Publications

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Research Summary

Innovation and Productivity

In this stream of research, Professor Steinwender examines how firms adjust their innovative behavior and productivity in response to changes in the external environment. Analyzing Spanish firm-level data, she finds that two mechanisms proposed in the economic... View Details

2021
Book

Global Goliaths: Multinational Corporations in the 21st Century Economy

By: C. Fritz Foley, James R. Hines Jr. and David Wessel

Globalization and multinational corporations have long seemed partners in the enterprise of economic growth: globalization-led prosperity was the goal, and giant corporations spanning the globe would help achieve it. In recent years, however, the notion that all... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Globalization; Economy; Economic Growth; Equality and Inequality; Employment; Policy

01 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 1, 2007

Working PapersGrowth and the Quality of Foreign Direct Investment: Is All FDI Equal? Authors:Laura Alfaro and Andrew Charlton Abstract In this paper we distinguish different "qualities" of FDI to re-examine the relationship... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2017 (Revised December 2018)
Case

From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem (Abridged)

By: Elie Ofek and Margot Eiran

In June 2016, Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, wrestled with how to sustain Israel’s strong innovation track record and the country’s reputation as the “start-up nation.” Despite the economic miracle the country had wrought since its founding, he... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Government and Politics; Economy; Equality and Inequality; Israel

15 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

Going Green Makes Good Business Sense

living longer—but eventually dying of diseases that could plausibly have an environmental component. Just as there has been progress in scientifically detecting foreign contaminants in the air and water, the public clamors for protection... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

01 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

Immigrant Innovators: Job Stealers or Job Creators?

The House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement met recently to hash out concerns related to the H-1B program, one of the most controversial of foreign visa topics in the United States. At issue... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Technology

27 Sep 2006
Research & Ideas

Report From Egypt: Studying Global Influences

management and opportunities? What's the buzz? A: Some small businesses are concerned about how to find capital and partners. Some protected domestic companies are concerned about the government's growing interest in foreign direct... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

February 1998
Case

Creating the International Trade Organization

By: David A. Moss, George R. Appling and Andrew D Archer

In the late 1940s, officials at the U.S. State Department began campaigning for the creation of an International Trade Organization (ITO). This new organization would oversee global negotiations on trade liberalization, foreign direct investment, cartels, and commodity... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Trade; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Globalized Economies and Regions; Agreements and Arrangements; Foreign Direct Investment; Economic Systems; International Relations

25 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

A Few Firms Have Outsized Influence in D.C.

in the twisted web of Washington fundraising and lobbying that can definitively prove dollar x bought result y. Perhaps that's why there has been such little empirical research among economists on the issue. "The whole perspective of how firms influence View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

March 2005 (Revised November 2005)
Case

To Trade or Not to Trade: NAFTA and the Prospects for Free Trade in the Americas

By: Lakshmi Iyer

Discusses the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on the United States, Canada, and Mexico, a decade after it came into force in 1994. Keeping in mind NAFTA's effect on jobs, exports, productivity, and economic growth, policy makers had to decide... View Details

Keywords: History; Agreements and Arrangements; Performance Productivity; Jobs and Positions; Economic Growth; Trade; Foreign Direct Investment; North and Central America

25 Jul 2006
First Look

First Look: July 25, 2006

Jones Author's Abstract A noteworthy characteristic of the contemporary global economy is the uneven distribution of world foreign direct investment (FDI). While in the first global economy before 1929 most FDI was located in developing... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

Business, Governments and Political Risk in South Asia and Latin America since 1970

By: G. Jones and Rachael Comunale

This article contributes to the literature on political risk in business and economic history by examining both new perspectives (risk encountered by companies domestically, rather than risk for foreign investors) and new settings (emerging markets economies in Latin... View Details

Keywords: Political Risk; Emerging Market; Bribery; Business ＆ Government Relations; Turbulence; Violence; Risk and Uncertainty; Emerging Markets; Crime and Corruption; Business and Government Relations; Business History; India; Latin America

Find at Harvard

September 1992 (Revised March 1993)
Case

Empresas ICA and the Mexican Road Privatization Program

By: Willis M. Emmons III and Monica Brand

Mexico's largest construction company, Empresas ICA, makes an initial public offering to international equity investors in April 1992 to help fund its participation in an ambitious new private-sector approach to highway development. Under the new program, launched by... View Details

Keywords: Construction; Transportation Networks; Infrastructure; Privatization; Private Equity; Investment; Initial Public Offering; Private Sector; Government and Politics; Policy; Construction Industry; Mexico

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03 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 3

Authors:Laura Alfaro and Anusha Chari Publication:India Policy Forum (forthcoming). (Also HBS Working Paper 10-030.) Abstract Using firm-level data, this paper analyzes the transformation of India's economic structure following the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 1

majority sexual orientations in organizations. Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/Shifting%20Landscape%20of%20LGBT%20Org%20Research_0d247765-4372-49ed-9aae-dce41aef12b7.pdf August 2013 Foreign Affairs... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

February 1998 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Uganda and the Washington Consensus

By: Huw Pill and Courtenay Sprague

Under the direction of President Museveni, much of the world has heaped praise on Uganda for transforming its economy from devastation to growth and managing the ethnic and racial strife that has divided the country in the past. Following a decade of reforms, Uganda is... View Details

Keywords: Macroeconomics; Economy; Policy; Analysis; Development Economics; Borrowing and Debt; Management; Developing Countries and Economies; Uganda

20 Dec 2016
First Look

December 20, 2016

Non-Repatriation of Foreign Cash Negatively Affect U.S. Firms’ Operations? Evidence from Product Market Competitiveness By: Alhusaini, Badryah, Rick Laux, Henock Louis, and Anywhere Sikochi Abstract—Cash holdings provide the crucial... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

2012
Discussion Paper

Labor Productivity and Quality Change in Singapore: Achievements in 1974-2011 and Prospects for the Next Two Decades

By: Koji Nomura and Tomomichi Amano

Labor productivity growth in Singapore that has grown at a rate of over 3.0 percent per year since 1970s considerably slowed down to 0.5 percent on average per annum in the latter half of the 2000s. The purpose of this paper is to ask, first, to what extent Singapore’s... View Details

Keywords: Labor; Performance Productivity; Quality; Economic Growth; Singapore