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The Mapping Project

Harvard Business School

Harvard Business School trains the future leaders of the US capitalist system, while providing broad institutional support for the Israeli state and the US war machine and national security state.

Support for Israeli Ethnic Cleansing

Harvard Business School runs a Global Research Center Tel Aviv, providing the legitimacy of the Harvard brand to Israel's physical occupation of Palestinian land.

Harvard Business School faculty members, such as Elie Ofek, have applied the clout of their positions at HBS toward the Israeli state's ongoing efforts to "rebrand" Israel as a "start-up nation" and hub of "innovation," in order to whitewash the realities of Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homeland and theft of Palestinian resources.

Harvard Business School does targeted recruitment in Israel, aimed at forging closer ties between HBS and Israel. Meanwhile, the "HBS Alumni Association of Israel" strives to sustain connections amongst (what they estimate to be) the 275 HBS alumni who live in Israel as well as the approximately 170 Israeli HBS alumni who live outside of Israel. HBS Alumni Association of Israel states that their organization aims to "position HBS, in Israel, as the world leading business school in general management attract the most talented individuals to HBS," and "To mentor qualified (Israeli) applicants through the application process and beyond."

HBS also hosts a student organization called Jewish Student Association (JSA) of Harvard Business School. JSA of Harvard Business School is staunchly Zionist and has been a sponsor of The Israel Summit (formerly The Harvard Israel Summit).

To understand Harvard Business School's staunch support for Israel, one needs only to look at where HBS gets its funding: In 2018, hedge fund billionaire and pro-Israel super-donor Seth Klarman provided Harvard Business School with a $120 million donation, for HBS to use to build "a state-of-the-art conference center." Harvard Business School named the new center "Klarman Hall." Seth Klarman and his wife Beth Klarman are both also members of Harvard Business School's "Board of Dean’s Advisors." Seth Klarman is also an alumnus of Harvard Business School, and HBS frequently highlights Klarman's success as a capitalist in their promotional materials. Between these financial donations and advisory positions at HBS, the Klarmans no doubt have considerable clout with Harvard Business School administration, when it comes to questions of how HBS will relate to Israel and Zionism. (See also: entry on Seth Klarman, and the Klarman Family Foundation)

Support for US Empire

In addition to its support for Israel, Harvard Business School faculty regularly apply their management theories and business acumen to research carried out for the leaders and profiteers of the US war machine and national security state. Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth M. Kanter, for example, offered this analysis of US weapons developer Lockheed Martin's "past 24 years of rapid growth in the company and the myriad challenges associated with welfare reform, devising an effective strategy that capitalizes on the company's core capabilities, partnerships with nonprofits, meeting different local needs, politics, and achieving economies of scale and profitability." Similarly, Harvard Business School professor C. Fritz Foley offered this analysis of Northrop Grumman's divestment of its shipbuilding assets, reviewing "many of the key questions faced by Northrop's CEO, CFO, and top management team during this process, including questions concerning whether to sell or spin-off the assets; how to handle customers, employees, and investors during the restructuring; and how to reorganize a diversified business to increase the performance of its parts."

Harvard Business School also brings the leaders of the US war machine and US security state to its students. In 2016, for example, Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program hosted Civilian Marine Corps General Robert B. Neller to share remarks "about the Marine Corps and his thoughts on leadership."

Soldiers Field, Boston, MA 02163

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