Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(318)
- Faculty Publications (85)
- 2011
- Working Paper
Managing Political Risk in Global Business: Beiersdorf 1914-1990
By: Geoffrey Jones and Christina Lubinski
This working paper examines corporate strategies of political risk management during the twentieth century. It focuses especially on Beiersdorf, a German-based pharmaceutical and skin care company. During World War I the expropriation of its brands and trademarks... View Details
- June 2011 (Revised November 2014)
- Case
Vehbi Koç and the Making of Turkey's Largest Business Group
By: Asli M. Colpan and Geoffrey Jones
The case describes the creation of Turkey's largest business group by Vehbi Koç. The foundation of this group in the interwar years, and its subsequent diversification into many industries, including automobiles, household goods, and services, is analysed. The case... View Details
- 2011
- Working Paper
Historical Trajectories and Corporate Competences in Wind Energy
By: Geoffrey Jones and Loubna Bouamane
This working paper surveys the business history of the global wind energy turbine industry between the late nineteenth century and the present day. It examines the long-term prominence of firms headquartered in Denmark, the more fluctuating role of U.S.-based firms,... View Details
- April 2011 (Revised September 2011)
- Case
Willy Jacobsohn and Beiersdorf: Managing Expropriation and Anti-Semitism
By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Christina Lubinski
This case examines the management of home and host country risk by Beiersdorf during the interwar years. It can be used both in business history courses and more generally to teach political risk management by multinational corporations. Beiersdorf, a German personal... View Details
- 2010
- Chapter
Business Groups in Historical Perspectives
By: Geoffrey Jones and Asli M. Colpan
Business groups-collections of legally independent firms interconnected by multiple economic and social linkages that exhibit widely diversified product portfolios-are viewed as the prototypical large-enterprise form in contemporary emerging economies. By exploring the... View Details
- July 2010 (Revised September 2023)
- Case
Werner von Siemens and the Electric Telegraph
By: Geoffrey Jones and Bjoern von Siemens
This case describes the nineteenth century founding by Werner Siemens of the Siemens electrical business in Germany. Werner's dual role as inventor and entrepreneur is explored as he created one of the world's first multinational enterprises, whose growth initially... View Details
- June 2010 (Revised January 2019)
- Case
The Guggenheims and Chilean Nitrates
By: Geoffrey Jones and Felipe Tamega Fernandes
The case describes the growth of Guggenheim Brothers as one of the largest mining companies in the world in the early twentieth century. Global expansion led the firm to Chile, first in copper and later in natural nitrates. Chile's economic growth was driven by the... View Details
- 2010
- Working Paper
Multinational Strategies and Developing Countries in Historical Perspective
By: Geoffrey Jones
This working paper offers a longitudinal and descriptive analysis of the strategies of multinationals from developed countries in developing countries. The central argument is that strategies were shaped by the trade-off between opportunity and risk. Three broad... View Details
- June 2008 (Revised April 2013)
- Case
Bernd Beetz: Creating the New Coty
By: Geoffrey Jones and David Kiron
Considers the creation of the world's largest fragrance company by Bernd Beetz, appointed chief executive of Coty Inc. in 2001. In 1990 the German consumer goods company Benkiser began acquiring fragrance and cosmetics brands with the intent of developing a beauty... View Details
- February 2008
- Article
Blonde and Blue-eyed?: Globalizing Beauty, c.1945–c.1980
By: Geoffrey Jones
This article examines the globalization of the beauty industry between 1945 and 1980. The industry grew quickly. Firms employed marketing and marketing strategies to diffuse products and brands internationally, despite business, economic, and cultural obstacles to... View Details
- August 2007 (Revised October 2022)
- Case
Ken Durham and Unilever as a 'Multi-Local Multinational'
By: Geoffrey Jones and Stephanie Decker
Explores the opportunities and threats to Unilever's global business in 1978 based on the commercial and political challenges faced by three of its subsidiaries, Lever Brothers in the United States, Hindustan Lever in India, and United Africa Company in West Africa.... View Details
- August 2006 (Revised October 2012)
- Case
Natura: Global Beauty Made in Brazil
By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho
Explores the globalization strategies of Natura, Brazil's largest cosmetics company. Founded in 1969, Natura grew using a direct selling model. Led by its three founders, the firm made distinctive use of Brazil's diversity and became characterized by high ethical and... View Details
- August 2005 (Revised January 2012)
- Case
McKinsey and the Globalization of Consultancy
By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Alexis Lefort
Considers McKinsey's strategy during the first stage of the globalization of the management consultancy industry between the 1950s and 1973. Briefly reviews the history of management consulting before considering the factors that led McKinsey to open its first... View Details
- May 2005 (Revised September 2015)
- Case
Hans Wilsdorf and Rolex
By: Geoffrey Jones and Alexander Atzberger
Explores the creation of the Rolex watch by Hans Wilsdorf. Provides a case study of how one of the world's leading luxury brands was created and, more generally, provides a vehicle for exploring the competitive advantage of Switzerland in watchmaking (and other... View Details
- May 2005 (Revised October 2022)
- Case
The Octopus and the Generals: The United Fruit Company in Guatemala
By: Geoffrey Jones and Marcelo Bucheli
Examines the overthrow of President Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala in 1954 in a U.S.-backed coup in support of the United Fruit Co. Over the previous half century, United Fruit had built a large vertically integrated tropical fruit business that owned large banana... View Details
- February 2005
- Article
European Integration and Corporate Restructuring: The Strategy of Unilever c1957-c1990
By: Geoffrey Jones and Peter Miskell
This article examines the role of the large Anglo-Dutch consumer products company in promoting European integration. It shows that Unilever contributed financially to campaigns to support the creation of the European Union, and its subsequent expansion, despite a... View Details
- 2005
- Book
Multinationals and Global Capitalism: From the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century
By: Geoffrey Jones
This book provides an essential framework for understanding global business. It shows how entrepreneurs built a global economy in the nineteenth century by creating firms that pursued resources and markets across borders. It demonstrates how firms shifted strategies as... View Details
Keywords: Capitalism; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalization; History; Economy; Trade; Strategy
- November 2003 (Revised July 2014)
- Case
'Walking on a Tightrope': Maintaining London as a Financial Center
By: Geoffrey Jones and Meghan Gallagher-Kernstine
Focuses on the development of London as a leading international financial center and the difficulties it faces maintaining its status. Examines London's history as a financial center from Roman times to the present day. London's position in the 19th century rested on... View Details
- November 2003 (Revised September 2021)
- Case
Ivar Kreuger and the Swedish Match Empire
By: Geoffrey Jones and Ingrid Vargas
Taught in Evolution of Global Business. Globalization and corporate fraud are the central themes of this case on the international growth of Swedish Match in the interwar years. Between 1913 and 1932, Ivar Kreuger, known as the "Swedish Match King," built a small,... View Details
- 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