Publications

January–February 2019
Article

Cracking Frontier Markets

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Efosa Ojomo and Karen Dillon

Executive Summary:
With emerging-market giants such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China experiencing slowdowns, investors, entrepreneurs, and multinationals are looking elsewhere. They’ve been eyeing frontier economies such as Nigeria and Pakistan with great... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Market Entry and Exit; Growth and Development Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Innovation and Invention; Development Economics

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April 2017
Article

The Responsibilities and Role of Business in Relation to Society: Back to Basics?

By: Nien-he Hsieh

In this address, I outline a back-to-basics approach to specifying the responsibilities and role of business in relation to society. Three “basics” comprise the approach. The first is arguing that basic principles of ordinary morality, such as a duty not to harm,... View Details

Keywords: Business And Society; Corporate Responsibility; Harm; Human Rights; Institutions; Pareto Efficiency; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Moral Sensibility; Society; Rights

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28 Jan 2022
HBS Seminar

Julie Battilana, HBS

Research Summary

Overview

Dr. Sheth's research focuses on Indian political economy and social history from the sixteenth century to the contemporary, concentrating on the relationship between business households, financial capital, landed rights, and the dissolution and formation of states.... View Details

2025
Chapter

Sustainability and Green Business in Latin America

By: Geoffrey Jones

This chapter argues that since the nineteenth century capitalism has created much wealth, but at the cost of massive ecological destruction, which has been particularly severe in Latin America. During the first global economy before 1929, considerable wealth was... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Business History; Globalization; Economic Growth; Latin America

Web

Podcasts - Managing the Future of Work

footprint, and funding strategy for its tuition-free programs. As AI redefines positions across the org chart, can bootcamps plus training top-ups, and a mix of hard and soft skills future-proof the Per Scholas formula? Erik Brynjolfsson on how AI is rewriting the... View Details

Elie Ofek

Elie Ofek is a Professor in the Marketing unit at the Harvard Business School. Professor Ofek's research focuses on new product strategies in technology-driven business environments as well as in consumer-oriented companies in general. He explores interactions... View Details

Keywords: internet; media; high technology; consumer products

George C. Lodge

Professor Lodge had been a member of the Harvard Business School faculty since 1963. Before his retirement in 1997, he taught a number of courses in the MBA Master's Program and in various HBS executive programs. in the MBA program these included: Business,... View Details

March 2016 (Revised September 2021)
Case

South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow?

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Haviland Sheldahl-Thomason

Twenty years after the end of Apartheid, South Africa's democracy persists, albeit with problems. A tripartite coalition — the African National Congress, the labor unions, and the Communist Party — still controls the political system but with diminishing economic... View Details

Keywords: Politics; Development; Productivity; Labor; Labor Unions; Infrastructure; Government and Politics; Economic Growth; Performance Productivity; Economy; Social Issues; South Africa

April 2012
Article

Big BRICs, Weak Foundations: The Beginning of Public Elementary Education in Brazil, Russia, India, and China

By: Latika Chaudhary, Aldo Musacchio, Steven Nafziger and Se Yan

Our paper provides a comparative perspective on the development of public primary education in four of the largest developing economies circa 1910: Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC). These four countries encompassed more than 50% of the world's population in... View Details

Keywords: Perspective; Growth and Development; Middle School Education; Developing Countries and Economies; Data and Data Sets; Geographic Location; Public Administration Industry; Brazil; Russia; India; China

2023
Working Paper

The Effects of Cryptocurrency Wealth on Household Consumption and Investment

By: Darren Aiello, Scott R. Baker, Tetyana Balyuk, Marco Di Maggio, Mark J. Johnson and Jason Kotter

This paper uses transaction-level data across millions of accounts to identify cryptocurrency investors and evaluate how fluctuations in individual crypto wealth affect household consumption, equity investment, and local real estate markets. We estimate an MPC out of... View Details

Keywords: Cryptocurrency; Marginal Propensity To Consume; Household Balance Sheet; Real Estate; Etherium; Bitcoin; Investment; Housing; Spending

SSRN

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Other Article

What Do We Know About Variance in Accounting Profitability?

By: Anita M. McGahan and Michael E. Porter

In this paper, we analyze the variance of accounting profitability among a broad cross-section of firms in the American economy from 1981 to 1994. The purpose of the analysis is to identify the importance of year, industry, corporate-parent, and business-specific... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; United States

2010
Working Paper

The New Face of Chinese Industrial Policy: Making Sense of Anti-Dumping Cases in the Petrochemical and Steel Industries

By: Regina Abrami and Yu Zheng

Why have China's petrochemical and steel industries behaved so differently in seeking trade protection through antidumping measures? We argue that the patterning of antidumping actions is best explained in terms of the political economy of economic restructuring in... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Price; Policy; Business and Government Relations; Competition; Chemical Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Steel Industry; China

Jeremy Yang is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Marketing Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches Marketing in the MBA required curriculum. He develops data products for... View Details

Keywords: advertising; media; entertainment; information; consumer products

2012
Chapter

Schumpeterian Competition and Diseconomies of Scope: Illustrations from the Histories of Microsoft and IBM

By: Timothy F. Bresnahan, Shane Greenstein and Rebecca M. Henderson

We address a longstanding question about the causes of creative destruction. Dominant incumbent firms, long successful in an existing technology, are often much less successful in new technological eras. This is puzzling, since a cursory analysis would suggest that... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Opportunities; Competition; Information Technology; Innovation and Management; Organizations; Relationships; Information Technology Industry

Conquer the most essential adaptation to the knowledge economy

The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth offers practical guidance for teams and organizations who... View Details

07 Jul 2022
HBS Case

How a Multimillion-Dollar Ice Cream Startup Melted Down (and Bounced Back)

Might Also Like: Why Digital Is a State of Mind, Not Just a Skill Set Tech Hubs: How Software Brought Talent and Prosperity to New Cities Is A/B Testing Effective? Evidence from 35,000 Startups Related reading from the Working Knowledge Archives How Chapter 11 Saved... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

February 2003 (Revised May 2008)
Case

AFP Provida

By: Michael E. Porter, Arturo L. Condo and Andrea Prado

Describes the evolution of AFP Provida, one of the early entrants into the Chilean pension fund system established in 1981. By 1999, AFP Provida was not only the largest pension fund administrator in Chile, but also the largest in Latin America in terms of number of... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Globalized Firms and Management; Industry Clusters; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Financial Services Industry; Chile

November 2022
Technical Note

National Security and Transnational Capitalism

By: Meg Rithmire

Though the relationship between national security and transnational commerce had long been interrogated and contested, the 2020s saw the escalation of concerns about insecurity and interdependence. These concerns manifested in a suite of institutional innovations and... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; National Security; Globalization