Publications

2021
Chapter

International Business History and the Strategy of Multinational Enterprises: How History Matters

By: Geoffrey Jones and Teresa da Silva Lopes

This chapter provides an overview of the evolution of international business over the long-run as well as the strategies of MNEs. It highlights how strategies became more complex over time with MNEs moving from being coordinators of resources and managers of... View Details

Keywords: Multinational; International Business; Internalization; Globalization; Theory; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; Middle East; North and Central America

November 1998 (Revised July 1999)
Background Note

Business as Stakeholder in Public Education: A History of Business Efforts to Improve Public Schools in the United States

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

Explores seven roles businesses and business leaders have played with respect to U.S. public education reform historically and today: "owners" helping set the agenda; "investors" donating funds; "customers" hiring graduates; "experts" contributing management know-how;... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Education; Performance Improvement; Business and Community Relations; United States

July 2012 (Revised July 2014)
Case

Warby Parker: Vision of a 'Good' Fashion Brand

By: Christopher Marquis and Laura Velez Villa

In its third year of existence and poised to double its workforce, Warby Parker attributed its success to an innovative approach in the eyewear industry and to the company culture that supported it. With a mission combining social and business goals, the company had... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Business And Society; Social Responsiblity; Organizational Behavior; Social Entrepreneurship; Growth Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Brands and Branding; Organizational Culture; Marketing Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Health Industry; United States

Educators

2014
Working Paper

The Role of the Corporation in Society: An Alternative View and Opportunities for Future Research

By: George Serafeim

A long-standing ideology in business education has been that a corporation is run for the sole interest of its shareholders. I present an alternative view where increasing concentration of economic activity and power in the world's largest corporations, the Global... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Corporate Governance; Environment; Environmental And Social Sustainability; Sustainability; Sustainability Reporting; Sustainability Research; Sustainability Targets; Corporate Performance; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

SSRN

11 May 1992 - 13 May 1992
Lecture

Emerging Role of Japanese Companies in Domestic and International Mergers and Acquisitions

By: W. Carl Kester

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Japan

2015
Other Unpublished Work

Do Managers Have a Role to Play in Sustaining the Institutions of Capitalism?

By: Rebecca Henderson and Karthik Ramanna

In a capitalist system based on free markets, do managers have responsibilities to the system itself? If they do, should these responsibilities shape their behavior when they engage in the political processes that structure the institutions of capitalism? The... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Lobbying; Leadership; Economic Systems; Managerial Roles; Business and Government Relations

Article

The Ownership and Trading of Debt Claims in Chapter 11 Restructurings

By: Victoria Ivashina, Benjamin Iverson and David C. Smith

What is the ownership structure of bankrupt debt claims? How does the ownership evolve though bankruptcy? And how does debt ownership influence Chapter 11 outcomes? To answer these questions, we construct a data set that identifies the entire capital structure for 136... View Details

Keywords: Ownership Structure; Distressed Debt; Trading In Bankruptcy; Restructuring; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Ownership; Borrowing and Debt; United States

26 Apr 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Assessing the Quality of Quality Assessment: The Role of Scheduling

Keywords: by Maria Ibanez and Michael W. Toffel; Service; Food & Beverage

August 2011
Supplement

An Interview with John Fahey, President and CEO of National Geographic Society

By: David Garvin

In January 2010, John Fahey, president, CEO, and chairman of the board of trustees' executive committee of the Washington, D.C.-based National Geographic Society (NGS), must decide how best to organize the 121-year old mission-driven organization for a world of... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Leadership Style; Business or Company Management; Brands and Branding; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Natural Environment; Business Strategy; Web Sites

14 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

The Widening Rift Between Corporations and Society

Society is evolving and it is leaving business behind, say HBS professor Shoshana Zuboff and James Maxmin. In their new book, The Support Economy: Why Corporations are Failing... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

23 May 2011
Op-Ed

Leading and Lagging Countries in Contributing to a Sustainable Society

society in general. But it is a difficult question to answer, with standards just now emerging in the form of "integrated reports" that help... View Details

Keywords: by Robert G. Eccles & George Serafeim

04 Apr 2011
HBS Case

Reinventing the National Geographic Society

behaviors, and values of a legacy organization, changing a business model from paper to digital, capitalizing on huge brand awareness and international presence, and promoting cross-functional and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Publishing

24 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

The Business of Climate Change

On Sunday, 300,000 activists took to the streets of New York for the People's Climate March, the biggest climate protest in history, and the United Nations on Tuesday held the Climate Summit. In the spirit of Climate Week, we present insights from members of the... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty; Energy; Utilities

November, 2022
Article

Role of Context in Knowledge Flows: Host Country versus Headquarters as Sources of MNC Subsidiary Knowledge Inheritance

By: Mike Horia Teodorescu, Prithwiraj Choudhury and Tarun Khanna

We respond to calls in the strategy and international business literature for elucidating how multinational subsidiaries develop contextual intelligence in host countries and how they use the local context as a source of valuable opportunities for learning. Applying... View Details

Keywords: MNCs; Knowledge Flows; Innovation; Gravity Model; Absorptive Capacity; Multinational Firms and Management; Business Subsidiaries; Knowledge Management; Business Headquarters; Innovation and Invention

2013
Working Paper

Debating the Responsibility of Capitalism in Historical and Global Perspective

By: Geoffrey Jones

This working paper examines the evolution of concepts of the responsibility of business in a historical and global perspective. It shows that from the nineteenth century American, European, Japanese, Indian and other business leaders discussed the responsibilities of... View Details

SSRN

2015
Book

Political Standards: Corporate Interest, Ideology, and Leadership in the Shaping of Accounting Rules for the Market Economy

By: Karthik Ramanna

There are certain institutions underlying our modern market-capitalist system that are largely outside the interest and understanding of the general public—e.g., rulemaking for bank capital adequacy, actuarial standards, accounting standards, and auditing practice. In... View Details

Keywords: Business And Society; Financial Institutions; Financial Reporting; GAAP; IFRS; Lobbying; Capitalism; Sustainability; Accounting; Finance; Business and Government Relations; Leadership; Accounting Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States; China; India

Teaching Interest

Business Opportunties in Climate Adaptation

By: John D. Macomber

This is a Short Intensive Program or SIP at Harvard Business School. It’s an optional student offering prior to the formal start of the Spring semester the following week. SIPs tend to cover new material on current topics, to be less formal than the HBS Case Study... View Details

Keywords: Resilience; Climate Risk; Climate Impact; Fire Protection; Insurance Risk Exposure; Hedge Fund; Public Health; Public Health Measures; Climate Change; Adaptation; Infrastructure; Real Estate Industry; Transportation Industry; Insurance Industry; United States; Africa; Latin America

2008
Working Paper

The Effect of Labor on Profitability: The Role of Quality

By: Zeynep Ton

Determining staffing levels is an important decision in retail operations. While the costs of increasing labor are obvious and easy to measure, the benefits are often indirect and not immediately felt. One benefit of increased labor is improved quality. The objective... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Selection and Staffing; Service Delivery; Business Processes; Quality; Retail Industry