Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,288)
- Faculty Publications (250)
- September 2019 (Revised July 2021)
- Case
Port Competition in the Pearl River Delta
By: Willy Shih
This case examines the competition between ports and port operators in the Pearl River Delta over the last four decades. The cities surrounding the Pearl River estuary are the "workshop of the world," and the development of manufacturing in the region was heavily... View Details
Keywords: Trade Links; Global Business; Globalization; Trade; Supply Chain; Logistics; Transportation Industry; Asia; Hong Kong; China
- August 2019
- Case
Huawei and the U.S.-China Trade War
By: Elie Ofek and John Masko
In 2019, Chinese smartphone maker and telecommunications empire Huawei was preparing to launch its new flagship smartphone series, the Mate 30. After years of explosive growth, the previous 18 months had been a challenge for the company. In early 2018, Huawei’s planned... View Details
- 2019
- Chapter
Origins and Development of Global Business
By: Geoffrey Jones
This chapter explores how business enterprises have been powerful actors in the spread of global capitalism between 1840 and the present day. Emerging out of the industrialized Western economies, global firms created and co-created markets and ecosystems through their... View Details
- 2019
- Chapter
Merchants and the Origins of Capitalism
By: Sophus A. Reinert and Robert Fredona
N.S.B. Gras, the father of business history in the United States, argued that the era of mercantile capitalism was defined by the figure of the “sedentary merchant,” who managed his business from home, using correspondence and intermediaries, in contrast to the earlier... View Details
- June 2019 (Revised October 2019)
- Technical Note
Note on the Future of Commerce
By: William R. Kerr, Daniel O'Connor and Nathaniel Schwalb
In 2019, the retail and consumer product industries were undergoing a significant transformation. Over the past 50 years, what was once a highly fragmented industry began to consolidate, digitize, and increase convenience while lowering costs. The winning enterprises... View Details
- April 2019
- Article
Internalizing Global Value Chains: A Firm-Level Analysis
By: Laura Alfaro, Pol Antràs, Davin Chor and Paola Conconi
In recent decades, advances in information and communication technology and falling trade barriers have led firms to retain within their boundaries and in their domestic economies only a subset of their production stages. A key decision facing firms worldwide is the... View Details
- 2019
- Chapter
Location Fundamentals, Agglomeration Economies, and the Geography of Multinational Firms
By: Laura Alfaro and Maggie Xiaoyang Chen
Multinationals exhibit distinct agglomeration patterns, which have transformed the global landscape of industrial production (Alfaro and Chen, 2014). Using a unique worldwide plant-level dataset that reports detailed location, ownership, and operation information for... View Details
- March 2019
- Teaching Note
Zespri Grows
By: David E. Bell and John Masko
Teaching Note for HBS No. 519-047. View Details
Keywords: Agribusiness; Kiwi; Kiwifruit; Agriculture; Global Supply Chain; Branding; Produce; Coordinated Industry Structure; Industry Coordination; Countercyclical Supply; New Product Development; Product Strategy; Differentiation; Food; Quality; Trade; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Strategy; Global Strategy; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Globalization; Globalized Firms and Management; Competitive Strategy; Resource Allocation; Product Development; New Zealand
- March 2019 (Revised June 2019)
- Case
Global Sourcing at Nike
By: Nien-hê Hsieh, Michael W. Toffel and Olivia Hull
This case explores the evolution of Nike’s global product sourcing strategy, in particular ongoing efforts to improve working conditions at its suppliers’ factories. When the case opens in July 2018, Vice President of Sourcing Amanda Tucker and her colleagues in Nike’s... View Details
Keywords: Sourcing; Factory Conditions; Trade; Geography; Geographic Scope; Globalized Firms and Management; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Governance Compliance; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation Strategy; Labor; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Supply Chain Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Labor and Management Relations; Complexity; Sports Industry; Fashion Industry; Oregon; Portland; Asia; North and Central America
- March 2019
- Article
The New Silk Road: Implications for Higher Education in China and the West?
By: William C. Kirby and Marijk C. van der Wende
Recent geopolitical events, such as Brexit and the retreat from multilateral trade and cooperation by the USA, have created waves of uncertainty, especially in the field of higher education, regarding international cooperation. Meanwhile, China is publicly seeking to... View Details
- February 2019 (Revised January 2022)
- Case
The U.S. – China Trade War
By: Alberto Cavallo, Mariana Cal and Anne Laski
On December 1, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s Leader Xi Jinping faced each other across a dinner table during a G20 meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After what Trump called an “amazing and productive meeting,” the two leaders announced a truce in the... View Details
- November 2018 (Revised April 2019)
- Case
Zespri Grows
By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred
Controlling about a third of global kiwifruit exports by volume and nearly half by value in 2018, Zespri was a grower-owned “corporatized cooperative” with the exclusive right to export New Zealand-grown kiwifruit (except to Australia). Zespri did not grow fruit but... View Details
Keywords: Agribusiness; Kiwi; Kiwifruit; Agriculture; Global Supply Chain; Branding; Produce; Coordinated Industry Structure; Industry Coordination; Countercyclical Supply; New Product Development; Product Strategy; Differentiation; Food; Quality; Trade; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Strategy; Global Strategy; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Globalization; Globalized Firms and Management; Competitive Strategy; Resource Allocation; Product Development; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; New Zealand
- August 2018
- Case
Christine Lagarde
By: Julie Battilana, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Vanessa Ampelas and Noemie Assenat
For a modular presentation of the same material, please see “Christine Lagarde (A): A French Prime Minister Calls” (HBS No. 419-017), “Christine Lagarde (B): Being a Public Servant” (HBS No. 419-018), and “Christine Lagarde (C): Managing the IMF” (HBS No. 419-019).... View Details
- July–August 2018
- Article
From Niche to Mainstream (HBR Case Study)
By: Elie Ofek
A large Japanese snack maker faces challenges in marketing products in the US. Several options for jumpstarting sales are presented. View Details
- April 2018 (Revised July 2018)
- Case
Maersk: Betting on Blockchain
By: Rajiv Lal and Scott Johnson
In March 2018, international shipping giant Maersk is getting ready to debut a trade digitization platform. Maersk hopes the platform will help streamline global trade since shipping goods internationally is an extraordinarily complicated and inefficient process.... View Details
Keywords: Maersk; IBM; Blockchain; Shipping; Shipping Line; Trade; Bitcoin; Digitization; Container Shipping; Joint Ventures; Ship Transportation; Transportation Networks; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Applications and Software; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry
- December 2017 (Revised January 2024)
- Case
Globalization Past, 1850–1914 (A)
By: Sophus A. Reinert and Federica Gabrieli
On the evening of 3 August 1914, British Foreign Secretary Lord Edward Grey contemplated whether to advise King and Parliament to declare war on Germany in the wake of the country’s invasion of Belgium or to stay out of what quickly was becoming a world war triggered... View Details
- December 2017
- Supplement
Globalization Past, 1850–1914 (B)
By: Sophus A. Reinert and Federica Gabrieli
Supplements the (A) case. View Details
- December 2017
- Case
Piracy in Somalia (A)
By: Sophus A. Reinert and Alissa Davies
A Somali fisherman stands on a beach in early 2011, considering his options: should he embark in his tiny fishing vessel or join a nearby pirate crew? His war-ravaged country, entering its 20th year of civil war, was in the midst of a famine that had claimed hundreds... View Details
- October 2017 (Revised September 2022)
- Teaching Note
Fuyao Glass America: Sourcing Decision
By: Willy Shih
This case is about globalization: a Chinese company has decided to locate a production facility close to its customers in the U.S., but a recent contract bid means it will lose money, at least initially, by supplying product from that factory. The purpose of this case... View Details
- September 2017
- Case
Christine Lagarde
By: Julie Battilana, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Vanessa Ampelas and Noemie Assenat
The case covers the youth and career trajectory of Christine Lagarde across her time at Baker & McKenzie, as a minister in the government of France and as the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The case highlights the challenges and opportunities she faced... View Details