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- All HBS Web
(970)
- News (331)
- Research (420)
- Events (1)
- Multimedia (4)
- Faculty Publications (160)
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- August 2015 (Revised January 2017)
- Background Note
Evolving Trends in Global Trade
By: Dante Roscini and Annelena Lobb
The note, while not intended to be historically comprehensive, explores the regulation of international trade from the period after World War II to developments in 2010, focusing on shifts in trade theory and policy as well as economic benefits and disadvantages... View Details
Keywords: Trade Negotiations; Development Economics; Developing Countries and Economies; Governance; Negotiation; Globalization; Trade; Policy; History; Europe; Latin America; North and Central America; Asia; Africa; China
Roscini, Dante, and Annelena Lobb. "Evolving Trends in Global Trade." Harvard Business School Background Note 716-024, August 2015. (Revised January 2017.)
- July 2021 (Revised October 2023)
- Case
K.C. Li: The Tungsten King
By: Geoffrey Jones and Casey Verkamp
This case examines the business career of Kuo-Ching Li, who was born in China in 1892, and built a successful minerals trading business called Wah Chang in the United States during the interwar years. He acquired a prominent role in tungsten, the strongest natural... View Details
Keywords: Immigration Acts; Racial Bias; Globalization; Government and Politics; Business History; Entrepreneurship; Business and Government Relations; Mining Industry; China; United States; Latin America
Jones, Geoffrey, and Casey Verkamp. "K.C. Li: The Tungsten King." Harvard Business School Case 322-024, July 2021. (Revised October 2023.)
- April 2002 (Revised October 2002)
- Case
The Blair Wealth Project: Antecedents and Prospects
By: Huw Pill and Ingrid Vogel
Discusses the macroeconomic and political situation in the United Kingdom from the end of World War II through 2001. Focuses on the interactions among macroeconomic performance, labor relations, the corporate governance system, and social services. In particular,... View Details
Keywords: Welfare; Corporate Governance; Labor and Management Relations; Government and Politics; Macroeconomics; United Kingdom
Pill, Huw, and Ingrid Vogel. "The Blair Wealth Project: Antecedents and Prospects." Harvard Business School Case 702-008, April 2002. (Revised October 2002.)
- 2023
- Working Paper
Coordinated R&D Programs and the Creation of New Industries
By: Daniel P. Gross and Maria P. Roche
Complex systems technologies—including “deep tech”—are prone to numerous frictions that stymie commercial development. Yet technologies with these features underpin some of the most valuable industries of the past century. We examine how large, mission-oriented... View Details
Keywords: Research and Development; Policy; Business and Government Relations; Technological Innovation; Collaborative Innovation and Invention
Gross, Daniel P., and Maria P. Roche. "Coordinated R&D Programs and the Creation of New Industries." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 24-027, April 2023. (Revised October 2024.)
- April 2018 (Revised October 2023)
- Case
Coco Chanel: From Fashion Icon to Nazi Agent
By: Geoffrey Jones and Emily Grandjean
This case describes the career of the iconic French fashion designer Coco Chanel who created a transformational business during the first half of the 20th century. Beginning in her early adulthood, Chanel leveraged relationships with acquaintances, friends, and... View Details
Keywords: Business History; Biography; Entrepreneurship; Relationships; Brands and Branding; Ethics; Fashion Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry
Jones, Geoffrey, and Emily Grandjean. "Coco Chanel: From Fashion Icon to Nazi Agent." Harvard Business School Case 318-139, April 2018. (Revised October 2023.)
- February 2001 (Revised February 2002)
- Case
Estee Lauder and the Market for Prestige Cosmetics
By: Nancy F. Koehn
Opens with a brief history of the U.S. cosmetics market and its rapid development in the 1920s. Also recounts Lauder's initial involvement in the sector, making skin care products and selling them in Manhattan beauty parlors during the Great Depression. Pays particular... View Details
Keywords: Fluctuation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Market Entry and Exit; Entrepreneurship; Luxury; Business Strategy; Society; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States
Koehn, Nancy F. "Estee Lauder and the Market for Prestige Cosmetics." Harvard Business School Case 801-362, February 2001. (Revised February 2002.)
- Article
Technology Diffusion and Postwar Growth
By: Diego A. Comin and Bart Hobijn
In the aftermath of World War II, the world's economies exhibited very different rates of economic recovery. We provide evidence that those countries that caught up the most with the U.S. in the postwar period are those that saw an acceleration in the speed of adopting... View Details
Keywords: Hardware; Country; Business Cycles; Globalized Economies and Regions; Economic Growth; Welfare or Wellbeing; War; Technology Industry; United States; Japan; Europe
Comin, Diego A., and Bart Hobijn. "Technology Diffusion and Postwar Growth." NBER Macroeconomics Annual 25 (2010): 209–259.
- Article
The End of Chimerica
For the better part of the past decade, the world economy has been marked by an economic order that combined Chinese export-led development with U.S. over-consumption. The financial crisis of 2007-09 likely marks the beginning of the end of the Chimerican relationship.... View Details
Ferguson, Niall, and Moritz Schularick. "The End of Chimerica." International Finance 14, no. 1 (Spring 2011): 1–26.
- August 2006 (Revised October 2020)
- Case
Jamnalal Bajaj, Mahatma Gandhi, and the Struggle for Indian Independence
By: Geoffrey Jones, Prabakar 'PK' Kothandaraman and Kerry Herman
Describes the role of a leading Indian business leader in the campaign for independence before 1947 and his close relationship with the legendary Mahatma Gandhi. Provides the opportunity to consider the impact of colonialism on shaping Indian entrepreneurship and the... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Government and Politics; Business History; Leadership; Business and Government Relations; Power and Influence; India
Jones, Geoffrey, Prabakar 'PK' Kothandaraman, and Kerry Herman. "Jamnalal Bajaj, Mahatma Gandhi, and the Struggle for Indian Independence." Harvard Business School Case 807-028, August 2006. (Revised October 2020.)
- Summer 2021
- Article
The Origin and Development of Firm Management
By: Michela Giorcelli
This paper examines the historical origin and diffusion of management practices. Despite their centrality in the modern world, the concepts of ‘management’ developed fairly recently. Only with the Industrial Revolution, due to the increased firm size, owners needed a... View Details
Keywords: Productivity; Kaizen; Management; Management Practices and Processes; History; Performance Productivity; Technology
Giorcelli, Michela. "The Origin and Development of Firm Management." Oxford Review of Economic Policy 37, no. 2 (Summer 2021): 259–275.
- April 1989 (Revised August 1989)
- Case
Burlington Northern (A)
Describes the forces that led to the development of a logistics analysis program by the Burlington Northern Railroad. The first half of the case describes changes in industrial structure, technology, demographics, shipper practices, and government regulation that led... View Details
Hammond, Janice H. "Burlington Northern (A)." Harvard Business School Case 689-081, April 1989. (Revised August 1989.)
- 2009
- Working Paper
The End of Chimerica
By: Niall Ferguson and Moritz Schularick
For the better part of the past decade, the world economy has been dominated by a world economic order that combined Chinese export-led development with US over-consumption. The financial crisis of 2007-2009 likely marks the beginning of the end of the Chimerican... View Details
Keywords: History; Globalized Economies and Regions; Currency Exchange Rate; Economic Growth; Trade; Financial Crisis; China; United States
Ferguson, Niall, and Moritz Schularick. "The End of Chimerica." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 10-037, November 2009.
- Research Summary
Knowledge Spillovers and Growth
Professor King and colleagues investigate the role of knowledge spillovers and externalities in the dramatic disagglomeration and growth of the advertising agency industry following World War II. High demand, low wages, and externalities associated with clusters of... View Details
- Article
California Fair Trade: Antitrust and the Politics of 'Fairness' in U.S. Competition Policy
By: Laura Phillips Sawyer
In the decades before World War II, U.S. antitrust law was anything but settled. Considerable pressure for antitrust revision came from the states. A perhaps unlikely leader, Edna Gleason, organized California's retail pharmacists and coordinated trade networks to... View Details
Phillips Sawyer, Laura. "California Fair Trade: Antitrust and the Politics of 'Fairness' in U.S. Competition Policy." Business History Review 90, no. 1 (Spring 2016): 31–56.
- January 1990 (Revised May 1991)
- Case
Hoechst and the German Chemical Industry
Describes the rise of the German chemical industry and the specific country-based factors that contributed to the rise. Focuses on the German firm Hoechst: its history, its position after World War II, and its subsequent internationalization. Set in 1986 when Hoechst... View Details
Keywords: Business History; Competitive Advantage; Acquisition; Chemical Industry; Germany; United States
Gomes-Casseres, Benjamin. "Hoechst and the German Chemical Industry." Harvard Business School Case 390-146, January 1990. (Revised May 1991.)
- 2009
- Article
Synthesis by Microbes or Chemists? Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturing in the Antibiotic Era
By: Arthur A. Daemmrich
This article presents a case study of the rise of Pfizer as a leading pharmaceutical company, with a focus on changing relationships between manufacturing technology and R&D between the mid-1940s and the mid-1960s. Pfizer first moved into pharmaceuticals through... View Details
Keywords: Research and Development; Production; Technology; Transformation; Relationships; Success; Organizations; Programs; Chemicals; Alignment; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States
Daemmrich, Arthur A. "Synthesis by Microbes or Chemists? Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturing in the Antibiotic Era." History and Technology 23, no. 3 (2009): 237–256.
- 2019
- Chapter
The Great Divergence and the Great Convergence
By: Geoffrey Jones
This chapter provides a new lens to the extensive debate among economists and economic historians concerning why the West grew rich and the rest of the world lagged behind as modern industrialization took hold in the 19th century. The literature has focused heavily on... View Details
Keywords: Globalization; Growth and Development; History; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; Middle East; North and Central America; Oceania
Jones, Geoffrey. "The Great Divergence and the Great Convergence." Chap. 37 in The Routledge Companion to the Makers of Global Business, edited by Teresa da Silva Lopes, Christina Lubinski, and Heidi J.S. Tworek, 578–592. New York: Routledge, 2019.
- 19 Nov 2001
- Research & Ideas
Alfred Chandler on the Electronic Century
in the 1920s. The same two companies began the process of commercializing television in the 1930s. Telefunken, housed in Berlin, lost its learning base during World War II. So in the 1940s RCA took the lead... View Details
- 1989
- Book
Planning and Power in Iran: Ebtehaj and Economic Development under the Shah
By: Geoffrey Jones
This book provides a biography of Abol Hassan Ebtehaj, who headed Iran's central bank and Plan Organization during the 1940s and 1950s. It provides a wide-ranging survey of the problems of modernization and economic planning in Iran. Ebtehaj was at the center of... View Details
Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Decision Making; Economics; Central Banking; Policy; Political History; Resignation and Termination; Biography; Books; Surveys; Growth and Development Strategy; Planning; Iran
Jones, Geoffrey. Planning and Power in Iran: Ebtehaj and Economic Development under the Shah. London: Frank Cass, 1989.
- 2010
- Working Paper
A Brief Postwar History of U.S. Consumer Finance
By: Andrea Ryan, Gunnar Trumbull and Peter Tufano
This article describes the consumer finance sector in the US since World War II. We first define the sector in terms of the functions delivered by firms (payments, savings/investing, borrowing, managing risk, and providing advice.) We provide time series evidence on... View Details
Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Borrowing and Debt; Mortgages; Personal Finance; Business History; Innovation and Invention; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Services Industry; United States
Ryan, Andrea, Gunnar Trumbull, and Peter Tufano. "A Brief Postwar History of U.S. Consumer Finance." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 11-058, December 2010.