The role of business schools in the formation of business reality is today an acknowledged topic in the social-scientific exploration of the cultural elements of entrepreneurial capitalism (see, for example, the work of Rakesh Khurana, in particular his book From Higher Aims to Hired Hands). It’s also part of our project’s agenda. One particularly relevant fieldwork site is of course the Harvard Business School. Part of my current research activities include fleshing out a few directions that were already exposed in “A flank movement in the understanding of valuation”.

Among the treasures of the Baker Library are a few collections with materials from faculty members from the early days (the 1910s, 1920s, 1930s): people that played a pivotal role in the development of both the case method (a very experiential method for the formation of the business mind, quite performative in a theatrical sense of the word) and the crafts of financial valuation (a critical set of capitalization techniques, with potentially performative effects in the repertoires of valuation in business conduct). My preference goes to Arthur Stone Dewing, professor of finance at Harvard, author of widely-read manuals, philosopher and fervent advocate of case-based business education. The papers of Cecil E. Fraser, which I had the chance to examine in April 2012, contain very interesting materials on the methods, sources and ideas of Fraser himself but also on other faculty members, Dewing in particular. Analysis of these, in combination with more contemporary sources, should translate shortly into something readable.