Faculty & Research
Harvard Business School faculty members have made notable contributions to the history of business. Faculty research is diverse, based in several of the School’s units, and reflects disciplinary backgrounds in economics, history, sociology, strategy, and political science.
- April 2022
- Case
Gender Equality in Business: 100 Years of Progress?
By: Boris Groysberg and Colleen Ammerman
| "Gender Equality in Business: 100 Years of Progress?" traces the history of women in management from the early 20th to early 21st century through analysis of Harvard Business Review's coverage of women and gender. The case identifies six distinct phases in the...
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- 2022
- Book Chapter
Capitalism and the Environment
By: Geoffrey Jones
| Capitalism drove the environmental decimation of the planet. The environment was seen as a free good, while the consequences of dirty industrial and agricultural processes were seen as external to the firm. Public policies largely allowed this to happen, as politicians...
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- 2022
- Book Chapter
Crises and International Business
By: Geoffrey Jones
| This chapter uses the intellectual journey of the author to suggest that crises have been the norm rather than the exception in the history of international business. Over the last 100 years world wars, regional conflicts, the Great Depression, and decolonization are...
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- February 2022
- Case
Business Roundtable 2019 Statement: A New Paradigm or Business as Usual?
By: Charles C.Y. Wang and Amram Migdal
| This note focuses on the antecedents of, reactions to, and clarifications about The Business Roundtable’s August 19, 2019, “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation.” The note includes background information on corporate governance as practiced in the United States in...
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- 2022
- Book Chapter
Luxury Tourism and Environmentalism
By: Geoffrey Jones
| This chapter examines the evolution of luxury tourism and its environmental impact. Whilst mass tourism is widely seen as environmentally damaging, the impact of luxury tourism is nuanced. During the first stage of the growth in the nineteenth century, the numbers of...
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- 05 Nov 2021
- Op-Ed
Is the Business World Finally Ready for the Wisdom of Shibusawa?
by Geoffrey Jones and Rei Morimoto
| Legendary financier Eiichi Shibusawa advocated for business prosperity that would also benefit society. One hundred years after his death, his message is resonating with a new generation of leaders, say Geoffrey Jones and Rei Morimoto.
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- 10 Sep 2021
- News
The Evolution of Black Friday Shopping — And What 2021 May Bring
Re: Nancy Koehn
| The term “Black Friday” originally had no connection to shopping, explained Nancy Koehn, a historian and professor at the Harvard Business School. It described a financial panic in 1869 that resulted from investors Jay Gould and Jim Fisk driving up gold prices and...
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- Business History
Business Investment in Education in Emerging Markets Since the 1960s
By: Valeria Giacomin, Geoffrey Jones and Erica Salvaj
| This article examines non-profit investments by business in education in emerging markets between the 1960s and the present day. Using a sample of 110 interviews with business leaders from an oral history database, the study shows that more than three-quarters of such...
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- 17 Aug 2021
- News
HBS Appoints Kenneth J. Peterson Executive Director for Knowledge and Library Services
Re: Kenneth Peterson
| HBS announces today that Kenneth J. Peterson has been named Executive Director for Knowledge and Library Services (KLS).
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- July 2021 (Revised January 2022)
- Case
K.C. Li: The Tungsten King
By: Geoffrey Jones and Casey Verkamp
| This case examines the business career of Kuo-Ching Li, who was born in China in 1892, and built a successful minerals trading business called Wah Chang in the United States during the interwar years. He acquired a prominent role in tungsten, the strongest natural...
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- 13 Jul 2021
- News
Strategies for Underdogs: How Alibaba’s Taobao Beat eBay in China
Re: Felix Oberholzer
| How did underdog Taobao displace eBay in China, and how will it monetize its marketplace for future success?
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- Summer 2021
- Business History Review
The Cost and Evolution of Quality at Cipla Ltd, 1935–2016
By: Muhammad H. Zaman and Tarun Khanna
| This article examines the evolution of Indian pharmaceutical manufacturer Cipla towards producing drugs that met the quality standards of European and U.S. regulators. It employs new research in Cipla’s corporate archives, the Creating Emerging Markets database, and...
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Initiative Leadership
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