review of Private Entrepreneurs in China and Vietnam: Social and Political Functioning of Strategic Groups by Thomas Heberer (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2003), translated by Timothy J. Gluckman.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Groups and Teams; China; Viet Nam

Find at Harvard

May 2005 (Revised February 2007)
Case

HNA Group: "A Miracle in Civil Aviation"

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery and Carole Winkler

Chen Feng and three others started Hainan Airlines in China during a historic transformation and privatization of the civil aviation industry. From a small loan from the local province in 1992, Chairman Chen built the company into a conglomerate that, by 2003, owned... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Air Transportation; Business Growth and Maturation; Competitive Advantage; Emerging Markets; Business Startups; Air Transportation Industry; China

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

It Came in the First Ships: Capitalism in America

though not dominant part in the slave trade. For the profit of shareholders, it brought to the western hemisphere masses of men and women who had been taken from Africa against their will. Eventually, many... View Details

Keywords: by Thomas K. McCraw

08 Dec 2023
Video

Case Studies: Untold Stories of Entrepreneurs in the Middle East

17 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurship in Asia and Foreign Direct Investment

wrote in the forthcoming book, Selling China: Foreign Direct Investment during the Reform Era, to be published in October 2002 by Cambridge University Press, a complete picture of FDI View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

February 2010 (Revised November 2011)
Case

International Agribusiness in China: Charoen Pokphand Group

By: William C. Kirby, Michael Shih-ta Chen, Tracy Manty and Yi Kwan Chu

The world's leading Thai agribusiness corporation and largest agribusiness investor in China, CP Group, is facing another crossroads in China as the country starts to undergo rural reform. The issues at hand for Chairman Dhanin Chearavanont is how CP can balance its... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; SWOT Analysis; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Rural Scope; Agribusiness; Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; China

2008
Chapter

Learning in Environmental Policymaking and Implementation

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

This paper explores how "learning" occurs in the context of environmental policy formulation and implementation. Rather than viewing policy learning as a rational and technocratic process, the emphasis here is on the political and institutional contexts within which... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Corporate Accountability; Policy; Government and Politics; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Natural Environment; Power and Influence; South Africa; Brazil

31 Jan 2020
Video

Students Participate in January Short Intensive Programs

2014
Case

Meizhou Dongpo Restaurant Group

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Weiku Wu and Jia Guo

Since the establishment of the first Meizhou Dongpo Restaurant in Beijing in 1996, Wang Gang and his wife Liang Di have opened more than 100 chain restaurants in China and foreign countries, and set up the group headquarters, logistics center, R&D center and central... View Details

Keywords: Internationalization; Management; Standardization; Strategy; Restaurants; China; China

November 2023
Case

The Commons Project in Rwanda—Building Digital Infrastructure for the Global Public Good

By: Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui and Tom Quinn

In September 2022, The Commons Project Foundation (TCP) CEO Zhenya Lindgardt and her team met on a Zoom call to discuss building tools to help Rwandans manage their health data. They believed that helping Africa build digital infrastructure would improve much-needed... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Capital; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Health Care and Treatment; Information Management; Adaptation; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology Industry; Rwanda; United States

March 2015
Case

The Sino-Russian Rapprochement: Energy Relations in a New Era

By: Rawi Abdelal, Morena Skalamera and Sogomon Tarontsi

The United States could enhance or threaten China's energy security but China was unsure of the U.S. intentions. China and the United States were both friends and potential foes. In the meantime, Russia's own ambivalent relationship with the United States and its... View Details

Keywords: International Relations; Energy; Trade; Conflict and Resolution; Business and Government Relations; Energy Industry; China; United States; Russia