Why Does Business Invest in Education in Emerging Markets? Why Does It Matter?

Valeria  Giacomin; G.  Jones; Erica  Salvaj

Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2019

Why Does Business Invest in Education in Emerging Markets? Why Does It Matter?

by Valeria Giacomin, G. Jones and Erica Salvaj

Abstract

This working paper examines why a significant number of businesses have made non-profit investments 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 at the Harvard Business School, the study shows that more than three-quarters of such leaders invested in education as a non-profit activity. Three different types of motivations behind such high levels of engagement with education are identified: values driven, context focused, and firm focused. It also identifies significant regional variations in terms of investment execution, structure, and impact. In South and Southeast Asia, there was a preference for long-term investment in primary and secondary education. In Africa and Latin America, some initiatives sometimes had a shorter-term connotation, but with high-profile projects in partnerships with international organizations and foreign universities. In Turkey, there was heavy focus on training and the creation of universities. The working paper concludes by examining the impact of this investment, comparing Chile and India especially. It discusses issues such as the paucity of financial data and the challenges of comparing different types of educational spending, which make robust conclusions hard, but does suggest that although such spending did not resolve major educational roadblocks across Africa, Asia and Latin America, it represented a positive overall social gain.

Keywords: philanthropy; CSR; oral history; Emerging Markets; Education; Reputation; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business History;

Language: English

Format: Print

65 pages

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Citation:

Giacomin, Valeria, G. Jones, and Erica Salvaj. "Why Does Business Invest in Education in Emerging Markets? Why Does It Matter?" Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-039, October 2019.

This case examines the entrepreneurial career of Momofuku Ando, the Taiwanese-born Japanese entrepreneur who pioneered instant boodles with his Chicken Ramen (1958) and Cup Noodle (1971) products. It begins by reviewing his many previous unsuccessful ventures, including two jail terms, during the turbulent era of the 1930s, World War II, and postwar Japan. Following the development of Cup Noodle, Ando and his company Nissin began globalizing the product, beginning with the United States, Brazil and Southeast Asia. The case enables a discussion of the factors behind his many entrepreneurial failures, and his eventual success in the food industry. It looks at the social and economic changes which provided the context for his subsequent development of a successful business in instant noodles, and its globalization. The case also provides an opportunity to discuss the responsibilities of the food industry for the health of consumers. Although instant noodles were cheap and convenient, the high sodium content posed potential health risks, while the packaging of Cup Noodle had an adverse environmental impact.

Case | HBS Case Collection | April 2018 (Revised November 2019)

Coco Chanel: From Fashion Icon to Nazi Agent

Geoffrey Jones and Emily Grandjean

This case describes the career of the iconic French fashion designer Coco Chanel who created a transformational business during the first half of the 20th century. Beginning in her early adulthood, Chanel leveraged relationships with acquaintances, friends, and romantic partners to build her fashion business and legendary luxury brand based on understated elegance. Chanel’s famous “little black dress” was accompanied by many other innovations including the use of jersey as material for daytime clothing and her development of the Chanel No. 5 perfume. The case pays close attention to the importance of Chanel’s networks among the cultural elite and European high society. It explores how she embraced the rise of Anti-Semitism among many members of the upper class at that time. During World War II, Chanel lived in the Ritz Hotel in Paris in occupied France, where she entered into a romantic relationship with a high-ranking German intelligence officer. Subsequently, Chanel herself became an intelligence operative for the Nazis. The case ends with Chanel in Switzerland in 1945 after she departed France following the Liberation of Paris by Allied forces. This case can be used to explore multiple issues including creating and building an iconic fashion brand, entrepreneurship, and ethical responsibility of business.

Keywords: Business History; Biography; Entrepreneurship; Relationships; Brands and Branding; Ethics; Fashion Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry;

Citation:

Jones, Geoffrey, and Emily Grandjean. "Coco Chanel: From Fashion Icon to Nazi Agent." Harvard Business School Case 318-139, April 2018. (Revised November 2019.) View Details

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Why Does Business Invest in Education in Emerging Markets? Why Does It Matter?

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