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Business History

Business History

    • 2014
    • Book

    Business History

    By: Walter A. Friedman and Geoffrey Jones

    This volume contains a selection of 42 foundational articles on the discipline of business history written between 1934 and the present day by scholars based in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. A wide-ranging editorial introduction describes the formation and evolution of the discipline from its origins at the Harvard Business School in the late 1920s. Over the following century, the editors show that the discipline and its practitioners often found themselves on the margins of academic discourses and their own institutions. There was a constant struggle to define the borders of the field and the central research questions that it sought to answer. However, the commitment to engage with the complexities of business and the disinclination to rely on models with simplistic assumptions about business behavior also enabled business history to be highly creative and, at times, to exercise a huge impact on management studies more generally, especially strategy and the study of entrepreneurship.

    • 2014
    • Book

    Business History

    By: Walter A. Friedman and Geoffrey Jones

    This volume contains a selection of 42 foundational articles on the discipline of business history written between 1934 and the present day by scholars based in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. A wide-ranging editorial introduction describes the formation and evolution of the discipline from its origins at the Harvard Business...

    • Article

    Making 'Green Giants': Environment Sustainability in the German Chemical Industry, 1950s–1980s

    By: Geoffrey Jones and Christina Lubinski

    This article examines the evolution of corporate environmentalism in the West German chemical industry between the 1950s and the 1980s. It focuses on two companies, Bayer and Henkel, that have been identified as "green giants," and traces the evolution of their environmental strategies in response to growing evidence of pollution and resulting political pressures. The variety of capitalism literature has suggested that the German coordinated market economy model was more conducive to green corporate strategies than liberal market economies such as the United States. This article finds instead that regional influences were more important, supporting sociological theories about the importance of visibility in corporate green strategies. It identifies major commonalities between corporate strategies in the German and American chemical industries until the 1970s, when the two German firms diverged from their American counterparts in using public relations strategies not only to contain fallout from criticism, but also as opportunities for changes in corporate culture aimed at promoting a positive bond with consumers based on new green brand identities.

    • Article

    Making 'Green Giants': Environment Sustainability in the German Chemical Industry, 1950s–1980s

    By: Geoffrey Jones and Christina Lubinski

    This article examines the evolution of corporate environmentalism in the West German chemical industry between the 1950s and the 1980s. It focuses on two companies, Bayer and Henkel, that have been identified as "green giants," and traces the evolution of their environmental strategies in response to growing evidence of pollution and resulting...

    • Spring 2014
    • Article

    Charting Dynamic Trajectories: Multinational Firms in India

    By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Tarun Khanna

    In this article, we provide a synthesizing framework that we call the "dynamic trajectories" framework to study the evolution of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in host countries over time. We argue that a change in the policy environment in a host country presents an MNE with two sets of interrelated decisions. First, the MNE has to decide whether to enter, exit, or stay in the host country at the onset of each policy epoch; second, conditional on the first choice, it has to decide on its local responsiveness strategy at the onset of each policy epoch. India, which experienced two policy shocks—shutting down to MNEs in 1970 and then opening up again in 1991—offers an interesting laboratory to explore the "dynamic trajectories" perspective. We collect and analyze a unique dataset of all entry and exit events for Fortune 50 and FTSE 50 firms (as of 1991) in India in the period from 1858 to 2013 and, additionally, we document detailed case studies of four MNEs (that arguably represent outliers in our sample).

    • Spring 2014
    • Article

    Charting Dynamic Trajectories: Multinational Firms in India

    By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Tarun Khanna

    In this article, we provide a synthesizing framework that we call the "dynamic trajectories" framework to study the evolution of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in host countries over time. We argue that a change in the policy environment in a host country presents an MNE with two sets of interrelated decisions. First, the MNE has to decide...

    • Article

    Contested Meanings of Freedom: Workingmen's Wages, the Company Store System and the Godcharles v. Wigeman Decision

    By: Laura Phillips Sawyer

    In 1886, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down a law that prohibited employers from paying wages in company store scrip and mandated monthly wage payments. The court held that the legislature could not prescribe mandatory wage contracts for legally competent workingmen. The decision quashed over two decades of efforts to end the "truck system." Although legislators had agreed that wage payments redeemable only in company store goods appeared antithetical to the free labor wage system, two obstacles complicated legislative action. Any law meant to enhance laborers' rights could neither favor one class over another nor infringe any workingman's ability to make voluntary contracts. These distinctions, however, were not as rigid and laissez faire-oriented as depicted by conventional history. Labor reformers argued that principles of equity must supplement these categories of class legislation and contract freedom. This essay explores how legal doctrine helped both sides of the anti-truck debate articulate the contested meanings of liberty. Ultimately, the Godcharles ruling enshrined the specialness of workingmen's labor contracts and rejected the use of equity principles to justify contract regulations, but the controversy also informed future labor strategies, especially the turn to state police powers as the rubric under which workers' safety, morals, and health could be protected.

    • Article

    Contested Meanings of Freedom: Workingmen's Wages, the Company Store System and the Godcharles v. Wigeman Decision

    By: Laura Phillips Sawyer

    In 1886, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down a law that prohibited employers from paying wages in company store scrip and mandated monthly wage payments. The court held that the legislature could not prescribe mandatory wage contracts for legally competent workingmen. The decision quashed over two decades of efforts to end the "truck...

    • Article

    Intermediary Functions and the Market for Innovation in Meiji and Taisho Japan

    By: Tom Nicholas and Hiroshi Shimizu

    Japan experienced a transformational phase of technological development during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We argue that an important, but so far neglected, factor was a developing market for innovation and a patent attorney system that was conducive to rapid technical change. We support our hypothesis using patent data, and we also present a detailed case study on Tomogorō Ono, a key developer of salt production technology who used attorneys in connection with his patenting work at a time when Japan was still in the process of formally institutionalizing its patent attorney system. In accordance with Lamoreaux and Sokoloff's influential study of trade in invention in the United States, our quantitative and qualitative evidence highlights how inventors and intermediaries in Japan interacted to create a market for new ideas.

    • Article

    Intermediary Functions and the Market for Innovation in Meiji and Taisho Japan

    By: Tom Nicholas and Hiroshi Shimizu

    Japan experienced a transformational phase of technological development during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We argue that an important, but so far neglected, factor was a developing market for innovation and a patent attorney system that was conducive to rapid technical change. We support our hypothesis using patent data, and...

    • Article

    The Way to Wealth Around the World: Benjamin Franklin and the Globalization of American Capitalism

    By: Sophus A. Reinert

    • Article

    The Way to Wealth Around the World: Benjamin Franklin and the Globalization of American Capitalism

    By: Sophus A. Reinert

Business History Initiative

The Business History Initiative seeks to facilitate learning from the past through innovative research and course development, employing global and interdisciplinary perspectives.
Business History

Harvard Business School has a long tradition of investing in business history, and of asserting its central role in management education. In 1927, the School created the first endowed professorship in the field. It also founded the field’s first journal, the Business History Review. Since the work of Joseph Schumpeter at Harvard's Center for Entrepreneurial History in the 1940s, the School has taken an interdisciplinary and global approach to understanding business history. Today business historians at the School investigate a broad range of themes, including entrepreneurship, innovation, globalization, and environmental sustainability.

Business History Initiative

The Business History Initiative seeks to facilitate learning from the past through innovative research and course development, employing global and interdisciplinary perspectives.

Business History

Recent Publications

(Un)principled Agents: Monitoring Loyalty after the End of the Royal African Company Monopoly

By: Anne Ruderman and Marlous van Waijenburg
  • Summer 2023 |
  • Article |
  • Business History Review
The revocation of the Royal African Company's monopoly in 1698 inaugurated a transformation of the transatlantic slave trade. While the RAC’s exit from the slave trade has received scholarly attention, little is known about the company’s response to the loss of its trading privileges. Not only did the end of the company's monopoly increase competition, but the unprecedented numbers of private traders who entered the trade exacerbated the company’s principal-agent problems on the West African coast. To analyze the company’s behavior in the post-monopoly period, we exploit a series of 292 instruction letters that the RAC issued to its slave-ship captains between 1685 and 1706, coding each individual command in the letters. Our database reveals two new insights into the company’s response to its upended competitive landscape. First, the RAC showed a remarkable degree of organizational flexibility, reacting to a heightened principal-agent problem. Second, its response was facilitated by the infrastructure of the transatlantic slave trade, which gave the company a monitoring mechanism by virtue of the slave-ship captains who continually sailed to the West African coast.
Keywords: Slavery; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business History; Monopoly; History; Business and Government Relations
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Ruderman, Anne, and Marlous van Waijenburg. "(Un)principled Agents: Monitoring Loyalty after the End of the Royal African Company Monopoly." Special Issue on Business, Capitalism, and Slavery edited by Marlous van Waijenburg and Anne Ruderman. Business History Review 97, no. 2 (Summer 2023): 247–281.

LALIGA—From a Soccer Competition Organizer to a Global Player in the Sports and Entertainment Industry

By: Stephen A. Greyser, Kenneth Cortsen and Juan Fuentes Fernández
  • 2023 |
  • Working Paper |
  • Faculty Research
LALIGA, the first- and second-tier professional soccer league (known as “football” outside of the U.S. and Canada) in Spain, enters its 100th soccer season later this decade. The most popular game in the world (Giulianotti, 2012) has gone through many changes since LALIGA began play in 1929 (O’Brien, 2022). Therefore, the purpose of this Working Paper is to describe the development of LALIGA since its initiation in 1929. However, the emphasis of the paper is to explore and analyze LALIGA’s evolution towards becoming an influential global business and brand in the contemporary world of the business of sports. Expansion, progress and improved sporting and commercial maturity go hand in hand with the recognized achievements observed by the league’s local, regional, national, and global fan bases. Soccer fans from every corner of the globe are aware of the accomplishments made on the pitch by the league’s globally recognized competitive powerhouses, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Yet, these triumphs are complemented by off-the-pitch strategies and corporate ideas and actions, which have transformed LALIGA into a global organization with more than seven hundred employees spread all around the world. Consequently, LALIGA is positioned to take its next steps as a key player in the competitive industry and business of sports and entertainment. With a global presence covering offices and delegations in 41 countries. LALIGA has applied different strategies to boost growth in its main revenue stream (broadcasting rights), to nurture and grow its fanbase in Spain and abroad, and to evolve its product range and brand equity in order to overcome new challenges in the fast-changing and competitive sports entertainment nexus. In total, LALIGA’s international efforts span 90 countries, including 11 offices in key locations and three joint ventures in the United States, in China, and in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)—LALIGA’s top-priority markets overseas. In addition, LALIGA has strived to improve its digitalization efforts and to implement new technologies in various phases of its value chain (competition management, fan engagement and content enhancement) while diversifying its business offerings and value proposition. Thus, LALIGA is cognizant about building future-proof financial “fitness” via generating new revenue streams intended to help expand its branding footprint globally. As an entity representing 42 teams in the first and second divisions, LALIGA has recently signed and negotiated “Boost LALIGA,” a €1.994 billion capital injection in the Spanish soccer ecosystem from the investment fund CVC. The investment aims to “soften” the negative economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, but mainly to accelerate corporate growth in the league and its clubs, by providing the respective soccer clubs resources to invest in such areas as soccer infrastructure, digitalization, and international development.
Keywords: Soccer; "Sports Organizations,; Business History; Strategy; Brands and Branding; Technology Adoption; Sports Industry
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Greyser, Stephen A., Kenneth Cortsen, and Juan Fuentes Fernández. "LALIGA—From a Soccer Competition Organizer to a Global Player in the Sports and Entertainment Industry." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 24-009, August 2023.

Deep Responsibility and Irresponsibility in the Beauty Industry

By: Geoffrey Jones
  • July 2023 |
  • Article |
  • Entreprises et histoire
This article employs the concept of deep responsibility to assess the social responsibility of the beauty industry over time. It shows that many of today’s problems with the industry have deep historical roots. Products have too many ingredients that are potential health hazards. Exaggerated claims have been made to all consumers and ideals of beauty that are very restrictive have damaged the self-esteem of more vulnerable consumers. The environmental impact of the industry has been highly negative. The article shows how the beauty industry has done more harm than good within the communities it addresses. Alternative and more responsible behavior has existed in the past in the industry and it is argued that this type of behavior needs to become the norm once again.
Keywords: Business History; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry
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Jones, Geoffrey. "Deep Responsibility and Irresponsibility in the Beauty Industry." Entreprises et histoire 111, no. 2 (July 2023): 113–125.

Point Four and the Politics of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States during the Early Cold War

By: Melanie Sheehan
  • 2023 |
  • Working Paper |
  • Faculty Research
This article traces business influence in the formulation of the Point Four technical assistance program, the first US Cold War-era international development program. It focuses specifically on business interest associations’ efforts to secure federal incentives to promote foreign direct investment (FDI) in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Business leaders and their government allies described FDI as the most effective means to promote international development, support European recovery, and encourage strategic minerals production after the Marshall Plan. Ultimately, business interest associations secured tax advantages and government-backed insurance for foreign investments because such measures served the interests of the US government in the context of European balance of payments deficits and the Korean War. Intent on promoting international development as a Cold War strategy, the Truman administration and Congress preferred private means to large-scale foreign aid appropriations. Business power thus stemmed from government leaders’ appraisal of the ways in which private business could fulfill state objectives.
Keywords: Point Four Program; Business Interest Association; International Development; Cold War; Foreign Direct Investment; Business History; Business and Government Relations
Citation
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Sheehan, Melanie. "Point Four and the Politics of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States during the Early Cold War." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 23-078, June 2023.

Doing Business in Lima, Peru

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Max Hancock
  • June 2023 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Peru. It highlights Peru's economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2023 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case gives an overview of some of the main obstacles faced by businesses operating in the country, contrasting these with the efforts undertaken by the government to improve the country's business climate. This is illustrated through the discussion of a fictional business dilemma.
Keywords: Business History; Business and Government Relations; Corporate Strategy; Mining Industry; Peru; Latin America
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Polzer, Jeffrey T., Leonard A. Schlesinger, and Max Hancock. "Doing Business in Lima, Peru." Harvard Business School Case 323-050, June 2023.

Deeply Responsible Business: A Global History of Values-Driven Leadership

By: Geoffrey Jones
  • 2023 |
  • Book |
  • Faculty Research
Corporate social responsibility has entered the mainstream, but what does it take to run a successful purpose-driven business? This book examines leaders who put values alongside profits to showcase the challenges and upside of deeply responsible business. Should business leaders play a role in solving society’s problems? For decades, CEOs have been told that their only responsibility is to the bottom line. But consensus is growing that companies―and their leaders―must engage with their social, political, and environmental contexts. Jones distinguishes deep responsibility, which can deliver radical social and ecological responses, from corporate social responsibility, which is often little more than window dressing. Deeply Responsible Business provides a historical perspective on the social responsibility of business, going back to the Quaker capitalism of George Cadbury and the worker solidarity of Edward Filene and carrying us through to impact investing and the B-corps. Jones profiles exemplary business leaders from around the world who combined profits with social purpose to confront inequality, inner-city blight, and ecological degradation, while navigating restrictive laws and authoritarian regimes.

The business leaders profiled in this book were motivated by bedrock values and sometimes driven by faith. They chose to operate in socially productive fields, interacted with humility with stakeholders, and felt a duty to support their communities. While far from perfect, each one showed that profit and purpose could be reconciled. Many of their businesses were wildly successful―though financial success was not their only metric of achievement. As many companies seek to coopt more ethically sensitized consumers, Jones gives us a new perspective to tackle tough questions and envisions a future in which companies and entrepreneurs can play a key role in healing our communities and protecting the natural world.
Keywords: Corporate Responsibility; Business Ecuation; Socially Responsible Investing; Business Education; Ethics; Leadership; Business History; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Religion; Social Enterprise; Social Issues; Wealth and Poverty; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Banking Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Computer Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Education Industry; Fashion Industry; Financial Services Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Green Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Electronics Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United Kingdom; Germany; United States; Japan; India; Latin America
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Jones, Geoffrey. Deeply Responsible Business: A Global History of Values-Driven Leadership. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2023.

Doing Business in Kigali, Rwanda

By: Andy Zelleke, A. Zelleke, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Wale Lawal
  • March 2023 (Revised June 2023) |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Rwanda. It highlights Rwanda's economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2023 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case gives an overview of some of the main obstacles faced by businesses operating in the country, high transportation costs, some of the most expensive electricity tariffs in sub-Saharan Africa and high levels of government bureaucracy, contrasting these with the efforts undertaken by the government to improve the country's business climate. This is illustrated through the discussion of a business dilemma in which e-mobility startup Ampersand has to assess the extent to which Rwanda's high openness could mean a high threat of competition or plenty of opportunities for growth partnerships.
Keywords: Business History; Business and Government Relations; Technological Innovation; Foreign Direct Investment; Economic Growth; Transportation Industry; Tourism Industry; Rwanda
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Zelleke, Andy, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Pippa Tubman Armerding, and Wale Lawal. "Doing Business in Kigali, Rwanda." Harvard Business School Case 323-089, March 2023. (Revised June 2023.)

Doing Business in Buenos Aires, Argentina

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Zeke Gillman
  • February 2023 (Revised June 2023) |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Argentina. It highlights Argentina's economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2023 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case gives an overview of some of the main obstacles faced by businesses operating in the country, contrasting these with the efforts undertaken by the government to improve the country's business climate. This is illustrated through the discussion of a business dilemma in which Forever 21 attempts to launch its first store in Buenos Aires.
Keywords: Business History; Business and Government Relations; Corporate Strategy; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; Argentina; Latin America
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Lietz, Nori Gerardo, Leonard A. Schlesinger, and Zeke Gillman. "Doing Business in Buenos Aires, Argentina." Harvard Business School Case 323-087, February 2023. (Revised June 2023.)

Doing Business in Boston, Massachusetts

By: Laura Alfaro, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Zeke Gillman
  • February 2023 (Revised June 2023) |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Boston, Massachusetts while giving a broad history of the city and surrounding area.
Keywords: Business History; Business and Government Relations; Technological Innovation; Economic Growth; Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Financial Services Industry; Boston; Massachusetts
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Alfaro, Laura, Leonard A. Schlesinger, and Zeke Gillman. "Doing Business in Boston, Massachusetts." Harvard Business School Case 323-088, February 2023. (Revised June 2023.)

Doing Business in Accra, Ghana

By: Hakeem Belo-Osagie, Leonard Schlesinger and Namrata Arora
  • February 2023 (Revised June 2023) |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Ghana. It highlights Ghana economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2023 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case gives an overview of some of the main obstacles faced by businesses operating in the country, such as complexity of doing business, slow legal proceedings, limited access to funding, a slow growing manufacturing sector, a large informal sector and changing regulatory environment, contrasting these with the efforts undertaken by the government to improve the country's business climate. This is illustrated through the discussion of a business dilemma in which an entrepreneur is considering setting up a chocolate manufacturing business in Ghana.
Keywords: Business History; Business and Government Relations; Technological Innovation; Foreign Direct Investment; Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Agribusiness; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Ghana
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Belo-Osagie, Hakeem, Leonard Schlesinger, and Namrata Arora. "Doing Business in Accra, Ghana." Harvard Business School Case 323-090, February 2023. (Revised June 2023.)
More Publications

Faculty

Geoffrey G. Jones
Tom Nicholas
Richard S. Tedlow
Anthony Mayo
Leonard A. Schlesinger
Nitin Nohria
David A. Moss
Sophus A. Reinert
Nancy F. Koehn
Rosabeth M. Kanter
Ramon Casadesus-Masanell
Tarun Khanna
→See All

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    • 17 Jan 2023

    Nestlé’s KitKat Diplomacy: Neutrality vs. Shared Value

    Re: Geoffrey G. Jones
    • 12 Apr 2022

    Racism, Colonialism, and Britain's Legacy of Violence

    Re: Caroline M. Elkins
→More Articles

Harvard Business Publishing

    • June 2023
    • Case

    Doing Business in Lima, Peru

    By: Jeffrey T. Polzer, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Max Hancock
→More Harvard Business Publishing
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