Go to main content
Harvard Business School
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions

Faculty & Research

  • HOME
  • FACULTY
  • RESEARCH
    • Global Research Centers
    • HBS Case Collection
    • HBS Case Development
    • Initiatives & Projects
    • Publications
    • Research Associate (RA) Positions
    • Research Services
    • Seminars & Conferences
    Close
  • FEATURED TOPICS
    • Business and Environment
    • Business History
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Finance
    • Globalization
    • Health Care
    • Human Behavior and Decision-Making
    • Leadership
    • Social Enterprise
    • Technology and Innovation
    Close
  • ACADEMIC UNITS
    • Accounting and Management
    • Business, Government and the International Economy
    • Entrepreneurial Management
    • Finance
    • General Management
    • Marketing
    • Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
    • Organizational Behavior
    • Strategy
    • Technology and Operations Management
    Close
Photo of William C. Kirby

Unit: General Management

Contact:

(617) 495-5119

Send Email

Additional Information
  • WBUR Radio Open Source: Trump Goes to China

Areas of Interest

  • cross-cultural/cross-border
  • education
  • global
  • government and business
  • networks

Additional Topics

  • corporate culture
  • corporate social responsibility
  • developing countries
  • emerging markets
  • family business
  • globalization
  • intellectual property
  • international business
  • international comparison
  • international entrepreneurship
  • joint ventures
  • law
  • partnerships
  • professionalism
  • reciprocity
  • relationships
  • structure of the firm
  • succession

Industries

  • education industry
  • wine

Geographies

  • China
  • East Asia
  • Hong Kong
  • Taiwan
MORE

William C. Kirby

T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies, Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration

William C. Kirby is Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies at Harvard University. He is a University Distinguished Service Professor. Professor Kirby serves as Chairman of the Harvard China Fund, the University's academic venture fund for China, and Faculty Chair of the Harvard Center Shanghai, Harvard's first University-wide center located outside the United States.

A historian by training, Professor Kirby examines contemporary China's business, economic, and political development in an international context. He writes and teaches on the growth of modern companies in China (Chinese and foreign; state-owned and private); Chinese corporate law and company structure; business relations across Greater China (PRC, Taiwan, Hong Kong); and China's relations with the United States and Europe. He has authored or co-authored more than fifty HBS cases on business in China, ranging from start-ups to SOEs; agribusiness and middle-class consumption; banking and microfinance; healthcare and education; corporate governance and corporate social responsibility; and the global strategies of Chinese firms. His current projects include case studies of trend-setting Chinese businesses and a comparative study of higher education in China, Europe, and the United States. His most recent book is Can China Lead? (Harvard Business Review Press).

Print Entire ProfileMore

William C. Kirby is Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies at Harvard University. He is a University Distinguished Service Professor. Professor Kirby serves as Chairman of the Harvard China Fund, the University's academic venture fund for China, and Faculty Chair of the Harvard Center Shanghai, Harvard's first University-wide center located outside the United States.

A historian by training, Professor Kirby examines contemporary China's business, economic, and political development in an international context. He writes and teaches on the growth of modern companies in China (Chinese and foreign; state-owned and private); Chinese corporate law and company structure; business relations across Greater China (PRC, Taiwan, Hong Kong); and China's relations with the United States and Europe. He has authored or co-authored more than fifty HBS cases on business in China, ranging from start-ups to SOEs; agribusiness and middle-class consumption; banking and microfinance; healthcare and education; corporate governance and corporate social responsibility; and the global strategies of Chinese firms. His current projects include case studies of trend-setting Chinese businesses and a comparative study of higher education in China, Europe, and the United States. His most recent book is Can China Lead? (Harvard Business Review Press).

Before coming to Harvard in 1992, he was Professor of History, Director of Asian Studies, and Dean of University College at Washington University in St. Louis. At Harvard, Professor Kirby has served as Chair of the History Department, Director of the Harvard University Asia Center, Director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

As Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, he led Harvard's largest school, with 10,000 students, 1,000 faculty members, 2,500 staff, and an annual budget of $1 billion. He initiated major reforms in undergraduate education in Harvard College; enhanced Harvard's international studies at home and abroad; increased substantially financial aid in the College and in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; supported the growth of the Division (now School) of Engineering and Applied Sciences; and oversaw the construction of major new buildings in the Life Sciences, Engineering, and the Arts. During his tenure, the Faculty expanded at its most rapid rate since the 1960s.

Professor Kirby's research and consulting have focused on strategies for business and education in China. He serves on the Board of Directors of Cabot Corporation; The China Fund, Inc.; The Taiwan Fund, Inc.; the American Council of Learned Societies; Harvard University Press; and Schwarzman Scholars at Tsinghua University. He served as Senior Advisor on China to Duke University in the founding of Duke Kunshan University.

Professor Kirby holds degrees from Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the Freie Universität Berlin (Dr. Phil. honoris causa), the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Dr. Phil. honoris causa), and Hong Kong Baptist University (Dr. Humanities honoris causa). He has been named Honorary Professor at Tsinghua University, Peking University, Nanjing University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, Chongqing University, East China Normal University, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, and National Chengchi University. He has held appointments also as Visiting Professor at University of Heidelberg and the Freie Universität Berlin. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Print Entire ProfileLess
Publications Research Summary Awards & Honors
  1. Awarded an Honorary Professorship by Zheijiang University in 2011.

  2. Awarded an Honorary Professorship by East China Normal University in 2011.

  3. Awarded an Honorary Professorship by National Chengchi University in 2011.

  4. Awarded a Dr. Phil. Honoris Causa (Honorary Doctorate) by Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2010.

  5. Awarded an Honorary Professorship by Fudan University in 2008.

  6. Awarded an Honorary Professorship by Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences in 2008.

  7. Awarded an Honorary Professorship by Chongqing University in 2008.

  8. Awarded a Dr. Phil. Honoris Causa (Honorary Doctorate) by the Freie Universität Berlin Fachbereich Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften in 2006.

  9. Received a Distinguished Faculty Award from the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations in 2006.

  10. Elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005.

  11. Received a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant for 1994–1999.

  12. Awarded an Honorary Professorship by Peking University in 1996.

  13. Awarded an Honorary Professorship by Nanjing University in 1994.

  14. Awarded a Fellowship in Chinese Studies from the American Council of Learned Societies for 1994–1995.

  15. Received a grant from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange for 1993–2000.

  16. Received a Distinguished Faculty Award from Washington University in Saint Louis in 1991.

  17. Received a Research Grant from the U.S. National Program for Advanced Study and Research in China for 1987.

  18. Awarded a Fellowship in Chinese Studies from the American Council of Learned Societies for 1984–1985.

  19. Received a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant for 1983.

  20. Received a History of Science and Technology Grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for 1982.

  21. Awarded a Whiting Fellowship in the Humanities for 1979–1980.

  22. Awarded a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship for 1977–1978.

  23. Received a Center for European Studies Research Grant from the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies for 1977.

  24. Received a Harvard History Research Grant for Europe in 1976.

  25. Awarded a National Defence Foreign Language Fellowship for 1975–1976.

  26. Winner of a Harvard University Graduate Fellowship, 1973–1976.

  27. Named a Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst Fellow at the Freie Universität Berlin for 1972–1973.

  28. Member of Phi Beta Kappa, 1972.

  29. Awarded an Honorary Professorship by Tsinghua University in 2016.

  30. Awarded a Dr. Phil. Honoris Causa (Honorary Doctorate) by Hong Kong Baptist University in 2017.

In the News

06 Apr 2018
Harvard Business School
Trade War or a War of Words?
11 Aug 2016
Cold Call
Why College Rankings Keep Deans Awake at Night
02 Aug 2016
Harvard Business Review
The Real Reason Uber Is Giving Up in China
19 Feb 2014
Harvard Business Review
Why China Can't Innovate
16 Dec 2014
Harvard Business School
The Future of Green China

See more news for William C. Kirby »

ǁ
Campus Map
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→ Map & Directions
→ More Contact Information
→ More Contact Information
→ More Contact Information
→ More Contact Information
  • HBS Facebook
  • Alumni Facebook
  • Executive Education Facebook
  • Michael Porter Facebook
  • Working Knowledge Facebook
  • HBS Twitter
  • Executive Education Twitter
  • HBS Alumni Twitter
  • Michael Porter Twitter
  • Recruiting Twitter
  • Rock Center Twitter
  • Working Knowledge Twitter
  • Jobs Twitter
  • HBS Youtube
  • Michael Porter Youtube
  • Executive Education Youtube
  • HBS Linkedin
  • Alumni Linkedin
  • Executive Education Linkedin
  • MBA Linkedin
  • Linkedin
  • HBS Instagram
  • Alumni Instagram
  • Executive Education Instagram
  • Michael Porter Instagram
  • HBS iTunes
  • Executive Education iTunes
  • HBS Tumblr
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College