Publications

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2016
Chapter

Trade Associations, State Building, and the Sherman Act: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 1912–25

By: Laura Phillips Sawyer

From its founding in 1912 through the interwar years, the Chamber’s history shows a persistent preoccupation with progressive economics and policy making. Rather than flouting the new ideas of institutional economics, which favored federal regulators overseeing data... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Fairness; Supply and Industry; Policy; Business and Government Relations; United States

February 2020 (Revised June 2020)
Background Note

China Commerce 2020

By: William R. Kerr, Daniel O'Connor and Nathaniel Schwalb

China's digital commerce platforms engage billions of consumers daily across a number of routine tasks from banking, retail purchases, travel, gaming, payments, and more. These platforms are the most sophisticated/informed and highest performing/capable in the world.... View Details

Keywords: Platforms; Strategy; Leadership; E-commerce; Digital Platforms; Retail Industry; Technology Industry; Consumer Products Industry; China

02 Aug 2010
Research & Ideas

Modern Indian Art: The Birth of a Market

Market categories—SUVs, smartphones, hip replacement surgeons—help facilitate commerce and other "market exchanges" by providing a basis for comparison and valuation.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

2016
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Mahendra Bapna and Technology Education in India

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Pamela Yatsko

2023
Article

Let's Coordinate! The Reinforcement of a ‘Liberal Bastion’ within European Industrial Federations, 1978-1987

By: Sabine Pitteloud

This article focuses on the establishment in the 1970s of a new international private governance forum, the so-called ‘Interlaken Conferences’, which gathered together the leading figures of the Industrial Federations of the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria,... View Details

Keywords: Business Interest Association; Lobbying; Neo-Liberalism; Neocorporatism; Coordination; Economic Policy; Business and Government Relations; Labor Unions; Economics; Policy; Europe

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Research Summary

The Early Evolution of Business Groups: A Study of Diversification and Spinoffs by Vietnam's First Generation of Entrepreneurs

This study, done in collaboration with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Central Institute for Economic Management, examines the experience of 95 successful Vietnamese entrepreneurs first surveyed in 1999. The project aims to build and analyze... View Details

February 2017
Case

Eve Hall: The African American Investment Fund in Milwaukee

By: Steven Rogers and Alterrell Mills

The case highlights the role of minority chambers of commerce and the background of Eve Hall, a well-regarded multi-sector leader asked to revive Wisconsin's African-American chamber. This case study examines the lending options that a minority chamber of commerce... View Details

December 2020
Article

Unwanted Attention: Swiss Multinationals and the Creation of International Corporate Guidelines in the 1970s

By: Sabine Pitteloud

During the last decade, we have seen an increased opposition to globalization. Within this wave of criticism, firms and more specifically multinational corporations have been major targets, accused of multiple wrongdoings, such as social dumping, fiscal evasion, job... View Details

Keywords: Multinationals; Guidelines; Lobbying; Business History; Multinational Firms and Management; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Global Range; Switzerland

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January 2016 (Revised February 2016)
Case

Citizens United and Corporate Speech

By: David Moss and Marc Campasano

The story of Citizens United began in late 2007, as leading members of the Republican and Democratic parties were preparing for the 2008 presidential primaries. Democrats expected a three-way contest in their party between Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, Senator (and... View Details

Keywords: Rights; Internet and the Web; Political Elections; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business and Government Relations

April 2015 (Revised July 2015)
Case

Proxy Access at Whole Foods

By: Jay Lorsch and Emily McTague

Proxy access grants shareholders meeting certain ownership requirements the right to nominate directors for election to the board without going through a typical proxy contest. In August 2010 the SEC approved a rule granting proxy access for shareholders meeting... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Proxy Advisor; Shareholder Activism; Shareholder Voting; Shareholder Votes; Proxy Battle; Institutional Change; Institutional Investing; Business and Shareholder Relations; Food and Beverage Industry; North America

2025
Chapter

Institutional Entrepreneurship and Climate Change

By: Ann-Kristin Bergquist and Geoffrey Jones

This chapter explores when and why private regulatory governance systems became the primary form of global environmental governance. The chapter explores two different historical paths in such private regulation and how they came about. The first path involved... View Details

Keywords: Institutional Entrepreneurship; Environment; Climate Change; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Environmental Regulation; Standards; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

17 Aug 2021
Op-Ed

Dispensing Justice: The Case for Legalizing Cannabis Nationally

therefore unavailable to cannabis firms as long as the substance remains federally prohibited. The cannabis industry is also disadvantaged by a lack of intellectual property... View Details

Keywords: by Ashish Nanda and Tabatha Robinson

22 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

The ‘Mother of Fair Trade’ was an Unabashed Price Protectionist

crusade in her working paper The U.S. Experiment with Fair Trade Laws: State Police Powers, Federal Antitrust, and the Politics of “Fairness,” 1890–1938, forthcoming in the... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail; Health; Legal Services

2021
Article

Les multinationales comme catégorie politique: les années formatrices (1970-1990)

By: Sabine Pitteloud

While multinationals are emblematic economic actors driving the current globalization process through the organization of production in global value chains, they appear to be important political actors as well. This article provides an historical perspective on such... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Corporation; Lobbying; Investor Protection; Multinational Firms and Management; Business and Government Relations; Governance