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      HBS Past and Present
      07 Oct 2009Research Event

      HBS Past and Present

      Eight enduring themes have characterized Harvard Business School from its earliest years, and remain as integral as ever to the way the School thinks and operates.
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      Editor's Note: This is a summary of an HBS Business Summit presentation. View a full summary and video of the event on the HBS Centennial Web site linked below.

      Date of Event: October 12, 2008
      Speakers: Jay O. Light, Dean of HBS
      F. Warren McFarlan, HBS Faculty

      From its tentative beginnings in 1908, Harvard Business School has grown into a teaching-, research-, and publishing-focused global enterprise with remarkably diverse students and faculty and highly accomplished alumni. Eight enduring themes have characterized Harvard Business School from its earliest years, and remain as integral as ever to the way the School thinks and operates.

      Key concepts include:

      Harvard Business School was founded on the idea of helping people make a decent profit, decently.

      Eight common themes, rooted in HBS's history, characterize the institution still today:

      1. Making a decent profit, decently;
      2. Case-method research;
      3. Deep research impact on practice;
      4. Publishing outreach;
      5. Faculty from diverse backgrounds;
      6. Technology-friendly;
      7. Globalization;
      8. Remarkable leaders as alumni.
      9. Read the in-depth summary

      For more coverage and video:
      http://www.hbs.edu/centennial/businesssummit/past-present-future/hbs-past-and-present.html

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      Jay O. Light
      Jay O. Light
      George F. Baker Professor of Administration, Emeritus
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      F. Warren McFarlan
      F. Warren McFarlan
      T.J. Dermot Dunphy Baker Foundation Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus
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