Publications

Strategy Explained - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

fundamental goal of a company is superior long-term return on invested capital (ROIC) . Only if you achieve strong ROIC are you creating true economic value, which says that you can produce a product f or a price that’s greater than the... View Details

Research Summary

Buyers, Sellers, Manufacturers in China’s Emerging Market around 1900

Ever since the economic reforms in the post-Mao period China’s economy as an emerging market has attracted much interest. However, we tend to forget that China was already an emerging market at the turn of the 19^th century, if not earlier. This... View Details

Policy versus Practice: Conceptions of Artificial Intelligence

The recent growth of concern around issues such as social biases implicit in algorithms, economic impacts of artificial intelligence (AI), or potential existential threats posed... View Details

Program Requirements - Doctoral

following: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives on Entrepreneurship: Organizational Economics and Growth (HBS 4351/Econ 2730) or Macro Topics in Organizational Behavior/Organizational Analysis (HBS 4480 or... View Details

21 Nov 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, November 21, 2017

forthcoming Quantitative Marketing and Economics Aggregation of Consumer Ratings: An Application to Yelp.com By: Dai, Weijia, Ginger Jin, Jungmin Lee, and Michael Luca Abstract—Because consumer reviews leverage the wisdom of the crowd,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Mar 2016
First Look

March 22, 2016

role of specific economic and political institutions in shaping the business environment and economic growth in emerging markets. It gives answers to the following questions:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Case

Doing Business in São Paulo, Brazil

By: Hise O. Gibson, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Ruth Costas and Pedro Levindo

The case uses the example of a large investment made by French retail group Carrefour in Brazil to discuss the opportunities and challenges of doing business in the country. It gives readers an overview of Brazil’s economic transformation since its colonial years until... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Development Economics; Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Economic Sectors; Economy; Macroeconomics; Business History; Brazil; Latin America

December 2013
Case

Yara International

By: Forest Reinhardt and James Weber

This case examines world fertilizer markets from the perspective of a large Norwegian producer. The global fertilizer industry is critical to food production and to food security, and hence is the object of numerous forms of government intervention. The case analyzes... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Regulation; Strategy; Business-government Relations; International Trade; International Strategy; Agribusiness; Food; Growth and Development; Government and Politics

2007
Working Paper

Plant-Size Distribution and Cross-Country Income Differences

By: Laura Alfaro, Andrew Charlton and Fabio Kanzcuk

We investigate, using plant-level data for 79 developed and developing countries, whether differences in the allocation of resources across heterogeneous plants are a significant determinant of cross-country differences in income per worker. For this purpose, we use a... View Details

Keywords: Heterogeneous Plants; Productivity; Policy Distortions; Wages; Equality and Inequality; Resource Allocation; Macroeconomics

Read Now

January 2001
Background Note

Country Analysis in a "Global Village"

By: Bruce R. Scott

Substantially rewritten to establish the relevance of countries in the global context. It does so in terms of their differing economic performance in recent decades, and also by contrasting those that have "converged" toward the rich country norm (as theory would... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Economies and Regions; Macroeconomics; Trade; Business Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Industry Growth; Currency; Policy; Development Economics

2009
Chapter

Plant-Size Distribution and Cross-Country Income Differences

By: Laura Alfaro, Andrew Charlton and Fabio Kanczuk

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Developing Countries and Economies; Wages; Resource Allocation; Mathematical Methods

2008
Working Paper

Firm-Size Distribution and Cross-Country Income Differences

By: Laura Alfaro, Andrew Charlton and Fabio Kanczuk

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Developing Countries and Economies; Wages; Resource Allocation; Mathematical Methods

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1:45 PM – 2:45 PM EST, 11 Jan 2017
Webinars: Trending@HBS

Problems Unsolved and a Nation Divided

Five years of research from Harvard Business School's US Competitiveness Project, as well as the findings from the 2016 surveys on US competitiveness, present a sobering picture of the deep structural challenges facing the United States. The US needs a national... View Details

02 Jul 2013
First Look

First Look: July 2

Development Indicators, we identify 33 country episodes of double-digit growth since 1960. The narrative of each episode is presented and key drivers of growth described. The double-digit View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

January 2014 (Revised February 2014)
Case

Japan: Betting on Inflation?

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

The case focuses on the challenges still confronting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the end of 2013, a year after he has been in office. It also gives an overview of Japan's earlier economic performance, focusing primarily on the period after it suffered a stock market... View Details

Keywords: Quantitative Easing; Debt Sustainability; International Relations; Borrowing and Debt