Publications

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

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Geographic Location; Brands and Branding; Luxury; Competitive Advantage; Consumer Products Industry; Switzerland

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

Keywords: History; International Finance; Globalized Firms and Management; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Monopoly; Business and Government Relations; Sweden

2013
Book

Entrepreneurship and Multinationals: Global Business and the Making of the Modern World

This book examines the history of entrepreneurship and multinationals in the making of the modern world. In recent years economists, historians, and political scientists have written extensively on the history of globalization and patterns of global wealth and poverty,... View Details

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22 Dec 2015
First Look

December 22, 2015

demand, and supporting infrastructures, including business ecosystems) and, when feasible, the wider institutional, regulatory, and even cultural context that conventional International business literature... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

28 Jun 2016
First Look

June 28, 2016

businesses. The strategy literature uses real option theory to explain the transition to scale, but does not consider the complex relationships between corporate ventures and their parent organizations. By... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

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

Keywords: History; Venture Capital; Business History; Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Foreign Direct Investment; Financial Crisis; Mining Industry; Chile

27 Feb 2017
News

Reputation is Vital to Survival in Turbulent Markets

11 Jul 2006
First Look

First Look: July 11, 2006

significantly narrowed the range of variation in beauty and hygiene ideals. Paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/06-056.pdf Nationality and Multinationals in Historical Perspective View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2015
Supplement

Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan (B)

By: Geoffrey Jones and Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

This (B) case takes up the story of the Afghan female entrepreneur Kamila Sidiqi between 2009 and 2015. The case opens with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry praising her achievements at a State Department dinner in March 2015 for the newly elected President of... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Gender; Afghanistan

2018
Working Paper

Business, Governments and Political Risk in South Asia and Latin America since 1970

By: Geoffrey Jones and Rachael Comunale

This working paper provides a new perspective on how businesses have responded to political risk in South Asia and Latin America over the last half century. The existing business history literature on political risk is focused on the experiences of Western... View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Risk Management; Government and Politics; Business History; South Asia; Latin America

Read Now

September 2016 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Zhang Xin and the Emergence of Chinese Philanthropy

By: Geoffrey Jones and Amanda Yang

This case examines the recent emergence of Chinese business philanthropy through the case of the SOHO China Foundation established by the wife and husband real estate moguls Zhang Xin and Pan Shiyi. It begins by describing the early careers of Zhang and Pan, and how... View Details

Keywords: China; Philanthropy Funding; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Personal Development and Career; Ethics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Higher Education; Real Estate Industry; China

February 2008
Article

Blonde and Blue-eyed?: Globalizing Beauty, c.1945–c.1980

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

Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Globalized Markets and Industries; Product Marketing; Standards; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

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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

Keywords: History; Demand and Consumers; Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Service Operations; Consulting Industry

01 Jan 2002
News

2012
Working Paper

Entrepreneurship in the Natural Food and Beauty Categories Before 2000: Global Visions and Local Expressions

This working paper examines the creation of the global natural food and beauty categories before 2000. This is shown to have been a lengthy process of new category creation involving the exercise of entrepreneurial imagination. Pioneering entrepreneurs faced little... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Consumer Goods; Entrepreneurs; Environment; Food; Globalization; Business History; Agribusiness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Asia; Europe; Latin America; Middle East; North and Central America

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17 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

The Lessons of Business History: A Handbook

generated rich empirical data that in some cases confirms and in other cases contradicts many of today's fashionable theories and assumptions by other disciplines, says Harvard... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

July 2022 (Revised October 2022)
Case

Nestlé, Shared Value and KitKat Diplomacy

By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Sabine Pitteloud

The case revolves around the decision on March 23, 2022 by Mark Schneider, the chief executive of Swiss-based Nestlé, to withdraw the emblematic Kit Kat chocolate bar from sales in Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine in the previous month, although not its... View Details

Keywords: Shared Value; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Globalized Economies and Regions; Ethics; War; Social Issues

01 Jun 2023
News

Alumni and Faculty Books

Global Business By Andrew Cainey (MBA 1989) Christiane Prange Agenda Publishing Matters of ideology and security have become deeply entwined in China ’s economic View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

Forthcoming
Article

Deep Responsibility, SDGs, and Asia: A Historical Perspective

Although it was only in 2015 the 17 SDGs were adopted by UN Member States, many of the underlying ideas can be found in the strategies of some businesses going back to the nineteenth century. Asia was the home of many of the most advanced concepts of business... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Multinational Corporation; Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Governance; Leadership; Asia