Creating Emerging Markets

The Creating Emerging Markets Collection provides a unique research and teaching resource on business leadership in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East over recent decades. At its core are over 180 interviews by Harvard Business School faculty with high-impact leaders in business and social enterprise. Through in-depth interviews with business leaders, policymakers, and entrepreneurs, the collection provides firsthand perspectives on how industries, institutions, and markets have developed over time.

About the Collection

The Creating Emerging Markets Collection forms a permanent and unique resource held in Harvard Business School’s Baker Library. The collection is maintained by Baker Library Special Collections as part of Harvard Business School's commitment to preserving and providing access to materials documenting global business history. Each interview page includes the transcript, associated video clips and supporting resources about the interviewee and her or his business.

Most Latin American interviews were conducted in Spanish and have an English translation. La mayoría de las transcripciones de las entrevistas latinoamericanas se encuentran disponibles en español e inglés.

Research & Teaching

The Creating Emerging Markets Collection is a freely accessible resource used by researchers, educators, and students around the world to explore business leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic development in emerging markets.

Researchers use interview transcripts and video clips as primary source material for studying business leadership, globalization, sustainability, family enterprise, corporate strategy, and institutional development. The interviews provide firsthand perspectives on how business leaders navigated economic, political, and social change across emerging markets.

Faculty incorporate the collection into classroom instruction, case discussions, independent research projects, and executive education programs, using oral histories to examine leadership decisions, business challenges, and the development of industries, institutions, and markets over time.

Please consult individual interview records for preferred citation formats, rights information, and any applicable usage restrictions.

For publications, teaching materials, faculty perspectives, sustainability research, and related archival collections, explore the Resources page.

Using the Collection

Users can explore the collection by browsing or searching interviews by location or topic. Each interview page includes video clips, descriptive information, and transcripts.

The collection can be used to:

• Investigate business practices and historical developments

• Explore leadership perspectives across regions

• Support academic research and teaching

• Understand the evolution of emerging markets

Project History

Creating Emerging Markets began with a pilot project led by Professor Geoffrey Jones which involved Dr. Andrea Lluch undertaking a set of audio interviews in Argentina and China during 2007 and 2008. The project was relaunched in 2012 with a broader geographical remit and video interviews. From 2016-2026 it was coordinated by Professor Geoffrey Jones and Professor Tarun Khanna.

The interviews address pivotal moments of transition in their regions and provide firsthand insights into entrepreneurship, innovation, family business, and the globalization of firms and brands. Together, they create a unique resource for research and teaching. From the beginning, the project was conceived as a public good, designed to be freely available to scholars, educators, and the public worldwide.