Publications

September 2014 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Samuel Colt: An American Gun Maker

By: Tom Nicholas and Casey Verkamp

Samuel Colt not only perfected and patented the technology for a gun that could fire multiple times without reloading, but he also developed and applied early principles of mass production more completely than anyone had done before. Until the nineteenth century,... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Product Positioning; Machinery and Machining; Production; Independent Innovation and Invention; Manufacturing Industry; United States

06 Sep 2016
First Look

September 6, 2016

Abstract—This article examines why organic agriculture and food consumption developed more strongly in some countries than others between the 1970s and the 2000s. The focus is the limited growth of the New... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Article

Governments as Owners: State-Owned Multinational Companies

By: Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra, Andrew Inkpen, Aldo Musacchio and Kannan Ramaswamy

The globalization of state-owned multinational companies (SOMNCs) has become an important phenomenon in international business (IB), yet it has received scant attention in the literature. We explain how the analysis of SOMNCs can help advance the literature by... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Corporation; State-owned Enterprises; State Capitalism; FDI; Internationalization; Government And Business; National Oil Companies; State Ownership; Multinational Firms and Management; Business Subsidiaries; Acquisition; Pharmaceutical Industry; Energy Industry; China; India; Europe

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29 May 2001
Research & Ideas

How Technological Disruption Changes Everything

market where customers are being overserved by the prevailing offerings. The concept of "overshooting" suggests that companies try to keep prices and margins high by developing products with many more features than customers can... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Health

21 Nov 2019
Blog Post

The Power of Business in the Energy Transition

approached with pragmatism, innovation, and broad coalitions in order to deliver the optionality that different countries and regions need to meet aggressive goals. A wide range of technologies must continue to be invested in and View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Energy / Cleantech

Meg Rithmire

Meg Rithmire is the James E. Robison Professor in the Business, Government, and International Economy Unit. Professor Rithmire holds a PhD in Government from Harvard University, and her primary expertise is in the comparative political economy of development with a... View Details

Keywords: real estate

John D. Macomber

John Macomber is a Senior Lecturer in the Finance unit at Harvard Business School. His professional background includes leadership of real estate, construction, and information technology businesses. At HBS, Mr. Macomber's work focuses on climate adaptation and the... View Details

Keywords: building materials; construction; energy; green technology; infrastructure industry; real estate; transportation; utilities; waste management; insurance industry

21 Jun 2011
First Look

First Look: June 21

Authors: Ferguson, Niall, and Moritz Schularick Publication: International Finance 14, no. 1 (2011) Abstract For the better part of the past decade, the world economy has been marked by an economic order that combined Chinese export-led View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2010
Book

A History of Irish Economic Thought

For a country that can boast a distinguished tradition of political economy from Sir William Petty through Swift, Berkeley, Hutcheson, Burke, and Cantillon through to that of Longfield, Cairnes, Bastable, Edgeworth, Geary, and Gorman, it is surprising that no... View Details

Keywords: History; Government and Politics; Economics; Republic of Ireland

January 2003 (Revised November 2005)
Case

Endeavor-Determining A Growth Strategy

By: William A. Sahlman and Michael J. Roberts

Describes the progress of a nonprofit organization, Endeavor, focused on nurturing entrepreneurship in emerging markets. At the time of the case, it has successfully expanded to five Latin American countries and is contemplating the next phase in its growth.... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Nonprofit Organizations; Development Economics; Entrepreneurship; Emerging Markets; Policy; Growth and Development Strategy

November 2001 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Digital Angel

By: Youngme E. Moon and Kerry Herman

Digital Angel is considering the appropriate marketing plan for the launch of its new locator device. The device, a watch and pager worn in combination, provides GPS location information and monitors heart rate and body temperature via body sensors. Parents of young... View Details

Keywords: Information; Safety; Rights; Market Entry and Exit; Ethics; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Product Development

November 1994 (Revised May 1996)
Case

Walt Disney's Dennis Hightower-- Taking Charge

By: Ashish Nanda

In 1987, Dennis Hightower, was recruited from outside for a newly created position as head of Disney Consumer Products European operations. Hightower has to win initial acceptance of entrenched country managers, integrate the company's diverse subsidiaries closer... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Change Management; Corporate Strategy; Personal Development and Career; Consumer Products Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Europe

31 Jul 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Learning from Double-Digit Growth Experiences

Keywords: by Eric D. Werker

22 Dec 2009
First Look

First Look: Dec. 22

examine those differences. The data shows that there are significant differences among countries in the size and role of corporate headquarters and strongly suggests the existence of a developing View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

08 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 8

PublicationsConcentrating on Governance Authors:Dalida Kadyrzhanova, and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf Publication:Journal of Finance (forthcoming) Abstract This paper develops a novel trade-off view of corporate governance. Using a simple model... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2020
Chapter

El problema de la productividad [The Productivity Problem]

By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk

The weak performance of the Latin American region in terms of the growth of its GDP is largely due to its low productivity growth. In fact, the region's main problem has been its lack of efficiency in combining capital and labor to produce. In this chapter, we... View Details

Keywords: GDP Growth; Productivity Growth; Efficiency; Labor; Capital; Growth and Development; Latin America