Publications

2007
Working Paper

A Resource Belief-Curse: Oil and Individualism

By: Rafael Di Tella, Juan Dubra and Robert MacCulloch

We study the correlation between a belief concerning individualism and a measure of luck in the US during the period 1983-2004. The measure of beliefs is the answer to a question related to whether the poor should be helped by the government or if they should help... View Details

Keywords: Energy; Price; Policy; Government and Politics; Poverty; Welfare; Energy Industry; United States

18 Aug 2021
News

‘The Power of Trust’ Review: When Reliable Is Proﬁtable

TeachingInterests

Senior Executive Leadership Program - Middle East (SELPME)

By: Stefan H. Thomke

Change is everywhere in the Middle East today, as many countries seek to diversify their economies and encourage new industries. While the region's complexity includes distinct political and economic conditions in each country in addition to an uncertain global... View Details

Felix Oberholzer-Gee

Felix Oberholzer-Gee is the Andreas Andresen Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. An award-winning instructor, his academic work and consulting are focused on competitive strategy and the effects of digital technology on corporate... View Details

Keywords: media; professional services; manufacturing; advertising

Research Summary

Paper - Commodity Chains: what can we learn from a business history of the rubber chain? (1870-1910)

The literature on the rubber boom applied a Marxist/Dependendist view of rubber production in the Brazilian Amazon. Even though a sizeable surplus was generated in the rubber chain, it was mostly appropriated by foreigners. This view is in tune with the Global... View Details

September 2024
Case

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners: Leading the Energy Transition

By: John Macomber and Maxwell Nii Laryea

A leading global infrastructure fund debates whether and when to become engaged in the electrolysis and distribution of hydrogen, as part of the hydrogen economy and the global transtion to a net zero energy world. The proposed billion dollar project consists of wind... View Details

Keywords: Infrastructure; Energy Generation; Renewable Energy; Project Finance; Decision Making; Risk and Uncertainty; Energy Industry; Spain

2023
Working Paper

Corporate Website-based Measures of Firms' Value Drivers

By: Wei Cai, Dennis Campbell and Patrick Ferguson

We develop and validate new text-based measures of firms’ financial and non-financial value drivers. Using the Wayback Machine to access public US firms’ archived websites from 1995-2020, we scrape text from corporate homepages. We use Kaplan and Norton’s (1992)... View Details

Keywords: Value; Corporate Strategy; Accounting; Analytics and Data Science

March 2006
Case

The Whitesides Lab

By: H. Kent Bowen and Francesca Gino

A significant part of the long-term economic growth in developed economies depends on the translation of scientific research into new products and processes. Focuses on the front end of this value creation stream. The laboratory of George Whitesides has a 30-year... View Details

Keywords: Research; Performance Productivity; Economic Growth; Infrastructure; Creativity; Groups and Teams; Value Creation; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Leadership; Resource Allocation

2006
Working Paper

Defining the Attributes and Processes that Enhance the Effectiveness of Workforce Diversity Initiatives in Knowledge Intensive Firms

By: Modupe Akinola and David A. Thomas

Workforce diversity continues to be a key focus for organizations, driven by globalization of the U.S. economy and the desire for organizations to more accurately reflect the demographic diversity of the US population. Yet, most research on diversity in organizations... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Globalization; Employees; Retention; Knowledge Sharing; Research; United States

16 May 2016
News

The Airplane As A Microcosm Of Class Divisions

Risks, Opportunities, And Investments In The Era Of Climate Change (ROICC)

The MBA course on "Risks, Opportunities, and Investments in an Era of Climate Change" is ideal for students who aspire to become entrepreneurs by starting their own company or joining a start-up that is driving innovation and solving challenges posed by climate change.... View Details

2019
Chapter

The Great Divergence and the Great Convergence

By: Geoffrey Jones

This chapter provides a new lens to the extensive debate among economists and economic historians concerning why the West grew rich and the rest of the world lagged behind as modern industrialization took hold in the 19th century. The literature has focused heavily on... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Growth and Development; History; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; Middle East; North and Central America; Oceania

Find at Harvard

November 2019
Case

Edita: Making Choices in Uncertain Times

By: Caroline M. Elkins, Juan Alcácer, Alpana Thapar and Youssef Abdel Aal

After 15 years of steady growth and expansion, Edita, a leading Egyptian snack producer, faced a series of challenges in the wake of the Arab Spring. In January 2011, the Egyptian Revolution sparked political and economic turmoil that reflected the waves of protest and... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Developing Countries and Economies; Economy; Business or Company Management; Price; Crisis Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Distribution; Risk and Uncertainty; Business Strategy; Expansion; Currency; Food and Beverage Industry; Egypt; Africa; Middle East

29 Jul 2019
Research & Ideas

How Companies Benefit When Employees Work Remotely

of value to the US economy each year, the researchers estimate. Sources: US Patent and Trademark Office; “(Live) and Work from Anywhere: Geographic Flexibility and Productivity Effects at the United States Patent Office” by Prithwiraj... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

2009
Working Paper

The End of Chimerica

By: Niall Ferguson and Moritz Schularick

For the better part of the past decade, the world economy has been dominated by a world economic order that combined Chinese export-led development with US over-consumption. The financial crisis of 2007-2009 likely marks the beginning of the end of the Chimerican... View Details

Keywords: History; Globalized Economies and Regions; Currency Exchange Rate; Economic Growth; Trade; Financial Crisis; China; United States

1999
Working Paper

On the Formation and Structure of International Exchanges

We investigate the formation and structure of 248 financial exchanges throughout the world. First, we empirically analyze the determinants of exchange formation as well as the impact of exchange formation on the domestic country's economy. Second, conditional on... View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets

2015
Working Paper

The Probability of Rare Disasters: Estimation and Implications

By: Emil Siriwardane

I analyze a rare disasters economy that yields a measure of the risk neutral probability of a macroeconomic disaster, p*t. A large panel of options data provides strong evidence that p*t is the single factor driving option-implied jump risk measures in the cross... View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Crisis; Macroeconomics

SSRN

January 2015
Background Note

Note on Economic Inequality (2015)

By: Clayton S. Rose and Aldo Sesia

For over half a century, most of the world's economies have enjoyed steady growth and prosperity. However, beginning in the 1980s, and continuing essentially unabated to the present, the gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots" in developed countries has widened,... View Details

Keywords: Economic Inequalty; Income Inequality; Growth and Development; Economics; Equality and Inequality; Society; Problems and Challenges; United States

October 2009 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Cosan: Thinking Outside the Barrel

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Noel Maurer and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

The Cosan case introduces students and executive education participants to political economy and business strategy in the biofuels industry. Cosan, based in Brazil, is the largest grower and processor of sugarcane in the world and the largest sugar and ethanol producer... View Details

Keywords: Renewable Energy; Global Strategy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Industry Structures; Business and Government Relations; Business Strategy; Vertical Integration; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Energy Industry; Brazil