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About - Business History

today. Impact Stories Uncovering the roots of innovation Re: Maki Umemura [M]y time at Harvard ... immersed me in a vibrant, interdisciplinary, and intellectually stimulating community. Academic Excellence Re: Pierre-Yves Donzé I was particularly impressed View Details

05 Feb 2015
Research & Ideas

How New BofA Executives Learn its ’Deep Smarts’

coauthors are Walter Swap, professor of psychology emeritus and former chairman of the Psychology Department at Tufts University, and Gavin Barton, principal and founder of GB Performance Consulting. book excerpt Bank Of America's... View Details

Keywords: Re: Dorothy A. Leonard; Banking

September 1993 (Revised June 1995)
Case

Wholesale Club Industry

By: Walter J. Salmon

The wholesale club industry experienced rapid growth in the 1980s. By 1993 there were signs that the industry was maturing and perhaps facing a shakeout. This case provides comprehensive data to permit an analysis of the viability and likely direction of the industry. View Details

Keywords: Industry Growth; Retail Industry

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Events - Business History

will be hosted in person at HBS. Please RSVP by email to bhi@hbs.edu to attend. Dec 2 02 Dec 2024 Business History Seminar Seth Rockman, (Brown University) “Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery" Co-Sponsored View Details

01 Apr 1997
News

Management Update Launched

Managers trying to make sense out of a continuously changing business environment should check out the latest from Harvard Business School Publishing (HBSP). Management Update, a monthly newsletter launched in June 1996 and edited by new... View Details

Keywords: Judith A. Ross

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Impact of the New Medium - Edwin H. Land & Polaroid | Harvard Business School

exposure, lighting, background, and composition. Walter Dorwin Teague, who also designed Polaroid's glare-free desk lamps, created a camera body made of die-cast aluminum with a satin-brushed chromium finish. The Model 95 weighed four... View Details

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The Gift of Global Talent

continues to grow, the three core approaches taken by corporations so far offer a playbook for companies that find themselves outside the action in today’s concentrated innovation geography. How can companies most effectively harness the... View Details

2020
Book

American Business History: A Very Short Introduction

By: Walter Friedman

By the early twentieth century, it became common to describe the United States as a "business civilization." President Coolidge in 1925 said, "The chief business of the American people is business." More recently, historian Sven Beckert characterized Henry Ford's... View Details

Keywords: American Economy; Democratic Capitalism; Business History; Economy; Entrepreneurship; United States

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2010
Chapter

Leadership and History

By: Walter A. Friedman

Historians have written a lot about business leaders, especially successful ones. In fact, rags-to-riches stories have come to embody the philosophy of America itself, yet the term "business leadership" was rarely used until the early twentieth century. This chapter... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; History; Leadership

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AASU50 - Alumni

Stansbury, Jr., MBA 1973 Walter L. Ross, MBA 1973 Terry L. Jones, MBA 1974 Stephen R. Bryant, MBA 1974 Harry G. Walker, III, MBA 1975 Jonathan L. Weaver, MBA 1975 Frank E. Lattimore, MBA 1976 Anita R. Goodman, MBA 1977 Sylvia C. Carroll,... View Details

June 1989 (Revised July 1994)
Case

Ito Yokado

By: Walter J. Salmon

Describes the means by which management has empowered the sales clerks and part time employees of this chain of 131 department stores. They are responsible for all sales and inventory management. This empowerment has led to fewer stockouts, higher sales, lower... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Management; Distribution; Supply Chain Management; Sales; Japan

December 1998 (Revised January 2004)
Case

Singulus

By: Walter Kuemmerle and Chad S Ellis

Describes Singulus, the compact disk metallizer business of Leybold AG, a large German company, which has been put up for sale. In April 1995, buyout firm Schroder Ventures has to decide whether to acquire the business. The investment decision is complicated by a... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Decision Choices and Conditions; Manufacturing Industry; Germany

01 Apr 2000
News

Student "Treks" Lead to Jobs and Opportunities

one-third of the HBS student body -- traveled to San Francisco and Silicon Valley as participants in the fifth annual WesTrek, an event organized by members of the High Tech and New Media Club in coordination with the School's Career... View Details

2016
Working Paper

Junior Achievement: Training Teenagers for Business Careers after World War II

By: Walter A. Friedman

This article traces the growing popularity of Junior Achievement's "Company Program" in the two decades after World War II. The program provided high school students with the opportunity to form teams and start mini-corporations that would last for most of the school... View Details

Keywords: Management; Human Capital; Age; Training; United States

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Agents of Change: The Founding of the AASU - The Value of Business Education

initiated by W. E. B. Du Bois in 1918 to provide economic studies and assist the formation of cooperatives. Matney regularly corresponded with Du Bois and in 1930 wrote the significant article "Exploitation or Co-operation" for The Crisis... View Details

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A Tradition of Philanthropy - Alumni

founded. The HBS African-American Alumni Association, led by Walter Ross (MBA 1973)—pictured presenting the Association’s Distinguished Service Award to Dean Baker—was instrumental in endowing the... View Details

June 2002 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Studio, The

By: Walter J. Salmon and Wendy Carter

The founders and proprietors of a successful 23-year old women's apparel store are facing a critical issue. Can they grow by adding a second store that will not compete with their existing operation? If so, where should it be located, what managerial changes are... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Risk and Uncertainty; Business Growth and Maturation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

July 2014
Article

Second-Opinion Pathologic Review is a Patient Safety Mechanism That Helps Reduce Error and Decrease Waste

By: Lavinia Middleton, Thomas W. Feeley, Heidi W. Albright, Ronald Walters and Stanley Hamilton

We have a crisis in health care delivery, originating from increasing health care costs and inconsistent quality-of-care measures. During the past several years, value-based health care delivery has gained increasing attention as an approach to control costs and... View Details

Keywords: Pathology; Diagnostic Errors; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; North and Central America

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March 2014 (Revised January 2015)
Case

Ghurka

By: Jose B. Alvarez, Walter J. Salmon and Christine Snively

Ghurka was a 38-year-old luxury leather goods brand that specialized in leather and twill luggage, handbags, and accessories. Brightwork Brand Holdings Corp. acquired it as an asset purchase in 2011. Ghurka, under CEO John Reuter, worked to re-launch the brand with a... View Details

Keywords: Retailing; Luxury