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The Global Initiative

Established in 1996, the Global Initiative builds on a legacy of global engagement by supporting the HBS community of faculty, students, and alumni in their work, encouraging a global outlook in research, study, and practice.

With its rich heritage of global leadership in management education and research, Harvard Business School (HBS) is deeply rooted in the international economy. Working closely with companies, universities, and governments, the School and its faculty help shape the perspective, knowledge, and insight of managers throughout the world.

A History of Global Leadership
Throughout its history, Harvard Business School has been a leader in developing practice-oriented research for management education. Using the case method of teaching, the School has trained tens of thousands of leaders in business, government, and academia. HBS has also helped guide the establishment of leading business schools in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia.

  • 2000 - present
    2009 One third of cases produced by faculty are global in scope.

    One third of the MBA class is international - from 71 countries.

    Nearly 30 percent of alumni live overseas, and more than 85 alumni clubs and associations are flourishing in over 30 countries.
    2008 The School's Centennial year culminates in the Global Business Summit on October 12-14 2008. The Business Summit features thought-provoking discourse, debate, and insight into the seminal topics facing the global community.

    Throughout 2008 HBS alumni clubs in 30 countries mark the Centennial with events, projects, and leadership initiatives.

    On April 8, 2008, the HBS community celebrates the Centennial anniversary of the School - 100 years to the day the Harvard University Board of Overseers voted to establish the business school and appointed its first dean - with a day-long event for the immediate HBS community, including students, faculty and staff.
    2006-
    1997     		The School expands its global impact by establishing research centers in key regions to help faculty enrich the global curriculum.
    2006 India Research Centerestablished in Mumbai.
    2004 Gayle and Robert F. Greenhill (MBA Class of 1962) establish the Gayle and Robert F. Greenhill Family Endowment for Global Research. The first major gift of its kind, it provides permanent funding to support the School's international research and course development activities.
    2003 Europe Research Centerestablished in Paris.
    2002 Japan Research Centerestablished in Tokyo.
    2000 Latin America Research Centerestablished in Buenos Aires.
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  • 1975 - 99
    1999 Asia-Pacific Research Centerestablished in Hong Kong.
    1997 California Research Centerestablished in Silicon Valley.
    1996 Established in 1996, the Global Initiative builds on the School's legacy of global engagement by supporting the HBS community of faculty, students, and alumni in their work, encouraging a global perspective in research, study and practice.
    1991 Four students from Soviet republics are admitted to the MBA program. The students were to work for five months in an American firm as an introduction to a market economy, and were to take courses at Harvard University Summer School to become acquainted with the American university system before attending Harvard Business School. After completing the MBA program, the students were to return to the U.S.S.R. to complete a five-year to a Soviet State enterprise.
    1990 Professor Paul Lawrence and Research Fellow Charalambos Vlachoutsicos conduct a senior management seminar on the topic of U.S.-U.S.S.R. joint ventures in Moscow.
    1990 Vast growth in international representation is noted in the MBA program - a jump to 21 percent of the First-Year class, with over 58 countries represented in both MBA classes. This prompts the MBA Admissions office to assign members of its staff as "global managers". Assistant directors of Admissions become familiar with the customs, cultures and educational systems of a particular country or region, and act as HBS liaison with that region for MBA recruiting and admissions.
    1986 A research colloquium jointly organized by Professors George Lodge and Ezra Vogel (Harvard University Department of Sociology) brings together 50 corporate managers, government officials, and academics from around the world, to discuss Comparative Ideology in five developed countries-the US, Japan, the UK, France and the Federal Republic of Germany-and in four developing countries-Taiwan, South Korea, Mexico and Brazil.
    1985 Professors Thomas McCraw and M. Colyer Crum lead a colloquium comparing business-government relations in the United States with those in Japan. McCraw draws on research he has conducted while spending his summers in Japan teaching at the Nomura Research Institute's School for Advanced Management. He also presents a yearlong doctoral seminar in business history: "Development of the Modern Corporation in International Perspective."
    1983 Among the topics discussed at a series of HBS 75th Anniversary Research Colloquia are United States Competitiveness in the World Economy, presented by Bruce Scott and George Lodge; World Food Policy Issues, presented by Ray Goldberg and Peter Timmer; and Competition in Global Industries, presented by Michael Porter.
    1981 Prof. Louis Wells, Jr. is named the Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Business. At the time of the appointment, Wells' responsibilities at the School include teaching a research seminar on international business in the doctoral program, serving as a special field coordinator for international business, sitting on the admissions committee and the policy committee, and chairing a subcommittee which was formed to make recommendations for changes in the requirements of the program, as well as sitting on the faculty council of the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID).
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  • 1950 - 74
    1973 The International Teachers Program (ITP) moves to Fontainebleau, France, to be managed by a consortium of business schools that includes: CESA (Centre d'Enseignement Supérieur des Affaires in Jouy-en-Josas, France), CEI (Centre d'Etudes Industrielles, Geneva, Switzerland), IMEDE (Lausanne, Switzerland), INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France), London Business School (London, United Kingdom), Manchester Business School (Manchester, United Kingdom), and HBS (Boston, MA, United States).
    1971 The MBA catalogue lists 15 courses dealing with international business; international students comprise 16% of the MBA student body.
    1966 The Division of International Activities, with help from the USAID, establishes a program to provide MBA graduates with action-oriented jobs in developing countries. Seven members of the class of 1966 take specially created positions overseas which are "highly diversified, two-year non-career assignments".
    1964 George Baker writes that HBS wants to increase applications from women and minorities
    1964 The faculty accepts the Smith Committee report, which recognizes the desirability of foreign experience for faculty and limits formal HBS/foreign affiliations (involving up to eight faculty members) to three at any given time. No limit is set on leaves for faculty who are independently helping foreign schools.
    1963 At the request of President John F. Kennedy, and with the support of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the School participates in establishing INCAE (Instituto Centroamericano de Administración de Empresas), the Central American business school. Originally located in Antigua, Guatemala, INCAE relocates to Managua, Nicaragua. A faculty team, which includes Professors Henry Arthur, George Lodge, and Thomas Raymond, makes an initial visit to Central America and Panama to investigate possibilities, and Lodge ultimately helps establish the program.
    1962With Harvard's permission, HBS enters into formal agreement in July to help develop an "Institute of Management" in Ahmedabad, India; effort is supported by a Ford Foundation grant and headed by Harry Hansen.
    1961 C. Roland Christensen spends the year teaching at IMEDE (Lausanne, Switzerland).
    1960 An international section is added to the Intercollegiate Bibliography of Cases, the chief publication of the Intercollegiate Case Clearing House (ICH). Established in 1954, the ICH is a collaboration of the Executive Committee of the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business, the Ford Foundation, and the staff of HBS, to centralize the rapidly growing library of business cases. By 1960, more than 235 HBS cases have been translated into one or more of nine foreign languages, and more than 360 cases have been received from foreign institutions all over the globe, many written by former HBS students and/or faculty.
    1958 The Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa (IESE) is established in Barcelona, Spain, and guided by an HBS team including Professor Ralph Hower. Affiliated with the University of Pamplona, IESE offers the first AMP-type program in Spain.
    1957 MBA students develop the International Business Club, a student-managed organization developed to stimulate interest in international business and affairs. The club runs a student career program that arranges summer positions for American students, as well as U.S. jobs for foreign students at HBS and at certain non-U.S. schools, between the first and second years.
    1956 Fifty teachers are sent to the United States - cosponsored by the European Productivity Agency (EPA) and the International Cooperation Administration (ICA) of the U.S. Department of State - to study business administration at five graduate schools (10 teachers per school): Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of California, University of Illinois, and University of Indiana.
    1955 The Office of International Relations is established at HBS to coordinate activities of faculty abroad and to ensure that foreigners' visits to HBS more meaningful.
    1954 The Ford Foundation awards a grant to help HBS found the Turkish Institute of Business Administration, to be taught by a predominantly Turkish faculty and examine Turkish business. Over the following 10 year period, 17 Turkish teachers receive special training at HBS, and 12 HBS faculty members are released for periods of months to years to assist the Turkish faculty. The program includes a year of instruction in the United States, followed by a year of research and casewriting on Turkish firms. After this preparation period, the Turkish Institute of Business Administration offers its first class of instruction.
    1952 Professor Charles Williams, as a consultant, advises co-sponsors Fiat and Olivetti on the opening of IPSOA (Istituto per lo Studio dell'Organizzazione Aziendale) in Turino, Italy, and begins teaching there. He is one of the first faculty members to engage in this kind of overseas assistance. There is no official connection with HBS, many of the IPSOA faculty are graduates of the HBS programs.
    1951 Harvard Business School joins with several other institutions to found the American Universities Field Staff (AUFS), a nonprofit organization that sends correspondents around the world to research and write reports on the political, economic, and social conditions of the country; give lectures to students at sponsor schools; interview students; and hold seminar lunches with interested faculty members.
    1950 The Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA), an agency of the U.S. government, sponsors groups of Europeans, under the auspices of the Marshall Plan to come to the United States and study U.S. productivity. The program includes a two-week session at the Harvard Business School.
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  • 1925 - 49
    1948 The "Management Training Course" at the University of Western Ontario, an executive program based on the Advanced Management Program, runs for its first 5-week session. HBS professors teach in the initial programs, but gradually turn over the teaching responsibility to the faculty of the University of Western Ontario School of Business Administration. Most of the participants are from Ontario, but other Canadians attend as well.
    1946 Harvey Bishop leaves his position as managing director of Royal Banking Powder Proprietary Ltd in Cape Town, South Africa, to direct the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program (AMP), which he transforms from a "tentative wartime course geared to Army and Navy needs" into a "solid, all-industry management development course".
    1946 The number and quality of foreign MBA students increases, while international enrollment in the Advanced Management Program (AMP) skyrockets.
    1942 J. Anton de Haas, professor of International Relations, goes to Bogotá, Colombia, to assist in planning a college of business administration in that country. The future school will "prepare young South American men in American business methods, and serve as a center where American young men may study South American commerce."
    1940 The profile of the incoming MBA class notes representatives of seven regions: Alaska, Canada, China, Hawaii, India, Switzerland, and Venezuela.
    1934 The faculty approves three new courses: "International Commercial Relations" by Professor de Haas; "Economic and Business Analysis of Foreign Countries" by Prof de. Haas and "Management Problems of Export and Import Trade" by Professor Tosdal.
    1933 In its third year, the Harvard Business School Alumni inaugurates clubs in London, Paris and Shanghai.
    1930 Dean Wallace B. Donham and Professor Georges Doriot participate in the opening ceremonies in Paris for the first European Center for advanced training in business management, the CPA (Centre de Perfectionnement dans l'Administration des Affaires), which Doriot established.
    1930 In the seventh volume of the Harvard Business School Bulletin, Dean Wallace B. Donham reports on newly developed English and French business schools.
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  • 1900 - 24
    1920 The HBS faculty undertakes a complete resurvey of the curriculum and divides it into eight "study groups-"to permit specialization with direction"-among them is Foreign Trade.
    1910 One of the first HBS instructors, Selden O. Martin travels to Latin America to gather information to augment existing courses.
    1908 The first international MBA students - Ting-chi Chu of Shanghai and Charles Le Deuc of Paris - enroll.
    1908 The original MBA curriculum includes courses in French, German and Spanish correspondence, in anticipation that students will require foreign languages in their business and personal dealings.
    1908 Professor Cherington's course, Economic Resources of the United States, "[gives] consideration to foreign trade of the country and the relative position of the US in international trade," and Professor Sprague's course in "Banking" begins by examining the London banking system against New York, and moves on to look comparatively at France and Germany.
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South Asia

South Asia photo

Barriers to Household Risk Management: Evidence from India

Financial engineering offers the potential to significantly reduce consumption fluctuations faced by individuals, households, and firms. Yet much of this promise remains unrealized.

Executive Education

Agribusiness Seminar - an Asian Offering
May 10-13, 2009 in Mumbai, India
Addressing the perspective of every player in the industry, the School's pioneering Agribusiness Seminar: An Asian Offering, tackles the formidable issues that executives face as they strive to position their businesses amid present-day realities.

Featured Research

Dharavi: Developing Asia's Largest Slum
Iyer, Lakshmi, John D. Macomber, and Namrata Arora
August 2009

Special Economic Zones in India: Public Purpose and Private Property
Alfaro, Laura, and Lakshmi Iyer
April 2009

Tata Motors in Singur: Public Purpose and Private Property
Alfaro, Laura, Lakshmi Iyer, and Namrata Arora
March 2009

Cola Wars: Going Global
Cespedes, Frank
January 2009

Asia-Pacific

Asia Pacific photo

Capitalizing On Innovation: The Case of Japan

Japan's industrial landscape is characterized by hierarchical forms of industry organization, which are increasingly inadequate in modern sectors, where innovation relies on platforms and horizontal ecosystems of firms producing complementary products.

Executive Education

Global CEO Program for China
From March - June 2009, this program will take place in Shanghai, Barcelona, and Boston
Created by HBS, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), and IESE Business School (IESE), this program is designed to prepare Chinese CEOs to build world-class enterprises in a globalized environment.

Featured Research

From Little Things Big Things Grow: The Clontarf Foundation Program for Aboriginal Boys
McFarlan, F. Warren, and Michael R. Vitale
August 2009

The Globalization of East Asian Pop Music
Siegel, Jordan I., and Yi Kwan Chu
August 2009

Yahoo! in China
Sucher, Sandra J., and Daniel Baer
April 2009

Shanghai Diligence Law Firm
Eccles, Robert G., and Catherine Zhang
March 2009

Malaysia Airlines
El-Hage, Nabil N., and Leslie S. Pierson
December 2008

Africa / Middle East

Africa/Middle East photo

Applying the Care Delivery Value Chain: HIV/AIDS Care in Resource Poor Settings

The care delivery value chain is a framework that can help conceptualize the organization and structure of care delivery for medical conditions. We apply this framework to HIV/AIDS care in resource-limited settings. Several conclusions arise that can help inform the design of care delivery platforms for HIV/AIDS.

Executive Education

Colloquium on Participant-Centered Learning (CPCL)
Begins July 2009
CPCL is a six-day seminar offered at HBS for faculty at business schools in emerging economies who are trained in interactive methods of teaching and learning.

Featured Research

The Millennium Challenge Corporation and Ghana
Ebrahim, Alnoor, and V. Kasturi Rangan
August 2009

Dubai: Global Economy
Vietor, Richard H.K., and Nicole Forrest
March 2009

Lapdesk Goes Global-Africa First
Isenberg, Daniel J
March 2009

Londolozi: Towards a Sustainable Business Model and Ecological Integrity in Southern Africa
Abdelal, Rawi, and Thomas Koelble
February 2009

Europe

Europe Pacific photo

HBS Cases: The Energy Politics of Russia vs. Ukraine

A recent Harvard Business School case looks at Russia's decision in 2006 to cut off supply of natural gas to Ukraine's energy company-a move repeated this year.

Executive Education

Changing the Game—Europe
June 28-July 3, 2009 (London, UK)
Designed as a comprehensive program for practical success, Changing the Game—Europe features courses, cases, and activities that improve every aspect of negotiation.

Featured Research

Spain: Can the House Resist the Storm?
Comin, Diego
August 2009

Groupe Eurotunnel S.A.
Gilson, Stuart C., Vincent Dessain, and Sarah Abbott
April 2009

Perfect Storm over Zurich Airport
Tushman, Michael L.
March 2009

Finland's S Group: Competing with a Cooperative Approach to Retail
Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, Tarun Khanna, Samuli Skurnik, and Jordan Mitchell
December 2008

Latin America

Latin America photo

A Resource Belief-Curse: Oil and Individualism

Capitalism is not as widespread as economists would hope. Data from surveys of public opinion, as well as on the distribution of political parties, confirm the idea that capitalism doesn't flow to poor countries.

Executive Education

Colloquium on Participant-Centered Learning (CPCL)
Begins July 2009
CPCL is a six-day seminar offered at HBS for faculty at business schools in emerging economies who are trained in interactive methods of teaching and learning.

Featured Research

Colbun-Powering Chile
Reinhardt, Forest, Gustavo Herrero, and Sanjay Patnaik
July 2009

Polanco: A Fashionable Opportunity
Segel, Arthur I., and Ben Creo
October 2008

Concha y Toro
Deshpande, Rohit, and Gustavo A. Herrero
April 2009

Banco Hipotecario S.A.
Bergstresser, Daniel B., Arthur I Segel, and Alexandra de Royere
March 2009

JBS Swift & Co.
Bell, David E., and Catherine Ross
January 2009