Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2018
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Oral History and Writing the Business History of Emerging Markets

By: Geoffrey Jones and Rachael Comunale
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:22 
ShareBar

Abstract

This working paper highlights the benefits that rigorous use of oral history can offer to research on the contemporary business history of emerging markets. Oral history can help fill some of the major information voids arising from the absence of a strong tradition of corporate archives in most countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Oral history also permits a level of nuance that is hard to obtain even if written documents exist and are accessible in corporate and governmental archives. Oral histories can provide insights into why events did not occur as well as why companies chose certain industries over others, including wishing to avoid sectors where there was extensive government interference. Oral history can shed light on hypersensitive topics, such as corruption, which are rarely formally documented. While the methodological challenges of oral history are considerable and fully acknowledged, oral history can still be seen as a critical source of data on opinions, voices, and judgements on events in which there was often silence in written records.

Keywords

Oral History; Business History; Research; Emerging Markets

Citation

Jones, Geoffrey, and Rachael Comunale. "Oral History and Writing the Business History of Emerging Markets." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-056, November 2018.
  • SSRN
  • Read Now

About The Author

Geoffrey G. Jones

General Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • January 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Thomas J. Watson, IBM and Nazi Germany

    By: Geoffrey Jones and Grace Ballor
    • 2021
    • Faculty Research

    International Business History and the Strategy of Multinational Enterprises: How History Matters

    By: Geoffrey Jones and Teresa da Silva Lopes
    • 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Bollywood, Skin Color and Sexism: The Role of the Film Industry in Emboldening and Contesting Stereotypes in India after Independence

    By: Sudev Sheth, Geoffrey Jones and Morgan Spencer
More from the Authors
  • Thomas J. Watson, IBM and Nazi Germany By: Geoffrey Jones and Grace Ballor
  • International Business History and the Strategy of Multinational Enterprises: How History Matters By: Geoffrey Jones and Teresa da Silva Lopes
  • Bollywood, Skin Color and Sexism: The Role of the Film Industry in Emboldening and Contesting Stereotypes in India after Independence By: Sudev Sheth, Geoffrey Jones and Morgan Spencer
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College