Emerging Markets and the Future of Business History

Gareth  Austin; Carlos  Dávila; Geoffrey  Jones

Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2017

Emerging Markets and the Future of Business History

by Gareth Austin, Carlos Dávila and Geoffrey Jones

Abstract

This working paper suggests that the business history of emerging markets should be seen as an alternative business history rather than merely adding new settings to explore established core debates. The discipline of business history evolved around the corporate strategies and structures of developed economies. The growing literature on the business history of emerging markets addresses contexts that are different from developed markets. These regions had long eras of foreign domination and extensive state intervention, faced institutional inefficiencies, and experienced extended turbulence. This working paper suggests that this context drove different business responses than in the developed world. Entrepreneurs counted more than managerial hierarchies, immigrants and diaspora were critical sources of entrepreneurship, illegal and informal forms of business was commonplace, diversified business groups rather than the M-form became the major form of large-scale business, corporate strategies to deal with turbulence were essential, and radical corporate social responsibility concepts were pursued by some firms. Today, emerging markets such as China, India, Brazil, South Korea, Mexico, and Indonesia are among the largest economies in the world. If business history is to remain relevant as a subject, it must transition as a discipline from being heavily focused on North America, Europe, and Japan to fully incorporating the historical experiences of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Keywords: Business History; Emerging Markets; Developing Countries and Economies;

Language: English

Format: Print

52 pages

SSRN Read Now

Citation:

Austin, Gareth, Carlos Dávila, and Geoffrey Jones. "Emerging Markets and the Future of Business History." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 18-012, August 2017.

Concerns the growth of multinational trading companies in the first global economy. Examines two Scottish-owned merchant houses, Jardine Matheson and James Finlay, and shows their changing trade and investment strategies as well as their use of an organizational form later known as business groups. Also demonstrates the role of ethnic networks in globalization during this historical period. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

Book | 2018

Varieties of Green Business: Industries, Nations and Time

G. Jones

Published at a time of ever-increasing warnings that the pace of climate change and other environmental changes risks making the Earth unsustainable within our own lifetimes, this book looks at the past of green business to identify lessons for the future. It provides rich new evidence and insights on green business as it examines its variation between industries and nations, and over time. It shows the deep historical origins of endeavors to create for-profit businesses that were more responsible and sustainable, but also how these strategies have faced constraints, trade-offs and challenges of legitimacy. The industries covered range from sustainable finance and solar energy, to organic food and wine, eco-tourism and outdoor clothing. Strategies purused range from incremental shifts towards sustainability to abandoning for-profit business entirely and re-wilding and conserving millions of acres of lands in Latin America. The book's distinctivness lies in the use of original empirical data, and the willingness to engage with both sucessful and unsuccessful cases. The wide geographical coverage includes not only the United States and Europe, but also less studied settings, including Chile, Costa Rica, New Zealand and Japan. The book serves as a warning against facile beliefs in the potential of win/win solutions as business tries to reduce its environmental impact, or even save the planet. The lesson of history is that making business sustainable is a hard journey, littered with system-wide roadblocks, but it is a journey that is possible, and one that is urgently needed.

Keywords: Green Business; sustainability; business history; renewable energy; eco-tourism; organic wine; organic food; waste management; sustainable finance; Ethics; Finance; History; Entrepreneurship; Accommodations Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Banking Industry; Energy Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Green Technology Industry; Tourism Industry; Europe; Asia; Latin America; North and Central America; New Zealand;

Citation:

Jones, G. Varieties of Green Business: Industries, Nations and Time. Northamption, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018. View Details

Cite View Details

Taught in Evolution of Global Business. Globalization and corporate fraud are the central themes of this case on the international growth of Swedish Match in the interwar years. Between 1913 and 1932, Ivar Kreuger, known as the "Swedish Match King," built a small, family-owned match business into a $600 million global match empire. Despite the economic and political disruptions of the interwar period, Swedish Match owned manufacturing operations in 36 countries, had monopolies in 16 countries, and controlled 40% of the world's match production. Kreuger companies lent over $300 million dollars to governments in Europe, Latin America, and Asia in exchange for national match monopolies. Relying on international capital markets to finance acquisitions and monopoly deals, by 1929 the stocks and bonds of Kreuger companies were the most widely held securities in the United States and the world. After Kreuger's 1932 suicide, forensic auditors discovered that Kreuger had operated a giant pyramid scheme. His accounts were ridden with fictitious assets, the truth hidden in a maze of over 400 subsidiary companies. Swedish Match's deficits exceeded Sweden's national debt.

Faculty & Research

Emerging Markets and the Future of Business History

Abstract

Citation:

About the Author

More from the Author