Publications

TeachingInterests

Large-Scale Investment (LSI, MBA Elective Curriculum)

By: Benjamin C. Esty

Large-Scale Investment (LSI) is a case-based course about project finance that is designed for second-year MBA students. Project finance involves the creation of a legally independent project company financed with nonrecourse debt for the purpose of investing in a... View Details

October 2009 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Roshan: Light at the end of the tunnel in Afghanistan

By: Herman B. Leonard and Qahir Dhanani

Roshan is a highly successful telecommunications company founded by the Aga Khan fund for economic development in Afghanistan during an ongoing civil conflict. Company leaders must now decide financial and market strategy for the next phase of development of the... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Financial Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; War; Telecommunications Industry; Afghanistan

March 2010
Article

Sudden Stops: Determinants and Output Effects in the First Era of Globalization, 1880–1913

By: Michael D. Bordo, Alberto Cavallo and Christopher Meissner

We study the determinants and output effects of sudden stops in capital inflows during an era of intensified globalization from 1880 to 1913. Higher levels of exposure to foreign currency debt and large current account deficits associated with reliance on foreign... View Details

Keywords: Sudden Stops; Capital Flows; Economics; Macroeconomics; Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Globalization; History

Read Now

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

09 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 9, 2010

versus exploitation innovations impact economic growth through a tractable endogenous growth framework that contains multiple innovation sizes, multi-product firms, and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Jul 2021
Blog Post

Trends in Consumer Products

A job search in Consumer Products requires thorough research to understand how Covid has affected a company’s business. Most consumer products companies had very uneven business results—some brands saw enormous growth and others saw... View Details

August 2023
Teaching Note

Kunshan, Incorporated: The Making of China’s Richest Town

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 313-103. The case is designed to give the students an understanding of the local Chinese entrepreneurial state and how foreign and Chinese firms have worked with it to create China’s richest small city. The major themes are—local state... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Entrepreneurship; Economic Growth; Economic Systems; Business and Government Relations; Development Economics; China

Dec 2019
Survey

A Recovery Squandered

Despite a decade of steady economic growth since the Great Recession, America has done remarkably little to address underlying structural weaknesses in the country’s economy and society. Surveys of HBS... View Details

Article

Does the Classic Microfinance Model Discourage Entrepreneurship Among the Poor? Experimental Evidence from India

By: Erica Field, Rohini Pande, John Papp and Natalia Rigol

Do the repayment requirements of the classic microfinance contract inhibit investment in high-return but illiquid business opportunities among the poor? Using a field experiment, we compare the classic contract which requires that repayment begin immediately after loan... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Poverty; Development Economics; Contracts

Find at Harvard

Read Now

June 2019 (Revised November 2019)
Case

Malaysia: An 'Asian Tiger' Reawakens

By: Richard H. K. Vietor

On May 9, 2018, in an extraordinary upset, Mahathir Mohamad again became Malaysia’s Prime Minister. Najib Razak, who had headed the government since 2009, had been swept up in the 1MDB scandal—perhaps the biggest state-corruption incident in history. Although... View Details

Keywords: Government and Politics; Crime and Corruption; Financial Crisis; Business and Government Relations; Economy; Leading Change; Malaysia

17 Aug 2023
Research & Ideas

‘Not a Bunch of Weirdos’: Why Mainstream Investors Buy Crypto

the growth of cryptocurrency, many consumers and businesses remain skeptical. The findings, the authors say, provide the first large-scale portrait of cryptocurrency investors, offering valuable insights for regulators, financial... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

March 1995 (Revised October 1995)
Case

U.S. Airline Industry in 1995, The

Describes the economic logic leading to the deregulation of the U.S. airline industry in 1978 and subsequent competitive developments. The roles of computerized reservation systems, airport hubs, route strategies, and fleet management are raised as unanticipated... View Details

Keywords: Industry Growth; Competitive Advantage; Air Transportation Industry; United States

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

2022
Chapter

Key Success Factors in Environmental Entrepreneurship: The case of Wilderness Safaris

By: James E. Austin, Megan Epler Woods and Herman B. Leonard

This chapter analyzes the entrepreneurial conception and evolution of the Wilderness Safaris (WS) ecotourism enterprise operating in eight African countries. It illuminates a series of factors that contribute to positive environmental impact as well as financial... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Entrepreneurship

24 Apr 2007
First Look

First Look: April 24, 2007

Working PapersPoverty, Social Divisions, and Conflict in Nepal Authors:Quy-Toan Do and Lakshmi Iyer Abstract We conduct an econometric analysis of the economic and social factors which contributed to the spread of violent conflict in... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

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

November 2006 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Malaysia: Halfway to 2020

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

This country case on Malaysia extends forward by seven years the case “Malaysia: Capital and Control” (702-040). It is based on Malaysia's ninth plan, which took effect in 2006. The ninth plan proposed five thrusts—moving the economy to higher value-added goods and... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Growth and Development Strategy; Strategic Planning; Welfare; Equality and Inequality; Malaysia