Publications

July 2018
Article

Global Collaborative Patents

By: Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr

We study the prevalence and traits of global collaborative patents for U.S. public companies, where the inventor team is located both within and outside of the United States. Collaborative patents are frequently observed when a corporation is entering into a new... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Ethnic Networks; Migration; Technology Transfer; Mobility; Information Technology; Globalized Firms and Management; Diasporas; Patents; Ethnicity; Entrepreneurship; Research and Development; Foreign Direct Investment; Innovation and Invention; Globalization; United States

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Web

Europe - Global

Edmondson examines the 2019 Notre-Dame Cathedral fire as a powerful example of complex failure. The case explores how a cascade of small oversights led to catastrophe—and what leaders must do to build cultures of vigilance and accountability. October 2024 HBS Institute... View Details

2013
Article

Multinational Corporations, Global Justice and Corporate Responsibility: A Question of Purpose

By: Nien-he Hsieh

Do multinational corporations (MNCs) have a responsibility to address unjust conditions—not simply by refraining from contributing to injustice, but also by actively working to bring about a just state of affairs? This paper examines whether this question can be... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Corporations; Global Justice; Corporate Purpose; Corporate Responsibility; Human Needs; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

2010
Working Paper

Does Product Market Competition Lead Firms To Decentralize?

By: Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen

There is a widespread sense that over the last two decades firms have been decentralizing decisions to employees further down the managerial hierarchy. Economists have developed a range of theories to account for delegation, but there is less empirical evidence,... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Employees; Managerial Roles; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Asia; Europe; North America

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August 2006 (Revised June 2007)
Case

Shapiro Global

By: Thomas J. DeLong, Michael Brookshire, Monica Haugen, Michelle Kravetz and Sarah Sommer

Su Yee Goh, a director in a Singapore office, considers a proposal by a pregnant female executive for an alternative work arrangement so that she could both continue to work and spend more time with her family. Goh wants to keep the executive at Shapiro Global, but is... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Globalized Firms and Management; Employee Relationship Management; Retention; Work-Life Balance; Singapore

01 Dec 2017
News

Global Perspectives

adds Shih, and often lead to case studies and global insight that enhance their conversations with students both in and outside the classroom. “It’s striking how knowledgeable and proactive the firms we... View Details

Web

Research - Global

120-year-old, family-controlled firm or hand the reins to new management. Over 26 years he has turned TITAN from a domestic player into an internationally diversified... June 2025 Teaching Material Transforming a Titan (B) By: George... View Details

25 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Developing the Global Leader

What skills do today's executives need to develop to become effective global leaders of tomorrow? And how do corporations teach these skills to their own leaders? "The shift from a country-centric corporation to one that is more... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

October 2012 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Global Unichip Corporation (A)

By: Willy Shih and Chen-Fu Chien

Global Unichip Corporation (GUC) is a design services company that acts as a front-end to TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor foundry. In so doing, it masked the complexity of the latest process technologies, and reduced the entry barriers for small firms to... View Details

23 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

Financial Reporting Goes Global

around the world (we find non-domestic investors are more likely to invest in firms with accounting similar to that used in their home country) and in looking at whether a single set of standards really will be applied in a consistent... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell; Accounting; Financial Services

01 Sep 2003
News

Globalization Revisited

what firms make of it.” How global retailers enter local foreign markets — and then what they make of them — was the subject of “Globalization of Retailing,” with HBS professor Rajiv Lal leading a discussion... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

May 2013 (Revised October 2014)
Case

Novartis: Leading a Global Enterprise

By: William W. George, Krishna G. Palepu and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Novartis, the world's leading healthcare company, was formed in 1996 out of a merger of two very different, mid-tier Switzerland-based pharma companies. The case traces the company's evolution over the past 17 years, as it transformed into a truly global enterprise... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Talent and Talent Management; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Success; Globalized Markets and Industries; Management Teams; Change Management; Business History; Mergers and Acquisitions; Global Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry; Switzerland

June–July 2013
Article

Firm Rivalry, Knowledge Accumulation, and MNE Location Choices

By: Juan Alcacer, Cristian Deszo and Minyuan Zhao

The international business (IB) literature has mostly emphasized the impact of location and firm characteristics on location choices. However, industries with a significant presence of multinational enterprises (MNEs) are oligopolistic in nature, which suggests that... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Competition; Multinational Firms and Management; Knowledge Acquisition; Game Theory; Global Strategy

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2007
Book

Entrepreneurship and Global Capitalism

By: G. Jones and Rohit Daniel Wadhwani

These volumes demonstrates the importance of historical perspectives in the study of entrepreneurship. By exploring the role of entrepreneurship in the history of global capitalism, the authors show that historical knowledge can challenge widely accepted... View Details

Keywords: History; Diasporas; Economic Systems; Globalized Economies and Regions; Globalized Firms and Management; Cultural Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

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March 2004 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Samsung Electronics Company: Global Marketing Operations

By: John A. Quelch

Samsung's global marketing director is assessing how to build the global brand reputation of the company further and upgrade the company's worldwide brand image. To show how to build a global brand. View Details

Keywords: Global Range; Globalized Firms and Management; Brands and Branding; Reputation

July 2006 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Lenovo: Building A Global Brand

By: John A. Quelch and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Announced in December 2004, the $1.75 billion acquisition of IBM's PC division by Lenovo, China's largest PC maker, made headlines around the world. A relative upstart in the business, Lenovo acquired the division of IBM that invented the PC in 1981. While Lenovo was... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Information Infrastructure; Global Strategy; Acquisition; Brands and Branding; Manufacturing Industry; Computer Industry; China

December 2009 (Revised April 2010)
Case

Rabobank: The Global Food and Agriculture Bank

By: David E. Bell, Ray A. Goldberg, Mary Louise Shelman and Aldo Sesia

Rabobank decides to focus primarily on food and agriculture firms and farms on a global basis. View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Banks and Banking; Food; Globalization; System; Banking Industry