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Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School shield logo.svg
Coat of arms
Type Private graduate business school
Established 1908
Parent institution
Harvard University
Endowment US$3.8 billion (2020)
Dean Srikant Datar
Academic staff
244 (2020)
Administrative staff
1,989 (2020)
Students 865 (732 MBA)
Location , ,
United States

42°22′02″N 71°07′21″W / 42.36722°N 71.12250°W / 42.36722; -71.12250
Campus Urban

Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which publishes business books, leadership articles, case studies, and Harvard Business Review, a monthly academic business magazine. It is also home to the Baker Library/Bloomberg Center, the school's primary library.

History

Baker library
Baker Library/Bloomberg Center

The school was established in 1908. Initially established by the humanities faculty, it received independent status in 1910, and became a separate administrative unit in 1913. The first dean was historian Edwin Francis Gay (1867–1946). Yogev (2001) explains the original concept:

This school of business and public administration was originally conceived as a school for diplomacy and government service on the model of the French Ecole des Sciences Politiques. The goal was an institution of higher learning that would offer a Master of Arts degree in the humanities field, with a major in business. In discussions about the curriculum, the suggestion was made to concentrate on specific business topics such as banking, railroads, and so on... Professor Lowell said the school would train qualified public administrators whom the government would have no choice but to employ, thereby building a better public administration... Harvard was blazing a new trail by educating young people for a career in business, just as its medical school trained doctors and its law faculty trained lawyers.

The business school pioneered the development of the case method of teaching, drawing inspiration from this approach to legal education at Harvard. Cases are typically descriptions of real events in organizations. Students are positioned as managers and are presented with problems which they need to analyze and provide recommendations on.

From the start the school enjoyed a close relationship with the corporate world. Within a few years of its founding many business leaders were its alumni and were hiring other alumni for starting positions in their firms.

At its founding, the school accepted only male students. The Training Course in Personnel Administration, founded at Radcliffe College in 1937, was the beginning of business training for women at Harvard. HBS took over administration of that program from Radcliffe in 1954. In 1959, alumnae of the one-year program (by then known as the Harvard-Radcliffe Program in Business Administration) were permitted to apply to join the HBS MBA program as second-years. In December 1962, the faculty voted to allow women to enter the MBA program directly. The first women to apply directly to the MBA program matriculated in September 1963.

Harvard Business School played a role in the founding of the first business schools in the United Kingdom, delivering six-week Advanced Management Program courses alongside local staff at Durham in 1964, Bangor in 1965 and at Strathclyde in 1966. It also brought in professors from the newly founded British business schools to see how teaching was carried out at Harvard via an International Teachers Program.

In 2012–2013, HBS administration implemented new programs and practices to improve the experience of female students and recruit more female professors.

International research centers

HBS established nine global research centers and four regional offices and functions through offices in Asia Pacific (Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore), United States (San Francisco Bay Area, CA), Europe (Paris, opened in 2003), South Asia (India), Middle East and North Africa (Dubai, Istanbul, Tel Aviv), Japan and Latin America (Montevideo, Mexico City, São Paulo).

Rankings

Business school rankings
Worldwide overall
QS 2
Worldwide MBA
Financial Times 3
U.S. MBA
Bloomberg Businessweek 6
Forbes 4
U.S. News & World Report 5

As of 2022, HBS was ranked fifth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, third in the world by the Financial Times, and second in the world by QS World University Rankings.

Student life

HBS students can join more than 90 different clubs and student organizations on campus. The Student Association (SA) is the main interface between the MBA student body and the faculty/administration. In addition, the HBS student body is represented at the university level by the Harvard Graduate Council.

Executive education

In 2015, executive education contributed $168 million to HBS's total revenue of $707 million. This included:

  • The Advanced Management Program, a seven-week residential program for senior executives with the stated aim to "Prepare for the Highest Level of Leadership".
  • The General Management Program, a four-month intensive residential program for senior executives who are general managers or within range of such position in their organizations.
  • The Owner/President Management Program, three three-week "units" spread over two years that is marketed to "business owners and entrepreneurs".
  • Harvard Business School Online, launched in 2014 as HBX, offers flexible certificate and credential programs taught by Harvard Business School faculty and delivered via an online platform.
  • The Summer Venture in Management Program, a one-week management training program for rising college seniors designed to increase diversity and opportunity in business education. Participants must be employed in a summer internship and be nominated by and have sponsorship from their organization to attend.

Academic units

The school's faculty are divided into 10 academic units: Accounting and Management; Business, Government and the International Economy; Entrepreneurial Management; Finance; General Management; Marketing; Negotiation, Organizations and Markets; Organizational Behavior; Strategy; and Technology and Operations Management.

Buildings

Older buildings include the 1927-built Morgan Hall, named for J.P. Morgan, and 1940-built Loeb house, named for John L. Loeb Sr. and his son, (both designed by McKim, Mead & White), and the 1971-built Burden Hall with a 900-seat auditorium.

In the fall of 2010, Tata related companies and charities donated $50 million for the construction of an executive center. The executive center was named as Tata Hall, after Ratan Tata (AMP, 1975), the chairman of Tata Sons. The total construction costs have been estimated at $100 million. Tata Hall is located in the northeast corner of the HBS campus. The facility is devoted to the Harvard Business School's Executive Education programs. At seven stories tall with about 150,000 gross square feet, it contains about 180 bedrooms for education students, in addition to academic and multi-purpose spaces.

Kresge Way was located by the base of the former Kresge Hall, and is named for Sebastian S. Kresge. In 2014, Kresge Hall was replaced by a new hall that was funded by a US$30 million donation by the family of the late Ruth Mulan Chu Chao, whose four daughters all attended Harvard Business School. The Executive Education quad currently includes McArthur, Baker, and Mellon Halls (residences), McCollum and Hawes (classrooms), Chao Center, and Glass (administration).

Most of the HBS buildings are connected by a color-coded basement tunnel system which is open to pedestrian traffic. Tunnels open to maintenance workers only carry steam pipes to the rest of the campus, and connect Kresge with the Blackstone steam plant in Cambridge, via the Weeks Footbridge.

Weeks Footbridge crossing the Charles River at sunset with Harvard Business School on the left and Harvard Kennedy School on the right

Notable alumni

MBA

  • Bill Ackman, 1992 – hedge fund manager
  • Geeta Aiyer, 1985 – founder and president of Boston Common Asset Management
  • Paul V. Applegarth, 1974 – first CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation and executive with World Bank, Bank of America, and American Express
  • Adam Aron, chairman and CEO of AMC Theatres
  • Gerry Ashworth - Olympic gold medalist sprinter
  • Joseph L. Badaracco – senior associate dean, chair, and professor of business ethics, HBS MBA program; author
  • Rahul Bajaj, 1964 – CEO of Bajaj Auto
  • Raymond W. Baker, 1960 – director of Global Financial Integrity
  • Jim Balsillie, 1989 – billionaire co-CEO of Research In Motion
  • Steve Bannon – former White House advisor and former chairman of Breitbart News Network
  • Alex Behring – co-founder and managing partner of 3G Capital
  • Tarek Ben Halim – investment banker and founder of Alfanar, a venture philanthropy organization
  • Guy Berruyer – French CEO of Sage Group
  • Ernesto Bertarelli - Italian-born Swiss billionaire businessman and philanthropist.
  • Len Blavatnik, 1989 – Ukrainian-American businessman
  • Michael Bloomberg, 1966 – former mayor of New York City
  • Dan Bricklin, 1979 – inventor of the electronic spreadsheet
  • Tracy Britt Cool, 2009 – entrepreneur; former director of Berkshire Hathaway and subsidiaries
  • Jane Buchan - CEO of Martlet Asset Management
  • Charles Bunch, 1979 – CEO of PPG Industries
  • Jean Burelle (born 1938/39) – French billionaire chairman and CEO of Burelle
  • Steve Burke – NBCUniversal CEO; Comcast executive vice president
  • George W. Bush, 1975 – 43rd President of the United States and former Governor of Texas
  • Liam Byrne, 2010 – politician, British Labour Party Member of parliament
  • Philip Caldwell, 1942 – chairman and CEO of the Ford Motor Company
  • Chase Carey, 1980 – president of News Corporation
  • Cynthia Carroll, 1989 – former CEO of Anglo American PLC
  • Donald J. Carty, 1971 – chairman and CEO of American Airlines
  • Elaine Chao, 1979 – U.S. Secretary of Transportation and former U.S. Secretary of Labor
  • P. Chidambaram, 1968 – former Union Minister of Finance in India
  • Teresa Clarke – former managing director of Goldman Sachs (2004–2010) and CEO and founder of Africa.com
  • Vittorio Colao, 1990 – CEO of Vodafone Group
  • Sherry Coutu, 1993 – former CEO and angel investor
  • Stephen Covey, 1957 – self-help author
  • Zoe Cruz, 1982 – banker; former co-president of Morgan Stanley
  • Philip Hart Cullom, 1988 – U.S. Navy Vice Admiral
  • John D'Agostino, 2002 – managing director of Alkeon Capital and subject of best-selling book Rigged: The True Story of a Wall Street Novice who Changed the World of Oil Forever
  • Daniel A. D'Aniello, 1974 – co-founder of The Carlyle Group
  • Ray Dalio, 1973 – founded Bridgewater Associates
  • Jeffrey Deitch, 1978 – art dealer and gallerist
  • Elisabeth DeMarse, 1980 – CEO of Newser
  • Anne Dias-Griffin, 1997 – hedge fund manager for Aragon Global Management
  • Betty Jane Diener, 1964 (and DBA, 1974) – Virginia Secretary of Commerce (1982–1986)
  • Jamie Dimon, 1982 – CEO and chairman of JPMorgan Chase
  • James Dinan, 1985 – founder of hedge fund York Capital Management
  • Tim Draper, 1984 – venture capital investor
  • Colin Drummond – CEO of Viridor and joint CEO of Pennon Group
  • Donna Dubinsky, 1981 – CEO of Palm, Inc.
  • Axel Dumas, 2010 – CEO of Hermès
  • Erik Engstrom, 2015 – CEO of Reed Elsevier
  • Mary Callahan Erdoes, 1993 – CEO of J.P. Morgan Asset Management
  • Mark Ein, 1992 – venture caplaitlist and owner of sports teams
  • Sheldon Erikson, 1970 – chairman, president and CEO of Cameron International Corporation
  • Diana Farrell 1991 – president and CEO of JPMorgan Chase Institute
  • Nicholas Ferguson – chairman of BskyB
  • Mark Fields, 1989 – president and CEO of Ford Motor Company
  • Barbara Hackman Franklin, 1964 – 29th U.S. Secretary of Commerce
  • Jane Fraser, 1994 – CEO of Citigroup
  • Morten Friis, 1979 – Chief Risk Officer of Royal Bank of Canada
  • Orit Gadiesh, 1977- Israeli-American chairperson of management consulting firm Bain & Company
  • Gregory Gray Garland Jr., 1949 – lawyer and business executive; chairman of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad
  • William W. George – senior fellow and professor, HBS MBA program; author; former chair and CEO of Medtronic
  • Brad Gerstner, 2000 – founder of Altimeter Capital
  • Shikhar Ghosh, 1980 – entrepreneur, lecturer at HBS
  • Melvin Gordon, 1943 – CEO of Tootsie Roll Industries (1962–2015)
  • Allan Gray, 1965 – founder of Allan Gray Investment Management and philanthropist
  • John Grayken – billionaire founder of Lone Star Funds
  • C. Scott Green, 1989 – president of the University of Idaho
  • Ranjay Gulati – professor, HBS MBA program, author
  • Rajat Gupta, 1973 – former managing director of McKinsey & Company; convicted of insider trading in the 2011 Galleon Group case
  • Walter A. Haas Jr., 1939 – CEO of Levi Strauss & Co.
  • Ken Hakuta, 1977 – entrepreneur and inventor
  • Dido Harding - British Conservative Party businesswoman serving as chairwoman of NHS Improvement since 2017
  • Josh Harris, 1990 – co-founder of Apollo Global Management and owner of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, the NHL's New Jersey Devils, and the NFL's Washington Commanders
  • Fred Hassan, 1972 – CEO of Schering-Plough
  • Frances Haugen, 2011 – data engineer and Facebook whistleblower
  • Rodney A. Hawes Jr., 1969 – CEO of LifeRe and benefactor of the Hawes Hall classroom building
  • Randy Haykin, 1988 – founder of The Intersection Event and The Gratitude Network
  • Fritz Henderson, 1984 – former president and CEO of General Motors
  • John B. Hess, 1977 – CEO of Hess Corporation
  • Andy Hill, 1990 – politician, Washington State Senator
  • Douglas Hodge, 1984 – CEO of PIMCO, charged with fraud for allegedly participating in the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal
  • Chris Hohn, 1993 – British activist investor, billionaire, philanthropist, founder of The Children's Investment Fund Foundation
  • Yoshito Hori, 1991 – founder of Globis University Graduate School of Management
  • Darren Huston, 1994 – CEO of Priceline
  • Jennifer Hyman, 2009 – Co-founder and CEO of Rent the Runway
  • Jeff Immelt, 1982 – former chairman and CEO of General Electric
  • Andy Jassy, 1997 – CEO, Amazon
  • Abigail Johnson, 1988 – chairman of Fidelity Investments
  • Ron Johnson, 1984 – former CEO of J. C. Penney
  • Henry Juszkiewicz, 1979 – CEO of Gibson Guitars Inc.
  • George Kaiser, 1966 – chairman of BOK Financial Corporation
  • Steven Kandarian – CEO of Metlife Group
  • Salman Khan, 2003 – founder of Khan Academy
  • Naina Lal Kidwai, 1982 – Group General Manager and Country Head of HSBC India
  • Seth Klarman – billionaire hedge fund manager; Baupost Group founder
  • Jim Koch, 1978 – co-founder and chairman of the Boston Beer Company
  • Robert Kraft, 1965 – chairman and CEO of The Kraft Group, owner of the New England Patriots and New England Revolution
  • Larry S. Kramer, 1974 – founder and CEO of Marketwatch, president and publisher of USA Today
  • A.G. Lafley, 1977 – former CEO and chairman of the board of Procter & Gamble
  • Jack Langer (born 1948/1949) - basketball player and investment banker
  • Stephen D. Lebovitz, 1988 – CEO of CBL & Associates Properties
  • Kewsong Lee, 1990 – CEO of The Carlyle Group.
  • William Legge, 10th Earl of Dartmouth – UKIP Member of the European Parliament
  • Michael Lynton, 1987 – chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment
  • William MacDonald, 1940 – Christian preacher and writer in the Plymouth Brethren movement
  • Anand Mahindra, 1981 – owner and chairman of Mahindra Group
  • Nadiem Makarim, 2011 – co-founder and former CEO of Gojek, Minister of Education and Culture of Indonesia
  • Stephen Mandel – billionaire hedge fund manager; Lone Pine Capital founder
  • Lawrence Marcus, 1940 – Vice-president of Neiman Marcus
  • Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein, 1998 – president and CEO of LGT Group
  • Tom McGrath – chairman of Broadway Across America, Broadway and film producer
  • Depelsha Thomas McGruder, 1998 - COO of the Ford Foundation, founder of Moms of Black Boys (MOBB) United
  • Robert McNamara, 1939 – former Secretary of Defense; former president of World Bank
  • W. James McNerney Jr., 1975 – CEO of Boeing
  • Richard Menschel, 1959 – (retired) senior director of Goldman Sachs; 2015 winner of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy.
  • Christopher Michel, 1998 – founder and former CEO of Military.com, and founder and former CEO Affinity Labs
  • Hiroshi Mikitani - founder and CEO of Rakuten
  • Karen Mills, 1977 – 23rd Administrator of the Small Business Administration
  • Ann S. Moore, 1978 – CEO of Time Inc.
  • David Nelms, 1987 – CEO of Discover Financial Services
  • Grover Norquist, 1981 – president of Americans for Tax Reform
  • Mark Okerstrom, 2004 – President/CEO of Expedia Group
  • Neil Pasricha, 2007 – author and speaker
  • Henry Paulson, 1970 – former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, former CEO of Goldman Sachs
  • John Paulson – president of hedge fund Paulson & Co.
  • Art Peck, 1979 – CEO of GAP, Inc.
  • Joseph R. Perella, 1972 – founder and CEO of Wasserstein Perella & Co. and Perella Weinberg Partners
  • Chip Perry, 1980 – former president and CEO of TrueCar; first employee and CEO of AutoTrader.com
  • Carl Howard Pforzheimer Jr (1907–1996), 1930 – investment banker
  • Mark Pincus – CEO of Zynga
  • Michael B. Polk – CEO of Newell Brands
  • Matthew Prince — Co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare
  • Ramalinga Raju, 1993 - businessman, convicted of fraud
  • Bruce Rauner, 1981 – 42nd Governor of Illinois
  • Edwin W. Rawlings, 1939 – U.S. Air Force and president and chairman of General Mills
  • James Reed, 1990 – British chairman and chief executive of the Reed group of companies
  • John Replogle former CEO of Seventh Generation Inc.
  • Gary Rodkin, 1979 – CEO and president of ConAgra Foods
  • Mitt Romney, 1975 – 70th Governor of Massachusetts, co-founder of Bain Capital and 2012 presidential nominee of the Republican Party
  • Wilbur Ross, 1961 – Secretary of Commerce (2017–2021) under the Trump Administration
  • Sheryl Sandberg, 1995 – COO of Facebook
  • Ann Sarnoff, 1987 – president of BBC America
  • Ulf Mark Schneider, 1993 – CEO of Nestlé, and former CEO of Fresenius
  • Gerry Schwartz, 1970 - founder, chairman and CEO of Onex Corporation
  • Stephen A. Schwarzman, 1972 – founder of Blackstone Group
  • Joe Shoen, 1973 – billionaire chairman of AMERCO
  • Martin A. Siegel, 1971 — former Kidder, Peabody & Co. investment banker and former Drexel Burnham Lambert managing director; convicted for insider trading in 1987
  • Jayant Sinha, 1992 – Union Minister of State for Finance of India
  • Chatri Sityodtong, 1999 – chairman and CEO of ONE Championship
  • Jeffrey Skilling, 1979 – former CEO of Enron; convicted of securities fraud and insider trading
  • Tad Smith – CEO of Sotheby's
  • Gunnar Sønsteby, 1947 – Norwegian World War Two resistance fighter, most highly decorated person of Norway
  • Guy Spier, 1993 – author and investor
  • E. Roe Stamps 1974 – founding partner of private equity firm Summit Partners
  • Gerald L. Storch – chairman and CEO of Toys "R" Us, Inc.
  • Sandra Sucher – businesswoman; professor, HBS MBA program
  • Anjali Sud, 2011 – CEO of Vimeo
  • Anthony Tan, 2011 – co-founder and CEO of Grab
  • Tan Hooi Ling, 2011 – Malaysian co-founder and COO of Grab
  • John Thain, 1979 – former CEO of Merrill Lynch
  • Pamela Thomas-Graham, 1988 – businesswoman Clorox, Credit Suisse, and Liz Claiborne, author
  • Gerald Tremblay, 1972 – mayor of Montreal and former Quebec Minister of Industry, Commerce, Science and Technology
  • Melvin T. Tukman, 1966 – co-founder and president of Tukman Grossman Capital Management
  • David Viniar, 1980 – CFO and executive vice president of Goldman Sachs
  • Rick Wagoner, 1977 – former CEO of General Motors
  • Wendell Weeks, 1987 – chairman, CEO and president of Corning Inc.
  • John C. Whitehead, 1947 – former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs
  • Meg Whitman, 1979 – president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard
  • Glenn Youngkin, 1994 – Governor of Virginia; former co-CEO of The Carlyle Group
  • Michelle Zatlyn, 2009 – co-founder, president, and COO of Cloudflare

DBA

  • Jay Lorsch, DBA, 1964 – professor, HBS MBA program; contingency theory contributor; author, DBA (1964)
  • George Schussel, DBA, 1966 – founder and former chairman of Digital Consulting Institute and founder of Jellicle Investors, Inc.
  • Robert B. Stobaugh, DBA, 1968 – Harvard Business School emeritus professor of Business Administration

Executive Education

Advanced Management Program (AMP)

  • Timothy I. Ahern, 1967 – U.S. Air Force Major General
  • Gabi Ashkenazi, AMP, 2004 – Chief of the General Staff of Israel Defense Forces
  • Jaime Zobel de Ayala, 1963 – Filipino businessman and chairman emeritus of Ayala Corporation
  • Julie Bishop, AMP, 1996 – Australian deputy Prime Minister
  • Rick Burr, 2013 – Chief of the Australian Army
  • Alden W. Clausen, 1966 – World Bank former President
  • Christine M. Day, 2002 – Canadian business executive and former CEO of Lululemon
  • Y. C. Deveshwar – chairman and CEO of ITC Limited
  • Muhammad bin Ibrahim, 2010 – 8th Governor of Central Bank of Malaysia
  • Antony Leung, 1999 – financial secretary of Hong Kong
  • William Lewis, 2009 – Journalist, British Media Executive
  • Minoru Makihara, 1977 – Senior Corporate Advisor, Former Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer, Mitsubishi Corporation
  • Christopher McCormick – president and CEO of L.L. Bean
  • David V. Miller – U.S. Air Force Major General
  • Michael Mullen, 1991 – Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, United States armed forces
  • A. Sivathanu Pillai, 1991 – honorary distinguished professor of Indian Space Research Organisation
  • Matthew Barrett (banker), 1981 – Former Chairman and CEO, Bank of Montreal; chairman and Chief Executive, Barclays Bank
  • Ajay Piramal, 1992 – chairman, Piramal Group
  • Ratan Tata, 1975 – chairman and CEO Tata Sons
  • Lucius Theus, AMP 57 – Major General in the United States Air Force
  • Jim Lovell, 1971 – Astronaut, Apollo 13

Other executive education

  • Paolo Rocca, 1985 – CEO of Techint
  • Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, 2000 – co-founder Access Bank Plc and founder and chairman, Africa Initiative for Governance
  • Ciara – singer
  • Vicente Fox – 55th President of Mexico
  • Kilma S. LattinEmmy Award-winning Native American leader, military veteran, and business man
  • Daniel Vasella, PMD, 1989 – president of Novartis AG
  • Jimmy Rane, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Great Southern Wood Preserving

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Escuela de negocios Harvard para niños

  • Category:Harvard Business School alumni
  • List of Harvard University people
  • List of Ivy League business schools
  • Spangler Center
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