Uncovering the roots of innovation
Academic Excellence
Expanding Horizons
“The Business History Initiative encourages transformational research and course development on the history of capitalism that is impactful and relevant to scholars, educators, and practitioners worldwide. History provides rich and nuanced evidence on many key debates in the world today.”
Faculty Chair
“The Business History Initiative encourages transformational research and course development on the history of capitalism that is impactful and relevant to scholars, educators, and practitioners worldwide. History provides rich and nuanced evidence on many key debates in the world today.”
Faculty Chair
The New Rules of Trade with China: Navigating Tariffs, Turmoil, and Opportunities
- 23 Jul 2024
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- HBS Working Knowledge
Honoring the History of Black Americans in the Military
- 20 Feb 2024
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- Harvard Business School
The Beauty Industry: Products for a Healthy Glow or a Compact for Harm?
- 21 Nov 2023
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- HBS Working Knowledge
News
Gerben Bakker
Gerben Bakker specializes in the long-run analysis of innovation, especially in the creative industries. He has completed award-winning research programs on the history of the live entertainment, motion picture, and music industries, and on the trade in news. Currently he is completing research on the business and economic history of the American motion picture industry since 1945, and he is beginning a new research project on the history of multinationals in the creative industries. His latest publication is “The Terminal Revolution: Reuters and Bloomberg as Global Providers of Financial and Economic News, c. 1960 – 2019,” in Pedro Aguiar and Oliver Boyd-Barrett, eds., The Routledge Handbook of News Agencies (2025).
Gerben Bakker specializes in the long-run analysis of innovation, especially in the creative industries. He has completed award-winning research programs on the history of the live entertainment, motion picture, and music industries, and on the trade in news. Currently he is completing research on the business and economic history of the American motion picture industry since 1945, and he is beginning a new research project on the history of multinationals in the creative industries. His latest publication is “The Terminal Revolution: Reuters and Bloomberg as Global Providers of Financial and Economic News, c. 1960 – 2019,” in Pedro Aguiar and Oliver Boyd-Barrett, eds., The Routledge Handbook of News Agencies (2025).
Adam Hefetz
Adam Hefetz is a historian specializing in Zionism and capitalism, approached through the lens of business history. He earned his Ph.D. in Jewish History from the University of Haifa. He is currently revising his dissertation into a book titled Financing Zionism: The Anglo-Palestine Bank and the Origins of Israeli Capitalism. His second major research project, tentatively titled Profiting from Petroleum: A Global History of Israel’s Oil Companies, explores the integration of Israel’s oil sector into the global fossil fuel economy. Hefetz’s recent publications examine diverse aspects of economic and political history, including the financing strategies of Zionist institutions, the regulation of Palestine’s banking sector, and the intersections of accounting, imperialism, and capitalism in Mandate Palestine.
Adam Hefetz is a historian specializing in Zionism and capitalism, approached through the lens of business history. He earned his Ph.D. in Jewish History from the University of Haifa. He is currently revising his dissertation into a book titled Financing Zionism: The Anglo-Palestine Bank and the Origins of Israeli Capitalism. His second major research project, tentatively titled Profiting from Petroleum: A Global History of Israel’s Oil Companies, explores the integration of Israel’s oil sector into the global fossil fuel economy. Hefetz’s recent publications examine diverse aspects of economic and political history, including the financing strategies of Zionist institutions, the regulation of Palestine’s banking sector, and the intersections of accounting, imperialism, and capitalism in Mandate Palestine.
Christina Lubinski
Christina Lubinski earned her Ph.D. at the University of Göttingen and was the Newcomen Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Business School in 2010. She works across business history and entrepreneurship studies, using historical and humanistic approaches to explore how entrepreneurship shapes and is shaped by society. While here at HBS, she will draw on Baker Library archives to study the Harvard Research Center in Entrepreneurial History, a pioneering postwar research group that grappled with the social and economic role of entrepreneurship, debates that remain central to the field today. Her most recent publications include “Entrepreneurialism: Conceptual Exploration of an Ideology” (Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 2025), using historical approaches to understand the pervasiveness of entrepreneurship discourse on society. The paperback edition of her book Navigating Nationalism in Global Enterprise was just released by Cambridge University Press, reflecting her ongoing interest in the intersections of entrepreneurship, history, and society.
Christina Lubinski earned her Ph.D. at the University of Göttingen and was the Newcomen Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Business School in 2010. She works across business history and entrepreneurship studies, using historical and humanistic approaches to explore how entrepreneurship shapes and is shaped by society. While here at HBS, she will draw on Baker Library archives to study the Harvard Research Center in Entrepreneurial History, a pioneering postwar research group that grappled with the social and economic role of entrepreneurship, debates that remain central to the field today. Her most recent publications include “Entrepreneurialism: Conceptual Exploration of an Ideology” (Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 2025), using historical approaches to understand the pervasiveness of entrepreneurship discourse on society. The paperback edition of her book Navigating Nationalism in Global Enterprise was just released by Cambridge University Press, reflecting her ongoing interest in the intersections of entrepreneurship, history, and society.