Publications

November 2023 (Revised July 2024)
Case

'Care in Every Drop': Ayala Corporation and Manila Water (A)

By: Debora L. Spar, Paul Healy, Tricia Peralta and Julia M. Comeau

Since 1834, eight generations of the Ayala family have used their conglomerate to fund nation-building projects in the Philippines, including investments in tramcars, telecommunications, hospitals, and schools. In 1997, Ayala’s subsidiary, Manila Water, took control of... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Economic Growth; Social Entrepreneurship; Climate Change; Natural Resources; Crisis Management; Failure; Privatization; Social Issues; Urban Development; Adaptation; Public Opinion; Mission and Purpose; Utilities Industry; Asia; Philippines

March 2020
Case

Brazil: Contesting the Rules of Government

By: Sophus A. Reinert and Jonathan Schlefer

Brazilian factions so fiercely opposed one another that for a century and a half they had contested not just state policies but the rules and structure of the state itself. Was this politics, so unlike the Western political ideal, sign of an immature or failing... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Policy; Government Administration; Government and Politics; Social Issues; Brazil

April 1997 (Revised February 2002)
Case

Europe in 1996

By: Huw Pill and Effie Anagnostopoulos

Describes the process of economic and political integration in Europe in the period since 1945. The main issues discussed are: the common market; the single market; economic and monetary union; EU enlargement encompassing the former centrally planned economies; and EU... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Trade; Macroeconomics; Europe

Find at Harvard

06 Feb 2022
News

How China’s Communist Officials Became Venture Capitalists

10 Apr 2019
News

The rise of CEO activism

Research Summary

State-Business Relations

By: Meg Rithmire

In Precarious Ties: Business and the State in Authoritarian Asia (Oxford University Press, 2023) and related papers, I examine the political foundations and economic effects of different patterns of state-business relations in authoritarian regimes with a... View Details

November 2007 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Indonesia: Attracting Foreign Investment

By: Michael E. Porter and Christian H.M. Ketels

Describes the economic development of Indonesia from independence after World War II to 2006 and the post-Suharto period. The coverage of the post-Suharto period provides evidence of how political and economic conditions are intertwined after a change in the political... View Details

Keywords: History; Situation or Environment; Competitive Strategy; Emerging Markets; Policy; Foreign Direct Investment; Business and Government Relations; Public Administration Industry; Indonesia

November 2010
Article

People Often Trust Eloquence More Than Honesty

By: Todd Rogers and Michael I. Norton

This article presents a dual interview based on a research study we conducted. Our study found that an artful dodger of questions was generally considered more likable than a person who answered the same questions directly but with less eloquence. We comment on the... View Details

Keywords: Research; Social Psychology; Communication; Perception; Business or Company Management; Government and Politics

Find at Harvard

Read Now

June 2017
Case

Magellan Boatworks

By: John A. Quelch and James T. Kindley

Magellan Boatworks is a midsize manufacturer of customized, power "cruising yachts." In the face of economic and political uncertainty in late 2016, Magellan's VP of sales and marketing, Walt Robinson, wonders whether he should request a budget increase for 2017.... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Marketing Communications; Advertising; Strategy; Salesforce Management

25 Oct 2016
News

Wikipedia is fixing one of the Internet’s biggest flaws

November 2021 (Revised January 2024)
Case

The Global Great Depression, 1929-1939

By: Alberto Cavallo, Sophus A. Reinert and Federica Gabrieli

The Great Depression was, by far, the worst economic contraction of the twentieth century, and some of the most important ideas about both fiscal and monetary policy in the second half of the century were developed in response to it. The economic collapse, which... View Details

Keywords: Great Depression; Economic Conditions; Unemployment; Homelessness; Financial Crisis; History; Economy; Policy; Poverty; Social Issues; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation

Professor Ramarajan is the Diane Doerge Wilson Professor of Business Administration in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. Her research examines the management and consequences of identities in organizations.

She teaches the... View Details

Keywords: nonprofit industry

12 Dec 2013
News

Mexico’s Pride, Its Oil, May Reopen to Big Multinationals

November 2011 (Revised December 2013)
Case

The Long and Short of Apollo Group and the University of Phoenix (A)

By: Luis M. Viceira, Joel Heilprin, Andrew S. Holmes and Damian M. Zajac

A hedge fund is deciding whether to liquidate its position in Apollo Group, a for-profit education firm, in light of significant political and macro-economic uncertainty facing the industry. As part of the investment analysis a complete discounted cash flow analysis... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Internet and the Web; Education Industry; Technology Industry

January 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Toward Golden Pond (A)

By: Nicolas P. Retsinas, G.A. Donovan, Nancy Dai and Justin Seth Ginsburgh

The Rong-D companies must decide whether to build a luxury senior housing development in Chengdu, China. Demographics are very encouraging for this new product type, but there are numerous cultural, market, financial, and political risks that they must assess before... View Details

Keywords: Age; Investment; Housing; Risk Management; Emerging Markets; Business and Government Relations; Luxury; Chengdu