Interviews
The interviews in the Creating Emerging Markets archive form a permanent and unique resource held in Harvard Business School’s Baker Library. Many interview transcripts can be downloaded immediately in full, and all others are available upon request. Each interview page includes supporting resources about the interviewee and her or his business. If the interview is conducted in a local language, an English translation is provided. Many of the interviews are on video. Harvard ID holders are able to access the full-length videos through the website. Most Latin American interview transcripts are in Spanish and English. La mayoría de las transcripciones de las entrevistas latinoamericanas se encuentran disponibles en español e inglés.
Interviews are freely available for research & teaching. For academic research, we ask that you credit HBS using the citations provided on the transcripts. For more information, visit our Research Guidelines page.
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Results
- Argentina
Arturo Acevedo
President, Grupo Arcelor Mittal (Acindar)
(Steel and Mining)
“It is important to clearly define social responsibility. We have always upheld a very active and responsible policy in this field. We make mistakes, and a lot of things still need improving, but corporate social responsibility is a major corporate concept.”
- India
Anu Aga
Thermax Private, Ltd.
(Engineering Manufacturing)
“[As a leader], you don’t have to know everything In fact, one of the beliefs I have is [that] skills can be hired. The leader has to show wisdom—that cannot be hired.”
- Turkey
Hamdi Akın
Founder and Chairman, Akfen Holding
(Construction, infrastructure)
“[W]e want these companies to last 100, 200, or even 300 years. We want them to survive in the long term. We don’t want them to just live and die with us.”
- Sri Lanka
Abbas Akbarally
Chairman, Akbar Brothers
(Tea; Diversified)
“The main thing is integrity, honesty; and once the banks know that you are not going to take their money and go to the casino, they will give you the money.”
- Saudi Arabia
Muhammad Alagil
Jarir Marketing
(Electronics; office supplies; books; diversified)
“We just want to keep developing a good reputation. We want to have exciting time. We want to add something to the community.”
- Kuwait
Kutayba Alghanim
Chairman, Alghanim Industries
(Diversified)
“Being able to be flexible is good, because conditions in the marketplace change—continuously. You have to keep up with those conditions.”
- Peru
Eva Arias
President, Compañía Minera Poderosa
(Mining)
“The economics of a mine—any mine—creates a very deep symbiosis with the local area For instance, at Poderosa, we provide employment—counting our own employees and outsourced workers who do some specific jobs—to over 3,500 people.”
- Philippines
Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala
Ayala Corporation
(Real Estate, Infrastructure, Insurance, Banking)
“We wanted to be part and parcel of the development cycle of the country and to be relevant as an institution in a country which needed a lot of growth, a lot of development, and a lot of institutional support. [We wanted] to have an Ayala that was relevant to the national development agenda, but at the same time put capital to work and gave good return on investment.”
- Pakistan
Syed Babar Ali
Founder, Lahore University of Management Sciences
(Education; Government)
“I felt, having been in industry and business for a fair amount of time, that you could so much with management, but not enough unless you added value to what the country is producing.”
- India
Rahul Bajaj
Chair, Bajaj Group
(Diversified)
“We were in a socialist raj. You couldn’t make anything until you got an industrial license and you couldn’t make more than the license capacity.”
- Argentina
Susana Balbo
Owner and Chief Winemaker, Susana Balbo Wines
(Wine)
“I had to find a way to produce modern wines with little resources. It’s amazing how resourceful we can be when we need to: we are not aware of the tools we have until we start using them.”
- India
Sanjay Bansal
Former Chairman & Managing Director, Darjeeling Organic Tea Estates Pvt. Ltd.
(Tea, agribusiness)
“My general approach towards the workers and their family was that we were all part of one family. So I think that was a major act of breaking down the formal relationship of the previous [colonial] structure.”
- Peru
Alberto Benavides
Founder and Chair, Compañía de Minas Buenaventura
(Mining)
“Don’t worry about environmental care costs. Be sure to take good care of the environment, just for its own sake, because God will return the favor with a bountiful reward.”
- Argentina
Jorge Born
Former President, Bunge y Born (now Bunge Limited)
(Agribusiness, Food)
“You need to stay incredibly nimble to anticipate what the government will do, and governments often have no plan of any kind”
- Tunisia
Ouided Bouchamaoui
Former President, Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA); Co-Founder, Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet; CEO, Hédi Bouchamaoui Group (HBG Holding)
(Diversified, Politics)
“If we don’t have the trust of others, it’s difficult – let’s say it’s impossible to succeed. When people trust you, you have this responsibility to do well and to answer to their questions and to give them this hope.”
- Turkey
Cem Boyner
President, Boyner Holding
(Retail)
“Retailing is probably the world’s second oldest profession. You have so many people that come into your store who you touch... our salespeople are psychologists... clairvoyants... They can read character. So we just gave the authority to them.”
- Argentina
Federico Braun
President and Chair, Sociedad Anónima Importadora y Exportadora de la Patagonia (SAIEP) (La Anónima)
(Supermarkets)
“La Anónima is seen as a company that meets its commitments, has longtime and loyal employees—and this is important—and keeps its word. However simple they may seem, these qualities are not that easy to find.”
- India
Anand Burman
Chairman, Dabur India Limited
(Natural Consumer Products)
“We want our brand—we want the Dabur name—to signify trust.”
- Colombia
Carlos Enrique Cavelier
Chairman of the Board and Dreams Coordinator, Alquería
(Dairy)
“I’ve never thought one should use power to benefit a business: power should be used to serve society. I believe that, by building a reputation as a business leader and as a company, one can contribute technical expertise to enhance public policies for an industry – but not for personal gain.”
- United Arab Emirates
Patrick Chalhoub
CEO, Chalhoub Group
(Luxury, retail)
“[Our stores are] ordered with a lot of finesse and adaptation. And this is where the understanding of our customer is so important, but it’s understanding with a twist—because we don’t want just to understand and to follow. We need to understand and move the customer to want the brand in the future.”