Publications

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30 Aug 2016
First Look

August 30, 2016

economy or aggregation of citizens’ preferences, government preferences are present biased, resulting in an over accumulation of debt. Calibrating this parameter with values in the literature, the model can reproduce debt levels View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

November 1986 (Revised December 1992)
Case

Kentucky Fried Chicken (Japan) Ltd.

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Describes the internationalization of the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) fast food chain, focusing on KFC's entry into Japan. An entrepreneurial country general manager, Lou Weston, battles numerous problems to establish the business and is eventually highly successful.... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Entrepreneurship; Globalized Economies and Regions; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Market Entry and Exit; Strategic Planning; Agency Theory; Perspective; Corporate Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Japan

March 2024
Article

Human Capital Affects Religious Identity: Causal Evidence from Kenya

By: Livia Alfonsi, Michal Bauer, Julie Chytilová and Edward Miguel

We study how human capital and economic conditions causally affect the choice of religious denomination. We utilize a longitudinal dataset monitoring the religious history of more than 5,000 Kenyans over 20 years, in tandem with a randomized experiment (deworming) that... View Details

Keywords: Religion; Human Capital; Developing Countries and Economies; Welfare; Kenya

Read Now

30 Jul 2013
First Look

First Look: July 30

but is unlikely to be able to substitute weak business environment conditions. The second section then deploys a wide range of regional performance data collected for the European Competitiveness Index and... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

03 Jul 2019
Cold Call Podcast

The Controversial History of United Fruit

Keywords: Re: Geoffrey G. Jones; Food & Beverage

04 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

Jumpstarting Innovation: Using Disruption to Your Advantage

industry that might serve as the source of innovation for you and your company? Technology: What are the key emerging technologies, and how are they being used inside and... View Details

Keywords: by Lynda M. Applegate

Web

Fellowships - Business History

global capitalism from a historical perspective. One History of Capitalism Fellow will be appointed for the academic year 2025-2026 and will be provided time, guidance, office space, View Details

01 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 1, 2008

Stearns, which was on the brink of collapse. Yet as the global economy faced slower growth stemming from the U.S. mortgage crisis, policy makers were caught in an intense debate over what the 'right'... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Web

HBS - The year in Review

the world. The pandemic necessitated a complete pause in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, FGI resumed in 15 locations in the United States, and in 2023, more than 1,000 students traveled to 15 View Details

06 Jun 2005
What Do You Think?

Is a “Level Playing Field” a Good Thing?

China and India as competition but as profit centers to improve our short term return on investment. We need to reexamine that paradigm. . . . Sometimes the kids in the global community don't play fair. We... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

October 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Citizens of the World: The International Legacy of Gloria von Thurn und Taxis

By: Lauren Cohen, Maximilian Form and Sophia Pan

When her husband passed away and inheritance taxes struck, Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis took decisive action to preserve her family’s fortune and legacy. The Thurn und Taxis family, one of Europe’s oldest aristocratic dynasties, had built their wealth through... View Details

Keywords: Family Office; Real Estate; Legacy; International Business; Family Business; Economy; Macroeconomics; Financial Crisis; Financial Liquidity; Investment; Global Strategy; Reputation; Diversification; Wealth; Taxation; Germany

25 Oct 2010
HBS Case

Tesco’s Stumble into the US Market

from the United States. Wal-Mart tripped up badly in Germany. Tesco's international forays have hitherto been successful—with the possible exception of Japan. Tesco intelligently elected to concentrate on fast-growing, emerging economies... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

20 Dec 2010
Research & Ideas

Panama Canal: Troubled History, Astounding Turnaround

play in the global marketplace currently and in the future? A: The Panama Canal will never again be as important to the United States as it was before World War II, but its importance to the world View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Transportation

06 Sep 2016
Blog Post

What Makes the HBS MBA unique?

This became very apparent to me during the Business, Government, and the International Economy (BGIE) course first year. Our cases focused on different countries, and while we... View Details

21 Aug 2020
Blog Post

Pursuing a JD/MBA Joint Degree

of the FIELD Global Immersion program during my first year. This access also extends to student-planned career and international treks. Over the winter term, JD/MBAs are able to participate in supplemental... View Details

20 Sep 2016
First Look

September 20, 2016

effect dominates the negative within-firm effect post IPO. We build a firm industry model with endogenous entry to quantify the importance of two competing selection mechanisms: an increasing share of R&D-intensive firms in the overall View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Person Page

Course Development

By: Debora L. Spar

Managing International Trade and Investment

Despite the ease with which it is often conducted, doing business across borders is not the same as doing it at home. Rather, it entails a whole new set of managerial challenges: re-assessing competitive... View Details

December 2010
Case

Oral Rehydration Therapy

By: Nava Ashraf and Claire Qureshi

This case highlights the puzzlingly high rate of diarrhea-related child mortality in developing countries despite the existence of a simple, effective treatment: oral rehydration therapy (ORT). ORT treated extreme dehydration caused by diarrhea, which was a leading... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Innovation Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Developing Countries and Economies; Technological Innovation; Distribution Channels; Emerging Markets; Consumer Behavior; Performance Consistency; Performance Evaluation; Health Industry; Africa; Asia

January 2022
Background Note

Common Prosperity? China Shifts Left

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been mistrustful of entrepreneurs and the private sector that operates outside the government’s authority. In its first decades under Mao Zedong, the CCP... View Details

Keywords: Market Reform; Gdp; Government Administration; Government and Politics; Private Sector; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Economy; Globalized Economies and Regions; Entrepreneurship; Business and Government Relations; Globalized Markets and Industries; Social Issues; Society; Economic Growth; China