Publications

June 2007 (Revised September 2021)
Case

Thomas J. Watson, IBM and Nazi Germany

By: Geoffrey Jones, Grace Ballor and Adrian Brown

Considers the strategy of U.S.-owned IBM, then a manufacturer of punch cards, in Nazi Germany before 1937. Opens with IBM CEO Thomas J. Watson meeting Adolf Hitler in his capacity as President of the International Chamber of Commerce. IBM had acquired a German company... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Values and Beliefs; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Investment; Business and Government Relations; Germany; United States

August 2012 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Egypt: Turbulence, and Transition?

By: Diego Comin, Mohamed Heikal and Adam Said

The case goes over the evolution of politics and institutions in Egypt over the last 50 years. The case provides new insights on the reasons for violent political transitions and also explores the effects of political instability on productivity and competitiveness. View Details

Keywords: Institutional Change; Military; Competitiveness; Democracy; Revolution; Productivity; History; Transition; Economic Systems; Competition; War; Performance Productivity; Organizations; Government and Politics; Volatility; Egypt

2022
Chapter

The Merits and Limits of China's Modern Universities

By: William C. Kirby

China has a long history of advanced learning, but its modern universities are quite young. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, the establishment of Chinese universities based on international models signaled the end of a millennium of promoting talent through... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Education Industry; China

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March 2024 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Doing Business in São Paulo, Brazil

By: Laura Alfaro, Hise O. Gibson, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Pedro Levindo

The case gives readers an overview of key factors of doing business in Brazil, including Brazil’s economic transformation since its colonial years until 2023, when leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sworn in for his third term, after the most polarized... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Economic Sectors; Economy; Macroeconomics; Business History; International Relations; Political Elections; Taxation; Consumer Behavior; Brazil; Latin America; Sao Paulo

25 Jan 2010
Research & Ideas

A Macroeconomic View of the Current Economy

on how the economic system works and what history teaches us, business readers might turn to A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics: What Managers, Executives, and Students Need to Know, by Harvard Business School professor David A. Moss, who... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

04 Sep 2012
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: Indispensable: When Leaders Really Matter

In his new book, Indispensable: When Leaders Really Matter, Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Gautam Mukunda addresses the question of whether leaders create history or are created by it. In this excerpt from Chapter One, he... View Details

February 2007 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Banca Regional Andino: Facing the Globalization of Microfinance

By: Michael Chu and Jean Hazell

Three leading Latin American microfinance banks join forces to face the new challenges of globalization, competition, and politics while common shareholder ACCION investments considers its options. From an initial project to share costs in the revamping of their IT... View Details

Keywords: History; Microfinance; Competitive Strategy; Globalization; Problems and Challenges; Growth and Development; Bolivia; Ecuador; Peru

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21 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 21, 2010

PublicationsA History of Irish Economic Thought Authors:Thomas Boylan, Renee Prendergast, and John Turner, eds. Publication:London: Routledge, 2010 Abstract For a country that can boast a distinguished tradition of View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2006 (Revised May 2014)
Case

Li Ka-Shing and the Growth of Cheung Kong

By: Nitin Nohria, Anthony J. Mayo and Mark Benson

Events in the history of Cheung Kong's growth reveal how Li Ka-Shing applied his skills as a "first-class noticer" to complex political and socioeconomic environments. While Li's determination to succeed is legendary, so are his skills in reading and responding to the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Competency and Skills; Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment Portfolio; Business History; Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Hong Kong

08 Mar 2017
Book

Why American Democracy Thrives On Conflict

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

2018
Chapter

Between Economic Planning and Market Competition: International Law and Economics in the U.S.

By: Laura Phillips Sawyer

The impact of institutional economics in shaping the American regulatory tradition has largely been dismissed as an incoherent attack on the neoclassical economic paradigm. This essay briefly reconstructs the interwar institutionalist movement, exploring the... View Details

Keywords: Economics; History; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; United States

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23 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Setting the Stage: A Young Scholar at HBS

if not, what is the role of business history in your primary research interests? A: I do consider myself a business historian, though my research also ventures deeply into the realms of political and social... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard; Banking; Financial Services

08 Apr 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Multinational Strategies and Developing Countries in Historical Perspective

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones

2022
Chapter

Crises and International Business

By: Geoffrey Jones

This chapter uses the intellectual journey of the author to suggest that crises have been the norm rather than the exception in the history of international business. Over the last 100 years world wars, regional conflicts, the Great Depression, and decolonization are... View Details

Keywords: Crisis; Multinational Companies; International Business; Emerging Market; Business History; Multinational Firms and Management; System Shocks; War; Emerging Markets; Crisis Management

24 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

The Climate Needs Aggressive CEO Leadership

of climate change at the same time that corporations have achieved unprecedented political power. No longer can CEOs claim substantial doubt or lack of influence. As a result, history will judge CEOs not... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Toffel & Auden Schendler; Energy; Utilities

12 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

The Untold Story of ‘Green’ Entrepreneurs

history of green-industry pioneers, a captivating collection of heads-down individualists—often "quirky eccentrics," as Jones characterizes some of them--working not to make a buck, but to make a difference in improving the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

January 2013
Supplement

Wanxiang Group: A Chinese Company's Global Strategy (B)

By: William C. Kirby, Nancy Hua Dai and Erica M. Zendell

Supplements the A Case 308-058. With an almost forty-year history as a business in China, the Wanxiang Group has navigated through the significantly different political and economic changes in China to succeed as a global leader in the auto parts industry, and to... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Global Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Vertical Integration; Goals and Objectives; Mergers and Acquisitions; Auto Industry; China; United States